Subscribe to Gizmag's RSS feed
Follow Gizmag on Twitter
Top Stories
4x, 8x, huh? How much power do Lithium batteries actually have?
21:36 October 18, 2009 PDT
These days, if you go looking for batteries you're likely to find a range of products with some fairly bold claims on their packaging. Standard AA alkaline batteries are the least expensive and have been around for decades, but now there's a bunch of other choices for single use batteries that are marketed as better choices for "digital" devices than the "copper top" or store branded staples we've used for years. Among the newest of these is Energizer's Advanced Lithium and Ultimate Lithium single use batteries. Read More
ChemBot: the shape-shifting robot that is the stuff of nightmares
By Darren Quick
23:22 October 14, 2009 PDT
We’ve looked at robots that use a variety of ways to get around, from caterpillar treads, to wheels, legs, wings and even combustion-driven pistons. But the title of weirdest (not to mention unsettling) method of robot propulsion we’ve come across has to go to the shape-shifting ChemBot from iRobot. The ChemBot, which looks more like the Blob than most people’s preconceived ideas of what a robot should be, moves around by changing its shape in a process its creators call, “jamming skin enabled locomotion.” Read More
eWolf unveils the e-2: a battery-powered car with attitude
By Mick Webb
04:19 October 14, 2009 PDT
With electric powered vehicle development picking up pace in a big way, German based company e-Wolf is looking to take things one step further after unveiling its “e-2” EV prototype. Boasting an expected acceleration of 0-60mph in under four seconds, e-Wolf is set to deliver an Italian-inspired electric “supercar” that puts the mean in green. Read More
Nikon D3S DSLR - fast autofocus, HD video and six figure ISO sensitivity
By Paul Ridden
10:30 October 16, 2009 PDT
Nikon seems to have once again raised the professional digital photography bar with details emerging of the upcoming D3S DSLR. Rather than try to wow with megapixels, the company hopes that excellent noise reduction and a huge ISO sensitivity range will better serve its customers. The new camera also boasts low light capable HD video, fast and accurate autofocus, a burst frame rate of 9fps and in-camera RAW image editing. Read More
10/GUI the human computer interface of the future for people with more than two fingers
By Darren Quick
03:43 October 14, 2009 PDT
Those old enough to remember the command line interfaces of yesteryear are only too aware of what a godsend the Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) of today are. However, the human computer interface (HCI) developed in the 1970s at Xerox PARC, combining a desktop metaphor GUI and mouse controller, has remained largely unchanged ever since. Now R. Clayton Miller proposes the next step in the evolution of HCI's with his 10/GUI concept that harnesses the power of multi-touch by removing the touch surface from the screen. Read More
EVs to get improved mileage from redox flow batteries
By Jeff Salton
20:41 October 13, 2009 PDT
German researchers say a new type of electric vehicle battery that runs on electrolyte fluid can be recharged as easily as refilling a petrol tank. When the redox flow rechargeable batteries are low, the discharged electrolyte fluid can simply be exchanged at the gas station for recharged fluid. Read More
Blaze ‘Wiimote’ for PS3 could beat Sony to the motion sensitive controller punch
By Darren Quick
23:07 October 12, 2009 PDT
Sony might want to pull the lead out with European video game accessory maker, Blaze, announcing its very own motion-sensing controller for the PS3. The Blaze PS3 Motion Freedom Controller sports more than a passing resemblance to a Wiimote and promises to bring Wii-like motion sensing capabilities to any PS3. Read More
Nissan to show half-width 'Land Glider' tilting electric vehicle at Tokyo Motor Show
By Mike Hanlon
16:25 October 7, 2009 PDT
The term convergence normally refers to the merging of consumer electronics, entertainment and media, but if recent trends are anything to go by, it could equally apply to the melding of the car and the motorcycle. BMW’s enclosed C3 motorcycle is now emerging as a road safety pin-up vehicle and at the Frankfurt Motor Show last month both Volkswagen and Renault exhibited tandem half-width cars that looked for all the world like four-wheeled motorcycles. Now comes news that Nissan is to unveil an electric tandem four-wheeled “Land Glider” concept at Tokyo Motor Show, and the wording of the press statements looks like Nissan is very confident the vehicle will reach showrooms. Read More
A nuclear battery the size and thickness of a penny
By Darren Quick
03:01 October 9, 2009 PDT
They might sound dangerous, but nuclear batteries have been safely powering devices such as pace-makers, satellites and underwater systems for years. They have an extremely long life and high energy density compared to chemical batteries. However, they are costly and also very large and heavy. Now researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) are developing a nuclear battery that is smaller, lighter and more efficient. Read More
Unfold and go - the Citibot kayak
By Mick Webb
04:53 October 13, 2009 PDT
For those who love getting out on the water, but lack the extra space required to store a recreational vessel, comes the Citbot Folding Kayak. Lightweight and easily assembled, the kayak can carry up to 95kg and folds down into a convenient backpack weighing just 11kg. Read More
Honda develops new personal mobility device – the U3-X experimental vehicle
By Mike Hanlon
04:22 October 3, 2009 PDT
A self-balancing unicycle experimental vehicle from Honda to be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show next month might just be history in the making. Weighing less than 10kg, the 24 by 12 by 6-inch U3-X experimental vehicle runs for an hour, is small enough to be carried onto an airplane as hand luggage, has a wheel which spins in two planes and is set to challenge, perhaps even change, society’s concept of personal mobility. Read More
Austrian composer simulates speech using... A piano?
