Good Thinking
First complete Lab-on-a-Chip system based on Printed Semiconductor Technology
May 9, 2007 BIOIDENT has announced the industry’s first complete, functional lab-on-a-chip system—the PhotonicFlow System. The first application of the PhotonicFlow System announced today is comprised of a multiwell chip, a handheld device controller and readout software. The PhotonicFlow System is based on BIOIDENT’s PhotonicLab Platform, which combines printed semiconductors with various lab-on-chip technologies. With this breakthrough technology development, BIOIDENT’s customers and partners now have the ability to develop disposable lab-on-a-chip solutions that eliminate the need for expensive and bulky readout systems, enabling cost-effective mobile diagnostics and analysis. This new prototype eliminates the need for large, expensive, external readout systems being used today and opens up new opportunities for applications in medical in-vitro diagnostics, chemical and biological threat detection, and water testing. Read More
The interactive RFID fitting-room mirror
May 8, 2007 Retail tracking solutions provider Paxar has been thinking slightly outside the square in coming up with its consumer-facing item-level RFID solution, magicmirror. For brands and retailers, magicmirror means the ability to touch customers on an emotional level and positively influence their purchasing decisions. When a customer or sales associate brings an RFID-tagged piece of clothing in front of the magicmirror, it automatically displays rich personalized information including brand messaging, garment description, size and color availability, as well as mix-and-match guides that suggest other items for accessorizing a wardrobe. When installed in the fitting room, customers can request immediate assistance from a salesperson by simply touching the magicmirror, without ever having to leave the room. Read More
Mathematica reinvents itself in version 6
May 6, 2007 Mathematica was released in 1988 and immediately had a profound effect on the way computers were used in technical fields. The concept of a single system that could handle all the aspects of technical computing in a coherent and unified way was revolutionary and was enabled by a new kind of symbolic computer language that could manipulate the wide range of objects needed to achieve the generality required for technical computing, using only a small number of basic primitives. The just announced release of the US$2495 Mathematica 6 is more than just a significant upgrade and in many respects it is a completely new product, promising to once again transform how computation is done, and more significantly, how it is taught. Mathematica 6 takes technical computing to a new level: more tightly bound, more natural, and more automated, applicable to a far wider range of areas than ever before. Central to this achievement is "instant interactivity"--taking models, simulations, computations, or just about any concepts and turning them into fully interactive applications, sometimes within seconds. This new way of working drastically improves innovation--the process of transforming ideas into highly optimized results. Don’t believe us? Check this out! Caution - this will take you HOURS!!!! Read More
Stringwalker enables realistic walking in Virtual worlds
May 2, 2007 Though Virtual Reality (VR) is moving quickly towards realism on many fronts, one of the major problems in creating a realistic immersive experience is that of walking. If people walk around with a VR headset on, they will eventually bump into something hard and unforgiving – so researchers across the world are questing for a suitable device which offers proprioceptive feedback for VR walking. The human brain seems happy to suspend disbelief and accept many crude kludges in order to roleplay along with a VR event, but the missing factor has been the ability to give the body the same sort of corresponding feedback as the brain. You can’t simulate true human movement with any authenticity without the exertion normally accompanying it. We’ve previously written up two ingenious attempts to enable VR users to maintain their position while walking in virtual environments in the form of the commercially-available Virtusphere and a set of powered shoes being developed at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. Now there’s another clever solution being developed at the same university – the Stringwalker. String Walker uses eight strings actuated by motor-pulley mechanisms mounted on a turntable. Read More
Mob strikes back at Digg censorship
May 2, 2007 Social bookmarking site Digg recently made the decision to remove a story containing the HD-DVD AACS Processing Key, which can be used to bypass the copy protection on any HD-DVD. The Digg community revolted, and very quickly the entire front page of the site was filled with stories related to the censorship, and of course, containing the AACS Processing Key. Read More
Fixya stuff - the online support community and knowledgebase for repairing consumer products
