Green architecture – The Park Hotel in Hyderabad, India

By Damir Beciri
2 Comments29 November 2010

the-park-hotel-hyderabad-1The recently completed The Park Hotel Hyderabad, the flagship hotel for The Park Hotel Group, has achieved the first LEED Gold certification for a hotel in India. This 49 382 square-meter (531,550-square-foot), 270-room hotel infuses a modern, sustainable design with the local craft traditions, and is influenced by the region’s reputation as a center for… »

Hillcrest Labs Loop enables mouse-like remote control

By Damir Beciri
One Comment27 November 2010

hillcrest-labs-loop-pointer-1In this article we’re going to describe the Loop – gadget from Hillcrest Labs which proves useful when you need a mouse away from your usual station, in case if you’re a regular couch surfer and multimedia enthusiast, or giving a presentation. Yes, I’m aware it has been around for a while, and that there… »

MIT Alphabet prototype robot connects the real world with virtual

By Rob Aid
One Comment26 November 2010

mit-alphabet-prototype-robot-1In order to counter the multimedia brought by TV shows and video games which leave kids stationary, the researchers at the MIT Media Laboratory are developing a system called Playtime Computing. Aside the projectors, the prototype of the Playtime Computing system consists of a cube-shaped, remote-controlled robot, called the Alphabot, with infrared emitters at its… »

Festo Bionic Handling Assistant inspired by elephant’s trunk

By Damir Beciri
25 November 2010

festo-bionic-handling-assistantThe ability of elephant’s trunk to be flexible, transmit large forces, and serve as a precise gripping tool, has inspired researchers to come up with the Bionic Handling Assistant. It was developed by Festo in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) and within the framework of the Bionic Learning Network… »

Research breakthrough may lead to disposable e-readers

By Damir Beciri
23 November 2010

andrew-stecklA discovery by University of Cincinnati researchers could revolutionize display technology with e-paper that’s fast enough for video yet cheap enough to be disposable. In their research, Andrew Steckl and UC doctoral student Duk Young Kim demonstrated that paper could be used as a flexible host material for an electrowetting (EW) device. EW involves applying… »

Green architecture – LUMENHAUS

By Damir Beciri
22 November 2010

lumenhaus-1Although we tend not to write about prefabricated homes, here is an article about a house that was recently exhibited in Millennium Park, Chicago. Inspired by the glass pavilion-style Farnsworth House designed by Bauhaus architect Mies Van Der Rohe, the folks from Virginia Tech came up with LUMENHAUS – a prefabricated house which features a… »

Spiral sound beacon for simpler navigation of underwater robots

By Damir Beciri
One Comment19 November 2010

spiral-beacon-underwater-navigationWith the increased use of underwater robotics, underwater navigation becomes more and more important. A research team from Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Washington, and Naval Surface Warfare Center has developed and tested an underwater navigation system that uses a spiral shaped acoustic wave to determine aspect. The single stationary beacon can provide a… »

Racetrack memory could significantly speed up computing

By Damir Beciri
One Comment18 November 2010

racetrack-memory-chipImagine a computer equipped with shock-proof memory that’s 100,000 times faster and consumes less power than current hard disks. Professor Mathias Kläui from EPFL and PSI is working on a new kind of “Racetrack” memory, a high-volume, ultra-rapid non-volatile read-write magnetic memory that was invented at IBM and may soon make mentioned features possible. Although… »