2009-03-31

Storage in the Cloud

Clipped from: ParaScale software clusters servers into enterprise cloud storage | Crave - CNET

ParaScale, a start-up that develops cloud-storage solutions, announced Monday the availability of its ParaScale Cloud Storage (PCS) software. The software, once installed on any standard Linux platform, enables the server to be linked with others to act as one massive file repository that offers high parallel throughput.

(While this solution is available only for the enterprise market, regular users can also participate in similar clustering cloud storage using their home computers with Wuala, another online storage service that LaCie acquired awhile ago.)

Clipped from: ParaScale Cloud Storage Software – Build your own cloud storage

ParaScale Software, Powering Cloud Storage

ParaScale cloud storage software clusters tens to hundreds of servers together to act as one giant file repository with massive capacity and parallel throughput for a variety of applications. Deployments can start at several terabytes and it is easy to scale the cloud capacity and performance by adding commodity hardware. Having shared access via a standard network and protocols, a single administrator can easily manage hundreds of servers, with the system automatically balancing out hot-spots and capacity utilization across the various nodes. ParaScale software enables the enterprise or service provider to build enormous storage pools on commodity hardware at an affordable cost.

Clipped from: ParaScale Cloud Storage Software - Digital Content Storage Management

ParaScale Products Overview

PCS changes the storage landscape by offering several unique benefits:

Slashes storage costs by leveraging commodity hardware
Increases read/write throughput by allowing parallel data transfer
Accelerates performance and load-balances capacity across all nodes, by using automatic data migration and replication
Simplifies deployment by allowing incremental expansion, one disk at a time.

Clipped from: Wuala - The social online storage

Wuala, the social online storage

Voilà, here comes Wuala! Securely store and back up files online, access them from anywhere, and share your photos, videos, and music with friends and family.

Clipped from: Wuala - Why Wuala?

Why Wuala?

This need for online storage hasn't gone unnoticed: search for 'online storage' and you will find dozens of services. So, the obvious question, why Wuala? Wuala is unique in many ways and we believe it's the best application for a wide range of tasks. In addition to an array of convenient and distinguishable features, there are three core principles which make Wuala really stand out:

1. Security and privacy
Wuala is secure and protects your privacy: In contrast to many other services, all data you store in Wuala is encrypted on YOUR computer before it is stored online.

Convenience

2. Bridging web and desktop
Wuala is neither a website, nor a classical desktop application - it bridges web and desktop, combining the best of both worlds.

Technology

3. Economic technology
Wuala is based on a novel technology that reduces our costs so that we can provide you with a better service for free.

2009-03-30

ISIS Airship -- Eye in the Sky

clipped from www.latimes.com

Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights

The giant dirigible would use radar to closely and constantly monitor activity on the ground from 65,000 feet.

clipped from www.latimes.com

clipped from www.darpa.mil

Space, Near-Space and Airborne Sensors and Structures

clipped from www.darpa.mil

Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS)

The goal of the ISIS program is to develop a stratospheric airship based autonomous unmanned sensor with years of persistence in surveillance and tracking of air and ground targets. It will have the capability to track the most advanced cruise missiles at 600 km and dismounted enemy combatants at 300 km.

ISIS Program Overview Briefing
Updated 3/5/09 (.pdf, 960KB)

clipped from www.gizmag.com

US$10 million skin for DARPA's remarkable ISIS stratospheric airship

clipped from www.gizmag.com

2009-03-29

car2go Daimler's Rent-by-Mobile-Phone Car-Sharing Concept

clipped from www.youtube.com

smart car2go

clipped from www.prnewswire.com

car2go goes USA - Daimler introduces innovative mobility concept in Austin, Texas

Ulm, Germany / Austin, TX (March 26, 2009) /PRNewswire/ — Daimler will bring its innovative car2go mobility concept to the U.S. by fall of this year. The first international pilot will start in the Texas capital Austin with an initial fleet of about 200 fuel-efficient smart fortwo cars. car2go provides a simple, flexible, and cost-effective solution for city driving. The U.S. introduction coincides with the expansion of the pilot in Ulm, Germany, where the company opens the service to the public on March 26 after the internal test which started last October.

