Micro Mobility is a Swiss company that recently presented its latest invention called the Micro Luggage.
The invention was developed to help users when they rush to the boarding gate. The new type of luggage represents a mix of a wheeled suitcase and a little scooter.
Whenever you feel like you can lose your flight, just fold down the kickboard that is incorporated in the back of the suitcase, grab that handlebars, adjust it to the height that's comfortable for you and push yourself along.
The Micro Luggage will help you move faster with the help of its rubber (polyurethane) wheels.
Due to the fact that both handlebars and wheels don't turn, you will be able to steer by leaning in the desired direction.
The luggage was designed to be able to carry load weighting up to 100 kg (220.5 lb). It can be used for short trips.
Micro Luggage measures 22 inches (55.9 cm) in height, 13.5 inches (34.3 cm) in width and 10 inches (25.4 cm) in depth, which means that it should fit in a normal size overhead luggage compartment.
Inside the suitcase you will be able to find one compartment for a laptop, one for business cards and one for folders. This will make it very easy to access various office materials.
It would be interesting to note that the firm's Wim Ouboter came up with the system after teaming up with travel luggage specialist Samsonite.
Currently the Micro Luggage wears a price tag of US$249.99.
It is an everyday occurrence that you want to be included in the photograph with your family and friends, but end up being the photographer. The Not One Less is a concept that allows you to be in the picture. It has a dual lens, one that focuses on the main subjects and the other on the photographer.
Look out, silicon. IBM has managed to create a computer chip based on newer carbon-nanotube technology with more than 10,000 transistors. While that’s still a drop in the bucket compared to the billions of transistors on today’s state-of-the-art silicon microprocessors, it’s an important step in proving the viability of the new tech.
You may have heard of Moore’s Law, which says that the number of transistors that can be put in a computer chip doubles every 18 months. That “law” has held true for four decades, successfully predicting the rapid evolution of computers and smartphones.
However, it’s not a law like, say, Boyle’s Law, which is an inviolable tenet of physics. Moore’s Law is just a prediction, and it’s about to collide with those real physical laws in the next few years as transistors approach the limit of how small they can get. What then?
IBM has an answer in the form of a relatively new technology: carbon nanotubes. Each tube is an atom thick, rolled up in a cylinder (one is shown above). Carbon nanotubes actually conduct electricity better than silicon, have the perfect shape to act as a transistor and, most importantly, can scale smaller.
However, they’re also much harder to work with, which is why no one’s pursued the tech until recently. They have to be aligned perfectly and metallic impurities, which naturally occur, must be completely removed.
IBM has met those challenges, however, not only creating a 10,000-transistor-strong processor based on carbon nanotubes, but doing it with standard semiconductor techniques. That means, should today’s chipmakers end up switching to the technology, they wouldn’t have to spend billions creating new tools and production facilities.
It would also mean Moore’s Law could get a new lease on life, just through a different technology. And the gadget market, which has been reliant on introducing newer and more powerful gadgets year after year, should be safe for another decade at least.
Recently, a yacht that Steve Jobs designed just before he passed away, has been spotted in Europe.
The beautiful large white "Venus" was spotted in the city of Aalsmeer, The Netherlands. Its main design feature is the already-famous minimalist clean white lines that users could see for the first time in the iPod.
The water vehicle is bordered by large glass panels. There're Star Trek-style sliding doors that provide entrance to the main deck.
In the video you can also see an array of seven 27-inch iMacs that display nautical information.
It took Jobs several years to design the yacht and he worked together with the famous contemporary French designer Philippe Starck.
According to some of the information leaked online the length of the yacht is between 70 and 80 meters.
Steve Jobs' yacht Venus unveiled in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands [VIDEO]
For more than four nerve-racking minutes, he was a tiny white speck against a dark sky, hurtling from 24.5 miles above the Earth at up to 834mph.
Then his parachute opened and five minutes later, to the relief of the millions watching, ‘Fearless Felix’ Baumgartner was back on solid ground – having made the
highest and fastest skydive in history.
After flying to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) in a helium-filled balloon, Felix Baumgartner completed a record breaking jump for the ages from the edge of space, exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying in an experimental rocket-powered airplane.
Felix reached a maximum of speed of 1,342.8 km/h (833mph) through the near vacuum of the stratosphere before being slowed by the atmosphere later during his 4:20 minute long freefall.
In the process, the 43-year-old Austrian became the first freefall diver to break the sound barrier, and also broke the record for the highest-ever manned balloon ascent.
