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Latest Gear Live Videos
The 4TechF1 Roboglove should be any cop’s dream. Being tested by police in Merseyside, Great Britain, the prototype has a built-in metal detector that vibrates when it comes across weapons. Made of Kevlar and battery powered, the Roboglove manufacturers claim that their product is “more discreet” when doing body searches since only the wearer feels the vibration. At a price of £200 (~$390.00), the glove will eventually make its way to airports and other public places. We think it may also be useful for searching for loose change in our sofas.
Read More 
| Daily Mail
Gallery: Roboglove Handily Detects Metal
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At this week’s annual meeting of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) in California, Silicon Speech’s Steven Greenberg told listeners that by the year 2050 there could be as many as 50 million people in the U.S. with partial deafness. Because of loud music and our noisy environment, younger people have a hearing impaired rate of up to 2 1/2 times that of their elders.
Hair cells in the inner and outer ear pick up sound vibrations before traveling to the brain. Damage to outer cells can be recovered by hearing aids, but those that are on the inside cannot be replaced and so causes deafness. Although scientists are working on the problem, they cannot yet get artificial hybrid cells to survive when tested.
Read More | Redorbit
Gallery: Hearing Loss Increasing in Youths
The Bleeding Edge 149: Technocom Vehicle and Infrastructure Integration Technology
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: CES, CES 2007, Features, GPS, Science, Transportation, Videocasts, Videos,
|Download| - iPod-formatted H.264
|Download| - Apple TV High Resolution
|Download| - MPEG-4
Read More | The Bleeding Edge
Gallery: The Bleeding Edge 149: Technocom Vehicle and Infrastructure Integration Technology
Internet Prescription Drug Buyers Receive Wrong Meds
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Science,
Beware of Greeks bearing medicinal gifts. Internet consumers who believed that they were purchasing antidepressants, sleep aids, and other drugs, were instead shipped anti-psychotics. The FDA reported that many actually took the Haloperidol, a medicine for schizophrenics, and had to seek emergency treatment. The drugs were packaged in plastic bags and mailed in envelopes bearing Greek postmarks.
Most of the victims had bought Xanax, Ativan, Ambien, or Lexapro from several different web sites. If you have ordered any of these drugs online and experience symptoms such as difficulty in breathing or muscles stiffness or spasms, or note an odd postmark, contact the FDA or your local health officials.
Read More | FDA
Gallery: Internet Prescription Drug Buyers Receive Wrong Meds
Researchers at the Doheny Eye Institute at USC have developed an artificial eye that works by using a small camera attached to a pair of glasses. The camera sends its signals to electrodes in the patients eyes. Teamed with Second Sight, their new Argus II Retinal Prosthesis bumped up pixels from 16 to 60 which will help those who test it to distinguish light from dark as well as some shapes.
Although the research is still in the experimental stage, they will be conducting another FDA approved study early this year with subjects who have bare light perception. Those with glaucoma, optic nerve disease, diabetic retinopathy, ocular trauma, or retinal detachment will not be considered. If you know someone fitting the profile and would like to be participate in the study, contact their Clinical Trial Page for details. We’re thinking that science constantly amazes us in their quest to keep our bodies going, probably long past our due dates.
Read More | Second Sight
Gallery: Argus II Improves Light Perception
Researchers Generate Electricity With Nanoparticles
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smart Home, Science,
A research team headed by Arun Majumdar of the University of California at Berkeley has successfully created energy by trapping organic molecules between metal nanoparticles. At this time, approximately 90% of our electricity is created by fossil fuels which is converted to heat, some of which is wasted. This technology could help to make new energy sources and less expensive appliances.
For the last 50 years, scientists have been developing thermoelectric converters to alter heat more directly, based on the Seebeck effect in which 2 metals kept at different temperatures respond to that difference and generate electricity. Although we are not all together sure of all the techno babel, we look forward to having our iPod nanos “nanoized.”
Read More | Live Science
Gallery: Researchers Generate Electricity With Nanoparticles
Logitech and EPFL Hatch Incubator
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Misc. Tech, Science,
Attention amateur geeks! Logitech and EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) have teamed together to form The Incubator. It will offer financial, educational, and functional support for about a dozen researchers and students to turn their ideas into realities. A former student from EPFL created the echo-cancellation tech that is now used in Logitech’s speakerphones and PC headsets. Props to the meeting of the minds between the two and let’s hope that other techy companies with bucks will follow suit.
Read More | Logitech
Gallery: Logitech and EPFL Hatch Incubator
Polymer Vision Rollable Display Wins Most Innovative Award
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science,
Polymer Vision has created what they claim is the planet’s first rollable electronic display. The winner of the Most Innovative Technology award at the 3GSM World Congress this week, the LCD display can be unrolled into a larger size than the mobile device itself. When the user has finished, the screen simply rolls back in. In addition, the gadget’s energy efficient charge lasts up to 10 times longer than most. The 5-inch display features 240 x 320 pixels, a contrast of 10:1, and an optimum refresh rate of 50 Hz. Contact Polymer Vision to see their demo and find about their future plans.
Read More | Polymer Vision
Gallery: Polymer Vision Rollable Display Wins Most Innovative Award
Touch Display, the Future of Technology?
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Internet, Peripherals, Science,
If you have not yet heard of Jefferson Han, you will be amazed at his new technology and how far he and his company, Perceptive Pixel, have come in the last six months. His touch display redefines the way commands are sent to a computer. Using movement and pressure, he conveys information to the brain beneath the display. Last month he reportedly sent his first screen to one of the military branches, and he is already offering consulting services. Future applications include interactive displays built into walls and shopping malls. For now, just marvel at the things to come.
Read More | TED Talks
Gallery: Touch Display, the Future of Technology?
Michigan Researchers Develop Robotic Exoskeleton
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science,
University of Michigan researchers have developed a robotic ankle exoskeleton that can be controlled by its wearer’s nervous system. Although there are no plans to build it for commercial purposes, the team sees usage in rehabilitation and physical therapy.
“This could benefit stroke patients or patients with incomplete injuries of the spinal cord,” said Daniel Ferris, associate professor in movement science at U of M. “For patients that can walk slowly, a brace like this may help them walk faster and more effectively.”
We think this puts us one step closer towards achieving our “Bionic Human” status.
Read More | Space Daily
