The miraculous CMU Water Runner

Again the bionics!!

The miraculous CMU Water Runner: "Filed under: Robots Although it probably won't win a following of apostles for the feat, Carnegie Mellon University bot Water Runner's ability to, well, walk on water, is at least worthy of a small write-up in a gadget blog, we think. The lightweight plastic and carbon fiber robot, which is the newest member of a supposed zoo of animal-inspired devices from CMU's NanoRobotics Lab, owes its gravity-defying skills to research done by Harvard University biologists on the basilisk, or Jesus, lizard. Like its scaly counterpart, Water Runner uses a rapid slapping motion of the 'feet' that provides enough propulsion for the bot to avoid sinking or tipping over. Although it's currently just in the proof-of-concept, prototype stage (like, it still needs to be plugged into the wall, making it less than ideal for outdoor applications), future versions of the project will sport batteries (of course), sensors for monitoring water quality, cameras for peeping stuff, and even bacteria for breaking down pollutants (think: Exxon Valdez). These applications are all w"

The RunBot out runs MIT's "Spring Flamingo," can you?

For the "bionicles":

The RunBot out runs MIT's "Spring Flamingo," can you?: "Filed under: Robots Sure, RunBot might not be a true runner yet, since it still keeps one foot on the ground at all times. Also, it's only fastest for its height, managing a swift 3.5 leg-lengths per second, besting the MIT's four times taller Spring Flamingo, which runs at comparably sluggish 1.4 leg-lengths per second. All that being said, RunBot currently holds the world record for fastest bot on two legs. The RunBot's German and Scottish creators attribute its speed to the fairly simple design, which only senses when a leg is on the ground and when a leg swings forward. RunBot merely experiments with whichever leg motions keep it upright and keep it going fastest, and the bot can accelerate up to three times its original speed with its 'learnings.' So far the RunBot can only walk in circles, since it's attached to a boom in the center of a room, but the developers say they're at work on a freestanding version, which shouldn't be too tough because the boom has little influence on the RunBot's"

The RunBot out runs MIT's "Spring Flamingo," can you?

For the "bionicles":

The RunBot out runs MIT's "Spring Flamingo," can you?: "Filed under: Robots Sure, RunBot might not be a true runner yet, since it still keeps one foot on the ground at all times. Also, it's only fastest for its height, managing a swift 3.5 leg-lengths per second, besting the MIT's four times taller Spring Flamingo, which runs at comparably sluggish 1.4 leg-lengths per second. All that being said, RunBot currently holds the world record for fastest bot on two legs. The RunBot's German and Scottish creators attribute its speed to the fairly simple design, which only senses when a leg is on the ground and when a leg swings forward. RunBot merely experiments with whichever leg motions keep it upright and keep it going fastest, and the bot can accelerate up to three times its original speed with its 'learnings.' So far the RunBot can only walk in circles, since it's attached to a boom in the center of a room, but the developers say they're at work on a freestanding version, which shouldn't be too tough because the boom has little influence on the RunBot's"

Toyota's self-parking car coming soon to US

Ideality and the self principle! Phew....

Toyota's self-parking car coming soon to US: "Filed under: Robots, Transportation While we may be stuck waiting until 2008 to see GM's self-driving car, US drivers may soon be able to sit back and let Toyota's Prius do the parking for them, as drivers in the UK and Japan can already do, using a $700 'parking assist' option. With the option, drivers need only sit back and control the speed of the car with the brake pedal while the car takes control of the wheel and maneuvers itself into place. According to Toyota, 70% of the vehicle's owners in Britain have chosen the option. Availability in the US hasn't been announced yet, only that it should arrive 'soon.' We -- and the owners of cars parked in front of and behind ours -- can't wait.[Via Slashdot] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

LCD glasses might replace bifocals

New principle of operation! Laws of evolution of engineering systems... again... :-)

