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Australia
The solar-powered school on stilts
By Jeff Salton
01:19 November 19, 2009 PST
It's almost as good as going to school in a treehouse. The recently opened Elleray Preparatory School in the Lake District National Park has three class pods standing on stilts connected by a center platform made from recycled materials, such as plastic milk bottles and wood shavings. Nestled amongst the trees, the complex is built to have a low environmental impact and therefore makes excellent use of solar power, rainwater collection, and has an energy-efficient heat pump. Read More
'Fluid' the floating expo center - coming to a port near you?
By Jeff Salton
18:02 November 9, 2009 PST
A futuristic adaptable living building called “Fluid – Amphibian Pavilion” has been proposed by architects Peddle Thorp as an exhibition center for the World Expo 2012 to be held in Yeosu, Korea. Apart from its unique design, the building has a low impact on the environment because, when the Expo finishes, this floating exhibition space can be “unhooked” and sailed away to its next location. 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
Global Green Challenge kicks off later this month
By Alan Brandon
06:28 October 10, 2009 PDT
This month dozens of competitors will gather in Darwin, Australia, for the start of the Global Green Challenge. This 1860 mile (3000km) showcase of state-of-the-art transport technologies pits environmentally friendly vehicles against the heart of the Outback as they race south towards the finish line in Adelaide. The event has evolved from the famous World Solar Challenge and now includes two classes: one for solar-powered vehicles and an "Eco Challenge" for other types of electric, hybrid and alternative fuel production and experimental vehicles. Read More
The Finger Hinge prevents fingers being caught in the door
By Jude Garvey
11:20 October 8, 2009 PDT
Children and adults can suffer painful injuries, or even risk amputation, from getting their fingers caught between a door and the door jamb. A unique door-hinge design from an Australian inventor could prevent these injuries from occurring. The Finger Hinge is a full-length door hinge that completely eliminates the gap between the door and the wall and therefore removes any possibility of getting crushed fingers when the door is closing. Read More
Nullarbor fireball cameras lead scientists to location of rare meteorite
By Jeff Salton
17:12 September 21, 2009 PDT
Not long ago, Gizmag featured an article about scientists capturing a rare image of upwards lightning. Now a different set of ‘men in white coats’ has taken shots of fireballs streaking across the night sky that then led to the discovery of a tiny and extremely rare meteorite in Australia’s vast Nullarbor Plain. Not only that, the group also traced the meteorite’s roots back to its orbit and the asteroid from where it came. Read More
The coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth
By Darren Quick
01:30 September 1, 2009 PDT
When you’re planning your next holiday, a site known as Ridge A that sits 4,053m (2.5 miles) high up on the Antarctic Plateau, will probably be one of the first places to strike off the list. Although the research team that discovered it says it could be the calmest place on Earth, it is also thought to be the coldest and driest. A joint U.S.-Australian team pinpointed the site by combining data from satellites, ground stations and climate models in an attempt to find the best observatory site in the world by assessing the many factors that affect astronomy, such as cloud cover, temperature, sky-brightness, water vapor, wind speeds and atmospheric turbulence. Read More
To the Bat Cave ... for a unique home theater experience
By Jeff Salton
00:28 August 20, 2009 PDT
Ever wanted to say: “To the Bat Cave …” but felt a bit of joker uttering those words out loud? Well, riddle me this … how does a home entertainment enthusiast 'Down Under' in Melbourne, Australia, get away with saying it? Holy Bat Cave replica Batman, he built his own … sock, biff, pow! Read More
Mobile Exchange on Wheels to bolster telecommunications in disaster areas
By Jeff Salton
19:42 July 27, 2009 PDT
Devastating wildfires are burning around the Mediterranean this summer and down south, Australia is still recovering from its worst wildfire season in history in which more than 150 lives and 1800 homes were lost on ‘Black Saturday’. Telecommunications are paramount to helping save lives and direct fire-fighting efforts in wildfires but unfortunately, infrastructure such as mobile and fixed line phones and Internet services are often early casualties in fire ravaged areas. The country’s major telco, Telstra, has launched a portable solution to this issue with the unveiling of a AUD$200,000 Mobile Exchange on Wheels (MEOW) which can be quickly deployed to provide temporary fixed-line communications including broadband. Read More
