Human eyesight is such a limiting factor in military missions that DARPA is trying to fix it. Not with lasers; those are reserved for ships, but instead with a new infrared camera using pixels only five microns wide.
Smaller pixels mean a high-resolution image can be captured in a tinier package. There are existing miniaturized infrared cameras, but their pixels are about three times the size of DARPA's latest, and their resolution is at best half as good. The new technology has made it possible for the portable camera pictured above to do the work of the sort of long-wave infrared (LWIR) camera that till now has required a truck to carry.
‘Google Glass is a technical masterpiece’ German designer Martin Missfeldt said. He just created the graphics to show us how they work. ‘It combines numerous functions and features in a very small unit. In addition to phone and camera (photo, video), it offers Internet connection, including GPS.’
Depending on how you wear the Google Glass, the layer appears in the upper right corner or in the middle of the visual field. When the Google Glass is high on the nose, so that you can practically see through underneath, you must turn the eye up to view the image sharp.
ScreenSamsung Galaxy S4Perhaps the most striking thing about the GS4 is its massive 5-inch HD Super AMOLED display. It also features a sharp 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution and a pixel density of 441ppi (pixels per inch). HTC One
HTC gave the One a 4.7-inch LCD screen that's slightly smaller than the Galaxy S4's but boasts the same 1,920x1,080 resolution. As a result, the HTC One's display has a higher pixel density of 468ppi.
Assessment
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) have found a new mechanism to transmit light through optical fibers. Their discovery marks the first practical application of a Nobel-Prize-winning phenomenon that was proposed in 1958. Assistant Professor Arash Mafi and doctoral student Salman Karbasi harnessed "Anderson localization" to create an optical fiber with a strong scattering mechanism that traps the beam of light as it traverses the fiber. The work was done in collaboration with Karl Koch, a scientist with Corning Inc.
We have introduced many nice leather wallets, but if you want some unique options made with special materials, the following ezgo slim wallet may be able to draw your more attention. Ezgo is an innovative and practical wallet that measures 89 x 71 x 16mm and weights 23g. As we can see from the images, the wallet features ultra slim, unibody design, and is made from strong, flexible and polished polyamide for durable and lightweight construction, the slim wallet even can float on the water. Using its two card slots and a main compartment the slim wallet is able to hold up to 8 credit cards and 12 bills, while two extra slots hold one standard SD card and two microSD cards. Apart from that, the slim wallet is easy to clean and rinse. At present the inventor of ezgo wallet is raising fund at Kickstarter. Pledging $30 will let you own the slim wallet. If you’re interested, jump to Kickstarter official site for more details :
The new iLumi, unveiled this week on Indiegogo, is an energy-efficient LED bulb that lasts for 20 years and can be controlled by any smartphone. The bulb features iLumi’s HyperLux technology, which allows it to be programmed to display millions of colors and makes it one of the brightest bulbs around. The bluetooth-capable iLumi is available in four different models and starts at $59. The iLumi ditches wires by utilizing bluetooth technology.
Researchers in Singapore have developed a new nanomaterial that functions like the best Swiss army knife in the world. The material, known as Multi-use Titanium Dioxide (TiO2), can produce energy, it can generate hydrogen, and it can even produce clean water. But that’s not all: The remarkable material can also be formed into flexible solar cells and it can double the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries. And with bacteria-killing properties, it can also be used in new antibacterial bandages. The new material, which is being developed by scientists at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, is made by turning titanium dioxide crystals into nanofibers, which can then be formed into flexible filter membranes.
Stranded seamen (and women) are at the mercy of the ocean no more, thanks to LongReach from Samuel Adeloju. LongReach is a water-activated buoyancy system that can be shot out of a rocket-esque device over long distances to help drowning victims.
LongReach from Samuel Adeloju may not seem like much, but think of the current alternative of a lifeguard throwing you a plastic buoy. LongReach sounds like the better bet if you are trying to escape with your life.
Intex Technologies has launched Intex Aqua Wonder Quadcore for Rs. 9,990. We had reported about the impending launch of this device carrying a price tag of less than Rs. 10,000 earlier this month.
Intex Aqua Wonder Quadcore features a 4.5-inch capacitive 540x960 touchscreen with IPS panel screen technology. It is powered by MediaTek MT6589 quad-core processor and comes with 512MB of RAM. The smartphone has a 1.93GB of internal storage, of which 1.93 GB is user accessible. The internal storage can be expanded by up to 32GB through a microSD card.
