Smart clothes could take photos

The researchers stretch out large fibres to make thin threads

Clothes could one day take snaps of everything happening around whoever is wearing them.

US researchers have made smart fabric that can detect the wavelength and direction of light falling on it.

The research team has found a way to accurately place sensors in each fibre and co-ordinate the electrical signals they send when light falls on them.

The results were a step towards “ambient light imaging fabrics” said the researchers.

Led by Dr Yoel Fink from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the researchers have extended earlier work that placed sensors in relatively large polymer fibres.

Dr Fink and colleagues found a way to stretch the 25mm strands of polymer into much thinner fibres while maintaining the relative positions of the sensors.

This earlier work has led to the creation of very long and flexible light and temperature sensors that may find a role in smart fabrics for soldiers or those working in hostile environments.

In their latest work, described in a paper in Nano Letters, these thinner strands were woven into a 0.1m square section of fabric. The careful creation of the fibres and positioning of the light-sensitive elements meant that the team knew which signals were being sent by which sensors.

This enabled the team to reconstruct, albeit crudely, an image projected onto the small square of fabric. The researchers said their work was an “important step” towards finding ways to get many nanoscale devices working together. Source

Bionic eye gives blind man sight

 

Ron explains how being fitted with a 'bionic eye' has changed his life

 A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye.

Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London’s Moorfield’s eye hospital.

He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II.

It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye.

In turn, the receiver passes on the data via a tiny cable to an array of electrodes which sit on the retina – the layer of specialised cells that normally respond to light found at the back of the eye.

When these electrodes are stimulated they send messages along the optic nerve to the brain, which is able to perceive patterns of light and dark spots corresponding to which electrodes have been stimulated.

The hope is that patients will learn to interpret the visual patterns produced into meaningful images.

The bionic eye has been developed by US company Second Sight. So far 18 patients across the world, including three at Moorfields, have been fitted with the device. Read more…..

Your own personal Codex: Oldest bible digitized for free access

Scattered across continents, the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus bible has been fully reunited in a digital version online today. Users can navigate through the text via chapter and verse, see a digital scan of each page and read English, German, Greek and Russian versions.

“If you would have liked to see it before, you would have had to travel to four countries in two continents,” British Library project curator, Juan Garces, said in an Associated Press report. “If you want to see the manuscript right now all you have to do is go online and experience it for yourself.” He noted that the overwhelming digital demand has already crashed the Web site.

The oldest known bible may hold some surprises for those familiar with today’s versions. About half of the Old Testament and Apocrypha are absent, and the New Testament books are in a different order (putting, for example, “Acts of the Apostles” between “the Pastoral” and “Catholic Epistles”). It also includes two additional early Christian writings, allegedly by Hermas (a second-century Roman) and the apostle Barnabas—as well as a smattering of corrections inserted throughout the centuries after its creation.

“There are certainly theological questions linked to this,” Garces told CNN. “Everybody should be encouraged to investigate for themselves.”

The ancient tome was discovered by a German scholar in the 19th century at the Monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt’s Sinai desert. The 400-plus-page volume was transcribed in Greek on animal-skin parchment.

The collaboration, made possible by the institutes that house the document’s pieces—the British Library, the National Library of Russia, Leipzig University Library and St. Catherine’s Monastery—is being celebrated with a conference at the British Library today and tomorrow. 

Image of text from a version of the Codex Sinaiticus’s Esther 1:20-21 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Source)

Toyota Develops Another Airbag for Rear-seat Passengers

Toyota Motor Corp. has developed a new airbag to help reduce damage on backseat passengers in side-on collision.

The newly developed rear-seat center airbag, the first of its kind in the world, is fixed and flushed in a back seat center console.

When the vehicle is struck at the side, the rear-seat center airbag deploys. It acts as a safety barrier to reduce injuries when passengers collide with each other.

Toyota’s new airbag will see service in a domestic market model that will be launched in Japan in the near future.

No word yet, though, if the center rear-seat airbag will deploy if someone was actually occupying the center position on the rear seat.

Toyota actively develops and makes available collision safety technology, such as the SRS curtain shield and knee airbags, to ensure its vehicles are more responsive to a wider range of road accidents. (Courtesy of TopGear Philippines)

The Car That Stops Itself

Wow “the car that stops itself.”

The exclusive distributor of Volvo vehicles in the Philippines – Viking Cars, Inc., Has unveiled the new XC60 last May 20, 2009.

The new XC60 is expected to reduce road accidents due to its self-stopping City Safety Technology.

“At speeds below 30kph, if City Safety detects that you’re about to collide with a vehicle in front and you do not react in time, the car will brake automatically and reduce the effect of the impact. If you are traveling at 15kph and the vehicle in front of you is stationary, a collision can be avoided,” Volvo preventive safety engineer Martin Distner said in a statement.

He likewise assured the City Safety system won’t be activated “by mistake” when a driver is parking.

“Volvo conducts vast amounts of research into this so its cars can understand the difference between when you’re in control and when you are distracted,” Distner said.

