Glint of sunlight shows lake on Saturn's moon Titan

Glint of sunlight shows lake on Saturn's moon Titan. This is the first glint of sunlight to be seen by human eyes from a lake on Saturn's moon Titan – although it comes to us via NASA's Cassini orbiter. The reflection comes from a sprawling northern lake called Kraken Mare, which spans an area larger than the Caspian Sea. Titan has dozens of lakes, which are thought to be full of liquid methane, ethane and other hydrocarbons that may make a hearty soup for life. Cassini had already confirmed that there is liquid on the moon's southern hemisphere. But until recently, the northern hemisphere of the moon has been swaddled in winter darkness, and this glint of sunlight is the first sign of liquid there. It also suggests 1100-kilometre-long Kraken Mare is the moon's largest lake. The previous record-holder is a 235-kilometre-wide southern lake called Ontario Lacus.
More at New Scientist

Video; Is this the Apple tablet?

The French website Nowhereelse.fr has obtained what it suggests may be a video of the long-rumored Apple tablet:

Via Bookofjoe

Water-World Found! Super-Earth waterworld orbiting star 40 lightyears from Earth

Water-World Found! Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) say they've spotted a super-Earth waterworld orbiting a red type M star some 40 lightyears from Earth. The body - dubbed GJ1214b - is circling dim host star GJ1214 every 38 hours at a distance of just 1.3 million miles. The star's modest surface temperature of 2,700°C, though, means that GJ1214b itself is a balmy 200°C. The planet has a mass and radius of 6.5 and 2.7 times that of Earth, respectively. The density obtained from these figures "suggests that GJ1214b is composed of about three-fourths water and other ices, and one-fourth rock". CfA graduate student Zachory Berta, who first identified the planet, said: "Despite its hot temperature, this appears to be a waterworld. It is much smaller, cooler, and more Earthlike than any other known exoplanet." The discovery was made as part of the ground-based MEarth Project, which uses "an array of eight identical 16-inch-diameter RC Optical Systems telescopes that monitor a pre-selected list of 2,000 red dwarf stars".

Much More at The Register

Panasonic N8 / S8 unboxing and review

Unboxing Video: (skip to 3:20 to get to the PC)



Part 2: (N8 V's S8)

Apple Mac gets "Speed holes" mod in Jerusalem

Leave your bag unattended in an airport in Israel and this might be the result...

We're not sure if the Mac runs better after the mod, but it's said to make it lighter and certainly looks cool!

source: Engadget

Kohjinsha DZ Dual Screen Laptop, mini Review, PART #1 , #2, and #3.

Kohjinsha DZ Dual Screen Laptop, mini Review, PART #1, #2 & #3. Video review is rough and a bit discombobulated but done.
Part #1


And Part #2 Intel Atom vs AMD Neo


And Part #3 Performance

Confirmed:The Google Phone, Unlocked and branded!

Confirmed: The Google Phone, Unlocked and branded! TechCrunch has confirmed the Google Phone will be branded by Google and sold by Google as an unlocked phone. This could change the entire market for mobile phones ending the days of being tied to a carrier. "The phone itself is being built by HTC, with a lot of input from Google. It seems to be a tailored version of the HTC Passion or the related HD2 (Unlocker scored some leaked pictures back in October which are of the same phone). Here are the details we know so far about the phone: It will be called the Google Phone and will launch in early January, 2010. It won’t be sold by any one carrier, but instead will be an unlocked GSM phone. In the U.S., that means T-Mobile and possibly AT&T, whose exclusivity deal with the iPhone is about to run out. It will be running Android 2.1
Much more at Techcrunch

AMD thinks ITG xpPhone should replace iPhone and BlackBerry?

According to Jenn over at Pocketables, AMD's brass feel the Global VPITG xpPhone should replace iPhone and BlackBerry. (BTW, Congratulations Jenn on the new baby girl!) The exact chip being used in the slider-style MID phone is listed as an "AMD Super Mobile CPU" which can customized with clock speeds above and below 1GHz. The AMD execs thing highly of this new chip (Rumored to be based on the Geode CPU) and as Pocketables reported: "Rick Lisa, Global VP of AMD Embedded Sales, recommend that his colleagues use the xpPhone instead of the iPhone or BlackBerry". "Buddy Broeker, Director of AMD Embedded Computing Solutions Division, thought that "most of [his] colleagues [were] feeling jealous" about his ITGxpPhone. Honestly, the is thing is ugly and huge. I find it hard to really consider it a phone. And if it is based on a Geode chip then I worry that is will be underwhelming.
More at Pocketables as well as where (if your feeling brave) to by it.

Kohjinsha DZ Dual Screen Laptop Unboxing and brief overview

Kohjinsha DZ Dual Screen Laptop Unboxing and brief overview. Look for our full review coming in a day or so. Thanks for watching.

CNN Video of the Mysterious Spiral that appeared over Norway

CNN Video of the Mysterious Spiral that appeared over Norway

Businessweek's Best and Worst Tech Gadgets of 2009.

