AMEinfo.com: HP Middle East announced its new retail strategy in the UAE - HP Store in Store, which is focused on facilitating enhanced consumer experience and interaction. This unique concept has been implemented in the UAE and a 4th store was launched in Dubai Mall at Jacky's this month.
HP's Store in Store is, as its name suggests, a mini HP island within a larger retail outlet, offering customers the opportunity to learn, engage and experience an entire spectrum of the latest HP technology; from personal computing to imaging and printing products. It is, like an island, independent and exclusive to its own products, associates and atmosphere.
The BBC is planning to invest £25m in children's TV programmes over the next three years, meaning TV Brackets and TV Mounts could be reaffirmed as positive assets to any modern environment.
LCD TV's, programmes and TV Brackets and TV Mounts have taken a battering in recent years with many suggesting that watching TV may encourage laziness. LCD TV's and therefore accessories like TV Brackets and TV Mounts have become staple additions to most homes, but our love affair with the LCD TV has been
changeable. Click here for more info!
Square is a mobile app that lets you start accepting payment cards immediately with no contracts, monthly fees, or hidden costs. With Square, you can read payment cards from any device with an audio input jack, including your mobile phone. Accepting payments has never been faster or more convenient.
As a payer, you can also create a Square payer account to speed up and secure every payment. With photo verification, Square users can visually confirm you are the card holder.
geeksugar: RedLaser scans barcodes using the iPhone's camera and uses Google search to compare prices. Unlike the free scanners that have been receiving less-than-stellar reviews in the App Store, RedLaser, which costs $2, has superior software for better product recognition. In the event it doesn't recognize the barcode, you can also manually enter the product's UPC code. Plus, keep a list of scanned products for future reference.
While this is a great app for holiday shopping, you can use it for any product with a barcode (even groceries!) so it's useful all year round.
NYTimes.com: People with diabetes often inject themselves with insulin at mealtime to help control their blood sugar levels. But a new, palm-size device may let them discretely inhale a dose of insulin instead of using a needle.
A small inhaler and insulin powder created by the MannKind Corporation, a drug developer in Valencia, Calif., are before the Food and Drug Administration for marketing approval. The insulin powder, called Afresa, is inhaled into the lungs, dissolves there and then travels into the bloodstream.
Retained sponge incidents jeopardize hospital reputation and cause catastrophes for staff and patients. Today, one in every 1,000 to 1,500 intra-abdominal surgeries results in a sponge left behind in the patient. The SmartSponge System, the only RFID-based system currently on the market, has multiple components that interact with the RFID tags in its sponges.
An RFID tag smaller than a dime is securely embedded in each sponge to provide unique identification of the sponge, as well as other information about the sponge such as size, type, etc. As sponges come out of the field, they can go directly into the SmartBucket one at a time or in larger quantities. The SmartBucket quickly sorts and counts any combination of different sponge sizes and types that are discarded simultaneously.
Following the surgical procedure, the counts are reconciled. If there is a discrepancy in counts, the patient is then scanned with the SmartWand which quickly identifies any remaining sponges. A green light on the SmartWand handle confirms the wand is reading all the way through the patient to the surgical table. A red light illuminates if a sponge has been detected. Visual and audible notification is also provided on the display screen of the SmartBucket as well.
After all sponges are accounted for, the user retrieves a final report that can be printed automatically or sent to the hospital’s medical records system.
Orkin Design's Rolltop is a flexible OLED display laptop. The "laptop" has a flexible OLED display that is also capable of multitouch. When rolled out it becomes a 17-inch flat screen but can also be folded into a 13-inch tablet of sorts.
Cnet News: The problem with screen keyboards is that you actually have to look at the screen to hit the keys correctly. With real keyboards, touch typists have a physical reference to position their hands. That's why they type blind. With a flat screen keyboard, however, you lose the physical reference frame.
The patent for this screen keyboard, however, uses multitouch technology to automatically align the keys to the position of the hand. Since the keys are always in the same relative position to your fingers, you will always have a physical point of reference: Your own hand. That way, you can blindingly hammer your keys against the screen, knowing that your fingers will always hit the keys they are aiming for.
The patent also details the way this virtual keyboard would appear anywhere on the screen: Just place your hands as you would normally do while typing, and the keyboard will pop up.
Yanko Design: E-book readers, emails and other such digital facilities are making paper redundant to an extent. But the one area that I’m not ready to compromise is the Newspaper. My morning ritual of fixing my coffee and curling up with the papers is under threat from the In Newspaper. Yeah, yeah, it does have the perks of an inbuilt alarm clock and fresh content from a choice of global papers, but imagine carrying the flexible display to the loo, where many of us read it while we take a crap!
Rfid-Ready.com: Dutch active RFID provider Ambient Systems and Information Highway Group (IHG), the Spanish RFID system integrator, have conducted a successful project with Bionest, the largest Spanish organic strawberry producer, and with one of Germany’s largest retailers.
The use of Ambient’s third generation active RFID allowed Bionest to monitor the condition of strawberry transport from start to finish. The pilot used intelligent tags with a shelf-life algorithm, providing details of the quality of the strawberries per pallet. The integrated solution from Ambient and IHG created a ‘Cool Chain Monitor’ that offered immediate insights to substantially reduce waste and increase profit for all parties involved.
Up to 50% of food products are wasted in the food supply chain, according to a recent report from Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Mrs. Gerda Verburg. Strawberries and other ‘soft fruits’ that are highly sensitive to temperature conditions rank among the product categories with the highest loss in the supply chain. With better visibility on temperature conditions during transport and by applying a unique shelf-life algorithm, this loss can be reduced significantly.
The Times of India: Considering the need for a substitute to a refrigerator in rural areas, especially when the power supply in the villages is erratic, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of CSA University has demonstrated that the chambers - a temporary storage structure - can keep vegetables and milk products fresh for longer periods, without using any electricity.
These zero energy cool chambers are based on the principle of evaporation and thus, they maintain a low temperature inside even in hot weather. The initiative has been taken so that garden produce, medicine and milk products can be stored as fresh for longer and thus, farmers can improve their standard of living.
"It works like the conventional mud-pitcher. The chambers were constructed and it was observed that even at a high temperature of 40-42 degrees Celsius, the milk stored in these cool chambers was fresh up to 24-36 hours, while green vegetables like bottle gourd, tomato, brinjal and chillies remained fresh for 24-40 hours," said Nimisha Awasthi, a home scientist, who was actively involved in the implementation of this technology at Daleep Nagar, KVK.
She explained further that not only does it retain low temperature, it works without electricity and saves on the power and energy as well, and thus, the name zero energy cool chambers.
What could possibly replace the ubiquitous barcode? The new Bokode might be able to. Bokode is a new camera based interaction solution where an ordinary camera can detect small optical tags from a relatively large distance. The design exploits the bokeh effect of ordinary cameras lenses, which maps rays exiting from an out of focus scene point into a disk like blur on the camera sensor.
Bokodes open up a whole new range of applications in the areas of tagging, user interaction, machine vision and near field communication not possible with traditional barcodes. For example, it can be used in street mapping services such as Google Streetview: shops use Bokodes to provide meta information to the trucks as they drive down the street taking pictures.
Top end mobile phones include a number of specialized (e.g., accelerometer, compass, GPS) and general purpose sensors (e.g., microphone, camera) that enable new people-centric sensing applications. Perhaps the most ubiquitous and unexploited sensor on mobile phones is the microphone -- a powerful sensor that is capable of making sophisticated inferences about human activity, location, and social events from sound.
SoundSense, is a scalable framework for modeling sound events on mobile phones. SoundSense is implemented on the Apple iPhone and represents the first general purpose sound sensing system specifically designed to work on resource limited phones.
Two long-time runners, good friends and entrepreneurs were fed up with stuffing money and ID’s uncomfortably into their running sneakers. When ingenuity and technology took over the duo became the brainchild behind a new product called VITAband, the first in a series of pieces, combines technology and the safety of a personal health network into a convenient, wearable accessory.
Launching in September 2009, VITAband is a combination of design and function that conveniently and securely stores emergency information remotely and offers access to money by contactless payment – all in one streamlined device. VITAband is a sleek and durable unisex bracelet designed with standard emergency medical iconography that alerts first responders there is crucial emergency information available in the event of an emergency. The bracelet bears a unique VITAnumber that connects emergency professionals to vital information such as personal identification, blood type, allergies and current medications in the owner’s personal profile via the 800-number located on the band. All information from medical history to payment details is stored in the Personal VITAnetwork and is completely controlled by the owner through www.VITAband.net.
Mortgage Daily News: A Colorado air conditioning manufacturer is making news with a product line that might revolutionize how Americans cool their homes and businesses.
Coolerado Corporation based in Denver has developed air conditioners based on the Maisotsenko Cycle (M-Cycle) which it describes as a “newly developed” thermodynamic process.
Two of the advantages Coolerado claims over traditional air conditioning: it delivers fresh, filtered air from the outside rather than recirculating air, and it uses no potentially harmful refrigerants. However, if the manufacturer’s claims are correct, the process has two other huge advantages over conventional types of air conditioning.
First, it cools better. And the energy savings are staggering. A Coolerado system will cool the same space as the most efficient traditional AC system while using only 10 percent of the energy.
Coolerado is just getting off the ground and its products are currently available only through distributors in ten Western states.
Inhabitat: Seeking to expand the horizons of future-forward transportation, Ecotricity founder Dale Vince has set out to create the world’s first zero-emission, wind powered supercar. The vehicle is based upon a heavily modified Lotus Exige that has been retrofitted with an electric engine that will be charged completely by the wind!
Dale has been keeping track of his progress on his blog Zero Carbonista as he transforms the supercar into sleek electric vehicle capable of running on the wind alone. Of course, at this point you are probably wondering why? After all, competing companies are currently developing and a whole other array of other vehicles.
Singularity Hub: Ever wanted to play with your own genome? When you read about the latest genetic engineering tools do your fingers itch with anticipation? Do you look around the library, the pub, or the community center searching for your fellow biohackers?
Look no further, intrepid gene-explorer, the Do-It-Yourself Biology movement has found a home at DIYbio.org. From the humble beginnings in the minds of Jason Bobe and Mac Cowell, the DIYbio community has exploded into the wider Internet community and is picking up interest from PBS, Seed Magazine, The Boston Globe, and many others.
The DIYbio community is helping to open the world of synthetic biology to everyone. And if you’re a little shocked and concerned by that concept, you’re not alone. The optimist will look at this glass of genetic soup and see it as half full of promises for cheaper fuel, better access to our own DNA, greater understanding of our world, and hope for improving our health. The pessimist points out that the same techniques that can make biofuel bacteria, test your DNA for diseases, and find new species can produce deadly pathogens, encourage genetic self-mutilation, and release invasive microscopic species.
NewScientist: Engineer, Adam Wilson, made global headlines by updating Twitter using his brainwaves. "USING EEG TO SEND TWEET" he explained.
Wilson's achievement was actually pretty trivial. He used a system called BCI2000, found in hundreds of laboratories across the globe, that can do the job of a keyboard for any software program. But it was significant precisely because it was trivial: mind-reading tech is going to have a massive impact this year.
In the coming months, cheap headsets that let you control technology with the electrical signals generated by your firing neurons will go on sale to the general public. Our relationship with technology – and our brains – will never be the same again.
BumpTop 3D is a great new desktop application for windows that turns your desktop into a 3D environment that is fully interactive. I've been waiting for something like this for a very long time but unfortunately, I'm a MAC guy, so it looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer.
Popgadget: It can turn your newspaper into live video, project a fully functional phone into your palm and a watch on to your wrist, help you get complete details of an acquaintance that you just met at a party, or even let you know if the product you are looking at in a supermarket is eco-friendly or not. And it isn't called 'Sixth Sense' without a reason.
What we are talking about is the wearable computing device which goes by that name and happens to be perhaps the most revolutionary device ever developed in the field of wearable electronics. The product is a result of radical research by MIT Media Lab student Pranav Mistry and his tutor Pattie Maes. It is intended, as Maes states, to create a new "digital sixth sense" for humans and converts any surface to an interactive display screen.
The prototype of this device is essentially the intelligent combination of an ordinary webcam, a projector and a mirror, which are hooked to a web-enabled mobile phone - which keeps the cost of the device at just around $350. The device is worn around the neck and recognizes the wearer's hand gestures to decipher his needs.
ubergizmo: Researchers at MIT (where else) have stumbled upon a brand new battery material which is able to recharge 100 times faster compared to standard lithium-ion versions found in your computer or phone. Assuming further research and quantum leaps in development occurs for this new battery material, chances are we could be looking at cell phone-sized batteries that could be charged in just 10 seconds! This new material solves current battery problems by creating a "fast-lane" for ions to move around the lithium iron phosphate material. When a special surface coating is applied to the old material, ions are allowed to speed around the battery at nearly unimaginable rates, hence the rapid charging capability.
