The Global Village Construction Set..... a possible way to bypass the West's and others refusal due to self interest, to help those in huge areas of the poor world where farming is vital to survival, and also bypass their prohibitively expensive technological tools.
Goodbye keyboards: Wristband recognizes words you write in the air
James Plafke
Mar. 1, 2013
geek.com
Ask any writer, and there’s a good chance he or she will tell you how great it feels to physically write words on a piece of paper. While typing is much faster, and a lot more efficient, something just feels so good when putting pen to paper. In the case of tablets — which tend to have keyboards too wide for dual thumbs, yet too small to type on like a full-sized keyboard — handwriting recognition can be the most efficient way to jot down some words, somewhat satiating that pen-to-paper desire. Unfortunately, handwriting recognition isn’t exactly the peak of refined technology at the moment, and it generally isn’t precise enough to pick up everyone’s wildly different handwriting styles with any real accuracy. Scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) might have found a different solution — a band that detects the motions and gestures of the wrist, and can translate that into writing.
Rather than relying on a fickle screen, KIT’s wristband — or glove, depending on how you view fashion — allows a user to write words in the air, which the system can detect with the help of gyroscopes and accelerometers. The gestures are then sent to a computer over a wireless connection, then the computer makes sure the user was actually writing, rather than, for example, flailing wildly for no reason. So if you are waiving hello or vigorously scratching something, your computer won’t suddenly have a bunch of gibberish written on-screen.
Rather than standard gesture recognition, the airwriting glove employs pattern recognition as well. A statistical model has been created for the characteristics of each letter of the alphabet, taking different writing styles into consideration. For instance, the airwriting system can recognize the difference between writing in all caps (of which some of us are guilty). In total, the recognition system has a bank of 8,000 words, with a general error rate of only 11%. A large chunk of that error rate comes from individual writing styles, and when the system is calibrated for someone’s specific style, the error rate drops to just 3%.
Aside from expanding the system’s wordlist, the KIT team aims to make the device smaller, and thus more comfortable to wear. Further than that, the team would like to integrate the system directly into a smartphone, which would mean you could simply wave your phone around in the air and generate words on its screen.
For their research, the team received a Google Research Award of $81,000 to aid in the development of the system.
---------
Might be another gigantic leap for mobiles and tablets ?
Leap Motion Controller Shipping Pre-Orders in May
Feb 27, 2013
Leap Motion, the motion control hardware and software that can turn the average computer into a Minority Report-style interface will start shipping to customers on May 13 and is heading to Best Buy later that month, according to a company release. Unveiled last year, Leap Motion takes the 8 cubic-feet of airspace in front of your computer and turns it into a motion-aware control center capable of recognizing gestures, your hands and even every single one of your 10 digits. The motion controller hardware is a credit-card-holder sized box that connects via USB and sits in front of your desktop monitor or laptop. It works in concert with software running on Windows 7 and 8 and Mac OSX 10.7 and 10.8.
The company claims that Leap Motion, at 290 frames per second, is 200 times more sensitive than existing motion-control technology like Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360. Developers are, according to Leap Motion, currently working on applications that take advantage of the desktop motion-control system. Among them are Autodesk, Corel (see their video demonstration below), Disney Interactive (Wreck-It Ralph: Sugar Rush Speedway racing game); a Weather Channel app; and ZeptoLab’s Cut the Rope.
Leap Motion's ship date comes almost a full year after the initial unveiling, and while the company seems well aware of the pent up demand and anticipation, it's not willing to rush things. "We’re taking the time needed to provide an incredible user experience and robust ecosystem of applications for consumers to explore the new power and magic Leap Motion brings to computing,” said Leap Motion co-founder and CEO Michael Buckwald.
If you're attending SXSWi in Austin, Texas, in March, you'll have an opportunity to test drive some of these Leap Motion-enabled apps at the "Leap Motion Experience." Mashable will be there and follow up with a hands-on report.
