2012-05-31

A Zero-Star Hotel

The World's First Zero-Star Hotel | Bangstyle :: A Global Image Community for Hair


Located between the mountains in Switzerland, the Null Stern Hotel is the brainchild of Swiss artists ( and twin brothers) Frank and Patrik Riklin and happens to be the world’s only zero-star hotel.

Considered a truly underground experience, the Null Stern has the tagline: “The only star is you,” and they mean it. This hotel is literally placed inside of a Cold War bunker.



Null Stern Hotel "the only star is you"

The world’s first Null Stern Hotel in Teufen, Switzerland, closed its doors on June 4, 2010 – exactly one year after opening – to focus on opening in urban locations. The Null Stern Hotel in Teufen has been converted into a museum.
[...]
Museum
The Null Stern Hotel Biedermeier beds have welcomed guests from 29 countries in one year.  The hotel is now open as a museum and is ready for visitors to experience and discover the birthplace of the world’s first Null Stern Hotel. The founders will personally escort you on a tour to explain the unique features of the Null Stern Hotel such as the wheel of fate, the virtual window or the second check in.





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2012-05-30

Images of Stars Orbiting a Supermassive Black Hole

The Galactic Center Revisited (Gallery Explorer) - NASA Spitzer Space Telescope

Hiding behind the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius is the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, over 25,000 light years away. This patch of sky is mostly dark in visible light, shrouded by dust clouds that lie between us and the Galactic center. But the infrared vision of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope sees through the dust showing us this strange and tumultuous region.



APOD: 2009 July 27 - NGC 1097: Spiral Galaxy with a Central Eye

What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy NGC 1097? No one is sure, but it likely involves a supermassive black hole. Matter falling in from a bar of stars and gas across the center is likely being heated by an extremely energetic region surrounding the central black hole. [...]

Supermassive black hole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A supermassive black hole is the largest type of black hole in a galaxy, on the order of hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses. Most, and possibly all galaxies, including the Milky Way[2] (see Sagittarius A*), are believed to contain supermassive black holes at their centers.[3][4]

Image of the Day: Spectacular Ring of Stars Orbit a Monster Black Hole

The Daily Galaxy via NASA/Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer
The image above of the central 5,500 light-years wide region of NGC 1097. More than 300 star forming regions - white spots in the image - are distributed along a ring of dust and gas. At the center is a bright central source where the active galactic nucleus and its super-massive black hole are located. About 40 thousand light-years from the larger galaxy's center, the gravity of the companion galaxy appears to be reshaping the larger galaxy as it is slowly being destroyed itself.

ESO - eso0534 - Feeding the Monster

Near-infrared images of the active galaxy NGC 1097, obtained with the NACO adaptive optics instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope, disclose with unprecedented detail a complex central network of filamentary structure spiralling down to the centre of the galaxy. These observations provide astronomers with new insights on how super-massive black holes lurking inside galaxies get fed.


Colour-composite image of the central 5,500 light-years wide region of the spiral galaxy NGC 1097, obtained with the NACO adaptive optics on the VLT. More than 300 star forming regions - white spots in the image - are distributed along a ring of dust and gas in the image. At the centre of the ring there is a bright central source where the active galactic nucleus and its super-massive black hole are located. The image was constructed by stacking J- (blue), H- (green), and Ks-band (red) images. North is up and East is to the left. The field of view is 24 x 29 arcsec2, i.e. less than 0.03% the size of the full moon!


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2012-05-29

The 'Circle' Printer Concept

Circle Printer Concept » Geeky Gadgets

Designer Yang Jae Wook has created an innovative take on the humble printer, re-designing the traditional rectangular design in to something a little more rounded.

Circle concept reinvents the printer - PC & Tech Authority

Posted on Yanko Design, mock ups show that this "continuous printer" takes up less space and looks infinitely better than regular printers – all good stuff considering we no longer print off every email we receive.