April 24, 2007 In this age of disposable consumer goods, where entire iPods are replaced because it's easier than changing the dud battery, we're pleased to report the growing success of fixya.com, a support community and knowledgebase for repairing consumer products. The idea behind FixYa is to aggregate all support information that is scattered throughout the internet in a single user friendly location. In addition, FixYa is a huge knowledgebase that is constantly updated by a live community of users who share their experiences of technical problems and solutions. Through the site's unique rating system, FixYa is allowing users to find the best solution for every problem and even offer a new solution. Our aim is that over time, FixYa will offer the best solutions for the most common problems of each and every product the site is covering. The best thing about our knowledgebase is that it's based on true user experience rather than on projected FAQs by the manufacturer. Read More
14-year-old Ribena vigilantes cost GlaxoSmithKline NZ$220K in false advertising case
April 14, 2007 When 14-year-old New Zealand schoolgirls Jenny Suo and Anna Devathasan handed in their surprising Science Fair project results in 2004, they hardly expected to strike a financial blow for the consumer, but that's exactly what happened when global pharmaceutical juggernaut GlaxoSmithKline admitted to 15 charges of breaching the Fair Trading Act at the Auckland District Court earlier this month. The girls' project tested the vitamin C content of 8 different juices against the claimed amount on the packaging and were surprised to find that despite GSK's assertion that Ribena contains 7 milligrams of Vitamin C per 100ml, they were able to find "no detectable level" of the vitamin. Go to it kids! Be inspired by Jenny and Anna and keep 'em honest. Read More
Neuromarketing: What's it all about?
April 12, 2007 Have you ever wondered about the relationship between sex and cars? Intuitively, we all know there’s something going on there, but new research in the area of neuromarketing is beginning to shed light on the subject and it appears there’s a connection. Brain wave recording devices have been available for decades but new technology can now pinpoint more precisely which brain regions are active as people respond to products or make brand choices or are exposed to advertisements. The neuroscience dream of being able to peer into the functioning brain has been made possible. When Daimler Chrysler recently showed pictures of their cars while measuring brainwave activity with an fMRI scanner, they found that sports cars stimulated the reward centre of the brain, which is also the area stirred by drugs, alcohol and sex. The front view of the cars, with distinctive facade and headlight “eyes”, subjects showed brain activity in the facial recognition centre of the brain. Read More
3D technology solves 4500 year old riddle: Great Pyramid was built from inside out
April 12, 2007 Dassault Systèmes’ in conjunction with researcher Jean-Pierre Houdin, have used cutting edge 3D technology to solve a 4500 year old riddle – how the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed within 20 years and without wheels, pulleys or iron tools. The pyramid is the oldest and last remaining wonder of the ancient world, and is as much famous for the alternative, often supernatural explanations offered for its construction as it is for its historical significance. Houdin used CATIA 3D software to digitally create his hypothesis, which theorized an “inside out” construction process. The highly advanced software was able to take into account the strength and resistance of the materials used, the ability of workers using primitive tools to move the blocks into place, the effect of aging, and even the effect of the weight of the pyramid on the pyramid itself. You can see the work in three dimensions here. Read More
JA-YE: European secondary school student companies to show off their innovative ideas
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April 18, 2007 Junior Achievement (JA) Romania in co-operation with Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe organized the JA-YE Europe Trade Fair from 29 March to 1 April in Bucharest, Romania. The event brought together 500 young entrepreneurs from 30 European countries, representing 80 student companies. The event was an opportunity for European secondary school student companies to show off their innovative ideas, to sell their products and services in a public setting and share their entrepreneurial spirit. Read More
NoLube SIMpull THHN Building Wire
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April 4, 2007 Electrical contractors will no longer have to lubricate feeder-sized THHN to pull it through conduit with the introduction of a revolutionary new No Lube SIMpull THHN building wire by Southwire. SIMpull THHN incorporates a patent-pending technology to reduce friction and with it the mess, labor and cost associated with lubrication. In addition, No Lube SIMpull THHN’s design results in a cleaner appearance, easier to read print and a reduced susceptibility to nylon tearing. Independent tests have shown the new cabling reduces total installation time by an average of 30 percent. Read More
The One-Stop Bill Pay Kiosk Network
