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Xerox develops silver ink to usher in new era of low cost printable electronics
By Darren Quick
01:35 October 28, 2009 PDT
Silicon is the main substrate used for the integrated circuits found in almost all electronic equipment available today. However, silicon could soon be replaced by plastic, film or even fabrics, with Xerox scientists developing a low-temperature silver ink that they say paves the way for the commercialization and low-cost manufacture of printable electronics. This process will offer manufacturers an inexpensive way to add “intelligence” or computing power to a wide range of surfaces to produce things like electronic clothing and cheap games. Read More
Worm glue could help repair broken bones
By Jeff Salton
01:28 October 28, 2009 PDT
A sea creature called the sandcastle worm could hold the secret to repairing broken bones in humans. The screws and pins favored by many surgeons today have achieved much success over the years, but they are not suitable for repairing all kinds of fractures. For more precise reconstruction of compound fractures and shattered bones, bioengineers have looked beyond metal hardware and have now duplicated a natural glue secreted by the tiny sandcastle worm. The research team hopes it will provide a better solution to fixing small bones broken in battlefield injuries, car crashes and other accidents. Read More
Japanese solar car wins 2009 Global Green Challenge
00:28 October 28, 2009 PDT
Japan's Tokai Challenger solar vehicle has taken victory against a strong international field in the 2009 Global Green Challenge. After covering almost 1860 miles (3000km) in four days across Australia's baking red center, the entry from Japan's Tokai University crossed the finish line at 3.39pm local time. The team's run was nearly flawless, reporting only a single flat tire with just over 100 miles of the course to race and the win breaks a string of four consecutive victories by the Dutch Nuon team, which is currently battling it out for second place against University of Michigan Solar Car Team. Read More
Nissan joins personal mobility field with ‘Segway-skis’
By Darren Quick
22:23 October 27, 2009 PDT
The fact that the streets aren’t exactly swarming with Segways seven years after they went on sale hasn’t stopped some major players taking tentative steps (or wheels) into the personal mobility arena with their own device prototypes. As we’ve seen previously Toyota is working on the Winglet, while Honda recently displayed its U3-X experimental vehicle at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. Now Nissan is getting in on the act with its own prototype developed in partnership with Japan’s National Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (AIST). Read More
Dell Latitude XT2 XFR - small, tough and multi-touch capable
By Jeff Salton
22:15 October 27, 2009 PDT
Dell continues to expand its Latitude range by revealing a 12.1-inch rugged convertible tablet PC with a multi-touch display - the Latitude XT2 XFR. The company says this PC is designed to meet the unique and demanding needs of customers in the military, police, border patrol, field service organizations, factory fulfilment and first responders. At only 1.5 inches thick (38.1mm) this rugged 12.1-inch convertible tablet weighs 5.4lbs (2.45kg) and adds to Dell’s Rugged Mobility Solution offering that includes the fully rugged Latitude E6400 XFR and the semi-rugged Latitude E6400 ATG laptops. Read More
Dribbling teapot enigma solved
By Jeff Salton
22:10 October 27, 2009 PDT
You may not be entertaining the Queen of England but when pouring someone a cup of tea from a proper teapot it’s annoying, nay embarrassing, when the tea drips down the spout and splashes into the saucer or onto the cucumber sandwiches (well, at least a plate of biscuits). French scientists know this feeling only too well and have employed technology to put an end to this horrendous social faux pas. Read More
Sony DPP-F700 photo frame with built-in printer
By Paul Ridden
21:28 October 27, 2009 PDT
Sony has announced a new addition to its S-Frame family of digital photo frames. The DPP-F700 7-inch model includes a printer that takes 45 seconds to produce a 6 x 4-inch photo. It also features simple photo editing functions and lets you create custom calendars via the device interface. Read More
Award-winning ReNu personal solar-powered storage system
By Mick Webb
20:51 October 27, 2009 PDT
Solar power is being harnessed and applied in ever more interesting and creative ways, and the ReNu personal power generation and storage system is certainly no exception. The device features a freestanding modular solar panel that, once charged, can be slotted into a number of extensions to make use of the collected energy, including an iPod dock and an LED desk lamp. Read More
Acer Aspire Z5610 offers multi-touch support for Windows 7
By Paul Lester
17:15 October 27, 2009 PDT
The response to the release of Windows 7 has been generally very positive, bringing Microsoft some much needed respite from the issues that plagued Vista over the last few years. One of the more interesting facets of the new OS is the inclusion of touchscreen support, which seems to have been of particular interest to Acer, which recently released its first touchscreen notebook and has followed up with a touchscreen All-in-one PC - the Aspire Z5610-U9072. Read More
Local libraries to offer free eBook rentals
By Paul Lester
17:03 October 27, 2009 PDT
It would come as no surprise to hear that your typical local library isn’t exactly a hive of activity these days. The availability of information online and swathes of technology capable of distracting us during quieter times has seen memberships declining. But a scheme designed to embrace modern alternatives to the weighty tome could breathe new life back into the service. Taking a leaf from Amazon’s book, if you’ll pardon the pun, select local libraries in the UK are now subsidizing conventional methods by offering eBook rentals online. Read More
Sharp sets highest solar cell efficiency
By Paul Ridden
05:39 October 27, 2009 PDT
The Sharp Corporation has developed a compound solar cell that has achieved a conversion efficiency of 35.8 percent. Developing a new base layer for its triple-junction compound solar cell has improved on Sharp's previous conversion efficiency by almost four percent. Read More
VFR1200 Tourer: The World's safest bike?