CScout: In the game Mind Flex the player wears a headset that measures the brainwaves to control a ball that floats on a cushion of air. The point is to navigate the ball through a maze of hoops. The more you concentrate the harder a fan will blow. The product will be available in retail for $80 later in 2009. CScout already reported on a similar technology called Brainball from Sweden’s Interactive Institut at WIRED’s Next Fest in New York in 2007.
It’s impressive how such a conceptual innovation has made its way to a market ready product in less than 2 years. It also reminds us of all the brain-trainer games targeting the Meta Trend of Aging Population that have become so popular in Asia, such as Nintendo’s Brain Age games or other cool brain trainers available in Japan.
Springwise: Who said fat was bad for you? Vegawatt focuses on the upside of grease, turning restaurants' waste oil into electricity and hot water.
Vegawatt's refrigerator-sized units are incorporated into a building's existing system in the same way as a solar panel is retrofitted. After filtering a restaurant's used vegetable oil, the unit combusts the refined fuel in a diesel engine, feeding electricity and hot water straight into a restaurant's system. The units won't provide all the power and electricity that a business needs, but can significantly improve its carbon footprint and running costs, as a unit typically provides 10-25% of electricity requirements.
Vegawatt was developed by the Owl Power Company, a clean energy system company based in Massachusetts, and was launched this month. Planet-friendly, pocket-friendly, and good for PR... Time to put fries back on the menu?
Inquirer.net: “Whenever we ask OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) what they need during this global financial crisis, the answer is the same: Any little way we can save, we will welcome it,” said Perry V. Bayani, head of Smart Communications Inc.’s sales and business development and international services group, during a pre-launch briefing for Plug ’N Talk (PNT).
Smart’s newest offering is said to be the first USB communications device in the Philippines that allows those outside the country to call and text from an Internet-connected PC to any Philippine mobile and landline number using their Smart SIM.
PNT is positioned as a niche service for Internet-connected Filipinos abroad who want to call Philippine landline or mobile numbers for as low as P6.50 a minute.
The setup allows a subscriber to access the Smart network via the Internet at home, at work, or in an Internet café, and enjoy call rates for as low as P6.50 per minute. The price of text messages is as low as P1. There are no international roaming or hidden charges.
“Plug ’N Talk is a breakthrough product because we’ve taken the communications experience beyond the phone-to-phone scenario,” said Rufino S. Fermin, Smart’s manager for international services and OFW market. Now OFWs simply have to connect to the Internet, plug in their Plug ’N Text USB device, which has a 1-GB variant that can be used for storage, and then use a soft phone interface on their PC to call anyone in the Philippines.
Its products and services are available in over 200 countries abroad having ties with over 400 international network partners. Through PLDT Global, Smart also serves the mobile communication needs of Filipinos in Singapore, Hong Kong and Italy via 1528 Smart.
WildCharge.com: WildCharge is changing the way people charge their mobile devices by commercializing – through licensing partnerships – its proven, wire-free power technology. WildCharge’s Technology Licensing Program provides the design and manufacturing guidance, allowing original equipment/design manufacturers (OEM/ODM) to quickly integrate wire-free power capability into their products. Full agency certifications (UL/CE/FCC) ensure user safety and product reliability, while ROHS and CEC Efficiency Level IV compliance ensure low environmental impact.
The WildCharger™ Pad and its companions – WildCharge™ Skins – form a perfect wire-free power solution. Easy to install, carry and enable, they allow you to go “wire-free” out of the box.
Once you equip your mobile device with a WildCharge Skin, you will be able to charge it by placing it on any WildCharger Pad that is connected to a power source. The WildCharger Pad can simultaneously charge multiple devices, such as cell phones, MP3 music players or other mobile devices - as long as they are WildCharge-enabled.
The Wall Street Journal Online: Last year, Alias was just a videogame character known for stabbing monsters in the back. Today the bald-headed rogue has come to life on a bookshelf near Seattle as a four-inch-tall figurine with emerald dagger in hand.
Bringing such fantasy characters to life is possible thanks to the technology of 3-D printers, which turn three-dimensional computer images into three-dimensional objects. The statue of Alias was created courtesy of a start-up called FigurePrints LLC, which is opening for business this week. The company was founded by Ed Fries, a former Microsoft Corp. executive who is taking advantage of a shift in the 3-D printing industry to populate the world with trolls, gnomes and other fantastical creatures from the online game World of Warcraft.
The 3-D technology combines computer software and specialized "printers," which are copier-size machines that sculpt objects using a tool akin to a set of high-tech glue guns. Following a 3-D design on a computer, the gun nozzles squirt layers of material that harden into a porcelain-like object.
For 20 years, 3-D printers have primarily been used in labs and research groups at auto makers, aerospace companies and other design-intensive businesses. But during the next 12 months, 3-D printing will move closer to the mainstream, thanks to some entrepreneurs and consumer-focused companies like FigurePrints that are building businesses around the machines.
The expansion by 3-D printers into manufacturing is happening thanks to a steady drop in the price of printers, improvements in the materials they can handle and a proliferation in the amount of 3-D data that can be turned into objects.
Inhabitat: Engineers at Innowattech in Israel recently created a new type of road that generates electricity as vehicles pass over it! The supercharged surface is embedded with piezoelectric crystals, which transform kinetic energy from passing vehicles into an electrical current. With widespread adoption, the technology could feed energy back into the nation’s burgeoning electric vehicle grid, transforming congested roadways into a clean green source of energy.
The energy-generating roadway works thanks to piezoelectric crystals embeded in the asphalt. As vehicles pass over them, the vibrations generate a small amount of electricity that travels to a larger transformer which then distributes the energy. The generators can be as thin as a few centimeters or can cover large expansive surfaces, and can be easily adapted for a variety of different transit systems including roadways, railways and even airplane runways.
Yanko Design: This speaker concept called Brooch has no built-in soundboard. You have to bring that to the party. With its specially design suction cup, attach it to any smooth, flat surface. Different surfaces have different tones to them. The idea is to experiment. All music controls are projected onto that same surface for simulated touchscreen goodness.
Professor Alan Snyder believes that has devised a means to create creativity on demand. The "Thinking Cap" works by zapping the left side of the brain with with carefully targeted magnetic pulses. After a duration of approximately 10 minutes, studies have shown that people begin to display in creased levels of creativity, awareness and the ability to more accurately estimate the number of dots displayed on a screen for a short period of time.
Snyder has said that he believes that "each of us has within us non-conscious machinery which can do extraordinary art, extraordinary memory and extraordinary mathematical calculations... My theory is that there is a lot happening and maybe you could see it by shutting off that conscious part of the brain... Imagine if I could temporarily give you a child's look at the world."
The concept is fantastic, and if Snyder can successfully reproduce these effects he plans on using the device as a tool for enabling instant creativity.
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Christopher Aceto currently heads Thottfield Inc., a small multimedia and communications consultancy based in Toronto, Canada. Always on the hunt for innovative and exciting ideas, his passion for the creation and production of ground-breaking technologies and services has granted him the opportunity to act as a creative consultant for various companies and industries throughout the world.
Forget what you heard about the types of prints, colors and textures that will be featured next in textile and material design-just remember this word: Waterproof. The Ion-Mask enhancement is a new plasma technology devised by P2i, a company that's part of the UK Ministry of Defense's programme of commercialization of government technologies. P2i uses "patented plasma technology to treat everyday objects with an invisible mask that repels oil and water, without altering the look or feel of the treated object…invisible to the eye and undetectable to touch". When using the plasma, essentially all liquids that touch the object simply bead up on the surface instead of soaking or wetting the object. Moreover, the process for creating the plasma is environmentally friendly.
What's incredible is that this technology can be applied to textiles, footwear, filtration systems and bio-consumables. The ability to use the technology on so many manufactured products ensures that it will have a great impact on fashion, home design, footwear and engineering systems. Simply put: its forecasted popularity is due to the fact that it uses an eco-method to create a variety of more efficient products that have added value. Sneakers you can wear in the rain, shirts you can simply wipe spilt drinks off of and unique shower curtains. Makes me want to get a waterproof blouse and pour a glass of wine on myself.
A little more about how this new technology differs itself from traditional waterproofing methods:
Textile and footwear: "Traditionally, textile waterproofing techniques have relied on extra layers which act as a suffocating barrier; or the chemical treatment of the material, which leaves the edges and seams created during the manufacture of the product exposed. Plasma technology works at a molecular level to change the way the surface reacts to liquids, delivering waterproof performance without inhibiting the circulation of air through the fabric for an effective, comfortable result."
Filtration: "The effective performance and longevity of such products are dictated by the interaction of their surface with liquid. Traditionally, this relationship has been improved with complex chemical coatings cured at high temperatures, additives introduced during the melt process or chemical dips following an electrical discharge, but there are inherent problems with all of these methods. Plasma technology can treat 3D objects, manufactured from different materials with complex shapes, with a low-cost, universal process. This extends the life of the product, particularly in harsh environments, by vastly improving resistance to oil and liquid."
Bio-Consumables: "Despite their inherent hydrophobicity, the materials from which products such as pipettes, petri dishes and microplates are manufactured do retain residual amounts of liquid – resulting in inaccurate test results and the waste of costly reagents. Currently, some manufacturers offer low-retention products which are achieved either by polishing the moulds to ensure minimal surface tension, introducing additives into the melt polymer before moulding or using a post-manufacture dip. While these approaches vary in effectiveness, ease of use and consistency, ion-mask™ treated consumables significantly outperform them all."
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TrendsSpotting.com is a trends agency focused on developing exciting tools for Trend Spotting. We follow current trends and are constantly looking for new ones. We specialize in trends research and the social media. Dr. Taly Weiss, TrendsSpotting CEO, is a Social Psychologist, with extensive experience in branding strategy and marketing research. Feel free to explore our trend spotting tools on www.trendoScope.com.
Inhabitat: On August 22nd, Raser Technologies and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson broke ground on New Mexico’s first geothermal power plant. Situated at Lightning Dock near Animas, the new plant will incorporate an innovative binary liquid technology that allows it to make use of the site’s low levels of geothermal energy. If more of these modular plants are built then they could be mobilized to take advantage of over 120,000 MW of untapped low-temp geothermal energy across the US.
The project will be one of the first geothermal plants in the nation to incorporate the new breed of low-temperature technology featured in Raser’s proprietary modular power plants. Each individual generation unit is manufactured off-site, delivered to the location, and rapidly installed to create, in essence, a geothermal farm with multiple 450 kW units. Raser Technologies anticipates the first 10 MW of power generation will be online by early next year (2009). Phase II of the project will add another 15 MW of power, for a total of 25 MW, which is enough to power nearly fifteen thousand homes.
Gadgets Weblog: Automotive giant Chrysler is planning to put cellular Wi/Fi hotspots on all their new cars from August 25th and beyond, and these hotspots will work with all 2009 Chrysler models as well as earlier year models.
I suppose it has come to this, because we all need to have hotspots on our cars so we can surf the net while we are driving. Well, until we can do that, at least you will have a sure place to surf the net wherever you are driving.
You'll have to pay $499 for the router which is capable of EV-DO and WiMAX signals. By the way, you will need to pay an additional $29 per month for this service.
Gadgets Reviews: To reduce amount of products in stores that are manufactured of unrecyclable or poorly recyclable materials, a lot of world leading companies look at a farmer’s fields to find an appropriate solution today. And they are not only guided by green tendencies. By using environmentally friendly materials companies can bring down taxes and costs of productions. Five plants that are presented here are essential for the future technology and they can be accessed in any part of the world. Let us see what prospective gadgets will be made of.
1. Guyule: First – it is allergy free and recommended for kids' products or products that contact with human's skin like headphones, wristwatches, medical gloves, etc. Also guayule latex can sustain more tension without strain. Second and the most interesting fact – guayule latex perfectly meets a demand of flexible screens, flexible keyboards and many other similar gadgets.
2. Corn: For the world of modern technologies it can bring fully recyclable plastics made from corn. No products like cell phones, computers or MP3 players come without plastic parts. The problem is that it doesn't get recycled and will stay forever at dumps. Something has to be done with it sooner or later and corn has already flowed into high-tech world as a new material source.
3 Algae: For best use to our cars algae can be an initial product for perfectly flammable high-octane biodiesel, which is cheaper and a lot less harmful to our ozone layer.
4 Cockleburs: Its advantages are: unpretentiousness to materials. It can be made of practically all existing plastics as well as of recycled ones. Velcro, if made properly, can be of extreme durability.
