Medical Micro-robots Made As Small As Bacteria

Bacteria Sized Curative Nanotechnology Robots
Researchers in Zurich have built micro-robots as small as bacteria which are made to help cure disease in humans. The tiny spiral-shaped robots, similar in look to E. coli, are called "Artificial Bacterial Flagella" (ABFs).

They look like spirals with tiny heads, and screw through the liquid like miniature corkscrews. When moving, they resemble rather ungainly bacteria with long whip-like tails. They can only be observed under a microscope because, at a total length of 25 to 60 µm, they are almost as small as natural flagellated bacteria. Most are between 5 and 15 µm long, a few are more than 20 µm.
The tiny spiral-shaped, nature-mimicking lookalikes of E. coli and similar bacteria. are called “Artificial Bacterial Flagella” (ABFs), the “flagella” referring to their whip-like tails. They were invented, manufactured and enabled to swim in a controllable way by researchers in the group led by Bradley Nelson, Professor at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich. In contrast to their natural role model, some of which cause diseases, the ABFs are intended to help cure diseases in the future.

With the software developed by the group, the ABF can be steered to a specific target by tuning the strength and direction of the rotating magnetic field which is generated by several coils. The ABFs can move forwards and backwards, upwards and downwards, and can also rotate in all directions. Brad Nelson says “There’s a lot of physics and mathematics behind the software.” The ABFs do not need energy of their own to swim, nor do they have any moving parts. The only decisive thing is the magnetic field, towards which the tiny head constantly tries to orientate itself and in whose direction it moves. The ABFs currently swim at a speed of up to 20 µm, i.e. up to one body length, per second.

For complete information read: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090418085333.htm

Shape changing car BMW

BMW’s GINA Visionary Model, a fabric-covered vehicle that can change shapes with the push of a button.

Chris Bangle (head of design at BMW) and his team actually built GINA( "Geometry and functions In 'N' Adaptions") six years ago, but BMW kept it under wraps. It's built on the Z8 chassis and has a 4.4-liter V8 and six-speed automatic transmission. BMW says the fabric skin - polyurethane-coated Lycra - is resilient, durable and water resistant. It's stretched over an aluminum frame controlled by electric and hydraulic actuators that allow the owner to change the body shape. Want a big spoiler on the back? Wider fenders? No problem. "The drastic reinterpretation of familiar functionality and structure means that drivers have a completely new experience when they handle their car," BMW says.

Doors open with hinges now; on the GINA concept, the cloth bends and the door bends open. Headlights now are always there, even when they are off; GINA ’s cloth would actually cover the headlights when they aren’t in use. The rear lights function in a similar manner. Since rear lights are used more often and not a feature one can turn on or off, the cloth covering the lights would be translucent so the light would shine through when on, but be unnoticeable when off.

Check the Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTYiEkQYhWY

Colour changing car

The Chameleon Mini

Mini will be debuting its first color morphing car in Singapore this June. Named the Mini Chameleon the car changes color according to weather conditions. For example, on a rainy day, the car's paint brightens to improve visibility while on a sunny day, it lightens to reflect heat and cool down the vehicle. The car gets its color morphing capability thanks to a special paint treatment technology called FeintPaint developed by a Spanish company. The paint has tiny magnetic iron oxide particles which react to changes in the magnetic field and change color in seconds. I can only imagine parking one along with others only to find out that all have the same color on a sunny day.

Read full article at: http://www.sgcarmart.com/news/article.php?AID=2013

SQUARE Watermelons

Grow your own SQUARE WATERMELONS: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-grow-a-square-watermelon-250894/

Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than their US counterparts and therefore don't have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets want a space efficient watermelon, they asked themselves, how can we provide one? It wasn't long before they invented the square watermelon.

The solution to the problem of round watermelons wasn't nearly as difficult to solve for those who didn't assume the problem was impossible to begin with and simply asked how it could be done. It turns out that all you need to do is place them into a square box when they are growing and the watermelon will take on the shape of the box.

This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators which are much smaller than those in the US - which resulted in the growers being able to charge a premium price for them.