By Ben Purvis
05:08 October 27, 2009 PDT
The oddball styling of Honda's forthcoming VFR1200T tourer isn't just the result of a designer's whim; the shape is designed to radically reduce rider injuries in the most common sorts of accidents. The appearance of the touring version of Honda's fourthcoming V4 has already been revealed in design patents which copyright the bike's styling, but for the first time we've managed to dig beneath the skin and discover that the looks aren't simply there to catch buyers' eyes. In fact, they've been dictated by the technology underneath. Read More
Plastic Logic QUE proReader set for CES launch
By Jeff Salton
04:21 October 27, 2009 PDT
Plastic Logic has flagged the unveiling of its business user focused QUE proReader eReader at CES next January. The company says the eReader market to date has focused on leisure reading devices and casual users, so the QUE is designed for the busy executive who wants to access his or her business media in an electronic easy-to-read format. What this amounts too is an eReader roughly the same size as an 8.5 x 11-inch pad of paper, less than 1/3 inch thick, weighing less than many periodicals and boasting the largest touchscreen in the industry. Read More
Steuart’s Patent vacuum tank regulator – the timepiece to beat in the early 20th Century
By Darren Quick
03:02 October 27, 2009 PDT
The second in our series of interviews with Michael Bennet-Levy looks at the Steuart’s Patent vacuum tank regulator – a clock produced in 1923 that its makers, J & D Meek, claimed was accurate to “better than a second a year.” If true this would have made it the most accurate timekeeper in the world prior to the invention of Caesium clocks in the mid 1950s. The essence of the Steuart regulator is that the electric motor drives the clock and the pendulum governs and corrects the speed of the motor. Neither is connected. Ideal for telescopes (because it doesn't tick), the clock was used as a stand-in for Big Ben during WWII and in the opinion of the Scientific American it marked “the most important development in clock-making which has taken place in modern times.” Read More
Cell batteries could power nano devices
By Gizmag Team
22:38 October 26, 2009 PDT
Synthetic cells that act as a battery could one day be used to power nanotech devices. Scientists from Yale University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created a very simple cell model in order to study the way certain real cells generate electric voltages. In the process they produced a minute working battery that converts chemical energy into electrical energy at an efficiency of about 10 per cent - a figure that's high enough to make cell batteries a practical alternative as a nano power source. Read More
Portable power - the Bose SoundDock 10 digital music system
By Mick Webb
17:55 October 26, 2009 PDT
As the number of music-lovers who find their collections bundled snugly into the confines of an iPod continues to grow, so too does the number of increasingly more powerful docking stations that appear on the market to play those tunes aloud. One of the latest additions to the party, the SoundDock 10, comes with a promise from Bose that it delivers quality sound from a minimalist package. The SoundDock 10 features a newly-designed subwoofer, audio input and video output as well as optional Bluetooth capability. Read More
Google to feature Twitter updates in search
17:35 October 26, 2009 PDT
Since it was founded three years ago, Twitter has quickly grown into a social phenomenon used by presidents and bloggers alike for breaking news, political protests, marketing and personal blogging, offering a unique real-time cross-section of today's society. In a recent announcement made by Google's VP of search products and user experience, Melissa Mayer, the search giant said it had reached an agreement with the microblogging service and would soon be able to integrate status updates with its standard search results. Read More
Netflix streaming coming to Sony PS3
By Jeff Salton
05:32 October 26, 2009 PDT
A new feather in the Sony PS3's cap is its ability to stream instantly thousands of movies and TV episodes from Netflix. From next month, Netflix members in the U.S. will have access to the Netflix library via their PS3s at no extra cost. Netflix says the PS3 is currently sitting in around 9 million U.S. homes while Netflix has notched up an impressive 11.1 million U.S. subscribers. Read More
'Hyperspectral Remote Sensor' senses disasters from space
By Darren Quick
23:59 October 25, 2009 PDT