Businessweek's Best and Worst Tech Gadgets of 2009. Business week has a slide show of the best and worst gadgets of 2009. Can you guess what ebook reader was first? I won't even hint at what was last.
Check out their slide show.
BusinessWeek.com

Think Electric has started production of their 2 seat electric car

Engadget is reporting that Think Electric has started production of their 2 seat electric car after almost going out of business. Based in Norway, Think Electric managed to secure more funding after looking all but dead and is now back on track for a release of its 2 seat electric car by the end of the year!! The initial 2300 unit production run has already been sold as pre-orders destine for Europe. However, Think Electric plans to begin selling the car in the U.S. sometime next year. The also hope to license their electric power train technology to other automakers looking for a ready made option.
More at Engadet

Bacteria engineered to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fue

Bacteria engineered to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel. Physorg is reporting that researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce the liquid fuel isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline alternative. The reaction is powered directly by energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis.
The research appears in the Dec. 9 print edition of the journal Nature Biotechnology and is available online.
This new method has two advantages for the long-term, global-scale goal of achieving a cleaner and greener energy economy, the researchers say. First, it recycles carbon dioxide, reducing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. Second, it uses solar energy to convert the carbon dioxide into a liquid fuel that can be used in the existing energy infrastructure, including in most automobiles.
Much More at Physorg.com

Tear down of Toshiba's Dynario Fuel Cell Battery.

Tear down of Toshiba's Dynario Fuel Cell Battery. Tech-on broke down the fuel cell battery, and they were surprised by the large number of components. It is equipped with many circuit components other then fuel cells such as ultra-small pump, valve, microcomputer, controller IC chip and controller board. We were also surprised by the sturdy chassis of the battery, which is made with metal plates and strong reinforcement materials.
The Dynario has two power generating units, a cylindrical lithium-ion battery and two controller boards equipped with a power supply switch and an input-output terminal. The power generating unit is made by sandwiching generating cells between a lattice-shaped stainless steel plate and a resin chassis that works as a fuel feed plate and fixing them with rivets and caulking. Therefore, the cells cannot be taken out without breaking the unit.
The power generating unit is equipped with a fuel valve, a fuel pump and two controller IC chips for controlling them. The controller boards mounted with the power supply and the input-output terminal are used to control power from the power generating units and boot up the power generating units by using the lithium-ion battery.
More at Tech-on

Onkyo Releases High Speck version of the Dual Screen Notebook by Kohjinsha w/ 2 x 1366x768 screens!

Onkyo Releases High Speck version of the Dual Screen Notebook by Kohjinsha w/ 2 x 1366x768 screens! Starting at 84,800 YEN (about $965) Onkyo has started selling a higher specked version of the DUAL SCREENED notebook originally made by Kohjinsha. The Onkyo is called the DX series (Kohjinsha calls theirs the DZ) and features 2 upgraded screens that are 1366 x 768 each (The Kohjinsha has 1024 x 600). Other upgrades are 2 GB of RAM, 320GB HDD, and it is available in White. The DX uses the same AMD Neo 1.6Ghz CPU, ATI 3200 Graphics GPU, and Chipset as the DZ. (Max RAM on the GPU is 896MB.) Basically for and extra $60 you can get an substantially better computer from Onkyo with 2 times the RAM, HDD space, and screen real estate. I think the DX will be the big winner of the two . The DX will start selling from December 21st.
More at PC Watch.
Available for pre-order at Conics.net

Kohjinsha releases First in World Dual Screen Laptop. The DZ Series with AMD Neo chip

Kohjinsha releases the First in the World Dual Screen Laptop. The DZ Series features dual screens that slide apart making it the first retails Dual screen laptop in the world. The DZ starts at 79,800 YEN (about $999 exported from Conics.net) in its basic configuration and uses the AMD Dual Core Neo MV-40(1.60GHz) CPU, 2 x 1024x600 LCD screens and 160GB HDD. The DZ comes Radeon 3200 video chip set. Other specifications include 1GB Memory (maximum 4GB), One-SEG TV Tuner (works only in Japan), Windows 7 Home Premium. 3 USB 2.0 ports, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, SD/MMC/microSD care Slot, and a 1.3 megapixel Web Camera. The battery life is 4.5 hours. Body size is approximately 280 × 210 × 19 ~ 42mm (width × depth × height) and weighs 1.84kg (about 4 pounds). The width of the computer with both screens opened is about 521mm.
The computer will be released in Japan on December 11th. No word if it will ever come to the USA.
Conics.net is taking preorders now for English version of the item:
Kojinsha video here:
A direct link the the Kohjinsha website

A quick video review NEC VersaPro UltraLite VS Sony Vaio Type X11

A quick video review NEC VersaPro UltraLite VS Sony Vaio Type X11

Integrated Golf Bra! Who says Japanese are not creative?