The car2go concept is based on a fleet of smart fortwo vehicles which are available for rent to registered members at any time, 24/7, making city driving as easy as using a mobile phone.

clipped from reviews.cnet.com

Renting a smart Fortwo for by the minute, hour, or day is one of the newest forms of transportation heading to Austin, Texas.

clipped from blog.wired.com

Smart car2go, From Ulm to Austin

2009-03-28

Nanogenerators to Charge Gadgets

Clipped from: YouTube - Power shirt reported by Fox News

Power shirt reported by Fox News

Clipped from: New nanogenerator may charge iPods and cell phones with a wave of the hand (3/28/2009)

New nanogenerator may charge iPods and cell phones with a wave of the hand

Imagine if all you had to do to charge your iPod or your BlackBerry was to wave your hand, or stretch your arm, or take a walk? You could say goodbye to batteries and never have to plug those devices into a power source again.

In research presented here today at the American Chemical Society's 237th National Meeting, scientists from Georgia describe technology that converts mechanical energy from body movements or even the flow of blood in the body into electric energy that can be used to power a broad range of electronic devices without using batteries.

Pictured is a schematic illustration shows the microfiber-nanowire hybrid nanogenerator, which is the basis of using fabrics for generating electricity. - Professor. Z. L. Wang and Dr. X. D. Wang, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Clipped from: The next not-so-big thing: Nanogenerators: Scientific American Blog

The next not-so-big thing: Nanogenerators

Wang's nanogenerator consists of an array of vertically aligned zinc oxide nanowires (each about one micron long) standing about a half-micron apart on a flat piece of gallium arsenide, sapphire or a flexible polymer substrate. On top of that nanowire forest, Wang and his colleagues lowered a tiny plate containing thousands of silicon electrodes until they were touching the tips of the nanowires (sandwiching these wires between the substrate and the electrode plate). When the plate—which is wavy like a piece of corrugated cardboard—is pressed down on the wires, this flexing produces small electrical charges. "The elastic bending of the zinc oxide nanowires is a major advantage," Wang says. Carbon nanotubes, for example, are much less flexible.

Clipped from: Zhong Lin (ZL) Wang's Nanoscience and Nanotechnology group

Research Highlights

Nanogenerator made by Z.L. Wang and Jinhui Song.

read the paper

Clipped from: YouTube - Hamster driven nanogenerator

Clipped from: YouTube - Human finger driven nanogenerator

2009-03-27

Electrolysis Breakthrough for Storing Solar Energy

clipped from cleantechnica.com

MIT Energy Storage Discovery Could Lead to ‘Unlimited’ Solar Power

clipped from www.itbusiness.ca

MIT: Solar power storage discovery could mean energy nirvana

Researchers at MIT say they've made an energy storage breakthrough that could transform solar power from an alternative to a mainstream energy source. The university is calling the solar project a major advancement in energy research.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Dr. Daniel Nocera: A new method of storing solar energy

clipped from web.mit.edu

Daniel G. Nocera
The Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy and Professor of Chemistry

clipped from peswiki.com

Electrolysis Breakthrough for Solar Storage

Historically, the platinum electrodes used in electrolysis work well for splitting off the hydrogen, but platinum works very poorly for oxygen. The MIT catalyst works well to allow the efficient liberation of the oxygen.

The new catalyst developed by MIT researchers consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode. When the catalyst is placed in water and electricity runs through the electrode, oxygen gas is produced.

2009-03-25

Killer Bees

clipped from www.youtube.com

African honeybees, also termed 'killer bees,' have reproduced in great numbers in the Amazon rainforest, forming aggressive swarms that are blamed for nearly 1,000 deaths. Now, these dangerous swarms have moved to the U.S.

clipped from www.insecta-inspecta.com

Africanized, Sometimes Called "Killer Bees"

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?

