2009-05-31

Flexible OLEDs Lighting

The future of lighting: flexible OLEDs in any shape and color

Once flexible OLED lighting can be produced on Roll-to-Roll, a load of new applications can be envisaged. Do it yourself lighting foil that you can cut in any shape you want. Or energy efficient camper lighting you can stick to the ceiling or walls. Holst Centre and its partners are world-leading in the domain by demonstrating a flexible OLED tile without the use of ITO and with printed shunting lines. Whats more, the 12x12cm2 white OLED tile can be cut as is shown in the movie.
More at http://www.oled-display.net

clipped from www.holstcentre.com

See also:

Press release (English / Dutch)

Shared program on flexible lighting and signage

clipped from www.youtube.com

GE OLEDs - the future of lighting

clipped from www.oled-info.com

GE shows OLED lighting concepts video

GE has produced a nice video showing all sorts of design concepts using thin, flexible OLED lighting panels. There's wearable OLEDs for emergency safety gear, illuminated stairs, walls and signs in stores and a nice "wall peel" OLED lamp:

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Aerogel

clipped from www.youtube.com

It looks like frozen smoke. And it's the lightest solid material on the planet. Aerogel insulates space suits, makes tennis rackets stronger and could be used one day to clean up oil spills. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Alex Gash shows us some remarkable properties of this truly unique substance.

clipped from www.wired.com

A Solid That's Light as Air

Aerogel is the lightest solid known to science. It's also one of the most insulating materials on Earth, the most porous, and it's nearly transparent. Those last two properties made it an ideal choice for catching flecks of comet and interstellar dust on the recently-returned Stardust mission launched by NASA and JPL.

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Aerogel & Peter Tsou, JPL Scientist

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Flower On Aerogel Over A Flame

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Matches On Aerogel Over A Flame

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Aerogel Supporting A Brick

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Aerogel In Hand

clipped from www.aerogel.org

How is Aerogel Made?

The Start of an Aerogel: A Gel

Aerogel is the solid framework of a gel isolated from its liquid component, prepared in such a way as to preserve the framework’s pore structure (or at least most of it). In other words, aerogel is what would be left over if you could remove the liquid from a gel without it shrinking. This is most effectively done through a special technique called supercritical drying

Aerogelification

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Types

Silica aerogels

Carbon aerogels

Alumina aerogels

Other aerogels

SEAgel is a material similar to organic aerogel, made of agar.

clipped from www.youtube.com

SEAgel Aerogel lighter than air solid. Not a UFO

Sources:

Carl Pisaturo -- Kinetic Sculptures

clipped from www.robotsnob.com

Carl Pisaturo, an applications engineer at Stanford, creates kinetic sculptures in his spare time that include a transmutoscope, a 3D photograph viewer, and two upper body bots with 21 servos in a series named "Slave Zero." His studio is named Area 2881 after his address and houses 400 sq. ft. of art and light. Visit Carl's site to see his work, which he claims is "a money sink."

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Electro-Mechanical Eye Candy

clipped from carlpisaturo.com

Carl Pisaturo

B U I L T O B J E C T S

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clipped from www.youtube.com

Slave 1 Performance Robot

clipped from carlpisaturo.com

MOTORIZED KINETIC LIGHT SCULPTURES

clipped from carlpisaturo.com

clipped from www.youtube.com

Carl Pisaturo - light machines

clipped from carlpisaturo.com

Serpentine Robot Arm with Tendon Transmission

clipped from www.youtube.com

Carl Pisaturo - robot arm

clipped from www.wired.com

Each sculpture can take months to finish, with all parts custom-made by him."Fully custom mechanical objects with lighting can take a long time," says Pisaturo who does the machining for the metal himself, "from three months to two years in case of the slave robots."

Pisaturo has posted detailed material, design and electrical notes for his creations on his website.

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Google Search Options

clipped from www.youtube.com

Google's Search options let you slice and dice your search results, explore your search and generate different views of your results page to more easily and quickly find what you need.

clipped from www.google.com

Use Search Options to find what you're looking for faster

Click "Show Options" on Google search results pages to open a set of tools that let you filter, refine, and explore search results. For example, see results for global warming from the 1990s using a timeline, filter to view recent results, or explore related searches with Wonder Wheel. Learn More.

clipped from blogoscoped.com

Google’s Wonder Wheel Experiment, and More

clipped from blogoscoped.com

Google’s Timeline Feature

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2009-05-27

Asus Eee PC 1008HA Netbook

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com

Asus Eee PC 1008HA Netbook

Asus's next netbook might make you look twice. It's sexy, it's white--but it's not a Mac.