5 Lotus: First one is clothing – clothes that don't need to be taken to laundry when some dirty water or something else is spilled on it. The second domain is after gadgeteer's heart. The "Lotus effect" is taken into account in touchscreen design. Touchscreen that gets dirty easily is another trouble to one's head but with the help of nature we get rid of it.
Environmentally friendly materials for future technologies produced from plants [Gadgets Reviews]
Inhabitat: While many green gear-heads argue whether electric vehicles are better than hybrids, Slovak designer Matúš Procháczka has brought the debate one step further. His innovative concept car foregoes these trifling 21st century technologies and fast-forwards straight to the future. Instead of an internal combustion engine, his vehicle is driven by an electric engine that generates a magnetic field capable of propelling the vehicle down the road!
Caveat first: the MAG car would require that all automotive infrastructure be magnetized in order for it to work, a task well-neigh impossible for any large-scale implementation. However such a system would tremendously reduce the energy required to propel the car, as it’s electromagnetic motor would be calibrated to reduce the car’s weight by 50%. The seats are created by two fabric nets which are adjustable to suit the occupant, and consume a minimum of materials.
The winner of the Unseen Technology Award at the Interior Motives Design Award 2007, the MAG is an extremely futuristic vehicle that requires technologies that are far away from being developed and deployed. Still, it presents a striking concept for future-foward transport that was too intriguing for us to resist.
Alaska Journal of Commerce: Alaskan shippers will have a new way to keep goods fresh with a container called the TEDSBOX that is being manufactured in Anchorage by an Alaskan based company.
Designed and built at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport by Tednologies, Inc. the TEDSBOX container's trademarked name stands for Tracking, Environmental, and Deviation System.
The developer, Don Harman, president and CEO of Tednologies, Inc. spent two years and $400,000 designing, and building the container that he hopes will save money by offering the cool/hot container that will cut down on spoilage while perishables are being shipped.
Harman's idea was to provide a better container for shipping foods, flowers, fish and pharmaceuticals. The company slogan covers its uses “from boat to throat and from farm to fork.”
“We shipped perishables like eggs, yogurt and produce over to Emmonak, and on the return trip we brought back a load of king salmon shipped by KwikPak,” Harman added. The test shipment used dry ice for cooling and performed well, as expected according to previous tests, said Harman.
TrendOriginal: The Lumus glasses virtually display all of your desired media and interface features directly in front of your eyes on a pair of normal glasses. The transparent projection provides instant access to the most needed applications but still allows the wearer to see through the lenses completely normally, and does not disrupt the field of view.
Gadget Reviews: Nowadays, it is popular among car companies to announce one or two models that are fueled not with gas, but with electricity. It is unknown, why they mystically disappear after being announced, maybe because of low distance they can drive without battery recharging, maybe because of their ultra high cost. However, it is clear that this kind of engines will prevail above internal combustion ones in some time. It is a wise idea to combine these two engines, produce a hybrid that will be more versatile in nowadays conditions. This is exactly the idea behind this futuristic concept car that combines advantages of both engine types to obtain unique capabilities.
This car is named Antro Solo, and is engineered in Hungary. Apart from having a very futuristic design (it resembles a soapbox a little), it does have very futuristic parameters. While it requires gas to run, it uses only 0.01 liter of gas per kilometer! This was made possible by using electric engine, which accompanies combustion one. Power is gained through many solar batteries on the roof of this car, but even if you are driving in tunnel or rain, there is nothing to worry about - gas powered generator will charge car's batteries if there is no sunlight.
Daily Mail: Britain's first eco-nightclub is opening tonight in London.
Cyclists and walkers get free admission and the dance floor is so high-tech it generates its own electricity when people move on it.
The brainchild of 35-year-old property developer Andrew Charalambous, aka Dr Earth, Surya has its own wind turbine and solar energy system. They plan to donate any surplus electricity to local residents.
The venue has the latest air flush, waterless urinals and low flush toilets and sells drinks in polycarbon cups.
Entrance is £10 but customers will only be allowed in if they sign a pledge promising to work towards curbing climate change.
The club is based at Bar Surya in Pentonville Road. Jade Jagger will be supporting Dr Earth as a DJ tonight.
Mr Charalambous, Tory donor and head of the climate change organisation called Club4Climate, said he hoped to use clubbing to inspire young people to tackle global warming.
'This is a new way to draw in the young generation,' he said.
'Unless we stop preaching to people and use an inclusive philosophy we're never going to create the revolution to combat climate change.
'There is no greater platform than clubbing to reach out to young people.'
Gadgets-Reviews: While humanity goes up on the technological ladder, it is necessary to keep an eye on our surroundings. 20 age's technological boom increased our need in energy, and it greatly increased our negative influence on ecology of Earth. Now it is the time when we must learn on our mistakes, and find a new, clean source of energy for our needs. There already are several methods to make ecologically clean energy: solar batteries, windmills… Even the energy of ocean waves can be used! This interesting prototype that looks like a very long snake is meant especially for these purposes.
This snake is called "Anaconda", and it is designed especially for capturing wave energy, which is an infinite (well, almost infinite) source of energy. Huge percentage of our planet's surface is covered by oceans, so it is a shame that we waste such powerful and huge source of energy while burning Earth's resources. The power of ocean waves bends Anaconda's body and pushes the generator, located in its tail, converting kinetic energy of wave into an electrical energy. This snake now exists only as a working prototype, and it is approximately 2 meters long. When it will be fully tested, it will be much longer. 200-meters long "Anaconda" will be capable of producing 1 megawatt of ecologically clean and cheap energy. It will be enough to power up 1000 homes, so dozen of this snake-robots can supply with power a small town. It is built from materials that are highly resistant to salt-water corrosion, so its lifetime will be longer than that of any existing wave-generators.
The Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA) has announced that it will be ready to launch it’s 92-pound rover called the European Lunar Lander within the the next few months. The objective of the launch is to float a balloon 11 miles above the sea, at which point a STABILO rocket will carry the payload to space.
Last year GOOGLE announced that it would be offering some exuberant amounts of money for the Lunar X Prize. There are several $5 million dollar prizes as well as the grand prize of $20 million, which ARCA is aiming for. In order to win the $20 million grand prize the ELL has to land, travel 500 feet on the surface of the moon, and send video, images, and data back to Earth.
Christopher Aceto currently heads Thottfield Inc., a small multimedia and communications consultancy based in Toronto, Canada. Always on the hunt for innovative and exciting ideas, his passion for the creation and production of ground-breaking technologies and services has granted him the opportunity to act as a creative consultant for various companies and industries throughout the world.
Architect Sheila Kennedy of KVA Matx, an innovative architectural firm, specializes in the integration of solar-cell technology in architecture. Her team has recently designed the soft house, "a structure that can create close to 16,000 watt-hours of electricity by transforming household curtains into flexible, semi-transparent, solar collectors."
With recent advances in solar technology and the implementation photovoltaic cells in textiles this idea may not be that far off. I wouldn't get too excited however. The cost of implementing such a technology right now is pretty discouraging. Unless of course money is no object.
Christopher Aceto currently heads Thottfield Inc., a small multimedia and communications consultancy based in Toronto, Canada. Always on the hunt for innovative and exciting ideas, his passion for the creation and production of ground-breaking technologies and services has granted him the opportunity to act as a creative consultant for various companies and industries throughout the world.
The Nissan Pivo is a concept car by Nissan and is powered by a lithium-ion battery. The car is essentially a 360 degree rotating cabin on a chassis of 4 wheels, and hence eliminates the need for reversing and makes parking easier.
RA, the Robotic Agent, one of the features of Pivo, establishes the driver's frame of mind by monitoring facial expressions and voice patterns. Armed with that information, RA interacts with the driver using speech and gestures to help encourage him/her into a more positive mental state. Research shows that a happy driver is a safer driver. In other words, being in a positive frame of mind can help reduce accidents.
Such a futuristic design combined with high-technology car definitely makes consumers crave to drive it home!
Ananova: A Japanese lingerie firm has unveiled the perfect gadget for eco-friendly sun worshippers - the solar-powered bra.
It comes with a detachable solar panel which can produce enough energy to power an iPod or mobile phone, reports the Daily Telegraph. It is also equipped with plastic pouches that can be filled with water, allowing wearers to quench their thirst without having to buy and then throw away drinks bottles.
The bra is made of high quality organic cotton, to ensure its production has the smallest possible impact on the environment.
But the 'Photovoltaic-Powered Bra' won't be on shelves any time soon. It is still at the concept stage and has several problems that need to be ironed out. For one, it is damaged by rain.
TrendOriginal: They may be less responsive, but virtual women can definitely enhance your sleeping experience. The “INBED”, created by Drew Burrows, is an infrared, light sensitive, virtual girlfriend. The 2D female is not as active as you might expect-try giving her a kiss on the cheek and she’ll shove her head into the pillow. Nevertheless, she will move into a spoon position when you lie down next to her and cuddle up with you when you lie on your back. Hello boys, say goodbye to lonely nights…
Inhabitat: The higher up in the air you go, the faster wind travels - so naturally the further from the ground a wind-turbines gets, the more efficient it can be. Thats why the idea of a flying wind-turbine is a such a win-win (or win-wind) proposition. Combining wind power with floating blimps, Selsam has been hard at work expanding the horizons of alternative energy with a revolutionary new breed of SuperTurbines that promise to take wind power to new heights.
Resembling a field of wind-swept reeds swaying on the horizon, these floating wind spires boast an ultra-efficient design that flexes with the wind, taking advantage of air currents along the length of their shaft to generate electricity. Selsam’s prototypes produce 6000 watts in 32.5 mph winds - six times more power than a similarly sized seven foot single-rotor turbine can produce. The turbines can be easily deployed by land and by sea, and their effectiveness can be amplified even further via an air-born blimp.
Selsam’s SuperTurbines offer an innovative approach to the problem with a scaled-down system of multi-rotor stalks that are extremely versatile, more efficient, and cheaper and easier to produce than than large lumbering windmills.
Inhabitat: Energy company Sunrgi recently announced an astounding new solar system that will break our grids free from the fossil fuel lockdown. Their Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics promise a low-cost, high-efficiency system with an incredible projected energy pricing of 5 cents per kilowatt. This breakthrough puts solar on par with the cost of coal, natural gas, and other non-renewable energy sources.
If solar energy is ever going to live up to it’s world-changing potential, it’s going to have to mesh with our existing energy infrastructure, competing with coal and natural gas on price point. While traditional photovoltaic arrays span great expanses and struggle to keep costs down, Sunrgi’s system proposes a novel idea, making better use of fewer expensive materials.
The XCPV system is based on a principle blinding in its simplicity: use a magnifying glass to concentrate the sun’s energy into a single high efficiency solar cell. Each unit features a lens that magnifies the sun’s rays 2,000 times, focusing it onto a solar cell that converts more than 37% sunlight to energy. The result is a system that maximizes the potential output of each solar cell while minimizing cost and space required.
The units are modular and thus easily deployable on or off-grid, and they can be easily upgraded to accommodate future advancements in solar cell technology.
It's Graeme - sorry for the long hiatus - but I'm back and have lots of interesting new ideas to share with our friends at CoolBusinessIdeas!
I recently attended DemoCamp 17 - an event in Toronto attended by software developers and other entrepreneurs (well, actually mostly software developers) looking to share their new apps with other geek-minded people and to attract VC money from some of the angel investors in the room. Yes, they truly are geeks - the typical overheard conversation usually sounded like "how long have you been on Twitter?" or "I love the new Apple SDK".
Each participant gets up in front of the assembly and gets 10 minutes to pitch their idea. It's that simple. Sometimes the demo works, and the creator presents a compelling case for his or her product. Sometimes it doesn't. But the crowd is forgiving, and it makes for a fun evening.
A few ideas pitched were:
PlanetEye.com - this contextual travel experience site is way cool, and has already attracted funding and development support from Microsoft. The demo was really interesting - the concept is to use geotags to add pictures to pretty much any location in the world. It's not just another Google maps, it has a clear tourist orientation and a unique interface. The site is live in beta - check it out.
GigPark.com - a social networking site designed by tech geeks, for tech geeks! Designed to help owners run small technology based businesses, it fosters the sharing of contact information for professional service providers (lawyers, accountants, etc.) and networking amongst its members. Cool. Up and running now.
A smart (and young) developer named Kaitlyn demoed her new app - AskItOnline.com. She conceived it, planned it, wrote the code and generally made it happen, by herself, and while holding a full time job somewhere else. It's an online survey application, similar to surveymonkey.com and questionpro.com, both of which she felt didn't have a sufficiently user-friendly interface. It a great tool - a trial account is free, give it a try.