European Honey Bees

Africanized Bees

Pollinate flowers and crops

Calmed by smoke

Swarm only when crowded

More agressive

Attack in larger groups

Make less honey

Make less wax

Hate high pitched sounds

Swarm more often

clipped from www.desertusa.com

Killer Bees

How can I avoid an encounter with unfriendly Africanized honey
bees?

How can I reduce the chance Africanized honey bees will attack me if they
are around me?

How can I escape an attack if I am attacked by Africanized honey
bees?

Facts about Africanized honey bees

Readers' stories of killer
bees
Have
you had a problem with Africanized honey bees? Send us your story.

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

Killer bee attack: Fire-fighters save man with pressure hose after he was stung several THOUSAND times

2009-03-23

Beijing Mall with Huge LED Skyscreen

clipped from www.digitalexperience.dk

LED Skyscreen

A huge suspended LED screen forms the centerpiece of The Place in Beijing’s central business district. The screen is a massive 250 metres long and 30 metres wide, and is suspended more than 25 metres above the plaza.

clipped from www.youtube.com

clipped from www.beijingtravelbug.com

The Place Mall

This new Beijing landmark, with its striking projection screen, will house Spanish fashion chain Zara and Canadian shoe retailer Aldoâ€™s flagship store. Other outlets include Potato & Co., Folli Follie, Miss Sixty, Energie, Adidas, MAC makeup, Promod, Jessica, Chaterhouse and the Swiss Perfumery Shop. Clothing

clipped from www.meiguoxing.com

Meiguoxing.com, Your Ultimate Guide to Beijing, China

2009-03-22

Robotic Fish

clipped from news.sky.com

Robotic Fish To Fight Pollution In Sea

Scientists have designed a robotic fish capable of detecting pollution in water.

The project is part of a three-year partnership between engineering consultancy firm BMT Group and Essex University.

clipped from www.youtube.com

G8 Robotic Fish

clipped from www.bmt.org

BMT Group Limited

Robotic fish: the latest weapon in the fight against water pollution

The life-like creatures, which will mimic the undulating movement of real fish, will be equipped with tiny chemical sensors to find the source of potentially hazardous pollutants in the water, such as leaks from vessels in the port or underwater pipelines.

Thanks to Wi-Fi technology, they will then be able to transmit the information to the port's control centre via a "charging hub" where the fish can charge their batteries. This will enable the authorities to map in real time the source and scale of the pollution (see attached graphic).

2009-03-21

The Terrafugia Transition Flying Car

clipped from www.cbc.ca

Beat the traffic: take the flying car

U.S. company tests its $194,000 US 'roadable aircraft'

The Terrafugia Transition seats two, drives regular speeds on roads and can do about 180 km/h in flight.

clipped from blogs.thetimes.co.za

The ultimate travel tool: a flying car

The flying car is back, and this time in a guise that may actually be workable.

The Terrafugia Transition, a road-legal two-seat car which burns unleaded petrol and has electronically-folded wings, has just completed its maiden flight.

The wings can deploy in about 30 seconds for take-off and once in the air, the Terrafugia has a claimed cruise speed of 184km/h and a range of around 640km on one tank.

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com

Flying car lifts off in maiden flight

Terrafugia's Transition part-car, part-airplane took its first test flight, lasting 37 seconds. The vehicle took off and landed successfully.

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

Takeoff! The Terrafugia flying car takes off from the New York airstrip

Time for a refuel: The flying car takes unleaded petrol and its foldable wings allow it to be used at petrol stations and parked in garages

Touchdown: The Transition heads back down to land, where at the touch of a button it can fold its wings and go for a drive

clipped from www.youtube.com

A Car That Really Flies

clipped from www.youtube.com

First Flight: "Flying Car" Terrafugia Transition Roadable Aircraft

clipped from video.google.com

Uçan Araba Terrafugia Transition !

clipped from www.dailytech.com

We're one step closer to flying cars

Engineers will study the first test flight and begin to make slight modifications that will help improve future test flights.