It runs on the Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean). For camera, there is an 8-megapixel auto focus rear camera with dual LED flash and 2-megapixel one on the front. Intex Aqua Wonder Quadcore is a dual-SIM smartphone (WCDMA+GSM). Other connectivity options include 3G video calling, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth 4.0.
The Lapel Torch grew out of customer feedback on the headlamp. Biggest benefit? Hands-free, baby! Drawback? Well, the thing has to attach to your noggin, and higher impact activities like jogging can jostle them off. Plus, “They look funny, and you often end up pointing them into your friends’ eyes when talking,” the brand’s Joey Tuma tells Co.Design. “We wanted a light where you get the same functions, without the same issues.”
Enter the versatile Lapel Torch. The rounded profile of the small LED light source nestles perfectly into the concave shape of the silicone clip.
Google's next generation of Nexus 7 tablets from ASUS will be Qualcomm-powered and arrive this July, according to Reuters. If its sources are to be believed, Mountain View is aiming to ship eight million units by the end of the year, showing it has a lot of confidence in the upcoming model. Other leaked info claims more screen resolution, a thinner bezel and an unspecified Qualcomm CPU instead of the current model's NVIDIA Tegra 3, possibly to save power. There's no info on pricing or other specs and Google's not speaking at this point, of course -- but if it proves accurate, hopefully the two companies have learned their lesson from the current model's runaway success and will ramp production accordingly.
-The crowd lining the end of Tokyo Station's platform 22 is four people deep.
They're jostling for position with their cameras -- trainspotters, parents, and children alike -- to get a shot of Japan's latest bullet train: the Series E6 Shinkansen, known as the Super Komachi.
They all bought tickets for the privilege of entering this part of the sprawling terminal that serves 380,000 passengers daily, and operator JR East has to deploy extra security guards to keep them a safe distance from the glistening new locomotive.
In response to an exponential growth in population and current trends in unsustainable food consumption, san diego architect brandon martella
has proposed a new high-rise building typology that integrates an expansive farm and market into the american urban landscape. the vertical farm
skyscraper is an architecture that responds to a burgeoning economic and environmental issue-- a problem of fruit and vegetable supply not meeting
the 320+ kilogram per person demand in the united states. since the bulk of produce for san diego comes from both the imperial and
Designed by Italian label Alessi this wood chewing beaver pencil sharpener provides a fun spin on your traditional pencil sharpener design-and is much more effective than having a real beaver do it. Doubling as a paper weight, the chrome-plated piece was presented at the 2013 Maison & Objet show in Paris. In true Alessi style, the design is both fun and functional.
![Photo: Solar Panels Now Make More Electricity Than They Use
Solar panels make energy, but they take energy to make, too. And, until about 2010 or so, the solar panel industry used more electricity than it produced, according to a new analysis. Now, the industry is set to "pay back" the energy it used by 2020.
The study looked at what went into building and installing solar panels all over the world, including everything from home installations to solar farms, says Michael Dale, a climate and energy researcher at Stanford University, in a Stanford-produced video. He and a senior scientist, Sally Benson, thought that because the solar panel industry was growing so quickly, it might actually be using more electricity than it produced. Instead, they found an industry at a crux.
"I think that this paper shows that actually the industry is making positive strides and it's even in spite of its fantastically fast growth rates, it's still producing, or it's just about to start producing, a net energy benefit to society," Dale said.
Most solar panels manufacturers now consume lots of electricity, usually pulled from coal or other fossil fuel-burning plants. Stanford News pointed to the example of melting silica rock to obtain the silicon used in most panels. The melting requires electricity to fire ovens to a temperature of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Solar panels' energy balance is now tipping, however, because newer technologies reduce that electricity consumption. For example, some newer panels require less silicon, or waste less material in the manufacturing process. Researchers are also looking to replace silicon with more abundant affordable elements, such as copper, zinc, tin and carbon.
Dale and Benson published their full analysis in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
[Stanford News via the Verge]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/p480x480/72185_238787569597333_1977746713_n.jpg)
Solar panels make energy, but they take energy to make, too. And, until about 2010 or so, the solar panel industry used more electricity than it produced, according to a new analysis. Now, the industry is set to "pay back" the energy it used by 2020.
The study looked at what went into building and installing solar panels all over the world, including everything from home installations to solar farms, says Michael Dale, a climate and energy researcher at Stanford University, in a Stanford-produced video.
