Breakthrough allows inexpensive solar cells to be fabricated from any semiconductor

Despite their ability to generate clean, green electricity, solar panels aren't as commonplace as the could be. The main sticking point, of course, is price. Due to their need for relatively expensive semiconductor materials, conventional solar cells don't yet have a price-efficiency combination that can compete with other sources of electricity. Now Profs. Alex Zettl and Feng Wang of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have developed seriously unconventional solar cell technology that allows virtually any semiconductor material to be used to create photovoltaic cells.

MIT students reveal PopFab, a 3D printer that fits inside a briefcase

There are plenty of different 3D printers to choose from these days, from the popular Makerbot Thing-O-Matic to the budget-priced Solidoodle. These all have one drawback however in that they aren't exactly portable. Most need to be disassembled to be moved and even the fully-assembled Cubify printer isn't really built for travel. But now, two MIT students have developed the PopFab, a machine that does 3D printing and more, all while fitting inside a small suitcase.

Panansonic develops world's most efficient artificial photosynthesis system

Panasonic has recently developed an artificial photosynthesis system that, using a simple and straightforward process, can convert carbon dioxide into clean organic materials with what it says record efficiency. This development may lead to the creation of a compact way of capturing pollution from incinerators and electric power plants and converting them into harmless – even useful – compounds.

FreedomPop brings free 4G data to iPod touch and iPhone users

The iPod touch is more or less an iPhone without the phone functionality. When connected to a Wi-Fi network, it can do most of the same functions as the iPhone. However, Wi-Fi is not available everywhere, and without it, the touch loses some important functionality. FreedomPop is launching an iPod touch case for US$99, that brings free 4G data to touch owners.

Microsoft announces Wedge Mobile Keyboard and Mouse

Microsoft has announced a set of new peripherals for its upcoming tablet-friendly Windows 8 OS. The Wedge Mobile Keyboard features a minimalist design, slim form factor and full-sized keyset, while the Wedge Touch Mouse is the smallest and lightest pointer that the company has ever produced.

Optical communications system and autonomous microscope to boost underwater research

It would definitely be an understatement to say that underwater research has its technical challenges. Remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) must be tethered to surface support vessels with unwieldy communications cables, deep-sea water samples have to be hauled to the surface for analysis ... or do they? Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution recently announced that it has partnered with two private companies, to market a couple of technologies that address both of those situations.

Chimera Energy develops fracking technique that uses no water

“Fracking” may sound like something out of Battlestar Galactica, but it’s actually short for “hydraulic fracturing.” It is one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of the energy industry and its ability to open up previously unprofitable oil and gas resources in North America, Europe and China holds the promise of centuries of cheap, clean and abundant energy free of Middle Eastern control. However, it has raised the concerns of some environmentalists. Chimera Energy Corporation of Houston, Texas, has announced that they are licensing a new method for extracting oil and gas from shale fields that doesn't contaminate ground water resources because it uses exothermic reactions instead of water to fracture shale.

Solar Bag purifies water while you walk

Lack of access to clean water causes the deaths of millions of people worldwide and in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, clean water can be several days walk away. Producing a simple and cheap method of purifying water which doesn’t rely on first-world amenities such as a steady electricity supply, or batteries, has proven a significant challenge thus far, but a new prototype device created by Ryan Lynch and Marcus Triest offers hope of doing just this, for an estimated cost of around US$5.

VTech InnoTab 2: is it enough to keep little fingers off your iPad?

We've seen several products which turn your touchscreen devices into children's toys, from the iTikes range to the SmartPet toy dog ... but what if you don't want to encourage your little one to play with your iPad? VTech is about to release the InnoTab 2, its latest tablet computer for kids, which features a five-inch touchscreen, camera, video and MP3 players … but is that enough to keep little fingers off your iPad?

Pedal-powered washer could make a big difference in developing nations

In the developed world, we forget that there was once a time when washday meant “day” rather than “toss it in the machine and come back in 20 minutes.” In many parts of the world without access to electricity and clean water, that time is still now. Design students Alex Cabunoc and Ji A You of the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles visited the the slums of Cerro Verde, Peru. There they saw women spending days on end hauling water and washing clothes by hand and they came up with a solution. They created the GiraDora, a foot-pedal washing machine that’s inexpensive and portable.

