Motorists in Roanoke, Virginia got the chance to test a novel kinetic energy recovery device just by driving over a big speed bump.

As part of a real-world test of its MotionPower Express system, New Energy Technology installed an energy-recovering speed bump at the entrance to the busy Roanoke Civic Center during the weekend Roanoke hosted a gun show and circus. As cars crossed the speed bump, their tires … Read More → "Drivers generate electricity by driving over speed bumps"

The Pentagon’s far-out research agency and its brand new military command for cyberspace have a confession to make. They don’t really know how to keep U.S. military networks secure. And they want to know: Could you help them out? via Wired

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Michael Wolff at Wired talks about how in less than two years, Yuri Milner’s fund has gone from zero equity to more than $12 billion in assets.

This is my first trip to Moscow, and Yuri Milner, the world’s most successful investor in social media, is taking me to his parents’ apartment, which he bills as a typical middle-class Moscow dwelling. It’s drab Soviet brick outside. The none-too-reliable-looking elevator is encircled by a crumbling staircase. But inside, the apartment is genteel and highly recognizable to me. … Read More → "How Russian tycoon Yuri Milner bought his way into Silicon Valley"

The PXP concept bike is a joint product of Toyota and Parlee Cycles, in Beverly, Mass. It has a carbon-fiber frame and built-in smart-phone dock.  John Watson/Toyota

Parlee Cycles’s new bike looks ordinary enough, but the helmet gives it away. Plastic tentacles reach down from the headgear, pressing metal sensors against the cyclist’s scalp.

This … Read More → "The ‘Prius of bicycles’ switches gears by reading your mind"

Communication face-to-face: Dr. Takaaki Kuratate and his Mask-Bot. Photo: Uli Benz / TU Muenchen

Robotics researchers in Munich have joined forces with Japanese scientists to develop an ingenious technical solution that gives robots a human face. By using a projector to beam the 3D image of a face onto the back of a plastic mask, and a computer to control voice and facial expressions, … Read More → "Mask-bot: A robot with a human face"

Before dropping off your donation box to Goodwill, pick up a copy of Cy Tymony’s Super Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things ($11) and convert your junk into handy treasures. This book contains a ton of do-it-yourself inventions, complete with step-by-step instruction and illustrations to turn common items and devices into something extraordinary. via Read More → "Super sneaky uses for everyday things"

Imagine having a 3D display where lighting, viewing angles and distances from the screen were not a concern. HP’s Photon technology is a 3D display that remedies all of these issues, and theoretically scales to any size screen you like. via Gizmodo

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Andy Rooney on Bill Gates and Computers:

… Read More → "Andy Rooney’s best essays on technology"

Scott Rickard set out to do what no musician has ever tried — to make the world’s ugliest piece of music. At TEDxMIA, he discusses the math and science behind creating a piece of music devoid of any pattern.

Scott Rickard has degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering from MIT and MA and PhD degrees in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Princeton University. At University College Dublin, he founded the Complex & Adaptive Systems Laboratory, where biologists, geologists, mathematicians, computer scientists, social scientists and economists work on problems which matter to people. … Read More → "Only a mathematician could love the world’s ugliest music"