From the TED2012 stage yesterday: In his lab at Penn, Vijay Kumar and his team build flying quadrotors, small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams – for construction, surveying disasters and far more.
Japanese company Kyosemi has developed a revolutionary spherical micro solar cell that is capable of capturing sunlight from all directions. Called the Sphelar, the cell shuns the traditional flat substrate photovoltaic design and opts for much more efficient shape – the sphere. While traditional flat solar cells are easy to design and produce, their main problem is that their efficiency relies on their relative position to … Read More → "Revolutionary sphelar spherical solar cells capture sunlight from all directions"
A see-through screen, digital 3D objects manipulated by hand, perspective adjustments according to the user’s viewing angle – these are the core features of a prototype computer desktop user interface created by Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group. The prototype uses a “unique” Samsung transparent OLED display through which the user can see their own hands to manipulate 3D objects which appear to be behind the screen.
via … Read More → "Hand-manipulated objects and transparent displays – the computer desktop of tomorrow?"
MAKE contributing writer John Iovine has shared a number of his project builds on the pages of MAKE, but his specialty is Geiger counters. He’s been designing, making, and selling them for 15 years through his company, Images Scientific Instruments. In the latest issue of MAKE, Volume 29, John shares his expert step-by-step tutorial for making your own Geiger counter. And really, who doesn’t need a Geiger counter in their toolbox? There’s radiation in everyday household items, like Fiesta dishes, … Read More → "Who doesn’t need a Geiger counter?"
The first thing you’ll notice upon entering Clayton Bailey’s workshop is the man and his mustache. The ends of his majestic facial hair curl down either side of his mouth and don’t stop until they’re well down his chest.
Next you’ll notice the many steampunkish ray guns — from dueling pistols to rifles to turrets — that Bailey has … Read More → "Clayton Bailey makes spectacular rayguns out of junk and scrap"
Samsung has developed what they’re touting as the world’s first sensor that can capture both an RGB and range (or depth) image at the same time, granting Kinect-like gesture recognition capabilities to a host of devices.
The new CMOS sensor uses an array of red, blue, and green pixels that sit alongside the depth-recording z-pixels, which are four times as large. As a result, the sensor can only capture images with a resolution … Read More → "New camera sensor captures images and depth data at the same time"
Steve Moore, who identifies himself as a former FBI Special Agent and head of the Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force Al Qaeda squad, says that the TSA is useless. He says that they don’t catch terrorists. He says they won’t catch terrorists. He says that they can’t catch terrorists. Oh, he also claims 35 years’ piloting experience and a father was United’s head of security and anti-hijacking SWAT training and experience.
Frankly, the professional experience I have had with TSA has frightened me. Once, when … Read More → "FBI anti-terrorism expert: TSA is useless"
Intel Capital is announcing today a $100 million fund to invest in the future of car technology. The Intel Capital Connected Car Fund is aimed at turning the web-connected automobile into a reality.
The investment arm of the world’s biggest chip maker will target funds at technologies such as in-vehicle infotainment systems (like the pictured system embedded in Tesla’s upcoming Model Selectric car), seamless mobile connectivity between the car electronics and your mobile devices, compelling applications and advanced driver assistance systems.
The fund marks a turning point for the … Read More → "Back to the Future: Intel will pour $100M into connected-car investments"
When Ferrari’s new 740 bhp, 6262cc, 65° V12, F12berlinetta hits showrooms later this year, it will be the fastest naturally aspirated car to see series production, taking over from the McLaren F1. The replacement for the 599 is the fastest Ferrari ever and boasts an array of technologies we haven’t seen before, such as Aero Bridge, Active Brake Cooling, a new generation of carbon-ceramic brakes (CCM3), a further evolution of the magnetorheological suspension control system (SCM-E) … Read More → "Ferrari F12 Berlinetta – the fastest Ferrari yet built"
Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have succeeded in using a new form of laser cooling method to cool a two and a half square millimeter semiconducting gallium arsenide (GaAs) membrane with a thickness of 160 nm from room temperature to four degrees above absolute zero – the temperature of liquid helium.
via Gizmag
Read More → "Laser refrigerator cools to 4 degrees above absolute zero"
