Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Us tech and Sci-Fi aficionados are always on the lookout for the latest and greatest. We’re constantly starving for the best, bleeding-edge technology, and we drool when we watch the Star Treks and Minority Reports of the world thinking, “we’ll never get there.” Think again, because here are 10 gadgets from movies that became a reality. Some of these may not be in mass production yet, but if we’ve made it this far, just think of the possibilities.
- Minority Report Style Gesture Based Computers
This one has been mentioned several times before, and there are plenty of videos showcasing the different advancements in touch/gesture-based computing. All you have to do is Google “minority report computer interface” and you’ll get many hits, including a TED conference video demonstrating different applications for the technology. Find out more here from PopSci.
- Magnetically Tethered Flying Vehicles
Yes. Just yes. According to Gizmodo, researchers at Cornell have been playing with superconductors and permanent magnets. They’re looking to use this to keep spacecraft tethered together without touching just like the pod racers in Star Wars. Fast forward a few years though, and we’ve got ourselves magnetically tethered advanced spacecraft.
- Universal Translator
Obviously this won’t translate alien languages, but it will translate almost any language in the world on the fly, back and forth. We have our handy Mr. Ray Kurweil, futurist, inventor extraordinaire to thank for this. Check out his universal translator. (more…)
It was in the 1920s when light-emitting diodes were first invented. Today, eighty years later, LEDs come in variable colors, brightness and wavelength - visible, ultraviolet, and infrared. LEDs have a lot of advantages over traditional lighting which include lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, size, and robustness.
In this article, we will cover fifteen LED hacks that are jaw-dropping, eye-catching and overall awesome. I have decided to group the list based on their use, from trivial and entertainment use to medical uses and architectural purposes.
1.
Huge Sky Screen at “The Place” in Beijing, China
Imagine strolling down a street, and 25 meters above you is a giant LED screen display… with dragons and marine animals floating! This massive display located at The Place shopping center at the heart of Beijing, China was placed before the Olympics of 2008. Considered as the largest LED screen in Asia, it has dimensions of 250 meters in length and 30 meters in width. The sky screen plays majestic shows like seascapes, a dolphin show, among others. Note that the biggest LED display belongs to the display screen at Fremont St., in Las Vegas which is made of 12.5 million LEDs and has a length of 460 meters.
2.
LED Cyclist Jacket
Yes, there are a lot of shirts and pants and other wearable materials out there which make awesome use of LED. Take, for instance, the Iron Man Arc Reactor. But for the usefulness of this next one, I think it should count in my top choices. When she was a Ph.D student at the University of Colorado, Leah Buechley has created an electronic clothing, the signal jacket for cyclists. As you can see from the image above, this is simply ingenious and the usefulness of this goes overboard. The LEDs are powered and programmed by a sewable computer chip which was designed by Leah, herself. For those of you interested in making one, click on the link above for instructions.
3.
LED Cubes - Cubatron
LED cubes are a dime too many but they are nonetheless interesting and an awesome use of LEDs for trivial and entertainment purposes. LED cubes can be as small as the basic 4×4x4 (pertains to the number of LEDs) or could be more extravagant like that of the Cubatron UV with a 100×100x100 matrix or a total of 1,000,000 LEDs. Surely, this is an expensive project to make. The Cubatron UV has its roots down to the first Cubatron, which is now proudly in display at the ultra chic W Hotel in Dallas. The Cubatron (8×8x8 feet) used to be the world’s largest 3-dimensional full color light sculpture, a title which now belongs to the Big Round Cubatron (40 feet in diameter, ten feet in height). The latter made its debut at Burning Man in 2006 and has since been shown at different festivals, events and places. Led cube are perfectly characterized with these words, “a word of art at rest, a hypnotic experience once the micro-controller takes charge.” (more…)
The minds of inventors and designers never cease to amaze us with the concepts that they create. Especially those that find their way into the reality of production.
A majority of the most popular concepts involve future computing and communication technologies. From cell phones to mobile computers with amazingly intelligent, creative, and portable technology. But there are also many great designs that have functionality and practicality outside of computing and communications. Even though functionality and practicality drive many designs, entertainment value and the idea of the product being just plain fun sometimes takes over.