For many, it was the first they had heard of ‘Fearless Felix’. But, in fact, his plunge — the highest and fastest yet made by a skydiver — was only the crowning achievement on a career that has seen him make more than 2,600 jumps, most of them utterly terrifying.
Baumgartner has jumped from a plane and flown across the Channel with wings strapped to his back. He’s jumped off the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, and the 101-storey Taipei Tower in Taiwan.
The king of base jumpers, Baumgartner loved nothing better than finding a bridge or building that no one had ever tried to parachute from. He preferred illegal jumps as it was ‘more fun’.
He jumped off anything from the Mandalay Casino in Las Vegas to the Olympic Tower in Munich, but it wasn’t until 1999 that he really grabbed the world’s attention.
In April of that year, he jumped from the 1,479ft Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia — then the world’s highest man-made structure. And, in December, he proved that when it came to base jumping, low jumps could be even more terrifying than high ones when he stepped off the outstretched hand of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue, which is just 95ft high.
The Austrian — whose other passions are boxing, mountain climbing, motocross and rally driving — claims his body is starting to ‘creak’ and that he has plans to ‘retire’ and become a helicopter rescue pilot. We will believe that when we see it.
Felix admits, however, that one thing makes him nervous — his mum fussing and telling him to ‘be careful’ all the time.
One would have thought poor Mrs Baumgartner — holding back the tears as she watched his descent from mission control on Sunday — had given up fretting years ago.
But, then, when it comes to a mother’s love, the sky’s the limit.
Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall from 128k' - Mission Highlights [VIDEO]:
This suitcase is equipped with receivers that communicate with the smartphone in order to make the luggage follow its owner wirelessly, moving on caterpillar tracks based on compressed air.
Dubbed the Hop, the suitcase tries to follow the user at a specific distance. However, in case the distance is too great and the signal is lost, the suitcase instantly locks itself and the user receives a vibration on their phone that informs about it.
Another interesting feature is that the several suitcases can be programmed to follow one another.
There are 3 different bits of tech in the valise that receive, identify and triangulate signals captured from the user's smartphone. The relative location of the suitcase relative to the smartphone is estimated with the help of a microcontroller.
There’s nothing worse than watching your mobile device’s battery slowly slip away, and who wants to lug around a phone charger? Those built-in battery cases are typically clunky and heavy too.
A new Kickstarter project aims to take frustration out of the equation for female iPhone users thanks to a series of stylish wristlet and clutch purses with built-in wireless power. Called the Everpurse, its internal 2500 milliamp battery will keep you going all day and throughout the night, whether you have an iPhone 4, 4S or the latest 5 model. The company plans to develop an Android-compatible Everpurse, as well.
The device starts charging when you place it into one of the purse’s pockets. Everpurse owners will have to eventually charge its battery pack with an AC adapter, which is typical for most charging packs.
“You shouldn’t have to decide between fashion and function,” the company says on its Kickstarter page. “You can leave home early in the morning, go through a full day of work (Facebooking, Instagramming, games, calls and web surfing) and still have hours and hours left of battery when you go out to dinner or party into the early morning.”
Although the project launched earlier this week, it has already accumulated more than $60,000 from backers. But it’s still about $40,000 shy of its target goal. All orders which start at $99 for fabric and $129 for leather come with a charging mat.
Meet hi-Call, a Bluetooth-enabled glove that, when worn allows users to speak on the phone by making the "call me" hand gesture.
The glove is connected paired to the Bluetooth-capable phone, and can work from a distance of up to 12 meters (39 feet). It features a small speaker incorporated into the thumb, a microphone found in the pinkie finger, as well as a multi-purpose button control located on the back to help accept, reject or end calls.
To be able to make calls, the user has to use the phone. However, once the user makes the call, subsequent calls to the same number can be made from the hi-tech glove with the help of "call last number" function.
To charge the built-in lithium-ion battery, the one should use an included USB cable. The battery lasts ten days in standby mode and offers 20 hours of conversation time.
The invention will hit the market next month, being available in grey or black and priced at €49.99 ($64). The user gets the left-hand handset glove, and an ordinary right-hand glove.
Researchers at NTT DoCoMo in Japan are well known for their attempts to propel the mobile phone into more and more areas of our everyday lives, and the latest iteration of this vision involves our health.
NTT DoCoMo’s phone-slash-breathalyzer will tell you if you’re really hungry or not, based on your body reactions.
