underwater sound weapon

The Navy has been granted the patent for a cavitation weapon. The powerful weapon would use sonar to generate "acoustic remote cavitation," that would destroy everything from torpedoes to mines. As the patent describes:

A method is disclosed of generating a predetermined field of cavitation around a remote target in an underwater environment. The method includes the steps of identifying a remote target location, generating at least two acoustic beams, each at a high power output, from an underwater acoustic source, and controlling the generated acoustic beams to intersect with each other at the remote target location and thereby create a destructive cavitation field at the intersection of the beams. The acoustic source and target can be located in unconfined underwater space and at a distance of at least 100 m apart.

The underlying physics is based on the intense heat and high-pressure pulse from the sonar sources 12, 14, and 16 as the damage mechanisms by virtue of the intense acoustic power of the sonar sources. An ensuing cavitation bubble formation and collapse and shock propagation will also inflict damages on underwater objects 18 targeted for removal. The technical drivers are the cavitation lethality on the undesirable objects 18 and the acoustic power of the sonar sources versus range and depth.

brain wave-reading toys and video games

Engineers at NeuroSky Inc are working on brain wave-reading toys and video games using Technology from NeuroSky. The company claims technology from NeuroSky and other startups could make video games more mentally stimulating and realistic. It could even enable players to control video game characters or avatars in virtual worlds with nothing but their thoughts.

During a recent press tour, NeuroSky showed off a prototype, years in the making, of a toy that incorporates brain wave-reading technology.

Behind a black mask, is a sensor that touches the user's forehead and reads the brain's electrical signals, then sends them to a wireless receiver inside a saber, which lights up when the user is concentrating. The player maintains focus by channeling thoughts on any fixed mental image, or thinking specifically about keeping the light sword on. When the mind wanders, the wand goes dark.

Consumer electronics company Philips has filed a patent for a Furry TV.

Philips says a single pixel can be made out of a piece of fabric covered with hair-like strands, which could result in a TV that is soft to touch. The company hopes to build furry displays into outfits

Furry-vision

Industrial Design students, Gabriel Tan and Wendy Chua, both third year students from the National Univeristy of Singapore (NUS) won the Design Lab Award at the international Electrolux Design Lab 2005 competition for a waterfall-inspired washing unit that require neither water nor detergents.

Called Airwash, the waterfall-inspired washing unit is waterless and does not use detergents. Instead, it utilises negative ions, compressed air and deodorants to clean clothes. By using atmospheric air and negative ions - a natural cleansing agent - it fights dirt and bacteria with nature's own weapon. Airwash is also designed to be placed anywhere in the home, instead of the designated laundry area.

Read More . Source GadgetBlog

Seiko Epson Corp. has announced the development of a flexible high definition 200 ppi display. The resolution of a 2-inch display extends to 320 x 240 pixels. The display used an electrophoresis electronic paper developed by E Ink Corp. Seiko Epson "aims to commercialize the technology within 1-2 years" targeting such markets as handheld products. Read More

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.,has announced that it has developed the first Solid State Disk (SSD) based on NAND Flash memory technology for consumer and mobile PC applications.

The NAND-based SSD is a low power, lightweight storage media for notebook PCs, sub-notebook PCs and tablet PCs. Using the industry's highest density 8Gb (Gigabit) NAND Flash, Samsung can build SSDs with a capacity of up to 16GB.

NEC LCD Technology, Japan has developed a 2.7" QVGA LCD that features a touchscreen by default, aimed at smartphones and PDAs. Sample shipments will begin in June for the cost of 9,000 yen.

The amorphous silicon color touchscreen TFT LCD is capable of displaying QVGA resolutions (320 x 240) in about 2.7 inches. While it retains a low power consumption of 220mW, it has a high contrast ratio of 400:1 and a brightness of about 180cd/square meter. More

Seiko Watch Corp and Seiko Epson Corp have developed a wristwatch using an electronic paper in its display. A 3 x 9 cm electronic paper is curved and embedded along the watch's bracelet-shaped surface. The e-paper displays a constantly altering mosaic pattern, in addition to the conventional time display.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, the second-largest disk drive maker, behind Seagate Technologies., is testing sample drives based on perpendicular recording and has claimed that the technology can allow for 1 TB desktop drives or 20GB Microdrives in 2007. Hitachi demonstrated the industry's highest data density at 230 gigabits per square inch (Gb/in2) on perpendicular recording. The company will later this year begin selling hard drives based on the yet-to-be commercialized recording method called perpendicular recording, this method arranges the north and south poles of the magnetic particles in a perpendicular fashion, unlike today's disks which use longitudinal recording. The perpendicular method packs more particles onto an area of the disk's surface, thus allowing for the greater recording capacity.

