Infographic - Google Glass

source: brillen-sehhilfen.de

Google Glass (infographic) - How it works

By Martin Missfeldt

How does it work, Google's new Glass? Why can you see with it a sharp image-layer? How does the image overlay the image of reality? The following infographic illustrates the optical principle - very simple and easy to understand.

Google Glass Infographic

This infographic is licensed unter Creative-Commons-Lizenz CC-BY. Feel free to use and share it - but don't forget to mention me as the author (Martin Missfeldt) - and of course it would be nice if you link to this page as the source.

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Google Glass is a technical masterpiece. It combines numerous functions and features in a very small unit. In addition to phone and camera (photo, video), it offers Internet connection, including GPS.

The core feature of Google Glass is a visual layer that is placed over the reality ("augmented reality"). This layer opens a door to amazing new possibilities. But how does it work? In the Google Glass contains a mini-projector, which projected the layer via a clever, semi-transparent prism directly on the retina in the eye. Because of this the image, even though it is so close to the eye, is sharp and clear. You can move the front part of the Google Glass easily to optimize the focus.

Depending on how you wear the Google Glass, the layer appears in the upper right corner or in the middle of the visual field. When the Google Glass is high on the nose, so that you can practically see through underneath, you must turn the eye up to view the image sharp. Because the prism is semi-transparent you can also place it directly in front of the pupil. In that case, you have the sharp layer directly in front of the eyes.

The biggest challenge for Google will now be to make the Google Glass also usable for people with normal glasses (to compensate for a low vision). In this case the Google Glass has to be placed ahead of normal glasses - which doesn't look and feel well or like a glass. Or Google has to manufactor individual customized prisms, but this would be considerably more expensive than the standard production.

Infographic - What Happens In An Internet Minute?

source: intel.com

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   What happens in an Internet minute? Today, the number of networked devices is equal to the global population. By 2015, the number of networked devices will be twice the global population.

Infographic - Bitcoin

source: dailyreckoning.com

The Full History of Bitcoin (Infographic)

by Jason Farrell.

The Bitcoin phenomenon has undeniably made an impression in the investing, technology and political worlds this year, having enjoyed a meteoric rise from around $12 per coin in January to over $1,200 just one month ago. Now with tentative approval from the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Senate, Fidelity Investments, wealthy investors, and even the founder of Paypal, its future seems bright as the year draws to a close. Even naysayers are now lamenting that they should have “invested earlier.”

Bitcoin’s explosion is something even many of its fiercest advocates didn’t forsee. The famous Winklevoss twins are now claiming Bitcoin will expand to a $400 billion dollar market. By then, the famously “unbacked” coins could be worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If the whole thing moved to fast for you to keep track of, check out this great breakdown of the evolution of Bitcoin from Visual Capitalist. From its genesis at the hands of the mysterious Satoshi Nakomoto, to its use in the notorious Silk Road marketplace and explosion into the media spotlight, its all here.

Robotic muscle

source: gizmag.com

Scientists demonstrate a robotic muscle 1,000 times more powerful than a human's

By Nick Lavars

Scientists have demonstrated a new type of robotic muscle with 1,000 times more power than human muscle

If a so-called "rise of the machines" ever comes to fruition, our chances of survival may have just taken a big hit. A team of scientists from the US Department of Energy ’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has demonstrated a new type of robotic muscle with 1,000 times more power than that of a human's, and the ability to catapult an item 50 times its own weight.

The artificial muscle was constructed using the material vanadium dioxide, known for its ability to rapidly change size and shape. The team, working with a silicone substrate, formed a V-shaped ribbon comprising chromium and vanadium dioxide, which formed a coil when released from the substrate. The coil when heated turned into a micro-catapult with the ability to hurl objects, or a proximity sensor, in which its remote sensing of an object causes a rapid change or micro-explosion in the muscle’s resistance and shape, pushing the object away.

"We’ve created a micro-bimorph dual coil that functions as a powerful torsional muscle, driven thermally or electro-thermally by the phase transition of vanadium dioxide," said the project’s leader Junqiao Wu in a press statement. "Using a simple design and inorganic materials, we achieve superior performance in power density and speed over the motors and actuators now used in integrated micro-systems."

