Citizen rolls out (literally) Eco-Be mini-bot: "Filed under: Robots
Now this is more like it! Unlike more agressive and downright frightening bots such as the BigDog (and if you don't think it's frightening, be sure to check out the video!), Citizen's Eco-Be is an inch-tall robot powered -- of course -- by a watch battery. Looking for all the world like a shrunken Zippo, Eco-Be is capable of rolling back and forth, executing side-to-side turns, and very little else. Bring it on, Citizen! We'll tackle this one with one pinky. Just don't let it call BigDog in for help!
2006-03-06
Advertising On Chocolate
Advertising On Chocolate: "
If you liked the chocolate business card, you will love all this other wonderfully sweet branded stuff from Choco Logo. 'Due to the special printing technology very fine details can be printed. We can even use artworks with grayscales and therefore practically print any black & white photo.'
If you liked the chocolate business card, you will love all this other wonderfully sweet branded stuff from Choco Logo. 'Due to the special printing technology very fine details can be printed. We can even use artworks with grayscales and therefore practically print any black & white photo.'
2006-03-03
Custom Photo Pencils
Custom Photo Pencils: "
Nothing groundbreaking here, just a bunch of really nice pencils with custom photo imprints.
Nothing groundbreaking here, just a bunch of really nice pencils with custom photo imprints.
2006-02-28
Hermann: another round of pulling the perfect pint
Hermann: another round of pulling the perfect pint: "Filed under: Household, Robots
Pulling the perfect pint -- manually or otherwise -- seems to be something of a long standing obsession across the pond, and more than one beer-pouring robot and device has been whipped up in occasion of this grand pursuit. The latest, Hermann, is the fruit of the efforts of one Professor Thomas Weber and his 23 scients students at the Dutch Technical University of Darmstadt, whom set out to design a robot that would cost under £53 ($92 US) that could pull the perfect pint. Can Hermann really do it? Weber says so -- but he's not sharing sharing much in the way of the secret of their success. (The device pictured is David Stevenson's homer, from 2004.)
Pulling the perfect pint -- manually or otherwise -- seems to be something of a long standing obsession across the pond, and more than one beer-pouring robot and device has been whipped up in occasion of this grand pursuit. The latest, Hermann, is the fruit of the efforts of one Professor Thomas Weber and his 23 scients students at the Dutch Technical University of Darmstadt, whom set out to design a robot that would cost under £53 ($92 US) that could pull the perfect pint. Can Hermann really do it? Weber says so -- but he's not sharing sharing much in the way of the secret of their success. (The device pictured is David Stevenson's homer, from 2004.)
US Army testing Stryker robot tank
US Army testing Stryker robot tank: "Filed under: Robots, Transportation
Engineers with the US Army recently completed tests on a 20-ton unmanned Stryker vehicle, intended to be used as part of a convoy. In the tests, the robot vehicle was able to follow a manned vehicle at speeds averaging 22 miles per hour, topping out at 40 on straightaways. The robotank was also able to detect obstacles laid down by the lead vehicle and maneuver around them. One of the big advantages of the vehicle appears to be the ability to operate without GPS, instead relying on terrain data sent from the lead vehicle and data gathered from on-board sensors; soldiers will remain in the vehicles for now, but in the future, these mech-warriors could be used for tasks like resupplying forces in dangerous environments.
Engineers with the US Army recently completed tests on a 20-ton unmanned Stryker vehicle, intended to be used as part of a convoy. In the tests, the robot vehicle was able to follow a manned vehicle at speeds averaging 22 miles per hour, topping out at 40 on straightaways. The robotank was also able to detect obstacles laid down by the lead vehicle and maneuver around them. One of the big advantages of the vehicle appears to be the ability to operate without GPS, instead relying on terrain data sent from the lead vehicle and data gathered from on-board sensors; soldiers will remain in the vehicles for now, but in the future, these mech-warriors could be used for tasks like resupplying forces in dangerous environments.
Pretty view but watch that first step
Pretty view but watch that first step: "The view in from GEO on 4/12/2018
And from the vicinity of the bitter end, 100,000 kilometers out
Higher res versions can be found here (GEO) and here (100,000 k). The simulated view can’t be beat.
