Futurescope

Meet Eesha Kare, who invented a device that charges cell phone...

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:25:31 +0200

Meet Eesha Kare, who invented a device that charges cell phone battery in under 30 seconds

Eesha Khare, 18, of Saratoga, Calif. received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of $50,000. With the rapid adoption of portable electronics, Eesha recognized the crucial need for energy-efficient storage devices. She developed a tiny device that fits inside cell phone batteries, allowing them to fully charge within 20-30 seconds. Eesha’s invention also has potential applications for car batteries.

[read more @HuffPost]

smarterplanet: 3-D Printed Food Vs World Hunger - Business...

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:19:36 +0200

smarterplanet:

3-D Printed Food Vs World Hunger - Business Insider

Anjan Contractor’s 3D food printer might evoke visions of the “replicator” popularized in Star Trek, from which Captain Picard was constantly interrupting himself to order tea. And indeed Contractor’s company, Systems & Materials Research Corporation, just got a six month, $125,000 grant from NASA to create a prototype of his universal food synthesizer.

Read more

[more @theverge]

8bitfuture: LG showing off 5 inch flexible screen for...

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:00:59 +0200

8bitfuture:

LG showing off 5 inch flexible screen for smartphones.

LG will be showing off their latest flexible and unbreakable 5 inch OLED display at this weeks SID display week in Vancouver.

The plastic display will be shown off alongside other 5 inch and 7 inch HD Oxide TFT panels which have a bezel that’s only 1mm wide, allowing for smartphones and small tablets with virtually no frame or border.

Wi-Fi Network Breaks Speed Record

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:19:00 +0200

Wi-Fi Network Breaks Speed Record :

singularitarian:

Think your network is fast? Getting a gigabyte-sized movie over your local wireless network to your hard drive in a few seconds is old hat. Now there’s a network that can push a 2-hour, high-definition movie to a computer a mile away in less time than it takes to read a single word.

At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, a new record has been set: 40GB per second over a distance of about .6 of a mile. That’s like sending 10 high-def feature films.

philipkdicks: The Onion’s Future News From The Year 2137 (by...

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:18:00 +0200

philipkdicks:

The Onion’s Future News From The Year 2137 (by TheOnion)

Smart Glasses by Recon Instruments So, we have the glasses from...

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:32:57 +0200

Smart Glasses by Recon Instruments

So, we have the glasses from Google, Golden-i, Vuzix and Baidu. The Recon Jet is new to us. According to their own description, it’s the most advanced wearable computing solution in the world - of course. At least it looks good.

Snip from werd:

These polarized sport shades feature a built-in microcomputer that delivers data straight into your eyeball through its integrated, heads-up display. Sensors include accelerometer, gyroscope, altimeter, magnetometer, and a thermometer. Developer friendly design means you geniuses can also build & run your own apps.

[via werd] [recon instruments]

MIT’s Cheetah robot runs faster & more...

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:48:55 +0200

MIT’s Cheetah robot runs faster & more efficiently

Robotic Greyhound Races are closer than you think. From Engadget:

At the recent International Conference on Robotics and Automation, the Institute of Technology showed of its newest version, which reached a top speed of 13.7 mph. To accomplish this, the runner still needs parallel support bars to constrain movement in one dimension, reducing any roll, yaw — and the chances of a pretty expensive fall. The team says the new version’s cost of transport (COT is power consumption divided by weight, times velocity) is around 0.52. In comparison, Honda’s Asimo has a hefty COT of 2.

Human embryos successfully cloned (sort of)

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:46 +0200

jkottke:

A group of researchers in Oregon have successfully cloned human embryos. No, really:

The researchers, at Oregon Health and Science University, took skin cells from a baby with a genetic disease and fused them with donated human eggs to create human embryos that were genetically identical to the 8-month-old. They then extracted stem cells from those embryos.

The embryo-creation technique is essentially the same as that used to create Dolly the sheep and the many cloned animals that have followed. In those cases, the embryos were implanted in the wombs of surrogate mothers.

These embryos won’t work for producing clones humans…they are being used to harvest stem cells.