The sheet of paper slots in the top of Circle and then rotates around the vertical drum before it's ejected out the other side. It's not a particularly revolutionary mechanism – pun intended – but no-one seems to have applied the idea in this way before.


Circle – A Continuous Printer by Yang Jae Wook » Yanko Design


One of the most annoying computer peripheral on anyone’s desk is the printer. It’s noisy, it vibrates and it takes up so much space! Which is why I’m all for innovations that look at minimizing size without losing functionality. ‘Circle’ is one such attempt that has impressed me. One look and you won’t even realize that it’s a printer, looks more like humidifier or a fancy pot. Wish that manufacturers would look in this direction too; HP are you listening?



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2012-05-28

ZeroN - Levitated Interaction Element

LabCAST - The MIT Media Lab Video Podcast » Archive » #61 ZeroN

What if materials could defy gravity, so that we could leave them suspended in mid-air? ZeroN is a physical and digital interaction element that floats and moves in space by computer-controlled magnetic levitation.


ZeroN - Jinha Lee MIT Media Lab


From Levitating Point to Levitating Space

To realize such interactions, we developed a magnetic control system that can levitate and actuate a permanent magnet in a pre- defined 3D volume. This is combined with an optical tracking and display system that projects images on the levitating object. Conventional levitation is for levitating an object at one point. In ZeroN Project, users can move a levitated object to anywhere in a predefined 3D space and leave it there without dropping it since the system constantly readjusts both magnetically and mechanically. It is about turning 3D space into levitating space.



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2012-05-25

The APC 8750, A $50 Android PC

APC 8750, $49 energy-saving computer, wants to help people connect to the web  - NY Daily News

Taiwan-based computer chip manufacturer VIA Technologies Inc. has unveiled an inexpensive and compact computer, hoping to help drive innovation in the compact computing market.

The PC, called the APC 8750, measures just 17cm x 8.5cm (almost half the size of Apple’s Mac mini). It is designed with the main focus of getting people connected to the internet and offers an alternative to (more expensive) Windows PCs.

The APC runs a customized version of Google’s Android operating system that is optimized for keyboard and mouse input.


APC » About



$49 Android PC System

APC was not built like an ordinary PC. For openers, we started with an awareness that the purpose of a computer is to connect to the Internet. It is the Internet that now defines computing. When you begin here, magic happens.

Expensive, overpowered CPUs and bloated software are no longer relevant. With this awareness, we were able to drop power consumption to the point of making an energy-saving light-bulb jealous.

Source: APC » About



VIA announces APC 8750 Raspberry Pi competitor | bit-tech.net

Based around a WonderMedia ARM11 processor running at 800MHz - 100MHz faster than the stock Raspberry Pi BCM2835 chip - and with 512MB of DDR3 RAM - twice that of the Raspberry Pi, and faster to boot - the APC 8750 is certainly impressive at first glimpse. Additional features above and beyond that of its credit-card sized competitor include 2GB of on-board NAND flash storage, four USB 2.0 ports, microphone input as well as analogue audio output and an analogue VGA connection in addition to HDMI.

Not everything about the APC 8750 will impress Pi fans, however: for no readily apparent reason, the device is limited to 720p output (1280x720) through its HDMI port, while the Pi manages 1080p (1920x1080) or higher. The system also requires an external power supply, adding to its already sizable dimensions. Finally, the device is also more expensive, costing $49 to the Pi's $35.


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2012-05-23

The Leap: an Affordable Accurate Gesture Control Interface

A 'Leap' forward in gesture-control interfaces? - CNN.com




A company called Leap Motion wants to make that kind of gesture control a reality, and it hopes to take the first step with a new type of motion controller.
The Leap is a simple motion controller that you can plug into any USB port on your computer. Once it's plugged in and you've installed the Leap software, it turns the 8-cubic feet of air in front of it into "3D interaction space" — basically, it'll track any and all motion within that space, letting you use your hands to do whatever you could do with a mouse.


Leap Motion

Say goodbye to your mouse and keyboard.

