Architectural practice SOM's 17.6-sq km (6.8-sq mile) master plan for Beijing Bohai Innovation City has won an international design competition for the redevelopment of the region. The design is focused on a redevelopment corridor along the high-speed rail connection between Beijing, and the port of Tianjin. Though incorporating existing infrastructure, the scheme constitutes an ambitious planned city, and one which, if fully realized, may set a new standard for environmentally-conscious urban planning. Read More

Gizmag regulars will know we're partial to a bit of aspirational iPhone photographic lens-lust, even though I'm personally hesitant to splash out on an expensive lens kit that might be rendered obsolete come the next iPhone update. But this stick-on 8x magnification lens might just be low-tech and affordable enough to take the risk with. Read More

Recently, and for the first time in living memory, sound recordings made in 1881 at Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory Association have been heard aloud. The experimental phonographs made by the association where Bell worked alongside instrument-maker Charles Sumner Tainter and chemist Chichester A. Bell are thought to be the oldest preserved sound recordings intended for playback. Read More

Granted, granted, there may not be much cutting edge technology on display here, but it's a cynical technology enthusiast indeed that doesn't raise a wry smile when nerd-friendly worlds collide, and were worlds ever more nerd-friendly than those of Lego and Minecraft? Read More

A new mobile app prototype called Brailletouch allows users to write quickly and accurately using gestures on their smartphone touchscreen - and without looking at the screen. The free and open source prototype, currently working on iPhone and iPad devices, uses the Braille writing system, and it is envisaged it may one day be used by any smartphone user with a need for eyes-free writing or texting. Read More

That the Hiriko electric car prototype is small is obvious to anyone. Perhaps less obvious is that, in parking, the Hiriko becomes even smaller. Thanks to a folding mechanism that tucks the rear of the car in under the chassis, the Hiriko's length can be reduced to the width of an ordinary automobile. The result? It's possible to park three Hirikos in a single parking bay. Read More

With the assistance of signage suppliers JCDecaux, McCain - makers of a variety of oven-cooked potato products - have come up with a novel advertising campaign to promote their ready-baked baked potatoes. Bus shelters in cities across the UK are to be fitted with smell-emitting advertisements designed to mimic the aroma of a slow-baked potato. Read More

Everyone knows geckos have extraordinary powers of adhesion, able to clamber up vertical windows with remarkable ease. With the "Geckskin", a team of scientists have replicated the effect to produce a flat, index-card sized piece of material capable of carrying a 700-pound (318-kg) load - easily enough for a flatscreen television. It can be removed with ease and leaves no unpleasant oomska. And interestingly, it doesn't work as you might think. Read More

It's been a busy week on the iPad 3 rumor mill, and things have progressed considerably since our last iPad 3 update with the iMore blog citing "reliable sources" who suggest an official iPad 3 announcement is likely on March 7. Further, the same sources indicate that the next iteration of Apple's tablet could be powered by a quad-core processor and include - as we already suspected - a Retina display. There's some suggestion that the device could feature LTE connectivity - though this latter point seems shrouded in uncertainty. Time to take the cautious stick to the iPad 3 rumor cauldron ... Read More