This list, which is part 1 of this series, shows just a glimpse into some of those amazingly creative concept gadgets.
1. The Nokia Morph
With the cell phone market saturated with different styles, colors, and functionality truly original concepts are a pleasant change from the standard. The Nokia Morph is one of those concepts. It takes advantage of nanoscale technologies to create a mobile device made with flexible and transparent materials that are extremely strong. The flexibility allows it to change shape and can serve different functions depending on the configuration. The nanotechnology can be self-cleaning, improving the lifespan of the device in several ways. It also incorporates surfaces that naturally repel water, dirt, and fingerprints.
The Morph could also take advantage of solar power converted from the surface of the device allowing for smaller batteries that quickly recharge with a longer lifespan. One other new capability is the ability to sense the environment. For example, analyzing air pollution, or telling you if the produce that you are about to eat should be cleaned before consumption. It will be interesting to see if a concept such as this will come to market and if it happens any time soon (in concept years, that is). (more…)
Seems a lot of people are getting really excited about a new camera from Olympus known as the E-P1 Micro. And really, they should be.
This retro body style camera comes with an impressive set of features including a solid 12.3 megapixel Live MOS sensor, a 3-inch LCD display, in-body image stabilization, a dust reduction system, and exchangeable lenses. The camera is also fully capable of recording video at 720p/30fps video. The Live MOS sensor and the new TruePic V image processor guarantee ultra-high processing speeds and excellent image quality up to ISO 6400. Because of the high quality, the camera is also able to apply Art Filters to both movies and still images. Standard filters are there along with others including Pop Art, Pin Hole, Soft Focus, and Grainy Film. (more…)
Panasonic has released the HDC-SD10 and HDC-TM10 HD camcorders. Both models weigh in at only a 1/2 LB, and despite it’s small form factor has 16x optical zoom. The zoom is assisted by Panasonic’s Advanced OIS (Optical Image Stabilizer) functionality to achieve clear zooming and reducing hand-shake by correcting the picture around 4,000 times per second. The Advanced OIS is great for providing high quality zooming, stability, especially while walking or moving. The camcorders produce Full-HD video at a 1920 x 1080 resolution giving this easy to use camcorder a beautiful picture for your high-definition video recording needs. (more…)
Tired of paying for excessive phone bills? VoIP and Skype have your solution to decrease that monthly bill. Cut the cord and save money on your phone bills using VoIP technology. If you haven’t tried Skype on your computer yet, you definitely should and we have put together some gadgets that will make it much easier to do so.
Here are 21 of the coolest gadgets that have the capability to provide you with excellent VoIP, and Skype service.
1. IPEVO TR-10 Conference Phone
The TR-10 allows a user to Skype with other Skype users, landlines, or mobile phones. Even better the TR-10 lets you communicate with all three at the same time through, the conferencing capabilities it has. Have more than one friend? The TR-10 lets you conference up to nine additional people including yourself, hence the name TR-10.
The TR-10 can operate in both headset and speakerphone modes. A simple flip of the switch redirects the sound, and the TR-10 instantly changes into a headset. Mobility is not a problem with this device, with it’s size being about the same as a spare toothbrush, and toothpaste, only 15cm long. Communication with others is not all this jewel does, it also has the power to act as a high quality voice recorder for those too busy to take notes.
2. Star Trek VoIP/Skype Phone
Want to join the Star Trek hype? Then this is definitely the phone for you. Proving to be one of coolest designs to be seen in the development of Skype and VoIP phones. The Star Trek Skype/VoIP phone works through simple USB connection, and is compatible with both Windows XP, Vista, and Mac OS X 10.5. The Star Trek features speaker phone, volume controls, and mute. The added special feature is the ability to produce some of your favorite Star Trek sounds and phrases.
With over 21 special sound effects, I am sure it will take awhile to get bored with this one. Also don’t worry about having to stay directly by the computer when plugged in, the Skype phone features a 6 foot USB connection cable which can give you a little freedom to roam. This is definitely a keeper for all the Star Trek fans out there.
3. iRiver’s Wave Home
Looking for something that can do a little more than just the usual VoIP or voice recording? iRiver’s Wave Home not only does VoIP, but it also many other multimedia functions. It contains a 7″ LCD screen, and a wireless headset that not only does the duties of an average headset, but can be used as remote to control the Wave Home Station. The gadget comes packed with a 1.3 megapixel camera, this will come in handy when you want to participate in a video chat. The list of impressive features doesn’t stop there.