OUTRIDE case turns the iPhone into an actioncam

Perhaps you’re considering buying an actioncam, but can’t quite rationalize spending $300 or so when your iPhone already has a perfectly good video camera ... if only you could keep it from getting damaged. Well, mophie’s new OUTRIDE case for the iPhone 4 and 4S may be what you’re looking for.

Like the housing of the ubiquitous GoPro HERO, the OUTRIDE is made from clear impact-resistant polycarbonate and features a 170-degree wide-angle lens.

How to Set Up Multiple Monitors In Windows 8

According to recent data collected by the Windows Feedback Program for Microsoft, less than 15 percent of desktop users and less than 5 percent of laptop users connect their systems to multiple monitors. That's a shame because few upgrades can improve productivity as much as multiple displays can. Having additional screen real estate at your disposal lets you keep more application windows open and visible on-screen at the same time; it also simplifies the task of transferring data between applications, and minimizes the need to click or scroll through open windows to find you're looking for.

Working with multiple monitors is a great way to increase your efficiency, if you can afford the extra cost and you have enough space on your desk.

Windows 8 Enhancements

Though setting up and using multiple monitors is reasonably straightforward with Windows 7, Microsoft is introducing some major multimonitor-related enhancements to Windows 8. With Windows 8, Microsoft aims not only to simplify the initial setup process for multiple monitors, but also to make desktop personalization easier, to improve the usability of the taskbar, and to support side-by-side Metro-style applications.

Windows 8 will incorporate such enhancements as taskbar customization, personalization options, and easier Start screen access.

Google Fiber: Pros and Cons

Everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone, wants Google Fiber. And who wouldn’t?

Its service, with 1000 Mbps download and upload speeds, is 100 times faster than the Internet connection that most people have today. That means no more buffering videos, cloud gaming that doesn’t slow down the entire house, and the genesis of HD videoconferencing for the average Joe.

Apple's 3D maps

We all know that apple has acquired C3 Technologies a mapping company last year, there has been no doubt that Apple is using C3′s data for iOS 6′s 3D Maps feature. However, we thought it would be interesting to show a comparison of how similar Apple’s implementation is to C3′s web implementation by way of Nokia. Notice the same iPad billboard and the alignment of the cars in the parking lot.

Some interesting things to note:

Scientists create artificial mother of pearl

Mother of pearl, also known as nacre, is the hard iridescent coating found on the outside of pearls, and the inside of certain mollusc’s shells. Besides being a nice-looking material used for jewelry and other types of ornamentation, it’s also remarkably strong. Now, scientists from the University of Cambridge have discovered how to make the stuff themselves.

The scientists created a liquid solution composed mainly of calcium carbonate (the main ingredient in natural, mollusc-made nacre), mixed with ions and organic components. The inclusion of the last two ingredients keeps the calcium carbonate from crystallizing, as it’s precipitated from the solution to form a layer on the desired surface.

Next, a layer of “organic material” is added to that layer of precipitate – this second layer contains pores measuring ten nanometers across. Crystallization of the precipitate layer is then induced, while the covering layer of organic material remains as it was. This process is repeated a number of times, resulting in a coating made up of multiple alternating crystallized and organic layers ... just like real mother of pearl.

Although existing man-made coatings are tougher than the synthetic nacre, the fact that it can be made from inexpensive ingredients at ambient temperatures means that it could be a good choice for economical protective coatings.

“Crystals have a characteristic shape that reflects their atomic structure, and it is very difficult to modify this shape,” said Cambridge’s Professor Ulli Steiner. “Nature is, however, able to do this, and through our research we were able to gain insight into how it grows these materials. Essentially, we have created a new recipe for mother of pearl using nature's cookbook.”

A paper on the research was published yesterday in the journal Nature Materials.