Integrated Golf Bra! Who says Japanese are not creative? The Japanese branch of German lingerie maker Triumph International has created a new gimmick bra meant to attract media attention to their brand. Let the cup jokes begin...

Kohjinsha PA series Unboxing Video

Kohjinsha PA series Unboxing Video. This thing is small!

My girlfriend is the PRESIDENT Video Game from Japan

My girlfriend is the PRESIDENT Video Game from Japan with English dubbing. Need I say more?

CNN's Kyung Lah sinks her teeth into the 7 patty Wopper!

CNN's Kyung Lah sinks her teeth into a 2100 calorie 7 patty Wopper via a promotional deal between Burger King and Microsoft. Sadly only available in Japan Engadet has info on hacking your own region free version.

Kohjinsha PA series went on sale today in Japan

The Kohjinsha PA series went on sale today in Japan. Pricing starts at 69,800 YEN and the specs are as previously reported: CPU:Intel Atom Z520 (1.33GHz), Chipset: Intel US15W, Graphics: GMA500, Memory: 512MB (Max), HDD: 32GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth Ver.2.0, micro SD card slot, USB 2.0, 1,130 pixel Web CAM, built-in microphone,Headphone output, speaker monaural, analog VGA with cable, One-Seg TV tuner (only works in Japan), Battery life: about 7.5 hours, Size: approx 161 × 111 × 10 ~ 26mm (width × depth × height)Weight: about 400g.
Available though resellers like Conics.net
PC Watch did a nice write up on it and review in Japanese so grab your translater and check out the link here:
We should have a video review up soon as we will have ours in a few days.

Bridgestone Unveils 'World's 1st' Flexible E-paper Device

No flexible enough to fold and put in your pocket just yet, Bridgestone Corp announced a flexible electronic paper (e-paper) device based on its "Quick-response Liquid Powder" Oct 26, 2009.
The company expects that the device will be used for browsing electronic books and electronic data. It will be tested with the assistance system for liaison officers at Kansai Urban Banking Corp from the spring of 2010.
The device comes with 13.1-inch touch-sensitive e-paper that can display 4,096 colors. The e-paper has a higher reaction rate than other companies' e-paper and can refresh a 13.1-inch (A4) screen in 0.8 seconds. It has data processing and security functions and is capable of data communication via a mobile phone.
Bridgestone also developed an e-paper device whose e-paper, touch panel, drive circuit board and other parts are all flexible. The company claims it is the world's first flexible e-paper device.
The size of the e-paper is 10.7 inches, and the thickness of the device is 5.8mm.

Bridgestone plans to exhibit those e-paper devices at FPD International 2009, which will run from Oct 28 to 30, 2009, at Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama City, Japan.
More at Tech-on

Kohjinsha PA UMPC series to be released in Japan in early November

Kohjinsha PA UMPC series to be released in Japan in early November. It will be priced at 69,800 yen or about about $770 USD at current rates. It will be equipped with a 4.8" 1,024 × 600 dot LCD touch screen that rotates and become a tablet The left side of the display bezel and keyboard have optical pointing devices. It comes with a built in 1Seg TV tuner (Japan Only) and can withstand 100kg of weight on the body. The CPU is an Atom Z520(1.33GHz), Intel US15W Chip-set, 512MB Memory (cannot be upgraded) and a 32GB SSD. It comes with 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a micro SD card slot, 1 USB 2.0 port, and 1 audio input and output. For VGA out there is a cable that extends to D-Sub 15 pin connector. The body size is approximately 161 × 111 × 10 ~ 26mm (width × depth × height) and weighs about 400g. The battery life is approximately 7.5 hours. This is a great size for using on a crowed train or in the toilet... That's why we call it the Toilet-book!
More at the Kohjinsha Website.

Video: Kohjinsha Dual screen laptop @ CEATEC Japan 2009

Elecom's "Lego (TM)" style Playbrick earphones - a lawyers wet-dream ?

Avaialble soon in 6 colours, from Conics.Net

Dow Unveils Solar Shingles that install like regular Shingles

Dow Unveils Solar Shingles that install like regular Shingles. From the NYT:
Dow Chemical has unveiled a residential roof shingle in the form of a solar panel designed to be integrated into asphalt-tiled roofs.Jane Palmieri, managing director of Dow’s Solar Solutions unit, said the Powerhouse thin-film shingle slashes installation costs because it can be installed by a roofer who is already building or retrofitting a roof. “As a roofer is nailing asphalt shingle on roof, wherever the array needs to be installed he just switches to solar shingle,” said Ms. Palmieri, who said the solar singles are similarly attached to the roof with nails.“You don’t have to have a solar installation crew do the work or have an electrician on site,” she added. “The solar shingle can be handled like any other shingle – it can be palletized, dropped from a roof, walked on.”An electrician is still needed to connect the completed array to an inverter and to a home’s electrical system, but unlike conventional solar panels that must be wired together, the solar shingles plug into each other to form the array.
More at the New York Times

60-foot tall pneumatic cannon shoots pumpkins over a mile

60-foot tall pneumatic cannon shoots pumpkins over a mile! From the Youtube blurb:
Gary Arold of Kingston and John Gill of Hurley built the coolest toy around, a 60-foot tall piece of farm artillery that can shoot bowling ball-sized objects -- such as pumpkins -- up to a mile. On most weekends during the summer and fall, the owners are busy entertaining customers by hurling various calibers of squash at Gill's Farm Market on Route 209 in Hurley. On Tuesday, they fired a few rounds off for Reporter Adam Bosch, Photographer Steve Borland, and Videographer John Pertel.