The Oregon researchers, who published a paper on their work in the journal Cell, say their goal is what has been called therapeutic cloning: making embryonic stem cells that are genetically identical to a particular patient.

Embryonic stem cells can turn into any type of cell in the body, like heart cells, muscles or neurons. That raises the hope that one day the cells will be turned into replacement tissue or even replacement organs to treat a host of diseases.

Engineers monitor heart health using paper-thin electronic...

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:37:01 +0200

Engineers monitor heart health using paper-thin electronic skin

Engineers combine layers of flexible electronics and pressure sensors to create a wearable heart monitor thinner than a dollar bill. The skin-like device could one day provide doctors with a safer way to check the condition of a patient’s heart.

[read more @nanowerk]

Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab by Google & NASA for...

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:42:00 +0200

Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab by Google & NASA for AI-Development

Google and NASA are forming a laboratory to study artificial intelligence by means of computers that use the unusual properties of quantum physics. Their quantum computer, which performs complex calculations thousands of times faster than existing supercomputers, is expected to be in active use in the third quarter of this year.

The Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, as the entity is called, will focus on machine learning, which is the way computers take note of patterns of information to improve their outputs. Personalized Internet search and predictions of traffic congestion based on GPS data are examples of machine learning. The field is particularly important for things like facial or voice recognition, biological behavior, or the management of very large and complex systems.

// BTW: D-Wave quantum computer matches the tenth ranked supercomputer for speed, someway.

[via nerdcore] [read more @NYTimes & @Google Blog] [picture from wikimedia]

2020: Test-tube Burger Made of Lab-Grown Meat

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:16:15 +0200

2020:

Test-tube Burger Made of Lab-Grown Meat

alexob: DIY bionics - making kids smile again. See the joy in...

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:28:06 +0200

alexob:

DIY bionics - making kids smile again.

See the joy in Liam’s eyes as he is grasping a ball with his right hand for the first time. By the time this cute fellow grows up, he will have a bionic hand that will be connected to his neural-system and be indistinguishable from his biological body; but for now all Liam cares about is being able to play ball.

Goolge invested $10.7 Mio in Drone Startup Airware Along with...

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:54:00 +0200

Goolge invested $10.7 Mio in Drone Startup Airware

Along with Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capitalist, Google is investing $10.7 million in Airware, a Californian start-up that develops operating systems for commercial drones. Airware’s software is already being used in drones flying over Kenya’s Ol Pejeta game reserve. […]

The man behind Airware is Jonathan Downey, who built drones at Boeing before starting his own company in 2011. Airware already had 20 customers in nearly a dozen countries and expects to bring in revenues of $4 million this year. With a new era of ubiquitous drones on the way, the company is flying some very friendly skies.

[via quartz] [Airware]

futuretechreport: MakerBot & RoboHand Make DIY 3D Bionic...

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:01:06 +0200

futuretechreport:

MakerBot & RoboHand Make DIY 3D Bionic Prosthetics a Reality

Richard Van and Ivan Owen are on a mission to make DIY 3D Printed hands a reality with their Indiegogo project Robohand. The Robohand is a set of mechanical fingers that open and close to grasp things based on the motion of the wrist.

The crowdsourcing project recently received a boost of support from leading 3D printer company MakerBot 2, who donated 3D printers for the team to use for prototyping which collapsed the time to create the prototypes as well as drastically reduced the money required to create one.

According to their Indiegogo page: “The first hand was fitted to a 5 year old boy Liam who has come leaps and bounds with using his Robohand. This was done for free. Robohand has helped 4 children in total in South Africa with Robohands but we have run out of funding to continue to provide this device for free”.

Their Indiegogo campaign is raising funds that will supply the necessary materials, like Orthoplastic/Thermoplastic, hardware for putting the hands together (nuts, bolts, bungi cord), rolls of PLA plastic for the 3D printer to print the actual hands, plastidip for the fingers, anodizing materials (like sulphuric acid, desmutting liquid, colourant/dye and distilled water) the time and committment from Rich to create these hands.

What’s fantastic about this project is that Robohand is “Open Source” and the file is available for download from Thingiverse.com.

Visit their blog at www.robohand.blogspot.com for more information.

emergentfutures: In Cisco’s Classroom Of The Future, Your...

