Cell Phone for Blind people

CELL PHONE FOR THE BLIND AND FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Blind users hear the contents of the document read in clear synthetic speech, while users who can see the screen and those with learning disabilities can enlarge, read, track, and highlight printed materials using the phone's large and easy-to-read display. The combination of text-to-speech and tracking features makes interpreting text much easier for individuals with learning disabilities.

K -NFB Reading Technology, a company combining the research and development efforts of the National Federation of the Blind and Kurzweil Technologies, unveils an exciting product line that will revolutionize access to print for anyone who has difficulty seeing or reading print, including the blind and learning disabled. The company’s world-renowned reading software has been especially designed for and paired with the Nokia N82 mobile phone to create the smallest text-to-speech reading device in history.

Cell phone and Reader combination
Blind users will have access to all of the functions featured in the most advanced cell phones on the market including video and music playback, GPS, wireless communications, photography, e-mail, text messaging, calendar and task functions, and more. The combination Reader and cell phone weighs 4.2 ounces and can store thousands of printed pages with easily obtainable extra memory. Users can transfer files to computers or Braille notetakers in seconds.

knfbREADER Mobile with a user friendly interface
"The knfbREADER Mobile allows me immediate access to printed information, whether it be a menu or a letter," said James Gashel, vice president of business development for K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. and a blind user of the product. "So many people already carry cell phones. This innovation is exciting because it puts all of the functions that users need into one product, eliminating the need to carry multiple devices. The Reader's simple user interface makes it ideal for the growing number of blind seniors."

Cell phone for disabled people
"Technology that enlarges the printed word or converts it to speech has dramatically improved the lives of millions of Americans with many types of disabilities, enabling them to read and comprehend printed materials to which they never before had access," said Ray Kurzweil, President and CEO of K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. "This innovation has created opportunities disabled people had never considered before due to the large amounts of reading required in certain occupations. The first machine of this type was the size of a washing machine. As optical character recognition technology is integrated into smaller and smaller devices, access to print becomes available almost instantaneously."

Wind turbine which needs to pillars to hold it

WIND TURBINE WHICH NEEDS NO SUPPORTING INFRASTRUCTURE TO DEPLOY

Magenn Power's MARS is a lighter-than-air tethered wind turbine that rotates about a horizontal axis in response to wind, generating electrical energy. This electrical energy is transferred down the 1000-foot tether for immediate use, or to a set of batteries for later use, or to the power grid.

Helium sustains MARS and allows it to ascend to a higher altitude than traditional wind turbines. MARS captures the energy available in the 600 to 1000-foot low level and nocturnal jet streams that exist almost everywhere. MARS rotation also generates the "Magnus effect" which provides additional lift, keeps the MARS stabilized, and positions it within a very controlled and restricted location to adhere to FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) & Transport Canada guidelines.
Magenn Power's MARS is a Wind Power Anywhere™ solution with distinct advantages over existing Conventional Wind Turbines and Diesel Generating Systems including:
• global deployment,
• better operational performance and lower handling, transporting, and storage costs.
removes all placement limitations. MARS is mobile and can be rapidly deployed, deflated, and redeployed without the need for towers or heavy cranes.
• MARS is bird and bat friendly with lower noise emissions
• is capable of operating in a wider range of wind speeds - from 4 mph to greater than 60 mph.
MARS can complement a diesel generator by offering a combined diesel-wind power solution that delivers power below 20 cents per kWh.
• The MARS combined solution allows lower pollution and green house gas emissions.

MARS Target Markets: Developing nations where infrastructure is limited or non existent; off-grid combined wind and diesel solutions for island nations, farms, remote areas, cell towers, exploration equipment, backup power & water pumps for natural gas mines; rapid deployment diesel & wind solutions (to include airdrop) to disaster areas for power to emergency and medical equipment, water pumps; on-grid applications for farms, factories, remote communities; and wind farm deployments.

Magenn Power is currently in the prototype phase of our Magenn Air Rotor System (MARS). Magenn Power plans to ship our first official product, a 100 kW version in the later part of 2009 to test customers. Full production will begin in 2010/11.

