Recycling Grandma’s Replacement Parts
An employee of OrthoMetals separates parts for recycling on a conveyer belt in a warehouse in Zwolle, eastern Netherlands, on Nov. 14. Imperishable body parts are recovered from the ashes of cremated people, and precious metals are also recovered by the crematoria and offered to the family or placed in the urn. (Peter Dejong / AP) Continue reading »
Want to Join the Jet Set? Water-Powered Jetpack Propels Fliers up to 30ft into the Air… but it still Costs $230 a Go
For years their use has been limited to the rich and famous or wealthy James Bond enthusiasts.
But walking on water with a jetpack is now one step closer thanks to a device which uses water from the ocean to propel users across the waves.
The $94,000 Jetlev uses jet stream technology to propel fliers up to 30ft in the air by sucking up water in a huge hose from the ocean and blasting it back out of the pack.
Flying without wings: The Jetlev jetpack propels fliers up to 30ft into the air by sucking up ocean water and powering it back through the pack. (Chris Parsons / Mail Online) Continue reading »
NASA Releases Sharpest Ever Moon Map
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) science team has released the highest resolution near-global topographic map of the Moon ever created. Though the Moon is the Earth’s closest neighbor, yet knowledge of its morphology is still limited. “Due to the limitations of previous missions, a global map of the Moon’s topography at high resolution has not existed until now,” said NASA while releasing the map.
LRO’s Wide Angle Camera and the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter instrument will help scientists portray the shape of the entire Moon at high resolution accurately.
Click image to zoom.
Tiny Critter Becomes a Big Wheel
An extreme close-up of a type of rotifer known as Floscularia ringens has won first prize in the 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition, which showcases photos and movies of life science subjects. The image was the top selection out of more than 2,000 entries in this year’s contest — and it earned the photographer, Charles Krebs, $5,000 worth of Olympus imaging equipment.
NASA: Spectacular Images from Space – Galaxy Encounter, Flooding Thailand, and 12-Billion-Year-Old Stars
This NASA MODIS Rapid Response Team image obtained November 4, 2011 shows dust as it blew over the Gulf of Alaska in early November 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on November 2, 2011. Blowing toward the south-southwest, the dust plume remains discernible for roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles). The dust emerges from the Copper River Valley, which zigzags through the glacier-rich Chugach Mountains. The slow movement of glaciers over bedrock grinds the rock into glacial flour. This fine sediment is easily lofted into the air by winds blowing through mountain valleys. This image also shows swirls of iridescent green in the waters along the shore. The bright green probably results from sediment and phytoplankton. Dust can fertilize phytoplankton, prompting big blooms, but the microscopic organisms also thrive in high-latitude seas especially near coastlines, without dust. (Jeff Schmaltz / NASA via AFP – Getty Images) Continue reading »
Inside Opower’s Arlington Office: A robot, a Scooter and Many, Many Couches
Anybot at rest at Opower‘s Arlington office. (Jeffrey MacMillan / For Capital Business) Continue reading »
The Wizard of Robots
Virginia Tech professor Dennis Hong has made an international name for himself — and Tech — by inventing humanoid robots whose abilities defy imagination.
Hong, director of Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, squares off against CHARLI-2 on the field. Designing a robot that can find and kick a soccer ball is believed to be the ultimate challenge in robot design. (Dustin Fenstermacher / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) Continue reading »
iPad2 Halloween Costume
A description of a relatively simple Halloween costume using 2 iPad2s to make it look like you have a huge hole in your torso. You’ll also need a MiFi hotspot (if you don’t have a WiFi network available where you want to use the costume). Basically you start a FaceTime chat between the iPads and then tape one to your front and one to your back. Add a little red paint and you’re good to go. It’s supposed to look like you have a gaping hole in your torso. If you spend more time than I did on the blood and the flesh part and lining up the iPads it could look pretty cool.