Leap represents an entirely new way to interact with your computers. It’s more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen.  For the first time, you can control a computer in three dimensions with your natural hand and finger movements.

This isn’t a game system that roughly maps your hand movements.  The Leap technology is 200 times more accurate than anything else on the market — at any price point. Just about the size of a flash drive, the Leap can distinguish your individual fingers and track your movements down to a 1/100th of a millimeter.

Source: Leap Motion

Leap Motion 3D motion-control device changes how we interact with computers - Tech Talk - CBS News


Currently, Microsoft Kinect is the biggest player in the 3D motion-control technology. However, Kinect is not accurate enough to track handwriting. Leap Motion says the Leap is 200 times more sensitive than existing technologies.

"It was this gap between what's easy in the real world but very complicated to do digitally, like molding a piece of clay or creating a 3D model, that inspired us to create the Leap and fundamentally change how people work with their computers," Leap Motion chief executive officer and co-founder Michael Buckwald said in a press release.




Leap Motion: 3D hands-free motion control, unbound | Cutting Edge - CNET News


"We want to create as vibrant a developer ecosystem as possible, and we're reaching out to developers in all sorts of" fields, CEO Michael Buckwald told CNET:
We want there to be world-changing applications that fundamentally transform how people interact with their operating system or browse the Web.... The goal is to fundamentally transform how people interact with computers and to do so in the same way that the mouse did, which means that the transformation affects everyone, both from the most basic use case all the way up to the most advanced use cases you can imagine for computing technology.


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2012-05-22

The Honda UNI-CUB

Honda UNI-CUB Segway Alternative: Look Ma, No Hands! - ABC News

The Segway a bit too big for you? Or require a bit too much standing for your liking? Well, Honda’s got an interesting-looking solution in the works — the Honda UNI-CUB.

Called a “personal mobility device,” the UNI-CUB looks like a unicycle sans the cycle or wheel part. So how does it work?

Sit in the saddle and Honda’s Omni Traction Drive System lets you control the speed and direction by shifting your weight. Yep, no hands.

Honda UNI-CUB Personal Mobility Device - YouTube



Honda Motor Co. unveiled the new UNI-CUB personal mobility device, designed for harmony with people. Featuring a compact design and comfortable saddle, UNI-CUB offers the same freedom of movement in all directions that a person enjoys while walking.


Honda Worldwide | May 15, 2012 "Honda Announces New UNI-CUB Personal Mobility Device Designed for Harmony With People"

Representing the evolution of the U3-X personal mobility device that Honda announced in 2009, UNI-CUB features Honda’s proprietary balance control technology and the world’s first omni-directional driving wheel system (Honda Omni Traction Drive System). These technologies allow the rider to control speed, move in any direction, turn and stop, all simply by shifting his or her weight. Since the rider can freely move forward, backward, side-to-side and diagonally, he or she can quickly and easily maneuver among other people.

[...]

The balance control technology of UNI-CUB is part of the Honda Robotics family of technologies, which originates with Honda’s research into humanoid robots, including the world-famous ASIMO.

Going forward, Honda will continue its proactive research and development of next-generation mobility technologies, aiming always to offer more and more people the joy and fun that comes from freedom of movement.



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2012-05-21

Bosco Verticale a Vertical Forest Tower in Milan

DesignRulz | The World’s First Vertical Forest Tower Is Now Under Construction!


This vertical forest will span across two towers that have fabulous balconies designed to house these trees.
If we are talking about optimizing space, this vertical forest will consist of 900 trees, 5,000 bushes and 11,000 plants.  This forest, designed by architect Stefano Boeri, will produces oxygen and cuts down on all the noise pollution in Milan. If this same number of trees, bushes and plants were planted horizontally around these houses on the ground, it would require 50,000 square meters of land and 10,000 square meters of woodland.