Source: University of Cambridge

Razer Ouroboros adjustable mouse for right and left handed gamers

Named after an ancient symbol representing constant re-creation, the Ouroboros gaming mouse from Razer is all about customization and choice. The device features a fully adjustable body and symmetrical, ambidextrous design, with adjustable arched palm rest and back, and two interchangeable side panels. This means that the length, tilt angle and side configuration are all adjustable, giving the user significant room for personal customization.

iRobot introduces telepresence doctor

In a medical emergency, seconds count. But if the doctor needed is in another part of the hospital or even another part of town, then those seconds can stretch dangerously. If only the doctor could be in two places at once, then countless lives could be saved. This is one of the most promising applications in the emerging field of telepresence robotics and RP-VITA (Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant) - a joint development by the robotics firm iRobot and telemedicine company InTouch Health - is aiming to bring this closer to reality.

DARPA awards contract to create "smart suit" to improve soldiers' endurance

The Pentagon has long had a fascination with machines that turn soldiers into supermen. Back in the 1960s, it funded General Electric’s work on Hardiman, an exoskeleton that was intended to allow its operator to lift loads of 1,500 lbs (680 kg). Almost half a century later, it’s still pouring money into all sorts of exoskeletons, assisted lifting devices (think robotrousers) and similar aids. Now Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has been selected by DARPA to spearhead the effort to develop a new “smart suit” intended to improve the endurance of soldiers in the field.

GM working on Wi-Fi Direct-equipped cars to detect pedestrians and cyclists

General Motors is working to expand upon its vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems that are being developed to allow information to be shared between vehicles and infrastructure to provide advance warning of potential road hazards, such as stalled vehicles, slippery roads, road works, intersections, stop signs and the like. The automaker is now looking to add pedestrians and cyclists to the mix so a car can detect them in low visibility conditions before the driver does.

Pedal Lock secures, incapacitates your bike

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Pedal Lock clamps to the wheel of a bicycle to prevent a thief from making a quick or clean getaway

Owning and riding a bike can be very rewarding; it gives you the freedom to explore your surroundings, is cheaper than public transport in the longterm, and healthier than driving a car. Unfortunately being a bike owner means dealing with the possibility of having your favored mode of transport stolen, especially in urban areas where the incidence of bike theft is high. This means the majority of bike owners need to own and use a lock every time they park their bike up. Two Taiwanese designers have concocted a new way of preventing bike theft: one that sees the pedals used to both clamp the wheel of, and (if necessary) incapacitate, the bicycle.

FACE android conveys human emotions with facial expressions

The FACE robot is capable of mimicking facial expressions

 

Introduced by Japan’s Masahiro Mori, the “Uncanny Valley” principle states that the more a humanoid robot strives and fails to mimic human appearance, the less appealing it is to humans. In yet another attempt to cross the valley, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Pisa, Italy, endowed a female-form humanoid called FACE with a set of complex facial expression features. They did so in the hope of finding the answer to one fundamental question: can a robot express emotions?

Camera system automatically keeps fast-moving subjects centered in the shot

 

 

 

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A table tennis game, and the 1ms Auto Pan-Tilt system's shot of the ball

 

A friend of mine who works in television once told me how he was shooting a hockey game, and was impressed with his uncanny ability to keep the puck centered in the shot at all times ... it turns out that the “puck” he was following was actually a speck of dirt on his viewfinder. A new system from the University of Tokyo, however, can automatically follow moving objects such as pucks with amazing accuracy.

New catalyst could replace platinum to bring down the cost of microbial fuel cells

 

 

 

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University of Wisconsin researchers discover nannorod catalyst that works as well as platinum in generating hydrogen at a fraction of the cost

 

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) researchers have identified an inexpensive nanorod catalyst with efficiencies rivaling that of platinum. Composed of nitrogen-enriched iron-carbon nanorods, the new catalyst holds the promise of cheaper, more efficient microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that generate their own hydrogen from waste water.
The hydrogen fuel cell is the holy grail of green energy. It burns hydrogen and gives off nothing but water. What could be more environmentally friendly than that? The problem is, hydrogen isn’t just lying about in the ground like oil or natural gas. True, it’s the most abundant element in the universe, but on Earth all of it is locked up in water and other chemicals. To be used as an energy source, the hydrogen has to be extracted and, unfortunately, the main source of most commercial hydrogen today comes from fossil fuels – which sort of defeats the purpose.

