Olympics

London has got quite a summer of celebrations coming up, this week sees the Queen's Jubilee, and it's not long until the London 2012 Olympics. As such there are countless festivities planned across the city … and even the historic landmarks are getting in on the act. Tower Bridge has been kitted out with a new state-of-the-art lighting system to help mark the occasions.  Read More

The Nike Pro TurboSpeed is, as the name vividly suggests, a track uniform that offers professional athletes an advantage over their rivals. Through the clever use of aerodynamic techniques more commonly found on golf balls, the company has found a way to shave milliseconds off a sprinter's time. Or at least that's the bold claim Nike is making.  Read More

Two things are certain for the 2012 Olympic Games – London is going to be virtually impossible to travel through, and the internet is going to play a central role in event news coverage. A data center in the UK's capital is making plans to ensure that neither of these potential issues present a problem for its workforce, or hinder the provision of round-the-clock services to its customers. Interxion has announced the installation of sleeping pods at its London campus to allow engineers to remain on site in the event of citywide gridlock.  Read More

Research on artificial intelligence and robotics is growing at a rapid pace, but are we ready to see a robot bearing the Olympic torch in 2012? Scientists at Wales' Aberystwyth University are convinced that this should happen, and have nominated the iCub child-like humanoid robot to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay for London's 2012 Summer Olympics. It's intended to be a tribute to computing pioneer Alan Turing, as 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of his birth.  Read More

One of the four permanent venues in the London Olympic Park, the velodrome was one of the last to be commissioned, and the first to be completed on time and on budget. Unveiled in February, the sinuous velodrome was chosen to represent London's claim for the "greenest games ever," because of its sustainability and efficiency initiatives. Inspired by lightweight and streamlined racing bikes, the Hopkins Architects-designed velodrome will provide a venue for the indoor track cycling events at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  Read More

Aside from the events that take place as part of the Olympics, it seems the competition is also on for each Games to become “greener” than those that have gone before. This year’s Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver boasted a variety of green initiatives, including Canada's biggest "living roof." London looks set to outdo Vancouver in 2012, but Rio is looking to up the ante again and be the first zero-carbon footprint games when it hosts the Summer Olympics in 2016. To help the city achieve this goal Swiss-based RAFAA Architecture and Design has proposed a Solar City Tower which features an eye-catching energy-generating waterfall.  Read More

When Vancouver won the competition to host the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games thoughts immediately turned to construction, and one of the most awe-inspiring initiatives has to be the redesign of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Center (VCAEC). Currently hosting the international broadcasting and media hub for the Winter Olympics, this waterfront building is not only beautiful and functional but is environmentally sustainable, boasting a green electricity program, a seawater heating and cooling system and the largest "living roof" in Canada populated with 40,000 plants and grasses.  Read More

Google has ripped the camera rig off one of its Street View cars and slung it on a snowmobile to bring slope view to Google Maps. Now web skiers will be able to experience some of the runs the world’s best skiers will be racing down when the Winter Olympics kicks off this week. The slope-level imagery complements new aerial imagery of the Vancouver-Whistler area to give sports fans a different perspective of competition venues and courses.  Read More

If you’re attending the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia this month, you’ll have the chance to transmit your brain waves across Canada. When they reach their destination, the province of Ontario, they'll produce a custom light show on one of three prominent Ontario landmarks - presumably to the amazement of thousands of onlookers. While this might sound like technology straight out of an X-Men movie, it is in fact the latest accomplishment of Toronto-based tech firm InteraXon... and it could be just the tip of the iceberg in the field of thought-controlled computing.  Read More