The first Kitahaus relocatable living and office pods
From Good Thinking
As technology evolves, our ability to create remarkable, sustainable temporary living and working environments has grown considerably, as can be evidenced by Gizmag stories on relocatable structures such as the off-the-grid home, the Sphere House, the Nackros Villa, the Free Spirit Sphere, the LoftCube and the first mobile hotel room. Two years ago we wrote about the KitaHaus Pod which is designed as a stand-alone accommodation or temporary office and can also be interlinked to create unique temporary or permanent living and working environments. The KitaHaus legs are adjustable so it can be situated in almost any site including normally unusable sloped and wooded areas. The first built Kitahaus pods are currently going into Elleray Prep School in Windermere, UK as three classrooms and the designer is now seeking JV partners wishing to create eco-tourism resorts. Read More
New study identifies mechanism linking stress to physical illness and premature aging
From Health and Wellbeing
Stress is a function of our primal origins. When the body is under stress, it boosts production of cortisol to support the 'fight or flight' response we all have at the heart of our operating system. If the hormone remains elevated in the bloodstream for long periods of time, though, it wears down the immune system. Every cell contains a tiny clock called a telomere, which shortens each time the cell divides. Short telomeres are linked to a range of human diseases, including HIV, osteoporosis, heart disease and aging. Previous studies have shown that an enzyme within the cell, called telomerase, keeps immune cells young by preserving their telomere length and ability to continue dividing. UCLA scientists have found that the stress hormone cortisol suppresses immune cells' ability to activate their telomerase. This may explain why the cells of persons under chronic stress have shorter telomeres. Read More
TAG Heuer’s MERIDIIST mobile communication instrument
From Mobile Technology
TAG Heuer is best known for its exclusive watches and involvement in time-keeping and sponsorship of elite sporting events, so it’s a logical step for the company to move into the mobile telephone area now that a lot of people are dispensing with their wristwatch and monitoring the hour of day with their phone. The result is the MERIDIIST, a communication instrument that is the culmination of all the company’s experience and “the complete modern expression of everything for which TAG Heuer stands”. Apart from top-shelf everything, a stunning visual impact, master craftsmanship, remarkable battery life and superb acoustics, it’s just like any other mobile phone. Oh, except for the dual display screens and the TAG Heuer switch, which allow for discreet checking of the time and call management in meetings, and then there’s the … Read More
IQinVision's IQeye 4 offers cost-effective 2-megapixel IP Video
From Cameras and Imaging
September IqinVision specialises in high-performance network cameras, smart IP cameras, and network video recording systems, and the range-topper in its new IQeye 4 series of IP video cameras is both simple and ever-so-powerful with 2-megapixel resolution. Whatsmore, it sends power, video and camera management over a single network cable making it ideal as a cost-effective solution that can integrate seamlessly with all leading network video recording systems and video analytics systems. Read More
Limited Edition MotoGP-inspired Suzuki GSX-R1000
From Motorcycles
September Suzuki has had a relatively lean run in MotoGP since the four-stroke era began but since the 800cc limit was introduced, the Suzuki GSV-R has been slowly pegging back the frontrunners and is reliably at the front of the front of the rest, after Messrs Rossi, Stoner, Pedrosa and Lorenzo have decided the podium order. To celebrate this newfound competitiveness, the company has launched a Limited Edition MotoGP-inspired Suzuki GSX-R1000. Read More
Honda offers Motion Adaptive Electric Power Steering (EPS)
From Automotive
Honda’s new Legend, which went on sale in Japan yesterday, features a new technology which has been dubbed “Motion Adaptive Electric Power Steering” (EPS). It’s a new driving stability technology which initiates steering inputs that prompt the driver to steer in the correct direction during cornering and in slippery road conditions. Motion Adaptive EPS is also planned for implementation on other models such as the new Odyssey and the new Accord series, both scheduled for release in Japan in the near future. Read More
3-D complex document visualization
From Cameras and Imaging
Xerox has been responsible for some of the most important innovations of our time and graphic artists the world over will almost certainly count this one as equal to any that have come before. Preparing detailed brochures and flyers with special folds can be an incredibly exacting, time-consuming and costly process. The company’s latest is a new technology that uses 3-D software to view the entire layout of a piece before it goes to print. Aimed at eliminating one of the most costly bottlenecks in printing, the new technology will speed document preparation and approval – a process that costs six dollars for every one dollar spent on the print job itself, according to InfoTrends. With Xerox’s 3-D visualization software, users can see what prints will look like – texture, gloss, folds, binding and all – before any ink or toner is put to paper. Read More