The phone is actually a modded Toshiba Regza that has been made to work with a breath analyzer attachment to detect the levels of acetone in a person’s breath.
So what does acetone have to do with hunger? Well, when the body starts to burn body fat instead of food, acetone is produced and will be detected in the person’s breath. By detecting the acetone level, the phone can then tell the person to eat up or lay off.
Chinese industrial designers Chengzhu Ruan, Yuanyuan Liu, Xinwei Yuan and Chao Chen have come up with an awesome concept allowing you to transform scrap paper into pencils. There’s not much you can do with paper after you’ve written (or printed) both sides of it. You could use it to wrap stuff up you intend to store or throw away, but that’s about it. But if the LiteOn pencil maker ever gets made, then you can actually use it to make pencils.
It’s a concept that winds up the otherwise useless paper so tight that it forms the body of a pencil. Just feed spare paper it into the machine, wait a while, and voila! You’ve got a brand-spankin’ new customized pencil, ready for you to use. Of course, the lead will be brand new, but I think that’s a pretty easy material to source and feed into the machine. If that's not enough to sell it, it also has a fancy pencil sharpener built in.
Tigra Sport has released it’s latest device called BikeCharge, and with BikeCharge, you can easily charge your smartphone via USB port while you’re cycling. In order to charge your smartphone, you have to attach dynamo to your wheel and place the phone on dedicated mount on your handles, and you’re good to go.
BikeCharge won’t charge your phone as fast as a wall socket, but it will provide enough power to use GPS and music on your smartphone at the same time.
If you like cycling, BikeCharge might be perfect for you, and as for the price, BikeCharge dynamo is priced at $99.99, while the dedicated mount costs $60, and it is sold separately. You can use any third party mount or even make your own.
Recently Samsung has unveiled its brand new Android-powered GALAXY Camera that allows the user to only to take quality images, but also surf the Web wirelessly over Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G networks and share the shots in an instant.
The device boasts a 23 mm, 21x optical zoom lens (F2.8), along with a 16.3-megapixel CMOS sensor, optical image stabilization technology, GPS and a 4.8-inch (121.2mm), HD "Super Clear" LCD display.
Of course the most impressive thing about the camera is the fact that it features a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor that helps run Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). The device can also be connected to Samsung Galaxy smartphone and tablet.
Another impressive feature is voice control of zooming and shooting features. The use will also be able to edit photos and videos onboard.
Currently no information has been given on pricing and release date. Below you can find additional specs for the GALAXY Camera.
-> 4.77-inch, 308 ppi HD Super Clear Touch Display
-> ISO100 - 3200
-> 8 GB on board memory plus micro SDHC/SDSC/SDXC memory slot
-> Full HD video 1920 x 1080 at 30 fps
-> Slow motion movie capture (720 x 480 at 120 fps)
-> HDMI video output
-> Dimensions: 128.7 x 70.8 x 19.1 mm
-> Weight: 305 g
How about a car that works at your nod and wink? Engineers have come up with a whole new way driving using just facial expressions after creating a gadget that controls a car's functions using nods and winks.
The infra-red sensor is mounted on the dash board and recognises the driver's facial expression to control the car. A computer concealed inside the car translates the gestures which corresponds to a list of commands for the radio, Sat Nav, heating and mobile phone.
The gestures, which are being tested before they are finalised, include a wink to turn the radio and music player on and off. The technology is meant to be able to differentiate between an accidental blink and a wink by the length of time of the action before turning the radio on or off.
Drivers can nod left to turn the volume up and right to turn it down while a tap on the steering wheel to skip the station or song. Motorists can even make a phone call by making the 'lifting the receiver gesture' with their hand and dial by saying the name of the person they wish call.
Motorists can even control the air conditioning and heating by raising and lowering their left hand above the gear stick which has another computer sensor mounted inside. The technology means drivers would be able to control the functions inside the car without being distracted from the road.
Engineers from global infotainment specialists Harman have created a prototype car which could hit the roads in two years time.
Hans Roth, director of technology at Harman, said: 'It’s all about reducing distractions in the car. If you don’t have to take your hands off the wheel or look down then it’s obviously safer. We are still testing a list of gestures which could be standard for all cars across the world.'
CAR CONTROL GESTURES
These basic gestures are being testing around the globe to find the ideal system that can be used in countries around the world:
Wink - To turn the radio on and off. Nod left - Turn the volume up. Nod right - Turn the volume down. Tap finger on steering wheel - Skip radio channel or song. Left hand up (above gear stick) - Turn the heating on. Left hand down (above gear stick) - Turn the air-conditioning on. Phone gesture - To make a call.