It's thin, sleek, and light, and at least one Macworld editor is eyeballing it with interest. Nevertheless, the Asus Eee PC 1008HA netbook is no MacBook. Asus seems to be spitting out new additions to its netbook line faster than I can count. (Who can forget the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, the Asus Eee PC 1000H 80G XP, and the Asus Eee PC T91? It ain't easy, since all three came out in the past six months or so.) Nevertheless, the company's designers continue to find ways to refine their machines. The proof is in this new $420 (as of May 26, 2009) netbook.

clipped from uk.asus.com

Eee PC™ Seashell — Indulge in the Extraordinary

clipped from www.youtube.com

Asus Eee PC 1008HA hands-on at CeBit 2009

clipped from reviews.cnet.com

CNET editors' rating:
4.0
stars
Excellent
Detailed
editors' rating

Design: 10.0
Features: 7.0
Performance: 7.0
Battery life: 8.0
Service and support: 7.0
Overall score: 8.1
(4.0 stars)

The good: New slim design; clever hidden ports and connections; thin LED screen.

The bad: Near the upper end of the Netbook price scale; hidden ports and VGA dongle can take a little effort to access.

The bottom line: Asus reinvents its iconic Netbook with the slim, attractive Eee PC 1008HA, a bold experiment that largely works.

clipped from reviews.cnet.co.uk

Eee PC 1008HA Seashell review

What is it: Stylish, lightweight 10-inch netbook

What we think: Great styling and a relatively light chassis make this netbook a winner

clipped from www.trustedreviews.com

Author Andy Vandervell
Published 7th May 2009
Manufacturer Asus

Supplier Laptops Direct

Price £321.71 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed £369.97 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price Click here
Design
Features
Performance
Value
Overall

clipped from www.trustedreviews.com

Sources:

Plastiki Expedition -- Message In A Bottle

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Plastiki

The Plastiki is the name of the sailing vessel which David de Rothschild will, with a five-man crew, sail across the Pacific Ocean starting in San Francisco, California in the summer of 2009, ending his journey in Sydney, Australia.

Rothschild, a prominent ecologist and descendant of the banking family, will sail across the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive sea of garbage sitting just below the surface of the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii, in an attempt to draw attention to the amount of garbage disposed of in our oceans.

The Plastiki is a distinctive, one-of-a-kind 60-foot (20m) catamaran made out of plastic bottles, srPET plastic and recycled waste products.

clipped from www.core77.com

You can follow the Plastiki Expedition here, and read Reuters coverage of it here. Lastly, here's a video describing the project:

clipped from adventure.nationalgeographic.com

Voyage of the Plastiki

The perils of innovation on the high seas.

Update: The Plastiki departure has been delayed until summer 2009. Until then, read updates from our Plastiki correspondent and see the workshop in a photo gallery

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The Plastiki: A Peek at the Production Happenings on Pier 31

clipped from www.sfweekly.com

A prototype of the Plastiki.

clipped from www.sfweekly.com

It's supposed to eventually look like this.

clipped from www.sfweekly.com

The catamaran's design.

clipped from www.sfweekly.com

Another look at the prototype.

clipped from www.strimoo.com

Plastiki Project

clipped from www.reuters.com

In line with cradle to cradle thinking, when the voyage is done, the team plans to upcycle the boat.

A plastic boat won’t solve all our problems, but de Rothschild is attempting to spark conversations about rethinking waste. He aims to showcase a solution, and encourage people to rethink waste as a resource.

“This is the hundredth year of plastic,” de Rothschild pointed out. “Plastic is an amazing material and it is still misunderstood. I’m trying to get people to think about plastic as part of the solution.”

Sources:

Asteroid deflection strategies

clipped from www.astroengine.com

Deflecting Doomsday Asteroids… and Plundering Them

clipped from www.youtube.com

With thousands of asteroids, comets and other near-Earth object buzzing by our planet, Jorge Ribas finds out how we can avoid the same fate as the dinosaurs.

clipped from www.deepastronomy.com

Apophis: The Asteroid That Could Smash Into The Earth on
Friday, April 13th, 2036

Apophis is an asteroid with an
slightly offset orbit to that of Earth's. Discovered in June 2004, astronomers have determined that it will make a very close flyby on April 13th, 2029, where it will pass to within 5 Earth diameters of us. The exact path the asteroid follows on its flyby in 2029 will determine whether it smashes into the Earth seven years later.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Apophis would pass through a "gravitational keyhole", a precise region in space no more than about 400 meters across, that would set up a future impact on April 13, 2036.

End Of The World: Apophis Asteroid 2036

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Asteroid deflection strategies

Destruction concentrates on rendering the impactor harmless by fragmenting it and scattering the fragments so that they miss the Earth or burn up in the atmosphere. As will be shown, this does not always solve the problem, as sufficient amounts of material hitting the Earth at high speed can be devastating even if they are not collected together in a single body.