Vanadium dioxide boasts several useful qualities for creating miniaturized artificial muscles and motors. An insulator at low temperatures, it abruptly becomes a conductor at 67° Celsius (152.6° F), a quality which drives its reputation as a potential solution to more energy efficient electronic devices. In addition, the vanadium dioxide crystals undergo a change in their physical form when warmed, contracting along one dimension while expanding along the other two.

During this experiment, the vanadium dioxide muscles displayed a rotational speed of 200,000 rpm, an amplitude of 500 to 2,000 degrees per millimeters in length and an energy power density of up to approximately 39 kilowatts per kilogram, figures that Wu says are unprecedented.

"These metrics are all orders of magnitudes higher than existing torsional motors based on electrostatics, magnetics, carbon nanotubes or piezoelectrics," he said. "With its combination of power and multi-functionality, our micro-muscle shows great potential for applications that require a high level of functionality integration in a small space."

You can see both the "hurling" and the "micro-explosion" abilities of the muscle in the video below.

The team's research is published in the online version of Advanced Materials

Source: Berkeley Lab

Algae to crude oil in 60 minutes

source: gizmag.com

Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab

By Francis X Govers III

Engineers at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have created a continuous process that produces useful crude oil minutes after harvested algae is introduced. This new process does not require drying out the algae, which grows in water, saving time and energy that would be otherwise wasted. The final product can be refined into aviation fuel, diesel, or gasoline.

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The process mimics some of the conditions that originally turned prehistoric plant material into fossil fuel deep within the earth – high pressures and temperatures.

Algae, an aquatic plant, has long been considered as a biofuel source, but the steps needed to turn a wet, green plant into clear, burnable fuel have been both expensive and time-consuming. The algae had to be processed in a series of steps, one of which involved drying it out and removing all the water, which might be 80 percent of the biomass. Then solvents were used to extract energy-rich hydrocarbons from the dried material.

The PNNL team created a continuous process that starts with the wet algae and subjects the entire mass – water, algae, and all – to high temperatures and pressures, in this case, 350ºC (662ºF) and 3,000 psi.

"It's a bit like using a pressure cooker, only the pressures and temperatures we use are much higher," said Laboratory Fellow Douglas Elliott, the leader of the research team. "In a sense, we are duplicating the process in the earth that converted algae into oil over the course of millions of years. We're just doing it much, much faster."

Steps in the process for making fuel from algae – the algae slurry, crude oil, and refined diesel fuel

The products of the process include crude oil, which can be further refined into aviation fuel, gasoline, or diesel fuel (in tests, the process achieved between 50 and 70 percent conversion of the algae’s carbon into fuel); clean water, which can be used to grow more algae; fuel gas, which can be burned to make electricity or cleaned to make natural gas; and nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium – needed for growing algae.

Genifuel Corporation has licensed the process, and has been working with the team at the lab since 2008. The company intends to team with some industrial partners to create a pilot plant using this process to make biofuel in industrial quantities.

The process was detailed in a recent paper published in the journal Algal Research. More information on the technology is available in the video below.

Source: PNNL

Gravity-Defying Cube

source: theverge.com

Watch a robotic cube walk and balance under its own power

By Jacob Kastrenakes

in

Cubes aren't usually the go-to shape when creating an object that's meant to move around, but researchers in Switzerland have created one that can do just that — along with a handful of other surprising talents. Called the Cubli, it measures nearly 6 inches on each side and can walk around by continually flipping itself over. Perhaps more impressively, it can also balance on any of its sides or even just a single corner. As the research team from ETH Zurich's Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control demonstrates in a video, the cube can even remain balanced while a surface is raised up at an angle beneath it.

SIMILAR TO HOW SATELLITES ARE STABILIZED IN SPACE

Though it's a moving cube, the Cubli still relies on a series of spinning wheels to get going. Three internal wheels angled along a different axis each will spin faster or slower in order to maintain enough momentum to keep the cube balanced. By quickly halting a spinning wheel, the cube can also be caused to flip over, effectively allowing it to move around. The researchers say that Cubli's system of spinning wheels is similar to what stabilizes satellites out in space, and that other research groups have considered using this technology to build robots that could be used to explore other planets.