Calling all cars – futuristic cop cruiser takes to LA streets
By Darren Quick
21:41 July 7, 2009 PDT
A new vehicle billed as the most technologically advanced police car in the world is due to begin testing in the US. Based on the Australian-built Holden Commodore, which were rebadged as Pontiac G8s in the US, the car aims to turn a standard vehicle into a ‘virtual office’ for emergency services personnel. It replaces the cluttered, cockpit-style gadgets that abound in current police cars with a large single touchscreen display embedded in the passenger dash and throws in some Bond style crime fighting gear like an air gun that fires a laser guided GPS tracking device onto fleeing vehicles. Read More
Pixel building aims to be world's first carbon neutral office development
By Paul Best
23:57 May 3, 2009 PDT
Australian developer Grocon plans to build the country’s first carbon neutral office building on a former brewery site in the city of Melbourne – and possibly the first of its kind in the world. According to the developer, the $6 million, four-storey building has been designed to generate more energy on the site than it uses, offsetting the carbon emissions produced to operate it – and, in time, the greenhouse gases generated in making and installing the construction materials. Read More
Today on The Mobiler
By Tim Hanlon
05:32 April 6, 2009 PDT
Over at The Mobiler today we've covered an OS X app called DemoGod, which displays a feed of your iPhone screen on your desktop, next-gen iPhone rumors regarding 802.11n support and a 3.2 megapixel camera, tentative HTC Touch Pro2 and Blade Sidekick release dates from a leaked T-Mobile roadmap, Deutsche Telekom trying to stop Skype for iPhone, code names and specs of three upcoming BlackBerry devices, T-Mobile planning several Android-based devices including a home phone, Vodafone Australia getting into a spin over their iPhone plans, and Cell Phone Recycling Week which kicks off today. Read More
LG's 2009 Audio/Visual range: connectivity, convergence and clean, clear interfaces
By Loz Blain
23:16 April 2, 2009 PDT
LG's latest Audio/Visual offerings are moving down the path of connectivity and convergence, and delivering some very nice user interfaces. LG's new "Technology Design Centre" made its debut at the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix on the weekend where the Korean company introduced its PS80 big-screen plasma "Time Machine" TV, with built-in hard drive and digital video recording, its YouTube-capable super-fast BD370 Blu-ray player, its HB954WA 1000w home theatre 5.1 system, tuned by Mark Levinson and featuring wireless rear speakers, and the LH50, an ultra-quick 200hz LED-backlit LCD TV that intelligently adjusts picture controls according to the ambient light conditions in the room. Read More
Kogan launches 10-inch Agora netbook series in Australia
By Tim Hanlon
23:32 March 16, 2009 PDT
Kogan Technologies today launched the Agora netbook series, featuring the Agora and the Agora Pro. The 1.6GHz Atom based netbooks are the cheapest available in Australia, starting at AUD$499. Both models come preloaded with the gOS operating system, a variant of Ubuntu Linux, but in an interesting move, Kogan's support team is offering to guide customers through the process of installing other supported operating systems including Windows XP and Windows 7. Read More
Kogan announces Kevin37 HDTV to coincide with economic stimulus package
By Tim Hanlon
17:15 March 4, 2009 PST
Like many governments around the world, Australia's leaders are pouring taxpayer dollars into the economy via stimulus packages designed to counter the effects of the global economic downturn. In Australia, this translates to tax-free payments of AUD$900 destined for the bank accounts of those who earned under AUD$100,000 in the 07-08 financial year. The idea is for consumers to spend the money, and Kogan has cleverly capitalized on what's been dubbed the "flat-screen TV bonus" with the announcement of their "High Definition Stimulus" - a $900, 37-inch 720p HDTV called "Kevin37". Read More
Internode offers 100 Mbps fiber to the home
By Darren Quick
13:42 February 26, 2009 PST
When it comes to the Internet there is no such thing as too fast, and while Fiber to the Home (FTTH) technology is becoming more and more popular internationally with stats showing more than 13 million FTTH-connected homes in Japan, six million in the US, a similar number in China and nearly two million FTTH subscribers in Europe, it's only just reaching countries with lower population densities like Australia. Read More
