Let’s face it, 3D movies are amazing but there are times when you’ll walk away with a killer headache. A group of researchers at IMEC believes that holographic video might be the best way around this problem and has been working on a means of constructing holographic displays by shining lasers on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) platforms capable of moving up and down like small, reflective pistons. Here’s the cool part: each pixel would have a spring-like mechanism attached to it that could … Read More → "IMEC working with holograms, mirrored pixels to prevent 3D movie headaches"

Earlier this week, Tesla announced the final pricing and options on its Model S sedan, which will hit the US market next summer. Unlike Tesla’s first vehicle – the Roadster, the Model S is a practical family car that seats five or seven. It’s also about half the price of the sporty, performance-oriented Roadster. via Gizmag

</ … Read More → "Tesla announces final pricing and options on Model S"

As people lurch into the New Year vowing to lose their holiday pounds, my hunch is millions of consumers will be aided by a few fitness devices and apps scored this holiday season — all designed to help them count their steps, calories, sleep and other personal metrics. But in the emerging world of connected wellness tools will newly aware consumers be using apps or devices? Or does … Read More → "Will you track your health data with an app or a device?"

Food remains one of the easiest and simplest joys in life, and it’s consistently coming at us in new ways, but it turns out that eating less might help your brain live longer. Like all things in life, this might present a less-than-exciting choice, but the science here, researched in Rome at the Catholic University of Scared Heart, is extremely interesting.

The researchers did studies on mice and discovered that CREB1 is a molecule that activates genes linked to longevity in the proper functioning of the brain. In … Read More → "Study says eating less is good for the brain"

“This electric trailer pushes your bike.” That’s the Ridekick tagline for their inventive electric-powered bike trailer designed to make bicycles zoom off at up to 19 miles per hour. The trailer has the potential to extend the practicality of using bicycles as primary transportation, as the Ridekick removes the need to peddle a cycle and provides space to carry goods. Could the days of balancing grocery bags on our handlebars be over? via < … Read More → "Ridekick electric trailer boosts bike power up to 19 miles per hour"

Before you go complaining about your job, take a moment to remember the MESM project, which just marked the 60th anniversary of its formal recognition by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The project, headed by Institute of Electrical Engineering director Sergey Lebedev, was born in a laboratory built from scratch amongst the post-World War II ruins of Ukrainian capital city, Kyiv, by a team of 20 people, many of whom took up residence above the lab. … Read More → "MESM Soviet computer project marks 60 years"

You can still get build-your-own kits for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal computers ever sold.

via Kottke

Check out the kit here

NASA spacecraft Cassini has been chilling out in the area around Saturn just taking some pictures of the sights, and they are beautiful. It’s been focused primarily on Titan and Dione, but given the quality of the shots, it seems like that’s the right choice. via Geekosystem

Continue reading and … Read More → "NASA’s Cassini spacecraft delivers more striking pictures from Saturn"

Nobody sets out to write a bad press release or pitch email, or at least we hope not, and yet we still receive quite a few at VentureBeat. Actually, I would be quite sad if we stopped getting them entirely. They brighten my day.

However, in the interest of public service, here are some of the worst press release and pitch email titles of 2011 and our notes on how to avoid making next year’s list. Names have been changed to protect the guilty. via Venture … Read More → "Worst press release titles of 2011"

When it comes to speed, photons leave electrons for dead, which means optical computers will be much faster than their current electron-based cousins. While diodes for use in optical information processing systems already exist, these require external assistance to transmit signals so cannot be readily integrated into computer chips. Now researchers at Purdue University have developed a “passive optical diode” that not only doesn’t require any outside help to transmit signals, but is also so small … Read More → "New diode promises to uncork optical computing bottleneck"