A separate group of researchers at MIT demonstrated another use for blocks like thisback in October: allowing a basic robot to reassemble itself. MIT's cubes had magnets embedded across their sides and edges, which let them grip each other and form different shapes. Though they weren't able to balance like the Cubli can, MIT's "M-blocks" could move much farther — actually hopping off the ground when getting around.

15 year old invents New Method of Diagnosing Cancer

15 year old invents New Method of Diagnosing Cancer 77 Jack Andraka is a fifteen year old freshman in high school. He developed a paper sensor that could detect pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer in five minutes for as little as 3 cents. He conducted his research at John Hopkins University. This research could change the face of cancer and promote early detection. To think that scientists spending millions of dollars to find more about cancer, a 15 year old finds out by doing a science fair project! “There are millions more of me out there...” -Jack Andraka Jack's method is 168 times faster, 26000 times cheaper, 400 times more sensitive and has a 90% success rate. He has been selected as the Intel 2012 ISEF winner and has won awards at multiple national and international math competitions. Jack is on the national junior whitewater kayaking team and enjoys playing with his dog and folding origami. The government and major corporations don't like competition. But unfortunately for them, the next generation does! Read more at: http://www.social-consciousness.com/2013/02/fifteen-year-old-invents-cancer-diagnosing-method.html Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SocialConsciousness

One Hidden iPhone Feature That's Freaking Out The Competitors

source: hubspot.com

Qualcomm Insider: Apple 64-Bit Chip `Hit Us in the Gut'

by Dan Lyons

In public, Apple’s rivals in the smartphone market have tried to downplay the

 technological advances Apple introduced in the iPhone 5s. But it turns out

that one breakthrough -- Apple's speedy, 64-bit A7 microprocessor -- has set

off a panic inside its competitors. At chipmaker Qualcomm, which provides 

microprocessors for many of the Android phones that compete against the

iPhone, executives have been trying to put on a brave face to the world,

but internally people are freaking out, according to an insider at the company.

“The 64-bit Apple chip hit us in the gut,” says the Qualcomm employee. “Not just us, but everyone, really. We were slack-jawed, and stunned, and unprepared. It’s not that big a performance difference right now, since most current software won’t benefit. But in Spinal Tapterms it’s like, 32 more, and now everyone wants it.”

A 64-bit processor handles data in bigger chunks than 32-bit processors, so it can get jobs done faster. PCs have had 64-bit chips for a while, but until Apple introduced the iPhone 5s in September, nobody had put one in a smartphone.

At the time Qualcomm CMO Anand Chandrasekher called the chip “a marketing gimmick," though Qualcomm quickly put out a statement in which it walked back Chandrasekher’s comment and called it “inaccurate.” Soon after that, Chandrasekher wasreassigned. Whoops.

In fact, Qualcomm and others now are racing to finish their own 64-bit chips. But Apple has gained a substantial jump on them. Qualcomm faces an additional challenge, which is that while Apple designs only one new chip a year, Qualcomm must create multiple designs with little tweaks and alterations to meet the needs of each different phone-maker.

Worse yet, San Diego, Calif.-based Qualcomm has been cutting costs and laying off workers, and is about to undergo a big transition at the top, announcing last week that CEO Paul Jacobs would step into an executive chairman role as COO Steve Mollenkopf becomes the new CEO.

Some thought Qualcomm promoted Mollenkopf to keep him from taking the CEO job at Microsoft, where he was reported to be a candidate. But there may be more to the story than that.

How Did They Miss This?

How did Apple catch its competitors so flat-footed? Apparently most people in the mobile industry figured 64-bit was not a big deal right now, since most smartphones can’t really take advantage of it.

“The roadmap for 64-bit was nowhere close to Apple’s, since no one thought it was that essential,” the Qualcomm insider says. “The evolution was going to be steady. Sure, it’s neat, it’s the future, but it’s not really essential for conditions now.”