Record-setting 500 trillion-watt laser shot achieved

 

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) have achieved a laser shot which boggles the mind: 192 beams delivered an excess of 500 trillion-watts (TW) of peak power and 1.85 megajoules (MJ) of ultraviolet laser light to a target of just two millimeters in diameter. To put those numbers into perspective, 500 TW is more than one thousand times the power that the entire United States uses at any instant in time. Pew-Pew indeed ...
The NIF is funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy which is responsible for enhancing national security through the application of nuclear science, and the news comes at a time when the U.S. military and various government agencies appear to be increasingly interested in the use of lasers as potential weapons.

Wacom Cintiq 24HD touch adds multi-touch to interactive pen displays

Muti-touch can be used to do things like manipulate a 3D model or pan, zoom and rotate an image

 

Muti-touch functionality was added to Wacom's Intuos5 graphics tablets earlier this year and, after winning much praise from users, it's no surprise to see it arrive on the company's Cintiq range of interactive pen displays. The Cintiq range was first introduced in 2005 and the addition of the Cintiq 24HD touch now allows users to use their fingers to pan, zoom and rotate the canvas at the same time as using the pressure and tilt sensitive pen.

New “spintronic” OLEDs join next-generation display technology mix

A new “spintronic” OLED glows orangish exposed to a magnetic field from the two poles of an electromagnet located on either side of the device (Photo: Tho Nguyen, University of Utah)

 

We’ve seen a number of next-generation display technologies emerge in recent years, such as Sony’s “Crystal LED,” Uni-Pixel’s time-multiplexed optical shutter (TMOS) technology, and quantum dot LED (QLED) display technology from LG and QD Vision, and now there’s another one to add to the mix. While displays based on the new “spintronic” OLED technology invented by physicists at the University of Utah are still some years off, the researchers say they should be brighter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the LEDs found in the current crop of TVs, computer displays, traffic lights and other electronic devices.

Dark matter filaments detected for the first time

A view of the distribution of dark matter in our universe, based on the Millennium Simulation. The simulation is based on our current ideas about the universe's origin and evolution. It included ten billion particles, and consumed 343,000 cpu-hours (Image: Virgo Consortium)

 

For the first time, a team of astronomers has "observed" a filament of dark matter connecting two neighboring galaxy clusters. Dark matter is a type of matter that interacts only very weakly with light and itself. Its very nature is mysterious. Mapping the dark matter filament's gravity was the key to the breakthrough. The result is considered a crucial first step by scientists. It provides the first direct evidence that the universe is filled by a lacework of dark matter filaments, upon which the visible matter in the universe is distributed like small beads.

Jörg Dietrich of the physics department at the University of Michigan, together with his co-workers, examined gravitational lensing in the Abell 222 and 223 galaxy clusters. These clusters each have about 150 galaxies, are about 2.4 Gly (1 Gly being a gigalight-year, or 1 billion light-years) distant from Earth, and are separated by about 0.4 Gly. Earlier work by Dietrich's team using the 8.2 meter Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea, and the XMM-Newton x-ray space telescope discovered that these two clusters appear to be connected by a bridge of hot gas, as shown below.

Composite astrograph of the Abell 222 and 223 galaxy clusters as seen in visible light and by x-rays - the filament of dark matter between the two is suggested by the hot x-ray emitting gas (shown in dark red) gathered along the filament (Image: ESA/ XMM-Newton/ EPIC/ ESO (J. Dietrich)/ SRON (N. Werner)/ MPE (A. Finoguenov)

They suggested that the hot gas might be concentrated along a filament of dark matter, as is found in simulations of cosmological structures, but a strong case for that interpretation could not then be made.

Dietrich and his team decided to do a careful examination of the region of the two Abell clusters. They studied weak lensing effects and solved for the mass density function of the clusters and the region between them. Then by examining the mass density function of the region they were able to test their hypothesis.

A filament of dark matter has been directly detected between the galaxy clusters Abell 222 and Abell 223. The blue shading and yellow contour lines represent the density of matter Photo: (Jörg Dietrich, U-M Department of Physics)

"We found the dark matter filaments. For the first time, we can see them," said Dietrich. "It looks like there's a bridge that shows that there is additional mass beyond what the clusters contain. The clusters alone cannot explain this additional mass." At least 90 percent of the filament's mass is dark matter.