Graeme Spicer is a Canadian trendspotter, ethnographer and observer of all things retail. As Director of Retail Strategy at DW+Partners he spends his time consulting with leading retailers; presenting at conferences across North America; lecturing at OCAD, Canada's leading design school; and reading too many blogs. Graeme can be reached at graeme.spicer@gmail.com.
Springwise: Who hasn’t checked their coat at a restaurant or other venue and worried about losing the claim ticket? London-based Idscan aims to put those worries to rest with a biometric cloakroom system that it claims is a world's first.
Cloakscan records a customer’s thumbprint via a small scanner, while a digital camera records the transaction. When customers return and touch the thumb-scanner once more, their pictures show up on a monitor, allowing the cloakroom attendant to verify their identity and quickly see where their valuables have been stored. Idscan explains that Cloakscan eases stress among customers and staff alike. Customers needn’t fear that a dropped claim ticket will be found and redeemed by someone else, while staff can use Cloakscan’s touchscreen monitor to log checked items faster and more accurately. Cloakscan even prints out reports if valuables do become lost, to aid in police or insurance investigations.
The pillow uses an LED fabric substrate below the surface to wake the user using light. This substrate also functions as a display, showing the time on the pillows surface using the grid of LEDs below.
40 minutes before the pre-set alarm time the pillow begins to glow and gently brings the user out of sleep. This natural waking process helps to set the circadian rhythm or "body clock" and results in more healthy sleep/wake patterns.
ZD Net Asia: Remember the days before mobile phones made their way into our pockets, when beeping pagers were the toast of the town?
During blogger Eileen Yu's Vegas trip last week, she chanced upon a food outlet that used radio paging technology in its ordering system.
Rather than make its customers stand around the store waiting aimlessly for their numbers to be called when their food is ready, the food outlet hands out pagers shaped like drink coasters to a customer after he places his order.
With the coaster pager in hand, the customer is then free to move around and browse through other outlets at the food court, or return to his table to wait comfortably whilst his order is being prepared. When it's ready for pickup, the coaster pager will light up and vibrate to alert the customer to return to the store and collect his food.
It was a really cool way to reuse an old piece of technology, and apply it in a new real-world environment to provide better customer service. We really don't get to see much of that kind of innovation anymore these days.
MEDIVista from Lincor Solutions is an intergrated solution for delivery of digital entertainment and communication services to the patient bedside. MEDIVista has been developed with increasing demand from healthcare providers and hospital admins worldwide for entertainment & communication solutions in enhancing patience experience, rduce staff workload and deliver operational efficiencies.
MEDIVista represents a compelling business opportunity and proposition for system integrators, outsources and equipment vendors.
As data travels through the user's clothing, handbag or shoes, anyone carrying a special card can unlock the door simply by touching the knob without taking the card out.
Research engineer Mitsuru Shinagawa said future applications could include a walk-through ticket gate, a cabinet that opens only to authorised people and a television control that automatically chooses favourite programmes.
Patent reform struggles on the Senate floor while presidential hopefuls debate NAFTA’s influence not just on business, but innovation. Yet even with innovation under fire, American entrepreneurs step up to a stellar challenge.
Google’s Lunar X Prize non-profit organization recently announced the 10 teams participating in its robotics competition to the moon. Out of 560+ inquiries from 53 nations, 5 out of the 10 teams hail from the US. The organizing committee dealt with an enormous number of qualified entrants. In comparison, the Ansari X Prize only received interest from 2 teams in the same time period.
The mission asks a lot of its potential champions. The first team to land a lunar rover, travel 500 meters and send images/ data back to Earth will win $20 million. The 2nd team to do the same walks away with $5 million. Though the jackpot incentivizes applicants, the overall cost of the endeavor will easily exceed the prize purse. Most note the inspiration to win is the innovation itself.
Take a page from the competitive, blindly-encouraging vision of Google, and give your team an ‘impossible’ task. One small step for your business, one giant leap for mankind.
Katie Sherman is a NY-based freelance writer. After years of multi-tasking at downtown ad agencies, she's recently returned from a European backpacking sabbatical. During the day she works as a Copywriter in Soho. In the off-hours she concentrates on analyzing social/ cultural trends, business innovation and local entertainment. Her work has been published on PSFK.com, CoolBusinessIdeas.com, EatDrinkSleepny.com, and Glamourite.com. Email her at katie_sherman@hotmail.com
Crave: For consistent 15 percent tipsters living in municipalities with a 7.5 percent dining tax, generating the perfect 15 percent tip is as simple as doubling the tax. If that's not you, Oh Arithmetic-Challenged One, you've got a bum deal. (See below for a quick computational technique.)
It's for this set, and for diners who frequently split a bill, that Ilium Software developed Tipster. The free, simple app for Palm, Windows Mobile smartphone and Pocket PC hurriedly computes your tax and total.
Tipster calculates tax in 5 percent increments up to 30 percent, and can evenly split the amount owed between up to ten diners, tip included. Working out how much four people should pay on an $86.52 bill with a 20 percent tip becomes instant and headache-free. Just don't try anything funny, like tipping 18 percent.
Advertising Lab: "A Japanese company Tuesday unveiled a new device that will allow people "speak" through their ear so they can use their mobile telephones in noisy places. The device -- named "e-Mimi-kun" (good ear boy) -- doubles as an earphone and a microphone by detecting air vibrations inside the ear, developer NS-ELEX Co. said."
What a wonderful idea! This "quiet" speaking may give rise to new age military communications, or even being able to talk freely while disco-ing away in your favourite pub. It should serve well to many occupations and the elderly may be able to find themselves speaking clearly and loud again!
Business Edge: If you've ever stood in front of your closet trying to figure out what to wear for an important meeting, a new high-tech wardrobe invention might be just the thing for you.
The "smart wardrobe" keeps track of when you wore an item, where you wore it, and can even tell you when your clothes need to be dry-cleaned. Developed by Australian researchers, the garment gizmo is being touted as a dress-for-success solution that could give busy people the edge to get ahead.
"The wardrobe can tell you that you have a meeting this morning with Joe Bloggs, that you have worn the same shirt the last three times you met him and that maybe you should wear something else or he will think you only have one shirt," says Prof. Bruce Thomas, director of the wearable computer laboratory at the University of South Australia.
If you're not sure what tie matches your suit, if your skirt is too tame for your new animal print pumps, or whether you should go business casual or dressy for a weekend dinner with the boss, researchers say the smart wardrobe can tell you that, too. "This technology can help people make the most of accessorizing and mixing their wardrobe," explains PhD student Aaron Toney, who developed an alert function that notifies smart-wardrobe users when garments need to be dry-cleaned and even tracks cleaner pickups and deliveries.
Mobile Weblog: The rampant growth of green or eco-friendly companies and the move of many Internet marketers to go "organic" are strong indicators that the trend now is to go natural. In what way do you think the mobile industry can go organic?
Say hello to team BioVolt, a group of MIT students who applied the concept of biomass or using animal manure to charge mobile phones. This is ideal for rural areas with scarce electricity.
However, the system is far from perfect. It would take at least 6 months to completely charge a mobile phone battery! If there's any consolation, you just need to shell out $2.
I guess the bigger problem is, who will be interested to collect cow dung, wait for 6 months, and put the phone on their ears if they know it's full of sh*t?
Nevertheless, it's a bold and intelligent step. I hope this will trigger further development to make it more functional and acceptable to the general public.
Gizmodiva: If you are living in Japan then consider yourself as a lucky skunk for endless reasons. But today’s reason for believing your self to be fortunate is that you won't need to buy a fresh loaf of bread every second day. All you got to do is stuff your kitchen cabinets with Canned Bread that are sold from the vending machines. It is real Bread that comes in a can and stays fresh for up to three years that too without preservatives.
Whether it’s cheap or pricey is for you to decide, as canned Pan Desuyo costs 330 yen ($3) for 100 grams of bread in two mini-loaves. Pan Desuyo (which translates to "This is bread!") is available in chocolate chip, raisin and fruit, and a blend of coffee, fruit and nuts.
Video Email is a revolutionary new way in how we communicate with one another. In our personal lives, we send out an average of 15 emails per week. In our business lives, the company as a collective group sends out hundreds if not thousands of emails. The pre-existing emails encompass two methods to communicating: text and pictures. Studies show that the average human being only retains 10% of what we read, only 20 percent of what we see with pictures. However, the average human being retains 50% of what they see AND hear. Hence the concept of video email is the wave of the future. It is a new and unique way of contacting perspective clients, retaining existing clients, and rekindling relationships with past clients. Not only that, for personal use, there's no reason the grandparents in a different state have to miss the new baby's first steps or little Bobby's first home run anymore. Video email is a product that will bring an increasingly globalized world closer and accelerate the process.
Using video email allows businesses a unique way to communicate with their clients, which not only increases retention, but also increases intimacy. Having face to face contact allows the clients to remember who they're doing business with. It allows people to say thank you in a more meaningful way. Realtors can now send real tours where they physically go in the house room to room and comment on its amenities rather than virtual tours through email. Pastors can inform their congregation about the retreat that's taking place next Saturday. Doctors can now get their secretaries to video email their patients to remind them of their next appointment. Company executives can send out a motivational message to their employees even if they are in a different city. The possibilities are limitless.
CoolHunting: Taking advantage of the fact that digital cameras see a broader spectrum of light (i.e they see more colors) than human eyes Kameraflage takes digital photography to a new level. Engineering text or designs in these invisible colors into objects creates displays that are invisible to the naked eye yet can be seen when imaged with a digital camera. Potential applications include everything from clothing to billboards, and even movies.
Daily Mail: It sounds like the perfect invention for all those couch potatoes who find even using a remote control just a little too much like hard work.
Scientists have come up with a box that lets television viewers change channels, switch on the DVD player or switch off an irritating presenter with the wave of a hand. The controller's built-in camera can recognise seven simple hand gestures and work with up to eight different gadgets around the home.
Not only will it be a godsend for lazy viewers, it could also save hours of fruitless scrabbling among the sofa in search of the remote control.
The all-seeing wave controller is the brainchild of Australian engineers Dr Prashan Premaratne and Quang Nguyen. They believe it could be on sale within three years, ending the frustration involved in finding and using remote controls.
FutureWire: The ability to direct and transmit electrical power through the air, without wires, took a further step from the theoretical to the practical in June when a group of MIT researchers demonstrated their "WiTricity" concept.
The technology works by transmitting electricity as a magnetic field oscillating at a specific frequency. Through "magnetically coupled resonance," the "receiver" can capture the electricity, making for an efficient and safe method of over-the-air transfer.
Wireless transmission of electricity has been understood in theory since the work of Nikolai Tesla in the 19th Century. Safe, efficient and cost-effective wireless electricity could hold countless beenfits, from eliminating the need to install costly copper wiring to lowered reliance on batteries for small devices. However, despite the success of WiTricity, the technology has a long way to go before it is deployed commercially... not to mention the need to better understand side effects such as interference and possible effects on health and the environment.
Cool Hunting: If you don't like to rough it, can't do without the conveniences of home, or just need a base camp to recharge your camera or MP3 player after a day on the trail, the Eureka N!ergy tents have three 12-volt plugs to charge your accessories. A concealed wiring system strategically places glowing outlets throughout the tent for easy access. Hook up a fan on warm nights, a reading light, alarm clock, DVD player, perhaps a computer. The only downside is that you need the Eureka E Power Pak, a portable and rechargeable battery source, which is sold separately.
Eureka N!ergy Tent [Cool Hunting]
USATODAY: In the race for ever-thinner displays for TVs, cellphones and other gadgets, Sony may have developed one to beat them all — a razor-thin display that bends like paper while showing full-color video.
Sony released video of the new 2.5-inch display Friday. In it, a hand squeezes a display that is 0.3 millimeters, or 0.01 inch, thick. The display shows color images of a bicyclist stuntman and a picturesque lake. Although flat-panel TVs are getting slimmer, a display that's so thin it bends in a human hand marks a breakthrough.
Crave: The way the particles land on a given credit card magnetic stripe are as unique as individual snow flakes or human fingerprints. So says a Magtek, a company that has developed a product, MagnePrint, for recording the unique magnetic media signature for all credit and debit cards scanned through its readers. The first scan by a MagnePrint reader creates a template against which all subsequent scans are compared.
MagnePrint is designed to prevent "skimming." Online carders buy credit card information from a black market database then copy that information onto a blank physical card using a machine that costs around $250. The skimmed card is then used in an ATM or a retail environment as though it were the original card until the credit or debit limits are maxed.
Iconoculture: They're just concept phones for now, but we're guessing the idea could be reused: ModeLabs has created a series of concept phones that run off sustainable energy sources.
One concept phone looks like a yo-yo that hangs around the user's neck and continuously harnesses both solar and kinetic energy using a pendulum and voltaic cells.