Read the whole story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1390088.stm
What does this have do with anything besides square watermelons? There are a five lessons that you can take away from this story: http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2008/06/18/lessons-of-the-square-watermelon/
1.) Don’t Assume
2.) Question Habits
3.) Be Creative
4.) Look for a Better Way
5.) Impossibilities Often Aren’t

See the video at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqktRZ9t1GM

Thousands of Gaming (??) Factories, China

Ogre to Slay? Outsource It to Chinese
One of China's newest factories operates in the basement of an old warehouse. The people working at this clandestine locale are "gold farmers." Every day, in 12-hour shifts, they "play" computer games by killing onscreen monsters and winning battles, harvesting artificial gold coins and other virtual goods as rewards that, as it turns out, can be transformed into real cash. That is because, from Seoul to San Francisco, affluent online gamers who lack the time and patience to work their way up to the higher levels of gamedom are willing to pay the young Chinese here to play the early rounds for them.
On eBay, for example, 100 grams of World of Warcraft gold is available for $9.99 or two über characters from EverQuest for $35.50. It costs $269 to be transported to Level 60 in Warcraft, and it typically takes 15 days to get the account back at the higher level.
"For 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, my colleagues and I are killing monsters," said a 23-year-old gamer who works in this makeshift factory and goes by the online code name Wandering. "I make about $250 a month, which is pretty good compared with the other jobs I've had. And I can play games all day."
By some estimates, there are well over 100,000 young people working in China as full-time gamers, toiling away in dark Internet cafes, abandoned warehouses, small offices and private homes.
Most of the players here actually make less than a quarter an hour, but they often get room, board and free computer game play in these "virtual sweatshops."
"It's unimaginable how big this is," says Chen Yu, 27, who employs 20 full-time gamers here in Fuzhou. "They say that in some of these popular games, 40 or 50 percent of the players are actually Chinese farmers."
"What we're seeing here is the emergence of virtual currencies and virtual economies," says Peter Ludlow, a longtime gamer and a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "People are making real money here, so these games are becoming like real economies."

Want to read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/technology/09gaming.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Furit Packaging which feels and looks like the fruit!

Fruit Juice Packaging by Naoto Fukasawa: PACKET WHICH LOOKS LIKE THE FRUIT

Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa has created a series of creative fruit juice packages that have the look and feel of the fruit they contain.
“I imagined that if the surface of the package imitated the colour and texture of the fruit skin, then the object would reproduce the feeling of the real skin.”
Alongside banana, strawberry and kiwi fruit “juice skins” Naoto Fukasawa also offers a wild card “silken tofu skin” for a carton of soya milk.

For more images see: http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/03/29/juice-skin-packaging-by-naoto-fukasawa/

World famous in 4 days!

How do you become world famous in less than a week?
SUSAN BOYLE’s video has had >16 million hits in 5 days!

Susan Boyle (born 1961), is a Scottish church volunteer who came to public attention on 11 April 2009, when she appeared as a contestant on the third series of Britain's Got Talent.
Boyle leapt to almost immediate global fame with a stirring rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables in the competition's first round. Before she sang, both the audience and the judges had expressed scepticism about her based on her somewhat plain and unprofessional appearance. In contrast, her vocal performance was so outstanding that she has been dubbed "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell." She received a standing ovation from the live audience, attracting the "biggest yes vote in three seasons" from Piers Morgan and yes-votes from Cowell and Amanda Holden. Check her full story at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Boyle

Have you watched Susan Boyle yet? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

MEGA LOK ADALAT: solve 2.5 lac pending cases in 2 days!

 Innovation: Initiated by Justice T. S. Thakur, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, this innovation aims to settle maximum number of cases through mutual consensus without following the lengthy judicial process.
 What was done: A two-day Mega Lok Adalat was organized to decrease the huge pendency of cases in the Subordinate Courts, as per the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice T S Thakur. Done on December 20 and 21, 2008.
 How it was done: The journey to make this experiment a smash hit started some three months before with high court authorities informing their subordinate courts that they would try and clear 2.5 lakh cases in 2 days. They were told to collaborate with various government departments and corporates and set a cut-off limit regarding value. Hence all cases below this amount were given a chance to be heard at the mega lok adalat. Arrangements were made for security to be provided by cops and medical facilities were arranged from the administration, which made it an `event to remember' on Saturday.
 Uniqueness:
 1st of its kind initiative in the world.
 Aims at solving cases in lakh’s and not in hundreds or even thousands.
 A solution for all states to provide speedier justice at a magnanimously large scale.
 Impact:
 In Chandigarh: more than 30,000 cases under various Acts were settled on Day One, with transaction of almost Rs 4 crore taking place in Chandigarh's district courts.
 In Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, an area known for people taking every small matter to court, over 14,000 cases were disposed off in one day itself
 In Ludhiana district alone, 56 Judicial Benches were set up during the Mega Lok Adalat and more than 44000 cases were disposed off involving a compensation of around 37.71 crore.
 Haryana, Financial Commissioner& Principal Secretary (Power), Ashok Lavasa said here today that the distribution corporations had offered an attractive settlement scheme for all type of cases pending in various courts, to settle through Mega Lok Adalats by paying 50 per cent of the penalty in most of the cases. Surcharge levied on the arrears in such cases was to be waived off 100 per cent. Responding to the attractive scheme, as many as 3240 consumers came forward to get their cases settled in Mega Lok Adalats through mutual consent. An amount of Rs 1402 crore was involved in these cases out of which Rs. 405 crore have been recovered through settlement.
 A ‘mega’ Lok Adalat for settlement of the Motor Vehicle Act cases pending in the High Court, district courts of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy besides tribunals will be organised here on February 15, 2009 in Andhra Pradesh.