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March 23, 2007 The power of consumer demand for convenience is driving innovation and automated kiosks become smarter by the day as they are the most cost-effective way to meet a customer in a convenient location – where they live, work and shop. The newly created ChoicePay kiosk is likely to proliferate quite quickly, as it aims to hook together hundreds of national and regional billers to create a network of self-service bill payment kiosks to be placed primarily in payment centers, convenience stores and supermarkets. The product of a partnership with Source Technologies which will integrate the ChoicePay multi-biller, bill payment functionality into the CONCOURSE line of self-service kiosks, to enable bill payment for cash paying consumers across America. Billers that support walk-up payments for cash-preferred customers can reduce the cost associated with processing attended payments, which can average US$1.501 or more per transaction. Read More
Coca-Cola and GLAM*IT make Europe’s first Magazine on a Bottle
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March 22, 2007 The concept of miniature magazines appearing on products of all kinds drew a step closer today when On Product Publishing International (OPP) announced that Coca-Cola Belgium will be the first soft drink company to use the Magazine on a Bottle concept. Coca-Cola light and Sanoma Magazines have joined forces to create the world’s first soft drink combined with a magazine, using the labeling innovation. In April 2007, chilled Coca-Cola light 500ml PET bottles on sale in Belgium will have a free copy of a special mini edition of GLAM*IT magazine attached to the bottle. GLAM*IT is a Belgium’s leading young and glamorous fashion title. The Coca-Cola light edition consists of content which is typical for GLAM*IT but reduced to fit the bottle size. A light version of GLAM*IT has thus been created, to further associate Coca-Cola light with the lighter side of life. Read More
Nanotechnology offers vastly improved fingerprint acquisition
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March 16, 2007 With the spate of Crime Scene Investigation shows currently running on television networks around the world, it’s hard not to be impressed with the evidence that technology can uncover. Well the science of fingerprinting looks set to move to a whole new level in the near future thanks to refinements to the fingerprinting process offered by two developments in nanotechnology. Described as revolutionary by people who are not prone to exaggeration (the United States Secret Service), the new nanotechnologies will enable fingerprints to be clearly developed that current techniques cannot detect. Read More
Semiconductor 2.0 - printed semiconductor factory opens
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March 15, 2007 Nanoident has opened the world’s first manufacturing facility for printed semiconductor-based optoelectronics. The factory will offer high-volume production and will use the company’s Semiconductor 2.0 Platform to deliver printed semiconductor-based products. With its environmentally friendly production process, the OFAB can produce printed electronic devices quickly and at a fraction of the cost of a traditional silicon-based semiconductor fab. The technology will yield cost-effective, custom designed devices for applications such as industrial, chemical, biological, biometric and X-ray sensors, printed OLED displays for smart packaging and electronic signage. According to c/net news, a traditional factory that can produce 40,000 square meters of silicon computer chips would cost about $1.3 billion and require about 5,000 employees. The Nanoident factory costs about $10 million and can be run by about 50 people. Read More
MathWorks introduces deployment of MATLAB algorithms to Java and .NET
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March 13, 2007 Given the increasing use of algorithms, we expect many of our readers will rejoice at MathWorks newly announced introduction of two MATLAB builders that let application developers create algorithms in MATLAB and then incorporate them royalty-free into enterprise applications based on Java or .NET technologies. The new builders eliminate the time-consuming and error-prone process of recoding an algorithm created in MATLAB into Java or a .NET language. The new MATLAB Builders for .NET and Java will save considerable effort by repackaging algorithms developed in MATLAB into deployable components that can be used royalty-free in desktop and Web applications. Read More
iDashboards 5.0 offers direct linking to Excel spreadsheets
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March 13, 2007 In the game of business, access to information is critical, and access to one’s own company information is even more critical. iDashboards is an enterprise Business Intelligence software application designed to help companies leverage their information assets in real time through visually rich, responsive, and personalized Business Intelligence dashboards, and the latest version is now available. The bit we like most is the connectivity to Excel Spreadsheets – employees no longer have to email Excel spreadsheets back and forth, as they can view the data online, in rich presentation format.