To fly Transition, pilots must have at least a light sport plane pilots license, which allows pilots to fly planes less than 1,350 pounds in total weight.

Terrafugia hopes to have the Transition on the market before 2012. To date, around 40 people have dropped $10,000 as a deposit for the vehicle that will cost a total of $194,000.

2009-03-20

Super-Strong Carbon Nanotube Muscles

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

New 'muscle gel' that's tougher than steel could help scientists create super-strength robots

Muscle-flexing robots with superhuman strength could become a reality thanks to a new expanding material that is stronger than steel.

Scientists have created a gel that acts like muscle when charged with electricity but is far more powerful.

The 'aerogel' is almost as light as air, as stretchy as rubber, and stiffer than steel by weight.

A scene from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. The new 'aerogel' could help create a new generation of super-strength robots

clipped from www.cbc.ca

It may be light as air, but new artificial muscle is no wuss

At left is the artificial muscle with no voltage applied. When a voltage is applied, the material expands in width, as shown in the middle (room temperature) and right (high temperature) images.

clipped from blog.wired.com

Carbon Nanotube Muscles Strong as Diamond, Flexible as Rubber

clipped from www.youtube.com

Carbon Nanotube Muscle #1

clipped from www.youtube.com

Carbon Nanotube Muscle #2

clipped from www.youtube.com

Carbon Nanotube Muscle #3

clipped from www.youtube.com

Carbon Nanotube Muscle #4

clipped from nanotech.utdallas.edu

Ray H. Baughman

2009-03-19

Visit Amsterdam with Street View in Google Maps

View Larger Map

clipped from googlemapsmania.blogspot.com

Street View Now in the UK and Netherlands

Google Maps have released Street View in the UK and the Netherlands.

A number of major cities in the UK seem to have Street View and the Netherlands, Rotterdam and Groningen are covered in the Netherlands.

Royal Palace, Dam Square, Amsterdam

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Centraal Station, Amsterdam

2009-03-18

Fujitsu's FLEPia Colour eBook Reader

clipped from news.digitaltrends.com

Fujitsu subsidiary Fujitsu Fronttech has introduced the FLEPia (Japanese), which the company is touting as the "first color e-paper mobile terminal"—that's what most consumers would describe as a color ebook reader.

clipped from www.frontech.fujitsu.com

clipped from www.electricpig.co.uk

Fujitsu FLEPia colour eBook now on sale!

Inside the Fujitsu FLEPia there’s Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB and SD card slots and a battery good for 40 hours of reading time. And that gorgeous screen on the Fujitsu FLEPia is an 8 inch 1024×768 touchscreen job, so there’s no need for a keyboard like the Kindle and Kindle 2.

The Fujitsu FLEPia begins shipping April 20, but it’s up for pre-order on Fujitsu’s Japanese site right now for the sit-down-first sum of £725. If you stump up for one, be sure to let us know how you find it: this has got to be the way forward for glossy print magazines.

clipped from www.fastcompany.com

Fujitsu's FLEPia Color E-Book Now Official, Slow and Expensive

Waiting nearly two seconds for the FLEPia to change its display is almost certainly going to get tiresome.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Fujitsu's FLEPia Electric Paper

2009-03-17

Microsoft's SecondLight Surface

Clipped from: InfoNIAC

Second Light - the Second Generation Multi-touch Computer from Microsoft

At the South by SouthWest Festival visitors were told that in just two or three years they will witness the appearance of a second generation Surface - a computing gadget from the software giant Microsoft.
[...]
Surface represents a multi-touch computer that resembles a table.
The device features a flat screen that is able to read multi-touch gestures. Surface may also read content found on printed material that is placed onto the screen. This became possible with the help of five cameras installed inside the device.