Delay exploits the fact that both the Earth and the impactor are in orbit. An impact occurs when both reach the same point in space at the same time, or more correctly when some point on Earth's surface intersects the impactor's orbit when the impactor arrives.

clipped from www.b612foundation.org

The Goal of the
B612* Foundation is...

To significantly
alter the orbit of an asteroid, in a controlled manner, by 2015.

Asteroid and comet impacts have both destroyed and shaped life on Earth
since it formed.

The Earth orbits the Sun in a vast swarm of near Earth asteroids (NEAs).
The probability of an unacceptable collision in this century
is ~2%.

We now have the capability to anticipate an impact and to prevent
it.
* B612 is the asteroid home of the Little Prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's child's story The Little Prince.

clipped from www.space.com

In Defense of Earth: Keeping Asteroids at a Distance

clipped from www.space.com

Pushing resource-rich asteroids around for profit and protecting Earth may be part of the space scene later this century. Click to enlarge.

clipped from www.space.com

En route to Jupiter, NASA's Galileo examined asteroid Ida in August 1993, finding a second object, Dactyl - the first confirmed satellite or moon of an asteroid.

clipped from www.space.com

The surface of asteroid Eros.

clipped from www.esa.int

Don Quijote concept

ESA's Don Quijote is an asteroid deflection precursor mission concept, designed to assess and validate the technology that one day could be used to deflect an asteroid threatening the Earth...

clipped from www.esa.int

The key moment of the Don Quijote mission: the Impactor spacecraft (Hidalgo) smashes into the asteroid while observed, from a safe distance, by the Orbiter spacecraft (Sancho)

Impactor spacecraft

The moments before impact... The Impactor spacecraft (Hidalgo) heads towards the target asteroid.

Orbiter spacecraft

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clipped from www.newscientist.com

'Gravity tractor' to deflect Earth-bound asteroids

NASA scientists have come up with a surprisingly simple yet effective way to deflect an Earth-bound asteroid - park a large spacecraft close by and let gravity do the work.

Previous suggestions have focused on deflecting an incoming asteroid with nuclear explosions. But NASA experts believe a "gravity tractor" should be able to perform the same feat by creating an invisible towline to tug the rock off its deadly course.

clipped from www.newscientist.com

Sources:

Walking Military Robots

clipped from www.wired.com

Army Terminators Walk Like Men

One of the American military’s leading humanoid robots is Petman. Its job will be to testing chemical protection clothing for the U.S. Army. Petman is being built by Boston Dynamics, famous for its alarmingly lifelike BigDog robotic pack mule. Unlike earlier suit-testing robots, which needed external support, Petman will stand — and walk — on his own two feet.

clipped from www.bostondynamics.com

PETMAN - BigDog gets a Big Brother

Natural, agile movement is essential for PETMAN to simulate how a soldier stresses protective clothing under realistic
conditions. The robot will have the shape and size of a standard human, making it the first anthropomorphic robot that moves
dynamically like a real person.

clipped from www.wired.com

Meanwhile, Bucknell University researchers have received a $1.2 million grant for research and development of military robots, including a 5-foot-tall bipedal walker.

clipped from www.bucknell.edu

Bucknell receives $1.2 million for military robot research, development

A bi-pedal robot being developed
by Bucknell researchers.

The long-term project focus, Buffinton said, is development of a bipedal walking robot that would move easily in an “unstructured urban environment. It would move over curbs, up stairs and around rubble.”

“It would have various purposes,” said Buffinton. “It could be used for surveillance and to gather information in areas you would not want to risk human life. It could be used in mine disasters. In the case of the collapse of the World Trade Center in New York, rescuers faced working in extremely dangerous conditions and toxic air. Robots could do more to take the risk from humans.”

clipped from www.bucknell.edu

Engineers demonstrate legged robots' first steps

The next steps for the bi-pedal robot project are designing a head that contains cameras and information-gathering abilities and equipping the machine with arm-like devices to assist with balancing.

Sources:

Moblin 2.0 -- Open Source Linux for Netbooks and Nettops

Clipped from: Moblin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moblin

Moblin, short for mobile Linux, is an open source project focused on developing software for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and other new categories of devices such as netbooks and nettops. Intel launched the Moblin.org site in July 2007 and significantly updated the site in April 2008 with the launch of the Intel Atom processor family at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai. A custom SDK is also available on the site. The Moblin 2 OS was specifically designed to run on an Intel Atom processor in a netbook. In April 2009 Intel turned Moblin over to the Linux Foundation.