GPS Inhalers to track asthma triggers

Researcher hopes to learn when and where asthma attacks strike using GPS
Where asthma strikes, medical inhalers follow. Which got one disease detective thinking: Could asthma triggers be tracked via GPS technology?
Enterprising epidemiologist David Van Sickle at the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to find out. He recruited four asthmatic undergraduates to carry around inhalers outfitted to relay location data when they were being used, via the Global Positioning System satellite network. The test successfully demonstrated the concept and gave Van Sickle footing — and funding — for a pilot program now under way in the city of Madison, Wis.
The device is now about the size of a nine-volt battery. And the weight, said Van Sickle, "is insignificant."
Current versions have additional technology to relay positioning data from inside buildings, a constraint that impacts most satellite-only receivers. Eventually, Van Sickle, who previously worked for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, would like to have thousands of people using the GPS-equipped inhalers so that accurate statistics can be complied about when and where asthma strikes.
"Asthma is unique in that people carry their inhalers around with them and use them at the time and place when they are having symptoms," Van Sickler said.
Read full article at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30091047/

Chapel of burnt wood

An extraordinary chapel built by wrapping concrete round a wigwam structure of tree trunks.
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor won the 2009 Pritzker Architect prize on 12 April 2009, for his many works, one of which was the Brother Klaus field chapel in Wachendorf, Eifel, Germany, 09 July 2007.

The interior of the chapel room was formed out of 112 tree trunks, which were configured like a tent. They were covered with layers of concrete. The trunks were then burnt away leaving their impression in the walls and a charred wood smell. The chapel floor was covered with lead and the bronze relief figure in the chapel is by sculptor Hans Josephsohn.

Read this very interesting article on how it got formed: http://www.iconeye.com/index.php?

The international Pritzker Architect prize is awarded each year to a living architect for significant achievement, and was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. It is often referred to as “architecture’s Nobel” and “the profession’s highest honor,”.

The chapel is one of Peter Zumthor most admired works, for the others check this link: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1890768,00.html

GPS Inhalers to track asthma triggers

Researcher hopes to learn when and where asthma attacks strike using GPS
Where asthma strikes, medical inhalers follow. Which got one disease detective thinking: Could asthma triggers be tracked via GPS technology?
Enterprising epidemiologist David Van Sickle at the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to find out. He recruited four asthmatic undergraduates to carry around inhalers outfitted to relay location data when they were being used, via the Global Positioning System satellite network. The test successfully demonstrated the concept and gave Van Sickle footing — and funding — for a pilot program now under way in the city of Madison, Wis.
The device is now about the size of a nine-volt battery. And the weight, said Van Sickle, "is insignificant."
Current versions have additional technology to relay positioning data from inside buildings, a constraint that impacts most satellite-only receivers. Eventually, Van Sickle, who previously worked for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, would like to have thousands of people using the GPS-equipped inhalers so that accurate statistics can be complied about when and where asthma strikes.
"Asthma is unique in that people carry their inhalers around with them and use them at the time and place when they are having symptoms," Van Sickler said.
Read full article at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30091047/

Solve 2.5 lac pending cases in 2 days!

