LinkNotes

X-Flex Blast Protection System

2009-11-22T16:26:00.002+01:00

Bomb-Proof Wallpaper Could Save You in a Natural Disaster

Imagine: a hurricane is barreling towards your house, but instead of hiding in the basement, you can stay safely and comfortably in your living room, all thanks to your X-Flex Blast Protection System wallpaper. It’s not a fantasy; the wallpaper, invented by Berry Plastics in a partnership with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, actually exists — and a single sheet is strong enough to stop a wrecking ball.

clipped from vimeo.com

Best Of What's New 2009: Bombproof Wallpaper Test

clipped from xflexsystem.com

X-FLEX is a revolutionary advanced composite film tape that is used to reinforce and retrofit CMU, brick and other external wall surfaces. Developed cooperatively by leading researchers, scientists and engineers from US Army Corps of Engineers (ERDC) and Berry Plastics, X-FLEX is specifically engineered to protect structures that may be subject to acts of terrorism such as blast events or catastrophic occurrences.

clipped from xflexsystem.com

Technology

clipped from www.youtube.com

X-FLEX Blast Protection System

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French Hamster Hotel

2009-11-21T12:44:00.003+01:00

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

French hamster hotel lets guests live like rodents

A French hotel is offering guests the chance to live like a hamster for a day.

It's a unique concept according to its creators. A hotel in the French city of
Nantes is offering the chance for people to become a hamster.
For 99 euros (£88) a night, visitors to the hotel in Nantes can feast on hamster grain, get a workout by running in a giant wheel and sleep in hay stacks in the suite called the "Hamster Villa".

clipped from www.youtube.com

France's human hamster hotel Video Reuters com

clipped from features.csmonitor.com

Below you can find a news video clip of an interview with home decorator Frédéric Tabary, one of the two men who created the room. The interview is in French, but the pictures really tell the story.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk

Heavy petting at France's human hamster hotel

So where did the idea come from? Yann Falquerho, the 42-year-old scenographer who lets the property through his quirky urban gîte company, Un Coin Chez Soi, told me that he and Frédéric Tabary, the interior designer with whom he works, had wanted to find something that was simply "very funny".
"We wanted to create a place that was a real gîte - a place where you could sleep and be comfortable - but also where you could have a real experience," he explained. "We wanted it to be eccentric and we decided that the funniest experience would be to become an animal."

clipped from www.foxnews.com

Title:

Wednesday's Halftime Report
Published: Wed, 18 Nov 2009

Description: Is Andy planning on visiting the hamster hotel?

clipped from www.youtube.com

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Multi-Touch Table for Casinos

2009-11-18T10:47:00.003+01:00

clipped from www.fastcompany.com

Multitouch Poker: The Future of Casinos?

Moto Development Group has thrown together a neat prototype device that could possibly be the future of casinos: A multitouch, automatic, cybernetic Blackjack table. Finger-flicking financial fun, perhaps, but also a way to cut down on cheating.

clipped from labs.moto.com

Multi-Touch Table

This table is a departure from earlier examples because it is relatively easy to use by non-technical content creators. It works in most lighting because it doesn’t use a camera. It is market quality, and does not require tuning on location.

clipped from labs.moto.com

Blackjack for Multi-Touch

Gaming is an ideal application for multi-touch screen technology. Replacing physical tokens, chips, cards, or game pieces with virtual items eliminates tedious setup, distribution, and cleanup tasks while increasing the efficiency and accuracy of gameplay.

And unlike many other real-world computing tasks, games have well-established norms and behaviors that are straightforward to translate into multi-touch gestures and interactions; players still feel that they “own” their cards, pieces, or money. Meanwhile, team-oriented play is actually easier in a virtual gamespace, because players can collaborate and share cards without having to physically pass them back-and-forth.

clipped from vimeo.com

clipped from labs.moto.com

Scalable Multi-Touch

Watch the demo:

clipped from vimeo.com

Sources:

Epipheo transforms the way you think

2009-11-16T13:02:00.002+01:00

clipped from www.adpulp.com

"Epipheos" from Epipheo Studios are designed to be the center piece of online viral marketing campaigns for everything from consumer products to non-profit initiatives.

clipped from epipheostudios.com

What is an epipheo?