Clipped from: Moblin - Intel® Software Network

Intel® Software Network

Clipped from: Moblin v2 beta targets netbooks

Moblin.org has released the beta version of its open-source Linux "Moblin v2.0 for Netbooks and Nettops" stack. The Moblin beta shows extensive upgrades in the user interface (UI), including a new toolbar (pictured), and an "m_zone" home page that aggregates social networking content.

Clipped from: Moblin v2.0 beta for Netbooks and Nettops - It's here... | moblin.org

Moblin v2.0 beta for Netbooks and Nettops - It's here...

The Moblin steering committee is happy to release the Moblin v2.0 beta for Netbooks and Nettops for developer testing. With this release, developers can begin to experience and work with the source code of the visually rich, interactive user interface designed for Intel Atom based Netbooks. The Moblin v2.0 user experience has been designed from the ground up to provide unique ways to engage with the internet, aggregate your social networking activity, and enjoy your media content. The new user experience and core applications were developed using the Clutter animation framework, leveraging heavily from GL and the physics engine.

Clipped from: YouTube - Moblin 2.0 Netbook Beta Introduction

Moblin 2.0 Netbook Beta Introduction

Clipped from: Moblin 2.0 beta hits the web - The Tech Repor

In short, Moblin is shaping up to be a fancier, better-looking, and more polished successor to the stripped-down Linux distributions that appeared in the very first netbooks. Apparently, Intel has even implemented a physics engine and OpenGL acceleration to make the user interface look prettier and more dynamic.
You can "test drive" the Moblin 2.0 beta by downloading the 680MB installation image over on this page and loading it up onto a USB drive. (Instructions are up here.) Intel says it has tested the image on the Acer Aspire One, Asus Eee PC 901 and 1000H, Dell Mini 9, MSI Wind, Lenovo S10, Samsung NC10, and HP Mini 1010 and 1120NR (the 1120NR supports "wired networking only for now," though).

Sources:

Related:

2009-05-21

GM Launches Hybrid Hummer

Clipped from: TG Daily - GM goes green with hybrid Hummer

GM goes green with hybrid Hummer

Washington, DC - If you can't beat 'em, join 'em: General Motors is launching an electric Hummer claimed to produce near-zero emissions.

Demonstrated to members of Congress yesterday, the Electric Hummer was developed by Raser Technologies and FEV in cooperation with General Motors' Hummer division, and is aimed at that hard-to-please segment of the market that wants to pretend they are in a tank but still think of themselves as nice people.

Clipped from: The gas-guzzling Hummer goes eco-friendly with a new model that's powered by electricity | Mail Online

The gas-guzzling Hummer goes eco-friendly with a new model that's powered by electricity

Goliath turns green: The Hummer H3 gets charged up in Capital Hill, Washington D.C. as part of public demonstrations to promote the new model

The GM-owned Hummer joined forces with Raser Technologies 15 months ago to create a green vehicle with a whopping 600 pounds of lithium-ion battery packs.
Still resembling the typical indestructible look of a Hummer, the new model can travel 40 miles in all-electric mode before requiring a boost.

Clipped from: This Hummer gets 100 mpg — more or less - Green Machines- msnbc.com

Electric Hummer gets 100 mpg — more or less

Capitol Hill event raises its profile; critic says 33 mpg is closer to reality

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Clipped from: Raser Unveils 100 mpg Hummer at SAE World Congress | Raser Technologies

Raser Technologies Unveils 100+ MPG Plug-In Hybrid Hummer at THE SAE World Congress In Detroit

Technology in New Electric Hummer Could Drive Bold Leap Ahead for U.S. Automakers, Making Popular Trucks & SUVs ‘Greener Than a Prius’
Raser Technologies, Inc. unveiled a 100+ mpg Hummer H3 powered by Raser’s plug-in hybrid E-REV (Extended-Range Electric Vehicle) at the 2009 SAE International World Congress, Cobo Center, Detroit, MI.
Raser developed the 100+ mpg Electric H3 demonstration vehicle working closely with Hummer. Just one year ago at the 2008 SAE World Congress, Raser and its development partner FEV Inc., Auburn Hills, MI, a leading automotive integrator, introduced Raser’s E-REV power train, similar in function to the Chevy Volt but designed for use in a variety of larger full-sized SUVs and light trucks. The vehicle was developed in association with the Plug-in Hybrid Development Consortium, co-founded by Raser along with leading electric utilities, lithium ion battery companies and other automotive technology companies.

Clipped from: Carpix Video Sharing - ALL-ELECTRIC - RASER H3 EREV HUMMER

ALL-ELECTRIC - RASER H3 EREV HUMMER

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Related:

Harvesting the Wind

clipped from www.inhabitat.com

Wind Turbine Towers Win Metropolis Next Generation Prize!