We are still left with the problem of demonstrating that dark matter filaments appear between most neighboring galaxy clusters, and the puzzle of what dark matter actually is. The discovery of a dark matter filament, however, is a huge step forward for cosmology.

This groundbreaking observation is consistent with modern cosmological models, but the story actually starts some 80 years ago.

Your phone may soon know where you're going before you do

A new algorithm developed at the University of Birmingham is capable of making accurate educated guesses as to where you are going to be in 24 hours time (Image: Mirco Musolesi)

Phones obviously already know where we are and where we have been, thanks to GPS and other clever positioning technologies. Now, thanks to an algorithm developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham, your smartphone may soon be able to make accurate educated guesses as to where you’re going to be in 24 hours time. And here’s the dirty trick responsible for the algorithm’s future-telling powers: it spies on your friends and connects the dots where necessary.
To be more precise, not only does it analyze your own mobility patterns, but it also extrapolates from similar data collected from the people in your social circle to identify any divergences from the routine. The assumption here is that there is a strong correlation between the habits and mobility routines of friends, friends being defined as people who have each other on their contact lists.

Google Maps adds walking support for Africa, cycling directions for Europe and Australia

Google Maps walking directions for Africa

Google has just announced an update for its popular Maps service, extending support for walking directions to an impressive 44 African countries. Following the mandatory safety warnings that come with the beta tag (routes may be missing pedestrian crossings etc.), Google is encouraging residents to try out the service, available today on both web and mobile. A separate update will no doubt be appreciated by cyclists in Europe and Australia.
As the African continent develops, there should be no shortage of users for the mobile version of the service. Telecoms & Media reported last year that Africa is now the second most

Hummingbird kit lets children design their own functioning robots

The Hummingbird kit allows children to turn their art projects into moving, interactive robots

Children generally love to create art and are fascinated by robots, so what if there was a way for them to turn their art projects into robots? Well, there is. Carnegie Mellon University spin-off company BirdBrain Technologies has introduced the Hummingbird kit, which contains everything kids (or adults) need to add powered movement and interactivity to their dragons, kitties or spaceships.

The kit itself includes a controller, power supply, cables, servos, motors, colored LED lights, along with light, temperature, sound and distance sensors. The idea is that users will create projects out of rigid materials such as foam-core or cardboard (or Lego, or wood, or whatever), and then rig them up with the motors, lights, and/or sensors. Once everything is assembled, the finished product is

Magnetically-labeled blood cells could provide a boost to medical research

Scientists have had success in tracking the passage of blood cells within the body, by labeling them with magnetic particles

Thanks to advances in stem cell therapy, it is now possible to use engineered white blood cells to fight diseases such as HIV within the human body. When such treatments are being developed, however, it can be difficult to track where the introduced cells travel within a patient’s system, and how many of them make it to their target. Now, thanks to research being carried out at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cardiovascular Science, those cells can be magnetically labeled.

Graffiti goes virtual with augmented reality app LZRTAG

The image is animated with a moving background using the LZRTAG Android app (Photo: LZRTAG)

Several years ago, every inch of the New York City Subway system – along with other public transportation systems around the world, was covered in graffiti. Now there's fewer tags, but more ways to express yourself. The virtual world is one new venue for graffiti and the art of tagging. Augmented reality app LZRTAG is hoping to advance those tags to images and even animations, but you need a smartphone to make that happen.

Pelican ProGear line combines hard case protection with backpack portability

The U140 Elite Tablet Backpack protects your tablet with a hard case

Pelican Products, Inc. is an established name in rugged, waterproof hard cases for electronics and other gear. Recently, the company had an epiphany: "Why not offer our hard cases in a more portable form." Thus, the ProGear Urban Backpack line of hybrid case-packs was born.

Pelican believes it's the only company offering a crush- and dust-proof case integrated into a rugged, soft backpack. Each one of the ProGear Urban Backpacks features either a full hard case or a protected compartment, adding superior protection over the average soft backpack or messenger bag. The cases put Pelican's expertise in hard case design to work protecting laptops, tablets, e-readers, keyboards and other electronics.