For greater detail of technology : http://www.magenn.com/technology.php
For Video see: http://www.magenn.com/media/video/player.html?v=JDJhhGJwSuA&hl=en

A 4 wheeler motorcycle

Sideways on a tilting 4-wheeler: the next generation of fun machines
Enjoy the ride!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j127RX9S7vw&feature=player_embedded

The additional stability and traction you get from a tilting three-wheeler is quite an eye-opener, and they're still exceptionally fun to ride. If you want to take the concept one step further, though, an extra wheel at the back as well can actually make the entire bike narrower while delivering the sort of stability that can let you safely powerslide and drift all four wheels on an oily skidpan.

The extra fourth wheel on the 4MC prototype gives a much broader balance range for the bike's center of gravity - so it's happy to sit at full lean at a standstill OR when being belted around a tight corner.
As the lean angle increases, the wheels move slightly further apart, increasing stability when you really need it - and this works as a backup system when you park the bike and leave it on an angle - the tires grip and prevent the bike from tilting any further.

Steering is handled by a pair of upwardly looping front suspension arms, which allow a nice tight turning circle. Like a bike, you'll countersteer the 4MC into corners - and the combination of leaning into the corners while having the stability and grip of 4 wheels means that the 4MC will use its grip much more effectively than a car can. A sporty tilting 4-wheeler could end up being exceptionally fast in the twisty stuff.
The 4MC is the original work of engineer and company director Nick Shotter. He has specifically designed the 4MC to get its rider through traffic safely yet efficiently.

His interest in safety originated from being injured in a road accident when working as a London motorcycle courier. The 4MC has evolved through Nick's rigorous design process which began in 1989. In 2000 the 4MC won a DTI Smart Award for a Feasibility Study. From 2002 Nick introduced the 4MC to many well known manufacturers with an invitation to buy the 4MC's intellectual property (IP). Between 2004 and 2008 he built a full sized working prototype to further demonstrate the 4MC.

The 4MC’s unique designs are covered by several patent applications. The 4MC’s patent applications, trademark, and prototype are all part of the 4MC’s IP. At this stage the IP is available for sale. Once the patent applications have been granted the IP will be available for either sale or license. The prototype’s purpose is to demonstrate the 4MC. To achieve this it was not necessary to equip the prototype with mudguards, lights, or bodywork. The prototype is very sure footed and terrific fun to ride.

Visit the website: http://www.4-mc.co.uk/
Read full details at: http://www.gizmag.com/sideways-on-a-tilting-4-wheeler-the-next-generation-of-fun-machines/11627/

Make your own spectacles

Inventor designs 'tunable' glasses to help one billion in Third World see
The need: The U.K Guardian reports that there is one optometrist for every 4,500 people in Britain, while in sub-Saharan Africa the ratio is 1:1,000,000.
The Innovator: Joshua Silver who was a professor at Oxford University,
The innovation: His adaptive glasses are designed to be "tuned" by the wearer to suit their eyes without the need for a prescription and can help both short-sighted and long-sighted people. Working on the principle that thicker lenses are more powerful than thin ones, Prof Silver's spectacles can be adjusted by injecting tiny quantities of fluid. The tough plastic glasses have thin sacs of silicone liquid in the centre of each lens. They come with small syringes attached to each arm with a dial for the wearer to adjust the amount of light-bending silicon until they can see clearly. Once the lenses have been adjusted, the syringes are removed and the spectacles worn just like a prescription pair. They are similar to wearing double paned windows with a gel in between. The current price is a pretty cheap $19.

The journey: He set on the idea of developing an adjustable spectacle after a chance conversation in 1985 when he and a colleague were discussing optical lenses. It took more than 20 years to finally come up a design which can be made cheaply on a large scale. Today, his invention is being worn in more than 10 countries, including African villages. Soon, the poor of India also will be sporting Silver’s spectacles.
Along his journey to delivering a viable product, Silver won a Popular Science Best of What’s New Award in 2000. His AdSpecs were featured again in the magazine’s March 2009 issue. He has steadfastly followed an arduous journey, and refuses to sell his idea for monetary gain. No IPO in this man’s future, although he said he has been offered millions for his design. He is afraid that another company wouldn’t make the world’s poor their priority. So, he looks for philanthropists who are interested in ministering to the disadvantaged. He was recently joined by an Indian businessman, and together they plan to provide one million pairs of glasses in India.