The City Safety feature works during day- and night-time driving. Its laser detection system, however, may be limited during heavy rains due to the possibility of dirt splashing on to the sensor area.

“It is important to underline that City Safety does not relieve the driver of the responsibility for maintaining a safe distance to avoid collision. The automatic braking function does not react until it considers that a Collision is imminent,” said Jonas Ekmark, Preventive Safety manager at Volvo’s Car Safety Center. (Source: Top Gear Philippines)

New automated parking facility opens in Pasig

NW Steel Technologies, Inc. has unveiled AutoPark, a one-of-a-kind automated car park across the Silver City mall in Pasig City. To park, one just needs to drive his car on to a platform and get off it. The driver will then have his fingerprint scanned and the smart parking facility takes note of the match between the driver and the car. Automation then takes over and parks the car “intelligently” at an available slot in the four-storey establishment. AutoPark has a 72-car capacity. “It takes only 15 seconds to park a car,” said Engineer Mario Montejo, NW Steel chief executive and AutoPark technology designer. When it’s time to retrieve the car, the driver just needs to have his fingerprint scanned again and the system will deliver his car to the platform. The platform even rotates so the car faces the exit. The parking space is run by only three people. NW Steel gives a “no theft, no dent, no scratch” guarantee to those who park in its facility. Montejo said AutoPark is similar to the technologies used in the United States, Dubai and Greece. The same system is used by Volkswagen in Germany for the storage of its newly-manufactured cars. “This is really the most cost-effective parking solution today. You don’t have to search for a parking space anymore. It’s also more environment-friendly since there’s hardly any noise and there are no more fuel emissions that come with constantly looking for a parking space,” Montejo said. AutoPark currently has six slots for automated parking. It will be open for passenger cars starting May 11. The rest of the facility will be fully operational within the year. The technology is currently exclusive to Ortigas & Company properties. (Source: Top Gear Philippines)

Nikon’s D5000 DSLR Seeks Niche

 

With its newly released D5000, Nikon hopes it   has created a digital SLR camera that will  appeal to photographers of varying skill levels.

For inexperienced photographers looking to move from a point and shoot model to a digital SLR, Nikon has included several easy-to-use features and controls, including 19 scene modes. For more experienced photographers already using a digital SLR, Nikon has included new technologies and performance levels with the D5000, providing the opportunity for an upgrade. For example, the D5000 can made HD video clips at up to 24 frames per second.

The D5000 offers 12.3 megapixels of resolution. With its rotating LCD, you can shoot some odd-angle photos. Finally, with in-camera editing features, photographers can make adjustments to their photos on the fly. Nikon will offer the D5000 with a camera body only for $730 or with a starter lens for $850. (By Kyle Schurman, About.com Guide to Digital Cameras)

GPS Navigation System

AVT 800

AVT Intelligent Car Multimedia has just recently launched its first locally supported GPS navigation system – the AVT Navigator A800 or simply AVT 800. It can point you anywhere, directions from known street, establishment and villages within metro manila, all major highways in the Philippines, Shopping Malls, Gas Stations, Hospitals, Hotels and Restaurants to Villages and Barangays.

Features:– Touch screen Operation
– Turn by Turn Voice Direction
– Multi-Destination Search
– (Address, Street, Barangay, City Names, etc.)
– More Accurate Route Calculation
  (Fastest, Priority Hi-way, Avoid Hi-way, Shortest)
– Automatic Route Recalculation
– 2D / 3D Map Display w/ Auto Zoom Function
– Multilingual (English & Chinese)
– Picture Viewer
– MP3 Player

Flying Cars

Terrafugia Transition

 

 

The Transition, developed by former Nasa engineers, is powered by the same 100bhp engine on the ground and in the air. Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of 115mph. Up to now, however, it has been tested only on roads at up to 90mph. Construction, testing and certification of the Production Prototype will follow completion of the Proof of Concept’s testing program. First customer delivery of a Transition® Roadable Aircraft is expected to occur in 2011. 

 

 

The Skycar

 Developed by Moller International, The Skycar is the first and only feasible, personally affordable, personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle the world has ever seen.From your garage to your destination, the M400 Skycar can cruise comfortably at 275 MPH (maximum speed of 375 MPH) and achieve up to 20 miles per gallon on clean burning, ethanol fuel. No traffic, no red lights, no speeding tickets. Just quiet direct transportation from point A to point B in a fraction of the time. Three dimensional mobility in place of two dimensional immobility.  

 Cardozo’s Skycar 

 Designed by Gilo Cardozo, a british engineer the Skycar is powered by a modified 140bhp Yamaha R1 superbike engine with a lightweight automatic CVT (continuously variable transmission) gear-box from a snowmobile. It boasts Ferrari-beating acceleration on land, an air speed of up to 80mph and can swap between road and flight modes in minutes.Billed as the “World’s First Bio-fuelled Flying Car,” the Skycar is part parachute, part fan-powered swamp boat and part X-Bow. Whereas convertible car makers take about how quickly their vehicles can go from sunny exposure to rainy-day protection, Skycar designers like Gilo Cardozo tell us that conversion from “road mode” to “fly mode” and visa-versa will take three minutes.