Battery operated mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are still lagging behind laptops and desktops in sheer computing power.
An Israeli researcher, however, is tweaking their RAM to bring them on par with their bigger cousins, so that they can run various programs just as smoothly and simultaneously, even with a tiny battery.
Elad Mentovich, doctoral candidate at the Tel Aviv University, is relying on carbon molecule called C60, to build a sophisticated memory transistor that can both transfer and store energy, eliminating the need for a capacitor (energy storage device).
"When this new technology is integrated into future devices, you will have much more memory on your smartphones and tablets, approaching the level of a laptop. With that kind of memory, you'll be able to run applications simultaneously, and because it is low voltage, power consumption will fall and battery life will be longer," said Mentovich.
This molecular memory transistor stores and disseminates information at high speed - and it's ready to be produced at existing high-tech fabrication facilities. Major companies have already expressed interest in the technology, says Mentovich.
Places where people often witness an abundant amount of snow in winter face a serious problem linked with roads. Billions of dollars are spent each year to remove the snow and repair the roads damaged by the weather.
In order to solve the problem, a researcher named Rajib Mallick proposed solar powered road systems. The systems would store the power of the sun to help clear streets and possibly provide an alternative source of electricity.
Mallick's idea is to embed pavement with fluid-filled pipes. The fluid, which would be resistant to freezing, would be heated by the sun and stored in an insulated chamber. When ice and snow hit the roads, the heated fluid could be released to melt the snow. The heat from the fluid could also be used to provide electricity to nearby buildings.
The project's cost is estimated at $12,500 for every 50 meters of pipe, plus annual maintenance costs of $1,000. But Mallick tells the system could pay for itself in six months while also providing enough electricity to heat 55 homes for one month a year.
It looks like a wisp of smoke or even the work of a very confused spider, but this is actually a close up of the lightest material that has ever been created.
Lighter than air? Nearly. A newly developed substance called Aerographite is now the lightest material in the world, constructed of 99.9 percent air.
Previous record holder for lightest stuff ever made includes aerogel, which was used by NASA to collect dust from a comet with a density of just 1 milligram per centimetre cubed. That was recently beaten by the metallic microlattice, which upped the stakes to 0.9 mg/cm³. This metallic material is also nearly 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. Now there is aerographite, which easily smashes the previous record. With a density of less than 0.2 mg/cm³.
Researchers at the Hamburg University of Technology and the University of Kiel, both in Germany, made it from a network of hollow carbon tubes grown at nano and micro scales. As the electron microscope picture above shows, it is mostly empty space, though if you held a clump in your hand, it would look like a black sponge.
Its sparse nature means aerographite can be compressed by a factor of a thousand, only to spring back to its original size. The material can also support 35 times more weight than the same mass of aerogel. Aerographite's ability to conduct electricity means it might also find a use as part of an ultra-lightweight battery.
A Swedish company has invented a charger for mobile phones, cameras and GPS devices that can power-up your electronic gadgets with little more than water.
The PowerTrekk has been designed for people who 'who spend time away from the electricity grid' and do not have access to conventional power in remote locations. The charger needs just a tablespoon of water to produce around 10 hours of phone battery life.
The invention works with any device that has a USB port and with almost any type of water, including salt water. It can even run on puddle water providing it isn't thickened with mud or any other sediment.
"PowerTrekk has a competitive edge over traditional portable chargers" said Björn Westerholm of myFC, the company behind PowerTrekk.
Fuel cell power is generated immediately and charging is not impacted by weather or the position of the sun, as for solar panels. Compared to battery powered travel chargers, PowerTrekk offers reliable charging as the fuel packs do not deplete as batteries do.
The process is easy for users. The sodium is stored in a small round container called a PowerPukk. The PowerPukk slots into one half of an outer container. In the other half is a tiny water tank, into which you pour the water. Once the lid is sealed on the outer container the chemical reaction begins automatically and the PowerTrekk is ready to use.
The chemistry process is said to be safe and eco-friendly, and the only by-product is a little water vapor.
Mechanical engineers and roboticists working at MIT have developed an intelligent automobile co-pilot that sits in the background and only interferes if you’re about to have an accident. If you fall asleep, for example, the co-pilot activates and keeps you on the road until you wake up again.