![Photo: Google “Glass” Headset to be Made in the United States
Google will be manufacturing its “Glass” eyewear in Silicon Valley, a move that the Financial Times hails as a “high-profile example of the return of electronics manufacturing to the U.S.” The technology giant will be working with Hon Hai Precision Industry, the Taiwanese firm better known as Foxconn, to assemble the futuristic eyewear at a facility in Santa Clara in California. Tim Bradshaw reports that only a few thousand of the devices will roll off the factory line in the coming weeks, compared with the millions of Apple products Foxconn typically cranks out in China. “Manufacturing locally will allow Google’s engineers to be closely involved with the production process and provide more opportunities for last-minute fixes and for personal customization,” Bradshaw writes. “Such moves may also blaze a trail for Silicon Valley’s resurgent community of hardware start-ups, which remain largely reliant on cheaper offshore manufacturing.”
Google announced on Wednesday that it has selected the 8,000 people who will be allowed to buy a test version of Glass.
Google announced on Wednesday that it has selected the 8,000 people who will be allowed to preorder a test version of Glass for $1,500 apiece. The company began notifying the winners on Tuesday.
[Via the Financial Times]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/p480x480/292239_238395206303236_1287655705_n.jpg)
Google will be manufacturing its “Glass” eyewear in Silicon Valley, a move that the Financial Times hails as a “high-profile example of the return of electronics manufacturing to the U.S.” The technology giant will be working with Hon Hai Precision Industry, the Taiwanese firm better known as Foxconn, to assemble the futuristic eyewear at a facility in Santa Clara in California. Tim Bradshaw reports that only a few thousand of the devices will roll off the factory line in the coming weeks, compared with the millions of Apple products Foxconn typically cranks out in China. “Manufacturing locally will allow Google’s engineers to be closely involved with the production process and provide more opportunities for last-minute fixes and for personal customization,” Bradshaw writes. “Such moves may also blaze a trail for Silicon Valley’s resurgent community of hardware start-ups, which remain largely reliant on cheaper offshore manufacturing.”
Google announced on Wednesday that it has selected the 8,000 people who will be allowed to buy a test version of Glass.
Google announced on Wednesday that it has selected the 8,000 people who will be allowed to preorder a test version of Glass for $1,500 apiece. The company began notifying the winners on Tuesday.
[Via the Financial Times]
If you're tired of the iPhone's boring black or white color options, but would also like to avoid a bulky case or letting Colorware have at it with your device, you might want to check out Clear-Coat's new color-changing Aurora skin.
The $35 self-adhesive decal is applied to your iPhone the same way as a screen protector, but it includes panels to cover almost every inch of the device. And thanks to an iridescent finish, the Aurora skin has an ever-changing rainbow tint that lets you customize your iPhone's finish by just moving it about. Don't like orange? Just move two degrees to the right and you'll be happy.
![Photo: DIY cardboard rifle can fire paper pellets up to 25 yards
Paper pellets make great projectiles, just ask any schoolkid. Paper Shooters, rifles made primarily out of cardboard, can fire those paper pellets up to a distance of 25 yards, lending a degree of professionalism to a pursuit that is usually more of a hobby.
Developed by a team of designers that includes former Nerf engineers, in collaboration with Bang Creations, the Paper Shooters kit comes with all the tools needed to build the working gun. Apart from the plastic firing mechanism the gun is pretty much all cardboard, and the three varieties—Digital Ops, Golden Touch and Zombie Slayer—look surprisingly realistic (although perhaps only if you're James Bond in the case of Golden Touch).
The creators have just launched an Indiegogo campaign for £42,000 ($64,439), to satisfy the minimum order number required to begin manufacturing kits in China, and to raise additional funds for further die-cutting tools and molds.
Wired.co.uk spoke to Mike Howarth of Team Paper Shooters by e-mail about the gun. He said: "I'm an entrepreneurial 29-year-old from Manchester who loves designing new products. This is my first product—designed initially in my apartment—and has just blossomed from there into a really great piece of kit. This is my first product, although there are lots more to come!"
Each kit contains a plastic firing mechanism and skeleton, layers of cardboard "skin" for the gun that are either glued or clipped on, eight gold shells, 50 pieces of premade ammunition, a mold for making new ammunition out of paper (any soft paper will do) and a target in the shape of a zombie's head. Howarth said: "The plastic is merely a 'skeleton' (minimum amount) as it shoots wet paper ammo that the user makes themselves." The soft paper pellet ammunition fits into cartridges the shape of real bullets, and creating a cardboard gun that could handle moisture was a particular challenge.
