∩∀g@rjμ∩∀ M@nc#!nen!: March 2012

Monday, March 26, 2012

Vocaloid keyboard lets your fingers do the talking - or singing

The Vocaloid keyborad lets users input lyrics with their left hand and 'sing' with their right (Photo: DigInfo)

Growing out a of a research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at Spain’s Pompeu Fabra University in 2000, Yamaha’s Vocaloid is a singing synthesizer that lets those with a voice like Roseanne Barr after a big night out synthesize more pleasing vocals by inputting lyrics and melody. While the current commercial version of Vocaloid 3 requires these inputs to be prepared on a PC prior to a performance, Yamaha has now developed a Vocaloid keyboard prototype that lets users input lyrics and melody and generate a

A researcher from Adelaide's Flinders University has developed a prototype solar cell that uses a layer of transparent carbon nanotubes sandwiched between conductive glass to collect solar energy

Imagine if every window of the 828-meter (2,717-foot) high Burj Khalifa in Dubai was capable of generating electricity just like a PV panel. That's the promise of solar window technology like the RSi and Sphelar cells systems. Rather than using costly silicon for window-based collection of solar energy, Dr Mark Bissett proposes using a very thin layer of carbon nanotubes instead.
As part of his PhD at the Flinders University School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Dr Bissett has developed a proof of concept prototype solar cell that is made up of two sheets of electrically-conductive glass with a layer of functionalized, single-walled carbon nanotubes sandwiched between them. As the nanotube layer is only between 100 - 200nm thick and the two sheets of glass are just 60µm apart, the

Western Digital's My Passport line of portable storage drives is now available in capacities up to 2TB

Like many digital file hoarders, I keep copies of my numerous albums of multi-megapixel photos, High Definition videos, audiophile-quality digital music files and important documents on an external hard drive to safeguard against hardware failure. Despite having lots of storage space available on my laptop's hard drive, I also move rarely-used files off my device and into an external vault - probably a habit picked up when storage space was still counted in megabytes. It's not practical to carry something like WD's MyBook storage solution around with me when I'm on the move but the company's newly-improved line of My Passport mini drives are a good fit, particularly when they're now available with up to 2 TB of

Fraunhofer's Multishuttle Moves robots, in the distribution center mock-up

When it comes to groups that work together to get a job done, ants have pretty much got the process perfected. That’s why computer scientist Marco Dorigo studied the creatures’ behavior, and created his Ant Colony Optimization model – an algorithmic technique that can be applied to human endeavors, when efficiency is the order of the day. Scientists from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics have now applied these algorithms to a swarm of 50 autonomous shuttle robots working in a parts warehouse, in an effort to create a new and better type of materials-handling system.
The warehouse is actually a 1,000 square-meter (10,764 sq-ft) research facility, equipped to

Scientists have created a rechargeable battery using the lignin from pulp and paper mills

Scientists have discovered that lignin, a plentiful byproduct of the pulp and paper industry, can be used to store an electrical charge. They've used the material to create a prototype lignin-based rechargeable battery, and suggest that it could one day be used as a less expensive, safer alternative to the precious metals currently utilized in battery cathodes.
Lignin is found in plants, and is the second-most common polymer naturally produced by a

New York to Beijing in two hours without leaving the ground?

An ETT (Evacuated Tube Transport) line in which car-sized passenger/cargo capsules would travel

Although there are similarities to the Startram concept we looked at recently, this take on maglev-like transport is all on terra firma and, if it ever eventuates, would take passengers from New York to Beijing in just two hours. Advocates of Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT) claim it is silent, cheaper than planes, trains or cars and faster than jets.