LCD glasses might replace bifocals: "Filed under: Wearables Given the amount of time we spend in front of various screens over the course of the day (and night), it's not surprising that we're a little worried about our vision. But we're also vain enough that the idea of wearing ultra-thick coke-bottle glasses, or even dual-core bifocals, has us a little worried. So, we're ready to volunteer to test the LCD glasses being developed by researchers at the University of Arizona. The specs use electrodes that can alter the configuration of the LCDs, automatically refocusing based on what the wearer is looking at. There are, however, a couple of downsides. Other researchers scoff that the lenses would end up being too heavy and thick (and the prototype pictured here does look kind of goofy). The other downside: if the batteries give out, you're left with plain glass. We wouldn't want to be caught in that position while we're, say, in the middle of passing a tractor-trailer on a rain-slicked highway in the middle of the night. Maybe we'll stick with the coke-bottle lenses for a while,"

LCD glasses might replace bifocals

New principle of operation! Laws of evolution of engineering systems... again... :-)

LCD glasses might replace bifocals: "Filed under: Wearables Given the amount of time we spend in front of various screens over the course of the day (and night), it's not surprising that we're a little worried about our vision. But we're also vain enough that the idea of wearing ultra-thick coke-bottle glasses, or even dual-core bifocals, has us a little worried. So, we're ready to volunteer to test the LCD glasses being developed by researchers at the University of Arizona. The specs use electrodes that can alter the configuration of the LCDs, automatically refocusing based on what the wearer is looking at. There are, however, a couple of downsides. Other researchers scoff that the lenses would end up being too heavy and thick (and the prototype pictured here does look kind of goofy). The other downside: if the batteries give out, you're left with plain glass. We wouldn't want to be caught in that position while we're, say, in the middle of passing a tractor-trailer on a rain-slicked highway in the middle of the night. Maybe we'll stick with the coke-bottle lenses for a while,"

Bionic eye bypasses optic nerve

Principle of local quality applied?

Bionic eye bypasses optic nerve: "Filed under: Wearables Add Portugal to the list of countries working on new technologies to enable the blind to see. In this case, the procedure, developed by Dr. William Dobelle of the Dobelle Medical Institute in Portugal, links the brain directly to a set of eyeglass-mounted cameras. The cams capture images, transfer it to a shoulder-mounted computer and upload the info to the brain. The device is designed specifically for individuals who have lost their eyes and/or use of their optic nerves, and currently has been tested with just 16 patients, including one eyeless woman from the US. Using the $120,000 setup, she can now see flashes of light, though her vision is expected to improve with greater computer power.[Via MobileMag] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Climber to wear HAL cyborg suit, carry quadriplegic man to summit

This might help a lot of disabled people! Use it for something good!!!

Climber to wear HAL cyborg suit, carry quadriplegic man to summit: "Filed under: Robots We're still waiting for someone to toss one of these HAL cyborg suits on and do battle with the forces of evil, but until then we'll have to celebrate the little things. Or not so little things, in this case. The 'hybrid assistive limb' suits are going to be used by two mountaineers to ascend the peak of a Swiss mountain while carrying a 43-year old quadriplegic man and a 16-year old student with muscular dystrophy. The two climbers will start 930 feet below the summit, with one carrying the 43-year old Seiji Uchida on his back, and the other dragging the 16-year old Kyoga Ide in a sled. Sounds like quite the task, even with a muscle aiding cyborg suit, but we're sure the climbers could totally p0wn any ninjas that might come in between them and the summit.[Via The Raw Feed] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Boffins at Oregon State create transparent circuits?

Principle of colour change / changing of visibility attributes.