MIT co-pilot uses an on-board camera and laser rangefinder to identify obstacles. These obstacles are then combined with various data points such as the driver’s performance, and the car’s speed, stability, and physical characteristics to create constraints. The co-pilot stays completely silent unless you come close to breaking one of these constraints which might be as simple as a car in front braking quickly, or as complex as taking a corner too quickly. When this happens, a ton of robotics under the hood take over, only passing back control to the driver when the car is safe.
This intelligent co-pilot is starkly contrasted with Google’s self-driving cars, which are completely computer-controlled unless you lean forward, put your hands on the wheel and take over.
The video below does a fairly good job of explaining the system:
We are living in an extremely exciting time in terms of science and technology. Things that have always been considered science fiction are becoming normal day-to-day components of our lives. And while we have been seeing invention breakthrough over and over in the last couple of decades, the next ten years is going to blow everything else out of the water. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this reality, here are 10 amazing innovations to different sectors of life.
1) Architecture
Revolving Tower in Dubai
While Dubai is currently known for it’s ridiculous extravagance, developers in the region are building a tower that has fancy and extremely practical applications.
This beautiful building is going to be made of 59 independently rotating modules/floors so that inhabitants will have a constantly shifting view of the outside world. Each floor will rotate at approximately 6 meters per minute so that the inhabitants will not notice the movement. The independent rotations will also give the building an ever-changing exterior that can warp into very complex designs.
All of that aesthetic stuff is great and all, but the real innovation comes from the wind turbines built in between each floor. The resulting pollution-free energy will be enough to power the tower and several buildings in the surrounding area. Just Wow.
2) Bio Technology
Bionic Hand controlled by brain signals
It doesn’t let you crush rocks like you would think, BUT it does allow people without fingers to have fully functional hands that can pick up and handle delicate objects. It is completely controlled by the brain and requires no surgery. Touch Bionics, the company the produces the Pro Digits hand, is able to install the hand complete with “living skin,” a plastic covering resembling human skin, for under $50,000.
3) Cars and Fuel
Electric Car to Power Your Home
There are tons of different fuel-types for the “automobiles of tomorrow” but the only kind that seems to have any realistic chance of actually being used by the masses in the next ten years is electric. A new charging station for the all-electric Nissan Leaf allowing users to pull power from the car to for use in their home.
It allows power to flow in both directions so that the house can power the car and the car can also power the house. This kind of interconnected smart technology that only uses the power it needs and actually gives back some power that it doesn’t need is truly remarkable. It’s something that’s been talked about for years and is finally coming to market.
4) How We Interact With the World
Google Glasses With Virtual And Augmented Reality
Google is expected to start selling eyeglasses that will project information, entertainment and many more information onto the lenses. These glasses will have the combined features of virtual reality and augmented reality. The glasses are not yet for sale. Google will, however, be testing them in public.
The Google Glasses can use a 4G cell connection to pull in information from Google’s mountain of data and display info about the real world in augmented reality on the lens in front of your eye. As you turn your head you’ll get information about your surroundings and nearby objects from Google Goggles, info on buildings and establishments from Google Maps, even your friends nearby check-ins from Latitude.
Google glasses are basically wearable computers, that will use the same Android software that powers Android smartphones and tablets. Like smartphones and tablets, the glasses will be equipped with GPS and motion sensors. They will also contain a camera and audio inputs and outputs.
Project Glass is one of many projects currently being built inside the Google X offices, a secretive laboratory near Google’s main Mountain View, Calif., campus where engineers and scientists are also working on robots and space elevators.
5) Energy
Sandia’s solar cells
Solar energy will soon leave fossil fuels and inefficient wind farms in the dust. According to Kurzweil, “the cost per watt of solar energy is coming down rapidly and the total amount of solar energy is growing exponentially. It has in fact been doubling every two years for the past 20 years and is now only eight doublings away from meeting all of the world’s energy needs.”
Emerging technology from a company called Sandia is making the reality that much closer.
Sandia’s solar cells are made of 100 times less material than the current top solar cells while operating at the same efficiency. Since the biggest hurdle in the path of solar power is the expensive and large nature of solar panels, these new microscopic cells will make a huge difference. For example, current panels are massive and require large motors to move them to track the sun. Sandia’s cells, on the other hand, would only need to be moved a fraction of a millimeter to track the sun efficiently while weighing next to nothing.
Even more amazing, they can be suspended in liquids and printed on flexible materials, allowing the cells to be places on any surface
6) Health
A company called Organovo has developed the first commercial 3-D bio printer that builds custom organs cell-by-cell. Each individual cell is based upon sample cells from the body of the customer. Organovo reports that veins and arteries will be available in 5 years, and more complex organs like hearts and livers in 10.