The Other Me
Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro (right) sits next to the Geminoid HI-2 robot, a tele-operated robot that looks exactly like himself in Kyoto, Japan. Ishiguro is director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University. (Barcroft Media)
NASA Turns to Exploring Our Planet With a New 3D Map
Mount Whitney, California; The 3D map is produced from images taken by the ASTER camera aboard Nasa’s Terra spacecraft. The 3D effect is created by taking ‘stereo pairs’ of two slightly offset images. Continue reading »
World’s Most Expensive Campervan Up For Sale
The Marchi Mobile EleMMent Palazzo is the world’s most expensive motorhome, up for sale with a price tag of $3 000 000. Continue reading »
eBay And Jonathan Adler Launch The Inspiration Shop In NYC
A general view of the eBay and Jonathan Adler Inspiration Shop on Park Avenue on October 20, 2011 in New York City. (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images North America) Continue reading »
Robotic Exoskeletons Help The Paralyzed Walk Again
Engineer Thomas Dwyer exhibits the new Bionic Exoskeleton with Amanda Boxtel, who is paralyzed, during its launch at the Excel Centre in London. The bionic device developed by Ekso Bionics is a wearable, battery-powered, robotic exoskeleton, designed to aid wheelchair users and those who have suffered from spinal chord injuries to stand and walk. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) Continue reading »
Steve Jobs iPhone 4 Hard Case Covers on Sale. WTF?
iPhone 4 hard case cover with portrait of Steve Jobs are on sale on October 9, 2011 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China. (ChinaOut) Continue reading »
A Piano Playing Robot
The world’s fastest piano player has been unveiled – a robot with nineteen fingers. The robot – called Teotronico – has nineteen digits because it is the exact number needed to play any melody or song. Teotronico’s robotic hand technology enables him to play the piano faster than any human possibly could. He can also distinguish between the speed of key change as well as play a drum machine and sing – the only robot in the world who can do all those things at the same time. (Paul Andrews / PacificCoastNews) Continue reading »
Police Find Semi-Submersible Watercraft Intended for Cocaine Smuggling in Colombia
Police officers walk next to a seized homemade fiberglass semi-submersible during a presentation to the press in Puerto Escondido, Colombia, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. According to police, the semi-submersible was seized from drug traffickers during an operation in Puerto Escondido Monday. (William Fernando Martinez / AP) Continue reading »
“Passing Cloud” Reimagines What 21st Century Travel Can Be
Architect Tiago Barros proposes an intriguing new travel concept that would really slow things down: “The Passing Cloud.”
For those who saw the Pixar hit “Up,” the concept may sound familiar. Passengers float up into the sky and drift over the Earth. In a world where everything operates at hyper-speeds, Barros has come up with a luxurious form of slow travel: a giant inflatable cloud that can travel from place to place, riding on the predominant winds. Oddly enough, the design proposal was an entry in a competition for a high-speed rail network, called Life at the Speed of Rail, promoted by the Department of Cultural affairs of New York City. Continue reading »
Richard Branson and US Officials Dedicate Space Terminal
British billionaire Richard Branson pops open a bottle of champagne while abseiling down the exterior of the hangar facility at Spaceport America, northeast of Truth Or Consequences, on October 17, 2011 in New Mexico. Branson was on hand to host guests and media at the Keys To A New Dawn event, for the dedication of Virgin Galactic’s new home at Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport in southern New Mexico, where the Spaceport America Terminal Hangar Facility will serve as the operating hub for Virgin Galactic and is expected to house two WhiteKnightTwos and five SpaceShipTwos, in addition to all of Virgin’s astronaut preparation facilities and mission control. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) Continue reading »
Evolution of The Planet of the Apes
The latest version of the Planet of the Apes doesn’t depart from the franchise’s apocalyptic outlook, but it does make the earlier efforts look technically dated.