MEGA LOK ADALAT
Initiated by Justice T. S. Thakur, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, this innovation aims to settle maximum number of cases through mutual consensus without following the lengthy judicial process. A two-day Mega Lok Adalat was organized to decrease the huge pendency of cases in the Subordinate Courts, as per the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice T S Thakur. Done on December 20 and 21, 2008.

The journey to make this experiment a smash hit started some three months before with high court authorities informing their subordinate courts that they would try and clear 2.5 lakh cases in 2 days. They were told to collaborate with various government departments and corporates and set a cut-off limit regarding value. Hence all cases below this amount were given a chance to be heard at the mega lok adalat. Arrangements were made for security to be provided by cops and medical facilities were arranged from the administration, which made it an `event to remember' on Saturday.

Impact:
In Chandigarh: more than 30,000 cases under various Acts were settled on Day One, with transaction of almost Rs 4 crore taking place in Chandigarh's district courts.
In Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, an area known for people taking every small matter to court, over 14,000 cases were disposed off in one day itself
In Ludhiana district alone, 56 Judicial Benches were set up during the Mega Lok Adalat and more than 44000 cases were disposed off involving a compensation of around 37.71 crore.
Haryana, Financial Commissioner& Principal Secretary (Power), Ashok Lavasa said here today that the distribution corporations had offered an attractive settlement scheme for all type of cases pending in various courts, to settle through Mega Lok Adalats by paying 50 per cent of the penalty in most of the cases. Surcharge levied on the arrears in such cases was to be waived off 100 per cent. Responding to the attractive scheme, as many as 3240 consumers came forward to get their cases settled in Mega Lok Adalats through mutual consent. An amount of Rs 1402 crore was involved in these cases out of which Rs. 405 crore have been recovered through settlement.
A ‘mega’ Lok Adalat for settlement of the Motor Vehicle Act cases pending in the High Court, district courts of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy besides tribunals will be organised here on February 15, 2009 in Andhra Pradesh.

Human hair makes good fertilizer

All those snipped locks that are swept up after your haircut could be turned into crop fertilizer, researchers now say.
In addition to water and sunlight, plants need certain nutrients to grow, particularly nitrogen. While nitrogen is abundant in the Earth's atmosphere (composing about 78 percent of it), it is in the form of molecular nitrogen (two nitrogen atoms bonded together), which is unusable to plants. For plants to take up nitrogen, it must be "fixed" into compounds such as nitrate (one nitrogen and three oxygen atoms), which plant roots can absorb from the soil. While some plants, such as legumes, get their nitrogen through symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, others rely on fertilizers, whether organic (composted plant waste or animal manure) or inorganic (the man-made stuff you buy at the gardening center).
Vlatcho Zheljazkov and his colleagues at Mississippi State University pitted waste hair against commercial fertilizers. They compared the productivity of four plants, lettuce, wormwood, yellow poppy and feverfew, under four different treatments: non-composted hair cubes, a controlled-release fertilizer, a water-soluble fertilizer, and no treatment.
Plant yields increased for the hair-fertilized plants compared to the untreated controls overall, but were still lower than for the commercial, inorganic fertilizers in lettuce and wormwood, which are fast-growing plants. Yellow poppy, however, saw higher yields for the hair treatment.
The researchers suspect that some of the difference between hair and the inorganic fertilizers is due to the time it takes for hair to degrade and release its nutrients. So hair shouldn't be used as a sole fertilizer, at least for fast-growing plants, they concluded. Further research is still needed to see if human hair waste is a viable option for fertilizing edible crops though because of possible health concerns.

Read full article at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28509911/

Camera That Can Be Thrown for 360 degree pictures

Triops: the Panoramic Digital camera which takes digital photography to a whole new level
Finalist for BraunPrize 2007

The concept:
Triops is a robust digital camera which allows the user to experience new perspectives and perceptions and takes the potential of digital photography to a new level.

How it works:
The camera is equipped with three protected fisheye lenses and allows for an active, spontaneous and playful photography experience.

The benefits:
This product can take images while being thrown, suspended or just being placed in an unusual location. It captures the moment by responding to sound or movement, or by reacting to the manually
operated release. Sequentially taken photographs are possible as well as 360 degree panorama images. All working parts are integrated in the robust casing and can be operated easily and intuitively.
Pictures can be wirelessly transmitted to a separate display unit for display. This unit functions as a processing and storage device and the camera‘s charging station.