Combining sophisticated sensors in orbit with sensors on the ground and in the air has led researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) to create a “Hyperspectral Remote Sensor” (HRS) that can give advance warnings about water contamination after a forest fire, alert authorities of a pollution spill long before a red flag is raised on Earth, or inform the population where a monsoon will strike. Read More
Good vibrations: Lotus leaf's secrets revealed
By Jeff Salton
23:13 October 25, 2009 PDT
The ancient lotus leaf has natural properties that scientists believe could prove beneficial in today's modern world. Already Gizmag has featured articles about the lotus leaf surface, including a self-cleaning cup and a transparent coating for space suits. Recently, though, in an effort to improve the efficiency of modern engineering systems, such as power plants and some electronic equipment that must be cooled by removing heat through water evaporation and condensation, engineers at Duke University have been studying the lotus leaf. Using an ultra high-speed camera, a powerful microscope and an audio speaker, scientists were able to observe water as it condensed on the leaf's surface, and more importantly, how the water condensate disappeared. Read More
The Lexus LFA supercar – the long awaited production version arrives
By Darren Quick
22:29 October 25, 2009 PDT
It’s been a long time coming. The Lexus LFA that first appeared as a concept car at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show is finally production ready. Lexus made the announcement at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show where a prototype of the production car was on display along with a full-scale see through model in the company's “art gallery” - and the stunning 202mph V10 supercar is indeed worthy of a place in an art gallery, although keen collectors will still have to endure a bit more of a wait since the car isn’t expected to reach garages until early 2011, with only 500 units being produced. Read More
World's first blue roses to go on sale
By Jeff Salton
21:33 October 25, 2009 PDT
They may not be exactly blue in color, but the long-awaited commercial release of the blue rose is set to take place in Japan next week (November 3). Thought to be impossible to create because they lack the blue pigment delphinidin, Australia-based Florigene and its Japanese parent company Suntory Holdings (known more for its beer than its floral conquests) began working together in 1990 to create a blue rose by introducing a blue gene from panzies and then irises into roses. It took until 2004 before the team could announce the successful development of blue roses. But before you go ordering a dozen or so for your loved one, check out the price – around ¥2,000-3,000 (US$22-32) each. Read More
At long last - a bicycle simulator
By Darren Quick
20:40 October 25, 2009 PDT
Simulators are a great, safe way to teach people how to do things properly before they actually have to do them. The first simulators were for airplanes and they cost a lot of money when they appeared 80 years ago. Although simulating an aircraft cockpit and behavior was a difficult and costly business, it had a very effective ROI in terms of planes and pilots. Nowadays, you can simulate almost any environment thanks to the computer - there are low cost safety simulators available for planes, boats, cars, motorcycles, and even the inside of a person’s mouth - but until now, not bicycles. Honda is rectifying that with a bicycle simulator that has been developed for the purpose of traffic safety education. Read More
Wildcharge review - is wireless power worth it?
By Paul Lester
20:29 October 25, 2009 PDT
It seems strange to think that in today’s age of ever advancing technology, it’s been over 100 years since Nikola Tesla began developing theories for wireless power, and though researchers at MIT have picked up the baton in recent times, we’re still waiting for an efficient, mass-market way to abolish reams of unsightly cables from our homes. The Powermat, demonstrated at CES 2009, is one product that threatens to kick-start this revolution. Another early mover in the market is WildCharge and we've been testing one of these devices to find out first hand what all the fuss is about. Read More
Newly developed nanomaterial could boost data storage density and cars' fuel efficiency
18:00 October 25, 2009 PDT
By manipulating matter at the nanoscale level, engineers from North Carolina State University led by Dr. Jagdish Narayan have developed a new material that could make it possible to manufacture terabyte memory chips the size of a fingernail, boost vehicles' fuel economy significantly and reduce heat dissipated by semiconductors, with applications ranging from spintronics to solar panel technology. Read More
Rex Alfie Lee
- November 9, 2009 @ 12:19 UTC
