Remember when the rumor mill’s favorite hobby was obsessing about an Apple TV set? It seemed like every week, some publication or other was reporting on the mythical device. Many assumed it would be the company’s next big revolution: iPod, iPhone, iPad ... iTV. Well, don’t look now, but Microsoft just unveiled a device that does most of what we expected the iTV to do, in the form of the Xbox One. Read More
You’re sitting in the office, but don’t you wish you could be playing with your dog or cat using a laser pointer instead? With the Petcube, you’ll be able to do both at once. Not unlike the iPet Companion, the Petcube lets users remotely play with their pets in real time, via the internet. Read More
When we think of crystals, most of us probably either picture spiky things like snowflakes, or cube-shaped objects like grains of sugar. Researchers from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, however, have recently coaxed barium carbonate crystals to grow into very miniature replicas of soft, curved flowers. Read More
It may look like the strangest concept vehicle ever, but the new art installation unveiled by Jaguar as part of Clerkenwell Design Week in London is, according to the company, a “vision of Jaguar's future design language.” Created by Royal College of Art (RCA) students in conjunction with Jaguar Advanced Design in Whitley, Coventry, the installation was the winner out of nine entries in the Jaguar Advanced Design competition. Read More
While there are plenty of important components and accessories that are mounted on a bike’s handlebars, the bars themselves are just empty hollow tubes that don’t really do anything ... right? Well, that isn’t the case with Helios Bars. Created by California-based inventor Kenny Gibbs (who previously brought us The Slug), they feature an integrated headlight, signal lights, tracking system, and several other clever features. Read More
Lenovo has revealed that a more powerful version of its Yoga 11 convertible is earmarked for release next month. Essentially four devices in one, the Yoga 11S will run Win8 Pro and be powered by a choice of Intel's 3rd generation Core i processors. Read More
After months of leaks and speculation, Microsoft has announced the Xbox One – the company's next-gen system and its competitor to Sony's PlayStation 4 console. The system is designed to provide the user with an “all-in-one experience," adding live TV integration and gesture and voice control on top of next-gen hardware and specs. Read More
OX is a lightweight, high-payload truck invented by toymaker, adventurer, and philanthropist Sir Torquil Norman with the aim of providing a simple, robust and cost-effective work-horse in developing nations. The 1,500-kilogram (1.6-ton) truck can be assembled from a flatpack package within a day and is capable of transporting 13 people, eight 44-gallon oil drums, or a total of 2,000 kilograms (2.2 tons) in weight. Read More
They may not make for the showiest videos, but some of the most interesting problems in robotics are to do with the subtleties of human interaction. Even something as apparently simple as receiving an object poses great difficulty, but it's a problem that will need to be solved before multipurpose robots are ready for the home. By building a database of captured human motion, Disney Research and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology are making strides towards building a robot that can take an object handed to it by a human. Read More
We’ve seen Pavegen’s energy-harvesting tiles turning up in a variety of places to harvest some of the kinetic energy generated while walking or running over them. But a team of students at Rice University has put the shoe on the other foot with PediPower – a prototype device that attaches to a shoe to harvest energy generated when the heel hits the ground. Read More