What the jury said:
This innovative, conceptual yet practical product captures the spontaneity of the moment by showing unexpected images and perspectives of our experiences. The product develops the idea that our point of view is sometimes arbitrary and not controlled by the photographer. As a result, the act of picture taking does not remove the photographer from the experience. The jury believes that further development and extension of the basic idea could result in a wide range of exciting applications in many different areas, such as children’s education and artistic expression.

Have Your Groceries Flied Home

Cargonaut : Humanoid Flight Robot That Carry Your Luggage

2026 – New York, Berlin, Shanghai. Millions of people are travelling through these cities day by day.

Due to technological progress in miniaturization, portable devices have become comfortable to carry. However city travellers are still heavily loaded with shopping bags, groceries or luggage which technology is not able to compress.
From now on, a revolution in personal urban transit has occurred:
Cargonaut, a humanoid flight robot, comes to your current position to relieve you of your loads. After placing your bags or luggage in one of the publicly available sky boxes, Cargonaut delivers within minutes to a chosen destination.

The world in your hands: Moixa Sphere

William Blake's said 'To see a world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour'
Moixa has developed an apple sized device, named Sphere, its patented technology, with multi-touch feature allows a user to surf the world like Google Earth, control interactive games and browse web pages. Sphere can display an interactive map of world and can be recharged by releasing a leaf like petal. The device supports multi-touch interactions for zoom, selection, as well as 6 degree rotational and gyroscopic actions, with particular application in interactive games or complex control situations such as interacting with a nearby 3D screen or virtual space.
In Moixa tradition, Sphere can also be collapsed, used and stored in its second form - a flat ellipsoid. The patents, filed in 2004 also disclose advanced multi-touch surface interaction and gyroscopic control benefits.
Sphere is a sign of expanding IP collection of geometric forms that reorganize the axioms of portable advanced computing. This handy device is planned to finish the development process anytime this year and will be commercially available in the market in 2010.

See the product: http://www.moixa.com/sphere/

Tutor Vista: Taking tutions outside India

Tutor Vista: Tutor Vista is a global education services company. It offers online tutoring services for students in various subjects and languages.
• A student gets enrolled through subscription and tutors are selected through a rigorous process
• A student select the time and subject he/she wants to get trained on. Tutor Vista selects the teacher available for the time slot and fixes the session
• Sessions are conducted over Tutor Vista’s platform. Student and teacher interact over VOIP, chat. The platform also has a white board to make it effective
• The central system is like Air Traffic Control Room – sessions are lined up for take off and closure. There are standby tutors line up in case a tutor drops out at the last minute
• Many tutors are professionals like Software Engineers, MBA Students, Radio Jockeys, Air Traffic Controllers and Army Officers apart from qualified teachers. This ensures a rich coaching with unique perspectives
• While several companies offer fixed content package for a course, Tutor Vista model is based on personalized and one-on-one coaching
• Started with one tutor and one student. Within 18 months had 400 tutors and 10,000 students
• Success of the business and need has led to demand from Korea, Canada, UK. Has teachers across the globe for students across geographies. Its currently expanding into teaching various subjects
• In November 2006, it was named the exclusive online tutoring provider for the Microsoft MSN Encarta online education portal.
• In April, 2007 Vocabulary.com engaged TutorVista as its exclusive tutoring service provider, giving it access to more than 19,000 schools.

Windows Detect An Intruder Even Before They’re Broken

Vigilant windows!

Imagine if the windows in your home or business could be used as motion detectors to sense a potential intruder before they even attempted to break in. Well that’s the idea behind the ‘Vigilant windows’ being developed at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research. The glass is coated with a special nanoparticle material that converts light into fluorescent radiation. As UV light hits the glass, the fluorescent radiation is then channeled to sensors along the edge of the window, and all is well.

But when someone or something passes by the window they block the amount of light hitting it, which reduces the amount of fluorescent radiation being produced, which can be measured by the sensors and used to trigger an alarm. In fact, with sensors installed on all four sides of a window frame the system can even extrapolate the size of the object, which direction it’s moving and how fast it’s going.
At the moment the Vigilant window system is still in development, but demo systems already exist and the researchers claim the special nanoparticle coating can be easily applied as a spray-on finish or as a glued on film.