The beer-launching mini-fridge
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March 10, 2007 Here’s further evidence that necessity is the mother of invention. Duke University Electrical and Computer Engineering/Computer Science graduate John W Cornwall seems to rejoice in building interesting contraptions but his latest just could be a killer app. He has designed a fridge that gets the beer for you. His beer launching fridge took “about 3 months and several hundred dollars” to build, resulting in the world’s first fully automated, remote controlled, beer-launching mini-fridge. With a “magazine” of 10 cans, his first fridge was controlled by a keyless entry system. Such was the response to a video of the catapulting fridge, there’s now a good chance the fridge will go into limited edition production with a price tag of US$1500.
Photoshop CS3 Extended – multimedia workflow and efficiency
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March 8, 2007 Adobe is to expand its digital imaging product line in Autumn 2007, offering two editions of Adobe Photoshop CS3. As well as Photoshop CS3 software (currently in beta and available for download here), there’s to be a CS3 Extended version – everything in CS3 plus a new set of capabilities for integration of 3-D and motion graphics, image measurement and analysis. Photoshop CS3 Extended could significantly simplify your workflow if you’re in architecture, engineering, healthcare and science. CS3 Extended is primarily intended for film, video and multimedia professionals, and graphic and web designers and the idea is to leverage the power of the Photoshop image-editing toolset and paint engine when editing 3D and motion-based content. Film and video specialists can perform 3-D model visualisation and texture editing, paint and clone over multiple video frames. Animators can now render and incorporate 3-D content into their 2-D compositions. Graphic and web designers can create an animation from a series of images – such as time series data – and export it to a wide variety of formats, including QuickTime, MPEG-4 and Adobe Flash Video. Read More
Innovative machines invade the forest – the Sawfish Underwater Harvester
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March 8, 2007 The logging of forests is a very expensive affair, and when there’s a lot of money involved, you can always count on some very special machinery. Two perfect illustrations of this are Plustech/TimberJack/John Deere’s walking tractor prototype (videos here, here and here) and Triton Logging's Sawfish Underwater Harvester. The value of underwater forests in Canada was deemed so large that Triton has developed the Sawfish, a 3-tonne, 3.5-metre-long, yellow submersible with high-resolution cameras so an operator can direct it from the surface. The Sawfish then grasps the base of the tree with its powerful pincers, attaches an inflatable flotation bag to the tree, fills the bag with compressed air and then it cuts the tree with its 1.5-metre chainsaw and the flotation bag carries it to the surface – it can actually handle larger trees than any land-based mechanical harvester due to water buoyancy. As the world’s only deep-water logging machine, it’s a mash-up of remote control, timber-harvesting and submarine technology that can cut down a dozen trees in an hour, at depths of up to 300 metres. The machines are now available to other logging companies at a price around US$750,000 and with no new roads to build and no fires to control, logging underwater suddenly makes economic sense. Read More
The Noble Art of Scambaiting Volume II
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March 6. 2007 In an article entitled The Noble Sport of Scambaiting last June, we paid homage to the sublime skills of Shiver Metimbers, the administrator of scambaiting information resource 419Eater. Scambaiting is the sport of scamming the would-be scammer and although vigilantism has its downsides, it’s hard to see scambaiting as anything but a noble pastime and some of the better efforts truly are priceless. As we concluded at the time, should Scambaiting ever become an Olympic sport, Shiver Metimbers would be a Gold Medal contender. His latest effort is truly outstanding having tricked scambaiters into performing Monty Python’s Dead parrot comedy sketch for the camera. Mister Metimbers, we salute you! Via The Spam Diaries Read More
Hands-off shoe fitting
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March 5, 2007 While some people just adore trying on shoes, for most of us, it’s a drag, but the application of new technologies by adidas looks set to free us from this tedium and save considerable time for everybody. This entertaining new form of shopping can be found on the Avenue des Champs Elysees, where adidas has opened its latest and most modern shop anywhere in the world. Customers can now try on a variety of models in front of a virtual mirror without changing their shoes. They can navigate through the collection by simply pointing at products on a computer screen. Read More
nTAG V2 smart badging offers real-time event data management