The cartridge casings eject out of the side every time the user reloads, just like a real semiautomatic rifle. Apparently, the pellets have aerodynamic qualities similar to Airsoft rounds ("the accuracy is very good up to 65 feet [20m], then probably drops slightly after that," says Howarth), so they are actually quite dangerous if not treated with respect. It's very much for teenagers, not children, with an age guidance of 14-years-old and up. According to Howarth, "the 'gunsmith experience' is definitely the main selling point."
Also, while the kits come predesigned, "users can absolutely print their own card frame as we supply the card template blueprints via email with every kit," Howarth said. It's not quite 3D-printing an actual gun, but it's a lot safer and a lot more legal.
This post originally appeared on Wired UK.](https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/c101.0.403.403/p403x403/539208_238394106303346_736882817_n.jpg)
Paper pellets make great projectiles, just ask any schoolkid. Paper Shooters, rifles made primarily out of cardboard, can fire those paper pellets up to a distance of 25 yards, lending a degree of professionalism to a pursuit that is usually more of a hobby.
Developed by a team of designers that includes former Nerf engineers, in collaboration with Bang Creations, the Paper Shooters kit comes with all the tools needed to build the working gun. Apart from the plastic firing mechanism the gun is pretty much all cardboard, and the three varieties—Digital Ops, Golden Touch and Zombie Slayer—look surprisingly realistic (although perhaps only if you're James Bond in the case of Golden Touch).
The creators have just launched an Indiegogo campaign for £42,000 ($64,439), to satisfy the minimum order number required to begin manufacturing kits in China, and to raise additional funds for further die-cutting tools and molds.
Wired.co.uk spoke to Mike Howarth of Team Paper Shooters by e-mail about the gun. He said: "I'm an entrepreneurial 29-year-old from Manchester who loves designing new products. This is my first product—designed initially in my apartment—and has just blossomed from there into a really great piece of kit. This is my first product, although there are lots more to come!"
Each kit contains a plastic firing mechanism and skeleton, layers of cardboard "skin" for the gun that are either glued or clipped on, eight gold shells, 50 pieces of premade ammunition, a mold for making new ammunition out of paper (any soft paper will do) and a target in the shape of a zombie's head. Howarth said: "The plastic is merely a 'skeleton' (minimum amount) as it shoots wet paper ammo that the user makes themselves." The soft paper pellet ammunition fits into cartridges the shape of real bullets, and creating a cardboard gun that could handle moisture was a particular challenge.
The cartridge casings eject out of the side every time the user reloads, just like a real semiautomatic rifle. Apparently, the pellets have aerodynamic qualities similar to Airsoft rounds ("the accuracy is very good up to 65 feet [20m], then probably drops slightly after that," says Howarth), so they are actually quite dangerous if not treated with respect. It's very much for teenagers, not children, with an age guidance of 14-years-old and up. According to Howarth, "the 'gunsmith experience' is definitely the main selling point."
Also, while the kits come predesigned, "users can absolutely print their own card frame as we supply the card template blueprints via email with every kit," Howarth said. It's not quite 3D-printing an actual gun, but it's a lot safer and a lot more legal.
This post originally appeared on Wired UK.
Feedly, the heir apparent to the throne of RSS, has announced that it's brought onboard some 3 million Google Reader users since Google announced the mothballing of that service a couple of weeks ago. What's more, today sees the launch of a new version of the Feedly app for Android -- and iOS -- with new search and layout features. Most notably, a new search engine has been rolled out with access to over 50 million news feeds.
Google+ sharing support is baked in, and directly accessible from Feedly's own sharing menu. In addition, you can now choose whether you want to hide read articles from the menu dropdown in list view, just like the web-based view. Existing Feedly users should appreciate an improvement in performance, too. Finally, there's a new layout for the Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and certain Samsung Galaxy handsets.
So there's a lot to get stuck into. If you're already using Feedly, hit the Google Play Store to grab the latest update
![Photo: In The Future We Will All Live In Photosynthetic French Sea Pods
Scientists estimate that the sea level will rise 9 inches or more by 2030, up to more than 6.6 feet by 2100. In anticipation of a far wetter world, French architecture firm Sitbon Architectes designed this pod concept for a habitable, eco-friendly phytoplankton farm in the Indian Ocean.
Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that form the foundation of the aquatic food chain. They use chlorophyll to turn sunlight into energy, absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen like land plants. They can have explosive population growth, known as a bloom, expanding over hundreds of square kilometers in the ocean.