Clipped from: YouTube - Microsoft Surface - The Possibilities

Microsoft Surface - The Possibilities

How does Surface work?
At a high level, Surface uses cameras to sense objects, hand gestures and touch. This user input is then processed and the result is displayed on the surface using rear projection.

What are the key attributes of surface computing?
Surface computing has four key attributes:

Direct interaction. Users can actually "grab" digital information with their hands and interact with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.
Multi-touch contact. Surface computing recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger, as with a typical touch screen, but up to dozens and dozens of items at once.
Multi-user experience. The horizontal form factor makes it easy for several people to gather around surface computers together, providing a collaborative, face-to-face computing experience.
Object recognition. Users can place physical objects on the surface to trigger different types of digital responses, including the transfer of digital content.

Clipped from: BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft Surface in action

Microsoft Surface in action

Clipped from: Microsoft's SecondLight technology revealed - News - PC Authority

Microsoft's SecondLight technology revealed

Dual projection devices within the screen allow hidden images to exist underneath photographs, which can be rotated and zoomed to show the hidden information in context.

The way to reveal the hidden image or text data is to wave a transparent material over the SecondLight surface.

2009-03-16

Fashion Robot

clipped from www.iht.com

Walking, talking female robot to hit Japan catwalk

TSUKUBA, Japan: A new walking, talking robot from Japan has a female face that can smile and has trimmed down to 43 kilograms (95 pounds) to make a debut at a fashion show. But it still hasn't cleared safety standards required to share the catwalk with human models.

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

A cyber sensation: World's first robotic model to star in her own fashion show

Fetchingly named HRP-4C, the humanoid has 30 motors in her body that allows her to walk and move her arms as well as eight motors on its face to create expressions like anger and surprise.

In a demonstration the robot tottered out, blinking, and said, 'Hello, everyone,' in a tiny feminine voice while its mouth moved.

The 'cybernetic human' has been designed to look like an average Japanese woman and portrays anger (L) and surprise (R)

The robot costs £150,000

2009-03-15

Self-Healing Coating

clipped from www.mailonsunday.co.uk

The scratch-proof car: Scientists create coating that repairs itself in the sun in 30 minutes

Scientists claim to have invented a 'self-healing' coating that repairs scuffs or blemishes on paint when exposed to sunlight.

clipped from blogs.discovermagazine.com

Self-Healing Coating Could Make Scratch-Proof Cars

clipped from www.fastcompany.com

clipped from www.nytimes.com

Polymer Coating Heals Itself

Biswajit Ghosh and Marek W. Urban of the University of Southern Mississippi have come up with another approach, which they describe in a paper in Science. With their method, what breaks is not a sphere, but a ring-shaped chemical, oxetane, that is incorporated in the polyurethane polymer. Another compound in the polymer, chitosan, forms cross-links at the places where the oxetane breaks, healing the scratch.

clipped from www.papamiket.com

Papa Mike's Blog

clipped from www.rsc.org

The team demonstrated that a hairline crack - around 10 micrometres in thickness - could be completely knitted back together under bright UV light in around 30 minutes. However, they have not yet investigated more complex damage or deeper scratches.

2009-03-14

Lockheed's Exoskeleton HULC: Human Universal Load Carrier

clipped from gadgets.softpedia.com

HULC Exoskeleton Turns Soldiers into Super Combatants

The exoskeleton senses what users want to do and where they want to go. It augments their ability, strength and endurance. An onboard micro-computer ensures the exoskeleton moves in concert with the individual. Its modularity allows for major components to be swapped out in the field.

clipped from www.lockheedmartin.com

HULC

Dismounted Soldiers often carry heavy combat loads that increase the stress on the body leading to potential injuries. With a HULC exoskeleton, these loads are transferred to the ground through powered titanium legs without loss of mobility.