Want to surf the web? iRiver’s Wave Home has it covered, along with taking pictures, playing music, and providing a host of useful widgets. Interested in the weather? Your covered. Traffic, news? Your covered. The list can only continue to grow with the capabilities of this multimedia masterpiece, iRiver continues to impress those looking for multimedia units for VoIP communication. The estimated price is rumored to be around $400 and should come out sometime this year. Sadly this gadget only does VoIP but they are looking to offer a service like Skype.
4. Verizon Hub
The Verizon Hub is the first major release of a multimedia unit from the leaders in telecommunication. The Verizon Hub gives you the ability to use your normal broadband connection to place calls, minus the usual charge. This gadget gives you unlimited nationwide calling, automatic anonymous call rejection, and scheduled call forwarding.
Of course the Verizon Hub comes packed with multimedia essentials.
- Messaging
- Movies
- VCast
- Traffic
- Chaperone (for those with Children, or maybe your spouse.)
- Calendar
As you can see in the photo, the Verizon Hub features a beautiful high resolution screen, to make using it a little easier on the eyes. Verizon has set themselves up for a future of profitability, if the Verizon Hub gains popularity. (more…)
For some it’s just a way to make that ugly beige computer tower on your desk look better, and add something to the aesthetics of your work space. For others, it’s a labor of love modifying their computer cases to create an amazing work of art. And then there are those who need to carve a bit more utility out of their computer cases. For everyone else, there are pictures…of the creations these folks have devised.
So sit back, grab some popcorn, don’t forget to get a cold drink from the fridge, and take a look at 13 amazing computer case mods.
- Dodge Charger PC Case (Pre Fabbed)
A marriage between car and computer never looked so good. The company behind this case mod has built a fully functional computer and put it inside a car model. The headlights and taillights blink and the hood ornament serves as the power button. Featuring Intel Core 2 Duo processors, these sharp looking computers actually boot up to the sound of a HEMI engine. For those that like to change the look of their PC often, the outer shells of these bad boys are interchangeable. Want a Dodge Magnum body instead? It’s easy to change because the components are all mounted on one standard frame.
- The Giant Tetris Case
This case comes to you from the creative minds of a Spanish gaming group. There are several computers that actually make up the display as seen in the picture above. The colorful Tetris blocks are actually acrylic panels built to attach to each other to form the pile of blocks.
- Computer Desk and Case in One
This case mod brings a whole new meaning to the words “Computer Desk.” The senior technology editor over at Popular Mechanics set out to create the ultimate computer desk. The result is a beast of a machine with all the latest and greatest components they could find. The transparent desktop allows you to see the innards of the computer, and the blue lighting really adds to the displayability of the desk. Just make sure you have a cloth handy to wipe down the finger prints.
(more…)
As everyone know’s, the frenzy over Apple’s WWDC (World Wide Developer Conference) always brings news of new Apple products, and the iPhone has been the main attraction in the last few years. The new iPhone 3G S was announced in both 16GB and 32GB versions. The “S” in 3G S stands for speed. Some of the highly anticipated features include upto 2x faster web surfing, a 3-megapixel camera and the long awaited landscape keyboard. The landscape keyboard will also be available on older iPhone models through the OS 3.0 update.
It also has a voice control feature which allows you to call someone on your contact list, or listen to a song on your iPhone, all by simply telling it to do so. (more…)
Amateur and student inventions have a long and noble tradition. We all know about Youtube or Ford, but did you know that the guy who invented TV was also an amateur? (thank you, for making Firefly possible.)
Lately, amateur science has been making strides all over the place thanks to better micro-chips, modular components, and huge advances in miniaturization and nanotech. Today’s amateurs (or “independent inventors,” as they are sometimes called) have a lot more to work with than their sprocket-wielding ancestors, and it shows. Here are a few of the most recent, and coolest creations.