Knowledge is nothing; power is power. Consumers have lots of wants when it comes to batteries these days — a long life, a quick charge and, increasingly, a sheen of green.
USATODAY: Why listen to your voice mail messages when you can read them? That's what a new crop of companies is asking — they're developing software that turns voice mail messages into transcribed e-mail or text messages.
We've all gotten those long voice mail messages from a friend, relative, business associate — or in this reporter's case a PR person pitching a story idea — that seem to drag on forever. New companies, such as Simulscribe, SpinVox and now Callwave, are emerging to provide a fix for busy people who don't want to listen to long messages anymore.
Even though cellphones are increasingly being used to do everything from sending text messages to surfing the Web to playing music, the main reason to use a phone is voice communication. New applications, such as voice-to-text, could be part of a growing trend of new services based on voice-recognition technology.
Shiny Shiny: Remember when an iPod dock was a clever idea? Since then, we've seen iBelts, Inflatable iChairs, iProjectors, iLoo Roll, you name it. What on earth is next?
Why, the Tune-In Bed, of course! This is no ordinary iPod dock! You can sleep in it! This is also no ordinary bed! It plays music from your iPod! Of course, the sound and mattress quality are totally irrelevant in view of the astounding novelty of this idea! Is there anyone left on this planet who doesn't already have sufficient iPod docking bedroom arrangements and might actually need this?
Gizmodo: Who knew you could use urine to power a battery? The Pee Battery uses the ions in human urine to keep 1.5 volts streaming for 90 minutes, and its makers say it can be tweaked to last even longer. They're even saying that all other bodily fluids work equally well. Sounds like an unpleasant way to get that iPod working again.
These are some batteries that would certainly pass our USB Piss Test. Rig 'em up to power gaming consoles, and we could have ourselves a Pee Wii.
Iconoculture: "With this bone, I thee wed." Five U.K. couples recently sealed their vows by exchanging rings made from their own bone tissue, grown in the lab from sample cells. Scientists harvested the cells from tiny slivers extracted from the couples' jawbones, then grew new tissue in bioglass scaffolds that mimic human bone structure. Artists fused the pure white bone with silver to create the unique rings. Beyond being an ultraromantic way to say "I do," the technique holds great promise as a way to grow new bone material for patients who need replacements.
Vitro Laser GmbH: Our developments revolutionize the marking of different materials by laser technology. Conventional methods are limited to the marking of the materials’ surface. With our laser subsurface engraving method the surface remains untouched. The desired marking is carried out inside the material.
The laser beam will be precisely focused in order to keep the finest formations and details of the masters. Every design is represented point by point and with a clear structure. We call this method “Vitropgraphy”. Two dimensional as well as three dimensional designs from all areas can be engraved. The result will convince you with its pin sharp quality.
Laser subsurface engravings can be made in all kinds of translucent materials e.g. glass, tempered or laminated glass, acrylic glass, ceramic glass, sapphire, polycarbonate etc.
The process of subsurface engraving works precise and detailed with highest speed and offers an extremely efficient and economic production. On top of that our systems offer user-friendly interfaces which guarantee high comfort during your daily work and an easy orientation.
eMediaWire: Just days ago, millions of people around the world were gifted at least one of the "big 10" electronic devices boosting in store and online sales in 2006 including Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3 and PSP, ipod Nano, Blackberry, Treo, DELL Notebook Laptop, Motorola and Palm. In capitalizing on this trend towards personalization mytego.com has developed a technology where customers - all over the world - can personalize any one of those "big 10" electronic devices or any other portable electronic device with a TEGO skin.
A TEGO is a durable, waterproof high quality vinyl adhesive skin that goes on in seconds and comes off clean. mytego.com allows users to affordably design a personalized TEGO skin for any portable electronic device with any picture, image or text. They can also choose one of many images in the mytego.com library. Though TEGO skins have been a popular product worldwide since introduced by Mytego in 2003, Doyle Buehler, president of Mytego Inc. believes 2007 is the year everyone will be taking advantage of the opportunity for personalization.
"The trend towards personalization is becoming more and more pronounced in our society. We see it now in everyday things, and now we have given consumers the tools to be their own creative genius and design exactly what they want. We have seen it start with special ring tones and screen graphics for phones in the late 1990's. Now this personalization has moved more mainstream, into all portable electronics like ipods, game systems etc. Everybody has the inherent desire to be different and stand out -- Mytego gives them just the tools that they need to address this need. Our online design interface is the only one like it in the world, where users can see in real time what their design will look like. Our unique business system allows us to produce individual products for each customer, giving each and every individual customer the ultimate choice and freedom." predicts Buehler.
Uber-Review: The Hug Shirt is perfect for people in love that are distant from each other, it basically offers the possibility to recreate a hug feeling and not on a virtual kind of way.
The shirt works with Bluetooth + a Hug Me java software + a cellphone and in order for the other person to receive the hug, he/she must be wearing a shirt as well. It was nominated as one of the best inventions of this year by the Times Magazine so that is probably a good thing, or not…
Hug shirts don’t have any assigned phone number, all the data goes from the sensors Bluetooth to your mobile phone and your mobile phone delivers the hug data to your friend’s phone and it is seamlessly transmitted Bluetooth to his or her shirt!
13WHAM-TV: Photocopier paper that erases itself hours after it's been used? It's in the works.
Xerox researchers are testing it at a lab near Toronto Canada. The Xerox Research Center of Canada is one of five global centers. The Center in Canada focuses on the future of the document, inks, toners and imaging. It’s also the place where self-erasing paper was developed.
The paper looks ordinary enough, but what you can't see is what makes the technology cutting edge. Dr. Paul Smith said, "It doesn't use toner or ink....in 16 to 24 hours it turns from black to colorless again."
Erasable paper works when combined with a special printer. A certain wavelength of light reacts with the coating on the paper to create the image.Xerox researchers say erasable paper is best used for pages you don't need to keep around like emails, daily calendars, and fax cover pages.
Researchers found that two of every five pages are kept for less than a day, and then recycled. So, Xerox says, its product will reduce paper waste.
This is still a research project, which means it will be years before it will lighten the load of the recycle bin.
we make money not art: Scientists at the CSIRO's Textile and Fibre Technology division in Australia have woven electronic sensors into a T-shirt (the WIS - the Wearable Instrument Shirt) so that it can be played liked a real guitar.
Movements by the wearer's arms are mapped and beamed by radio to a computer which interprets them and turns them into musical notes.
"The left arm chooses a note and the right arm plays it," said Richard Helmer, at CSIRO. The arrangement can be reversed for left-handed musicians. "You can play with yours hands above your head," added Dr Helmer. "You can turn around and jump. Whatever you like."
LATimes.com: Baker came up with the kiosk idea a couple of years ago. He had just kicked off a $3-million building drive, but noticed that few people seemed to keep cash in their wallet anymore for the collection bag.
So he began studying the electronic payment business. He designed his machine with the help of a computer programmer who attends Stevens Creek, and found ATM companies willing to assemble it for him. In early 2005, he introduced the first machine at his church.
Since then, kiosk giving has gradually gained acceptance among his upper-middle-class flock. The three kiosks are expected to take in between $200,000 and $240,000 this year — about 15% of the church's total donations.
"It's truly like an ATM for Jesus," Baker said.
This summer, Baker and his wife, Patty, began selling the devices to other churches through their for-profit company, SecureGive. They are its only employees, but a handful of contractors help them custom-tailor the machines for churches.
The kiosks can let donors identify their gift as a regular tithe or offering, or direct it to building or missionary funds. The machines send information about the donation to a central church computer system, which shoots the donors an e-mail confirmation.
The Bakers charge between $2,000 and $5,000 for the kiosks, which come in a variety of configurations. They also collect a monthly subscription fee of up to $49.95 for licensing and support. And a card-processing company gets 1.9% of each transaction; a small cut of that fee goes to SecureGive.
FutureWire: Bytes, a new cafe in the UK town of Canterbury (of Chaucer fame), is making a name for itself with its high-tech ordering system.
Aside from helping Bytes save money on wait staff and menu printing, the touchscreens allow the restaurant to build a database of customer preferences, and to change items and prices on the fly. The touchscreens also double as game consoles, keeping the kids occupied.
So far, patron response to the touchscreens is overwhelmingly positive, and the owner is already considering opening a second location. As long as customers respond just as enthusiastically to the food, Bytes appears to have a bright future.
Iconoculture: At last – energy independence for toys. Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies' fuel cell toys are small-scale vehicles powered by the energy source of the future. Its H-racer miniature fuel cell car features an onboard hydrogen fuel cell system. Fill 'er up at the miniature hydrogen refueling station.
Sure it's educational – but more important, it's cool! Toys that offer a taste of tech to come appeal to kids and tech-loving grownups (or their "children within").
With all the press that fuel cell tech has gotten, curiosity over hydrogen-powered engines is high. Toys with the tech offer an affordable way to check it out.
New Scientist: Imagine being able to record a smell and play it back later, just as you can with sounds or images.
Engineers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan are building an odour recorder capable of doing just that. Simply point the gadget at a freshly baked cookie, for example, and it will analyse its odour and reproduce it for you using a host of non-toxic chemicals.
The device could be used to improve online shopping by allowing you to sniff foods or fragrances before you buy, to add an extra dimension to virtual reality environments and even to assist military doctors treating soldiers remotely by recreating bile, blood or urine odours that might help a diagnosis.
Newswise.com: Irvine Scientific, a leading medical device/biotechnology company located in Santa Ana, CA announced that the first vitrification product for blastocysts (day 5 human embryos from an in vitro fertilization procedure) is available in the U.S. after recently receiving clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The product, known as Blastocyst Vitrification Kit or Vit Kit™ is the first medical device of its kind to be introduced in the United States following nearly a five year development and regulatory review process.
Vitrification is an innovative technique for cryopreserving oocytes (eggs) and embryos. This new cryopreservation method results in much higher pregnancy rates than conventional methods. Conventional methods utilize slow freezing techniques which involve steps that could lead to the formation of ice crystals in the cells thus causing damage. Vitrification involves dehydrating the cells and very rapidly cooling them in liquid nitrogen, which avoids any ice crystal formation, thereby eliminating the potential for cell damage.
“We are pleased that we are able to offer an innovative product to fertility clinics that will change the future of reproductive medicine,” stated by Dr. Michael Kelly, Irvine Scientific President and CEO.
Irvine Scientific which has provided IVF products to the medical community for over thirty years is located in Santa Ana, California and is a subsidiary of Japan Energy Corporation.
Chip Chick: USB connectors have been turning up everywhere these past few months - on beverage chillers, plastic frogs, and other unusual places. In recognition of this trend, a bunch of industrial designers got together and created an exhibit chock full of eccentric places to put a USB connector. For example they placed USB connectors on hand cuffs, a door handle, a lock, a bra, a sink, and on a bunch of other items. Who knows, maybe one day USB connectors will actually show up on a lot of these items.
AVING: If you drop by a show house for an apartment in Korea, you will see that you can read a book without turning pages using RFID technology.
If you have a book, desk, and a display equipped with RFID chips, now you can read the whole contents through a large display just by putting the book on the desk ; antenna reads the chip information and delivers them to the display. Of course, you can actually use your hands - if you want - for a touch screen or a remote control. Absolutely royalist is'nt it!!
DailyCandy: Okay, class, in today’s history lesson, we’ll be learning about primitive forms of technology. You see, before MP3 players or iPods, and even before CDs, back in the ’80s and ’90s, people listened to music on devices called cassette tapes.
And thanks to the Plusdeck 2, a cassette deck for computers, we can bring it back to life. All we do is slide the internal drive into the CD drive bay, pop in this plastic rectangle known as the cassette, and we can listen to the tape (that’s street for cassette) through our computer. Any questions?
Atiz Innovation: What if you could digitize any book you want with just the push of a button and without having to go through the tedious process of turning the pages manually?
BookDrive® -- the world’ s first and only desktop-sized, automatic page-turning scanner featuring a patent-pending technology that eliminates manually copying and scanning documents.
It is just like any traditional flatbed scanners that you are familiar with, but BookDrive is unique in that it has an automatic page-turning mechanism inside. Simply entering the number of pages you want to scan, BookDrive then automatically outputs the entire content of the scanned book in a digital format without requiring constant supervision and interference. Unlike traditional flatbed scanners, BookDrive enables businesses to digitize content with an automatic page-turning mechanism. BookDrive includes an integrated, easy-to-use software function that performs essential tasks such as auto cropping and image clean-up. Outside is a simple interface. Under the hood it embodies advanced software algorithms to automatically detect edge and crop the results so that what you have resembles the actual scanned page.