Metropolis Magazine officially announced the winner of their 2009 Next Generation prize! Titled Wind-it, the brilliant project aims to give our existing energy grid a much needed boost by installing wind turbines in ailing electrical transmission towers.

clipped from www.metropolismag.com

From the window of a TGV hurtling through France, the countryside flattens to a smudge—electrical towers rise and recede in clusters, and tall, lanky wind turbines seem to whip off pirouettes like a young Moira Shearer. Most passengers turn their heads, nodding off on a neighbor or burying their noses in Le Monde, but for a triumvirate of young designers, the sight is a view of the future. The passing turbines and pylons augur a new way to harness renewable energy in a country that relies almost entirely on nuclear power. “When we’re riding on the train, we al-ways see pylons, and some turbines too,” Nicola Delon says. “We say, ‘Both are here. Can’t we mix them together?’”

clipped from www.metropolismag.com

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iRobot's Military Bots

clipped from www.ubergizmo.com

iRobot Ember Enrols In The Army

It won't be long now before robots become commonplace on the battlefield.

clipped from www.upi.com

Army orders PackBot tech from iRobot

BEDFORD, Mass., May 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has placed an order for iRobot Corp.'s PackBot 510s as part of an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract.

clipped from www.irobot.com

The Multi-Mission Tactical Mobile Robot

clipped from www.army-technology.com

iRobot - PackBot EOD Unmanned Tactical Mobile Robot

The PackBot EOD is a rugged, lightweight robot designed to conduct EOD, HAZMAT handling, search, surveillance and reconnaissance, hostage rescue and other tasks.

Rapid deployment - PackBot EOD can be hand carried by a single operator and deployed in under two minutes. It fits easily into car trunks, aircraft and helicopters.

The PackBot EOD Operator Control Unit has an ergonomic design with intuitive controls. A security key protects the robot and OCU even over unsecured communications.

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iRobot's Packbot

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IRobot Packbot action!

clipped from www.engadget.com

Gallery: iRobot Ember microbot

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Deep Flight -- High Performance Winged Submarine

clipped from www.newscientist.com

Winged submarine is Ferrari of the depths

Meet the Deep Flight Super Falcon, the world’s first production “winged submersible”, pictured here diving off the British Virgin Islands in January.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

Underwater 'flying machine' launched

Unlike other submersibles, Mr Hawkes said his deep sea craft can actually "fly underwater".

"Normal submersibles have ballast systems and are nothing more than sinkers. They just treat the ocean as a vertical elevator and they typically work on the bottom on a small footprint.

clipped from www.youtube.com

clipped from yachtpals.com

clipped from www.deepflight.com

Specifications

Class: High performance Winged Submersible
Numerical Design Designation: DF 302

Dimensions:
Wings deployed: 3.0m
Wings folded: 1.4m
1.6m height, 6.7m length

Cruise Speed: 2-6 knots
Maximum Thrust: 508lbs, 231kg
Max Descent Rate: 200 ft/min
Max Ascent Rate: 400 ft/min
Operating Depth: 1,000 fsw
Crew: 2

Launch Weight: 1,818kg
Payload: 230 Kg (2 persons)

View Full Specs

clipped from www.youtube.com

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Flies turn Fire Ants into Zombies

clipped from austin.decider.com

Brain-eating maggots could save Texas $1 billion, create legions of "zombie ants"

From the "brain-eating maggots solve every problem" file (it's a thicker file than you'd imagine): Researchers from UT and Texas A&M's AgriLife Extension Service are looking to curb the destructive behavior of the state's fire ant population with a species of fly whose larvae feed on ant brains.

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com

Brain-Controlling Flies to Triumph Over Alien Ants?

Plentiful in fire ants' South American home ranges, phorid fly females inject their eggs into the fire ants.

The egg develops into a maggot, which appears to control the ant's behavior. The maggot "directs" the ant to a moist, leafy place—phorid larvae are vulnerable to drying out—a safe distance from other fire ants.

The larva then eats the ant's brains, causes the ant's head to fall off, then finally "hatches" from the ant's hollowed-out head about 40 days later.

