Most of current touch screen displays uses capacitive sensing, where the proximity of a finger disrupts the electrical connection between sensors in the screen. A competing approach, which uses embedded optical sensors to track the movement of the user’s fingers, is just now coming to market. The researchers at MIT’s Media Lab went a step… »
Tabletop computers based on diffuse illumination can track markers placed on the table’s surface. We demonstrate how to do the same with objects arranged in a three-dimensional structure without modifying the table. We already wrote about tabletop interfaces, as well as the interface with multiple sources of information able to operate in 3D, but this… »
The need to reduce carbon emissions and keep costs down increases the importance of renewable energy for most governments and the tech industry. With that in mind, investments are being made in the popular green energy sectors such as wind, solar, and wave energy. However, our footsteps utilize and channel kinetic energy too, and an… »
The idea of space-based harvesting of solar power has been around since the 1970s, and now California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) wants to bring the concept to its realization. A few days ago state regulators approved PG&E’s request to buy electricity from an orbiting solar power plant – if the company designing the… »
Heat shields are an important part of any space vehicle that re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere. The next generation of heat shields made to protect astronauts and payloads on their re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere may use superconducting magnets to deflect the plasma that forms in front of spacecraft as they travel at high speeds in… »
In an attempt to elevate the Blu-ray Hi-Def format and provide consumers with the convenience and viewing flexibility, Universal Studios Home Entertainment (USHE) announced the introduction of dual-format discs containing both Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD versions of some of Hollywood’s most iconic films. The “flipper” discs are announced to be launched on January 19, 2010… »
We wrote about various augmented reality devices in our previous articles. Augmented reality glasses, see-through LED displays, Retinal Imaging Devices (from NEC and Brother) and SixthSence, all share the same principle and that is showing additional information about the world around us. However, most of the mentioned technologies are either too expensive or still in… »
It is said that the air we breathe in the places where we live and work can often be 5 to 10 times more noxious than walking on the street, along with the dangerous chemicals found in commonly used household products. Designed by Mathieu Lehanneur and David Edwards of Harvard University, ANDREA is an air… »