On a more general note, nanotechnology is revolutionizing the health world. The awesome combination of a higher understanding of how DNA works and the ability to create very small cellular parts is painting a very bright future for medicine.
Scientists are finding specific sequences of DNA that code for conditions like schizophrenia, autism and even aging. The cures are actually in sight.
7) Computer Speed, Size and Usability
Most people know of Moore’s Law from 1965 (the number of transistors we are able to cheaply put in computer chips doubles every year, thereby doubling the speed). However, most people don’t know that Moore, himself, came out and said his law will most likely fail finally in 2020 where the number of transistors we can put on chips will be limited by the laws of physics. Does this mean the exponential rise in computer processing speed will come to a halt in ten years?
Not a chance, says Jim Tully, chief of research for semi-conductors at Gartner. “The technology which will replace this is a bottom-up approach, where chips will be assembled using individual atoms or molecules, a type of nanotechnology.”
Ray Kurzweil, a well-respected Futurist, stated when this molecular computing technology comes out in 2020, computers will have the intellectual capability of human beings.
That Macbook Air, so thin, in fact, that it makes you wonder if physical computers will even exist in 2020. Well according to developers at Intel, the keyboard and mouse surely won’t. Who needs QWERTY when you can control a computer with your mind?
“We’re trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves,” said Intel researcher Dean Pomerleau. Eventually people may be willing to be more committed to brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts.
8) Clothing
Nanotechnology in Clothing
Nano-fibres will make garments tremendously more comfortable and durable. By this process the textile products can be made more attractive, strong and responsive to customers’ choice.
Fiber-based nanogenerators will build up electrical energy in clothing from physical movement, ultrasonic waves and even blood flow. If we can combine many of these fibers in double or triple layers in clothing, we could provide a flexible, foldable and wearable power source that, for example, would allow people to generate their own electrical current while walking.
Extremely hydrophobic (water-resistant) nanofilaments allow for completely waterproof clothing. It can be submerged in water for two months and still remain dry to the touch.
9) Success and Popularity Accessibility
The internet is the perfect tool for capitalism, entrepreneurship, and dreaming. Whatever you can dream up, you can make possible on the World Wide Web
The ability of a 'Nobody' to come from nowhere and suddenly gain recognition and become a well known someone. The internet has been continually leveling the playing field so that you don’t need million in capital or marketing to get your ideas, creations and business into the spotlight.
Many 10 year-olds are making thousands off their viral YouTube videos. Anyone with a business idea can start a website and get going for little to no capital. Even Twitter can launch people into the spotlight if they can work the system in the right way.
Many people are getting huge jobs because companies are seeing how well their content does on the web. For example, Fede Alvarez, a director from Uruguay, recently had this short film go viral and was offered $30 million from a Hollywood company to direct a film for them.
10) Robots
The first decade of the 21st century has been a remarkable time for innovation in robotics. Recently a robot was able to teach itself human facial expressions by randomly contorting its face and receiving feedback on what resembled real expressions.
Bipedal version of BigDog that walks heel-to-toe just like humans do. Again, it can regain balance when shoved.
Wouldn't it be great if you could take a photo with your eyes, just by blinking?
In the future, we might be able to do just that! Design engineer Mimi Zou is working on a prototype of a new type of camera that is controlled by the eye. Dubbed "Iris," the camera uses eye-tracking tech and biometric detection to make it utterly simple for taking photos.
Eye-tracking controls the mechanics of the camera -- you squint slightly to zoom, open your eyes to zoom out and you blink twice to take a picture.Though Zou has a working prototype, a final product is a ways off. Still, even if we never see Iris in the wild, chances are, eye-tracking tech will find its way to future cameras.
The real innovation of the camera is that it will not only react to eye movements, but instead develop a relationship with its user over time. When a user picks up the camera, it scans his/her iris and can immediately determine his identity as long as he/she is registered his/her biometric data in the camera’s software. Once it recognizes the user, the camera automatically pulls down a series of previously created preferences.
Another proposed feature, like the recently featured Google Glass, is biometric recognition to identify the subjects in the pictures. To participate these subjects would need to provide their consent and biometric information, which would be stored on a proprietary Iris server.
Using the camera’s built in wifi capabilities, would both help the camera identify its subjects and tell it whether they wanted their photos sent to a particular location like a cloud or Facebook.