MIT develops new glasses-free 3D TV technology

MIT’s Media Lab has proposed a new technique for multiple-perspective and glasses-free 3D technology

Though 3D movies have been around for a while, the experience of visiting a cinema to catch the latest blockbuster is dampened by unwieldy glasses and the limitation of only one fixed perspective being offered to all. The illusion of depth is present, but this is far removed from the hologram-like, multiple-perspective experience which would truly wow movie-goers. MIT's Media Lab’s Camera Culture group proposes a new approach to 3D images that promises glasses-free multiple-perspective 3D. Perhaps best of all though, MIT's technique uses inexpensive existing LCD technology, clearing the way for the tech to be implemented into TV's.

Holography works, but...

Black Element Cyclone mouse cools your hand with an attachable fan

The Black Element Cyclone mouse is the first gaming mouse to feature a detachable fan that cools the user's hand to keep it from sweating

Staying cool under pressure is important for professional gamers, and Thermaltake seems to be taking that notion literally with the latest accessory from its Tt eSPORTS line. The new BLACK Element Cyclone gaming mouse is not only designed for high performance, but also features a detachable fan that cools the user's hand to keep it from sweating.

Harvard scientists create hydrogen fuel cell that lasts longer

Harvard researchers have developed a solid-oxide fuel cell that doubles as a battery

Materials scientists at Harvard have created a fuel cell that not only produces energy but also stores it, opening up new possibilities in hydrogen fuel cell technologies. The solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) converts hydrogen into electricity, and could have an impact on small-scale portable energy applications.
The thin-film SOFC benefited from recent advances in low-temperature operations, which enabled the integration of versatile materials, said lead researcher Shriram Ramantham. The star of the new cell is vanadium oxide, a multifuncional material that allows the fuel cell to multitask as both an energy generator and storage medium.

New MIT chip harvests energy from three sources

MIT doctoral student Saurav Bandyopadhyay has designed a new chip capable of harvesting energy from three ambient sources

The problem with depending on one source of power in the drive toward the battery-free operation of small biomedical devices, remote sensors and out-of-the-way gauges is that if the source is intermittent, not strong enough or runs out altogether, the device can stop working. A small MIT research team has developed a low-power chip design capable of simultaneously drawing power from photovoltaic, thermoelectric, and piezoelectric energy sources. The design also features novel dual-path architecture that allows it to run from either onboard energy storage or direct from its multiple power sources.

Skippy the Robot skips stones for city-bound computer-users

Skippy is an internet-controlled robot that skips stones across a pond

Don’t you wish you could be skipping stones across a mountain pond right now? Well, if you’re willing to wait in an online queue for a while, you could be doing it ... sort of. Idaho’s Sun Valley resort area is currently running a promotion, in which people can use their internet browser to control Skippy – a robot that skips real stones across a real pond.

blink adds some flash to your computer

The blink(1) is a programmable LED indicator light, that plugs into a computer's USB port

Our computers are already pretty good at alerting us to things that happen on the internet or on their own hard drives, mainly through the use of pop-ups. We all know what can often happen, however ... we get rid of those pesky notifications in order to finish up what we’re currently doing, and then forget about them until we’re logging off. A physical flashing light attached to the computer, however, would be harder to forget yet also less obtrusive than a pop-up. That’s the idea behind the blink(1) USB indicator light.

DARPA crowdsourcing tank design to speed up heavy weapons development

The DARPA competition aims to replace traditional development processes with crowdsourcing

The U.S. Defense Department think tank DARPA is offering US$10,000 in prizes as part of a competition to introduce crowdsourcing to heavy weapons development and manufacturing. By adopting the”democratized” strategy of crowdsourcing for the development of the Fast, Adaptable Next-Generation armored vehicle (FANG), DARPA hopes to speed up the design and manufacturing of such weapons while reducing costs and introducing greater design flexibility.

