Creating a 3D map of a room could someday be as simple as randomly placing four microphones within the space, then snapping your fingers. Researchers from Switzerland’s EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne/Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) have recently done so on a limited scale, and are now excited about the technology’s possible applications. Read More
Yamaha US has started shipping the NU1 piano, an acoustic upright with the digital heart of a grand. The latest addition to its hybrid product category, which includes 2009's AvantGrand, the new family member is being pitched to serious musicians who are short on space, but still want to experience the feel and sound of a high-end – and therefore much more expensive – concert grand. It features something called Tactile Response System technology, which reproduces the kind of resonance players feel when tinkling away on an acoustic piano. The sonic mimicry comes courtesy of digital samples of the company's hand-built CFX Concert Grand. Read More
EADS has once again taken to the Paris Air Show to present a vision of commercial aviation in 2050. Developed in partnership with Rolls-Royce to increase the efficiency of future airliners, its E-Thrust concept is a hybrid electric propulsion system that EADS says could cut fuel consumption, emissions and noise. EADS and Airbus have baked the E-Thrust into an aircraft design, which EADS calls the eConcept. Read More
Last year around this time, London-based product designer PoChih Lai unveiled his 8-wheeled Stair-Rover skateboard. Using four independently-pivoting sets of two wheels, the prototype longboard was actually able to descend stairs – hence its name. Consumers may soon be able to buy one of their own, as Lai and his team have just started a Kickstarter campaign to finance commercial production of the skateboard. Read More
Slip House provides template for future affordable and sustainable family homes
Slip House, by UK-based Carl Turner Architects, fits neatly into a four-plot lot between a row of terraced houses in Brixton, London. However, it's not quite your typical two-up-two down, as the prototype family home combines sustainable technologies with an unusual design based on three "slipped" orthogonal boxes. Read More
We all have our weaknesses, whether it's sweets, cigarettes, or just our own cell phones. The trick is to not indulge too much, but sometimes sheer willpower just isn't enough. That's why a team of inventors built the Kitchen Safe, a plastic container with a tamper-proof lock rigged to a timer. Read More
Back in 2010, Virginia-based Evatran Group teased with the promise of a wireless charging system for electric vehicles in the United States. Three years later, thanks to a partnering arrangement with Bosch’ Automotive Solutions group, that vision is now a reality. Read More
A new bomb disposal robot developed at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is blurring the line between advanced prosthetics and robotics. Rather than building arms and hands from scratch specifically for the robot, the Bimanual Dexterous Robotics Platform (BDRP) is equipped with artificial limbs designed for amputees. The combination is relatively unique, and provided the team with a secondary use for the Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL) it developed for the DARPA Revolutionizing Prosthetics program. Read More
With all the different makes and models of smartphones available, manufacturers are always looking for something to make their handsets stand out. China’s Huawei chose size as its differentiating factor at CES in 2012 when it unveiled the Ascend P1 S, touting it as the world’s slimmest smartphone. The company is at it again with its new Ascend P6, which it is calling, you guessed it, “the world’s slimmest smartphone.” Read More
On Monday at 12:25 GMT, the European Space Agency (ESA) executed final shutdown on the Herschel space telescope after shooting it into solar orbit. This shutdown marks the end of Herschel’s successful four-year mission of deep space observation, which was terminated when it ran out of liquid helium in April. Without liquid helium to cool its super-sensitive infrared instrument, Herschel was unable to continue its mission, but it was otherwise fully functional, so ESA took the opportunity to use the probe to carry out technical tests that couldn't be done earlier. Read More