Designed for a future where diminished fossil fuels and increasing environmental responsibility have become important business drivers, the "E/S Orcelle" concept vessel based Wallenius Wilhelmsen's vision for the year 2025 would have a capacity of 10,000 standard cars and would use only renewable energy sources and naturally-charged fuel cells for power. The innovative vessel is named in honour of the Orcelle dolphin, currently high on the WWF's endangered species list.

via MotherDigital

The orbital wheel AKA the hubless wheel is a wheel reduced to its essential part: the outer ring. Since the wheel is free of midwheel structural constraints, it is touted to introduce a series of advantages and technological breakthroughs.

Toshiba Corporation, Japan, has announced an ultra-rapid recharging lithium-ion battery capable of reaching 80% recharge in about 1 minute. Toshiba will conduct product development for lithium ion batteries with more power and industrial use, and plans o­n including them in notebook PCs and mobile phones Toshiba plans commercialization in 2006.

Lithium ion batteries have traditionally required a long amount of time to recharge from a high energy density, but this new lithium ion battery uses nanoparticles for its negative pole.

via TechJapan

The Sorapot Concept is designed to bring health and balance to the user's life by accentuating the act of preparing tea, thus encouraging people who drink tea occasionally or not at all to make tea a part of their daily lives. via Gizmodo.com

Read More joeyroth

Toshiba is showing off the prototype of the "Toshiba Dynabook SS SX" laptop featuring a detachable 12.1-inch TFT LCD display that can remain connected to it's host via 802.11b.

The "Toshiba Dynabook SS SX" measures 0.7 inches thick and weighs 1.2 pounds and can only operate for about an hour when the screen is detached from the notebook.

"If users will accept two to three hours of battery life, it's not so difficult and we can launch it as a product in the next few years," Says Hajime Yamaguchi, a research scientist at Toshiba's Advanced Electron Devices Laboratory. MobileMag

Sony Ericsson's head of design, Hiroshi Nakaizumi, has come to the conclusion that it would be better to protect images from a camera phone rather than show it on a tiny screen, 'Why carry around a display when you can project it onto a wall or page?' says Nakaizumi. The idea is that we select which photo or film we want to show using a trackball on the end of the phone, then simply point it at any surface and view the projected image. via

Scientists have created a printer that could allow them to "print" human skin.

Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed breakthrough technology which will allow tailor-made tissues and bones to be grown, simply by inputting their dimensions into a computer. Professor Brian Derby, who is Professor of Materials Science in the University's School of Materials, and head of the Ink-Jet Printing of Human Cells Project research team, said: "It is difficult for a surgeon to reconstruct any complex disfiguring of the face using CT scans, but with this technology we are able to build a fragment which will fit exactly. We can place cells in any designed position in order to grow tissue or bone."

Seiko Epson has announced that it has developed the world's first flexible 8-bit asynchronous microprocessor using low-temperature polysilicon thin-film transistors (LTPS-TFTs) on a plastic substrate reports JapanToday.
Energy consumption has been reduced by 70% compared to the synchronous microprocessors now in everyday use, Epson is now researching potential applications for its invention.

Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a flexible plastic solar cell which could be used into clothes to produce power. According to reports it is said to be five times more efficient than current methods in converting energy from the sun into electrical energy. The cell harnesses infrared light from the sun and can form a flexible film on the surface of cloth, paper or other materials. The film can turn 30 per cent of the sun's power into usable electrical energy - The coating could be woven into a shirt or sweater and used to charge an item like a mobile phone.

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Researchers from the Photonics and Sensors group at the University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering have developed a holographic laser projector for potential use in pocket-sized digital video projectors, cell phones, note books and PDAs. The projector features a custom chip that can generate 200 holograms a second -- four times faster than that needed for 50 frames per second for video playback. The prototype, shown at an innovations forum at the St. John's Innovation Center, Cambridge, was monochrome but full-versions can be made by using red, green and blue lasers. The prototype converts a standard composite video signal into high-quality 2D holographic video, in real time.

Seen at Engadget.

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Disney plans to introduce "Blockbuster in a box" which broadcast digitally compressed movies to a set-top box in your home using terrestial (not terrestrial) TV frequencies, slotting bursts of data into gaps between normal TV pictures. When a movie comes out users can have it sent to their home in encrypted form. unscramble & you are ready to go. According to Disney you will never have to go to the video store again. Whoopi. - See Tivo & NetFlix in bed

Computers reading email is nothing new but according to New Scientist Magazine IBM is taking this a step further, IBM is developing a system that allows a PC to read out email in a voice mimicking that of the person who sent it. To start, the sender reads a couple of introductory paragraphs containing keywords into a mic. The IBM software than builds a data file that contains characteristics of the user's speech including pitch, tone, enunciation and rhythm. After I read this far, I started think of all the ways to use my boss's voice, think of the possibilities, Boss don't fear, you can encrypt your voice profile.