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com

clipped from fireant.tamu.edu

As the eggs of a new type of phorid fly develops inside the heads of red imported fire ants, it takes over the control of the host, said Dr. Scott Ludwig, Texas AgriLife Extension Service integrated pest management specialist. Ludwig released fire ants infested with the parasite at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton on April 29. (Texas AgriLife Extension photo by Robert Burns)

Fire ants infested by a new type of phorid fly released in East Texas by Dr. Scott Ludwig were raised by Dr. Lawrence Gilbert, director of the Brackenridge Field Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. (Texas AgriLife Extension photo by Robert Burns)

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Zombie fire ants

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Red imported fire ant

The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), or simply RIFA, is one of over 280 species in the widespread genus Solenopsis. Although the red imported fire ant is native to South America, it has become a pest in the southern United States, Australia, Taiwan, Philippines, and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
[...]
In the 1930s, colonies were accidentally introduced into the United States through the seaport of Mobile, Alabama[2]. Cargo ships from Brazil docking at Mobile unloaded goods infested with the ants. They have since spread from Alabama to almost every state of the American South, from Texas to Maryland. Since the 1990s, infestations have been reported in California in the West and New Mexico in the Southwest, but probably via ship or truck (not overland) in the case of California.[1].

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Fire ant distribution in the [[United states of America]].

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

In less than 10 seconds, an unwary scientist was stung over 250 times on one leg when he carelessly knelt on a collapsed fire ant mound. The sterile pustules developed to this stage in 3 days.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Red Fire Ants

Sources:

2009-05-16

New Pattern Found in Prime Numbers

clipped from www.physorg.com

(PhysOrg.com) -- Prime numbers have intrigued curious thinkers for centuries. On one hand, prime numbers seem to be randomly distributed among the natural numbers with no other law than that of chance. But on the other hand, the global distribution of primes reveals a remarkably smooth regularity. This combination of randomness and regularity has motivated researchers to search for patterns in the distribution of primes that may eventually shed light on their ultimate nature.

In a recent study, Bartolo Luque and Lucas Lacasa of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain have discovered a new pattern in primes that has surprisingly gone unnoticed until now. They found that the distribution of the leading digit in the prime number sequence can be described by a generalization of Benford’s law.

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Benford's law

Benford's law, also called the first-digit law, states that in lists of numbers from many (but not all) real-life sources of data, the leading digit is distributed in a specific, non-uniform way. According to this law, the first digit is 1 almost one third of the time, and larger digits occur as the leading digit with lower and lower frequency, to the point where 9 as a first digit occurs less than one time in twenty.

clipped from pyevolve.sourceforge.net

Prime Numbers and the Benford’s Law

[...] here is the output plot showing an extremely good accuracy claimed by paper authors

clipped from pyevolve.sourceforge.net

Sources:

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Robo One

Robo-One is a robot competition category of bipedal humanoid robots. The first ROBO-ONE contest was held in Japan in 2002 and consisted of an initial judged autonomous "Demonstration" stage, followed by one-on-one matches.

Early ROBO-ONE specifications were deliberately minimal to encourage as much participation as possible. As the robots' performance has improved, the specifications have been tightened to keep the focus on 'humanoid robotics'. For example, the foot/sole size in relation to the robots overall size has been incrementally decreased for recent competitions.

clipped from www.robots-dreams.com

ROBO-ONE 15 in Kawasaki (Photos)

clipped from www.robotadvice.com

Kondo KHR-2

KHR-2 is a bipedal humanoid robot kit that allows you to build a fighting robot. It can perform a wide range of motion, such as walking, kung-fu fighting, sucker kicks and acrobatics.

clipped from robosavvy.com

clipped from www.youtube.com

The 2nd KONDO BATTLE, Open Class Final match, Gargoil vs Armdoll

clipped from www.youtube.com

Kondo Robot Battle - Black Tiger Neo

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BrainLab's Digital Lightbox -- Multitouch Clinical Display

clipped from www.medgadget.com

BrainLab's Digital Lightbox Getting an Upgrade

BrainLab AG is planning on releasing an updated version of its Digital Lightbox multitouch clinical display. Still reminding us of a giant iPhone, the unit interfaces with EMRs to display and manipulate clinical images easily and intuitively, essentially making the keyboard or any other interface device unnecessary.

clipped from www.brainlab.com

Discover Digital Lightbox©

Digital Lightbox© is a multi-touch display that allows surgeons and physicians to instantly access and manipulate digital medical data through the power of touch.

The widescreen interactive display ensures faster, easier medical data access and utilization. Through touch/drag finger movements, you can navigate, fuse, and zoom on MRI, CT, PET/SPECT and x-ray images.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Digital Lightbox© - Multi-touch Display

Sources:
BrainLab's Digital Lightbox Getting an Upgrade - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com
BrainLAB Cancer Treatment and Minimally Invasive Surgery
YouTube - Digital Lightbox© - Multi-touch Display
Related:
YouTube - Digital LightBox from BrainLAB
Digital Lightbox Brings Minority Report to The OR (No Precognition Capabilities) - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com
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OhGizmo! » Archive » BrainLAB’s Digital Lightbox Is Like A Giant iPhone For X-Rays

2009-05-14

Buckyballs

clipped from www.science.org.au

Buckyballs – a new sphere of science

Up until then, scientists knew of only two forms in which pure carbon occurred: diamond and graphite.

diamond

graphite

Kroto and his colleagues then discovered that the combination of hexagons and pentagons also formed the basis of a geodesic dome designed by the architect and engineer, R. Buckminster Fuller, for the 1967 Montreal World Exhibition. So they decided to name the new molecule buckminsterfullerene (these days shortened to fullerene or buckyball). Chemists write it as C₆₀.