Read some more : http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Vigilant_Windows_999.html

mChek: India's 1st mobile phone payment service

mChek is an innovative and secure service where the user can pay anytime-anywhere-any amount through the mobile phones. It ties up with merchants, service providers, banks to bring alive a cashless transaction. Applications start from paying bills to over to counter purchases
How it works?
• Subscribers can register for the service with their network provider like Airtel. In case the subscriber’s service provider doesn’t have tie up with mChek, subscriber can independently register with mChek
• Once the details of the card – number, CVV and expiry date are registered, the information is tagged with mobile phone number
• Consumers can use the mChek service across all platforms and companies who have the mChek facility. The transaction is completed with the bank in the back end through proper authentication processes
Business Model
• The service is free for consumers
• The business model works on a revenue sharing basis with the mobile service provider and the merchants
Uniqueness:
• First mobile payment service in India
• It started off as a ‘pay bill’ service and is currently expanded to transferring money through mobile, buying rail/rail tickets, paying insurance premium, any purchase/retail transaction over internet
• Triple Layer security layers ensure total security.
• Avoids chances of identity theft and fraud – concerns over internet transactions
• World’s first mobile payment company to receive PCI-DSS 1.1 certification
• Complete cashless transaction and any amount can be transacted
Impact:
• Astounding adoption rate: One million subscribers within 7 months of launch with Airtel
• Consumers: Safe, smart and simple payment solution for anywhere, anytime transactions including remote payment of bills, inter-personal payments and web transactions. Multiple cards on one SIM card
• Multiple Credit/Debit cards from multiple banks on a single SIM
• Bill Banner system allows space for CPA ads
• Faster deal closure cycles

Tourist Remover

Remove moving objects such as tourists or passing cars from your photos. Take multiple photos from the same scene and the “Tourist Remover” blends them into a composite photo without any interfering elements. Swiss software engineering company futureLAB released the new online tool. The removal algorithm is fully automatic and requires only 3-10 photos of the same object taken in succession. There is no need for tripods, it works well with hand-held shots.

“Tourist Remover” is part of the feature-rich Online Photo Manager www.snapmania.com and is free. snapmania is a new way to organize and share photos and offers the ease of use of PC-based applications but runs completely in a web browser. Free sign-up is available at www.snapmania.com/trm including 100 MByte of online storage for photos.

Shoes that transform into sandals in seconds

Unpredictable summers can make choosing the right footwear well nigh impossible.
A pair of stylish sandals might seem the best way to avoid sweaty socks, but if the heavens open you are left trudging home with distinctly damp feet.

Now a shoe company has come up with an ingenious solution to get the best of both worlds - shoes that transform into sandals with a flick of a zip.

The Nat-2 design looks like a regular pair of canvas shoes, similar to popular designs by the Converse brand.
But when you want to give your feet a bit of fresh air you can unzip the sole to reveal a pair of sandals.
The canvas top can easily be folded up and slipped into a bag.
With more than 20 different designs available, you can mix and match soles with different uppers.

Surround Smell

You have the surround sound, the widescreen, the high definition. Your choice of lights, screen, sound. The next step is: Smells! As virtual reality continues to become a more and more realistic situation, designer David Sweeney allows our nose to enter another false reality: the smell jungle.

Light music and sweet fragrance along with a cuppa, is the perfect way to begin a day at work. While music refreshes our mind, fragrance evokes memories, revitalizing the way we think and enables us to tackle different situations. Keeping in mind the stress and demands of our work life, David Sweeney has popped up with a scent diffuser that relives different physiological situations by defusing related fragrances throughout the day. Dubbed the ‘Surround Smell,’ the diffuser can eject about 16 distinctive yet refreshing scents that are filled in the diffuser by the piezoelectric micro-pumps. The mix is broadcast into the room by a fan. The device creates a constantly adapting smellscape. Some elements of the scent convey information while others complement these by evoking awareness beyond the task in hand. Smells for this project were designed by Sissel Tolaas at the IFF research Lab in Berlin.

These devices harness the fact that smells evoke memories and can alter the way we think. They notify us of important information, but in a non-intrusive & subconscious manner. This provides an alternative to receiving all our daily information through our eyes and ears, instead routing some of it down an olfactory channel.

Software for people with cerebral palsy

Webel: Pictorial
As Cerebral Palsy affected people have involuntary muscle movements , it is quite difficult for them to use conventional input devices like mouse or keyboard.

Innovation: Pictorial is an audio-visual software, having specially developed keypads that help cerebral palsy children communicate their feeling by selecting pictures. The software is a learning aid as well as a teaching aid in the filed of picture based communication. The software supports Hindi, Bengali, Mizo and English.