- The Uno Electric Unicycle
This hip-looking uni-wheeled electric bike was built, designed, and conceived by 18-year-old Ben Gulak. Sick of smog, he decided to create something that could be a viable alternative to driving, something like the Segway, only… way cooler. He came up with a cross between an electric bike and a motorcycle, with two wheels side-by-side. The bike is stabilized by gyros; to speed up, you lean forward. He designed it for commuters, and you can ride it for between 2 and 2.5 hours before it needs a recharge. He built it with the help of his grandfather, who is also a tinkerer and worked as an engineer, so he had all the necessary equipment on hand. The secret? The Uno is powered by electric wheelchair motors.
- The Flying Car
Although I’m still waiting for something that looks like Luke’s landspeeder before I’ll believe that the future has truly arrived, this will have to do in the meantime. Its inventor, MIT student Carl Deitrich, calls his creation a “Personal Air Vehicle.” It’s a hybrid airplane-car, built to make short trips between 100 - 500 miles using the hundreds of small public airports and runways that dot the country.
It’s about the size of an SUV, but unlike an SUV this baby only seats two, plus luggage. It uses gyroscopic control in the air, and once you land at the airport you don’t need to “de-plane” and wait with a hundred other people to snatch you luggage from the conveyor belt - instead, you just flip the “Personal Air Vehicle” into “Personal Ground Vehicle” (car) mode, fold the wings into the body, and hit the highway.The construction of the plane includes all the standard vehicle safety stuff - seatbelts, crumple-zones, etc, but under the hood there’s definitely something special. It uses an ultra-efficient rocket engine that doesn’t require a turbo-pump to deliver the fuel, so it’s both cheaper, and lighter, than any other engine of its kind, which is what makes the whole thing possible. And while Deitrich admits that the idea for a flying car is nothing new, he’s the first guy to actually have one in his garage.
- The Wall Scaling Batman Style Belt
This utility belt is just like Batman’s, but real. It can lift 250lbs (ie: Batman plus his suit) 50 feet in 5 seconds. It’s supposed to be used for good - towing things, getting soldiers into hard-to-reach places, helping firefighters get up buildings (last year, another guy created a device that will help them get down again), etc. But we know better: it’s just completely cool to be able to scale buildings. There are several models being created now that get you up further, faster, or carry more weight, but the idea is the same.
- The Wearable Computer
Debuting at TED this year was an invention by another MIT student, Pranav Mistry, whose speciality is human-machine interface. His “SixthSense” computer system is wearable, and it’s hard to describe, except to say that it is completely awesome and kind of crazy.It uses a real-time gestural interface - a camera around your neck and watches your hands, and a projector beside it allows you to project data onto walls, or onto your hand, or onto anything else, and interact with it as if it were real - using a projected calculator, checking a projected wristwatch, or rearranging projected photos.
Some of the most wow-inducing examples presented at TED include a Wall Street Journal that, when pointed at, turns interactive, playing its lead story as a video, projected right onto the paper. You can play, pause, and enlarge the video by pressing the projected buttons underneath it. The set up is basically a laptop, camera, and projector, and the whole thing is internet-enabled, so you can look up product specs and compare prices right in a store, for instance, by pointing at an item and making a certain motion. It’s a hardware mash-up of found technologies from everywhere, but Mistry has put them together into a completely mind-bending package.
- The Invisibility Cloak
This cloak invariably invokes comparisons to Harry Potter, but it’s not quite that good - yet. Japanese prof Susumu Tachi and his grad students created what they call a “retro-reflective projection system,” which basically means that what’s on one side gets projected onto the other. The jacket is made up of special reflective beads, which function like cats-eyes, reflecting almost all the light back to the source with a minimum of scattering (the effect they harness is the same one desponsible for “red-eye” in photos). When the rearward image is projected onto the front-facing beads, their shape and highly-focussed nature makes the picture look three dimensional… more or less. Each bead acts like a giant pixel. Watch the video to see it in action.
(more…)
Never before has there been a Blu-ray burner integrated into a 20 inch HDTV, until this. Sharp announced that they will be selling the 20″ AQUOS DX HDTV that includes a built-in digital TV tuner, the ability to play media files (MPEG-4 & AVC formats) and the ability to record video onto Blu-ray discs (BD-R/R DL and BD-RE/RE DL). The Blu-ray burner will also be able to store over 30 hours of HD video for later viewing. (more…)
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