Via Celestia, a steller open-source astronomy application.
And from the vicinity of the bitter end, 100,000 kilometers out
Higher res versions can be found here (GEO) and here (100,000 k). The simulated view can’t be beat.
Via Celestia, a steller open-source astronomy application.
Researchers Unlock How Cells Determine Their Functions
Researchers Unlock How Cells Determine Their Functions: "Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have discovered a molecular mechanism directing the fate and function of cells during animal development. The findings could hold promise for the advancement of cancer and stem-cell research.
2006-02-27
gizmag Article: Motorola invests in Micro Fuel Cell Power Source for Mobile Products
gizmag Article: Motorola invests in Micro Fuel Cell Power Source for Mobile Products: "November 9, 2005 Motorola has made a strategic investment in North American micro fuel cell developer Tekion with a view to the inevitable rise of the fuel cell as a power source for mobile products. Tekion is driven by the mission to take mobile devices 'off the grid'. By integrating advanced battery technology with micro fuel cell technology, Tekion is creating a new 'personal power source', known as the Formira Power Pack, that will fit inside mobile products and enable consumers to stay connected for as long as needed. Tekion's technology provides a competitive advantage for portable electronic products in the power range of milliwatts to 50 watts and energy range of 10 to 100 watt-hours. Several products and markets fall within these power and energy levels including: industrial handheld computers, satellite communication devices, notebook PCs, and other mobile products.
Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Bacteria Turns Styrofoam into Biodegradable Plastic
Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Bacteria Turns Styrofoam into Biodegradable Plastic: "Bacteria are everywhere, silently going about their business of breaking down cellulose, fermenting foods or fixing nitrogen in the soil, among a host of other activities. Given their ubiquity and diversity of functions, biotechnologists have been searching for new uses for different strains of the microscopic organisms, such as consuming oil spills or even capturing images. Now biologists at the University College Dublin in Ireland have found that a strain of Pseudomonas putida can exist quite happily on a diet of pure styrene oil--the oil remnant of superheated Styrofoam--and, in the process, turn the environmental problem into a useful, biodegradable plastic.
2006-02-22
Quantum computer works best switched off
Quantum computer works best switched off: "A quantum computer program has produced an answer without actually running - can the crazy world of quantum mechanics get any weirder?
"
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Pinnacle PCTV USB Stick puts digital TV on your screen
Pinnacle PCTV USB Stick puts digital TV on your screen: "Filed under: Portable Video
Adding a digital TV tuner to your laptop is now as easy as putting a thumbdrive into a USB port -- if you live in Europe or Australia, that is. Pinnacle Systems has launched the PCTV USB Stick, a tiny digital tuner that looks like a thumbdrive, and comes with a handy remote and software to save shows in DivX and other formats. Plug it into your USB port, and you have full access to terrestrial digital broadcasts using the DVB-T standard, which has been adopted in much of Europe and Australia. The rest of us will just have to settle for BitTorrent.
Adding a digital TV tuner to your laptop is now as easy as putting a thumbdrive into a USB port -- if you live in Europe or Australia, that is. Pinnacle Systems has launched the PCTV USB Stick, a tiny digital tuner that looks like a thumbdrive, and comes with a handy remote and software to save shows in DivX and other formats. Plug it into your USB port, and you have full access to terrestrial digital broadcasts using the DVB-T standard, which has been adopted in much of Europe and Australia. The rest of us will just have to settle for BitTorrent.
2006-02-21
Magazine in a Bottle
Magazine in a Bottle: "
(image: Gizmag)
Australia's iLove magazine will distribute copies hidden behind the the labels on water bottles. The 32 page A7 magazine will include 10 pages of advertising per issue with the circulation of each edition reaching 2,000,000 by March, 2005 and will be distributed though grocery chains.
(image: Gizmag)
Australia's iLove magazine will distribute copies hidden behind the the labels on water bottles. The 32 page A7 magazine will include 10 pages of advertising per issue with the circulation of each edition reaching 2,000,000 by March, 2005 and will be distributed though grocery chains.