Boffins at Oregon State create transparent circuits?: "Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets Dude, screw the transparent OLEDs, it's all about transparent circuits, which some Oregon State University scientists seem to have created. The significance, of course, is clear (ahem): you save a lot of space in devices -- especially portables -- when your circuit board is your screen, not mounted on a wafter in a package on a board behind it. Apparently the scientists even expect clear, glass-mounted indium gallium oxide circuitry to ultimately be cheaper to produce than silicon. The military's in on the gig too, the Army Research Office is a project sponsor (as is HP and the National Science Foundation), probably for the project's obvious heads-up display uses. Will we, um, not see this gear any time in the near future? Hard to say, they're only up to 26 transistors in a single array as of yet (compared to the hundreds of millions in chips nowadays), but we'll be waiting.[Thanks, James F] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Boffins at Oregon State create transparent circuits?

Principle of colour change / changing of visibility attributes.

Boffins at Oregon State create transparent circuits?: "Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets Dude, screw the transparent OLEDs, it's all about transparent circuits, which some Oregon State University scientists seem to have created. The significance, of course, is clear (ahem): you save a lot of space in devices -- especially portables -- when your circuit board is your screen, not mounted on a wafter in a package on a board behind it. Apparently the scientists even expect clear, glass-mounted indium gallium oxide circuitry to ultimately be cheaper to produce than silicon. The military's in on the gig too, the Army Research Office is a project sponsor (as is HP and the National Science Foundation), probably for the project's obvious heads-up display uses. Will we, um, not see this gear any time in the near future? Hard to say, they're only up to 26 transistors in a single array as of yet (compared to the hundreds of millions in chips nowadays), but we'll be waiting.[Thanks, James F] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

German researchers develop another transparent OLED technique

The future gets more and more interesting! Transparent OLEDs.... (minority report, minority report, minority report!!!! YESSSSS)

German researchers develop another transparent OLED technique: "Filed under: Displays Looks like Fraunhofer's researchers aren't the only Germans able to get in on the transparent OLED thing. It appears some researchers at the Technical University of Braunschweig are claiming to have developed a technique for embedding OLED pixels on layers of transparent TFTs, creating see-through displays that could be manufactured cheaply with flexible plastics capable of withstanding extreme temperatures. Apparently the transparent displays, which were up to (and over) twice the brightness of today's displays, should be ready to rock in two years -- just in time for us to renovate the Department Of Precrime set we use act out Minority Report in during our lunch hour. Is it now? Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Trend: Podcast/Videocast-Marketing

See the video-sharing post. Trends used by marketing also...

Trend: Podcast/Videocast-Marketing: "Podcast-Marketing uses podcasts or videocasts as a marketing tool – to get the message out. Trend Description: In the first 2 days after Apple’s launch of podcast on iTunes, customers subscribed to more than one million podcasts. According to eMarketer, there is now a total podcast audience of 10 million, 3 million of them download one [...]"

ColorLink's ColorComb take on 3D monitors

Evoltuion 1D-2D-3D... again! I liked the "help me Obi Wan!!" part...

ColorLink's ColorComb take on 3D monitors: "Filed under: Displays, Wearables We love 3D, who doesn't? We'll stop at nothing to get that third dimension, you know? We put up with anaglyphs, crazy glasses, polarized glass, but ColorLink's ColorComb eyepieces (yeah yeah yeah) have an angle on the Z-axis we've never seen taken before (no no no). Their new stereoscopic 3D headgear uses those already-on-the-market six-color LED backlit LCDs to simulate 3D, and can also be used like Sharp's dual-angled screens to enforce privacy or display multiple virtual-optical screens. They also had a 17-inch SXGA 3D monitor they announced, but we aren't yet clear whether that uses the same backlit LED panels necessary for taking advantage of their ColorComb. We know, we know, wearable 3D anything will never be the same as the taunting help me Obi Wan we've been chasing for nearly 30 years, but for now we'll takes what we can gets.[Via Let's Go Digital] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

New Medical Trend in China

Trends... sounds interesting!