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March 4, 2007 Three years ago we wrote of the potential being displayed by a new form of interactive name badge for conferences and social events that significantly improved the quality of people-to-people connectivity. The nTAG system automates several social technologies and takes them into the business event arena where both host and attendee derive numerous benefits compared to the paper badges of the past. While stimulating conversation between attendees, nTAGs also help organisers to deliver event information, track attendance, manage security, send messages, and evaluate surveys and polls in real time – think about that for a moment – that’s real-time audience response. Worn like regular paper badges, nTAGs exchange data with one another using infrared sensors. As attendees approach each other, information is automatically transferred from tag to tag, requiring no action from the wearer. Then the tags' LCD screens illuminate and display information on shared interests - "Hi Karen, we both work in the fashion apparel industry." The nTAG system can now be purchased through nTAG or nTAG certified resellers, international distributor enquiries should be directed here and the system can be hired for as little as US$15,000. Great Flash demo here. Read More
The world’s first Parliamentary election with internet voting
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March 4, 2007 Today is an important date in history in that the world’s first parliamentary election involving internet voting is being held in Estonia, and is the first implementation of what is surely the future of eGovernment. The electronic voting took place earlier this week on Monday through Wednesday and more than 30,000 of Estonia’s one million eligible voters cast their vote via the internet, though those same voters can still vote today and their second vote only will be counted. To vote via the internet, voter needed an Estonian ID card with valid certificates and PIN-codes (bottom left) and access to a computer with a smart card reader (bottom right), a driver for the ID card (download here) and a Windows or Linux operating system. Via Physorg, Slashdot, The Christian Science Monitor, the Estonian Government, and the Estonian National Electoral Commission (good powerpoints here that explain the process)
Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9600 heralds a new era in productivity
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March 2, 2007 To say that the Digital Pocket Memo 9600 is an important new tool for business professionals is an understatement. Even to state that the new 9600 represents the next generation of digital dictation technology is underplaying its importance way too much. Until now, dictation has been a largely under-utilised tool because for it to be used in an office environment, a dictation system and a secretary are required, and only the legal system has ever been organised enough to effectively employ dictation as an industry-wide productivity tool. With the new functionality of the Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9600, the device provides a ready-made system which can easily incorporate a dictation system into any office. Couple the 9600 with one of the new LAN Docking Station and it will transfer dictations through your LAN (local area network) to a transcriptionist or a speech recognition system without connecting to a PC. Encryption ensures that dictations are sent securely through the company network or the Internet, regardless of whether the destination is next door or on the other side of the world. There’s also a Barcode Module which snaps onto the 9600 - a highly compact laser scanner that retrieves important patient or client information by scanning the barcode. The scanned information is securely attached to the dictation, saving time and minimizing the risk of errors. The Barcode Module can also be used as a USB scanner device, directly transferring the barcode information to a PC. That’s the system – as far as the 9600 itself, well that is just a straightforward better mousetrap than has previously existed. Read More
New Soil Moisture Smart Sensors
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February 25, 2007 Sensors might never cost-efficiently replace the keen eye of a farmer for spotting fungus, signs of vermin or bird attack, growth rate, weed levels and a host of other almost intuitive inspections, but they are already offering a viable method of ensuring that precious crops are perfectly watered. Data Logging specialist Onset has just added two new plug-and-play Soil Moisture Smart Sensors to its wares, with the new sensors promising precise, long-term soil moisture monitoring. The Decagon ECH2O dielectric probes offer highly accurate measurements of volumetric water content in soil, and have low sensitivity to temperature and saline effects, broadening the range of soil types in which they can be used to include sandy and high-salinity soils and their compact form factor means they can be used in pots and greenhouses. The US$139-a-pop smart sensor design enables the sensors to be plugged into Onset’s 15-channel HOBO Weather Station and 4-channel HOBO Micro Station and automatically recognized without complicated wiring, programming or calibration. Read More
First a nanobattery, now an ultra-sensitive Magnetometer
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February 25, 2007 mPhase Technologies has been very successful in taking its message direct to the people in recent weeks with a video demonstration of its Smart Nanobattery on YouTube. The nanotech-based smart batteries (pictured bottom) can store reserve power for decades and generate electric current virtually on demand. Now mPhase has released another video, this time demonstrating its ultra-sensitive sensor magnetometer. “The extreme advantage of size, sensitivity and low cost allows us to develop the next generation of military and homeland security sensor applications while also addressing a number of commercial markets as well,” said mPhase Technologies’, Ron Durando. That's the magnetometer on the coin.