An epipheo is a video designed to pass on epiphanies. There are few things as powerful as an epiphany. An epiphany, when it finds you, will transform the way that you think and live. The problem is epiphanies are hard to come by.

clipped from www.epipheostudios.com

CINCINNATI, Ohio. - May 27th - Epipheo Studios is the first video production studio in the world dedicated exclusively to creating internet videos that cause people to have epiphanies. These epiphany videos called “epipheos” (pronounced i’pif’ee’oh) are designed to be the center piece of online viral marketing campaigns for everything from consumer products to non-profit initiatives.

clipped from www.youtube.com

How the Internet is Changing Advertising

clipped from www.youtube.com

Advent Conspiracy 2.0

clipped from www.youtube.com

What is Google Wave?

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The Mandelbulb a 3D Mandelbrot Set

2009-11-15T19:06:00.004+01:00

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Fractal

A fractal is "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,"^[1] a property called self-similarity.

The Mandelbrot set is a famous example of a fractal

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Mandelbrot set

The Mandelbrot set is self-similar under magnification [...]

Zoom animation

Regardless of the extent to which one zooms in on a Mandelbrot set, there is always additional detail to see.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Exterminate - Mandelbrot Fractal Zoom Music Video

clipped from www.skytopia.com

The Real 3D Mandelbulb

It's found by following a relatively simple math formula. But in the end, it's still only 2D and flat - there's no depth, shadows, perspective, or light sourcing. What we have featured in this article is a potential 3D version of the same fractal.

Resulting renders

But it wasn't until I incorporated proper shadowing that the subtleties of this incredible object became apparent. For the renders below and exploration afterwards,

clipped from www.skytopia.com

Further exploration of the 3D Mandelbulb

What does it look like on the inside?

Any interesting analogues to the 2D Mandelbrot set?

A 3D Mandelbrot stalk (a deep zoom inside the Bulb)

A 2D Mandelbrot stalk

A 3D Mandelbulb spiral (found at a deeper zoom inside the "Ice Cream from Uranus" picture). Click to enlarge, and see this page of the thread for how it was found.

A 2D Mandelbrot spiral

Are gorgeous flyovers and parallax zooms now possible?

clipped from www.youtube.com

Mandelbulb zoom

A zoom into the 3D mandelbulb (split in half), with full light sourcing. Enjoy.

clipped from www.youtube.com

3D Mandelbulb mountain cross sections

Over 1000 cross sections of a zoomed in section from the 3D Mandelbulb. Observe the absurdly ornate detail within. This took around a couple of days to render.

Sources:

The Intel Reader

2009-11-13T15:56:00.003+01:00

clipped from news.cnet.com

Intel debuts text reader for the blind

The company announced on Tuesday the debut of the Intel Reader, a handheld text-to-speech device that can read any printed text aloud to those who are blind or have difficulties seeing or reading.

The Atom-powered device uses a high-resolution camera to capture images of any printed text, which it then converts into digital format to read out loud. The Reader can be used as a standalone device to snap pictures of text. But paired with Intel's Portable Capture Station, which can hold the Reader in place, the device can grab huge amounts of text, such as an entire book, according to Intel.

clipped from brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com

A camera that reads text aloud

Ben Foss, director of access technology in Intel's Digital Health Group, uses the Intel Reader to scan a book. Photo: Jon Fortt.

The Intel Reader has a 4.3-inch LCD display, 4 gigabytes of flash storage and USB slots for adding more. It weighs 1.38 pounds. Image: Intel.

clipped from www.youtube.com

clipped from www.intel.com

Intel News Release

Ready, Set, Read: Intel® Reader Transforms Printed Text to Spoken Word

Intel Launches Mobile Handheld Device for People with Reading-Based Disabilities, such as Dyslexia or Low-Vision, or for Those Who are Blind

The new Intel Reader (reader.intel.com), a mobile handheld device, increases independence for people with reading-based disabilities.

The size of a paperback book, the Intel Reader converts printed text to digital text and then reads it aloud to the user.