New Boxer Diesel Forester And Impreza
From Automotive
We’d been looking at pictures and static displays of Subaru’s horizontally-opposed diesel engine for several years before seeing it in the Legacy and Outback earlier this year. The engine is exceptionally compact, very light and has a low centre-of-gravity which benefits handling agility and makes best use of the all-wheel drive system. Throw in gobs of torque (the 2.0 litre version produces 258 lb ft at 1,800 rpm), class-leading fuel economy and emissions and the refinement, smoothness and sharp throttle-response it has already displayed and it makes the coming Forester Boxer Diesel which goes on sale in later this month and the Impreza Boxer Diesel (January 2009) very enticing indeed. The Forester will be unveiled in Paris next week. Read More
Game Console Online Content set to boom
From Games
It’s a wireless world we are living in, and the next decade will see countless changes in the way we access, consume and pay for what we want. Further evidence of this arrived today in the form of Parks Associates’ forecast revenue streams for online content and services for Internet-connected game consoles. The research company expects the three game console manufacturers (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) to be generating over US$8 billion in global revenue by 2013. The anticipated increase in revenue is expected to come from digital video distribution, downloadable games and content, virtual worlds and avatar-based microtransactions, multiplayer gaming services, and dynamic in-game advertising. Read More
The spell-binding Citroen Hypnos Concept
From Automotive
With the Paris Motor Show just a few weeks away, the world’s oldest automotive industry is getting set to strut its stuff on home ground. Not surprisingly, the French like to save the best for the Paris Show and this year, Citroën is unveiling the Hypnos. An elegant cross-over vehicle, Hypnos draws on a range of creative technologies to deliver performance and environmental efficiency, combined with subtle but powerful motoring sensations. Powerful, flowing and expressive, the exterior styling identifies the car as one to rouse the emotions. If you’re wondering about the image, that’s the interior – pretty amazing heh what? Read More
New stem cell tools to accelerate drug development
From Health and Wellbeing
U.K. Scientists have designed, developed and tested new molecular tools for stem cell research to direct the formation of certain tissue types for use in drug development programmes. A collaborative team of scientists from Durham University and the North East England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) has developed two synthetic molecules which can be used to coax stem cells to ‘differentiate’ - that is, transform into other forms of tissue. Their use could also help reduce the number of animals used in laboratory research. Read More
Experimental study of hallucinations as they occur
From Health and Wellbeing
A hallucination is a perception in a conscious awake state, in the absence of external stimuli, that has qualities of real perception in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space. For most of us, hallucinations are a normal, fleeting, brain glitch; yet for a few they are persistent, distressing and associated with a range of psychiatric, neurological and eye conditions. In the September Issue of Cortex, Dominic H. ffytche at the Institute of Psychiatry in London reviews what we do know and moves the field forward, by introducing a new experimental approach to studying hallucinations as they occur. Read More
Happy tenth birthday to the smart fortwo
From Automotive
Ten years ago the smart fortwo was launched to a world market decidedly unsure about the highly unusual two-seater that was just two and a half metres in length. It could fit into less than half a parking space, took two people and their luggage quite comfortably and had impressively low fuel consumption and minimum carbon dioxide emissions. The degree of foresight in the design will be judged most kindly by history given the issues of global warming, road congestion, and the effect the laws of supply and demand have had on fuel pricing. Throw in the car’s safety and technical innovations and a design that combines functionality with joie de vivre and the smart fortwo deserves a warm round of applause on its automotive coming of age. Read More
Project Veloce - 130 metre 40 knot Pentamaran Super Yacht
From On the Water
