The Margarido House, built by Mike McDonald and his wife Dr. Jill Martenson, is located on a steep lot located on Oakland hills. The couple got it after it has passed through several hands from a family that preferred to move rather than rebuild after the previous house got ravaged by fire in 1991. Despite… »

The folks from PixelOptics have invented electronic spectacles that can automatically change focus as you lower your head to read a book, thus making bifocal spectacles obsolete. The product, called emPower!, has been under development for 10 years and looks like an ordinary pair of spectacles. Since they are partnering with many frames manufactures, the… »

The Indian government unveiled the world’s cheapest “laptop” computer meant for students – a touch-screen device that costs $35. Developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Science, mass production of the computer might begin as soon as next year, claims Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, adding the government… »

Scientists at Fraunhofer FIT have developed a non-contact gesture and finger recognition system that could be used as a future information interaction system. The novel system detects hand and finger positions in real-time and translates these into appropriate interaction commands. Unlike most of the systems we described before, this system does not require special gloves… »

Researchers at the University of Tennessee reported that English ivy nanoparticles may protect skin from UV radiation better than other metal-based nanoparticles such as titanium dioxide (TiO2). The team was led by Mingjun Zhang, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee, who previously discovered that English ivy owes its amazing clinging… »

Many cities use LED streetlamps instead their predecessors in order to save energy and money. The next logical step, when you disregard the fact some parts of the world aren’t as sunny as others, is to make take the streetlamps completely off the grid. A bit more than a year ago, lighting manufacturer Carmanah partnered… »

As a pivotal building in the urban revitalization of South Boston, the Macallen Building design is innovative and sustainable. When it was completed in 2007, the building earned LEED Gold certification. The building consists of 140 luxury condos with high-end finishes and all the amenities you would expect from a luxury condo building. It was… »

In one of our previous articles we wrote about a robot developed to inspect the aging power lines in the USA, as well as about importance of preventive maintenance and inspection of the aging power lines. Many power lines in western Japan are 80 years old, so Tokyo-based HiBot worked with western Japan’s Kansai Electric… »