But once Apple introduced a 64-bit processor, all the other phone-makers wanted one too. “Apple kicked everybody in the balls with this. It’s being downplayed, but it set off panic in the industry.”

In the past, the iPhone was zippy not because it boasted a super-powerful processor, but because of the way Apple integrated the whole system — hardware and software — and the fact that Apple could tightly control how developers wrote code for the iPhone.

An analogy would be a sports car that manages to be fast with a small engine because it is light, well-engineered, and has a great suspension.

But now Apple can also claim an advantage in raw horsepower. The new 64-bit A7 chip is the smartphone equivalent of a big V12 engine.

Apple’s rivals find themselves in the unlucky position of having to shift to 64-bit chips sooner than they’d originally planned. Changing a processor roadmap is not as simple as just flicking a switch. 

Right after the iPhone announcement last September, Samsung’s top mobile executive saidSamsung was also working on 64-bit processors. There have been rumors that Samsung will introduce a mobile device with a 64-bit chip early next year.

As for Qualcomm, the company just this month showed off a 64-bit version of its Snapdragon processor and vowed to get that chip into actual smartphones by the second half of 2014 - basically, a year behind Apple. That's if all goes well. Fingers crossed. 

Flexible Carbon

Soon silicon wafers will be made obsolete.  


All-carbon Flexible Electronics

By 

Tessel Renzenbrink

Quantum engineers have created ICs entirely made of carbon-based materials. The all-carbon electronics are more flexible and heat-resistant than silicon ICs, making them suitable for integration into plastics.

A lot of research has gone into flexible electronics recently. Electronics freed from their rigid silicon wafers opens up a whole new range of applications such as integration into bendable and stretchable plastics.

A material often used for flexible electronics are carbon nanotubes. When these are assembled in a network structure they conduct electricity and are both bendable and stretchable. However, to make a fully functional electronic device other more rigid materials were needed such as metal electrodes and oxide insulators, limiting flexibility.

Now a team of of quantum engineers from the Japanese Nagoya University and nanomaterials scientists from the Finnish Aalto University have created all-carbon integrated circuits and thin-film transistors from carbon nanotubes and polymer plastics. The devices are transparant, flexible and exhibit a stretchability of 18%.

Another important property of the Finnish/Japanese innovation is heat resistance. Many plastic products are fabricated using molding techniques, a process involving high temperatures. Conventional semiconductor materials and electrodes have poor heat resistance but the all-carbon ICs can be integrated into plastics during the molding process.

This makes integration of electronics into plastics a lot cheaper and it opens up new possibilties. For instance, molded cell phone casings which now only serve as a protective cover, could be outfitted with electronic functionalities of their own.

The scientists had their paper Mouldable All-carbon Integrated Circuits published in the August edition of Nature Communications.

source: techthefuture.com

Smart Ring

Smarty Ring offers connectivity without lifting a finger

By Nick Lavars

Like the idea of technology that wraps around a body part, displays the time and connects to your smartphone? No, we aren't talking about a smartwatch, but the "Smarty Ring" which may offer an even more subtle way to stay connected.

Joining the likes of the Ring Clock, the Genius wireless ring mouse and theNFC Ring in the functional fingerwear department, the Smarty Ring connects to iOS or Android devices (provided they are Bluetooth 4.0 enabled), allowing for call notifications, text and e-mail alerts, along with real time updates from Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangout and Skype.

A 13 mm (0.5 in) wide and 4 mm (0.16 in) thick stainless steel body forms the band of the ring, which is waterproof and comes in sizes ranging from 15.7 mm (0.62 in) to 23.8 mm (0.94 in) in diameter. Buttons on the outer side of the ring can be used to accept or reject incoming calls, control music playback and trigger the connected phone's camera.

It is powered by a 22 mAh battery, which the company says will afford it a 24 hour battery life. To recharge, the Smarty Ring comes accompanied by a wireless charging dock with space for two rings and a smartphone.