The Privacy-enhanced SmartCheck System
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February 25, 2007 Ever since Al Queda ever so kindly pointed out the vulnerability of domestic airliners, the world has been paying a hefty bill in the form of added security. At first it was very costly, because much of it was labour-intensive, but then industry responded with ever-more-clever devices to screen humans and ensure they were weapon free. So good have the machines become at peering through clothing that many scanning techniques have become very invasive. It will hence be of some comfort to know that the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun testing the privacy enhanced SmartCheck personnel screening system today at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. SmartCheck provides optimum security by safely screening for a wide variety of threats concealed on a passenger, while ensuring their privacy. The SmartCheck system creates an image that looks like a chalk outline of the passenger with threats and contraband outlined, but does not reveal facial features. A product of X-ray detection technology specialist American Science and Engineering, the SmartCheck system installed in Phoenix cannot store, export, print, or transmit images. The machine produces images such as this privacy-enhanced SmartCheck scan of a female (front and back) which presents only an outline of the scanned individual and an outline of any threats on the person. Read More
The Little White Purse by Saab
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February 20, 2007 Targeted promotional opportunities for premium brands often makes for some strange bedfellows, and resulted this week in premium aerospace and automotive brand Saab releasing ‘The Little White Purse.’ Created by Fashion designer Osman Yousefzada, the purse was designed as an innovative way to keep a woman’s keys stylishly at hand. It banishes those clumsy key-fumbling moments so you look fashionably efficient while stepping into your car, home or workplace. According to Saab, on average a woman wastes one day each year fumbling around for keys in the bottom of her handbag, which does seem a lamentable waste of time. The clever design means the purse can be worn as a necklace, attached inside a handbag, or around a wrist where it could no doubt double as a weapon should the need arise. Read More
Macrovision responds to Steve Jobs’ Open Letter on DRM
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February 19, 2007 A fortnight ago we wrote about Steve Jobs’ provocative open letter on Digital Rights Management and the extraordinary reaction to the letter. In the interests of fairness, there is another viewpoint and in our humble opinion, the best presented counter to Jobs’ position is presented by DRM specialist Macrovision. Macrovision has been in the content protection industry for more than 20 years, working closely with content owners of many types, including the major Hollywood studios, to help navigate the transition from physical to digital distribution. The company has been involved with and has supported both prevention technologies and DRM that are on literally billions of copies of music, movies, games, software and other content forms, as well as hundreds of millions of devices across the world. Macrovision CEO & President Fred Amoroso penned the response. Wikipedia offers perspective on the issue with links to all the stakeholder groups, and the illustration comes from here. Via Slashdot Read More
Handheld T-ray Device promises new capabilities
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February 19, 2007 “T-rays” have been touted as the next breakthrough in sensing and imaging, but the need for bulky equipment has been an obstacle to reaching the field’s potential. Enter Brian Schulkin, winner of the first-ever $30,000 Lemelson-Rensselaer Student Prize. Schulkin has invented an ultralight, handheld terahertz spectrometer — an advance that could help catapult T-ray technology from the lab bench to the marketplace. Schulkin’s “Mini-Z” is dramatically smaller and lighter than any previous terahertz device, and it already has proven its ability to detect cracks in space shuttle foam, image tumors in breast tissue, and spot counterfeit watermarks on paper currency. The system, which weighs less than five pounds and fits snugly in a briefcase, could open the door to a wide range of applications in homeland security, biomedical imaging, and nondestructive testing of industrial components. Read More
The coming of the Automated Parking Garage