You could go to Montreal to get an idea of what a buckyball looks like. But perhaps an easier way is to look at a soccer ball: you will see that it consists of 20 hexagons (the white patches of leather) and 12 pentagons (the black patches), exactly the same pattern as that of the new molecule.

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

A 3D model of a en:C60 molecule, also called a "Buckyball".

An association football is a model of the Buckminsterfullerene C₆₀

clipped from gizmodo.com

Bucky Balls Are Like Silly Putty Made with Rare-Earth Magnets

clipped from www.thinkgeek.com

BuckyBalls Magnetic Building Spheres

Super powerful, rare earth, magnetic balls - for you to play with.

Make sculptures, puzzles, patterns, shapes, jewelry . . . the joy is endless.

Each set contains 216 BuckyBalls.

Ages: Not for kids or adults under 12 years of age.

Dimensions: each Buckyball is approx. 0.125" in diameter.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Sources:

Google Squared

clipped from news.sky.com

Google Announces Search Engine Changes

Web giant Google has unveiled changes to its search engine to let users to "dig deeper" into results.

The developments include automatic tables of information on a subject, arrange results by date and genre, and a GPS phone app for naming stars in the sky.

clipped from www.techcrunch.com

What Is Google Squared? It Is How Google Will Crush Wolfram Alpha (Exclusive Video)

One of the next frontiers of search is taking all of the unstructured data spread helter-skelter across the Web and treat it like it is sitting in a nice, structured database. It is easier to get answers out of a database where everything is neatly labeled, stamped, and categorized.

clipped from blogoscoped.com

Screenshots of Google Squared

The Google Squared homepage, complete with a Labs icon, offers a search box and a “Square it” button. Suggested searches include “roller coasters”, “strollers”, and “hotels in Paris”.

The search result page for the query “small dogs”.

A detail of above screenshot showing different types of small dogs.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Sources:

Smart Home Control with Thoughts

clipped from www.physorg.com

A (virtual) smart home controlled by your thoughts

Light switches, TV remote controls and even house keys could become a thing of the past thanks to brain-computer interface (BCI) technology being developed in Europe that lets users perform everyday tasks with thoughts alone.

The technology, which was demonstrated at CeBIT in Hannover in March, provides an innovative way of controlling the interconnected electronic devices that will populate the smart homes of the future, granting increased autonomy to people with physical disabilities as well as pleasing TV channel-surfing couch potatoes.

clipped from www.gtec.at

The virtual 3D representation of the smart home had different control elements (TV, music, windows, heating system, phone,…) and allowed the subjects to move through the apartment. Some tasks could be done, like playing music, watching TV, open doors, moving around...

clipped from www.neurospec.com

clipped from www.youtube.com

g.tec smart home control with Thoughts

Sources:

The THI!NK City Electric Vehicle

Clipped from: Norwegian-built TH!NK becomes launched in Netherlands : Cars General

Norwegian-built TH!NK becomes launched in Netherlands

Amsterdam - The Norwegian-owned THI!NK City car was the first electrically-powered vehicle receiving a license for European Union roads on Monday. Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings issued the license after completing a final symbolic test drive.

Clipped from: NOSJOURNAAL - Groen licht voor elektrische auto

Clipped from: Home - Website Interface

Clipped from: TH!NK O Concept / Technology & Innovation / Home - Website Interface

TH!NK O Concept

The TH!NK O concept was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2008. The vehicle is not available for commercial sale in the market, and is one of several directions explored for the next generation TH!NK electric vehicles.

Clipped from: YouTube - THINK O

Official THINK O brand movie by Think, 2008

Clipped from: Sustainable Mobility / Home - Website Interface

Sustainable Mobility

Environment
[...] Electrical vehicles have zero local emission and superior energy efficiency. The TH!NK city is 95% recyclable and made of recycled materials. Being a sustainable company, we think globally and act locally.

Zero emission
Electrical vehicles emit no tailpipe emissions while driving. We are not counting grams. We simply have no tailpipe at all, and no local CO2, nitrous oxide, or particle emissions. Driving electrical vehicles will even reduce noise pollution. It is both clean and silent.