Yanko Design: These days, more and more people are enjoying the habit of drinking wine because they find this habit healthy. In the future, life will be rich so that common people will enjoy wine. Since how one keeps wine determines the taste and the smell, preserving wine will become more important. Coming from this point of view, we designed a digital wine cellar which keeps wine and also act as a decoration in the house. Function-wise, this machine adjusts temperature according to different kinds of wine, indicates quantity of wine bottles, and controls air circulating up, down and sideways within the wine cellar. Also, interior lighting function is added, so that this conceptual preservation machine can not only keep wine fresh but also act as a decoration.
Tech Digest: Technology and golf have never really crossed paths. Check trousers, a Ronnie Corbett sweater, some clubs, balls and a bag - that's been sufficient for years. So why not ruffle a few feathers in the clubhouse with something very 2006 - the Soldius Solar golf bag.
Featuring a built-in solar panel that provides 100% green energy, the Soldius bag can charge your mobile phone while you are busy playing a round. The bag has charging points compatible with more than 250 mobile phones including most of the market leaders and should complete a charge in 3 hours.
And it'll fit in nicely with your Lyle and Scott, being available in a variety of colours.
No UK price or release date as yet for this Dutch-made device. When we hear, we'll let you know.
Mainichi: Aging is the name of the game when it comes to fine wine. Top producers mature their brews in oak barrels; connoisseurs will keep a bottle in the cellar for years so they can savor the complex bouquet at its peak.
For Hiroshi Tanaka, all that waiting is just a waste of time -- and he says he's got the machinery to prove it.
"We can now electrolyze young wine and ship bottles of fine wine out in no time at all," declared Tanaka, president of Japanese startup Innovative Design and Technology Inc., which runs a small laboratory in Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo.
"Think of the savings we'll make. Shorter production time, no need for storage, no need to invest in barrels," he said.
The company is in talks with wineries in California and Washington state to start providing its U.S. affiliate, BW2 Holdings, with young wine to treat and sell, Tanaka said. BW2 hopes to sell the bottles on the Internet later this year for an affordable US$5.
CScout: By connecting the real world with information from the Internet, users can explore geographical spaces with the eye of an insider. There is a huge variety of technologies which can be used to enable visitors to find their way around the globe. So far, most applications are used to tour museums, tourist sights or foreign cities. The most obvious applications are audio tour guides, recorded to CD or downloadable to cell phones, iPods and PDA’s. New online tools enable users to tag certain locations with special barcodes which let interested visitors retrieve the hidden information with their cellphones.
BBC News: The contents of a woman's handbag have long remained a mystery - often even to the owner - but a new design offers to shine a light on the problem.
A solar-powered handbag designed by a student from Brunel University promises to make finding keys and other items at the bottom of a bag easier. The handbag, dubbed Sun Trap, uses a solar cell attached to the outside of the bag to trap energy from sunlight. The energy is stored in an internal battery which lights up the lining. The lining is made from an electroluminescent material similar to that found in mobile phones and is lit up by the bag's zip which acts as a switch. The bag goes dark when the zip is closed or after 15 seconds if it is accidentally left open.
A secondary use of the portable battery is as an emergency charger for mobile phones and other wireless devices. Safety and usefulness were uppermost in Rosanna Kilfedder's mind when she came up with the design.
"I had the idea for Sun Trap handbag after seeing so many friends frantically searching their bags for house keys, usually on a dark doorstep," said Ms Kilfedder. "I also noticed friends using their mobile phones like torches to examine the contents of their bag, which gave me the idea of lighting up the bag," she said.
PSFK: The End of Shopping is here. The barcode scanning technology, mentioned in that Times article Guy touched on, actually exists and If you have a camera phone and either T-Mobile or Cingular, you can download the software for free and start scanning for the lowest price around. This is how scan-commerce works, after you download the software from ScanZoom, you take a picture of the barcode on the product you want to bargain hunt. SCANBUY, the creators of this new technology, also plan to include price comparisons of other brick and mortar shops in your locale and they will even beam you driving directions. Shopping 2.0: Shop until your camera phone drops.
There is also, Semacode, who are bridging the real world and the web world in their own way. They've created a free system that also allows camera phones to convert bar codes into URLs. Consumers can take a picture of the code with their camera phone and it directs them to a mini site which features a game where you can win, you guessed it, flight coupons. These UPC-URLs are also becoming increasingly common in Japanesse magazines and business cards.
we make money not art: NEC has developed a 0.3-millimeter (0.012-inch) thick, foldable battery to be used in cards or clothes, leading to new possibilities such as people walking through ticket gates with fare passes in their pockets.
The battery can support tens of thousands of signal transmissions on a single charge and can be recharged in less than 30 seconds.
It "will be used extensively in the future to power all kinds" of gadgets ranging from electronic paper to tags that trace retail goods in real-time, said the Japanese company. It will also "open the way for small wearable computers, such as ticket cards that can be attached to a person's clothes."
USAToday.com: Ever wonder if that spouse, friend or co-worker on the other end of the phone is really paying attention? The "Jerk-O-Meter" may hold the answer.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing software for cell phones that would analyze speech patterns and voice tones to rate people — on a scale of 0 to 100% — on how engaged they are in a conversation.
Anmol Madan, who led the project while he pursued a master's degree at MIT, sees the Jerk-O-Meter as a tool for improving relationships, not ending them. Or it might assist telephone sales and marketing efforts.
"Think of a situation where you could actually prevent an argument," he said. "Just having this device can make people more attentive because they know they're being monitored."
The program, which Madan said is nearing completion, uses mathematical algorithms to measure levels of stress and empathy in a person's voice. It also keeps track of how often someone is speaking.
we make money not art: Gen-pets, by Canadian sculptor Adam Brandejs, consists of 19 plastic packages hung by hooks within a mock store set-up displaying streamlined, mass produced bio-engineered life. Each package consists of 3 layers of vacuum formed plastic surrounding a foam latex animatron: strange animals, grown and altered, by bioengineering, but obviously mammalian.
They are twitching, shaking, clawing, moaing and head-butting their packaging with twist ties to keep them held in place. Feeding tubes supply the creatures with nourishment, as well as electricity for the glowing "fresh strips" and fully working heart monitors.
Brandejs wants to emphasize that these are not plastic toys, but mass produced, copyrighted life; modified for consumption; life wired, up to serve. The animals have been deemed worthless and marketed as midrange children's toys. They are tethered for practicality, not for security, and the cables that bind them demonstrate their relationship of utter dependency and submission immediately upon birth. They are sleeping in their packages and complacently awaiting to join their new home as one more possession, a consumable form of technology, the latest and greatest.
The New York Times: A pear is just a pear, except when it is also a laser-coded information delivery system with advanced security clearance.
And that is what pears--not to mention organic apples, waxy cucumbers and delicate peaches--are becoming in some supermarkets around the country. A new technology being used by produce distributors employs lasers to tattoo fruits and vegetables with their names, identifying numbers, countries of origin and other information that helps speed distribution. The marks are burned onto the outer layer of the skin and are visible to discerning consumers and befuddled cashiers alike.
The process, government approved and called safe by the industry, may sound sinister. But it was designed with the consumer in mind: laser coding could mean the end of those tiny stubborn stickers that have to be picked, scraped or yanked off produce.
We Make Money Not Art: Digital Wardrobe, by Chantal Mora, tries to demonstrate how users might regain control of imposed technology systems (namely RFID) by harnessing it as a tool to track the transitory narratives in our daily fashion choices.
This system is made of an RFID tracking system, a database, and an interface. First, users take a picture of the garment, put an RFID tag to it and map the picture and the tag number in their database. When users get dressed and walk out the door, an RFID reader detects the tags in each piece of clothing and sends the information to the PC. Users can view the garment narrative on their PC: when the item was last worn, how it was accessorized, how much it cost and, according to how often the piece has been worn, what's the $ per use, etc.
Continuity Central: A Gartner report has highlighted five issues which are leading a paradigm shift in the way that organisations use and manage IT. Gartner believes that voice/data convergence; service-oriented architecture; IT utility; global sourcing; and the growth of open-source software are all combining to create a new approach to information technology.
"These five trends represent inevitable and irrevocable shifts in the information technology landscape," says David W. Cearley, a Gartner Research vice president. "In the face of such shifts IT decision-makers must ask — 'When do I have to face up to this, or end up left behind?'”. The same applies to business continuity managers, for where information technology leads, business continuity must follow. These five issues are all areas which BCMs must be fully aware of.
For an overview of the analysis, click here
For more details, visit Gartner
Yenra: Babble provides voice confidentiality and security of information in open-plan work environments.
"Babble is the first, true voice privacy device with powerful application in open spaces," said Sonare president Bill DeKruif. "It is a profound and proprietary technology that can be used either as a stand-alone solution or as part of a layered approach to sound management. Sound masking, or white noise technology, complements our new technology by diluting overall interior sound, while Babble provides voice privacy in the area immediately surrounding the user."
DeKruif explained that Babble provides true voice confidentiality by rearranging the phonemes of your voice and transmitting, in real time, with your spoken voice.
New Scientist: Are you a real grump in the mornings? Do you wake up every day feeling tired, embittered, aggrieved, and all too ready to hit the snooze button? If so, then a new alarm clock could be just for you.
The clock, called SleepSmart, measures your sleep cycle, and waits for you to be in your lightest phase of sleep before rousing you. Its makers say that should ensure you wake up feeling refreshed every morning.
As you sleep you pass through a sequence of sleep states - light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep - that repeats approximately every 90 minutes. The point in that cycle at which you wake can affect how you feel later, and may even have a greater impact than how long or little you have slept. Being roused during a light phase means you are more likely to wake up perky.
We Make Money Not Art: Aura is a prototype background communication device that aims to create a sense of emotional presence between two people who are separated by space or time.
An augmented sleeping mask records sleeping rhythms and infers an emotional state of the wearer. This information is transmitted to a remote location and mapped to musical selections in a music box that represents the remote partner.
The sleeping mask contains an electro-oculargram that detects eye movements typical of REM sleep. Data from the mask is used to grossly estimate whether or not the wearer has had a good night's sleep, which is in turn used to infer if he/she is in a good or bad mood the following day. This information is mapped to music compositions or selections that play inside the box. By opening it, the remote partner can listen to music that was composed from their loved one's previous night of sleep.
TechnologyReview: Cable television often boasts that it can deliver esoteric fare suiting nearly any taste. But it could be rendered obsolete by the likes of Bill Eason's hog cooking class.
The North Carolina cook's program -- self-described as an "all-day, whole hog class edited down to 45 minutes on how to find, select, prepare and serve whole hog from the man who cooks several hundred per year" -- will be available for a $1.99 download as early as next month on something called DaveTV.
It's the type of show -- niche programming to please any taste or whim -- we'll be seeing much more now that broadband Internet has finally become a more reliable conduit for the delivery of broadcast-quality video.
A number of startups are promoting this sort of "narrowcasting."
Theirs is a vision of a video universe of endless variety that will dwarf traditional television and pay-per-view offerings even as new players -- regional Bell phone companies among them -- emerge to vie for viewers with cable, satellite and other providers.
Technology Review: This month, NTT Labs, the research and development wing of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, plans to start conducting field trials for a radical new "human area networking" technology called RedTactont that uses the naturally-occurring electrical fields of human skin to transmit data.
The slim, PCMCIA-based RedTacton transceiver combines a an optical receiver circuit equipped with a super-sensitive photonic electrical field sensor and a crystal to transmit data over the surface of human body at up to 10 megabits per second between wearable devices.
Linked only by touch, the transceivers can also connect to similar transceivers worn by other users or embedded in any objects in real space, such as turnstiles or consumer electronics. Promising better security and far less interference than short-range wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and Near-Field Communications, RedTacton will likely be targeted for use in applications such as wireless headphones, wearable medical devices, security applications, and point-of-sale interactions.
We Make Money Not Art: SpotScents, developed by Yasuyuki Yanagida at the Media Information Science Laboratories in Japan, uses scent projectors to deliver localized odors to a human's nose through the air without requiring users to wear any special devices.
A scent projector is composed of an air cannon that launches vortex rings which can travel several meters. Because Scent Projectors emit only a small amount of scented air, different scents can be delivered within a short time frame without air conditioning equipment.
Possible application: at home people can enjoy movies or videogames featuring smell switching that corresponds to changes in scenes or advertisers could provide a series of short "scented" commercial messages to be broadcasted on TV, artists could add odors to multimodal pieces without worrying about mixing smells from adjacent works in an exhibit.
Future versions of SpotScents will closely combine the olfactory experience with audio/visual content, so users can feel the air of "the world beyond the screen."
Popgadget: A Spanish designer has come up with "Your Turn", a washing machine which uses fingerprint recognition technology to ensure the same person is not using it twice in a row.