The ring is customized through a smartphone application, which allows users to keep an eye on five different time zones, adjust the brightness of the LED display, adjust the volume of the ring's beeper, and assign buttons for speed dial. It could also prove useful in preventing theft and lost devices, alerting users when their phone is more than 30 m (98 ft) away from them – even when the phone is in silent mode.

At the time of writing, the Smarty Ring has surpassed its funding goal of US$40,000 on Indiegogo, amassing over $120,000 with the campaign drawing to a close at midnight on December 11, 2013. The company is offering the Smarty Ring for a $175 pledge with shipping estimated for April 2014.

You can find out more about the features of the Smarty Ring in the video below.

source: gizmag.com

Bladeless Wind Power Plant

source: techthefuture.com

Dutch Techies Build Bladeless Wind Power Plant

A wind-driven electricity generator without moving mechanical parts is adorning the lawn of Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. The Electrostatic Wind-Energy Converter (EWICON) could unobtrusively function in an urban landscape.

Wind turbines supply a significant part of the renewable energy mix. But wind farms meet a lot of resistance from local populations because of noise pollution, flickering shadows and birds getting killed. The EWICON, which looks like wire mesh artistically framed in a giant 0, eliminates these negative aspects. Also, the absence of moving parts reduces maintenance costs significantly.

Prof. dr. Johan J. Smit High head of the Voltage Technology & Management Institute of Delft University explains how the EWICON works. ‘Using high voltage, electrically charged droplets of water are produced in the horizontal elements. At the same time these horizontal elements, which are electrodes, generate an electric field. As the wind forces the electrically charged droplets against this electric field towards the earth, the converter is charged to DC voltages of between 80 and 100 kilovolts. After conversion to AC, this can then be used to supply power to the electricity grid.’

The bladeless electricity generator installed on the University’s campus is a working prototype. The output power is dependent on a variety of factors like the method used to generate the aerosol of charged droplets, the size of the droplets, the flow rate of the liquid, electrode configuration, humidity of the environment and wind speed. Funding is needed to continue the development and the upscaling of the EWICON.

Its unobtrusive nature makes the power plant suitable for installation in urban areas. At the same time, its low maintenance requirements makes the EWICON an interesting candidate for off-shore wind farms.

For deeper understanding of the complexity of the system read the 2011 master thesis of Arjan Winters.

EWICON was developed in a collaborative effort of Delft University, Wageningen University and four commercial businesses. Physicist Piet Sonneveld of Wageningen University devised the bladeless wind energy converter and delivered proof of concept in 2002. The prototype was designed by engineer Francine Houben of architecture firm Mecanoo.

Image:  Mecanoo.nl

Benz's Stability

What do chickens and Mercedes Benz have in common?

Creative Advertisment

Creative bus advertising!

                  Obviously not.

                  Ouch!

                 Noticed the "guy" with sunglasses and cap? the one with the blue nose?

3D App

source: gizmag.com

App turns smartphones into 3D scanners

By Ben Coxworth

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The app can be used to produce 3D portraits

Most of us have gotten used to smartphones replacing long-established devices such as cameras and music players. Soon, however, they might be taking over the duties of something that is itself an emerging technology – the 3D scanner. Researchers at ETH Zurich have created an app that allows an ordinary smartphone to capture and display three-dimensional models of real-world objects, for subsequent finessing or even 3D printing.

The app reportedly works in both indoor and outdoor lighting conditions, including the low light often found in museums.

Users simply point the phone's camera at the desired object, then move the phone around the subject as needed, in order to capture it from a variety of angles. The app uses the phone's inertial sensors to detect when and by how much it's moving, and automatically snaps images accordingly.

All of the calculations take place on the spot, using the phone's GPU (graphics processing unit). Users can then view the digital model from a variety of angles, and go back to get additional shots of any parts of the subject that they missed. Not only are images captured, but the actual size of the subject is also recorded – definitely a handy feature, if the user plans on 3D-printing a copy.

The app is currently patent pending, and "can run on a wide range of current smartphones." If you just can't wait, though, you can already buy the Georgia Tech-designed Trimensional 3D scanning app for iOS.

The ETH Zurich app can be seen in use in the video below.

Source: ETH Zurich