New Medical Trend in China: "Entrez PubMed: Chinese biomedical scientists are now developing a new approach to medicine by combining traditional Chinese medicine and Western biomedical science. This is the current medical trend in China. Some significant results have already been achieved. For instance, in treating fractures the traditional dexterity in coaxing broken ends of bones into alignment has been successfully adopted, and x-ray has been used to check whether there was accurate bone union. Heart diseases are treated with Western drugs in combination with Chinese herbal medicine, and the results are encouraging. Ancient theories such as Fu Chen Pei Ben (to strengthen the patient's vitality) are applied, for instance, in cancer therapy, i.e., to stimulate the patient's appetite and to improve his general condition with herbs while being treated with Western anti-cancer remedies. However, the Chinese admit that this process has only just begun. A new medical trend in China [Entrez PubMed]"

Golf Glamour

Have to show this to some friends of mine... Customized Caddies???? :-D

Golf Glamour: "Springwise: Proving that every industry can benefit from innovation, Eye Candy Caddies' mission is to make golf sexy. Similar to Models At Work, the temp agency that we wrote about last year, Eye Candy only works with models and other very pretty people. Caddies can be hired for GBP 150 and travel expenses, which covers 18 holes and an after-links drink at the club house. Not just eye candy, every caddy completes a special training program to learn the finer points of golf etiquette, including essential rules such as 'Never laugh at a bad shot', and 'Encourage and applaud where necessary.' Appealing to a desire for glamour, prestige and a bit of fun, the service is a hit with corporate golf events. Considering the continued popularity of golf around the world, and the sport's strong ties with business, whether for wooing clients or informally closing deals, glamour caddy services should take off in many markets. Glamour on the Greens [Springwise]"

Dartmouth professor invents instant de-icing film

That's worth to develop into an innovation! New De-Icing tchnology!!!

Dartmouth professor invents instant de-icing film: "Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation That annoying winter morning ice-scraping ritual that much of the country is forced to endure pre-commute (well, those of you who travel to work by car instead of shuffling the five feet from bed to desk) may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new film developed by a Dartmouth University College professor that can de-ice treated surfaces almost instantly. Engineering prof Victor Petrenko (not, as Cnet helpfully points out, the same man who dazzled us-- though also on ice -- at the 1992 Olympics) had previously worked on creating ice-repellent materials with government funding before deciding that the cold stuff will inherently stick to any surface due to its triple-bonding ability, and starting a company called Ice Engineering to shift his research focus onto thin films that could be applied to existing structures. The result was a breakthrough technology called pulse electrothermal de-icing (PETD), whose brief bursts of electricity not only break the two strongest chemical bonds between ice and surface almost im"

Viral Videos

Evolutionary trend of increasing dynamization: Share not only photos, share video, voice, experience, emotions....
(See also blogs, podcasts, videocasts, inkshows!)

Viral Videos: "TrendCentral: You may have heard about YouTube and the viral video craze that’s become one of the hottest Internet trends since the birth of social networking sites. Two major viral video portals you may not know of yet are Channel 101 and Channel 102. Think of these sites as the localized, viral video equivalents to American Idol. Here’s how it works: anyone can submit a TV show pilot (up to five minutes long). Every month the shows are screened for live audiences in Los Angeles (Channel 101) and New York (Channel 102), and viewers can vote on which shows to renew and which shows to cancel. The top five shows then become the “prime time” lineup, while the losing shows are cancelled forever. At the next month’s viewing, the prime time shows test new episodes against a new selection of pilots, and so on. The New TV [TrendCentral]"

Two interesting new cell phone technologies

Use projections with mobile devices. Inevitable: A video projector fro every cellphone, pda or notebook! Great!