Video of the new Kohjinsha PA series and overview

Video of the new Kohjinsha PA series and overview. This model is well past the prototype stage and is probably in pre-production as there were at least 7 of them on display for anyone to play with and all had Windows product key stickers on the bottom. We expect to see this on sale before the end of the year.

New kohjinsha Dual Screen Netbook! 1.8kg, 2 x 10.1" screens!

It has been a busy day for Kohjinsha at the Createc Japan 2oo9 trade show held in Makuhari Mese. Kohjinsha displayed a Dual Screen Notebook prototype with two 10.1" WSVGA touch screens! (1024x600 x 2). The "Dual Display" worked by sliding the right side screen behind the other so that it could fold into a standard sized notebook. The prototype weight in at a respectable 1.8kg. The entire screen can swivel making it great for presentations.
Thankfully tossing the Atom cookie cutter mold, the specs include a 1.6Ghz AMD Athlon Neo CPU (MV-40), Max 4GB of RAM, Windows 7, 2.5" HDD, and a Direct X 10 compatible video card.
No word on when this unique notebook will be on sale.


More at PC watch
Video to come soon.

NEW Kohjinsha PA series - 400g Micro UMPC / MID 1.33GHz w/ 7.5 hour battery life!

NEW Kohjinsha PA series. Kohjinsha has just introduced there newest micro note book / MID / UMPC, the PA series. At 400g this 4.8" screened UMPC / MID comes with a 1.33GHz (Z520) Atom CPU, 512mb RAM, 32GB SSD and an astounding 7.5 hour battery life!

The PA series also comes standard with XP Home, 1.3 megapixel web camera, One Seg TV Tuner, Wifi b/g, Bluetooth 2.o, Micro SD card slot and a 4.8" 1024x600 touch screen.

The stand out features are the nifty optical mouse located in the front of the keyboard which makes using the keyboard feel like a normal laptop as well as scroll, mouse, and left right click buttons located on the screen. This thing is small and measure a measly 161×111×10～26mm. No word on pricing or release date but we predict it to debut for between 59,000 to 69,000 yen.

More info at PC Watch.
We will post Video in about 18 hours.

Lightning Packs Backpack Generates 40 Watts Just By Walking

This power-generating backpack was filmed at the Modern Day Marine trade show in Quantico. Proposed several years ago by Lightning Packs the prototype is now reality. It can generate over 40 watts just by walking at a cost of a candy bar worth of human energy if used all day! The backpack is mounted on rails that it slides up and down on when its wearer walks or runs. The movement generates electricity that charges a lithium ion battery to power your gadgets or the juice can go directly to a device. An added benefit is that the design relieves stress for the wearer. I want one! No word on when the military is getting these or a commercial version.
Via Gizmodo
http://www.lightningpacks.com/

The NYT: Solar Power, Without All Those Panels

The main way for homes to harness solar power today is through bulky panels added to the rooftop or mounted on the ground.
But companies are now offering alternatives to these fixed installations, in the less conspicuous form of shingles, tiles and other building materials that have photovoltaic cells sealed within them.
“The new materials are part of the building itself, not an addition, and they are taking photovoltaics to the next level — an aesthetic one,” said Alfonso Velosa III, a research director at Gartner and co-author of a coming report on the market for the new field, called building-integrated photovoltaics.
Companies are creating solar tiles and shingles in colors and shapes that fit in, for example, with the terra cotta tile roofing popular in the Southwest, or with the gray shingles of coastal saltbox cottages.
More at the New York Time

NEW Panasonic S and N Series Toughbook 2.53Ghz Dual Core 4GB RAM Notebooks Introduced

NEW Panasonic S and N Series Toughbooks 2.53Ghz Dual Core 4GB RAM Notebooks. Panasonic introduced 2 new Let's Notes, the N8 and S8 series and updates were announced for the rest of their line. However, the big news are the brand new N8 and S8. Powered by Core 2 Duo P8700 chips, clocked at 2.53Ghz, both machines come with 12.1-inch WXGA LCD screens 1280 x 800, 250GB HDDs, up to 4GB of RAM, WiMAX, WiFi, HDMI and SDHC connectivity. The best part of these notebooks is the claimed 16 hours of battery life! The one feature that distinguishes between them is the internal DVD burner on the S8. These will be released in Japan October 22 with Windows 7 and pricing around for the N series starts at about $2400.