The final product seems to be a long way off, if it happens at all, but Zou is optimistic that Iris could eventually make it to market.
IBM Research announced the prototype of a mobile app that can act as a personal shopping assistant in stores.
The mobile app could be branded and provided by retailers. Consumers would download the app and then input products they’re shopping for and their selection criteria.
On the front end, here’s how it would work: Upon entering a store, consumers download the app on their smart phone or tablet, register, and create a profile of features that matter to them – from product ingredients that will inflame an allergy, to whether packaging is biodegradable. When the shopper views a product via the camera viewfinder, the app recognizes it and, via augmented reality technology, overlays digital details on the image, such as ingredients, price, reviews, and discounts that apply that day.
IBM Research thinks that the app can help retailers offer marketing – in the form of product information, coupons or suggestions for related products – that would be welcomed by consumers. At the same time, the data it produces can give retailers insights into consumer trends.
A new charging station for the all-electric Nissan Leaf allowing users to pull power from the car to for use in their home. The Japanese company Nichicon debuted the charging station late last month. Called the “Vehicle to Home EV Power Station”, the air conditioner-sized device can charge a Nissan Leaf to 80% capacity in about 4 hours — about twice the speed of a conventional charger.
However, the really neat thing about the Nichicon charger is that it is the first commercially available charger built with Nissan’s Leaf to Home technology. In short, it allows power to flow in both directions so that the house can power the car and the car can also power the house.
This unique capability has two main uses. The first is that in an emergency situation, the car can be used as power source for the home. The car’s high-capacity battery is capable of powering a typical household for up to two days.
More interesting is the charger’s ability to keep the Leaf connected to power grid as a power source. In this scenario, the charging station recharges the vehicle at night when demand for power is lower, and draws some power from the vehicle during the day when demand for power peaks. This could not only help lower electricity bills for a household, but also could improve efficiency across the grid.
This kind of interconnected smart technology that only uses the power it needs and actually gives back some power that it doesn’t need is truly remarkable. It’s something that’s been talked about for years and is finally coming to market.
You know that you can control your laptop with your mouse, trackpad, and keyboard-and you may even know that you can control your laptop with your voice, and maybe elaborate gestures thanks to motion-tracking devices such as Microsoft's Kinect. But did you know that you can also control your laptop with your eyes?
Sweden-based Tobii Technology has developed eye-tracking technology that allows you to control your laptop and other devices using only your eyes. All you have to do is sit down in front of the computer.
Tobii is built into the laptop, which is made by Lenovo, and is located below the screen. It works by shooting infrared lights into your eyes to cause red-eye which sounds dangerous, but they assure it's perfectly safe. By doing this, Tobii is able to create a 3D model of your eyeball and determine where your eye is relative to space. It then tracks the glint off of your eyeball to determine where your foveal vision, or sharp central vision, is, and, consequently, where you're looking.
Initially there's some calibration, but it's pretty quick and easy. All you have to do is sit down in front of the computer and follow the flashing dots on the screen with your eyes-there are about five in total. This is a one time calibration, as once you've calibrated it the computer knows where your eyes are. Once the calibration is finished which takes about thirty seconds, you can start eye-controlling your device right away.
There are a couple of other uses for Tobii technology. For example, the technology can track your eye movement when you're reading a document and automatically scroll down when you reach the end of the page. Also, the technology allows you to zoom into a particular area of the screen just by looking at that part of the screen and using your mouse's scroll wheel.
However, Tobii technology is not a replacement for your mouse or your keyboard, since you can't blink to click or anything cool like that, it's just an additional way to interact with your device.
The famous Japanese computer hardware and IT service company, Fujitsu, has recently presented the world's first biodegradable computer mouse.
The firm's optical mouse, dubbed, M440 ECO, has a PVC-free USB cable and is composed of Arboform and Biograde, materials used in the company's keyboard that was launched earlier.
The optical mouse does not have any special exterior features that would help differentiate it from other computer mice. However, instead of using the traditional plastic, engineers made use of Arboform, a material that is based on a by-product of lignin (a paper-making process) and Biograde.
According to Fujitsu, the mouse's outer shell boasts more elasticity than other biodegradable materials. The company also mentioned that if users switch to its new eco-friendly mouse, it would be possible to save approximately 60,000 kilograms of plastic per year.
Converge Docking Station comes with four USB outlets, and what makes this docking station special is the “stash” ability that hides your USB cables and keeps your docking station neat. This docking station measures 310mm (w) x 100mm (h) x 130mm (d), and it comes with a sleek design that will allow you to display your devices while charging them.
