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These simple Mobile Lights by Kyouei Design hang from the ceiling from fishing line to create a glowing kinetic sculpture with the size and shape of your choosing. Each piece is equipped with an LED, solar panel and AA battery backup, absorbing light during the day and emitting it at night. But what’s more impressive…
The Office of Naval Research just threw a $1.6m grant at some UCSD researchers, to be used to build a “field hospital on a chip”. The system will monitor a few biomarkers for deviations from safe levels, at which point it will automatically medicate its wearer. While the military hopes that such a device could…
In a long-awaited refresh to their tablet lines, Fujitsu has announced considerable upgrades for its U and P series. The comically small 5.6″ U820, following in the dainty footsteps of the U810, gets improved battery life, GPS, a super-sharp WSXGA touchscreen and a 1.6GHz Atom processor, somehow weighing in at just over 1.3lbs. The U…
The picture pretty much says it all, but the coolest part about the Lifebook N7010 is the 4-inch, 480×272 pixel touchscreen integrated into the keyboard area. Its most notable function is that it works as an app launcher, but according to Fujitsu’s Paul Moore, you can use it as a second (really small) screen, with…
Scientists at Tsinghua University in Beijing have just perfected a process by which nanotubes can be coaxed to emit sound, allowing for the construction of ultra-thin, transparent, flexible ‘speakers’, demonstrated above affixed to a waving flag. Unlike normal speakers, which produce sound with direct vibration, these sheets produce sound with wildly fluctuating temperatures that create…
For a cheap-at-half-the-price sum of just $30million you could be the owner of the Basra Breeze—a 270-foot superyacht that Bond himself, or perhaps, more fittingly, a Bond-style supervillain would be proud of. Why? Because as well as your standard superyacht golden faucets, the Breeze has a helicopter landing deck, and a bullet-proof atrium.Better yet there’s…
Environmentalists who say we shouldn’t cut down the rainforest as it harbors potentially useful lifeforms are finally right: there’s an amazing fungus that can produce biodiesel better than any current methods. Gliocladium roseum was found in the Patagonian rainforest, as a by-product of antibiotics experiments. The scientists were amazed that the fungus was putting out…
Researchers at Kyoto University recently displayed an eco-friendly electric car made almost entirely out of bamboo, one of the fastest growing materials available. The single-seat “BamGoo” weighs about 130 pounds, can only run about 30 miles on a charge, and probably won’t pass any safety tests, but it sure is cute! Let’s just hope that…
This pocket-sized mobile charger from Brando not only juices the most common mobile devices on the market—including all iPhone and iPods, any cellphone by a major company, and handheld gaming consoles—it also acts as an emergency torch if you suddenly find yourself in the dark. The light will last about 5 hours and is charged…
Chinese internet users have become the top target for malware, according to a new security report by Microsoft. The company said that about 47 percent of software “exploits” it found, including ones that can record keystrokes and steal passwords, in the first half of 2008 were in Chinese, while only 23 percent were in English.…
Toyo Kitchen’s Isola S, from its Nobody line, is my answer to remaining fashionable in the oncoming economic apocalypse. Sure, I can no longer afford a McMansion in an affluent suburb, but I can get a storage unit somewhere and host fancy, LED-lit cocktail parties with this adjustable kitchen contraption. Isola S fits three electric…
Jason, How did your Halloween go? I’m really proud of Matt for writing that political tech piece today. I think it was well put, but you can always count on flames when you put something like that on a tech blog. Not so with puppies. We just got one.When I met Lisa, she had a…
A few of us at Giz debated this for awhile, but using it while on the road for a month made me sure that that the new nano’s case is too sharp on the corners, compared to the old chubby one. I prefer the old one by far, because it is shaped with both impressive…
If you are one of those people who constantly forget where you’ve parked your car, the Fireworks Locator System concept—a button on your key—could help grab your attention by triggering a holographic explosion of fireworks above your vehicle. However, the effectiveness of this gadget is questionable as there would be more and more fireworks exploding…
OK, a Game Boy emulator might not be in the same league as an NES or SNES emulator, but seeing as it’s the first real emulator for the Android platform, G1 owners will have to take what they can get at this point. Available in the Android Marketplace now, the AndroidBoy control scheme looks like…
This hand-sewn floppy disk coaster set will put you back $28 for stain-free coffee-table goodness for the neat-freak nerd. Available in five colors, it’ll also make you reminisce for the times you sat there for forty minutes, inserting floppy disk after floppy disk to install Microsoft Office 6.0. At least you won’t have to worry…
France’s Senate just passed a law proposed in mid-summer that would cut the families of illegal fileswappers off from broadband internet access for a year. This makes France the first country to pop anti-piracy legislation against users, and it’s probably not going to be the last. This would be a “three-strike” system. You get two…
The market for home proctology isn’t exactly thriving, which is probably the reason why the makers of the USB Endoscope decided to take a less daunting route: The two-foot-long USB-powered snake has LEDs and a camera at one end. Outfitted with a powerful 40X microscopic lens, it focuses in on things you yourself can’t reach.…
Kotaku’s Ashcraft’s book on Japanese arcades may document how well those gaming centers are doing in Japan, but arcades are pretty much on their last legs here in the US. These high quality Supermandolini arcade buttons are how you can keep hope alive. Sixteen euros ($20) gets you ten badges, or buttons, that you can…
The standard Apple line about what’s next in the pipeline is that they don’t comment on future products. So when an Apple spokesman Bill Evans lays out fairly directly that “our holiday line-up is set,” it doesn’t look so good for those iMac gut refreshes previously rumored to hit this month. But hey, it’s not…