Two interesting new cell phone technologies: "This past week saw the announcements of a couple of innovative technologies that could aid the mobile phone in becoming miniature work terminals. The first is a patent filing by Samsung that describes a Virtual Display that reads input made with an electronic pen to provide a full-fledged data terminal. The mobile phone will read the inked input on the virtual screen projected onto a flat surface and turn it into digital text for the application. It has immediate application for email and IM applications. Ink on your mobile phone is a real possibility with this technology, of course it will be quite some time (if ever) before this patent application becomes a real product. The second technology was revealed in an announcement by ILJIN Display and is the development of an ultra small LCD panel for projecting images from a mobile device to a wall or screen. This projector is tiny enough to be incorporated into small mobile devices since it uses a single LCD to project the display rather than the 3 LCDs current projectors require. This product may be available pr"

Caffine innovation

Customization!!! Save your taste on a card and get your favourites automatically... Well, maybe that's something for Starbuck's: The "Frequent Coffeedrinker Card" :-D

Caffine innovation: " Bornrich: The Milan furniture fair contest focused on how the coffee rituals will evolve in the future. The first prize winner is the “Nespresso Card” that is a personal chipcard, which holds coffee preferences for registered individuals. The card enables you to access your favorite coffee anytime, anywhere. The second prize winner is an interesting concept of InCar coffee machine featured here that is designed by Thijs van Cuyk and Lavrans Laading of the Netherlands. The gadget fits conveniently into the centre console of a car and can also double as an armrest when you aren’t using it to make lattes. So, now you can have as many cups of hot coffee as you wish even when you are driving! Caffine innovation [Bornrich]"

Tag it and Share!

A new trend to create your own "barcode" and share secret information with friends...

Tag it and Share!: " Trendwatching.com: Codes for consumers, not producers, is one thing, but in an open source, CUSTOMER MADE world, what about codes by consumers? Check out Singapore based Tagit, who have developed a universal decoding engine which runs on an open platform, meaning that all types of digitized codes, from the QR Code and the humble 2D DataMatrix to Tagit’s own proprietary Tagit.Code can be decoded. But that's not all: the DIY side of the business is Tagit’s KoolTag: “You can create a KoolTag for any message you want to communicate to your friends. If you want your girlfriend to see a special secret image, or if you want to share a private video clip with your friends, all you need to do is to create a KoolTag on this site, print it out, email it or just stick it on a t-shirt to attract attention. All that's needed is a cameraphone to capture the KoolTag which lets you see the private content. KoolTag is free!” INFOLUST [Trendwatching.com]"

Can't cook? Employ the Intelligent Spoon

Evolution towards decreasing human involvement. Bad or good??

Can't cook? Employ the Intelligent Spoon: "Filed under: Household No amount of hours spent in front of Iron Chef and Good Eats will a good chef make, friends, but perhaps one might consider the employment of one MIT Media Lab experiment by Connie Cheng and Leonardo Bonanni: the Intelligent Spoon. This, um, intelligent spoon has zinc, gold, zener diode, and aluminum sensors to detect the temperature, acidity, salinity, and viscosity levels of the human-feed it's currently stirring, which it then sends back to a host computer for processing and direction. We're not sure this would help us to add a certain subtlety or trans-cultural flavor adaptation to the sweetbreads we were planning on whipping up tonight, but it might just do the trick in keeping you from over-salting that pancake mix on a Saturday morning.[Via The Raw Feed] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Japanese movie theaters to get Internet-controlled "Smell-O-Vision"

Another example for enhancing a Su-Field with an additional field like "smell" :-)

Japanese movie theaters to get Internet-controlled "Smell-O-Vision": "Filed under: Misc. Gadgets In yet another gimmicky attempt to revitalize sagging box office sales, NTT Communications Corp will be installing fragrance-releasing equipment (think: giant Glade Plug-Ins) in several Japanese theaters that mixes different herbs and oils to create aromas that supposedly enhance key on-screen plot elements. According to Kyodo News, NTT 'will use the Internet' to synchronize the scent generators -- which are located under what we assume to be more-pricey 'aroma premium seats' -- during seven scenes of the multi-theater April 22nd premier. Colin Farrell lovers will be pleased to learn that the first movie to get this 21st century 'Smell-O-Vision' treatment is the actor's 2005 film, 'The New World,' whose tale of love between Pilgrims and Native Americans will no doubt result in a heavy odor of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie lingering in the theaters for weeks. Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "