Augmented Reality Books

A German company called Metaio is developing a new system that turns regular old books into reality-augmented 3D objects, with models of things like globes sprouting off of the pages. All you need to get it working is a webcam, the software and a book designed for the system.

http://www.metaio.com/

The Future of Consumer Robotics

Tandy Trower, General Manager of Microsoft Robotics Group see the robotics market of today equivalent to the personal computer market of 1977.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2333619,00.asp

Contact Lenses for Superhuman Vision

Off the screen, virtual displays have been proposed for more practical purposes—visual aids to help vision-impaired people, holographic driving control panels and even as a way to surf the Web on the go. "Looking through a completed lens, you would see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside," said Babak Parviz, a UW assistant professor of electrical engineering. "This is a very small step toward that goal, but I think it's extremely promising."

http://www.engr.washington.edu/facresearch/highlights/ee_contactlens.html

Reinventing the Wheel - Airless Tires

Resilient Technologies, LLC is working on a four-year, $18 million project with the U.S. Department of Defense and the University of Wisconsin–Madison to research and develop a non-pneumatic tire for use on heavy-grade military vehicles such as Humvees. The project could literally be a lifesaver for the military: In many situations in Iraq, tires have proven to be weak links in Humvees that enemies target with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

http://www.engr.wisc.edu/news/headlines/2008/Jul08.html

Purdue, Indiana Universities form joint center on energy

The two institutions have jointly created the Indiana Consortium for Research in Energy Systems and Policy to advance interdisciplinary research related to energy systems and environmental and energy policy issues. Members of the consortium include IU Bloomington, Purdue University in West Lafayette, and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008b/081030TynerCresp.html

Australia to implement mandatory internet censorship

AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24568137-2862,00.html

Virtual Alabama

Virtual Alabama and Google Awarded 2008 National Governor's Award. Alabama’s partnership with Google Earth in creating Virtual Alabama, a three-dimensional visualization program used by first responders, law enforcement and others, was recognized by the nation’s governors.

Arizona State University's Flexible Display Center

Flexible displays -- when they arrive -- will be a big leap from today's liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and even organic light-emitting diode-based displays (OLEDs).

http://flexdisplay.asu.edu/

Change in Patent Ruling

The U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that abstract processes, or business methods, cannot be patented, if the process is not tied to a "machine," which is one standard for patentability.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10079859-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1023_3-0-5

Recon Scout robot

The Recon Scout™ miniature mobile robot provides real-time video reconnaissance of hostile or dangerous environments. http://www.recon-scout.com/

Robotic Suit HAL

Robot Suit HAL is a cyborg-type robot that can expand and improve physical capability.

http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/robotsuithal/index.html

"Follow the Money" and it is Images

Image technology is fast moving beyond flat, grayscale photos into three-dimensional approximations of reality -- the possibilities are endless. There is a money trail: The money trail of big tech pay-offs began with voice, then moved to text and now is headed squarely to image data.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Picture-This-Image-Processing-Grows-Up-64964.html

Have your "Dream" PC actually built!

Intel and Asus have launched a site that seeks collaborators for "community designed" PCs called www.wepc.com. Consumers can become product designers at WePC.com. Participants collaborate with each other and with Intel and Asus to "design innovative new products."

http://www.wepc.com/

Hydrogen Road Tour '08

(Reuters) - Hydrogen fuel cell cars from nine automakers completed a 13-day cross-country trip this weekend, in the first such mass U.S. crossing for vehicles powered by a zero-emission technology still in its infancy.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2431321220080824?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

http://hydrogenroadtour08.dot.gov/

Super Thin OLED Display

Samsung displays ultra-thin OLED display, called a "Flapping Display." It is so thin that a breeze can make it flap in the air.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/10/29/flapping-display-samsung-develops-ultra-thin-oled-display-hangs-it-up-in-the-air/

NICT, Victor Develop 72-inch 3D Display Viewable with Naked Eye

Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Victor Company of Japan Ltd jointly developed a 72-inch 3D display that can be viewed with the naked eye. The display has a resolution of 1920 x 1080p (full HD) and allows users to view 3D images corresponding to the horizontal angle from which it is watched (within ±20° to right and left).

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081002/159012/

Virtual Worlds to become powerhouses for business

"The hype has died down a bit, but you're seeing a greater volume of more measured media attention and corporate involvement and communication around virtual worlds without it being quiet so fashionably and wildly enthusiastic." says David Naylor, partner at law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse.

http://www.silicon.com/silicon/networks/webwatch/0,39024667,39285821,00.htm

Are you Evil?