"I thought it would be good to finish with macho man from the ice age who doesn't do anything around the house except drink beers," said Pep Torres was approached by a Spanish white goods manufacturer to come up with an innovative Father's Day gift (though I'd rather say it's a Mother's Day gift).
Your Turn requires both partners to register their fingerprints on the sensor while it is hooked up to their home computer.
When the sensor is then plugged into the washing machine, the software will only allow the wash programme to start if a different finger is placed on it each time.
BusinessWeek: Video-on-the-go has long been a dream of cell-phone companies worldwide. Carriers have spent the better part of a decade building networks capable of carrying fast video streams, partly in hopes of boosting profits by hooking customers on clips of pop singers and soccer goals. But just as those networks are starting to work well enough that consumers might actually want to tune in, new technologies are emerging that could steer eyeballs away from the services.
The new systems will allow broadcasters to beam programming to tiny screens on the move, using technology akin to today's TV rather than more expensive cellular networks. One of the most promising, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting -- or DMB for short -- will soon go live in
South Korea. On Mar. 28, Seoul awarded licenses to six broadcasters who will start DMB programming by mid-summer. Mobile couch potatoes will be able to watch everything from baseball games and soap operas to the evening news -- all for free -- on cellular handsets equipped with special chips, which Korean giants Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. have started producing. Once the rollout is underway, the Korean researchers who developed the technology hope to persuade Europe to adopt it before next year's World Cup soccer competition in Germany.
We Make Money Not Art: Erez Kikin-Gil 's Eco Pod is a TUI-controlled system that mimics the growth of a plant and allows children to keep track of their class garden and learn how the different natural elements influence it, and each other, over time.
One pod represents the wind, another the sun's heat, a third one the light and the last one represents the rain. Each pod can be manipulated with a movement or action characteristic of the natural element it represents. If you blow on the "wind" pod, you'll see on the computer screen the effect wind can have on a flower, if you pour water onto the "rain" pod, the flower will be watered as well, etc.
The Eco Pod keeps track of daily changes in the plant environment, by employing environmental sensors, they monitor the water level in the soil, the amount of light, the temperature, and the wind. The system also captures daily images of the plant.
Every now and then, the child can take the Eco-Pods to the information retrieval system and transfer the data to the "plant diary" software. This way, the kid can see the changes of the different elements over time, draw conclusions about their impact on the growth of the plant, but also internalize Systems Thinking concepts, such as feedback loops, stocks and flows, and changes over time.
CFO.com: When CFO began publishing, back in the primordial ooze of 1985, each issue contained a sizable amount of technology coverage. The editorial slant made sense. The arrival of IBM's original personal computer just a few years earlier, and the subsequent release of Lotus 1-2-3, had turned the finance function on its head. Suddenly liberated from the drudgery of manually tabulating figures, controllers and finance chiefs found they could close the books in days, not lunar cycles. Moreover, groundbreaking new programs like Quicken and Hardisk Accounting made rolling up columns into the general ledger a snap.
Not surprisingly, many, if not most, of the products we covered two decades ago seem quaint today. For instance, a mobile telephone that barely fits in the trunk of a car hardly qualifies as mobile now; likewise, a 28-pound Compaq Portable computer isn't all that portable. Nevertheless, a number of the first-generation products we've reported on over the years — accounting software, laptop computers, and, later, E-mail and enterprise resource planning software — have become standard operating equipment in the office of the 21st century.
What will be the revolutionary technologies of the next 20 years? As any futurist will admit, there's simply no clear answer. Experts say exponentially faster processors, coupled with a vastly improved communications network, could usher in the era of pervasive computing. It could just as easily usher in an era of pervasive irritability, as information overload becomes commonplace. Wild cards such as nanotechnology and phenotropics (software) may take things in completely unexpected directions.
That said, we decided to read the tea leaves and predict which innovations will radically transform commerce over the next two decades. Of course, we also consulted with analysts, scientists, and CIOs. While all had differing opinions on what the next big things will be, a few technologies kept coming up in our conversations, and we settled on those. Not content merely to identify the technologies, we also forecast the years when they will be widely adopted. (If we're wrong, talk to us in 2025.)
New York Times: A knitted bag holds a weakened heart, helping it pump blood.
Electricity flows through the threads of a battery-powered fleece jacket, keeping the wearer warm. Carbon fibers are braided into structures that look like mushrooms, but are actually prototypes of automotive engine valves.
Other fibers are shaped into bicycle frames and sculling oars.
Textiles are no longer just the stuff of clothing, carpets and furniture covering.
Made of high-tech threads, they can also be found in lifesaving medical devices and the bodies of racing cars. One architect is proposing building a skyscraper out of carbon fibers.
we make money not art: Toyota is working with Stanford University and Affective Media for a few years to create a car that can read your feelings.
The Pod concept car has headlights that fade from bright to dull and change color to indicate happy, sad or angry moods, depending on the driver's mood.
Affective Media CEO, Christian Jones, says the car would be able to detect, for example, if the driver is stressed about running late and tell them the best possible route.
"It would give certain information that would help. If they were in a hurry, the car would work out the safer, faster route instead of, perhaps, a scenic route," he explained. "The in-car voice would talk to you in an attempt to improve the state of your mood." Other mood improvers could include playing soothing music.
It would also be able to detect whether the driver was drowsy by identifying signs such as quiet, flat speech, and could then trigger an alarm to rouse the driver.
Jones believed the car could be on roads within three or four years.
Shiny Shiny: Think back to all those times when your MP3 player / Phone / PDA has run out of battery with no plug sockets nearby to charge it back up. This $200 solar-powered bag solves the problem. The solar panel on the front charges up in sunlight (or indoors if you've got a couple more hours to spare) and then you have portable power for all your gadgetry needs. What it lacks in style it makes up for in ingenuity, and you easily make back the initial cost after you've used it for about 6 months. Get it from Solar Style.
TechnologyReview.com: Giant Jimmy Jones is a friendly, helpful giant. In fact, this book character is so helpful, he can make the sun shine on an otherwise gray village. The giant simply walks across the page, reaches up to the cloud cover and pushes it out of the sun's way so the villagers can catch some rays.
Those light rays may be virtual, but the book this scene pops out of is not.
Using augmented reality (AR), the technology behind the interactive version of Giant Jimmy Jones, New Zealand author Gavin Bishop recently collaborated with Mark Billinghurst and his colleagues at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) to turn the book into not only a storytelling device, but also a storytelling experience.
A child can flip through its pages and read it like a conventional book. But with a handheld display and computer vision tracking technology, the child can watch the story literally come to life.
we make money not art: Scientists are studying ants behaviour to help solve technical problems.
An ant can work out the quickest way from A to B more efficiently than a boffin with a computer. It bases its behaviour on pheromone trails laid down by its nest-mates. So now human communications networks are often based on virtual pheromone trails.
Nigel Franks, of the University of Bristol, keeps ant colonies in plastic boxes, and paints his ants different colours so he can watch what each one does.
"Army ant colonies are huge, so they have real traffic-flow problems, but it seems that evolution has programmed them with exactly the right rules of motorist behaviour so that they automatically form lanes." (...) "the ants that are unburdened, that are running out to the swarm-front to find new prey-items, can run more quickly because they're not carrying anything, and they form two express lanes on either side of the main trail, whereas all the ants coming back with food take a central lane."
we make money not art: New York is testing a trash can that uses solar power to sense when it is full and automatically compact the garbage inside. When the can is full, a red indicator light goes on and it can even send out a wireless call for a pickup.
The BigBelly can's tryout began February 14 in Chinatown and then was moved to Tribeca on February 28.
The company claims that the system can reduce trash to a quarter of its original size, so less pickups would be required, cutting down on the diesel fuel used by collection trucks.
IHT.com:The primarily amateur Internet audio medium known as podcasting took a small, hopeful step on Friday toward becoming the commercial Web's next big thing.
That step was taken by Odeo, a five-person start-up that is based in a walk-up apartment in the Mission District of San Francisco and was co-founded by a Google alumnus. The company plans to introduce a Web-based system that is aimed at making a business of podcasting - the process of creating, finding, organizing and listening to digital audio files that range from living-room ramblings to BBC newscasts.
Audio files on the Internet are nothing new, of course. But the recent proliferation of iPods and other portable devices for storing and playing audio files has created a mobile audience on whom podcasters are counting to listen to much more than downloaded songs and the occasional audio book. In the United States alone there are more than 11 million people with portable digital audio players.
eCoustics.com: iFun, Jazz¡¦s latest USB mobile theater, is especially designed for women and young-aged notebook users. With its compact size, stylish shape and fancy color, iFun features not only its hi-tech design but also easiness to carry with your notebook; it is also thanks to its USB bus power so that no external adapter is required. No doubt iFun is always your best partner when traveling ¡Bmeeting and enjoying entertainment.
iFun consists of one driver for each speaker and adopts the latest Xear 3D technology to provide 5.1 CH virtual effect and adjustable EQ (equalizer) such as Jazz, Rap, Rock, Live and so on. Moreover, the software is very user-friendly; you may create various kinds of listening models which suit your own style. Just clicking the buttons, the superb software tools are ready for you.
Wired News: Picture an Elmo or Winnie the Pooh plush doll that knows a child's name and favorite food, and tells stories and sings songs incorporating such personal details. Or a new version of Furby that recognizes voices and reacts with emotions from surprise to dismay, and responds to specific words a child says.
These electronic toys, which make a child's play more interactive and personal, are among the products manufacturers are betting on to help them reclaim sales lost since 2003 to grown-up gadgets like iPod music players.
"Kids tend to remember experiences that are personalized," said Reyne Rice, a toy trend specialist for the Toy Industry Association, the industry trade group.
RFID in Japan: A bit late for this year's valentine's day but Nippon COMSYS Corporation and Mary's Chocolate co-developed a technology for printing 2D barcodes (QR Code) on the surface of chocolates. This technology could be used to allow consumers to access a website by taking a picture of a chocolate using their mobile phones. At the moment, QR codes can only be printed on white chocolates. Note that QR codes themselves are also made of chocolate so you don't have to spit it out. It's soft, but I put this entry in the hardware category.
Seattle dBusinessNews:Ecuity, Inc.,a leading enhanced Voice over Internet communications company serving the small-to-medium business and residential markets, and Azatel Communications, a manufacturer of integrated SIP and MGCP related products, announced the joint development of Voice over Dial Up service. This partnership will, for the first time, bring the innovative benefits and cost-savings of VoIP to the currently underserved residential and small business markets that have not switched to broadband Internet access.
Over the past few months, Ecuity has worked in concert with Azatel to develop appropriate technology to bring VoIP to home and small business users with dialup internet access. In order to reduce latency of the dial-up network infrastructure, Ecuity has completed a substantial rebuild of the associated components related to the authorization and accounting of dial up Internet users.
As a result of its success in delivering cutting edge Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to customers nationwide, Ecuity’s subsidiary Ecuity Advanced Communications was named to the 2004 "Pulver 100" - which is the VoIP industry's premiere listing of companies that represent the future of the communications industry.
BusinessWeek: Welcome to 2005, the year the high-tech industry does...something. Truth is, you won't find an awful lot of agreement on how things will turn out for tech this year. The most enthusiastic of forecasters say capital spending growth on tech could hit double-digits this year, while more dour Wall Street analysts say that's just plain bunk.
Certainly, plenty of excitement surrounds consumer technologies like liquid crystal and plasma TVs and wireless technologies like Wi-Fi. But for every high hope, there's a gloomy forecast of weak corporate spending and merger failures or continuing price pressure from China.
The Register: A US firm specialising in metadata for music files is working with a voice recognition company to enable voice-controlled music devices for use where hand control is impractical.
Gracenote is working with voice recognition specialist ScanSoft and early products will be aimed at Japan.
Ross Blanchard, a Gracenote veep, said voice recognition would make devices easier to use: "For example, these applications will radically change the car entertainment experience, allowing drivers to enjoy their entire music collections without ever taking their eyes off the road."
Alan Schwartz, vice president of SpeechWorks, a division of ScanSoft, said speech is a "natural fit for today's consumer devices, particularly in mobile environments, and the increasing portability of large libraries of music and video files make speech a necessary interface for safety and convenience for entertainment devices."
Apart from allowing navigation around songs the technology will also allow you to ask for music by genre, ask for more information about a song or even hear similar tunes.
DailyCandy: There's something really, really gross in your bathroom.
Something that harbors millions of micro-organisms and tons of bacteria. A seething hotbed of icky contaminants.
It's your toothbrush (ew!), and, we hate to tell you, but it really ought to be cleaner. It can be — with the help of Violight, a new toothbrush sanitizer designed by Philippe Starck. Using UV rays (the same technology used by hospitals and doctors), it purports to kill 99.9 percent of the nastiness currently infesting your scrubby little friend. Just drop the sucker in head down, and let the sleek receptacle do its work. For ten minutes it glows a soothing shade of blue and then automatically shuts itself off.