The HULC is a completely un-tethered, hydraulic-powered anthropomorphic exoskeleton that provides users with the ability to carry loads of up to 200 lbs for extended periods of time and over all terrains. Its flexible design allows for deep squats, crawls and upper-body lifting. There is no joystick or other control mechanism. The exoskeleton senses what users want to do and where they want to go.

clipped from www.youtube.com

2009-03-13

SixthSense a Wearable Gestural Interface

clipped from news.softpedia.com

Next-Gen 'Sixth Sense' Device Created at MIT

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have taken it upon themselves to create a low-cost high-tech device that will offer users the possibility to interact with each object they come across in real-life. That is to say, when picking up a box of cereals, information could be projected on your hand or on a piece of paper that will let you know if the brand is good, or what type of ingredients the product contains. Every flat surface you find, including walls, table tops and other such things, may become an instant touchscreen, from which you could connect to the Internet and get valuable information.

clipped from www.pranavmistry.com

ABOUT

'SixthSense' is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.

clipped from www.youtube.com

clipped from www.foxnews.com

MIT Team Shows 'Sixth Sense' Wearable Computer

Instead, what the MIT team calls the "sixth sense" device, or rather series of devices, projects what you need to see or use onto any flat surface, which you can then use as a screen or keyboard.

The system's made up of $350 worth of off-the-shelf parts: a Webcam, a Web-connected smartphone and a mini-projector, all hooked up to each other. They're worn around your neck or, if you're willing to look a bit dumb, on your head.

clipped from www.thesun.co.uk

Friday, March 13, 2009

Future ... internet in the palm of your hand

Users can take photographs simply by framing an object with their hands or
project a digital watch face on to their wrists by simply drawing a circle
in the air with their finger.

2009-03-12

New Battery Charges in Seconds

Clipped from: Breakthrough battery can charge up in seconds - Times Online

Breakthrough battery can charge up in seconds

Clipped from: DMSE News and Events » Prof. Ceder publishes developments in rechargeable battery technology

Prof. Ceder publishes developments in rechargeable battery technology

MIT engineers have created a kind of beltway that allows for the rapid transit of electrical energy through a well-known battery material, an advance that could usher in smaller, lighter batteries — for cell phones and other devices — that could recharge in seconds rather than hours.

The work could also allow for the quick recharging of batteries in electric cars, although that particular application would be limited by the amount of power available to a homeowner through the electric grid.

The work, led by Gerbrand Ceder, the Richard P. Simmons Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, is reported in the March 12 issue of Nature.

Clipped from: Re-engineered battery material could lead to rapid recharging of many devices - MIT News Office

... creating a new surface structure that does allow the lithium ions to move quickly around the outside of the material, much like a beltway around a city. When an ion traveling along this beltway reaches a tunnel, it is instantly diverted into it. Kang is a coauthor of the Nature paper.
Using their new processing technique, the two went on to make a small battery that could be fully charged or discharged in 10 to 20 seconds (it takes six minutes to fully charge or discharge a cell made from the unprocessed material).

A sample of the new battery material that could allow quick charging of portable devices.

Scanning electron micrograph of a particle of the new battery material. Dark area indicates the inside of the particle surrounded by a lighter surface layer only five nanometers wide.

Related:
Breakthrough battery can charge up in seconds - Times Online
DMSE News and Events » Prof. Ceder publishes developments in rechargeable battery technology
Re-engineered battery material could lead to rapid recharging of many devices - MIT News Office
Lithium batteries charge ahead : Nature News
Quicker battery charge holds promise for plug-in cars
MIT engineers remodel the Li-ion battery to recharge in a matter of seconds
A Better Battery? The Lithium Ion Cell Gets Supercharged: Scientific American
Building a better battery - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com

2009-03-11

Prism 200 Through-Wall Radar

clipped from www.cybertheater.com

See Through Walls With Prism 200

clipped from www.cambridgeconsultants.com

Prism 200

prism 200 is a handheld through-wall radar, which has been designed to be used by police, special forces or the emergency services.