The Future: Professionals devoted to eyesight problems are few and far between in developing countries. Silver hopes to deliver self-adjusting eyeglasses to 1,000,000 underserved Indian people.
Money is a factor, of course. Silver is aiming to distribute 100 million pairs each year. Getting the production costs down to a dollar a pair is more than a challenge, even in lots of a million at a time. Oxford University has agreed to host a Centre for Vision in the Developing World, with plans to work on a World Bank-funded project. Hopefully, that will attract more funds for Silver’s humanitarian cause.

You tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4OiRjv81BY
Here’s a link to the story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/3899781/Inventor-designs-tunable-glasses-to-help-one-billion-in-Third-World-see.html

Naturally innovative: A briefing paper for the construction industry

Image by justus.thane via Flickr

The construction industry and its clients are increasingly being challenged to achieve cost savings and better performance of built assets. Biomimetics has already shown its potential to help with these issues.

Biomimetic ideas and products have the potential to help the construction industry and its clients with demands for:
• Reduced embodied energy (CO2) in construction products
• Reduced materials use, better resource efficiency and hence lower cost
• Reduced weight and complexity (lighter structures, response to manual handling regulations, etc)
• Novel designs
• Reduced maintenance burdens (intervals and costs).

Some examples of its usage include:

Project type Commercial examples of biomimetics Biological analogue
Housing Self-cleaning façade paints Lotus leaf structure
Buildings – commercial and industrial Self-cleaning façades paints and glasses,
Architectural features or structures (such as Stuttgart airport) Lotus leaf structure

Branching tree structures
Logistics Delivery logistics software Interactions within ant colonies
Pavements, roads, car-parks, airports etc Catseyes® Optical reflectivity of cats eyes
Civil Engineering structures (e.g. bridges, tunnels) Tensairity® beams Plant cell wall structures

Please follow the link to read this very interesting paper: http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/cap/Biomimetics.pdf

You reading glasses provide light

LED Light Reading Glasses
• Glasses are magnified 2.5 times to make reading or project-working easier
• Frames have two LEDs built in to light up your book or project, eliminating the need for a flashlight
• Batteries (included) provide 25 hours of continuous use

Shed light on your project without using your hands. The LED Lighting Reading Glasses are ideal for plumbers, electricians, automotive professionals or installers who may be working in the dark. These lightweight, comfortable glasses shine two ultra-bright LEDs onto your project, so you won't need to use one of your hands to hold a flashlight. And because the lenses are magnified 2.5 times, you can even use them to read in bed at night without disturbing your spouse. Whether traveling by plane, bus, train, or car, these unobtrusive LED Lighting Reading Glasses (carrying case included) are especially convenient when the overhead light isn't enough to illuminate your space.

Giant Sea Snake Renewable Electricity Generation

Image via Wikipedia

The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter is a technology that uses the motion of ocean surface waves to create electricity. The machine is made up of connected sections which flex and bend as waves pass; it is this motion which is used to generate electricity.
Developed by the Scottish company Pelamis Wave Power (formerly Ocean Power Delivery), it was the world’s first commercial scale machine to generate electricity into the grid from offshore wave energy and the first to be used in commercial wave farm project. The first full scale prototype was successfully installed and generated electricity to the UK grid at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland in August 2004. The first wave farm consisting of three Pelamis machines and located off the coast of Portugal, was officially opened in September 2008. It has an installed capacity of 2.25MW, enough to meet the average electricity demand of more than 1,500 Portuguese homes.

The pelamis device consists of a series of semi submerged cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. The wave induced relative motion of these sections is resisted by hydraulic rams which pump high pressure oil through hydraulic motors via smoothing accumulators. The hydraulic motors drive electrical generators to produce electricity. Power from all the joints is fed down a single umbilical cable to a junction on the sea bed. Several devices can be connected together and linked to shore through a single seabed cable.

See how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0mzrbfzUpM&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcTNkoyvLFs

Life Without Cars? It's happening.

In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars

VAUBAN, Germany — Residents of this upscale community are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars.

Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” — except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ownership is allowed, but there are only two places to park — large garages at the edge of the development, where a car-owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home.

As a result, 70 percent of Vauban’s families do not own cars, and 57 percent sold a car to move here. Vauban, completed in 2006, is an example of a growing trend in Europe, the United States and elsewhere to separate suburban life from auto use, as a component of a movement called “smart planning.”

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is promoting “car reduced” communities, and legislators are starting to act, if cautiously. Many experts expect public transport serving suburbs to play a much larger role in a new six-year federal transportation bill to be approved this year, Mr. Goldberg said. In previous bills, 80 percent of appropriations have by law gone to highways and only 20 percent to other transport.

In California, the Hayward Area Planning Association is developing a Vauban-like community called Quarry Village on the outskirts of Oakland, accessible without a car to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and to the California State University’s campus in Hayward.

Passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe — a proportion that is growing, according to the European Environment Agency — and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the United States.

Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html?emc=eta1

Lip-Reading Computers

Lip-Reading Computers Can Recognize Different Languages
Lip-reading computers for deaf people are a step closer with scientists successfully teaching computers to recognize different languages from the shapes and movements of people's mouths. This could also be used for converting videos of conversations into written transcripts.
Researchers have identified that each speech sound has a particular facial and mouth position, which can be mapped on video and then processed by software that associates the various orientations with the sounds they produce. The technology focuses on mapping the facial movements, called 'features', and converting them into signals which the software can process and 'translate' into text.
Researchers at the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia conducted statistical modeling of the lip motions of 23 bilingual and trilingual speakers. The languages tested included English, French, German, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Polish and Russian, and the system was able to identify with very high degree of accuracy which language was spoken by an individual speaker.

"This is an exciting advance in automatic lip-reading technology and the first scientific confirmation of something we already intuitively suspected -¬ that when people speak different languages, they use different mouth shapes in different sequences," said Professor Cox who, along with PhD student Jake Newman, led the team.

For full article read at: http://www.gizmag.com/lip-reading-computers-can-recognize-different-languages/11551/
For video check: http://www.newscientist.com/articlevideo/mg20227055.800/20478996001-lipreading-computer-picks-out-your-language.html

Tap water to provide electricity

Hydro Turbine Concept Harvests Electricity From Water Pressure

If Jin Woo Han's concept Mini Hydro Turbine goes into production we will have a home gadget to power objects like Hair dryer, electric shaver, mixer, electric toothbrush, water boiler, etc..

It can be attached to the end of your faucet or between two pipes. It’s designed to attach to any pipe to make use of water pressure.
The water runs through the device, activating the hydroelectronic turbine. Energy is stored up in the electricity generator, which is connected to the plug socket.


Read more: http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/03/31/water-generates-free-personal-electricity/

Nature inspires design for all fluid-moving machinery

Image via Wikipedia

What is common in all above pictures? Spirals!
PAX Scientific CEO Jay Harman is the first person to isolate the geometries that underlie natural flow and adapt those geometries to technology. From his observations, he asked a simple question: “If fluids always tend to follow a particular path, is there a way to design equipment that takes advantage of this fact?”

Cameron Burns from Rocky Mountain Institute wrote in 2002 that “Pax’s impeller design is based on a logarithmic spiral known as a Phi Ratio or Fibonacci Sequence that occurs in many places in nature, yet few designers have ever mimicked them. When rotated in water or air, the impeller makes the fluid flow smoothly in a vortex, like water exiting a bathtub. In contrast, the most common kinds of conventional pumps and fans sling the fluid outward and bounce it off a curved wall to make some of it move in the desired direction.”

PAX Impeller could revolutionise fluid-moving machinery like pumps, fans, propellers, mixers, and turbines.

Now based in the US, Australian Scientist Jay Harman, CEO of PAX Scientific is designing new fan technology that claims to have energy savings of 50%, and be around 75% quieter compared to fans, impellers and propellers using traditional shapes and designs. Harman had his moment of inspiration when he was 10-years-old, swimming off the coast in Western Australia. Like almost every young Australian he wanted to swim faster, so he watched how fish moved through water and how seaweed moved against the reef when a wave crashed. He noticed that kelp moved in the shape of a spiral to withstand the force of the waves and noticed spirals as a common design pattern in nature.