How the ETT tubes would look when installed

Front (or rear) view of an ETT capsule in a maglev tube

Cutaway view of an ETT capsule in the evacuated transport tube

The basic plan is, well, as old as the enabling patent, US Patent 5950543, whose description is quite thorough. Issued in 1999, there remain seven years on the term of the patent, which is assigned to ET3.com, Inc., a licensing organization that hopes to head an alliance of players to fund and construct demonstration

Troika's kinetic chandelier, Thixotropes, combines LED lighting, carbon and steel banding to stunningly beautiful effect (Photo: Troika)

Let's play a game of word association. If I said to you "LED lighting", the chances are the first thing you'd say would be ... well, honestly, I have no idea. But if I were to guess, I think a lot of people would say bright, or efficient, perhaps cool, or possibly colorful. I would too. My hunch is that the word beautiful would be used much less frequently.
But that's a perception that might soon change, if London design studio Troika has anything to say in the matter. Which it does. Its mechanized, kinetic and grand LED chandelier, named Thixotropes, is, quite simply, a beautiful vision of the lighting of the future.
Strictly speaking Thixotropes isn't a single entity, but eight "mechanized systems" of carbon, steel

Researchers have gained partial control of a specific memory and created 'hybrid' memories in mice (Image: Shutterstock)

You may remember – pun intended – that earlier in the week we reported on research that may provide an explanation of how memories are stored in the brain. In related news, a team consisting of researchers from the Scripps Research Institute, the University of Oregon and the University of North Carolina has found a way to partially control a specific memory in mice by turning neurons in their brains on and off. Although the research is in its early stages, the scientists say it could lead to a better understanding of how memories form and maybe even provide ways to change people’s thought patterns.
Knowing that stimulating various regions of the brain can trigger behaviors and memories, the

Asetek has created a new slim form factor liquid cooling system for laptops and All-in-One computers

Gamers and overclockers will already be familiar with the performance and quiet operation benefits of liquid-cooling the internal components of desktop computer systems. Power users these days are not necessarily sitting in front of the beige base tower of old, however – other formats like the All-in-One and laptops have benefited from significant processing, memory and storage boosts in recent years. We've

Lithium atoms (red) deposited on graphene were shown to give the material piezoelectric qualities

Scientists have succeeded in endowing graphene with yet another useful property. Already, it is the thinnest, strongest and stiffest material ever measured, while also proving to be an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. These qualities have allowed it find use in everything from transistors to supercapacitors to anti-corrosion coatings. Now, two materials engineers from Stanford University have used computer models to show how it could also be turned into a

The Zircotec anti-stick coating being applied

UK coatings specialist Zircotec develops products at the very leading edge of technology. Two seasons ago it was providing ceramic coatings to protect composite F1 diffusers from heat, and now it is developing coatings for aerodynamic surfaces which are clawing back lost down-forces.

Zircotec has featured in Gizmag before due to some of the coatings it has developed that

NASA and GM develop power-assisted Robo-Glove

NASA and GM engineers have created Robo-Glove, a power-assisted glove designed to keep astronauts and autoworkers from getting repetitive stress injuries

Having trouble getting the lid off that pickle jar? Well, perhaps the Human Grasp Assist device can help. Designed through a collaboration between GM and NASA - and also known as Robo-Glove or K-Glove - the device is based on grasping technology initially developed for the hands of the space-going Robonaut 2. Essentially a power-assisted work glove, Robo-Glove is designed to minimize repetitive stress injuries in

U Grok It is a smartphone-based system that allows you to find missing items, that have been tagged with radio-frequency labels

Last year, we told you about a smartphone-based system that can be used to find your missing stuff, known as BiKN. It consists of an electronic case that the phone slides into, which tracks the whereabouts of paired radio frequency tags that the user attaches to their car keys, purse, children - you name it. The phone displays the location of the sought items, or can sound an alarm if one of them gets too far

The Weltzeituhr (World Clock) at Alexanderplatz, Berlin, Germany isn't anywhere near as accurate as the nuclear clock proposed by researchers (Photo: Shutterstock)

The NIST-F1 atomic clock that currently serves as primary time and frequency standard for the U.S. is expected to neither gain nor lose a second in more than 100 million years. That might sound pretty accurate, but a proposed nuclear clock could make it look like a cheap digital wristwatch. It is claimed that the proposed clock would neither gain nor lose 1/20th of a second in 14 billion years. To put that in context,

