For years we have been promised many things such as flying cars, rocket packs, and food that comes in pill-form. At long last we can have at least one of these things. Don’t get too excited, you’re still going to have to eat your meals the old-fashioned way.
The guys over at Popular Science have been getting all paranoid with the crystal ball, as they peer into the near(ish) future of personal security. Covering everything from dangerous behaviour in playgrounds and public places using smart-CCTV that can identify abnormal or atypical actions, through ways to prevent stolen cars being broken down for parts, all the way to identifying which cow was the source of the steak you’re eating, it’s by turns reassuring and frightening.
A school in Kentucky is already trialling the smart-camera system, where sixteen eagle-eyed lenses monitor the area for suspicious parked cars, people attempting to climb over the fences or anyone trying to access the building at odd times. The principal can monitor footage in real-time on his handheld, while that same footage can be streamed to a local police patrol should they be needed.
So you’ve just taken a great picture of your friend doing something really crazy on your cell phone. Now what if your best bud wants a copy of it? Well, soon you can just whip out your handheld printer from ZINK and print out a nice 2×3 of him acting like an idiot. Basically the printer is about the size of an average cell phone that can print off pictures using a specialized piece of paper. The picture is created by heating up and putting varying amounts of pressure on the polymer paper.
The obvious upsides to this unit is the fact that it has no liquid ink. No ink = no mess. This unit is still in testing, so we’ve not seen just how well the pictures turn out. Who knows, if it does well enough, this could be something to revolutionize the printing industry. Pricing is expected to be around $99 for the printer and around $19.95 for a 100 pack of paper. The only thing you’ll have to worry about is what your friend will do when he finds out you’ve made copies of his little incident for everyone.
Zink Bringing Printers to Your Handheld Gadgetry [via engadget]
Ticking the box marked “irony” with a heavy hand, as we stumble along with our 3G cellphones, marvelling at HSDPA and, even stranger, eagerly anticipating 2.5G handsets, China has decided that 3G is simply too passé and that 4G is definitely the way to go. The fact that they haven’t even got a 3G network to build on seems like the most minor of setbacks for one of the fastest technologically growing places on the planet.
So far costing $19.3m, Reuters is reporting that the network – which will be run as a commercial trial until 2010 – is capable of speeds of up to 100 megabytes per second. It’s being run by a group of ten institutions calling themselves the FuTURE Project, and is currently active in Shanghai; it’ll be joined later this year by 3G operators who at long last will be able to get their hands on the lucrative band licences.
Well, you all saw the recent fall of Honda’s ASIMO robot and you thought it was over; not so. I came across an older video of ASIMO and this time he made it up the stairs but didn’t quite make it downstairs in one piece. Honda’s Humanoid Robot is currently an overprice piece of machinery and technology that continues to make the audiences laugh. ASIMO’s job is to make us smile and ponder Honda’s greatness but it fails again in the featured video. The Humanoid cost an estimated $1 million to manufacture in addition to thousands more for maintenance. Lets not forget the repair cost when ASIMO trips over thick-air, which doesn’t exist.
ASIMO, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, has an excellent track record versus the competition, but as technology progresses it seems to fall more and more. Honda boasts that ASIMO is a “glimpse into the future”, which sorta makes sense when you consider people will eventually fall and slip on ice or something they didn’t notice. We’re just following in ASIMO’s footsteps.
It’s huge, pricey, but it’s saving daily fuel costs by up to $1,000. After years of testing the SkySail, a 160-square-meter kite, will be installed on German vessels to cute the cost of fuel. The SkySail should come as no surprise. Kites were often utilized in maritime travel to harness wind power and propel ships forward. What makes the SkySail significant is its usage on huge, cargo vessels that carry oil, cars, and other goods. Estimates say the SkySail will cut fuel used by up to 20 percent and it’s a welcome piece of technology, because it cuts emissions and it’s environmentally friendly. The MV Beluga SkySail is currently in product and it will include a paraglider sail and a “smart” central steerage unit. First sail is set for 2007. The SkySail isn’t a laptop, plasma, or USB accessories but it’s a definite piece of technology that uses the Earth’s resources to create a better planet.
If you own a huge vessel and you’re concern about fuel I suggest you guy one. It cost $660,000 to $3.3 million, so it’s no biggie. With ships carrying 90 percent of all world goods this may cut the cost of electronics over time so the SkySail is a step in the right direction. By the year 2015, 1,500 vessels are expected to have the high-tech kite system fully integrated.
Price: $600,000 – $3.3 mil
German high-tech sky sail [Via: News.com]
CrunchGear links to a Reuters article that discusses the RAZR (or, given the time frame, more likely KRZR v.3) competitor that Sony Ericsson have likely got hovering around either drawing-board or prototype stage. The people at Terminal.hu seem to think it’s the latter, offering these hellishly fuzzy cameraphone shots as possible proof. Preliminarily called Ai, it’s rumoured to measure 9.4mm in thickness, have a casing constructed from rubberised plastic and aluminium insets, be 3G UMTS compatible and have a 2-megapixel camera.
This is one of those situations where I’d be quite happy to be proved wrong, but don’t think I will be. Terminal.hu today present us with this, what they’re calling the Nokia N97, and suggesting that as the replacement to the N95 it will have a 3-inch display, 5-megapixel digital camera with 20x zoom (digital, of course) although a (poor) translation of the original article hints at a 2 or 3x optical zoom, as well as microSD for removable storage and 20gb of on-board space.
Gizmodo are calling this “either a very beautiful phone, or a pretty good photoshop”; personally I can’t agree with either – my own inclination is to believe it’s a construction rather than a real product, and it’s a pretty bland development of the current Nokia design. For a phone with a three-inch screen, wouldn’t we see a higher resolution than what appears to be a screenshot from an N80? We’ve all seen far better photoshop efforts, too.
Terminal.hu [via Gizmodo]
I’m all for convergence. Phone and GPS? Yes please. Watch with built-in TV and hairdryer? Gimme gimme gimme. Table and refrigerator? Um, okay? Smart-furniture designers Gorenje have obviously decided that warm drinks are the scourge of dinnertimes, hence a table that has a cooled centre compartment that rises at the touch of a (remote control) button.
Available Summer 2007, each table is bespoke and can be made in a variety of materials – glass, wood, stone, maybe even cheese.
Apple boss Steve Jobs is just about guaranteed to get the gadget hounds baying when he says something along the lines of “2007 will be the most exciting year ever for new products”, and the rumours, speculation and unadulterated, desperate lust is slopping around the internet like cheap rum on a hen-night. The scent of investment always brings the money-men running, and this time it’s Prudential Equity Group analyst Jesse Tortora who has all of a sudden all the inside gossip on just what Apple will be bringing out of its electronic hat.
SlashGear Japan