Booster Brolly: The solar-powered, signal-boosting umbrella

The Vodafone Booster Brolly uses solar panels to power your mobile phone and an antenna to boost its signal

To really get the most out of the summer you have to head out of the city and into the country. Whether it be for a camping trip or a festival outing, the great outdoors is the best venue for sunnier days. Unfortunately rain can ruin a great day, as can a lack of mobile reception and the inability the charge your mobile phone. Vodafone thinks it has the answer to all three of these problems with the Booster Brolly, a humble umbrella turned all-in-one tool.

InaTrap insect killer takes insects out in designer style

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The InaTrap insect killer lures insects using an intermittent light and photocatalyst reaction to produce CO2

We know there’s an ongoing quest to build a better mousetrap, but what about a better insect trap? That’s just what Acase, working with design house inadays, believes it has done with the creation of the InaTrap. With an appearance not dissimilar to a designer lamp, the InaTrap attracts, traps and kills insects so you can ditch the swatter and insect spray.

Wearable device generates electricity from walking knee movements

The lab prototype of the pizzicato knee-joint energy harvester

If you’ve ever worn a knee brace, then you may have noticed what a large change in angle your knee goes through with every step you take, and how quickly it does so. A team of scientists from the U.K.’s Cranfield University, University of Liverpool and University of Salford certainly noticed, and decided that all that movement should be put to use. The result is a wearable piezoelectric device that converts knee movement into electricity, which could in turn be used to power gadgets such as heart rate monitors, pedometers and accelerometers.
Known as the pizzicato knee-joint energy harvester, the device fits onto the outside of the knee. It is circular, and consists of a central hub equipped with four protruding arms, surrounded by an outer ring bearing 72 plectra (a plectrum is a plucking tool, such as a guitar pick). The ring rotates about a quarter of a turn with

Kinect-based system allows computers to locate misplaced items in a home

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Kinsight is an experimental system that uses networked Kinect cameras to locate missing objects within a household

Have you ever wished that your computer could answer questions like “What did he mean when he said that?” or “Should I go to that party?” Well, while that may never happen, it could conceivably provide you with an answer if you asked it, “Where did I leave my wallet?” – if it were running the Kinsight system.
Kinsight was developed by Shahriar Nirjon and John Stankovic, who are computer scientists at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Satechi's WTR-A brings budget wireless remote control to Canon DSLRs

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The Satechi WTR-A lets you control your Canon DSLR from a distance of up to 50 ft (15 m), and on a budget

With the introduction of smartphone apps like Triggertrap and ioShutter, which allow you to control your DSLR from your phone, you might wonder why anyone would still buy a dedicated remote unit ... until that is, you miss a once-in-a-lifetime shot because you needed the phone for something else at the crucial moment. Sometimes simple is better. The Satechi WTR-A is a budget wireless timer remote for Canon DSLRs.

Virtual safety panel predicts drugs' side effects

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The computer model uses “similarity ensemble approach” (SEA), to detect similarities between the chemical drugs of the compounds and the molecules that cause side effects

A team of scientists from the UCSF School of Pharmacy, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) and SeaChange Pharmaceuticals has developed a set of computer models that can predict negative side effects associated with existing drugs. By speeding up the process and increasing accuracy, the software could potentially save billions in research and decrease the number of animals used in toxicity tests.
The model, based on UCSF’s “similarity ensemble approach” (SEA), uses the similarities between the shape of each drug and thousands of other compounds to predict possible side effects. The theory behind SEA technology is that proteins can be related by their pharmacology, and these network relationships can be explored to discover new targets for established drugs.
The team ran a computer screen on 656 drugs that are already on the market, with known side effects and benefits, to predict

Ergonomic chairs for musicians could help improve performance

David Brothers has spent the last 18 months researching, designing and producing an ergonomic seating solution for professional musicians

Much of today's modern workforce has been touched by the helping hand of ergonomic science. In a former professional life, We remember colleagues regularly disappearing on day trips to specialist furniture suppliers arranged by the Health and Safety department to be measured and fitted for a new office chair. Professional musicians, on the other hand, are often required to make do with whatever seating is provided by the concert hall or theater, as if all instruments and players had exactly the same requirements. After spending 18 months studying the needs of various players, David Brothers has now designed an adjustable three-legged seating solution to help promote good playing posture and correct breathing techniques.