The Airhead fits neatly inside the helmet

The Airhead is a simple accessory designed to fit inside a helmet and increase air circulation, keeping you cooler. By limiting your head heat and perspiration, Airhead also promises to combat "helmet hair."
A lot of time has been spent trying to make the helmet look better when it's on, but not as much time seems to have been put into making you look better when you take the helmet off. We're talking helmet hair - that grungy, wet, matted mess of hair that isn't appropriate much of anywhere that you might be traveling on your motorcycle.
Conceived during a road trip on long, lonely stretches of barren Australian asphalt, Airhead tackles

A prototype of the new Lockheed Martin Space Fence radar system is currently tracking orbiting space objects smaller than was ever possible - down to about a centimeter in size

A prototype of the new Lockheed Martin Space Fence radar system is currently tracking orbiting space objects smaller than was ever possible - down to about a centimeter in size. In doing so, it met a key contract requirement during a series of demonstration events by proving it could detect and track such small objects.

Intended to replace the Air Force Space Situational System (AFSSS), a ground-based 217 MHz megawatt-scale radar detector, the prototype for the new Space Fence is capable of tracking more than 200,000 centimeter-sized objects - ten times smaller than can be detected with the previous system. "Our final system design incorporates a scalable, solid-state S-band radar ... capable of detecting much smaller

Twin Creeks Technologies' Hyperion process is claimed to be able to produce crystalline silicon wafers, for use in solar cells, for half the cost of conventional methods

Boosting solar cell efficiency is seen as a key factor in making them more practical, but there is another way of looking at the matter ... if the price of those cells were lowered, we could generate more power simply by using more of them. That’s where Mississippi-based Twin Creeks Technologies comes into the picture. The company has developed a method of making crystalline silicon wafers which it says could reduce the cost of solar cell production by half.
Ordinarily, when crystalline silicon wafers are being made for use in solar cells, a chunk of silicon is cut into

Seagate has achieved a milestone 1 terabit per square inch storage density using heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology

Despite solid state drives increasing in capacity in recent years, the humble platter-based 3.5-inch hard drive still reigns supreme as the data storage device to beat in terms of bits for your buck. But if traditional drives are going to meet user’s ever-increasing data storage demands they will need to improve on the maximum 620 gigabits per square inch storage densities currently possible in platter based 3.5-inch drives. That’s just what Seagate has demonstrated with new technology that has achieved a milestone storage density of 1 terabit per square inch.
From the advent of hard drives in 1956, the magnetic surface of the hard drive platters was divided in

Adafruit has come up with a mash-up of Arduino components to create an internet-enabled motion-triggered camera (Photo: Adafruit)

Adafruit's "Internet of Things Camera" is a neat mashup of existing Arduino components into a versatile remote monitoring camera. The key here is in the word remote - a capability that's granted by the inclusion of a first-generation Eye-Fi card, which is an SD card with built in Wi-Fi, that can upload images to your computer or other device, or better yet to a variety of photo-sharing websites such as Flickr.
Gizmag regulars will be aware of the term Internet of Things, but in case this is a new one on you, it's a term that basically describes the notion of objects - potentially all objects - having some sort of uniquely

Belkin's LiveAction Camera Grip provides iPhones with an ergonomic handle, and a shutter release button

Although it’s been suggested that point-and-shoot digital cameras could be made obsolete by smartphones, there’s at least one thing that’s still better about stand-alone cameras – they have an ergonomic grip (or at least, some of them do), and a good ol’ fuss-free shutter release button. Belkin’s LiveAction Camera Grip device, however, is designed to add these features to the iPhone. The company has also released the LiveAction Camera Remote, which brings the same push-button functionality to a remote-control device.
The Camera Grip slides onto the end of the iPhone, connecting to the phone’s charging slot – it can even be

ROCCAT has developed a system that turns a smartphone into a control board for PC gaming

German gaming peripheral specialist ROCCAT Studios has developed a new system which leverages smartphone technology to enhance the experience of PC gaming. As well as being able to use a smartphone to store and activate gameplay buttons, Power-Grid technology also allows users to wirelessly control PC settings from the mobile device, display vital system performance data and keep in touch with the real world - all while staying fully absorbed in the game.