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The most expensive parking is the parking we don’t have. Not that long ago, when cars were less plentiful and inner city space was moreso, the major expenses of driving were depreciation and running costs. Now as space becomes more valuable and competition for that space is also at a high, parking space is fast becoming a major expense with mid-town Manhattan, London and Tokyo all commanding up to US$500 a month for a parking space and a permanent parking space was recently sold in London for UKP300,000. The solution to the world’s Parking Crisis is obvious: state-of-the-art automated parking robotic technologies will deliver the most space-efficient and hence cost-efficient parking. The current generation of parking garages has space-consuming access ramps and lots of access lanes that never get parked on, and also needs enough height for a very tall human being to comfortably walk upright – rather than the space-efficient compact box into which your car is slipped in an automated system. The ramps aren’t needed when you have a car lift and a computerized racking system. Whatsmore, a custom-built automated car parking facility of the same size as a conventional carpark can hold at least twice as many cars, offering double or more the income after a safe refurbishing investment. It’s more efficient for the customer (less than 2.5 minutes to get your car), costs less to run (no human attendants are required), there are no accidents, dents or scratches (because computers move the cars, not humans), and as the cars cannot be reached by other car park users, there’s no chance of theft or vandalism. Though this article is primarily about Automotion, there are now many manufacturers of automated carpark solutions, such as Stolzer Parkhaus, Robopark, Westfalia, Klausparking, LTW, Trevipark, Urban Parking Concepts, Eltodo, Space Saver Parking and the massive Chinese Tianchen Group – if you have a space that could use a carpark, this solution will make your money work at least twice as hard.
Vale Robert Adler, 1913-2007 - TV Remote Control Co-Inventor
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February 17, 2007 The man who invented the remote control for the television, Dr. Robert Adler, died this week, giving us a timely reminder of just how fast technology is progressing. Dr. Adler's "Space Command" ultrasonic remote control for TV sets was introduced by Zenith in 1956 and two years later saw him win the 1958 Outstanding Technical Achievement Award of the Institute of Radio Engineers (now the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE) for his "original work on ultrasonic remote controls" for television. Though he was best known as co-inventor of the wireless remote control for television , along with fellow Zenith engineer Eugene Polley), Adler was responsible for a large number of significant scientific contributions to the electronics industry, including landmark inventions in sophisticated specialized communications equipment. Read More
Easy Sankey Diagram creation tool helps visualize complex issues
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February 16, 2007 e!Sankey is a new, US$100 windows-based software for engineers, environmental consultants and scientists that creates good-looking, pain-free process diagrams and flow charts for presentations, scientific papers and internal communications. Sankey diagrams are graphic representations of technical or economical interrelationships. They help viewers visualize and understand the connections between individual processes, for example, material, cost or energy flows. The relative value of each material flow is represented by the width of the connecting arrows within the Sankey diagram. Putting the tools into the hands of the people who have the knowledge rather than having a graphic artist in the process allows users the opportunity to visualize a wide range of processes, such as production costs, energy losses of a particular machine or material flows within specific economic sectors.
The 2007 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
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February 15, 2007 If there’s an absolutely golden imprimatur for the person-most-likely-to-succeed, it’s the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize. Jerome H. Lemelson, one of the world's most prolific inventors, and his wife Dorothy founded the Lemelson-MIT Program funded via his own private philanthropic Lemelson Foundation, the Student Prize recognizes outstanding inventors, encourages sustainable new solutions to real-world problems, and enables and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention. Given that MIT attracts the very brightest students to begin with, the winner is usually a stellar high achiever and this year’s winner is already that. 2007 winner Nathan Ball's inventions include the Atlas Rope Ascender (see separate story) and a needle-free injection technology that will enable greater efficiencies in mass inoculations, both capable of saving many lives and both with many commercial applications. Last year’s winner Carl Dietrich is the CEO and CTO of his own flying car company Terrafugia. We’ve also written about Saul Griffith, the 2004 winner. All the winners and their exploits in this article. Read More