Video and more data at PC Watch
Will be available in English at Conics.net

German Institute Achieves 23.4% Efficiency With N-type Solar Cell

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) of Germany achieved an energy conversion efficiency of 23.4% with a single-crystal silicon solar cell made by forming a thin p-type semiconductor layer on an n-type semiconductor substrate.
Its cell area is 2 x 2cm. Fraunhofer ISE said that it is possible to mass-produce the solar cell, which is one of the most efficient crystalline silicon solar cells and could rival Sanyo and other companies' products.
Crystalline silicon solar cells based on n-type semiconductor substrates have a higher resistance to impurities than those based on p-type semiconductor substrates. Therefore, it is theoretically easier to enhance the energy conversion efficiency of the former solar cells.
However, most of the crystalline silicon solar cells developed so far are based on p-type semiconductor substrates. Specifically, they are made by forming a thin n-type semiconductor layer on a thick p-type semiconductor.
More at Tech-On

Honda U3-X :Personal Mobility Device

Honda Develops New Personal Mobility Device With the Goal of Co-existing in Harmony with People -- World's first drive system that enables movement in all directions:

Conics.net has a hands on of the Sharp Netwalker touchscreen PC-Z1

Conics.net has some great videos of the Sharp Netwalker. He has a hands-on video as well as a how to convert to English video. Take a look and more at Conics.net



Also available at conics.net

The Moon is all wet! Probes find water in moon dirt.

The moon isn't the dry dull place it seems. Traces of water lurk in the dirt unseen. Three different space probes found the chemical signature of water all over the moon's surface, surprising the scientists who at first doubted the unexpected measurement until it was confirmed independently and repeatedly.
If processed in mass quantities, the wet moon dirt might provide resources - drinking water and rocket fuel - for future moon-dwellers, scientists say. The water comes and goes during the lunar day. It's not a lot of water. If you took a two-liter soda bottle of lunar dirt, there would probably be a medicine dropperful of water in it, said University of Maryland astronomer Jessica Sunshine, one of the scientists who discovered the water. Another way to think of it is if you want a drink of water, it would take a baseball diamond's worth of dirt, said team leader Carle Pieters of Brown University.
"It's sort of just sticking on the surface," Sunshine said. The discovery, with three studies bring published in the journal Science on Thursday and a NASA briefing, could refocus interest in the moon. The appeal of the moon waned after astronauts visited 40 years ago and called it "magnificent desolation."
Much more at Physorg

DigiCube Z8 MID spied by Pocketables

Jen at Pocketables had a chance to play with the DigiCube Z8 MID spied at the 2009 IDF conference. Sadly, when first seen at Computex in June the Z8 (then called the Midphone-50) had intriguing specks but as the production version gets near this mid has been seriously downgraded. The Z8 went from a 5" WXGA screen to a 4.3" display neutered WVGA display,, the internal SSD is now a paltry 8GB as opposed to the 16 on the prototype, the CPU is only a 1.1GHz Atom (not the hinted at 1.6Ghz), and the RAM is stuck at 512MB. Looks like Jen will be sticking with the Sharp D4.
More at Pocketables.

Sanyo Claims HIT Solar Cell With 22.8% Efficiency & 98 Micron-thick

Sanyo Electric Co Ltd achieved a conversion efficiency of 22.8% with its HIT (heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer) solar cell with a thickness of 98μm, which is about half as thick as existing HIT solar cells.
Sanyo Electric realized the thinness while lowering conversion efficiency by only 0.2% (See related article). The company has not yet decided when it will start volume production of the cell.
"We can now reduce the amount of silicon used for HIT solar cells," the company said. "Silicon accounts for half the cost of those cells. So, we paved the way for lower-cost HIT solar cells."
Lower cost high efficiency solar sells are always good news.
Much More at Tech On

Lunar Electric Rover on 14-day mission [in Arizona test]

Clarkson will be testing this... Maybe on the next "Top Gear" ?
Video link:


via Engadget

Terrafugia - Flying Car Video of flight testing

Nice Video of the Terrafugia Flying Car which has finished up flight testing and is getting ready for production.

Light Electric Motor To Increase Efficiency Of Electric Vehicles

A new Oxford University spin-out company, Oxford Yasa Motors, has been set up to commercialize lightweight electric motors developed at the Department of Engineering Science. The new technology promises to help firms build more efficient electric vehicles. Isis Innovation, the University’s technology transfer company, announced that Oxford Yasa Motors Ltd has closed the £1.45 million funding round with private investor Seven Spires Investments Limited. Oxford Yasa Motors also announced that it has been successful in securing a grant from the UK’s Technology Strategy Board as part of a £1.89 million consortium to develop a higher volume version of the motor. ‘We have optimised the materials and design, so that the motor is much lighter and more effective, giving half the volume and twice the torque for the same power output. This electric motor technology will reduce fuel consumption and also help us move away fossil-based fuels to alternative energies.’ Over the last 8 months the Oxford team has collaborated with engineering firm Delta Motorsports to configure the motor for a new four-seat coupe, which is scheduled for track tests scheduled at the end of 2009.
Much More at Science Daily

Algae-Based, Non-Metallic Batteries Could Revolutionize Energy Storage Industry

A group of researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden have discovered that a particular type of algae — with a bad reputation for causing damaging algal blooms in oceans throughout the world — produces a substance that can be used to make inexpensive, non-toxic, simple-to-build, flexible, thin and durable batteries that, after optimization, are expected to perform on par with today’s most advanced lithium-ion batteries.