The Intel Reader can help the estimated 55 million people in the U.S. who have specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia or vision problems.

clipped from www.intel.com

New Intel® Reader Transforms the Printed Word

Download the Intel® Reader brochure

Blind & low vision versionFiletype/Size: PDF 301KB
Educator versionFiletype/Size: PDF 286KB

clipped from www.intel.com

Features And Technical Specs

Features

A more in-depth look
Learn more

Sources

SARTRE -- Safe Road Trains for the Environment

2009-11-11T16:31:00.002+01:00

clipped from www.wired.com

With Road Trains, Highways Become Public Transportation

Researchers in the European Union are using telematics to create “road trains” that join the benefits of carpooling with the freedom of driving alone.

clipped from www.ricardo.com

Cars that drive themselves can become reality within ten years

A new EU project SARTRE is being launched to develop and test technology for vehicles that can drive themselves in long road trains on motorways. This technology has the potential to improve traffic flow and journey times, offer greater comfort to drivers, reduce accidents, and improve fuel consumption and hence lower CO2 emissions.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

'Road trains' get ready to roll

How a road train could work

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

The lead vehicle would be handled by a professional driver who would monitor the status of the road train. Those in following vehicles could take their hands off the wheel, read a book or watch TV, while they travel along the motorway. Their vehicle would be controlled by the lead vehicle.

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Needle Free Vaccinations

2009-11-10T20:32:00.002+01:00

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com

Patch Could Stretch the Supply of Flu Vaccine

Executives at Iomai Corp. see the future of flu vaccinations like this: A small patch containing the vaccine, along with stimulants to make it more potent, is mailed to patients who stick the patch to their arms for a few hours, then toss it in the trash.

clipped from www.inewidea.com

Intercell Smart Vaccines

Compared with traditional injection sets, the needle-free vaccine delivery patch from Iomai (now part of Intercell) features a transcutaneous vaccination technology and a patch form for vaccine. As a result, it promises a safer and healthier injection.

clipped from www.medgadget.com

Immunity That's More Than Skin Deep

clipped from www.iomai.com

Iomai's transcutaneous immunization (TCI) technology offers distinct advantages to traditional injected vaccines. Leveraging the immune system cells in the skin to deliver vaccines, the TCI patch is a novel approach to protecting individuals from a range of infectious diseases.

Physician Administered

Self Administered

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Digital Ants Protect Computers

2009-11-09T12:34:00.002+01:00

clipped from www.treehugger.com

New Biomimicry in Digital Security - Ants Swarm to Protect Computers

Science Daily reports that biomimicry is playing a key role in upcoming computer security technology. By looking at the way ants call for backup and overpower invaders through sheer quantity of soldiers, security experts have devised a "digital ant" that will help human operators more quickly spot threats to computer systems.

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

Ants inspire new computer antivirus software

Scientists have studied the behaviour of ants to develop a new generation of antivirus software for computers.

clipped from www.wfu.edu

Computer science professor Errin Fulp works with graduate students Brian Williams (center) and Wes Featherstun (far right), who worked this summer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory developing a new type of computer network security software modeled after ants.

Computer security mimics nature
Unlike traditional security devices, which are static, these “digital ants” wander through computer networks looking for threats, such as “computer worms” — self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of machines. When a digital ant detects a threat, it doesn’t take long for an army of ants to converge at that location, drawing the attention of human operators who step in to investigate.

The concept, called “swarm intelligence,” promises to transform cyber security because it adapts readily to changing threats.

Sources:
New Biomimicry in Digital Security - Ants Swarm to Protect Computers : TreeHugger
Ants inspire new computer antivirus software - Telegraph
WFU | Window on Wake Forest | Ants vs. worms: Computer security mimics nature
Related:
Ants Vs. Worms: New Computer Security Mimics Nature
Digital ants to the rescue
HowStuffWorks "How Computer Viruses Work"
Wake Forest University — Winston-Salem, North Carolina
PNNL: About PNNL
E. W. Fulp

Mavizen TTX02 World's First E-Bike

2009-11-07T19:27:00.002+01:00

clipped from wheels.blogs.nytimes.com

Mavizen TTX02: Plug-and-Play Racing for the People

Mr. Hussain is the founder of the TTXGP, a race for zero-emissions motorcycles. The TTXGP staged its first event last June during the famous Isle of Man TT, between Ireland and Britain. The race, a grueling 37-mile time trial, was won by Agni Motors, and the team joined with Mr. Hussain over the summer to build the TTX02, a race-ready bike that’s expected to have a top speed of more than 100 miles an hour.