By Loz Blain
23:54 October 7, 2009 PDT
Remember back in the 80s when Steve Vai used to make his guitar "talk" to David Lee Roth? That video clip is here, but be warned, Roth's bare butt peeking through the holes in his leather chaps is one of the LEAST offensive things in the clip. It seems things have become more refined in the last 20-odd years. This fascinating clip shows how Austrian composer Peter Ablinger has programmed a mechanically-actuated piano to reproduce recorded human speech. And yes, you can somehow understand it. Read More
Solar Decathlon solar house competition heats up
By Darren Quick
00:45 October 12, 2009 PDT
Competition is underway in the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Solar Decathlon, in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The house designs entered in the competition not only capture heat and light from the sun, but also integrate design features to take advantage of cooling breezes and shading. By combining these proven energy efficient designs with the latest off-the-shelf technology, the teams aim to create homes that reduce utility bills and meet all their energy needs, while providing all the comforts of home. Read More
Powermat wireless charging system hits shelves
By Gizmag Team
04:33 October 6, 2009 PDT
The Powermat range of wireless charging products we first spied at CES 2009 are now available for purchase. The system consists of a plug in charging mat and a receiver embedded in a cover for your portable device that allows you to "drop and charge" without having to to fiddle with cords as well as simultaneously charge multiple devices. Read More
The reconfigurable SpaceCamper – compact 5-berth people carrier and camper and load transporter
By Gizmag Team
03:59 October 5, 2009 PDT
The SpaceCamper is not your normal camper van. The SpaceCamper was designed by young German designer, engineer and entrepreneur Markus Riese, the fellow who designed the first folding bicycle with suspension on both wheels (the “Birdy”) and founded German bicycle manufacturer Riese and Muller while still at school. Riese took a year off when he graduated, buying a campervan for 12 months of touring Australia on a surfing holiday. As he worked his way around the vast Australian continent, meeting many other campervan explorers, the concept of the SpaceCamper was born – to build everything a full blown much larger camper has into a T5 transporter, and to be able to reconfigure the layout so that it can be repurposed for use in multiple roles. As usual, he succeeded big time! Read More
MAX: An almost Lotus that runs on vegetable oil
By Paul Ridden
05:05 October 7, 2009 PDT
Even before entering the Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition, Jack McCornack had started to pull together all the things needed to knock out a sporty two-seater car capable of achieving 100 miles per gallon. Fueled by the desire to make his creation a template for others to repeat and determined to bring it together within a strict budget, the race was on to bring MAX into the world - a Lotus Seven replica which just happens to run on vegetable oil. Paul Ridden traces the history of this fascinating project. Read More
Flash 10.1 coming to Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, BlackBerry, Android and Symbian
By Darren Quick
21:36 October 5, 2009 PDT
Adobe claims that Flash content is present on more than 85 percent of the top 100 websites, and that approximately 75 percent of all web-based videos use Flash. In good news for the growing numbers of people accessing the Internet on their mobile phones, Adobe has unveiled its Flash Player 10.1: Full Flash software to bring an integrated Flash experience to browsers on Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, WebOS and Windows Mobile smartphones – but not iPhone. Read More
Teleavia type P111 - high definition TV circa 1958
By Gizmag Team
14:49 October 4, 2009 PDT
Michael Bennett-Levy's extraordinary collection of early technologies went under the hammer at Bonhams in London on Wednesday with 90% of the 758 lots on offer sold for a total of £683,384. A tidy sum no doubt, but having had the opportunity to examine the treasure trove closely, and the benefit of speaking at length to Bennett-Levy about the significance of key items, we can't help but conclude that many pieces were a steal for shrewd investors. The largest privately held collection of early televisions in the world - including 26 pre-war sets - made up a large slice of the auction and in the first of a series of interviews, Michael Bennett-Levy talks to Gizmag about outstanding items in his collection, starting with the much sought after Teleavia type P111, a rare 1958 console-stand television by Citroën DS designer Flaminio Bertroni that was not only a hallmark in style, but also one of the earliest examples of high-definition TV. Read More
The Cruzbike Silvio - form and function in a front wheel drive
By Mick Webb
22:05 October 4, 2009 PDT
