This is the Future: Use Your Electric Car to Power Your Home

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.

Have a look at this video

Technology That Allows You To Control Your Laptop Using Your Eyes

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.

World's First Biodegradable Computer Mouse from Fujitsu

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 chargers your USB devices and keeps your workspace neat

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.

Wall Switch Watch - Check Your Time By Pressing the Light Switch on the Timepiece

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.

Smartphone with Double-Sided See-Through Touchscreen

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.

Have a look at this video