It provides quick and covert intelligence on the movement and location of people in a room or building - without the need for invasive sensors. prism 200 has been designed for situations where a high degree of insight is essential for success.

Highlights

Suitable for the quick evaluation of room occupancy

Can be tripod-mounted for long-term surveillance

Constructed from highly durable materials to withstand harsh environments

Remote monitoring and data recording using a laptop computer

2009-03-09

The BeBook e-Book Reader

clipped from www.engadget.com

BeBook 2 e-reader revealed and in the wild at CeBIT 2009!

Gallery: BeBook 2 e-reader revealed and in the wild at CeBIT 2009!

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk

BeBook £229

There are at least a half dozen e-Book readers on the market at the moment, all practically indistinguishable in terms of feature set and, in many cases, appearance. The BeBook scores, though, with its neat, intuitive operating system and smooth rapid page turn that quickly lets you forget you have a high-tech gadget in your hands. A huge library of classic books bundled with the reader sweetens the deal considerably.

clipped from www.techradar.com

Hands on: BeBook's new e-reader

Is the new e-reader on the block a threat to Kindle and Sony's Reader?

clipped from mos.techradar.com

clipped from www.techradar.com

The device itself is very neat. It's far cooler looking than Amazon's unwieldy Kindle, with an impressive battery life that allows around 7,000 page turns (from a 4-hour charge) a 6-inch reflective screen, weighting in at just 220g including the battery.

clipped from www.youtube.com

BeBook on the Gadget Show

clipped from mybebook.com

TESTDRIVE BeBook Online!
Checkout BeBook in our Interactive Bebook Tour >>

Bebook's unique features
- Bebook reads all popular document formats, also free ebooks and any pdf!
- No shopping limitations: buy or download books, news or magazines anywhere (anywhere!) and read them on your Bebook!
- change font types and fontsize while reading
- 512MB internal memory and SD card slot so you can exchange books and documents with friends or collegues
- open software standard (lifetime firmware updates are free!)
- 1 year full warranty
- leather protection case is included with your Bebook

clipped from www.pcpro.co.uk

Product Reviews

BeBook

clipped from www.ebookreadersreview.co.uk

BeBook Ebook Reader Hands On Review

clipped from pookey.co.uk

BeBook review

clipped from www.youtube.com

Shiny Review: BeBook E-Reader

2009-03-06

Vue -- Avaak Wireless Camera System

clipped from thefutureofthings.com

Vue Personal Video Network

Avaak has developed a wireless multi-camera system called the Vue Personal Video Network. The Vue is designed for home monitoring, but may garner interest in the business world as well.

clipped from images.businessweek.com

Debuts at DEMO

clipped from www.youtube.com

eWEEK Interviews Avaak at DEMO 09

clipped from www.youtube.com

New Avaak wireless camera system puts low-cost video to...

clipped from vuezone.com

products

scoop

buy

support

Simple Setup

Vue is incredibly simple to setup. You'll be viewing remote live video in minutes. Take a look...

2009-03-03

D3o Intelligent Shock Absorption

clipped from www.moreinspiration.com

D3o Shock Absorbing Technology

D3O is a specially composite material with intelligent molecules that flow as you move and upon impact or schock they lock together and absorb the energy

clipped from www.d3o.com

clipped from www.youtube.com

d3o movie

clipped from www.youtube.com

What is d3o?

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

Military to use new gel that stops bullets

A new "bullet-busting" shock-absorbent gel is set to save the lives of British soldiers by substantially reinforcing their helmets.

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

Introducing the gel-filled army helmet that will crush bullets as they penetrate it

A UK-based technology company was today celebrating a £100,000 contract from the Ministry of Defence to develop its D3O shock-absorbing gel to help save the lives of British troops fighting on the frontline in Afghanistan.