Until Harman’s work, no one had used this natural design shape for fans, impellers or propellers, even though it is used widely to reduce friction for air and water flows in nature.

Check this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by0JhirtO-0

Preventing bacteria build-up - Nature's way

Nature’s design to prevent bacteria build up.

How do you prevent bacterial build-up or biofilms (bacterial colonies) on boats or any surface in water, using an environmentally benign approach with no heavy metals or harmful chemicals? Sydney-based Professor Peter Steinberg found such a solution. Biosignal technology prevents or disrupts resistant biofilms without killing bacteria.This unique approach to bacterial control is aimed at delivering effective treatments whilst sidestepping the issue of bacterial resistance.

Steinberg explains how they came across their discovery: “Shallow marine organisms are subjected to a rain of fouling organisms from the water column –bacteria, algal spores, larvae – and so the ones with clean surfaces in those habitats are worth paying attention to. Steinberg and his colleague Staffan Kjelleberg discovered that the Delisia Pulchra plant didn’t kill bacteria. Instead, it emitted a molecule, furanones, to dissuade bacteria from colonising on its surface, effectively jamming the bacteria’s communication networks. The furanones jam cell-to-cell signaling systems that are pivotal to the ability of bacteria to form and maintain biofilms
Using this insight, they mimicked the chemical and have subsequently invented an environmentally friendly antifouling substance that can be used on surfaces in hospitals, contact lenses and paints to reduce slimy build-ups in an environmentally benign manner. The company they founded to commercialise this technology, Biosignal, was incorporated in 1999 and listed on the ASX in early April 2004.

Biosignal has the great advantage of multiple applications for its technology. Since the late nineties, the company has tested antibiofilm compounds and generated proof of concept data in a broad range of product categories in the medical, industrial and consumer fields. Specific products where proof of concept data has been generated include oil and gas, marine anti-fouling paints, water treatment applications, oral care products, cleaners, deodorants, contact lenses and contact lens solutions, catheters, and as a drug candidate for the treatment of lung infections.

Check the video at : http://www.biosignal.com.au/bioanimation.php

Whales teach how to clean: biomimetic's example

Baleen Filter technology is an example of biomimetic engineering. This is an adaptation of the technique used by filter-feeding whales to keep their baleen clean and free of debris. The baleen is the filter mechanism that allows the whale to collect and filter plankton, small fish and other marine organisms from the water during feeding.

Unique Filtering Process
The Baleen filter technology, is based on a simple, yet ingenious ‘double-act’ of high pressure, low volume sprays, one of which dislodges material caught by the filter screen media, while the other sweeps it away for collection. As water flows through the filter, substances initially suspended in the water are left behind by the filtrate, but before they are allowed to accumulate and blind the filter’s screen, the ‘double-act’ effects their removal from the filtering zone thereby sustaining the filtering process.

The principles of operation rely upon the response of particle (and droplet) dynamics to fluid flow within a nonpressurised, open system. Continued reliability of the Baleen filtering process is achieved by ‘state-of-the-art’ process control to ensure trouble-free coarse screening to 250-micron, micro-screening to less than 100-micron and microfiltration to less than 5-micron (when using chemical assistance). The Baleen filter is especially effective in water treatment approaches where waterborne materials were previously regarded as problematic to conventional screening and filtration processes. This mechanism allows industrial wastewater with higher pollutant loads to be filtered than was previously possible with conventional industrial filters.

The Baleen filter is a highly efficient, non-pressurised self-cleaning separation technology that achieves reliable filtration to 25 microns without chemical assistance. It offers significant cost and environmental benefits.
The company Baleen Filters was established in 1999 after a four-year industrially applied research and development program from the University of South Australia. Yuri Obst was the originator of the idea and is now Managing Director of Baleen Filter.