BOSCO VERTICALE « stefano boeri

The Bosco Verticale is a system that optimizes, recuperates and produces energy. The Bosco Verticale aids in the creation of a microclimate and in filtering the dust particles contained in the urban environment. The diversity of the plants and their characteristics produce humidity, absorb CO2 and dust particles, producing oxygen and protect from radiation and acoustic pollution, improving the quality of living spaces and saving energy. Plant irrigation will be produced to great extent through the filtering and reuse of the grey waters produced by the building. Additionally Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems will contribute, together with the aforementioned microclimate to increase the degree of energetic self sufficiency of the two towers. The management and maintenance of the Bosco Verticale’s vegetation will be centralised and entrusted to an agency with an office counter open to the public.

Project information
location: Milano, Italy
commission:
year: 2007 (on going)
client: Hines Italia
built area: 40.000 sqm
budget: 65.000.000,00€

Architectural Design:
BOERISTUDIO (Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca, Giovanni La Varra)

Bosco Verticale in Milan Will Be the World's First Vertical Forest | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building


Each apartment in the building will have a balcony planted with trees that are able to respond to the city’s weather — shade will be provided within the summer, while also filtering city pollution; and in the winter the bare trees will allow sunlight to permeate through the spaces. Plant irrigation will be supported through the filtering and reuse of the greywater produced by the building. Additionally, Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems will further promote the tower’s self-sufficiency.

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2012-05-19

Giant Prehistoric Turtle

Turtle Fossil The Size Of A Car Was Found In Colombia

When we’re thinking about nowadays turtles, we often forget how huge these can get. We often think about cute little turtles heading towards the ocean we’re being shown footages on National Geographic. But we forget that some 66 million years ago, animals were quite different. For instance, have you ever imagined a turtle as big as your car, that could have fed with crocodiles?

Giant prehistoric turtle from Colombia chomped everything in sight–including crocodiles! | Smithsonian Science

The turtle in question is Carbonemys cofrinii, which means “coal turtle,” and is part of a group of side-necked turtles known as pelomedusoides. The fossil was named Carbonemys because it was discovered in 2005 in a coal mine that was part of northern Colombia’s Cerrejon formation. The specimen’s skull measures 24 centimeters, roughly the size of a regulation NFL football. The shell which was recovered nearby – and is believed to belong to the same species – measures 172 centimeters, or about 5 feet 7 inches, long. That’s the same height as Edwin Cadena, the NC State doctoral student who discovered the fossil.

NC State News :: NC State News and Information » Ancient Giant Turtle Fossil Revealed

“We had recovered smaller turtle specimens from the site. But after spending about four days working on uncovering the shell, I realized that this particular turtle was the biggest anyone had found in this area for this time period – and it gave us the first evidence of giantism in freshwater turtles,” Cadena says.

Smaller relatives of Carbonemys existed alongside dinosaurs. But the giant version appeared five million years after the dinosaurs vanished, during a period when giant varieties of many different reptiles – including Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered – lived in this part of South America. Researchers believe that a combination of changes in the ecosystem, including fewer predators, a larger habitat area, plentiful food supply and climate changes, worked together to allow these giant species to survive. Carbonemys’ habitat would have resembled a much warmer modern-day Orinoco or Amazon River delta.

In addition to the turtle’s huge size, the fossil also shows that this particular turtle had massive, powerful jaws that would have enabled the omnivore to eat anything nearby – from mollusks to smaller turtles or even crocodiles.


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2012-05-15

Virus-based Piezoelectric Energy Generation


Update 2012-08-14

Piezoelectric virus M13 bacteriophage could power your mobile phone | Mail Online

  • Virus can turn movement into electricity
  • Could one day power your mobile phone or a pacemaker as you walk

A team at the University of California, Berkeley has discovered how to generate electricity from a virus known as M13 bacteriophage.

The virus possesses a property known as piezoelectricity, which means it can translate mechanical energy into electrical energy.

The researchers believe the discovery could one day pave the way for mobile phones that can be charged while you walk and replace the toxic piezoelectric elements already used in mobile phones.

The team found the virus could provide 25% of the power produced by a AAA battery

Generating electricity from viruses as you walk | KurzweilAI

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity.

The generator produces enough current to operate a small liquid-crystal display. It works by tapping a finger on a postage stamp-sized electrode coated with specially engineered viruses. The viruses convert the force of the tap into an electric charge.


Berkeley Lab Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses « Berkeley Lab News Center

The scientists tested their approach by creating a generator that produces enough current to operate a small liquid-crystal display. It works by tapping a finger on a postage stamp-sized electrode coated with specially engineered viruses. The viruses convert the force of the tap into an electric charge.

Their generator is the first to produce electricity by harnessing the piezoelectric properties of a biological material. Piezoelectricity is the accumulation of a charge in a solid in response to mechanical stress.


The first part of the video shows how Berkeley Lab scientists harness the piezoelectric properties of a virus to convert the force of a finger tap into electricity. The second part shows the “viral-electric” generators in action, first by pressing only one of the generators, then by pressing two at the same time, which produces more current.
[...]
When pressure is applied to the generator, it produces up to six nanoamperes of current and 400 millivolts of potential. That’s enough current to flash the number “1” on the display, and about a quarter the voltage of a triple A battery.

“We’re now working on ways to improve on this proof-of-principle demonstration,” says Lee. “Because the tools of biotechnology enable large-scale production of genetically modified viruses, piezoelectric materials based on viruses could offer a simple route to novel microelectronics in the future.”


Virus-based piezoelectric energy generation : Nature Nanotechnology : Nature Publishing Group



a, The M13 phage [...]  b, Side view of the electrostatic potential of M13 phage [...]  c, Vertical cross-sectional view of the electrostatic potential of M13 phage.[...]  d, Side-view representation of the electrostatic potential of a single M13-phage [...]





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2012-05-14

Create 3D Models From your Photographs with Autodesk 123D Catch

New iPad App 123D Catch Turns Pictures Into Printable 3-D Renders | Popular Science

Autodesk, one of the premier 3-D printing companies out there right now--they make AutoCAD, the pioneering software--has a new app out for iPad that aims to make 3-D printing easier. Just snap a bunch of pictures of the object you want to reproduce from different angles, and the app, cleverly named 123D Catch, creates a 3-D rendering automatically.



Turn Your Photos Into 3D Models With Autodesk 123D Catch For Apple iPad - Forbes


Complementing the desktop and newly released web versions, the 123D Catch app allows users to capture the world around them in 3D while on the go.  Imagine the potential for photos of vacation memories, family or other mementos brought to life in 3D. Captures made in 123D Catch can also be used as the foundation for further 3D modeling, 3D animation, or used to create a 3D printed object. Some cool real-world uses below.
[...]
Real world uses of Autodesk 123D Catch:
  • AfricanFossil.org is a fossil preservation project with Kenyan Paleontologist Louise Leakey. This cool project is in its infancy to document specimens in the National Museums of Kenya and in labs around the country.
  • Coral Reef protection – there’s a team documenting how coral reefs deteriorate using 123D Catch and then stitching together the pieces.
  • Cities and physical locations of all types can use reality capture tools with 3D drones to take photos and video to model an area or building or roadway.


123D Catch iPad App | Geeky Gadgets

The 123D Catch app lets you take upto 40 photos which can then be uploaded for processing, and the app includes interactive startup guides you help you through the process of creating your first 3D object using the service.

The other app launched this week by Autodesk called 123D Make Intro, has been designed to work the other way and turn 3D models into 2D build plans with animated assembly instructions.

Download them both for free now from the iTunes app store: 123D Catch – 123D Make Intro.



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2012-05-13

CITE: A Scientific Ghost Town to Test Future Technology

CITE: New Mexico Ghost City Built by Pegasus Holdings Will Test Future Technology And Innovations | Technology | Sky News


A "world first" $1bn scientific ghost city will be built in New Mexico to test the latest next-generation technology.

Researchers will use the facility in Lea County, near Hobbs, to look at everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets.

The town will be modelled on the real city of Rock Hill, South Carolina, complete with roads, houses and commercial buildings, old and new.