Converge Docking Station can recharge four USB devices simultaneously and you can bottom-charge your devices, such as smartphones, or even side-charge your devices such as digital cameras. As for compatibility, Converge Docking Station is fully compatible with most USB devices except BlackBerry Torch, BlackBerry Curve and Barnes & Noble Nook devices.
Converge Docking Station is a sleek docking station, and it will be great if you need to recharge several devices at the same time while keeping your workspace neat. As for the price, Converge Docking Station is priced at $39.99.
Check out this appealing timepiece called the Wall Switch Watch.
The main feature of the device lies in it time display - to be able to see the current time you have to click the dial that resembles a switch.
Although the watch does not boast a myriad of features, it is still able to display the time and date. Designers decided to enrich the minimalistic digital presentation of time and date with a little bit of animation.
Check out the video below to see the timepiece in action.
NTT DoCoMo has come up with a smartphone that works by touching the front and back of its transparent screen. NTT DoCoMo has worked on the prototype together with Fujitsu.
By touching the back of the display the user can scroll the screen. Thus they will not obscure the display. Besides, the user can slide down notification bar with ease using the index finger.
With the help of the new screen one can hold down an icon on the front side of the display, and slide on the back to move an icon. They can also use the message bar, or make a new application.
The smartphone boasts a QVGA (320 x 240) display that measures 2.4 inches. But the company could increase the size of the screen before launching the device onto the market. One of the drawbacks of the handset is that it has low brightness compared to other smartphones. This means that you will have problems reading the display in bright places. According to the company's representatives, DoCoMo plans to solve the issue.
Owning a family car is great when you and your partner live and work along the same commute route. But for folks who need to travel in separate directions more often, the only real practical thing to do is to either own two cars or two 2-wheelers or have a system in place where one of them has to travel by public transport system most of the time. To make owning and using a practical family vehicle for people with diverse commuting needs like these, designer Andrej Kregar has created the 2-N-1 2Wheela concept vehicle.
The first of its kind, the 2Wheela is a concept vehicle that merges the practicality of super-compacts with the spaciousness of vans. Confused?! It’s actually 2 cars in 1! The modular system features 2 sporty looking cars that can be joined at the ends when you need the extra room or want to travel as a group. When it’s time to split, simply pull over, detach, and go your separate ways! Thanks to the designer Andrej Kregar.
2-N-1 2Wheela vehicle gives a couple the space to carry a whole family and their cargo. The vehicle runs on in-wheel motors powered by a battery pack and features a front opening as well as a back door on both vehicles. This capricious design is still in its conceptual stage. However, the designer has divulged some primary attributes about the futuristic vehicle. These include the powertrain of low emission electric motors, a comprehensive system control and a stability computer for regulating the fusion and detachment of cars.
A hotel in Berlin decided to welcome its guest with the world's largest cylindrical aquarium that boasts more than 1,500 tropical fish of 56 species. The aquarium, dubbed Aquadom, is can be found in the Radisson Blu Hotel. It is filled with 260,000 gallons of water and features a mini reef that serves as the base.
Two full time scuba divers work in the tank, taking care of the fish and their habitat. Besides being able to observe the tank from any angle, guests also have the opportunity to ride the elevator that runs through a tube in the center of the cylindrical aquarium. The elevator takes guests up to a viewing platform located just under the glass roof of Radisson Blu.
Probably the most interesting thing is that the aquarium was not built inside the hotel - the latter was constructed around the already existing aquarium.
Researchers are working on a special material that would make it possible for people to drink their favorite juice and afterwards easily get rid of the bottle by simply eating it. The bottle is going to be made of a special biodegradable plastic mixed with food particles. Its taste will be the same as the taste of the drink.
The material, from which the bottle will be made, is called WikiCells, and it consists of natural food membrane that has liquid inside a biodegradable shell. WikiCells, the material of the edible bottles was developed by professor David Edwards at Harvard University. It consists of natural food membrane with liquid within biodegradable shell.
The new technology will solve the problem of plastic bottles, which exacerbates the environmental burden. So far the specialists were able to create tomato membrane with gazpacho soup, orange membrane with orange juice, grape membrane with wine and chocolate membrane with hot chocolate.
The edible membrane could be produced with the help of special WikiCells Machine and will be available in restaurants, but Edwards hopes it will soon appear in supermarkets and stores.