clipped from www.asphaltandrubber.com

SEMA: Mavizen TTX02 Unveiled – KTM RC8 Sourced Chassis, 130 MPH Top Speed, & Built-in Web Server with WiFi Connection [UPDATED]

clipped from www.asphaltandrubber.com

clipped from www.youtube.com

Mavizen TTX02 Launch Promo **LEAK***

clipped from www.youtube.com

Mavizen TTX02 Press Conference and Reveal at SEMA 2009 Las Vegas

clipped from www.mavizen.com

TTX02 is the world’s first production electric supersport bike. With a number of world first feature combined with the proven chassis from a world class manufacturer and drive train from the Isle of Man TT winning Agni bike; the TTX02 is a limited opportunity to procure a platform for development and racing across the entire TTXGP road racing programme. The TTX02 chassis is FIM homologated for racing and ships with a valid VIN number for registration in your local jurisdiction.

First motorsport vehicle in the world to ship with integrated IP connectivity
Core operating system is open source Linux
USB based system bus allows virtually unlimited number of peripherals to extend the capabilities of the machine with plug’n’play
Remote factory support package available
Swappable drive train and batteries at trackside. Common chassis for multiple racing series.
Multiple configurations available depending on the racing series.
Built on a homologated, world class chassis
Drive train developed from the TTXGP Isle of Man 2009 Champion
Strictly limited numbers.

clipped from www.youtube.com

2009 Isle of Man TTXGP

Race footage from the TTXGP, the first ever all-electric motorcycle race at the Isle of Man TT. For more, check out http://hellforleathermagazi...

Sources:

Eyeballs Control

2009-11-05T20:44:00.002+01:00

clipped from www.pcworld.com

Researchers Turn to Eyeballs to Control Devices

Researchers at NTT DoCoMo have developed a set of prototype in-ear headphones that can detect and measures changes in the body's electrical state that take place when your eyes move, and have harnessed this technology to control the music player on a mobile phone.

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

Introducing the gadgets you can control with your eyes

A researcher for NTT DoCoMo demonstrates how to control a digital music player with his eyes in Tokyo

The new technology from Japanese mobile giant NTT DoCoMo may also enable cell phone cameras to read bar codes to get product information, download music and coupons when the user simply looks at the codes.

'We are working on a cell phone of the future,' Masaaki Fukumoto, executive research engineer at NTT said.

clipped from www.youtube.com

CEATEC: Eyeballs control a cell phone

NTT DoCoMo showed a set of prototype in-ear headphones that can detect and measures changes in the body's electrical state when your eyes move.

Sources:

Mind-reading computer

2009-11-04T14:30:00.002+01:00

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk

Scary or sensational? A machine that can look into the mind

Scientists have developed a computerised mind-reading technique which lets them accurately predict the images that people are looking at by using scanners to study brain activity.

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

Psychic 'mind-reading' computer will show your thoughts on screen

The device studies patterns of brainwave activity and turns them into a moving image on a computer screen.

clipped from www.foxnews.com

Computer Uses Brain Scans to Read Minds

Associate professor of psychology Jack Gallant and two researchers, Kendrick Kay and Thomas Naselaris, first trained a computer program to recognize which of a set of 1,750 photos Kay and Naselaris were looking at while their brains were scanned by an MRI machine of the sort ordinarily used in hospitals.

A computer display shows magnetic resonance scans of a human brain in Magdeburg, Germany in a 2005 file photo.

clipped from neuroscience.berkeley.edu

Jack Gallant

Professor (Psychology)

Research areas: Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience

The goal of the Gallant Lab is to understand the structure and function of the human visual system at a quantitative, computational level, and to build models that accurately predict how the brain will respond during natural vision. Predictive models of brain activity are the gold standard of computational neuroscience, and are critical for the long-term advancement of neuroscience and medicine.