CITE CITY :: Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation :: New Mexico, USA


The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation (CITE) will be the first of its kind, in scale and scope, fully integrated test, evaluation and certification facility dedicated to enabling and facilitating the commercialization of new and emerging technologies.

CITE will be modeled after a mid-sized modern American city, integrating real-world urban and suburban environments along with all the typical working infrastructure elements that make up today’s cities. This will provide customers the unique opportunity to test and evaluate technologies in conditions that most closely simulate real-world applications.

CITE Design :: Main :: Facility


CITY LAB
The hallmark of CITE is the City Lab, a full-scale, fully functional test city. City Lab will be a representative example of a modern day, mid-sized American city. It will occupy approximately 400 acres and include urban, suburban and rural zones as well as the corresponding infrastructure. City Lab will be pre-wired for data collection giving researchers the ability to simulate system-wide scenarios and then draw data from such activities.

The Center for Innovation, Testing & Evaluation (CITE) |Services & Solutions | Pegasus Global Holdings

Pegasus Global Holdings has proposed to locate a privately financed owned & operated Center for Innovation, Testing & Evaluation (CITE) in the State of New Mexico. With the support of New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, Pegasus has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the state's Department of Economic Development.

[...]

Benchmark Test & Evaluation Facilities

Green Energy

One of the fastest growing segments in energy production is focused on green technologies, but challenges still exist in the integration of these technologies into existing out dated infrastructure.  CITE will provide unique opportunities to drill down into the cost of introducing solar, wind, and Smart Grid technologies in a real world setting to help determine the next steps to success. 

Intelligent Transportation Systems

CITE will be home to a transportation highway/road network consisting of both high-speed, urban canyon, suburban and rural roads permitting testing and demonstration of new Intelligent Transportation System technologies, which are advancing rapidly in Europe and Asia. CITE will provide a highway infrastructure that will allow clients to  test and evaluate  unmanned vehicle technologies, traffic management systems, and vehicle-based applications without endangering other drivers. 

Homeland Security

Homeland security is a key component of the plan for CITE, which will include a secure testing area for first responder technology with the benefit of proximity to the civil and commercial infrastructure.

Next Generation Wireless Infrastructure

A next-generation wireless infrastructure - terrestrial and satellite - is planned to serve  CITE, permitting the development, installation, testing and commercialization of high speed broadband technologies across all sectors of our economy, e.g. energy, transportation and security, as well as extension of such services to underserved communities

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2012-05-11

Microsoft's Mirage Table Augmented Reality Teleconferencing System

BBC News - MirageTable: Microsoft presents augmented reality device


Microsoft has shown off an augmented reality system that allows users at different locations to work together on tabletop activities, sharing objects which they can both handle.
The MirageTable was demonstrated at a conference in Austin, Texas and is outlined on the firm's research site.

MirageTable Teaser: Freehand Interaction on a Projected Augmented Reality Tabletop - YouTube

MirageTable is a novel augmented reality system which enables instant digitization of physical objects, correct 3D perspective views, and interaction using bare hands without gloves or trackers. One can also, use MirageTable to enable 3D teleconferencing which recreates the experience of sitting across the table from someone remote and playing with them in a physically realistic way.



DailyTech - Microsoft Introduces Augmented Reality System "MirageTable"


MirageTable consists of a curved, white piece of plastic that sits in front of the person using it. A 3D video projector, which is an Acer H5360, beams images onto the plastic while a Microsoft Kinect depth camera sensor tracks the movements of each person and object at each end. The entire system is powered by two computers connected by a network.

The users are also required to wear shutter glasses (NVIDIA 3D Vision) while using MirageTable so that they can see the image being projected in 3D.

"In our system, the user can hold a virtual object, move it, or knock it down, since all virtual and real objects participate in a real-world physics simulation," said the Microsoft research team. "The unique benefit of this set-up is that two users share not only the 3D image of each other, but also the tabletop task space in front of them."



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