Moored to the ocean floor, the farm, called Bloom, would be a 5-story, partially-submerged center where scientists could live and grow phytoplankton, reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and releasing oxygen. In the process, it could serve as an alert system for rising waters in the event of a tsunami. (Though it doesn't look like the best place to actually ride out a tsunami, with its many air holes.) The project was a finalist in Architizer's 2013 A+ Awards. The firm envisions that "every factory would have its own bloom allowing it to absorb the CO2 that it created." Plus, it looks like it could involve a lot of fun water sports.
[plusMOOD]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/c162.0.403.403/p403x403/547433_238393332970090_45722099_n.jpg)
Scientists estimate that the sea level will rise 9 inches or more by 2030, up to more than 6.6 feet by 2100. In anticipation of a far wetter world, French architecture firm Sitbon Architectes designed this pod concept for a habitable, eco-friendly phytoplankton farm in the Indian Ocean.
Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that form the foundation of the aquatic food chain. They use chlorophyll to turn sunlight into energy, absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen like land plants. They can have explosive population growth, known as a bloom, expanding over hundreds of square kilometers in the ocean.
Moored to the ocean floor, the farm, called Bloom, would be a 5-story, partially-submerged center where scientists could live and grow phytoplankton, reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and releasing oxygen. In the process, it could serve as an alert system for rising waters in the event of a tsunami. (Though it doesn't look like the best place to actually ride out a tsunami, with its many air holes.) The project was a finalist in Architizer's 2013 A+ Awards. The firm envisions that "every factory would have its own bloom allowing it to absorb the CO2 that it created." Plus, it looks like it could involve a lot of fun water sports.
[plusMOOD]
Researchers today claimed to have invented the world's smallest super compact ultra-wideband (UWB) planar antenna that can find application in homes and the military among other domains.
Academician Professor Srikanta Pal, who is with the Birla Institute of Technology in Mesra, and his research scholar Mrinmoy Chakraborty have developed the antenna.
"Our antenna is the world's smallest at 14 mm X 11 mm, with much more than a 10:1 bandwidth," Chakraborty, a PhD student with BIT-Mesra, said.
The UWB technology brings mobility of wireless communications with high data rates, they said, adding that the technology was designed for short range, wireless personal area networks (WPANs), with the objective of freeing people from wires.
The antenna is cheap and their goal was to reduce the size so that it can be pasted on any curved surface.
"The material used for this design is fibre reinforced plastics, which is less expensive. The fabrication process is simple wet chemical etching method," Pal, who is a Honorary Research Fellow at the Birmingham University in UK from 2010-2014 for his work in radio astronomy, said.
Switzerland-based Stromer just launched their new ST1 pedal-assisted electric bike for the US market. These superbly engineered e-bikes feature a seamlessly integrated battery located inside the frame and an onboard interface the size of an iPod Nano which shows an abundance of information including battery charge, energy consumption rates, average speed, as well as the distance and duration of rides.Stromer’s ST1 Elite has a 522 Wh battery that has a touring range of up to 100 km and an output motor that can reach a top speed of 33 mph. It is equipped with hydraulic brakes adapted for higher speeds and weight. Light carbon forks minimize impacts and vibrations for a smoother ride. The bike is now available statewide at Stromer dealers and sell for around $3,500.
To celebrate its arrival in the States the company is giving away one of their ST1 Elite models. To find out more visit Stromer’s site.
+ Stromer
Via Cool Hunting
This invisible bike comes from the great minds at Design Affairs. At first glance, it looks like a solid black frame, however when it's moved in front of the white wall, it changes colors. Well, it doesn't actually change colors, you just see the color behind it.
This invisible bike is called the Charity Bike and could be the first of a string of bikes using new materials like advanced polymer. Polymer is advantageous in bike frames because it provides formidable resistance to impact, is lightweight and exceptionally flexible.
This invisible bike frame can withstand exposure to almost any chemical as well as any temperature without wearing down. The only drawback to this design is it has a lower density than polycarbonate and acrylic, which are used in most bike frames.
The Serendipity Emotion Player is not your regular shuffle that plays music by genre or albums. It takes into account your emotional status by interpreting the color that your subconscious mind chooses and then plays songs accordingly. The player is equipped with a camera and the user is supposed to point it towards a colored object, for example if my mind takes fancy to the apple and I point the player towards it; the device interprets my mood based on the color therapy practice and plays songs accordingly.
