Update on Google Glasses.
Babak Parviz, head of Project Glass at Google has given an interview updating some of the progress since they were first shown off Mid-2012.
Among other information, he describes how the glasses are currently controlled:
Right now, we have a touch pad on the device that allows people to change things on the device if they wish to do so. We have also experimented a lot with using voice commands. We have full audio in and audio out, which is a nice, natural way of interacting with something that you’d wear and always have with you. We have also experimented with some head gestures.
Check out the full interview here.
(via 8bitfuture)
Using Nanoparticles to turn Solar Energy into Steam
90% of the world’s electricity is produced from steam, and most industrial steam is generated in large boilers—but researchers at Rice University have recently developed a method to convert solar energy into steam using nanoparticles, allowing energy-creation on a smaller, greener, more economical scale. The team created metallic nanoparticles designed to absorb a wide spectrum of solar energy and therefore heat up. When billions of these nanoparticles are submerged in water and then exposed to sunlight, their temperatures rise quickly to above the boiling point of water, and after 5–20 seconds, they vaporise the water around them and create steam. They can even produce steam from icy cold water. At this unrefined stage, they have an overall energy efficiency of 24%, which is impressive considering the 15% efficiency of photovoltaic solar panels—and this efficiency will only increase as the technology is refined. “This is about a lot more than electricity,” says Naomi Halas, lead researcher. “With this technology, we are beginning to think about solar thermal power in a completely different way.” The method is not initially expected to be used in electricity generation, but rather in sanitation and water-purification applications in developing countries.
Mind-Controlled Artificial Limbs Fusing Man and Machine Coming Next Year | Wired Science | Wired.com
“The benefits have no precedent,” Max Ortiz Catalan, who carries out research in biomedicine and artificial intelligence at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, told Wired.co.uk. “They will be able to simultaneously control several joints and motions, as well as to receive direct neural feedback on their actions. These features are today not available for patients outside research labs. Our aim is to change that.”
This story is coming from where I live - but of course I read about it in Wired first…
First flexible smartphones to launch in 2013.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Samsung are getting ready to launch the first flexible smartphones to market in the first half of 2013. The company - along with many other smartphone makers - have been researching the the technology for as long as 10 years, but it’s been difficult to bring it to market due to difficulties mass producing the technology. Pictured above are prototype devices which Samsung exhibited last year, although it’s not clear exactly what form the final product will take.
The flexible displays will use OLEDs, which can be put on flexible material such as plastic or metal foil.
“The key reason for Samsung to use plastic rather than conventional glass is to produce displays that aren’t breakable. The technology could also help lower manufacturing costs and help differentiate its products from other rivals,” said Lee Seung-chul, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities.
(via 8bitfuture)
Wooden Electronics by Brainbow
All items available at etsy. Brainbow’s wooden jewelry let’s you wear the forgotten electronics of back in time. Camcorders, record players, cameras that don’t have phones included… Neanderthal dudes sure had it tough.
Glass storage claimed to last million of years.
Hitachi have developed a quartz glass storage system which is able to hold about 40MB of data per square inch - about the same as a standard CD. By writing the data as binary using lasers to etch dots on four layers of glass, the technique should allow the data to be stored for perhaps hundreds of millions of years - unless, of course, the glass is smashed.
The glass can retain its data after being heated to 1,000°C, and isn’t damaged by radiation, water or most chemicals. The team behind it says adding more layers to increase the relatively small storage space shouldn’t be a problem.
(Source: theregister.co.uk, via 8bitfuture)
Why wood pulp is the new carbon nanotube.
The first Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) factory in the US opened this July, a technology which is expected to become a $600 billion industry by 2020. NCC is significant because it is an incredibly cheap, renewable version of a carbon nanotube which is made from processed wood pulp.
…not only is NCC transparent but it is made from a tightly packed array of needle-like crystals which have a strength-to-weight ratio that is eight times better than stainless steel.
“The beauty of this material is that it is so abundant we don’t have to make it,” says Youngblood. “We don’t even have to use entire trees; nanocellulose is only 200 nanometres long. If we wanted we could use twigs and branches or even sawdust. We are turning waste into gold.”
NCC is already being used to make the next generation of flexible electronic displays in Japan, to create computer components by IBM, and the by the US Army to make lightweight body armour.
(Source: newscientist.com, via 8bitfuture)
LED Wallpaper by Architects Paper and Ingo Mauer
Finally, the future is here! This hi-tech, Jetsons-age wallpaper is made with an underlying layer of circuitry with red, white, and blue LED diodes woven on top of it. You can program designs, patterns, and even dim them… t’s perfect for setting the geeky mood between you and your robot companion.
Artists: Ingo / Architects Paper (via: If It’s Hip It’s Here)
(via aquariuslove07)
Huge Mars Rover Set for Nerve-Wracking Landing on Red Planet Today
After 8 1/2 months crossing the millions of miles between planets, the biggest and most complex rover ever sent to another world is now on its final approach for a hair-raising touchdown on Mars.
NASA’s 1-ton Curiosity rover is set to land inside the Red Planet’s Gale Crater at 10:31 p.m. PDT tonight (Aug. 5; 1:31 a.m. EDT and 0531 GMT on Aug. 6). As with any planetary landing, success is not a given, and tensions may be especially high tonight given Curiosity’s elaborate, unprecedented landing sequence.
The rover’s spacecraft will barrel into the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph (21,000 kph), then deploy a huge supersonic parachute to slow it to about 200 mph (320 kph). Rockets will slow the vehicle’s descent further, to less than 2 mph (3.2 kph), setting the stage for a spectacular “sky crane” maneuver.
Curiosity’s descent stage will lower the enormous rover to the Martian surface on cables, then fly off to crash-land intentionally a safe distance away. Engineers have dubbed the entire sequence “seven minutes of terror” (watch), because that’s how long it’ll take from atmospheric entry to touchdown.
Image: Map of the internet.
Fortune graphic designer Nicolas Rapp has enhanced some Geotel maps showing the routes of the main fibre optic cables carrying internet traffic around the globe.
To make the light travel enormous distances, thousands of volts of electricity are sent through the cable’s copper sleeve to power repeaters, each the size and roughly the shape of a 600-pound bluefin tuna.Once a cable reaches a coast, it enters a building known as a “landing station” that receives and transmits the flashes of light sent across the water. The fiber-optic lines then connect to key hubs, known as “Internet exchange points,” which, for the most part, follow geography and population.
Check out the rest of the photos here.
(via 8bitfuture)
Facebook monitoring you for illegal activity.
Facebook’s Chief Security Officer has revealed details of how the company screens users activity for potential criminal activity. It also monitors for evidence of “imminent bodily harm, or to protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities”.
Rather than have Facebook employees screen for activity directly, the monitoring is done by software which monitors for specific words or phrases.
The software pays more attention to chats between users who don’t already have a well-established connection on the site and whose profile data indicate something may be wrong, such as a wide age gap. The scanning program is also “smart” — it’s taught to keep an eye out for certain phrases found in the previously obtained chat records from criminals including sexual predators.
If the scanning software flags a suspicious chat exchange, it notifies Facebook security employees, who can then determine if police should be notified.
Keeping most of the scanned chats out of the eyes of Facebook employees may help Facebook deflect criticism from privacy advocates, but whether the scanned chats are deleted or stored permanently is yet unknown.
(Source: Mashable, via 8bitfuture)