We Make Money Not Art: Oren Horev , Myriel Milicevic (who had worked also on the Zone project) and Marcos Weskamp designed the Amazing All-Band Radio, three innocent-looking devices that allow users to hunt short, medium and long radio waves from the comfort of their home.
The antenna of the Microwave Boombox captures the high-frequency signals of wireless communication devices and translates them into sound (pictures above).
Radio Radio tunes into different wavelengths physically, by extending the string-antenna. The longer the string the higher the wave frequency.
Reuters: It may only be a matter of time before we will be using our shirts to charge our cellphones.
Researchers at the University of Toronto have invented a flexible plastic solar cell that is said to be five times more efficient than current methods in converting energy from the sun into electrical energy.
Team leader Ted Sargent, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the university, said the cell harnesses infrared light from the sun and can form a flexible film on the surface of cloth, paper or other materials.
And the film can turn 30 percent of the sun's power into usable electrical energy -- a far better performance than the 6 percent gleaned from the best plastic solar cells now in use.
Wired News: Any geek worthy of the moniker has dreamed of connecting his or her brain directly to a computer for blissful freedom from keyboard and mouse. For quadriplegics, that ability would give life a whole new dimension.
If people with physical handicaps could control a computer by just thinking, they could also operate light switches, television, even a robotic arm -- something the 160,000 people in the United States who can't move their arms and legs would surely welcome.
Work in that brain-computer interface, or BCI, technology has ramped up considerably in the past five years. More than half of the scientific papers on the topic were published in just the past two years. Also, by connecting their patients' brains directly to a computer, researchers have seen improvement in patients' ability to control a cursor.
Cyberkinetics is leading research on BCIs in the private sector. Last year the company enrolled its first patient, Matthew Nagle, in a clinical trial to test its BrainGate system. From his wheelchair, Nagle can now open e-mail, change TV channels, turn on lights, play video games like Tetris and even move a robotic hand, just by thinking.
Wired News: Delicious Monster is the Mac software company behind the hit Delicious Library, a program for cataloging collections of books, movies and games. The software is selling like hot cakes and has garnered rave reviews and awards, yet the company's headquarters is a Seattle coffee house.
Co-founded by graphic designer Mike Matas and programmer Wil Shipley, the company's first title, Delicious Library, was launched in November 2004. It generated $250,000 worth of sales in its first month, and the company has a crowded, popular booth here at Macworld.
LinuxElectrons: As memory modules have evolved from slower single data rate (SDR) solutions to double data rate (DDR), the need for increasingly precise signal control has led to the increased use of registers. To address this design need, Royal Philips Electronics today announced a new family of high-speed registers for memory-intensive applications such as high-end servers and advanced computing.
Optimized for DDR2 DIMM loads, the new registers maximize DDR2 registered memory module performance by precisely controlling the signals going to each DRAM on the module.
The memory module market is evolving toward the higher DDR2 speeds, a trend that requires registers to be optimized for speed and signal integrity. Many millions of DDR2 modules will be manufactured in 2005, and a significant percentage of them will be registered modules. Philips’ registers are ideal for customers who require advanced and reliable performance, as they offer the highest speeds available with 1.8ns maximum propagation delay time (tPD), thereby exceeding industry standards for improved margin and high-speed operation. Two of the new devices also feature a parity checking function for increased reliability.
“As the performance requirements of workstations and servers increase, memory manufacturers need to develop solutions that operate at ever-faster speeds,” said Pierre-Yves Lesaicherre, general manager, Interface Products Business Line at Philips Semiconductors. “Designed to help computing companies and module makers meet this requirement, Philips’ new registers set the bar in terms of speed, signal integrity and feature innovation.”
RFID in Japan: A recent article on Mainichi Shimbun discusses uses of near-future technologies including RFID. It argues that RFID tags can enhance the safety of the elderly and the handicapped at pedestrian crossings. The scenario goes as follows:
The elderly and the handicapped receive RFID tags whose information is registered in a database. They wear the tags on their chests when they go out. When they come close to a traffic light that is equipped with a sensor device, the computer that controls the light can recognize the RFID tags, change its state to a green light and make sure that it doesn't change until they finish crossing a street. Such a system may reduce certain kinds of traffic accidents.
Sounds to me like a good idea, but will this scheme actually work? I know it doesn't if everyone has such RFID tags...
Burnside Telecom, a developer of innovative landline and cellular communications equipment, today confirmed that its Desktop Mobile would be 'ideal' for business users who have signed up for mobile phone tariffs such as Vodafone Sharetime, a service plan which offers users shared minutes and free calls across a group of mobile phones.
The Desktop Mobile is perfect for any office that makes and receives calls from mobile phones, since the device can offer phone, SMS text, and Internet/e-mail communications via the worldwide GSM/GPRS network. Not only will the Desktop Mobile cut the costs of calls to mobiles by as much as 60%, it will also enable subscribers to use new mobile tariffs like Vodafone's Sharetime scheme to phone their mobile workers for free, subject to the mobile operator's terms and conditions.
Gizmodo: Just like 8-tracks were easier to deal with than vinyl and CDs were easier to deal with than cassette tapes, it's become apparent to everyone that MP3s and FLACs and OGGs are all easier to lug around than a stack of CDs. Whether you're carrying around burned DVDs, thumb drives shaped like bunnies, luscious iPods, or a 250 gig FireWire drive, we are to the point where the need to lug crates of stuff around is a relic.
Most of their major label music in CD format, or at least has a huge library from before the days of cheap broadband downloads—add to that the hundreds of albums worth of plastic and oxidizing metal sitting around which we plan on getting around to re-digitizing in our spare time. But who has that spare time, besides those who have time for reading tech reviews? (It's okay; you're multitasking.) You don't want to get up to fetch more discs to rip. Wouldn't it be nice to have that taken care of for you?
How about paying someone to do it? That's the idea behind RipDigital.
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geeksugar: RedLaser scans barcodes using the iPhone's camera and uses Google search to compare prices. Unlike the free scanners that have been receiving less-than-stellar reviews in the App Store, RedLaser, which costs $2, has superior software for better product recognition. In the event it doesn't recognize the barcode, you can also manually enter the product's UPC code. Plus, keep a list of scanned products for future reference. 
Retained sponge incidents jeopardize hospital reputation and cause catastrophes for staff and patients. Today, one in every 1,000 to 1,500 intra-abdominal surgeries results in a sponge left behind in the patient. The SmartSponge System, the only RFID-based system currently on the market, has multiple components that interact with the RFID tags in its sponges. 
Rfid-Ready.com: Dutch active RFID provider Ambient Systems and Information Highway Group (IHG), the Spanish RFID system integrator, have conducted a successful project with Bionest, the largest Spanish organic strawberry producer, and with one of Germany’s largest retailers. 
Two long-time runners, good friends and entrepreneurs were fed up with stuffing money and ID’s uncomfortably into their running sneakers. When ingenuity and technology took over the duo became the brainchild behind a new product called 
Ananova: A Japanese lingerie firm has unveiled the perfect gadget for eco-friendly sun worshippers - the solar-powered bra.
Earlier we read about 
Crave: For consistent 15 percent tipsters living in municipalities with a 7.5 percent dining tax, generating the perfect 15 percent tip is as simple as doubling the tax. If that's not you, Oh Arithmetic-Challenged One, you've got a bum deal. (See below for a quick computational technique.)
Business Edge: If you've ever stood in front of your closet trying to figure out what to wear for an important meeting, a new high-tech wardrobe invention might be just the thing for you.
CoolHunting: Taking advantage of the fact that digital cameras see a broader spectrum of light (i.e they see more colors) than human eyes Kameraflage takes digital photography to a new level. Engineering text or designs in these invisible colors into objects creates displays that are invisible to the naked eye yet can be seen when imaged with a digital camera. Potential applications include everything from clothing to billboards, and even movies.
FutureWire: The ability to direct and transmit electrical power through the air, without wires, took a further step from the theoretical to the practical in June when a group of MIT researchers demonstrated their "WiTricity" concept.
Cool Hunting: If you don't like to rough it, can't do without the conveniences of home, or just need a base camp to recharge your camera or MP3 player after a day on the trail, the Eureka N!ergy tents have three 12-volt plugs to charge your accessories. A concealed wiring system strategically places glowing outlets throughout the tent for easy access. Hook up a fan on warm nights, a reading light, alarm clock, DVD player, perhaps a computer. The only downside is that you need the Eureka E Power Pak, a portable and rechargeable battery source, which is sold separately.
Crave: The way the particles land on a given credit card magnetic stripe are as unique as individual snow flakes or human fingerprints. So says a Magtek, a company that has developed a product, MagnePrint, for recording the unique magnetic media signature for all credit and debit cards scanned through its readers. The first scan by a MagnePrint reader creates a template against which all subsequent scans are compared.
Iconoculture: They're just concept phones for now, but we're guessing the idea could be reused: ModeLabs has created a series of concept phones that run off sustainable energy sources. 
LATimes.com: Baker came up with the kiosk idea a couple of years ago. He had just kicked off a $3-million building drive, but noticed that few people seemed to keep cash in their wallet anymore for the collection bag.
Atiz Innovation: What if you could digitize any book you want with just the push of a button and without having to go through the tedious process of turning the pages manually?
Yanko Design: These days, more and more people are enjoying the habit of drinking wine because they find this habit healthy. In the future, life will be rich so that common people will enjoy wine. Since how one keeps wine determines the taste and the smell, preserving wine will become more important. Coming from this point of view, we designed a digital wine cellar which keeps wine and also act as a decoration in the house. Function-wise, this machine adjusts temperature according to different kinds of wine, indicates quantity of wine bottles, and controls air circulating up, down and sideways within the wine cellar. Also, interior lighting function is added, so that this conceptual preservation machine can not only keep wine fresh but also act as a decoration.
Tech Digest: Technology and golf have never really crossed paths. Check trousers, a Ronnie Corbett sweater, some clubs, balls and a bag - that's been sufficient for years. So why not ruffle a few feathers in the clubhouse with something very 2006 - the Soldius Solar golf bag.
Mainichi: Aging is the name of the game when it comes to fine wine. Top producers mature their brews in oak barrels; connoisseurs will keep a bottle in the cellar for years so they can savor the complex bouquet at its peak.
CScout: By connecting the real world with information from the Internet, users can explore geographical spaces with the eye of an insider. There is a huge variety of technologies which can be used to enable visitors to find their way around the globe. So far, most applications are used to tour museums, tourist sights or foreign cities. The most obvious applications are audio tour guides, recorded to CD or downloadable to cell phones, iPods and PDA’s. New online tools enable users to tag certain locations with special barcodes which let interested visitors retrieve the hidden information with their cellphones.
BBC News: The contents of a woman's handbag have long remained a mystery - often even to the owner - but a new design offers to shine a light on the problem.
PSFK: The End of Shopping is here. The barcode scanning technology, mentioned in that Times article Guy touched on, actually exists and If you have a camera phone and either T-Mobile or Cingular, you can download the software for free and start scanning for the lowest price around. This is how scan-commerce works, after you download the software from ScanZoom, you take a picture of the barcode on the product you want to bargain hunt. SCANBUY, the creators of this new technology, also plan to include price comparisons of other brick and mortar shops in your locale and they will even beam you driving directions. Shopping 2.0: Shop until your camera phone drops. 
we make money not art: NEC has developed a 0.3-millimeter (0.012-inch) thick, foldable battery to be used in cards or clothes, leading to new possibilities such as people walking through ticket gates with fare passes in their pockets.
We Make Money Not Art: SpotScents, developed by Yasuyuki Yanagida at the Media Information Science Laboratories in Japan, uses scent projectors to deliver localized odors to a human's nose through the air without requiring users to wear any special devices. 
Popgadget: A Spanish designer has come up with "Your Turn", a washing machine which uses fingerprint recognition technology to ensure the same person is not using it twice in a row.
We Make Money Not Art: Erez Kikin-Gil 's Eco Pod is a TUI-controlled system that mimics the growth of a plant and allows children to keep track of their class garden and learn how the different natural elements influence it, and each other, over time.
The Eco Pod keeps track of daily changes in the plant environment, by employing environmental sensors, they monitor the water level in the soil, the amount of light, the temperature, and the wind. The system also captures daily images of the plant. ![story.pod[1]](http://www.coolbusinessideas.com/image/story.pod[1])
DailyCandy: There's something really, really gross in your bathroom.
We Make Money Not Art: Oren Horev , Myriel Milicevic (who had worked also on the Zone project) and Marcos Weskamp designed the Amazing All-Band Radio, three innocent-looking devices that allow users to hunt short, medium and long radio waves from the comfort of their home.