Sources:

Space-Based Solar Power

2009-11-03T20:53:00.002+01:00

clipped from www.popsci.com

Japan Wants to Power 300,000 Homes With Wireless Energy From Space

Japan's Wireless, Power-Generating, Solar Satellite
Inhabitat

Japan has serious plans to send a solar-panel-equipped satellite into space that could wirelessly beam a gigawatt-strong stream of power down to earth and power nearly 300,000 homes.

clipped from www.alternative-energy-news.info

A Step Closer to Solar Power in Space

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and IHI Corporation are undertaking an ambitious project of $ 21bn. They are aspiring to design and develop a Space-based solar farm that would generate 1GW of power. This will require an area of four square kilometer consisting of rows of solar panels. This space solar farm will be housed 36,000km above the surface of the earth.

clipped from www.youtube.com

clipped from www.bloomberg.com

Mitsubishi, IHI to Join $21 Bln Space Solar Project (Update1)

A research group representing 16 companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., will spend four years developing technology to send electricity without cables in the form of microwaves, according to a statement on the trade ministry’s Web site today.

clipped from global.mitsubishielectric.com

Mitsubishi Electric's space technology includes the manufacture and implementation of satellites, satellite components, and ground systems. Over the past four decades, we have completed more than 330 satellite projects for communications concerns, government agencies, and other large-scale clients that make us the leading company of space systems in Japan.

clipped from www.treehugger.com

While the project might sound like science-fiction now, it likely that the landscape will be more favorable in 30 years (strict carbon emissions caps will make clean energy more cost-competitive, for example).

Sources:

Liquavista's Color, Video E-Paper

2009-11-02T19:36:00.002+01:00

/h3

clipped from www.popsci.com

Liquavista's E-Paper Plays Full-Color Movies

E-readers such as Amazon's Kindle DX, Sony's Daily Edition, and Barnes & Noble's multi-touch hybrid might want to start trembling. A new e-paper from Liquivista promises to allow video-playing and digital note-taking on a multi-touch, color screen.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Liquavista October 2009

clipped from www.liquavista.com

Liquavista participates in £12 million project to create next generation flexible, full colour, video displays enabled by UK Technology Strategy Board grant

In the future, electronic readers using Liquavista technology will support full color and video on devices that are as readable and portable as paper.

clipped from www.liquavista.com

Electrowetting Benefits

Liquavista’s technology is unique in offering significant improvement over LCD in all the important areas while exploiting the existing infrastructure. The strong process compatibility to LCD offers a compelling route to manufacturing to existing LCD makers, with a very low investment barrier.

Key Areas

All modes of operation: transmissive,
reflective and transflective

Indoor/Outdoor Usability

Video and Color

Power Savings

Manufacturing compatibility

Sources:

Xerox Printable Electronics

2009-10-30T12:56:00.002+01:00

clipped from hackaday.com

Xerox ink will print circuits

Xerox has announced a breakthrough in printable circuits. They’ve developed a conductive ink called “silver bullet” that can be printed on many different types of substrate to create circuits. The key part of the new ink is its lower melting point. Plastic film substrate melts at 150 degrees Celsius but the ink is liquid when ten degrees cooler to avoid damaging the film. This begs the question: how do you then solder components to the circuit?

clipped from www.xerox.com

Xerox Scientists Develop "Silver Bullet" Needed to Replace Silicon Circuits with Low-Cost, Durable Plastic

Integrated circuits are made up of three components - a semiconductor, a conductor and a dielectric element - and currently are manufactured in costly silicon chip fabricating factories. By creating a breakthrough silver ink to print the conductor, Xerox has developed all three of the materials necessary for printing plastic circuits.

Sources:

Muscle-Computer Interface

2009-10-29T17:38:00.001+01:00

clipped from www.livescience.com

The Future of Video Game Input: Muscle Sensors

Electromyography (EMG) sensors can decode muscle signals from the skin's surface as a person performs certain gestures. Researchers attached such sensors to their forearms, and built a gesture recognition library by monitoring muscle signals related to each gesture. The project emerged as a collaborative effort between Microsoft, University of Washington in Seattle, and the University of Toronto in Canada.

clipped from www.livescience.com

clipped from www.youtube.com

UIST'09: Enabling Always-Available Input with Muscle-Computer Interfaces

Presented at UIST (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology) http://www.acm.org/uist/

clipped from www.technologyreview.com

Muscle-Bound Computer Interface

Forearm electrodes could enable new forms of hands-free computer interaction.