For many, the words “recumbent bicycle” conjure the image of a strange-looking vehicle with the rider set low to the ground achieving less than remarkable speeds. That perception could well become a thing of the past with the Cruzbike Silvio, the world’s only recumbent racing bike that is not only fully compatible with road bike components, but aims to eliminate many health problems associated with standard cycling. Read More
New 'green' geopolymer concrete delivers win-win for industry and the planet
By Jeff Salton
01:09 October 2, 2009 PDT
Concrete is the most prevalent building material on the planet, and though the world would be pretty flat without it (not many tall buildings and structures), it does come at a price – around 5-8 percent of all human-generated atmospheric CO2 comes from the concrete industry. A culprit is Portland cement, the binding agent in concrete. It’s the most widely produced man-made material on earth. Production of Portland cement is currently exceeding 2.6 billion tons per year worldwide and growing at 5 percent annually. To halt these alarming pollution figures, innovative research on geopolymer concrete, along with ways of using a waste byproduct from coal-fired powerplants, is being conducted by Dr Erez Allouche, assistant professor of civil engineering at Louisiana Tech University and associate director of the Trenchless Technology Center. Read More
The world's oldest hotel - open nearly 1300 years
By Loz Blain
02:19 October 2, 2009 PDT
It's said that less than one in five businesses started today will be around in five years' time - which puts this story into perspective. Hōshi Ryokan is a hotel and spa in Komatsu, Japan. It has been owned and run by the same family for 46 generations so far, and its famous hot springs have been refreshing and revitalizing its patrons for no less than 1291 years. Founded by a Buddhist disciple whose master had the springs' location delivered to him in a dream, Hōshi is the world's oldest hotel and also the world's oldest continuously-operating business. Read More
The River Gym - harnessing renewable energy from burnt-off calories
By Paul Lester
18:00 September 30, 2009 PDT
It seems clear that our ability to more efficiently harness forms of renewable energy is vital to the future of our planet, but aside from the archetypal 'hamster in a wheel', few models have effectively relied on energy generated from living creatures. The River Gym is one of the more innovative concepts to break water in recent times and looks to cash in on our desire to exercise to stay fit and healthy by capturing the energy we expend when burning calories. Read More
Honda to exhibit 2WD electric motorcycle at Tokyo Motor Show?
By Mike Hanlon
18:19 September 30, 2009 PDT
Honda has released images of several new eco-friendly two-wheelers it will present at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, including the EV-Cub electric motorcycle, the EVE-neo electric scooter and its previously-announced PCX global scooter, the first two-wheeler to employ an 'idling stop system'. The most interesting of the new eco-bikes is without doubt the EV-Cub, which employs what appears to be car2car and car2driver communications dubbed HELLO! (Honda ELectric mobility LOop) and a LOOP portable communication tool that fits in the palm of one’s hand and “allows people and mobility devices to communicate with each other.” The EV-Cub also appears to have electric motors in both front and rear wheels, indicating that it is almost certainly a two-wheel-drive (2WD) motorcycle. 2WD motorcycles are expected to become commonplace in the future as, like their 4WD automotive cousins, they offer traction advantages on loose surfaces and wet roads and improve rider safety, especially for learners. Read More
Populous unveils stunning design for 2014 Winter Olympic Stadium
By Jude Garvey
10:37 October 1, 2009 PDT
Global design company Populous has been selected to design the main stadium for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Sochi, Russia. It will seat up to 40,000 people and is expected to incorporate a number of eco-friendly features. Echoing the striking Beijing Olympic swimming venue, the exterior of the stadium will be sheathed in a crystalline skin which will be translucent during the day and come alive at night with the color and spectacle we have come to expect from modern-day Olympics. Read More
VW shows 170 mpg tandem diesel hybrid two-seater
By Gizmag Team
04:51 September 15, 2009 PDT
Volkswagen rocked the automotive world at a lunchtime press conference on the first day of the Frankfurt Motor Show with a carbon fiber, half width, 1-liter hybrid electric diesel tandem two-seater car named the L1. When the car makes production in 2013, four years from now, it will almost certainly be the most fuel efficient car available with a combined diesel fuel consumption figure of 1.38 l/100km (170 U.S. mpg), thanks to its frugal motor combo, feather-like weight – 380 kg in total - and an aerodynamic drag co-efficient of just 0.195! Read More
John Wassner
- November 27, 2009 @ 01:40 UTC