How it works: The software and keypads could be attached to any computer. For children who cannot use hands, Webel has developed foot-switches that can be used to select pictures for expressions. The software has a database of 2000 pictures to select from and the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy has provided Webel with these specially designed icons. In each icon, there is a sound file, which can generate audible expressions. By clicking on any icon, the user will be able to play the sound file and make people understand their feelings. The software has a pair of specially designed hand switches for two hands. While one switch would be used to scroll through the pictures, the other switch would be for selecting an expression or pressing the 'Enter' button. Similar mechanism is in place for the foot switches.

The software has been installed at two Cerebral Palsy Institutes in Kolkata &Aizwal.
Check out WEBEL’s newsletter: http://www.webel-india.com/Download/Webel%20House%20Journal%20Issue-6.pdf

Non- Stop train

How do you board a constantly moving train? Well, you could leap off a bridge and land on top of it like in the movies, hop off a horse and grab a rail like in a Western, or you could use this passenger delivery system called the "non-stop MRT system" by its Taiwanese inventor Peng Yu-lun, thought up last year. The non-stop train system, employs a continuously moving main carriage and top-mounted boarding shuttles that slide on and off at their appropriate stations. Passengers board the smaller shuttles at the platform and wait for the nonstop train to ’scoop’ up their carriage, which then attaches to the roof of the train as it passes through the station. The sliding carriages then detach and slow down at their destination stations as the continuously moving carriage travels on.

So, what would be the benefit? Yu-lun speculates that it would be a far more energy efficient solution, since a lot of power is wasted when trains and subways start and stop at many stations. It'd be interesting to see, however, if such a system would in fact speed up a commute for passengers, or if timing issues would disrupt the train's uninterrupted schedule.

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DfDOlUXEBo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psfk.com%2F2008%2F07%2Fa-truly-nonstop-train.html&feature=player_embedded

Shoes adapt themselves to weather

Wet feet? never again!:

IQTEX and BASF have jointly developed a unique, intelligent system which adapts shoes to suit weather conditions. To make this possible, IQTEX has processed a special superabsorbing fleece from BASF into an innovative ventilation element known as Vayu Verde®.

Vayu Verde® functions like a flower that closes up in the rain and re-opens when it is dry. When the material gets wet, for example if the wearer steps in a puddle, the superabsorbing fleece in the ventilation element immediately expands and self-seals the system. It even stays watertight under high pressure. Then, as soon as the material integrated into the sole of the shoe dries, it regains its breathability within minutes and the wearer feels a cool and pleasant sensation. Whether rain or sunshine feet will always stay dry.

The fleece in Vayu Verde® contains superabsorbent polymers and is marketed by BASF as Luquafleece®. This functional material can absorb large amounts of aqueous liquids and thanks to its reversible moisture binding system is capable of absorbing and releasing large amounts of moisture and humidity. It is already being used for increased climate comfort in office chairs and protective clothing, for example.

The Vayu Verde® technology is not only suitable for shoes but could also be used to manufacture jackets, gloves, tents, safety helmets, textiles and sports accessories to achieve optimum ventilation. This innovative technology could also be deployed in electronic devices or medical products.

To read more info click: http://www.materia.nl/563.0.html?&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=191&tx_ttnews[backPid]=534&cHash=72fd71ee76

Print @ 60 pages per minute

Silverbrook Research''s prototype Memjet inkjet printer outputs 60 pages per minute:

Memjet printers will print at a blisteringly fast 60 ppm for documents and 30 ppm for photos and will start at about $200. They believe within five years (by 2013)they will have the capability to do color office documents at 120-150 ppm and full-page photos at 60-75ppm.

The 3D desktop printer takes up 25 x 20 x 20-inch space, and weighs about 90-pounds, while the maximum size of printed objects is 5 x 5 x 5-inches, and Desktop Factory says per-cubic-inch printing costs will hover somewhere around $1. The Desktop Factory 3D printer builds robust, composite plastic parts that can be sanded and painted when desired. Their goal by 2011 is to have their 3D printer below $1000.

While the dominant inkjet manufacturers — Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark — generally develop their own technology, Memjet will license its breakthrough design to a variety of partners.

Watch the amazing vieo : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUTZRrQfy-E
Read the article: http://blog.databazaar.com/2007/03/memjet_inkjet_p.html