Planet of the Apes (1968). The original Planet of the Apes film, starring Charlton Heston as the time-displaced astronaut Taylor, was an immediate box office and critical hit when it was released in February 1968. Based on the French novel, La planete des singes, by Pierre Boulle (who also wrote Bridge over the River Kwai) it tells the story of group of astronauts who crash land on what they think is an alien planet, only to discover it’s a post apocalyptic Earth ruled by apes. The script, originally penned by science fiction legend Rod Serling, underwent many rewrites. Continue reading »
Alien Hunter: World’s Biggest Telescope will be Built in Chile
The European Extremely Large Telescope, also known as the alien hunter, will be the world’s largest optical telescope. Its mirror alone will be 137 feet wide, half the size of a regular football field.
The whole structure will weigh 2,800 tonnes, making it the heaviest of all telescopes as well. It will gather 13 times more light than existing earthbound telescopes and can even provide images 16 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope’s. European astronomers took years to decide on the final design of the alien hunter telescope.
“At the end of the three-year final design study, we will know exactly how everything is going to be built, including a detailed costing,” said Catherine Cesarsky, the European Southern Observatory’s director general. “We then hope to start construction and have it ready by 2017, when we can install instruments and use it.”
The E-ELT will find its home in Chile, where Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno signed an accord with the European Southern Observatory. The Chilean government will donate 189 acres of land around the Cerro Armazones mountain. And in return, they will have 10 percent of the observing time on the huge telescope.
Construction will begin in early 2012 and the target year for operation is in 2018. The revolutionary telescope is designed to see the deepest parts of the universe and provide clear images of planets, stars and other galaxies.
This architectural concept drawing of ESO’s planned European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) shows the world’s largest planned optical telescope gazing heavenwards. Slated to begin operations early in the next decade, the E-ELT will tackle the biggest scientific challenges of our time. (IBITImes/Swinburne Astronomy Production) Continue reading »
Solar-powered Catamaran Makes a Stop in Singapore
The MS Turanor PlanetSolar yacht arrives in Singapore for a stop on its global tour on October 12. PlanetSolar is the largest solar powered boat in the world and hopes to be the first to circumnavigate the world’s oceans in a 22,000 mile two-year odyssey. (Stephen Morrison / EPA) Continue reading »
Wifi Dowsing Rod
Today’s technology advances at such a speed that consumers are often left in awe of it all. The high tech terminology, the ultra small, ultra portable, metallic or white devices we carry around with us are, to the vast amount of consumers, simply baffling. The Wifi Dowsing Rod aims to work against this. By basing the design for a wireless Internet detector on century’s old technology, the user feels immediately at home with the product, whilst feeling less intimidated by the simple shape and natural materials. Project by Mike Thompson. Continue reading »
Steve Jobs’s Top 5 Hits in Pop Culture
1. The 1984 ad (1984) The spot that introduced the Apple Macintosh aired only once, on Jan. 22, 1984, during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. People haven’t stopped talking about it since. Envisioning a hellish dystopian future (or was it the present?) of drones under the thumb of a televised Big Brother, the Ridley Scott-directed ad brought on a hot Valkyrie with a hammer to smash through the screen and liberate the masses. What did this have to do with computers? Not much, but it established once and for all the terms of home computing’s dominant rivalry: fascist PCs vs. freedom-fighting Macs. The Apple board got cold feet about showing the ad at the last minute, but Jobs and cofounder Steve Wozniak held firm. In 1999, TV Guide called it the number one commercial of all time. (Ty Burr / The Boston Globe) Continue reading »
Apple Futureshock
Concept video showing off the applications behind Apple’s “Futureshock” Knowledge Navigator concept device from 1987. Siri was here.
China Prepares to Launch Its First Space Laboratory Module Tiangong-1
A Long March 2F rocket carrying Tiangong-1, China’s first unmanned space module, stands at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on September 28, 2011 in Jiuquan, Gansu Province of China. Tiangong-1,a small unmanned space lab, will be launched at 21:19 (Beijing time) on September 29, 2011, and will attempt a docking procedure with a Shenzhou 8 spacecraft later in the mission. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac) Continue reading »