The new muscle-sensing project is "going after healthy consumers who want richer input modalities," says Desney Tan, a researcher at Microsoft. As a result, he and his colleagues had to come up with a system that was inexpensive and unobtrusive and that reliably sensed a range of gestures.

clipped from research.microsoft.com

Muscle-Computer Interfaces

Muscle-computer interfaces directly sense and decode human muscular activity rather than relying
on physical actuation or perceptible user actions. Using a wireless EMG armband, we have shown
relatively high accuracies decoding simple finger gestures both when the arm is rested on a surface,
but also when the gestures are performed in free space.
More info...

clipped from www.reghardware.co.uk

Geeks play Guitar Hero without guitars

The muscle computer interface does away with all that unnecessary button bashing

Sources:

Desney Tan - Professional Homepage

Bridgestone Color E-Paper

2009-10-28T11:07:00.005+01:00

clipped from techon.nikkeibp.co.jp

Bridgestone Corp announced an electronic paper (e-paper) device based on its "Quick-response Liquid Powder" Oct 26, 2009.

The company expects that the device will be used for browsing electronic books and electronic data. It will be tested with the assistance system for liaison officers at Kansai Urban Banking Corp from the spring of 2010.

clipped from techon.nikkeibp.co.jp

Bridgestone's new e-paper device

clipped from creativezone.eyeblaster.com

Full-colour, flexible e-Paper is finally here

According to ePaperCentral, “unlike other e-paper devices like the Kindle and Sony’s 505/700, the Bridgestone model does not use E Ink based technologies. Instead, it uses a powerful technology built in house that could completely revolutionize e-paper called QR-LPD.”

Bridgestone QR-LPD Color E-Paper Demonstration

Bridgestone Color E-Paper Featured on a Japanese Show

clipped from www.epapercentral.com

The Technology

The technology behind the screen itself is based on Bridgestone’s own QR-LPD electronic powder, which provides the quick rendering of black and white images that are as clear and paper-like as E Ink’s technology, and uses about the same battery life. Color is provided by a series of filters that go over each individual pixel that create the impression of a high definition, true color display.

The touch screen surface is provided by a WACOM tablet, much like the touch screen surface used in Sony’s PRS 700 and the IRex Iliad. As you can see in the example videos, the touch screen updates really quickly, but the actual full display refresh can be very slow. Depending on the model and the image displayed, the full screen refresh can be anywhere from .8 seconds to a full 15 seconds.

Sources:

A Bacterial Ratchet Motor

2009-10-27T16:04:00.003+01:00

clipped from medgadget.com

Scientists Enslave Bacteria to Power Tiny Microsized Motor

Italian scientists from the University of Rome managed to harness free floating E. coli bacteria to turn a tiny crankshaft. Although potential uses for such a tiny and unusual motor drive are not yet clear, no doubt interesting applications in medicine and life sciences should present themselves over time.

clipped from glass.phys.uniroma1.it

Luca Angelani

Micromotors pushed by bacteria
Micromotors pushed by biological entities constitute a fascinating way to
convert chemical energy into mechanical work at the micrometer scale. We show
that a properly designed asymmetric object can be spontaneously set into the
desired motion when immersed in a chaotic bacterial bath.

clipped from glass.phys.uniroma1.it

Self-starting micromotors in a bacterial bath
Micromotors pushed by biological entities, constitute a fascinating way to convert chemical energy into mechanical work at the micrometer scale. We show that a properly designed asymmetric object can be spontaneously set into the desired motion when immersed in a chaotic bacterial bath. [more]

clipped from glass.phys.uniroma1.it

A Bacterial Ratchet Motor

A nano-fabricated asymmetric gear (48 μm external diameter, 10 μm thickness)
rotates clockwise at 1 rpm when immersed in an active bath of motile
E.coli cells, visible in the background.

Sources:

Digital Rosetta Stone

2009-10-26T16:36:00.004+01:00

clipped from www.forbes.com

Storage for the Millennium

If people can read this story a millennium from now, they may have Tadahiro Kuroda to thank. Kuroda, an electrical engineering professor at Keio University in Japan, has invented what he calls a "Digital Rosetta Stone," a wireless memory chip sealed in silicon that he says can store data for 1,000 years.

