Posts by Category: future tech

It’s coming WHEN?

future tech November 2, 2005 posted by

Translation day.

So some German and Carnegie Mellon University boffins have just unveiled technology that they say will one day let us all understand each other, no matter which language issues forth from our mouths. This translation marvel will be accomplished, apparently, through the use of electrodes attached to our face at various strategic points. Right. Well that ends that line of research really, doesn’t it? Tsk.  CMU computer science graduate student Stan Jou, 34, of Shadyside, stood before the audience yesterday morning…


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cool tech October 27, 2005 posted by

Lancer, prancer, donner und blitzen.

The Mitsubishi Lancer MIEV. 268hp, 0–62 mph in under 8 seconds, 112 mph top speed, four individual in-wheel electric motors driven by Lithium-Ion batteries. Not yer grandma’s eco vehicle, folks.   The in-wheel motors and the lithium-ion battery system, which is located under the floor to reduce the center of gravity, accelerate Lancer Evolution MIEV from 0 km/h to 100 km/h in less than 8 seconds and up to a maximum speed of 180 km/h. This is a level of…


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future tech October 14, 2005 posted by

Portable cop shop.

The Portable Lite-U Criminal Booking System. See, sometimes just hanging around at the police station waiting for villains to pop in and get arrested doesn’t do it. That’s when you need a trusty portable unit to take your crime fighting to the streets. Nicking suspicious looking miscreants right on the spot, while they’re loitering around smoking and looking shifty. Nasty little vermin, chuck ‘em in the back of the van while they’re still warm!  Their slim and lightweight design allows…


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future tech September 14, 2005 posted by

Hybrid motorists.

Mmm..things appear to be looking up, we may actually avoid destroying our planet sometime before it all goes pear shaped. BMW, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors have just announced a joint initiative to develop hybrid drive systems for cars. Hybrid = electrical assist = lower fuel consumption and cleaner emissions. This is A Good Thing. What’s also good is that Mercedes Benz has also just unveiled a couple of hybrid cars which achieve some pretty impressive fuel consumption figures. Now all…


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future tech September 7, 2005 posted by

WiFi triple play.

A company calling itself Ruckus Wireless, which apparently used to be known as Video54 is about to launch what it calls a ‘triple play’ service which will be able to deliver telephone, video and broadband Internet to customers wirelessly throughout the home. Apparently it’s some kind of super WiFi network, but that’s all I know for now until next week’s launch. Stay tuned…  Triple play over Wi-Fi gives consumers the freedom to put phone, computer and audio/visual equipment anywhere within their…


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future tech August 30, 2005 posted by

The Moovie car.

The Peugeot Moovie Concept Car. Pretty darn cool eh? [Thanks William].  The main idea behind this project was to create a small 2 seated city car powered by electric power. What shaped the visual look on the vehicle was the two big electric wheels with hollow rim, these wheels are hollow in the middle, this is where the doors of the car are located, the vehicle has like this big doors allowing the users to have enough space to enter…


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future tech July 28, 2005 posted by

Solar parking.

The Kyocera Solar Grove Parking Lot. Employee parking lots which generate electricity. Seems like one of those ‘what took you so long?’ ideas, doesn’t it? Especially with a payback period of just 12 years.  Solar Grove—an array of 25 “solar trees” that converts a 186-vehicle parking lot into a 235-kW solar electric generating system. Based on test conditions and adjusted for inverter efficiency estimated at 94%, the 235 kW system is capable of generating 421,000 kilowatt hours per year. The system’s…


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future tech June 30, 2005 posted by

Pearly whites?

The Colani Pegasus Wing piano. Now that’s what I call a keyboard.Wonder if it’s on sale yet?  High Tech material and modern technologies from the airplane and automotive manufacture made the three-dimensional shell construction possible of the housing elements. Their exterior is from breath-robbing elegance. In their inside the instruments save traditional building of pianos.


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future tech June 22, 2005 posted by

Whither wireless television?

Haier Corporation and Freescale Semiconductor yesterday demonstrated the world’s first Ultra-Wideband (UWB) enabled television displaying video streamed from a media server without any cables. Now sending video to televisions without wires is hardly new folks, is it, but the key thing here is that UWB will allow multiple wireless products to all mix and stream together at the super fast throughput needed for high definition video and audio. So we’re kind of looking at the future of high speed living room…


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future tech June 15, 2005 posted by

We Media.

We Media. Fascinating detailed PDF white paper on the rise and rise of participatory journalism. Should be mandatory reading for anyone involved in journalism or the media in general.  We are at the beginning of a Golden Age of journalism — but it is not journalism as we have known it. Media futurists have predicted that by 2021, “citizens will produce 50 percent of the news peer-to-peer.” However, mainstream news media have yet to meaningfully adopt or experiment with these new forms…This report details…


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future tech June 7, 2005 posted by

World’s fastest inkjet printer?

The Brother Industries high speed inkjet printer in prototype form. Codenamed Cobra, this little puppy can spit out any size of print output at around 170 pages per minute. OK, you want me to back up and repeat that? Any size of printed inkjet paper output at 170 pages every sixty seconds. Demonstrated for the first time ever last week at a Brother press seminar. How are they doing it?  Well….


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future tech June 2, 2005 posted by

On the biotech border.

The folk at Swiss biotech research company Cytos appear to be very busy indeed. Judging by the list of their recent trials. 2005, May 18:  Alzheimer’s 2005, May 14 : Vaccine to treat nicotine addiction 2005, May 11: Obesity vaccine Cytos Biotechnology AG is a public Swiss biotechnology company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of a new class of biopharmaceutical products – the Immunodrugs. Immunodrugs are intended for use in treatment and prevention of common chronic diseases which…


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cool tech May 26, 2005 posted by

100% Flat-Free ?

The Amerityre ‘no air’ polyurethane tyre. Forget the Tweel, this looks like it could be cheaper, more robust and quicker to market. Only as a spare tyre at the moment, though.  The advantages of the “zero pressure” tire are as follows: Reliability: Solid polyurethane elastomer construction does not require high pressure to carry vehicle load, and provides the consumer with an “always ready” solution in the event of regular tire failure. Durability: Polyurethane elastomer material performance meets or exceeds performance…


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future tech May 24, 2005 posted by

Broadband TV.

Broadband TV (aka IPTV) and Video on Demand came a hefty step closer yesterday when Pace announced the launch of the 490 MIPs IP215, the world’s first hardware H.264 set top box. What’s it mean? That set top boxes are now powerful enough to decode super compressed video sent down standard Internet broadband pipes. Decent quality pictures using minimal bandwidth! Watch this space, peeps!  


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future tech May 12, 2005 posted by

Fat pipes?

Broadband in Gas? Yowsers! Wireless transmission of ultra-wideband signals using existing gas pipelines. Delivering a Terabit of television, telephone, blogs and chat rooms down a gas pipe strikes us as being rather logical in an off piste kind of way.   Nethercomm’s technology requires no modification to existing natural gas distribution infrastructures and can carry enormous amounts of data by simply making use of the entire spectrum buried within the existing natural gas pipelines. The technology delivers connectivity over the last mile of broadband networks without interference or…


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