Best Slashdot Comment .. Ever
Best Slashdot Comment .. Ever: "Well maybe not ever but it’s pretty good.
Does the firm (that would be Liftport - Editor) have any ideas on how to avoid tremendous death and destruction if this immensely long cable were to fall to the Earth, possibly hitting certain areas twice as badly if it were long enough to wrap more than once around?
Yes. They’re going to deploy a massive cushion [wikipedia.org] around the Earth, consisting of a total of about 5000 trillion metric tons of gas. Roughly 78% will be nitrogen, and 21% will be oxygen.
If the cable breaks, the lower half will encounter this cushion at extremely high velocities, ripping it apart and causing it to flutter harmlessly to the ground.
No news about whether or not they’ll patent the idea.
Haw.
Does the firm (that would be Liftport - Editor) have any ideas on how to avoid tremendous death and destruction if this immensely long cable were to fall to the Earth, possibly hitting certain areas twice as badly if it were long enough to wrap more than once around?
Yes. They’re going to deploy a massive cushion [wikipedia.org] around the Earth, consisting of a total of about 5000 trillion metric tons of gas. Roughly 78% will be nitrogen, and 21% will be oxygen.
If the cable breaks, the lower half will encounter this cushion at extremely high velocities, ripping it apart and causing it to flutter harmlessly to the ground.
No news about whether or not they’ll patent the idea.
Haw.
2006-02-20
WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Xerox PARC Takes on Clean, Green Technology
WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Xerox PARC Takes on Clean, Green Technology: "The Palo Alto Research Center, the storied Xerox subsidiary responsible for many of the computer world's breakthrough technologies, is making a move into clean technology and sustainable products and services. It's a watershed moment of sorts: the birthplace of today's user-friendly computing wants to be the birthplace of tomorrow's clean and green innovations.
PARC, as it's more commonly known, recent launched a Clean Technology Initiative, focused on key areas of clean and sustainable technologies: solar, energy distribution, energy conservation and efficiency, clean water, air quality, and some paper-reduction technologies (the latter, of course, aimed at Xerox's core business).
The initiative evolved over the past year, like many PARC projects do, as a grassroots initiative based on 'the instincts and interests of PARC's research community,' Jennifer Ernst, PARC's communication manager, told me recently. The group brought in speakers and held roundtable discussions to learn more about the sustainability and clean-tech space. 'We started carving out places where we thought we could make a difference.'
The first result of those efforts, just announced, is a partnership with SolFocus, Inc., which is developing concentrator photovoltaic systems. SolFocus aims to employ PARC technology to cut the cost of solar power
PARC, as it's more commonly known, recent launched a Clean Technology Initiative, focused on key areas of clean and sustainable technologies: solar, energy distribution, energy conservation and efficiency, clean water, air quality, and some paper-reduction technologies (the latter, of course, aimed at Xerox's core business).
The initiative evolved over the past year, like many PARC projects do, as a grassroots initiative based on 'the instincts and interests of PARC's research community,' Jennifer Ernst, PARC's communication manager, told me recently. The group brought in speakers and held roundtable discussions to learn more about the sustainability and clean-tech space. 'We started carving out places where we thought we could make a difference.'
The first result of those efforts, just announced, is a partnership with SolFocus, Inc., which is developing concentrator photovoltaic systems. SolFocus aims to employ PARC technology to cut the cost of solar power
Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity Genes -- [ BIOTECHNOLOGY ] -- A handful of genes that control the
Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity Genes -- [ BIOTECHNOLOGY ] -- A handful of genes that control the body's defenses during hard times can also dramatically improve health and prolong life in diverse organisms. Understanding how they work may reveal the keys to extending human life span while banishing diseases of old age: "You can assume quite a bit about the state of a used car just from its mileage and model year. The wear and tear of heavy driving and the passage of time will have taken an inevitable toll. The same appears to be true of aging in people, but the analogy is flawed because of a crucial difference between inanimate machines and living creatures: deterioration is not inexorable in biological systems, which can respond to their environments and use their own energy to defend and repair themselves.