Flexible Thin Film Solar Cells to be printed like money
By Paul Evans
20:37 February 23, 2009 PST
Scientists developing flexible, large area, cost-effective, reel-to-reel printable plastic solar cells have announced that trials have commenced which promise a new era of solar cells that are printed like money. These printable solar cells offer advantages over traditional solar technology because of the potential to mass produce the cells cheaply using polymer printing technology, a process which has already been used in banknotes in more than 20 countries. Read More
Outback Australian town to run on solar power 24 hours a day
By Paul Evans
17:32 February 22, 2009 PST
If ever there was a perfect candidate for solar power, the north-west Australian town of Cloncurry is it. The town has long claimed the title of Australia's hottest recorded day - 53 degrees Celsius in the shade in 1889 - and is now is gearing up to produce solar thermal power capable of supplying all of ts electricity needs, 24-hours a day. The system will use up to 8000 mirrors will reflect sunlight onto graphite blocks through which water will be pumped to generate steam that will operate a conventional steam turbine electricity generator. Because heat stays in the graphite, the system will work through the night and on overcast days. Read More
Australian telco declares world record network speed of 21Mbps
By Darren Quick
01:12 February 17, 2009 PST
Australia’s Telstra was tooting its horn last night at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with news its Telstra Next G network was declared the world’s fastest national mobile broadband network by the Guinness World Records with speeds of 21Mbps. Read More
Scientists developing spray-on solar panels
By Paul Evans
18:24 February 6, 2009 PST
Researchers in Australia have started a three-year project to develop a spray-on coating for solar panels and more efficient cells that are less costly than today's PV. Australian National University (ANU) is working with new Australian solar company Spark Solar and Finnish materials company Braggone Oy on the method, which could be commercially available by 2011. Read More
Coaxial Rotor System: the future of helicopter design?
By Darren Quick
03:03 October 28, 2008 PDT
Helicopters featuring coaxial rotor designs are not exactly new. The co-axial design of a pair of rotors mounted on the same mast and with the same axis of rotation, but turning in different directions, has been utilized on a number of military helicopters for around half a century, most notably those produced by the Russian Kamov helicopter design bureau. The coaxial design offers a number of advantages over the traditional helicopter designs, which makes it difficult to understand why we haven’t seen co-axial rotor designs taking to the skies for civilian uses. Now Australian based Wieland Helicopter Technologies (WHT) is hoping to change that by designing and manufacturing a range of new coaxial rotor system small format helicopters for commercial markets. Read More
Sushi that you sit on
By Emily Clark
21:32 October 23, 2008 PDT
SUSHI is a multifunctional furniture design that doubles as both a sofa and a stool from Australian University student Winaya Suwarnaga Kamaputri. The elegantly simple and ergonomic concept uses a high gloss finished fiber glass base with fine fabric upholstery and its unique pattern was created using a laser cutting technique. Read More
SharePort enables D-Link customers to share USB devices over their wireless networks
By Kate Seamer
19:49 October 6, 2008 PDT
D-link have provided a firmware upgrade to enable printer and hard drive sharing from the USB port on their Xtreme N family of routers. This new USB over TCP/IP technology is called SharePort, and is available for the DIR-628, DIR-655, DIR-825, DIR-855 and DGL-4500 models. Read More
Smart Lid a winner at packaging awards
By Emily Clark
00:38 May 15, 2008 PDT
In 2005 Gizmag reported on an innovative way to warn caffeine-addicts when their coffee too hot to drink, by changing the color of the takeaway cup lid. The Smart Lid has now been awarded ‘Best of Show’ at the AmeriStar Award hosted by the Institute of Packaging Professionals. Read More
Designer Wellies: fashion meets function for the farm or play time
By Emily Clark
16:14 January 3, 2008 PST
January 4, 2007 Most commonly women’s footwear falls into two categories – fashionable or functional – with precious little overlap. In the spirit of modern fashion, Rosie Roo from Australia is bringing a change to functional women’s wet weather footwear with their spunky new wellies/gumboots/galoshes (depending on what part of the world you’re from). Read More
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- November 21, 2009 @ 03:30 UTC