The key to the discovery lies in the way in which the algae, Cladophora, produce a unique type of cellulose with a very large surface area (approximately 80 square meters of surface area per gram of material).
By coating this algal cellulose material with a thin layer of a well-known, conductive polymer, called polypyrrole (PPy), the team has “succeeded in producing a battery that weighs almost nothing and that has set new charge-time and capacity records for polymer-cellulose-based [non-metallic] batteries,” according to Gustav Nyström, a doctoral student in nanotechnology and one of the main researchers.
More at Gas 2.0

YikeBike, super light electric folding bike!

YikeBike, super light electric folding bike!

Grant Ryan, launched his YikeBike at the Eurobike international trade show in Germany last night.

The "mini-farthing" is being marketed as the world's smallest electric bike and can be folded down into a bag the size of the front wheel.

At total 10kg bike was designed for flat city trips of up to 9km, with a top speed of 20kmh, and takes only about 20 minutes to charge to 80 per cent power.

more at YikeBike.com

MIUTech HDPC gets redesigned and upgraded... Again!

MIUTech HDPC gets redesigned and upgraded.. Again! According to Pocketables, the Korean Company MIUTech is looking for a retailer / agent to pick up there revived and redesigned MID/Cell Phone concept. (Sounds like this is right up Dynamism's ally) Being a phone and PC it packs 2 of everything: 2 Screens 4.8-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen for PC and a 2.4-inch AMOLED (320 x 240) for the phone. 2 CPUs: 1.6GHz ATOM & ARM9 core processor taking care of the cell phone. And 2 OS's(!!??): Windows XP as its primary computer OS & Windows CE for its phone OS.

This thing is bigger than a 1980's cell phone at 6.06" x 2.95" x 0.91" and really should not be considered a phone. A hint to MIUTech, just make a smart phone smarter. It is unlikely people would be seen in public putting this pig next to to their ear. While the redesign looks better than the previous concept, the device still looks confused, complicated and the keyboard would probably be a total pain in the butt to use having to reach in to use it.
More at Pocketables.

10 minute video of the Yuneec E430 the world’s first commercially produced ‘Electric Aircraft

10 minute video of the Yuneec E430 the world’s first commercially produced ‘Electric Aircraft. Be warned, the music is terrible. From the companies website:
"The E430 is a twin seat, single engine, LSA class aircraft designed to be simple to use, easy to fly and with virtually zero vibration, it's very smooth.
Low noise, no emissions, no fuel, extremely low maintenance and best of all. . . . . it’s environmentally friendly. Electric flight, once seen as futuristic, has arrived and with E430’s flight times of between 1.5 and 3 hours (depending on configuration) electric flight now becomes a realistic power source for sport aviation. Charging times of 3 hours for as little as $5 make electric a really low cost way to fly and with only 2 main moving parts in the motor (the bearings) the reliability and maintenance are like nothing seen before. Add to that the delight of smooth, quiet powered flight or silent using its 25:1 glide ratio - the E430 is in a class of its own.
Pricing should start at about $85,000 USD.
Yuneec

Watch out Kindle, e-books to get cheaper and better in 2010

Watch out Kindle, e-books to get cheaper and better in 2010. According to Nikkei's Tech-on, the black-and-white ePaper developed by E Ink Corp of the US. E Ink has been the only company to commercialize ePaper suitable for use in eBook readers. Basically a monopoly. This situation will change significantly from 2009 through 2010, because it seems likely there will be a sudden increase in the number of ePapers available. Depending on which specific ePaper a manufacturer of readers chooses, it will be possible to totally change reader characteristics, and finally manufacturers will be able to roll out their own unique product concepts. This will mean an escape from E Ink's monopoly.
Than can someone please make an ebook reader that can read PDFs, Word Files and in general just have an open format. (coping be damned!)
Much more at Tech-on

Look Ma, No Hands! Amazing story of Jessica Cox makes all your excuses look lame.