air to water technology goes mobile
air to water technology goes mobile: "February 20, 2006 With around 20% of the world’s population struggling to get adequate supplies of safe drinking water, the rapid evolution of air-water technology (which extracts water from the air) could well become one of the most significant enabling technologies in the history of mankind. We’ve already awarded the invention of the century, but we believe air-water technology is close to being equally as significant as it will enable man to begin to reconsider the cultivation of vast tracts of previously inhospitable land. Believe it or not, there are approximately 4000 cubic miles of water in the earth’s atmosphere, which accounts for why it rains, why air conditioning units extract water from the air, and how Atmospheric Water Technologies’ machinery manages to extract thousands of litres of drinkable water per day from thin air. We wrote up the technology in detail 18 months ago, but things have changed a lot in the short time since that first article. Now the company produces an AW100i model which combines water extraction from the atmosphere with a built-in icemaker to make a unit that can be powered from a generator and produce 50 litre of ice and 50 litres of drinkable water per day. More significantly, the company has now developed a mobile version of its air-to-water machine known as the aw1000m (caution: large WMV video file).
The Segway creator's next entrepreneurial spin - Feb. 16, 2006
The Segway creator's next entrepreneurial spin - Feb. 16, 2006: "San Francisco (Business 2.0) - Dean Kamen, the engineer who invented the Segway, is puzzling over a new equation these days. An estimated 1.1 billion people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water, and an estimated 1.6 billion don't have electricity. Those figures add up to a big problem for the world—and an equally big opportunity for entrepreneurs.
To solve the problem, he's invented two devices, each about the size of a washing machine that can provide much-needed power and clean water in rural villages.
'Eighty percent of all the diseases you could name would be wiped out if you just gave people clean water,' says Kamen. 'The water purifier makes 1,000 liters of clean water a day, and we don't care what goes into it. And the power generator makes a kilowatt off of anything that burns.'
To solve the problem, he's invented two devices, each about the size of a washing machine that can provide much-needed power and clean water in rural villages.
'Eighty percent of all the diseases you could name would be wiped out if you just gave people clean water,' says Kamen. 'The water purifier makes 1,000 liters of clean water a day, and we don't care what goes into it. And the power generator makes a kilowatt off of anything that burns.'
Petabyte disks coming in 5 years?
Petabyte disks coming in 5 years?: "Filed under: Storage
Mmmm, 1.2 petabytes (1,024 terabytes) of storage on a single tiny disk. Just imagine the bragging rights if you sported that kind of er, package in your pocket. Well, that's what inventor Philip Michael Thomas claims to be packing via his non-contact optical spintronics approach to data storage. See Thomas has succeeded in coaxing electrons to spin in the same direction as opposed to current data storage methods which are hapless in the face of electron flip. Controlling the spin allows for smaller, higher capacity devices with prototypes expected in two to three years and commercial products in five. Perpendicular schmerpendicular, bring us spintronics!
Mmmm, 1.2 petabytes (1,024 terabytes) of storage on a single tiny disk. Just imagine the bragging rights if you sported that kind of er, package in your pocket. Well, that's what inventor Philip Michael Thomas claims to be packing via his non-contact optical spintronics approach to data storage. See Thomas has succeeded in coaxing electrons to spin in the same direction as opposed to current data storage methods which are hapless in the face of electron flip. Controlling the spin allows for smaller, higher capacity devices with prototypes expected in two to three years and commercial products in five. Perpendicular schmerpendicular, bring us spintronics!
2006-02-17
Wright This Way: iPod Shuffle RAID
Wright This Way: iPod Shuffle RAID: "So, what do you do when you and some friends are all getting iPod Shuffles? You make a RAID array out of them, of course! Follow along as we explore new depths of geekery...
2006-02-16
The top 10 weirdest USB drives ever - Fosfor Gadgets
The top 10 weirdest USB drives ever - Fosfor Gadgets: "USB drives comes in thousands of designs and colors, but these 10 are extraordinary weird. Or what do you think? Go ahead, check them out. They are weird! Promise. Hehe."
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