This can be used in the following industries: Food Processing, Beverage :Wine Industry, Meat & Livestock: Pig Industry, Fruit & Vegetable Packing: Carrots, Dried Fruit, Transport: Truckwash

For more details see the brochure of company: http://www.baleenfilters.com/pdf/Technology_Brief.pdf

Process video: http://www.baleenfilters.com/product_movie_qt.asp

Device Turns A Cellphone Into A Microscope

“Say you're in a remote or undeveloped part of the world, and you have to diagnose an illness. Even if you could find a microscope, you don't have a doctor to look through it, but you do have a cell phone. What if you could attach the phone to the microscope, call another cell phone halfway around the world, and have the doctor with this phone see what the microscope sees? That's the idea behind CellScope.”
The new CellScope turns a standard camera cell phone into a microscope of clinical quality with a magnification of up to 50X. This proves to be of great value for the health workers in the developing countries, where there is scarcity of proper equipments due to heavy cost or physicians. In such places and conditions the CellScope plays a vital role as the health workers can easily capture necessary images of blood cells and infections and then transmit through the cell phone network to the experts for further analysis.

The CellScope, developed by the research scholars of University of California at Berkeley is not just a fun device but has the potential to save lives even. Just by clipping the device to your camera cell phone, PDA or netbook, you can easily collect and organize data of patients. The organized data can then be sent wirelessly to the remote experts and receive instant response as well. The CellScope can be clipped easily to the cell phone with the help of a modified belt clip. A set of high brightness white LEDs are responsible for providing the illumination. These LEDs draws their power from the battery attached to the device. The CellScope can be angled so as to illuminate any sample fully at its focal point.
The team believes that if mass produced, the device could be sold for around $50, an incredible price for a clinical quality microscope that can send diagnostic data all over the world.

The CellScope has been awarded with a cash prize of $100,000 in the Intel INSPIRE EMPOWER Challenge and was also a winner of Vodafone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project. But this is not the end as research team is constantly testing the device rigorously so as to come up with some advance version of it. The cash prize would be used in the improvement of the device, as planned by the research team members.

You tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_44YIAGpf4

Fish make fishing easy- come and say catch me!

Relax! The fish will call the fisherman
Student’s invention uses mobile phone technology to alert owner of the catch :

The star attraction on the first day of a national scientific conference in Nairobi on Monday was a simple technology that could dramatically change the way small-scale fishermen attract their catch.

Designed by Mr Pascal Katana, a student at the University of Nairobi, the electronic trap lures fish into their captivity by imitating the sound they make when feeding.
“The sound is inaudible to the human ear, but it attracts other fish, and these rush in to share in the bounty,” he told the Nation at Kenyatta International Conference Centre during the start of a five-day National Conference on Dissemination of Research Results and Exhibition of Innovations meeting.

Mr Katana has built a simple, yet sophisticated, trap using discarded radio and computer parts, and his contraption promises to digitalise the way fishermen conduct their business in the country.

“It attracts a school of fish around it, then automatically triggers a signal through an embedded mobile phone to a designated number, alerting the fisherman of the positioning of the fish,” he explains.

“With this technology, one does not need to stay up the whole night waiting for fish. The fish will, instead, call him!”

A Kep board for hospitals: no chance of infection

If you’ve ever looked down at your keyboard and wondered what parasites, bacteria and other forms of unclassified life were crawling all over it, imagine what the keyboards at a hospital must be like. That thought alone is probably what inspired a company called Esterline to create their Medigenic Infection-Control Keyboard. Instead of raised keys, which provides endless places for crud to get trapped, the Medigenic features a flat keyboard design (with fake 3D key graphics) that can be quickly wiped clean with hospital-grade disinfectants.

Supposedly the flat design can still be used by touch typists with “conventional keyboard-like performance” and there’s a dedicated disable button which prevents accidental key presses while the Medigenic is being wiped down. There’s even a backlight allowing the keyboard to be used in low-light environments without disturbing a patient, and a warning light that will flash at user-defined intervals reminding you it’s time for a cleaning.

It also has a disable key, so that you can turn off the keys for quick cleaning, and a customizable reminder system to let you know when it's ready for a wipe down.
The Medigenic keyboard runs about $140, while the mouse, which is just as easy to keep clean, is about $80.

