Archive for June, 2008
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
The Beijing Olympics will soon begin, but Chinese authorities are pretty concerned because more and more athletes are disappointed in the poor air quality found around the Chinese capital. The local administration has been trying to prompt the government to enact a myriad of odd new measures to decrease pollution.
The guys over at DVICE suggest that the latest design coming from Jamie Tomkins in the form of the 2020 hybrid bicycle might help improve the air quality in Beijing and other polluted locations all over the world. This bicycle was actually mocked up as a concept vehicle a couple of years ago for a GE Plastics Automotive competition. Tomkins came up with a bike designed specifically to address China’s pollution problems.
In order to keep a low price, the vehicle should be built from cheap metals and plastics. Apparently, it also comes with some electric motor. The futuristic design is supposed to be appealing for Chinese motorists. While the bicycle remains a feasible concept, it can’t provide clean air for the rider. In this case, they should also come up with a special helmet providing some sort of breathing system to protect the rider from the existent pollution. Better yet, they could make some electric Smart-like cars and price them accordingly.
Posted in Green Gadgets | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
Since you managed to by a futuristic-looking home entertainment system, you can’t really match it with boring pieces of furniture. I can’t help you with sofas and the like, but I can recommend a cool table for you. Check out this luminescent table.
<-234x60 Half Banner - left->The designers say it’s almost like an art form which features an intriguing combination of three-dimensional arrays of interactive color movements controlled in real-time by the environment within the glassy structure.
The futuristic table is manufactured from the highest quality materials, and is scalable by design to any required size. It includes an embedded solid-state control system that is able to provide a reliable and maintenance-free interactive and responsive control. You may also switch the table to a ‘generative art’ mode where it uses fractal algorithms to create an intriguing and perpetually shifting pattern of colored luminescent elements.
In order to create a virtually boundless sense of space, the designers used all ort of glassy materials. Thus, the colored patterns do not appear to be physically confined of the white glass box. A three-dimensional matrix of individually controlled globes of light extends in each direction, controlled interactively by the movement of people and objects around the table.
I’m not sure if they will ever commercialize this table. Judging from the materials used, it might set you back even more money than you home entertainment system.
Posted in Electronic Gadgets | No Comments »
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Nowadays, a tech nerd would be surrounded by a multitude of electronic devices that come with remote controls. Players, recorders, TVs, audio systems, HTPCs, TV tuners, not to mention the more domestic ones, like the air conditioner and mechanized shades… all of these plus many others could transform you into a remote control collector in no time. The market gives you all sorts of universal remotes, but most of these are stuffed with buttons upon buttons, requiring much time to learn and program all the needed options.
<-125x125 Button - right->Yanko Design presents the “sPult†channel surfer by Yurii Smitana Perfilov as a good example of one device that combines simplicity with an elegant look and feel. sPult strips away all the redundant buttons we are used to seeing on the usual universal remotes, and includes just the essentials. The designer admits he got inspired a bit by the iPod’s scroll wheel, as this sleek remote comes with an interesting zapping method that facilitates channel surfing. Along with Yurii’s take on the scroll wheel, you will also find a simple favorites selector, plus some buttons including the volume up/down, mute and power buttons.
I can’t quite figure out how big this remote is. It looks sort of bulky, but it’s really sleek. Maybe we’ll see this design getting commercialized soon.
Posted in Electronic Gadgets | No Comments »
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Amputees are getting more and more attention these days. We’ve seen some advanced mechanical arms and legs, plus that cool robotic arm controlled by human mind. Now, engineer Jerome Rifkin comes up with an advanced leg.
Its’ known as the Tensegrity foot and it’s designed to mimic the action of a jointed foot to allow for a more natural and stable gait. The artificial foot bends like a normal foot and ankle, and conforms to the terrain underneath it. Up until now, mechanical prosthetics didn’t quite mimic the motion of a natural foot, and other prosthetics cost a significant amount and are not covered by insurance.
<-234x60 Half Banner - left->However, PopSci explains that the Tensegrity foot is something unique and more natural than the previous contraptions. Rifkin built something that combined the natural step of a bionic foot with the simplicity and low cost of a mechanical prosthetic. Just like the flesh and blood version, this artificial foot has a heel, a forefoot, a big toe, but there is no joint at the ankle. Instead, the designer came up with a midfoot joint, which connects the heel and forefoot, and does the job of both the ankle and the arch. Like an ankle joint, it flexes up and down to give the wearer a more natural step. And, like a real midfoot joint, it creates a flexible arch in the middle of the foot. A spring and cable connect it to a second joint at the toe, to create extra push-off at the end of each step. In order to simulate tendons and ligaments the leg al so includes tensioned steel cables that govern the range of motion. The user isn’t supposed to control all this, as the leg automatically responds to the pressure of walking. Furthermore, because the front and back of the foot can move independently, it can react to uneven terrain.
Rifkin received a lot of feedback from test amputees and he is now working on the fifth prototype made primarily of magnesium for its strength and low weight. Early test results indicate that a one-pound foot reduces the amount of energy required for each step because it uses the force absorbed by the spring and joints to help propel the foot forward.
Posted in News | No Comments »
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
As if there weren’t enough players whose denominations start with the letter ‘i’ on the market, the Chinese decided to make yet another Apple clone. This time it’s an iPod Shuffle clone, as its diminutive size points out. It even sounds like an Apple product: the I Sport W18 mp3 player. Right… but this little clone right here brings some key features that Apple omitted from the iPod Shuffle.
<-125x125 Button - right->The player is powered by a 90nm Sigmatel 3710 chip which allows the W18 to provide up to a whole day of music, thumping at a 95dB signal-to-noise ratio quality. The player even includes a small LCD screen, pretty good for timing your morning runs with the built-in stopwatch. It can be easily attached to an arm band so you can run as fast as you like without getting the little thing smashed. However, the earphones could prove to be a bit of a problem.
The I Sport W18 comes in colors such as black, blue, red, yellow, and green, to match your favorite sporty gear. As this is a Chinese product, there details on pricing or availability were somehow omitted from the press release translation, but it is most likely that the player will be available only in the Asian parts.
Posted in Music Gadgets | No Comments »