ROCCAT's Power-Grid technology gives players another means of interacting with the game being

The experimental camera setup that is able to see around corners (Photo: Christopher Barsi and Andreas Velten)

Fans of the classic 1982 science fiction movie Blade Runner will remember the ESPER machine that allows Deckard to zoom in and see around corners in a two-dimensional photograph. While such technology is still some way off, researchers in MIT’s Media Lab have developed a system using a femtosecond laser that can reproduce low-resolution 3D images of objects that lie outside a camera’s line of sight.
The experimental setup designed by the MIT researchers gained attention last December when video of

Scientists have developed a theory regarding how the brain stores memories (Photo via Shutterstock)

While it’s generally accepted that memories are stored somewhere, somehow in our brains, the exact process has never been entirely understood. Strengthened synaptic connections between neurons definitely have something to do with it, although the synaptic membranes involved are constantly degrading and being replaced – this seems to be somewhat at odds with the fact that some memories can last for a

Sony's Authenticated Power Outlet system currently consists of a plug and outlet that communicate wirelessly

Sony has developed a power outlet that can identify devices plugged into it, as well as individuals using the plug. The company says such technology could allow the electricity usage of individual devices to be monitored so non-essential devices could be switched off remotely in the event of limited electricity supply, or for the billing of customers charging their electric vehicles or mobile devices in public places.

The Authentication Power Outlet relies on Sony’s FeliCa technology – a contactless RFID smart card system developed by

TEX II is a robotic lake lander, designed for autonomously exploring bodies of water on other planets (Photo: Wolfgang Fink/ECE/University of Arizona College of Engineering)

Ask someone to picture a robotic roving vehicle, and chances are they’ll think of something with wheels, like the Mars Rover. If an alien civilization were sending a craft to explore Earth, however, they might be better off using a boat – after all, the majority of our planet’s surface is covered with water. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, similarly has a pretty wet surface, as it contains lakes of liquid hydrocarbon. Wolfgang Fink, an

Ayrton Senna's Toleman TG184-2 F1 car up for sale

Ayrton Senna is unquestionably one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time and his premature death in 1994 has created a scarcity which is driving Senna memorabilia prices skyward. Earlier this year a helmet and race suit used by the talented Brazilian fetched GBP74,750 (US$100,000) and GBP35,650 (US$47,000) respectively, both considerably more than their pre-sale estimates.

Now the car which Senna raced in his debut season is to face the auctioneer's hammer - this is the car Senna drove in one of the most exciting Grands Prix in history - the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix.
Senna was in first Formula One street race in his rookie season in an uncompetitive car. In the rain around

Arsenal Firearms' Double Barrel Pistol shoots two bullets at once

One full payload from the AF2011-A1 can deliver in three seconds what would take a regular 9mm pistol almost ten times as long to fire, including reloading

It's been a popular design for shotguns for over a century, so why not handguns? With a design that looks like two guns were melted together, the new handgun from Arsenal Firearms is definitely a handful. Thanks to the gun's dual barrels though, the AF2011-A1 Double Barrel Pistol is capable of firing 16 rounds in a

PayPal has introduced its new Here cardreader system for smartphones

The profusion of apps for smartphones certainly seems to know no bounds, and while NFC based payment seems set to become the dominant form of cashless transaction, smartphone peripherals that allow users to swipe credit and debit cards still have a role to play. The most notable of these devices is Jack Dorsey's Square system and now, online payment giant Paypal has flexed its appreciable muscle and entered the

Silk treated with chlorine has been shown to kill anthrax-like bacteria within minutes of

When anthrax spores go dormant, they develop a tough outer coating that can withstand heat, radiation and antibiotics, in one case even allowing them to come back to life after 250 million years. It seems that such spores could be no match, however, for a special pair of silk curtains.
Dr. Rajesh R. Naik, a scientist with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, led a team that developed a chlorinated form of silk. The process involved soaking regular silk in diluted bleach, then allowing it to dry. When the treated silk was exposed to E. coli bacteria, it killed almost all of them within ten minutes – it showed similar performance when subjected to spores of Bacillus thuringiensis, which is a close relative of anthrax.
Naik and his colleagues believe that in the event of an anthrax-based terrorist attack, such chlorinated silk could be used in curtains and make-shift protective coatings for buildings. They also suggest that it could be used to purify water, and to clean up toxic substances in the environment.
A paper on the research was recently published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Source: American Chemical Society