Self cleaning Plastic surface like lotus leaf

A self cleaning plastic cup based on the same ideas that nature used to self-clean: the Lotus Leaf:
Imagine having a plastic cup that can be reused without washing, simply because contamination has no chance to stick to the surface. The ideal natural properties of the Lotus leaf’s self-cleaning surface are ideal for many applications and consumer products.

Work underway by the Applied Laser Technology Group of the University of Twente has shown that such products are possible by using an ultra fast femtosecond laser.
The secret of the Lotus leaf can be found in numerous tiny pillars with a wax layer on top. Water drops are lifted by these pillars, get into a spherical shape and can simply not cover the surface. Dirt gets no chance to stick to the surface via water. The spherical drops roll off and take dirt particles with them. Max Groenendijk applies the laser in two separate steps. During the first step, the surface gets a fine ripple structure. This is caused by a special self organizing effect that works for almost all kinds of surfaces. Whenever the laser removes some material, a pattern of ripples is formed at the bottom. It is possible to influence this pattern with parameters like speed, intensity and polarization.
The second step is writing a pattern of perpendicular lines. What remains is an array of pillars. These pillars then already have the fine pattern caused by the first step. This double structure replaces the need to have wax on the pillars, and makes the surface highly hydrophobic.

Read more: http://www.utwente.nl/nieuws/pers/en/archive%20press%20releases/cont_07-002_en.doc/

Hands Free SMS

Microsoft has teamed up with voice recognition software firm Nuance to develop its own hands-free text software for use with Microsoft Sync. The software would allow users to dictate SMS messages and possibly emails later on down the line. This would undoubtedly result in far less cellphone-related accidents..

Using the Microsoft Sync system already available in many Ford models in the US, you’ll be able to dictate text messages, and perhaps eventually do the same with e-mail, Auto Express says.
“We are aiming for natural communication between car and driver, which will have benefits for concentration and safety,” a Nuance spokeswoman said.
The software is likely to surface in the UK sometime early 2008, and will be installed in the latest Mercedes C-Class. Ford was also said to be interested in introducing the system here.

http://www.latest-mobile.com/articles/accessories/in-car-hands-free-speech-to-text-messaging-using-microsoft-sync_3955

Ondo Music Editing Phone Concept : Play It, Mix It, Rock Out To It !

http://www.tuvie.com/ondo-music-editing-phone-concept-play-it-mix-it-rock-out-to-it
Play it, mix it, rock out to it! Ondo enables a more flexible and physical experience in mobile phones. Made from form-sensitive flexible materials, “Ondo” allows the user to modify recorded sounds by physically twisting and bending the device. Like a guitarist pulling on a whammy bar, users can feel and hear the musical effects as they create them.
MUNICH, Germany – April 20, 2009 — Pilotfish, a progressive industrial design and product development studio based in Munich, Amsterdam and Taipei, today introduced Ondo, a dedicated music editing phone concept. The Ondo concept enables OEMs to visualize a new form of user interaction for mobile phones. The target user for “Ondo” is the music enthusiast who seeks to interactively capture and edit sounds. Going beyond software-based solutions of other products, it is specifically designed to effectively collect pure sounds and is specially constructed to create a tactile sound editing experience.

Must watch video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWd06HvqmXE&feature=player_embedded

Splitview display shows one image to the driver and a different one to the passenger

Mercedes S-Class models will feature a new technology they're calling SPLITVIEW. Developed in collaboration with Bosch, SPLITVIEW will allow both the driver and passenger to view two separate programs via the same COMAND display. For example, let's say the vehicle's operator is in the process of viewing navigation directions, the front passenger can simultaneously watch a film on the exact same 8-inch display.

You may be wondering what magic lies behind the SPLITVIEW system, and the answer lies in pixel placement. The COMAND screen shows two different images simultaneously by placing pixels adjacent to one another, after which a filter masking the display divides this mixed image so that depending on seating position, either one image or the other can be seen. As with current S-Class models, the driver has access to the full suite of COMAND functions, while the passenger uses a separate remote control to choose either a DVD, TV channel or music video to watch (all of which can be used in conjunction with headphones, should the passenger desire).
Catch a glimpse of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0a4fCY0JN8&feature=player_embedded