As the name suggests, the Serendipity player hopes to play songs according to your mood and in lay terms, it is aimed to give the user the pleasure disguised as coincidence.
Designer: Kyuho Song
Unless you can get yourself onto a serious Survivorman wavelength, pooping in the woods is pretty miserable. I love hanging out around the fire; I don’t mind sleeping in a tent; I loathe trudging off into the woods to do my business armed only with a smushed, semi-damp roll of toilet paper. It’s the ultimate indignity. This concept at least mitigates some of that.
The waterproof toilet paper container and dispenser, cleverly named Nature Calls, was created by a group of students at the Alberta College of Art and Design. Their assignment was to create something of social or economic value using a two-liter plastic bottle. "We’ve all been in various situations where having dry toilet paper was important, so the idea came naturally to us," says Janet Molchanko, who designed the product, along with Amy Pon, Sarah Jensen and Morgan Smith. Using half of their bottle, a freezer bag, some reflective tape, and a bit of twine, the group made it a reality. To keep waste to a minimum, they designed the caddy to be reusable. Campers can easily swap in new rolls via the zippered plastic bag. There’s a carabiner for attaching it to a backpack, or, if you’re really serious about creating a more civilized experience, for clipping it to a tree, turning it into a handy hanging dispenser. "We also added a small LED light for those nighttime trips!" Molchanko adds, which has to be the most enthusiastically anyone’s ever talked about that most perilous after-dark excursion.
The pouch offers some 2,000 square inches of toilet paper storage space--more than most existing products, the group found, which top out at around 800. That’s key. The only way that whole situation gets worse is when you run out.
Designer Seden Craig said it best- “this ain’t your granddaddy’s rocking chair!” The skeletal design was inspired by slatted furniture as well as topography models making it a unique, modern twist on the conventional rocker that’s defined by linear wood slides contrasted with a white facade on top. It’s an interesting alternative to both the outdoor adirondack or indoor rocker.
Designer: Seden Craig
German technology company Festo has unveiled the BionicOpter, a fully functional robotic dragonfly. It can fly forwards, backwards, hover and even fly sideways—just like a real dragonfly. Its introduction marks another step forward in robotics engineering. The BionicOpter isn't as tiny as its natural counterpart—it's approximately 19 inches long with a wingspan of just over 27 inches. But it looks a lot like the real thing with its dual pair of wings operating independently affixed to its rail thin body and slightly bulbous light blue head. It weighs, remarkably, just 175gms. Festo hasn't yet demoed the BionicOpter to a live audience just yet—thus far pictures and video posted on the company's site are the only evidence of its existence. But all that is to change as the company will be giving a demonstration of their new robotic insect at the upcoming Hannover Messe technology fair in Germany. Festo claims it has mastered the technically complex process involved in dragonfly flight. That's no small boast. The dragonfly is a master flyer—it can hover, fly backwards, even glide with no wing movement at all. Robots that can mimic such flight would have more capabilities than planes or helicopters, or even quadcopters (they can't glide when turned off). That it is able to do so with all of its "brains" (and a battery) tucked inside such a tiny little frame is truly remarkable. Its wings—made of foil and carbon-fiber—are moved by individual tiny servo-motors that allow for 90 degrees of adjustment—all controlled by a single ARM microprocessor. They can generate thrust in all directions. Flight is controlled by adjusting for wing flapping speed, amplitude and twist. The BionicOpter has 13 degrees of freedom—9 from the wings and 4 from head and tail movement. The company hasn't divulged any planned use for such a flying robot—as it presently exists, it appears it's little more than a display of technical brilliance—but, it's not difficult to see how others might tweak the design a little bit to add functionality. Adding a stinger for example, or a camera, or more menacingly, explosives or hazardous chemicals to create a very lethal weapon might not be out of the realm of possibility. More optimistically, the design appears to open the door to the opportunity of a new form of human flight—if the robot were to be made bigger, rather than smaller—perhaps it could carry a person inside.
The chief executive of one of Europe’s largest wireless carriers claims the reason sales of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone are slumping is because the price is too high. France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard told Bloomberg that European customers are beginning to focus more on prices and are holding onto their old devices longer than before. He notes that the Apple frenzy isn’t what it use to be and it is becoming more difficult to sell a $600 phone. Richard seemed to suggest that without a low-cost iPhone, the company could continue to lose market share, adding that there “are fewer early adopters, and probably with the next release of the iPhone this will be evident.”