AVweb has a great story about Jessica Cox, the first person with no arms to be granted a light sport pilot license by the FAA. Look Ma, No Hands! Amazing story of Jessica Cox makes all your excuses look lame.
More at AVweb

Kohjinsha SK3: new budget models

model : SK3KX06L (black)/SK3WX06L (white)
Windows XP Home
Intel® Atom™ processor Z520 (1.33GHz)
1GB RAM [DDR2-533] no upgrades :(
60GB Hard Disk
Keyboard: Japanese International (84 keys)
GPS / Bluetooth: no
WLAN : IEEE802.11 b/g/n, 100Mbit LAN
7" touch screen (1024x 600)
no TV tuner
3M pixel +300K pixel web camera (two cameras)
analog VGA out (for projector etc)
Mic (mono, internal) and phones (stereo jack)
2x USB, 1x SD (SDHC complaint), 1x ExpressCard/34 slot
100-240V ac adapter (world voltage)
size : 193mm x 132mm x 21.6 - 30mm (H)
700g weight with battery
battery: 7.4V 2300mAh

Price will be from 49,800 yen [$530 USD / 370 Euro]
Ships world-wide from "end of August"

Kohjinsha EX6, 11.6" touch screen netbook

Kohjinsha has released their newest netbook the EX. The EX stands out from the crowed netbook pack with a rotatable touch screen, pointing stick controller on the bezel, 2 web cameras, integrated DVD-RW drive and high resolution 1366x768 LDC. Other standout features for a netbook are the Express/34 slot, Fingerprint reader, 1GB LAN, 801.11 N WiFi and 2GB RAM. The EX weights in at chubby 1.7kg (about 3 pounds) and is said to have a 4.5 hour battery life(?!).
Compare with the Gigabyte T1028X which is a similar device...
Kohjinsha's pricing for the high end model will start at about 69,800 YEN. There is a low end model which starts at 59,800 yen without Bluetooth or fingerprint reader, Available at Conics.net at the end of August.
Specs below:

Windows XP Home
Atom N270 [1.6GHz]
945GSE Express chipset
DDR2-533MHz RAM [1 or 2GB]
11.6" touchscreen [1366x768]
86 key, 17.5mm pitch JP international keyboard
160GB 2.5" sATA 5400 rpm HDD
DVD multi burner
1Gbit LAN
WiFi b/g/n
Bluetooth ver 2.0+EDR
Express card 34
Dual camera (front+back)
Stick pointer (on side of screen)
Rotation, shutter and multi-rocker buttons
Track pad pointer
2x USB 2.0 ports
1x SDHC, 1x microSDHC
1x analog VGA out
size: 300 x 231.5 x 26-33.8 mm
weight with battery: 1.7Kg
battery: 2600mAh [14.8V]

Price from 59,800 yen
[ $635 USD / 445 EURO]
Ships world-wide from "end of August"

Dell mini 9, end of life, but Touch breathes life BACK!

If the Dell Mini 9 is your idea of the ultimate netbook, then this will wet your whistel !

SaruTek shows us how to install a touch panel into Dell's mini 9

Japan's "Sarutek" Shows us how to Touch Acer Aspire One

Acer Aspire one is a cool little netbook, but a Touch screen makes it even cooler!

SaruTek has them and just posted a video on how easy it is to install...

7" convertable mini laptop: Kohjinsha SK3 , unboxed for all.

Kohjinsha's latest offering: the SK3

only available in black, the SK has some design changes over the previous model (SC)

skip to the video for more info...

Panasonic Toughbook CF-R8 Jet Black test run

Panasonic have had the R8 out for a while now, but this one is special...
it's all black, and we like it!

compare the Panasonic R8 with eeePC 901 and Dell mini 9 (video)

breif product review (video)

Display Size (inches) 10.4 XGA (1024x768)
HDD Size 500GB (as tested) / or SSD
Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.6 GHz
RAM 2-4GB, DDR2 PC2-5300
O S Windows Vista (Business) / XP Pro
Battery (max) 8hrs
Weight 0.93kg

Size (mm) 229 x 42.5 x 187

Ion engine could one day power 39-day trips to Mars

Traditional rockets burn chemical fuel to produce thrust. Most of that fuel is used up in the initial push off the Earth's surface, so the rockets tend to coast most of the time they're in space. Ion engines, on the other hand, accelerate electrically charged atoms, or ions, through an electric field, thereby pushing the spacecraft in the opposite direction. They provide much less thrust at a given moment than do chemical rockets, which means they can't break free of the Earth's gravity on their own. But once in space, they can give a continuous push for years, like a steady breeze at the back of a sailboat, accelerating gradually until they're moving faster than chemical rockets.

Scientists have discovered a remarkable, unexpected and cheap way to store hydrogen fuel– using carbonized chicken feather fibers.

The problem of storing hydrogen as fuel has traditionally been a perplexing and expensive dilemma. For instance, a car with a 20-gallon hydrogen storage tank made from carbon nanotubes or metal hydrides– two of the best ideas so far– would add $5.5 million or $30k respectively to the price of that vehicle. A storage tank made from carbonized chicken feathers, however, would only mark up the cost a measly $200. The green bio-material would also help solve the problem of how to dispose of the 2.7 billion kilograms of chicken feathers generated each year by commercial poultry operations.

