Yep, robots are invading the oceans. So what if turtles are dying out? We’ll replace them with these robotic babies. Ok, not really. This is a turtle-inspired cargo vessel, from what I can tell. It travels at about 7 knots and stores its goods in its little shell. There’s also space in there for its […]
A British firm is working on a harpoon to retrieve space debris such as defunct satellites. The idea is to spear the debris and then pull it down towards Earth to be burned up in the atmosphere. The project is the work of Astrium UK, a global company’s branch in Stevenage (which coincidentally is the […]
Regulators and technology companies have held an international summit to explore problems with patent laws. Though the meeting was held behind closed doors, it doesn’t appear they agreed on much other than that something must be done. The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, held the roundtable discussion in Geneva with more than 140 […]
It’s fifty years ago this week since the first practical experiment producing visible light from a light-emitting diode. The idea that electricity could directly generate light goes back to the early 20th century. That led to exploration of the idea of tweaking the principle of a transistor to intentionally control the movement of electrons and […]
In Crane, Indiana, the Naval Warfare Surface Centre has revealed an app that shows you just how dangerous malware can be in the world of such intelligent phones. The app called PlaceRaider can take photos randomly while running in the background – you would never know it was happening. These photos can then be rendered […]
Hitachi says it’s found a way to improve airport security without disrupting passenger movement. It uses the same technology as some recent suggestions, though the implementation looks a bit more credible. The system, developed with the help of railway signaling firm Nippon Signal and the University of Yamanishi, would scan both users and their boarding […]
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: I, For One, Welcome Our New Quadrotor Overlords. This video shows three quadrocopters cooperatively tossing and catching a ball with the aid of an elastic net. To toss the ball, the quadrocopters accelerate rapidly outward to stretch the net tight between them and launch the ball […]
This 12-minute short film (which includes the credits) is quite a creative masterpiece. Created using Blender, an open source 3D content creation suite and crowdfunded from the Blender Institute in Amsterdam, it’s quite a feast for the eyes. Without giving too much away, the story is centred on a man who is trying to make […]
One of the best things to come out of Apple’s iPhone 5 and iOS 6 launch has arguably been their new map system. And by best, if you are an Android user, you finally get the one-over on all your Mac-touting hipster friends. The complaint by users world-wide has centered on the sheer inaccuracy of […]
Climate change is one of those hot topics these days. We are increasingly realizing we need to be more “green” and stop abusing our planet lest we break the atmosphere as we know it. In the meantime, in order to preserve our way of life, scientists are trying to come up with ways to battle […]