Technology & Innovation

Integration
Think is innovative through integrating technology into new and world-class solutions. [...] the electric vehicle is the future of urban and sustainable mobility [...] designed with modularity and alternative solutions in mind.

[...]
The main parts of the electric vehicle systems are:

Traction battery
Drive train
Motor
Motor controls
Vehicle controls
Charger
DC/DC converter
Reduction gear

High voltage system

Batteries
TH!NK city has been designed to cope with a variety of battery systems and technologies. The modular design also accommodates for alternative technologies such as hydrogen power.

Safety
Safety and reliability are crucial factors for any car manufacturer. Think believes that electric cars should have the same level of safety and comfort as any conventional vehicle.

Sources:

Related:

2009-05-08

PD-100 Black Hornet -- World’s Smallest Spy Helicopter

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

Fly another day: The James Bond inspired 'microcopter' that will come in packs of three

The world's tiniest helicopter has been specially developed for spies and soldiers

Weighing in at just 0.5g, the tiny servos mean the PD-100 is even smaller than a toy battery helicopter.

Powered by an electric motor, the microcopter has 4in rotor blades, carries a tiny digital camera and flies at speeds of up to 20mph.

It has been tested successfully inside and outside in very light winds.

Author	Andy Vandervell
Published	7th May 2009
Manufacturer	Asus
Supplier	Laptops Direct
Price	£321.71 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed	£369.97 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price	Click here

2009-05-31

The future of lighting: flexible OLEDs in any shape and color

GE OLEDs - the future of lighting

GE shows OLED lighting concepts video

2009-05-30

A Solid That's Light as Air

How is Aerogel Made?

The Start of an Aerogel: A Gel

Aerogelification

SEAgel Aerogel lighter than air solid. Not a UFO

2009-05-29

Electro-Mechanical Eye Candy

Slave 1 Performance Robot

Carl Pisaturo - light machines

Carl Pisaturo - robot arm

2009-05-28

Use Search Options to find what you're looking for faster

Google’s Wonder Wheel Experiment, and More

Google’s Timeline Feature

2009-05-27

Asus Eee PC 1008HA Netbook

Asus's next netbook might make you look twice. It's sexy, it's white--but it's not a Mac.

Asus Eee PC 1008HA hands-on at CeBit 2009

Eee PC 1008HA Seashell review

2009-05-26

Plastiki

Voyage of the Plastiki

The perils of innovation on the high seas.

The Plastiki: A Peek at the Production Happenings on Pier 31

It's supposed to eventually look like this.

The catamaran's design.

Another look at the prototype.

Plastiki Project

2009-05-25

Apophis: The Asteroid That Could Smash Into The Earth on Friday, April 13th, 2036

End Of The World: Apophis Asteroid 2036

'Gravity tractor' to deflect Earth-bound asteroids

2009-05-24

Army Terminators Walk Like Men

Bucknell receives $1.2 million for military robot research, development

Engineers demonstrate legged robots' first steps

2009-05-23

Moblin

Moblin v2.0 beta for Netbooks and Nettops - It's here...

Moblin 2.0 Netbook Beta Introduction

2009-05-21

GM goes green with hybrid Hummer

The gas-guzzling Hummer goes eco-friendly with a new model that's powered by electricity

Electric Hummer gets 100 mpg — more or less

Capitol Hill event raises its profile; critic says 33 mpg is closer to reality

Raser Technologies Unveils 100+ MPG Plug-In Hybrid Hummer at THE SAE World Congress In Detroit

2009-05-19

Army orders PackBot tech from iRobot

iRobot - PackBot EOD Unmanned Tactical Mobile Robot

iRobot's Packbot

IRobot Packbot action!

2009-05-18

Underwater 'flying machine' launched

2009-05-17

Brain-Controlling Flies to Triumph Over Alien Ants?

Zombie fire ants

Red Fire Ants

2009-05-16

Robo One

Kondo KHR-2

The 2nd KONDO BATTLE, Open Class Final match, Gargoil vs Armdoll

Kondo Robot Battle - Black Tiger Neo

2009-05-15

Digital Lightbox© - Multi-touch Display

2009-05-14

2009-05-13

Google Announces Search Engine Changes

Web giant Google has unveiled changes to its search engine to let users to "dig deeper" into results.

Screenshots of Google Squared

2009-05-12

A (virtual) smart home controlled by your thoughts

g.tec smart home control with Thoughts

2009-05-11

Norwegian-built TH!NK becomes launched in Netherlands

TH!NK O Concept

Apophis: The Asteroid That Could Smash Into The Earth on
Friday, April 13th, 2036