Now here’s one sure to make the shopping lists of the world’s richest marine enthusiasts. BMT Nigel Gee has announced a high-speed Pentamaran concept aimed at the large yacht market. Developed for high-speed applications, the patented Pentamaran hull form is a derivative of the stabilized monohull concept featuring a long slender central hull, hydrodynamically optimized without the constraints of needing to be stable as stability is provided by two pairs of outriggers or ‘sponsons’. Project Veloce is truly an innovative application of technology in the large yacht market and is based on a 130m platform capable of over 40 knots. The beam of 30m offers significantly more internal area than on an equivalently sized monohull leading to exceptional internal spaces with true flexibility in configuration of the layout. Read More
smart electric drive continues the ten year smart success story
From Automotive
In a carefully choreographed move, the one millionth smart fortwo rolled off the production line at the plant in Hambach, France to coincide exactly with the tenth birthday of the iconic ultr-compact. Quite appropriately, the millionth vehicle was a micro hybrid drive (mhd) in the passion equipment line. On the occasion of the production anniversary and the tenth birthday of the smart brand, Daimler presented the new smart electric drive. In Hambach Dr. Dieter Zetsche, President and CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars said "The smart electric drive makes zero emission driving in an urban environment a reality." Read More
Why some men cheat – genetic link to relationship difficulties
From Research Watch
Comedian Robin Williams once defined the key issue of fidelity as being that men had a brain and a penis and only enough blood to run one at a time. We all know some guys are faithful, and some are not, but until now, it all appeared random behaviour. Now new research suggests that men who carry a certain gene behave differently in relationship. The incidence of the gene has been statistically linked to the incidence of a marital or relational crisis in the past year ,how strongly the man felt he had bonded with his partner, and what their respective partners thought about their relationship. One wonders if perhaps one day we’ll see genetic screening for prospective partners? Read More
DVR now indispensable technology
From Around The Home
Anyone who has ever owned a DVR will attest to the usefulness of the device, so we were interested to see the results of a new survey commissioned by global digital pay-TV technology solutions provider NDS. Though such surveys are often clearly contrived to generate obvious promotional fodder for the benefit of the commissioning company, the responses from the UK, US, Australia and Italy clearly demonstrate that the DVR has moved into the indispensable household technology category for those who have experienced it, and equally, that it improves family harmony. The vast majority of respondents would rather give up their landline phone, dishwasher, radio or MP3 player than their DVR due to how much it has improved their enjoyment of television. Read More
Mazda Kiyora urban compact concept car Paris debut
From Automotive
Mazda will unveil the next vehicle in its long-term technology development vision, "Sustainable Zoom-Zoom" concept car series at the 2008 Paris International Motor Show next week – the Mazda Kiyora is a lightweight, next generation, urban compact concept car. Kiyora's aerodynamic Nagare design and next-generation four-cylinder direct-injection engine contribute to excellent fuel economy and low CO2 emissions. Read More
The PC monitor designed to cure the wintertime blues
From Personal Computing
Have you noticed a decline in your energy levels over winter? Find yourself needing more sleep, feeling depressed or overeating? You may be experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder (appropriately abbreviated to SAD), a phenomenon which is becoming better understood through research. The most common form of therapy for SAD is light therapy, in which the patient is exposed to specific wavelength lights to trigger the biological processes that keep us more upbeat in summertime - and this is the theory behind the LightFrame from Philips, a computer monitor with a switchable bright blue-lit frame that gives workers the ability to self-administer a mild form of light therapy as they work. Read More
Grundig's latest top model LCD - the Vision 9
From Home Entertainment
Due to hit stores in September, the key feature of Grundig's new Vision 9 range is its integrated sound projector - an array of 16 cone speakers located in a sound bar beneath the screen combined with two rear facing sub-woofers in the back of the housing. The system replicates the surround sound of 5.1 systems by activating the individual speakers with a small delay to produce directional packets of sound that are reflected off walls at different points around the room. Read More
Nooka adds to unconventional watch range
From Wearable Electronics
Nooka watches combine unusual form and function in order to tell time, where dots and bars fill space as the minutes and hours pass. Three new Nooka models have just been released designed suit a range of tastes from chic to utilitarian. Read More