Kuroda’s Rosetta stone will be a stack of four thin wafers, each one 15 inches in diameter and roughly 12-thousandths of an inch thick, embedded with 1,100 tiny chips. Together, says Kuroda, the four wafers will have 312 gigabytes of memory, the equivalent of 480 standard cds. The wafer stack is sealed in silicon dioxide, which keeps the humidity below 2%, preventing corrosion.

clipped from nextbigfuture.com

Kuroda's method: Instead of moving data as electrons through wires, as occurs in standard semiconductors, Kuroda’s sealed stack of wafers allows information to be beamed wirelessly on radio waves. This is a variation on radio-frequency identification technology, used in everything from scannable passports to inventory tracking.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

'Rosetta stone' offers digital lifeline

The Rosetta Stone is built on silicon wafers used in the chip industry

Hard drives are susceptible to magnetic fields

clipped from www.gcoee.keio.ac.jp

Tadahiro Kuroda

Sources:

Why extremists tend to dominate debates

2009-10-25T12:09:00.002+01:00

clipped from news.yahoo.com

Why Extremist Views Dominate

A new study suggests a possible reason: People with extreme views seem more willing to share their opinions than others, but only if they believe, even falsely, that their views are popular.

clipped from ts-si.org

Extremists Assume Majority Status When Sharing Opinions

Those that take the extreme version of their group’s viewpoint may believe that they actually represent the true views of their group. “When people with extreme views have this false sense that they are in the majority, they are more willing to express themselves,” said Kimberly Rios Morrison, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at The Ohio State University (OSU).

clipped from www.sciencedirect.com

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Volume 45, Issue 4,
July 2009,
Pages 740-747

clipped from researchnews.osu.edu

EXTREMISTS MORE WILLING TO SHARE THEIR OPINIONS, STUDY FINDS

The key is that the extremists have to believe that more people share their views than actually do, the research found.

Kimberly Rios Morrison

Sources:

The Xeros Waterless Washing Machine

2009-10-24T15:52:00.001+02:00

clipped from www.aboutmyplanet.com

Xeros – The Waterless Washing Machine Could Save Gallons

A washing machine which does not use water to clean clothes? That could solve half of the world’s water woes. The machine under development by the U.K based Xeros is technically not a zero-water washing machine. But the Xeros washing machine uses just a cup of water per load to clean your dirty laundry.

clipped from www.popsci.com

The Future of Laundry: No More Water

How to Clean Your Clothes with Plastic: Nylon beads sit in the outer of two nested drums. When both drums rotate, the absorbent beads fall through the mesh of the inner drum to tumble with your laundry, where they dislodge and trap dirt. After the wash cycle finishes, the outer drum stops moving and centripetal force pushes the beads back through the mesh into the outer drum, where they await your next mess. Paul Wootton

clipped from www.xerosltd.com

- Demo Video

clipped from www.xerosltd.com

Product Development

The Xeros polymer cleaning process can be applied to numerous cleaning sectors - both commercial and domestic. However, the team's first objective is to build a system for the Commercial laundry sector, designed to wash garment loads up to 20 kg per cycle.

Washing garments with the same cleaning and convenience of conventional washing

clipped from www.xerosltd.com

Environment Benefits

Converting from conventional laundry systems will save 90% of the fresh
water associated with washing. Take US domestic washing as an example,
that translates into 1.2 billion tonnes of water saved per year, equivalent to
17 million swimming pools.

clipped from www.xerosltd.com

Cost Benefits

Sources:

BioPower Ocean Power Systems

2009-10-23T15:32:00.003+02:00

clipped from www.reuters.com

BioPower Systems Collaborates With City of San Francisco on Wave Energy Project

SYDNEY, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Australia's ocean energy company, BioPower
Systems, today announced that it had entered into a collaborative agreement
with the City of San Francisco to investigate the generation of wave energy
from the Pacific Ocean.

clipped from www.biopowersystems.com

BioPower Systems is commercialising ocean power conversion technologies. Through application of biomimicry, we have adopted nature's mechanisms for survival and energy conversion in the marine environment and have applied these in the development of our proprietary wave and tidal power systems.

clipped from www.biopowersystems.com

The wave power system, bioWAVE™, is based on the swaying motion of sea plants in the presence of ocean waves.

clipped from www.youtube.com

bioWave ocean wave power system BioPower Systems

clipped from www.biopowersystems.com

The tidal power conversion system, bioSTREAM™, is based on the highly efficient propulsion of Thunniform mode swimming species, such as shark, tuna, and mackerel.

clipped from www.youtube.com

bioSTREAM Tidal Power System

Sources:

World's Largest Web-Spinning Spider

2009-10-22T17:32:00.002+02:00

clipped from www.heute.at

clipped from www.youtube.com

'Giant' orb web spider discovered

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com

Largest Web-Spinning Spider Found

Meet the newest odd couple of the animal kingdom: the giant female and tiny male of the largest web-spinning spider known to science: Nephila komaci.