NASA's AR headset lets pilots see through fog

NASA Langley researcher Kevin Shelton wearing an early prototype (Credit: NASA Langley Research Center/Sean Smith)

NASA has developed a pair of augmented reality glasses designed especially for commercial airline pilots to see during the worst visual conditions. The glasses include a heads-up display showing a virtual overlay of the runway and airport, head tracking technology, and voice controls - features that may help pilots keep their eyes where they're most needed.
NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia first unveiled its new head-worn display system when it put out a call for an interested company to manufacture and market the device. The NASA Aviation Safety

Researchers at Fermilab have succeeded in demonstrating that communication via neutrino beams can be accomplished with today's technology

Neutrinos have been in the news recently, and although it appears that they probably do not travel faster than light, they still hold court as three of the strangest of the known subatomic particles. Undeterred by these arcane particles, Fermilab scientists have succeeded in communicating with neutrino pulses through 240 meters of rock at a rate of 0.1 bits per second.
Although only capable of sending one alphanumeric character every minute, this is still an experimental

New supermarket scanner recognizes objects by appearance, not barcodes

Toshiba Tec's new supermarket scanner is able to identify grocery items based on nothing but their appearance (Photo: DigInfo)

At some point, we've probably all had a supermarket cashier ask us to identify the mysterious fresh produce that we're attempting to buy. Once we've told them what it is, they have then had to manually type in its code - they have to enter it themselves, of course, given that fruits and vegetables don't have barcodes. Thanks to Toshiba Tec, however, those days may be coming to an end. The company's new Object Recognition Scanner is able to instantly identify grocery items of all types based on their appearance

Air Danshin's seismic isolation system airlifts homes to protect them during earthquakes

When you live in a country as seismically active as Japan, thinking about earthquakes (and tsumanis) probably occupies a good deal of your time. Inventor Shoichi Sakamoto took it a step further. He decided to do something about it and invented a technology, remarkably simple in concept, to protect homes from the devastating shaking - an airlift system capable of automatically raising and isolating the whole house u

The Startram orbital launch system would transport passengers and cargo into space in a magnetic levitation (maglev) train

Getting into space is one of the harder tasks to be taken on by humanity. The present cost of inserting a kilogram (2.2 lb) of cargo by rocket into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is about US$10,000. A manned launch to LEO costs about $100,000 per kilogram of passenger. But who says we have to reach orbit by means of rocket propulsion alone? Instead, imagine sitting back in a comfortable magnetic levitation (maglev) train and taking a train ride into orbit.
All right, its not quite that simple or comfortable - but it should be possible using only existing technology.
Dr George Maise invented the Startram orbital launch system along with Dr James Powell, who is one of

The Robotic Refueling Mission module is successfully transferred from the Atlantis shuttle cargo bay to a temporary platform on the International Space Station's Dextre robot (Photo: NASA)

Repairing and refueling satellites robotically may seem rather mundane, especially when compared with moon landings, Mars rovers and the Hubble space telescope, but NASA's two-year Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) experiment, now underway on the International Space Station (ISS), turns out to be surprisingly complex. Designed to demonstrate that servicing working satellites with remotely-controlled robots is a feasible option, NASA, in conjunction with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), initiated the

SAFFiR, the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot, is being developed to help put out fires on naval vessels

If there's one thing that you don't want happening on board a ship, it's a fire. People on board burning ships can't simply run out onto the streets, as they hopefully could in the case of a structural fire, plus many people caught belowdecks don't have windows nearby to climb out of. Then, there's also the fact that crew members fighting such fires have to work in narrow, claustrophobic passageways, instead of wide-open roads. Given that fires are particularly possible on military ships, due to attacks by enemy forces,

The simple, inexpensive, folded-paper-based oPAD could detect diseases in body fluid samples

In First World countries' medical systems, the standard way of checking a patient's body fluid samples is to send them off to a lab. In developing nations, however, such labs often don't exist, nor does the infrastructure for transporting biological samples. Fortunately, a number of groups have been developing simple, inexpensive testing devices that could be used by clinicians in these countries. One of the latest gadgets is

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