Enter scientists at the University of Delaware, who while researching the potential of keratin derived from chicken feathers to improve the performance of microcircuits, unexpectedly discovered that by heating the keratin fibers they could strengthen its structure enough to compare to the strength of nanotubes. In other words, the hydrogen storage capacity of the strengthened keratin was essentially equivalent to that of carbon nanotubes, but using nothing more than chicken feathers as raw material. In addition to hydrogen storage, the new method could turn chicken feather fibers into a number of other eco-products like hurricane resistant roofing, lightweight car parts, as well as the aforementioned bio-based computer circuit boards. Furthermore, utilizing this technology would be recycling at its best. Previously, there has been no major use for all the feathers leftover from chickens in the poultry industry.
More at Clean Technica

Behind The Wheel Of The AIRpod

The MDI AIRpod is a concept vehicle designed to run solely on compressed air as means of transportation, though no production models had been released. As the AIRpod nears actual production, MDI has begun inviting journalists to take a whirl in a prototype model. The first thing you might notice is that the AIRpod doesn’t much appear to look like a car. You enter through the front of the pod via a hatch that opens up-and-over the vehicle. As I mentioned earlier, you steer with a joystick rather than steering. The concept originally also used the joystick for propulsion, but the system proved awkward so instead there are small pedals for acceleration and stopping. Though there is seating for four full-sized adults, three of them have to enter through a rear hatch and sit on a rear-facing bench seat. You also probably noticed that instead of the typical four-wheel layout, the AIRpod is set up more like a tricycle. Everything is designed to conserve weight, and the AIRpod manages to tip the scales at just 485 pounds. The MDI makes a whooping 6 horsepower and 11 ft-lbs of torque. With one person in the AIRpod, the top speed hovers somewhere around 30 mph (production cars should go as fast as 50 mph, according to MDI) and also has a range of between 90 and 125 miles.
Much More at Gas 2.0

Biofuels could clean up Chernobyl 'badlands'

CONTAMINATED lands, blighted by fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, could be cleaned up in a clever way: by growing biofuels. Belarus, the country affected by much of the fallout, is planning to use the crops to suck up the radioactive strontium and caesium and make the soil fit to grow food again within decades rather than hundreds of years. A 40,000 square kilometre area of south-east Belarus is so stuffed with radioactive isotopes that rained down from the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power station in 1986 that it won't be fit for growing food for hundreds of years, as the isotopes won't have decayed sufficiently. But this week a team of Irish biofuels technologists is in the capital, Minsk, hoping to do a deal with state agencies to buy radioactive sugar beet and other crops grown on the contaminated land to make biofuels for sale across Europe. The company, Greenfield Project Management, insists no radioactive material will get into the biofuel as only ethanol is distilled out. "In distillation, only the most volatile compounds rise up the tube. Everything else is left behind," says Basil Miller of Greenfield. The heavy radioactive residues will be burned in a power station, producing a concentrated "radioactive ash". This can be disposed of at existing treatment works for nuclear waste, he says.
More at New Scientist

Why A Low-Calorie Diet Extends Lifespans: Critical Enzyme Pair Identified

Put Down That Doughnut and READ THIS! Experiment after experiment confirms that a diet on the brink of starvation expands lifespan in mice and many other species. But the molecular mechanism that links nutrition and survival is still poorly understood. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a pivotal role for two enzymes that work together to determine the health benefits of diet restriction. When lacking one enzyme or the other, roundworms kept on a severely calorie-restricted diet no longer live past their normal lifespan, they report in the June 24, 2009, advance online edition of the journal Nature. "The only other known factor regulating longevity in response to diet restriction operates at the very end of the signaling cascade," said Howard Hughes Medical Investigator and senior author Andrew Dillin, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory. "These two enzymes are further up the ladder, bringing us closer to the receptor that receives the signal for throwing the switch to promote a healthy lifespan." Identifying the receptor may allow researchers to design drugs that mimic the signal and could lead to new treatments for age-related diseases. This could enable us to reap the health benefits of calorie restriction without adhering to extreme diets in which the satisfying feel of a full stomach is strictly off limits.

More at Science Daily

Solar Rivalry Heats Up Over Tandem-type Panels at PV Japan Trade Show

A tandem-type panel consists of different kinds of solar cells and can convert light in a wider wavelength range to electricity. The exhibited tandem-type panels were composed of amorphous silicon and microcrystalline silicon and expected to be used for industrial photovoltaic systems. A number of "tandem-type" amorphous silicon thin film solar panels were exhibited at PV Japan 2009, an exhibition of photovoltaic technologies that is running from June 24 to 26, 2009, at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
AMAT showed off a tandem-type thin film solar panel using an 8.5-generation, 5.7m² glass plate. Ulvac announced the "CIM-1400," plasma CVD equipment for tandem-type solar panels as the existing production line for thin-film solar cells enables the line to manufacture tandem-type panels. Oerlikon Solar announced a tandem-type panel with a conversion efficiency of 11%. And finally, Sharp, displayed a tandem-type thin film solar panel that is 1,409 x1,009mm in size. It features a module conversion efficiency of 9% and a power generation capacity of 128W.
Much More at Tech-On