The female of the species has a leg span of up to 5 inches (12 centimeters), while the male—which spends much of its time clambering on its partner's back—barely reaches an inch (2.5 centimeters), a new study says.

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Nephila komaci

Nephila komaci is a member of the golden orb-web spider group and is the largest web-spinning spider known.^[1] Few specimens have been found in South Africa and Madagascar. N. komaci females are the largest Nephila yet discovered. Its tip-to-tip leg span is about 12 centimetres, and spins a web that is equally impressive in size, measuring more than a metre in diameter. (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091020/science/science_giant_spider)

clipped from www.plosone.org

Discovery of the Largest Orbweaving Spider Species: The Evolution of Gigantism in Nephila

clipped from www.plosone.org

Sources:

LinkNotes

X-Flex Blast Protection System

Technology

X-FLEX Blast Protection System

French Hamster Hotel

French hamster hotel lets guests live like rodents

A French hotel is offering guests the chance to live like a hamster for a day.

France's human hamster hotel Video Reuters com

Heavy petting at France's human hamster hotel

Wednesday's Halftime Report

Multi-Touch Table for Casinos

Multitouch Poker: The Future of Casinos?

Multi-Touch Table

Blackjack for Multi-Touch

Scalable Multi-Touch

Epipheo transforms the way you think

What is an epipheo?

How the Internet is Changing Advertising

Advent Conspiracy 2.0

What is Google Wave?

The Mandelbulb a 3D Mandelbrot Set

Exterminate - Mandelbrot Fractal Zoom Music Video

Resulting renders

What does it look like on the inside?

Any interesting analogues to the 2D Mandelbrot set?

Are gorgeous flyovers and parallax zooms now possible?

Mandelbulb zoom

3D Mandelbulb mountain cross sections

The Intel Reader

Intel debuts text reader for the blind

A camera that reads text aloud

Intel News Release

Ready, Set, Read: Intel® Reader Transforms Printed Text to Spoken Word

Intel Launches Mobile Handheld Device for People with Reading-Based Disabilities, such as Dyslexia or Low-Vision, or for Those Who are Blind

New Intel® Reader Transforms the Printed Word

Features And Technical Specs

SARTRE -- Safe Road Trains for the Environment

With Road Trains, Highways Become Public Transportation

Cars that drive themselves can become reality within ten years

'Road trains' get ready to roll

How a road train could work

Needle Free Vaccinations

Patch Could Stretch the Supply of Flu Vaccine

Digital Ants Protect Computers

Ants inspire new computer antivirus software

Scientists have studied the behaviour of ants to develop a new generation of antivirus software for computers.

Mavizen TTX02 World's First E-Bike

Mavizen TTX02: Plug-and-Play Racing for the People

Mavizen TTX02 Launch Promo **LEAK***

Mavizen TTX02 Press Conference and Reveal at SEMA 2009 Las Vegas

2009 Isle of Man TTXGP

Eyeballs Control

Researchers Turn to Eyeballs to Control Devices

Introducing the gadgets you can control with your eyes

CEATEC: Eyeballs control a cell phone

Mind-reading computer

Scary or sensational? A machine that can look into the mind

Psychic 'mind-reading' computer will show your thoughts on screen

Computer Uses Brain Scans to Read Minds

Space-Based Solar Power

Liquavista's Color, Video E-Paper

Liquavista October 2009

Liquavista participates in £12 million project to create next generation flexible, full colour, video displays enabled by UK Technology Strategy Board grant

Electrowetting Benefits

Key Areas

Xerox Printable Electronics

Muscle-Computer Interface

The Future of Video Game Input: Muscle Sensors

UIST'09: Enabling Always-Available Input with Muscle-Computer Interfaces

Geeks play Guitar Hero without guitars

Bridgestone Color E-Paper

Bridgestone QR-LPD Color E-Paper Demonstration

Bridgestone Color E-Paper Featured on a Japanese Show

The Technology

A Bacterial Ratchet Motor

Self-starting micromotors in a bacterial bath

A Bacterial Ratchet Motor

Digital Rosetta Stone

Storage for the Millennium

'Rosetta stone' offers digital lifeline

Mavizen TTX02 Launch Promo LEAK*