Richard Palmer, CEO of Blue Divine Ltd, with 'D3O' shock-absorbing material which will be used to line new British Army helmets

A highly magnified examination of 'D30' the miracle substance that hardens on impact

2009-03-02

OLED100.EU -- A New Light On Lighting

Clipped from: OLED100.EU

ABOUT OLED100.EU

The goal of OLED100.eu is to develop all the necessary technologies needed to produce efficient OLED products for exploitation by the European lighting industry.
Targets set by the project include achieving 100 lumens per watt power efficiency, more than 100,000 ‘lifetime hours’, a unit area of 100cm by 100cm and costs of €100 per square metre or less.

Clipped from: YouTube - A new light on energy efficiency

A new light on energy efficiency

Lighting accounts for a quarter of energy costs in Europe. Replacing outdated light bulbs with more advanced devices is an efficient way to cut our energy bill. Science and industry have joined forces in a European project to develop cheap and stylish alternatives to modern lighting.

Clipped from: Organic light-emitting diode - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Organic light-emitting diode

An Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), also Light Emitting Polymer (LEP) and Organic Electro Luminescence (OEL), is any Light Emitting Diode (LED) whose emissive electroluminescent layer is composed of a film of organic compounds. The layer usually contains a polymer substance that allows suitable organic compounds to be deposited. They are deposited in rows and columns onto a flat carrier by a simple "printing" process. The resulting matrix of pixels can emit light of different colors.

Clipped from: HowStuffWorks "OLED Components"

OLED Components

Clipped from: OLED100.EU

The overall goal of OLED100.eu is to develop all the necessary technologies forming the basis for efficient OLED applications for the general lighting industry in Europe.

[...]

For general lighting, OLEDs have to compete with existing and upcoming lighting solutions achieving power efficacies of up to 100 lm/W (fluorescent tubes) and operational lifetimes of up to 100.000 h (inorganic LEDs). In addition, OLEDs have to make use of their revolutionary form factor allowing flat light sources covering square meters.

This translates to the five main objectives:
-High power efficacy (100 lm/W)
-Long lifetime (100.000 h)
-Large area (100x100 cm2)
-Low-cost (100 Euro/m2)
-System integration / standardization / application

OLED100.eu has assembled a consortium with outstanding experts from leading industry and academic groups. The participation of lamp manufacturers like Philips and Osram ensures a rapid transfer of any result into real products. OLED100.eu will strengthen the leading position of the European Lighting Industry and create long-term manufacturing jobs. Finally, the IP generated in new process and product domains will protect these advances from Asian and US competition.

Related:
OLED100.EU
Organic light-emitting diode - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HowStuffWorks "How OLEDs Work"

2009-03-01

MITRE -- Head Tracking Visual Telepresence

Clipped from: YouTube - MITRE Immersive Vision System

MITRE Immersive Vision System

Demonstration of a highly responsive head tracked vision system used for visual telepresence.
http://www.mitre.org/news/digest/adva...

"With remote robot interaction we can use visual telepresence to trick users' brains into thinking their eyes have been transported onto the robot," says Kyle Fawcett. "This unlocks the brain's natural ability to build a mental model of the remote environment. The better our vision system mimics interaction with the remote environment, the more we tap into our brain's natural spatial mapping abilities."

Clipped from: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: MITRE immersive spherical vision system

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

MITRE immersive spherical vision system

MITRE scientists have worked out a solution to this latency problem replacing the limited field of view camera on the pan-tilt unit with a spherical vision camera which has no moving parts. The camera of choice is the Ladybug commercially sold by Point Grey Research in Canada. Stanford's Urban Challenge autonomous car also used the same camera for part of its perception system. This spherical vision system consists of 6 cameras which capture images simultaneously covering a large portion of the view sphere around it. Software stitches the images together into a single view in real-time. These spherical vision images are then available to the operator to view for any orientation of his head.

Clipped from: MITRE - News and Events - MITRE Publications - The MITRE Digest - Advanced Research - Immersive Vision Gives the Best Control to Military Robots

MITRE