Hacker creates Kinect-powered email interface for his mom after a stroke

For many sufferers of aphasia, a disorder caused by stroke that impairs the language centers of the brain, simple things like writing or typing up emails become incredibly difficult. One inventor, though, has created an email interface based on the Kinect system that allows his mom to do the impossible, and send simple emails to her friends and family.

ORNL roof-and-attic system keeps houses cool in summer, warm in winter

Heating and cooling a house are two of the biggest ongoing costs for homeowners and are responsible for the bulk of the average household’s energy consumption. A new kind of roof-and-attic system field tested at the DoE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) improves the efficiency of both winter heating and summer cooling. Importantly, the new system can be retrofitted to most existing roofs.

Smart fabric designed to detect intruders

If you’re a burglar, and all that separates you from your quarry is what appears to be a simple sheet of fabric, you might not want to cut it. That’s because it could be a new smart fabric, that will set off an alarm if it’s breached. Created by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, the fabric incorporates a web of silver-coated conductive threads that are connected to a microcontroller. If that controller detects a break in the weak electric current that travels through the fibers, it’ll be sure to let the right people know.

One-cent rectenna could enable large-scale adoption of NFC at low cost

By now, we’ve all become quite used to seeing QR codes on products, price tags and advertisements – just scan the code with your smartphone’s camera, and it’s converted into readable information. Soon, however, those codes could be facing competition from something called the rectenna. It’s an inexpensive label-like device that transmits data to a near-field communication (NFC)-enabled smartphone, using that phone’s radio waves as its power source.

NASA proposes Water Walls to replace mechanical life support systems

When they’re living aboard spacecraft, astronauts presently rely on mechanically-driven life support systems. Not only is there a danger of these systems breaking down, but maintenance can be challenging, as they’re always in use. While redundant duplicate systems could take over in such situations, they add to the expense and weight of a spacecraft, and also take up valuable space. Instead, NASA is exploring another possibility – the passive “Water Walls” system, which would use the principle of forward osmosis to perform tasks such as water filtration, air filtration, and even food growth.

Touchless heart rate monitor apps detect changes in face's reflectivity

There’s no shortage of heart rate monitor apps available for the iPhone, most of which take their readings by detecting the pulsating blood flow through a finger placed over the iPhone camera’s lens. But we’ve recently seen the release of a new kind of heart rate app that doesn’t require any physical contact with the phone as it takes its readings by simply looking at your face.

Gamers may get a charge out of the Gauss Rifle

Well, Patrick Priebe might have outdone himself with this one. In the past, the German cyberpunk weapons-maker has brought us such creations as awrist-mounted mini-crossbow, a laser-sighted rotary-saw-blade-shooting crossbow, and a flame-throwing glove. His latest nasty futuristic device? A video game-inspired electromagnetic weapon, called the Gauss Rifle.

Saturn and Titan in living color

It will soon be spring on Saturn ... and it will last for the next eight years or so. To celebrate the slow passing of the seasons of the giant ringed planet, NASA has released four real-color images sent back by the Cassini space probe. The images not only show the seasonal changes, but also the mysterious vortex recently discovered at the south pole of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

New airline seats provide individual climate control

These days, jet air travel is less of a glamorous Don Draper adventure and often more of a tedious ordeal. The cabin air doesn’t help as passengers suffer sinus troubles and can’t stay warm or cool enough for comfort. At the ILA Berlin Air Show running September 11 - 16, the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) will reveal to the public a new airline seat that provides air passengers with individual climate control that may make even traveling coach a bit more pleasant.

Thermaltake´s Level 10 M Mouse for pro gamers released

In the same way that professional athletes have turned to technology to give them an advantage in training and competition, professional gamers are increasingly being targeted by peripheral manufacturers promising gamers an edge over their opposition. Thermaltake’s Level 10 M Mouse is just such a peripheral. Unveiled earlier this year, pricing and availability details of the mouse have now been announced.

TextGenie translates SMS messages for puzzled adults

Text messaging has transformed language into a kind of coded parlance that can be puzzling or outright indecipherable for recipients who do not follow SMS trends, which probably start in classrooms across the world. In order to help those with difficulties understanding abbreviations and obscure acronyms used in English, British software developer DCML has greated TextGenie, which translates the increasingly cryptic SMS messages the younger generation tends to use.

NASA's Dawn probe sets its sights on dwarf planet Ceres

The Dawn spacecraft was the first to ever orbit an object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and has been studying the asteroid Vesta since July 2011, revealing unprecedented detail on its distant past and providing astronomers with a better picture of the early history of our solar system. Now, however, it's time to say goodbye – in only a few days' time, Dawn will make its escape from Vesta's gravitational grasp and start a two and a half-year journey toward the dwarf planet Ceres.

Lifeproof nüüd case waterproofs your iPad without covering the screen

One of the appeals of tablet computers is that they’re “good to go” – you can just grab them and use them wherever you want. The fact that they’re not particularly real-world-proof, however, takes away from that a little. The same thing could be said about smartphones, which is why so many people now keep their phones in rugged, waterproof cases. Well, Lifeproof’s just-launched nüüd case is like one of those smartphone cases, but for the iPad. It’s not the only such product to ever exist, but it is able to do the job without anything covering the tablet’s screen.

Flying drone controlled with mind power

Researchers based at Zhejiang University in China have produced a system for controlling a quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle with the mind. Dubbed "Flying Buddy 2", the system uses a standard, commercially-availableElectroencephalogram (EEG) headset, a computer and a Parrot AR Drone. The computer processes the data received from the EEG and converts it into control commands which are beamed to the drone via a Wi-Fi connection. Judging by the video, the latency of the setup appears to be relatively low.

Scientists use light to alter properties of high temperature superconductors

When people have a difficult problem they often talk about “shining a light on it.” Creating and controlling high-temperature superconductors has been a problem for scientists and engineers for over two decades. Now, Yoram Dagan, a professor at Tel Aviv University's (TAU) Department of Physics and Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, has made a breakthrough in superconductors by literally shining a light on them. By doing this, he is able to control their properties.

Just-launched HyperJuice2 charges a MacBook and two iPads at once

While it may not be likely that one person would need to charge a MacBook and two iPads all at the same time, it’s entirely possible that a group of people (say, a group of people covering an electronics trade show) might need to. If they did, and an AC outlet wasn’t close at hand, a single Sanho HyperJuice2 could apparently do the job. The portable battery pack was just launched at IFA 2012.