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:53:42 +0200

emergentfutures:

In Cisco’s Classroom Of The Future, Your Professor Is Just An Illusion

New telepresence software could let you take a class from anywhere and appear as if you’re in the classroom.

Full Story: FastCoExist

futuretechreport: The future of Google Glass? Digital creative...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:04:00 +0200

futuretechreport:

The future of Google Glass?

Digital creative agency Playground knows that Glass is in its early days, but they imagine a future in which Glass helps with navigation, shopping, hobbies and much more. And according to Playground, “All of our examples are actually possible right now. Smartphones (batteries not included) have enough raw processing power to run this software today. If only current batteries were ten times more efficient and there was a robust native hardware API for Glass. Well, it’s coming. Sooner than we think.”

via the content brief

[more @playgroundinc]

New - The Movie (short documentary) You can back and support the...

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:26:58 +0200

New - The Movie (short documentary)

You can back and support the movie on USA Projects.

The idea for NEW was sparked by an article about people who pay thousands of dollars to have their bodies cryonically preserved (stored in liquid nitrogen) after death, in the hope that future medical technology will restore them to life. It was a fascinating look into people’s beliefs about mortality and identity, their attitudes about their current lives, and their plans to live another.

[USA Projects]

Billionaire Peter Thiel invests in the development of 3D printed meat

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:04:30 +0200

Billionaire Peter Thiel invests in the development of 3D printed meat:

copperterillium:

The prospect of lab-grown meat has intrigued both vegetarians and environmentalists for years. Humans eat about 240 billion kilograms of meat each year â a voracious demand for animal protein that has resulted in environmental degradation, cruelty to livestock, and the spread of dangerous diseases. And now, owing to a $350,000 donation by the Thiel Foundation to a company called Modern Meadow, the idea of printing meat using a 3D printer has come that much closer to reality.

Awww yisss.

Maybe I’ll taste good bacon again someday.

neurosciencestuff: What It’s Like to See Again with an...

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:34:25 +0200

neurosciencestuff:

What It’s Like to See Again with an Artificial Retina

Elias Konstantopoulos gets spotty glimpses of the world each day for about four hours, or for however long he leaves his Argus II retina prosthesis turned on. The 74-year-old Maryland resident lost his sight from a progressive retinal disease over 30 years ago, but is able to perceive some things when he turns on the bionic vision system.

“I can see if you are in front of me, and if you try to go away,” he says. “Or, if I look at a big tree with the system on I can maybe see some darkness and if it’s bright outside and I move my head to the left or right I can see different shadows that tell me there is something there. There’s no way to tell what it is,” says Konstantopoulos.

A spectacle-mounted camera captures image data for Konstantopoulos; that data is then processed by a mini-computer carried on a strap and sent to a 60-pixel neuron-stimulating chip that was implanted in one of his retinas in 2009.

Nearly 70 people around the world have undergone the three-hour surgery for the retinal implant, which was developed by California’s Second Sight and approved for use in Europe in 2011 and in the U.S. earlier this year (see “Bionic Eye Implant Approved for U.S. Patients”). It is the first vision-restoring implant sold to patients.

Currently, the system is only approved for patients with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition that strikes around one in 5,000 people worldwide, but it’s possible the Argus II and other artificial retinas in development could work for those with age-related macular degeneration, which affects one in 2,000 people in developed countries. In these conditions, the photoreceptor cells of the eye (commonly called rods and cones) are lost, but the rest of the neuronal pathway that communicates visual information to the brain is often still viable. Artificial retinas depend on this remaining circuitry, so cannot work for all forms of blindness.

Read more

Titan arm Exoskeleton for lifting 50 lbs in each arm that costs...

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:00:45 +0200

Titan arm Exoskeleton for lifting 50 lbs in each arm that costs under $3000

The Titan Arm system costs under $3,000 to make. It can hold a static load via a braking system, or lift at 3 rad/s (for a 44 cm forearm+hand length, this works out to about 132 cm/s or 4.3 ft/s — pretty fast. The motor is mounted in the backpack area; the elbow joint is driven by a cable system.

[from nextbigfuture] [Titan Arm]