"I've been working on what is evil and how to formally define it," says Selmer Bringsjord, director of the Rensselaer AI & Reasoning Lab (RAIR). "It's creepy, I know it is."

http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/research/rair/asc_rca/

An Interplanetary Internet

One problem with space communication is the limited use of standards. Currently, special communication and application software is adapted to aspacecraft's sensor systems and manipulators. In the Internet world, we use standards called the TCP/IP protocol suite--packet switching and store-and-forward methods--to allow a lot of different devices, billions of things, to interact compatibly with each other. The Interplanetary Internet project is primarily about developing a set of communication standards and technical specifications to support rich networking in space environments.

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/21601/?a=f

Man Flies Across English Channel

Yves Rossy crossed the Channel in 13 minutes, averaging 125 miles per hour. In a final flourish, he did a figure eight as he came over England.

Part one of his flight:

Part 2:

Robots

I found an interesting Japanese organization: Information and Robot Technology Research initiative: http://www.irt.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index_e.shtml.

They also have an interesting Robot Watch site (in Japanese): http://robot.watch.impress.co.jp/

Social Networks Will Change Government

"The future of government is a very different government and, in some cases, no government at all," says Andrea Di Maio, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/424043?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=link

buckypaper

It's called "buckypaper" and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made. Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite.

http://www.buckypaper.com/

http://www.hpmi.net/

Garment doubles as a mobile phone

Produced by UK firm CuteCircuit, the M-Dress works with a standard SIM card. When the dress rings, you raise your hand to your head to answer the call.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/24/future.fashion/index.html

http://www.cutecircuit.com/

Botnets on cell phones in 2009 - Maybe...

According to Patrick Traynor, assistant professor at Georgia Tech's School of Computer Science, "We'll start to see the botnet problem infiltrate the mobile world in 2009."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10067994-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1009_3-0-20

http://www.gtiscsecuritysummit.com/pdf/CyberThreatsReport2009.pdf

Using the mobile phone as a credit card

Inside Contactless offers a MicroPass technology that can be embedded in stickers that are affixed to mobile phones so they can be used to make payments or access transit systems and buildings.
(Credit: Inside Contactless)(CNET)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10074366-94.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1009_3-0-20

GRAVITY GRABBER

This system makes use of the discovery that squashing and rolling the sensitive pads on the ends of a person's index finger and thumb can give a realistic impression of weight.

http://www.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~tachi/bib/paper/2006_Haptic%20Interface%20for%20Middle%20Phalanx%20Using%20Dual%20Motors.pdf

http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index_e.html

String Walker

http://intron.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp/stringwalker/stringwalker.html

This system aims to make simulations much more immersive by letting people walk through the virtual environment while staying in the same place.


For video see: http://intron.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp/stringwalker/string_walker1.mpg

Nanotechnology - Age of Convergence

We are approaching an evolutionary event horizon, where the organic and the synthetic, the virtual and the "real", are merging together into an operational ecology, an existence morphology for which there is no precendent in the history of which we are currently aware, catalyzed by nanotechnology.

TouchLight - Microsoft Research

The amazing technology presented by Andy Wilson... it could make your room's window a huge touchscreen!!! It definetly rocks!

Nanotechnology breakthrough- Invention of Paper battery

Dr. Shaijumon Manikoth, a reserach associate and nanotechnologist at RPI says it is still a work in progress. "We were just working on it, how to come up with an integrated device which itself is a battery and which can be rolled up and twisted and inserted in any kind of devices," said Dr. Manikoth.

NBC News of Invisible Cloak

Emerging Energies Technology Summit 2007: Renewable Energy

This conference on Emerging Energies Technologies takes an unbiased look at how the United States can make the transition from dependency on carbon-based fuels to a sustainable alternative fuels-based future. In this program Nobel laureate Alan Heeger of UCSB and Joan Ogden of UC Davis give their perspectives on renewable energy. Series: "Technology Management Program" [10/2007] [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 13287]

Emerging Technology for Medical Field

Contains a short descriptive video of 5 different emerging technologies.

First Post

To all who enter here: This blog is a complement to my web site (www.theworldstechnology.com). What differs from my website is that I place in this blog videos, podcasts, PDFs, etc. on the latest inventions, ideas, concepts, patents, etc that I can find. Please use it as a reference. I hope that it helps you.