Leap Motion system will arrive in Best Buy stores on May 19 with a list price of $79.99. It continues to accept pre-orders on its site and add to its list of developer partners.
---------------------
Following on from the previous post 'Goodbye keyboards', this seems fairly low priced and exciting and I do hope could revolutionize things for manual dexterity and OTHER disabilities:
Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 8:15 am Post subject: Friendly frankenfuel.
Bacteria churn out first ever petrol-like biofuel
Rebecca Summers
24 April 2013
newscientist.com
Unleaded, diesel or biofuel? This could become the choice at the pump now we can make biofuels that are identical to the petrol we put in our cars, planes and trucks. Until now, biofuels have been made up of hydrocarbon chains of the wrong size and shape to be truly compatible with most modern engines – they'll work, but only inefficiently, and over time they will corrode the engine. To be used as a mainstream alternative to fossil fuels – desirable because biofuels are carbon-neutral over their lifetime – engines would have to be redesigned, or an extra processing step employed to convert the fuel into a more usable form.
To try to bypass that, John Love from the University of Exeter in the UK and colleagues took genes from the camphor tree, soil bacteria and blue-green algae and spliced them into DNA from Escherichia coli bacteria. When the modified E. coli were fed glucose, the enzymes they produced converted the sugar into fatty acids and then turned these into hydrocarbons that were chemically and structurally identical to those found in commercial fuel. "We are biologically producing the fuel that the oil industry makes and sells," says Love.
The team now needs to work out how to scale-up the project to mass-produce hydrocarbons. The E. coli were fed on glucose made from plants, but Love reckons that if they were to scale-up, they could tweak the genes to produce enzymes that would allow the bacteria to feed on straw or animal manure. This would mean that land wouldn't be needed to grow the feedstock that would otherwise be used for food crops – one of the criticisms of biofuels.
Paul Freemont of Imperial College London describes the work as a "beautiful study". He says it illustrates the potential of using a similar approach for bio-manufacturing not only biofuels but other chemicals we currently source from petroleum, such as those used to make plastics, solvents or detergents.
Printable A3-sized solar cells hit a new milestone in green energy
Kadhim Shubber,
May 18 2013
wired.co.uk
Imagine a future where solar panels speed off the presses like newspaper. Australian scientists have brought us one step closer to that reality. Researchers from the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) developed a printer that can print 10 meters (about 33 feet) of flexible solar cells a minute. Unlike traditional silicon solar cells, printed solar cells are made using organic semi-conducting polymers. These can be dissolved in a solvent and used like an ink, allowing solar cells to be printed. Not only can the VICOSC machine print flexible A3 solar cells, the machine can print directly on to steel. It opens up the possibility for solar cells to be embedded directly into building materials.
"Eventually we see these being laminated to windows that line skyscrapers," said David Jones, a researcher at University of Melbourne who is involved with the work. "By printing directly to materials like steel, we'll also be able to embed cells onto roofing materials." The news comes just a month before Harvard's Clean Energy Project plans to make public a giant database of compounds that can be used for printing solar cells. The list of 20,000 organic compounds may help scientists develop computer models for more efficient and less expensive printable solar cells.
Solar energy received another boost on the opposite side of the world as Elon Musk's rooftop solar energy company, SolarCity, received backing from Goldman Sachs. The $500 million deal will provide leases for SolarCity customers, 90 percent of whom lease the solar panels rather than buy them outright. In 2010, a team at MIT unveiled a paper solar cell that could be folded into a paper airplane and still function.
Efficiency is still an issue for printable solar cells. The VICOSC team say that their cells can generate up to 50 watts of power per square meter, meaning you would need two meters squared to safely power a 15-inch MacBook Pro. Before you gets carried away with notions of printing your own solar cells at home, it should be noted that VICOSC's printer currently costs A$200,000 ($199,400).
Reverse vending machines on the campus allow cups, cans and bottles to be recycled with discount vouchers given as an incentive...
Through this pilot, we want to assess the impact of this approach which has proved successful around the world, including in Germany, South Australia and Scandinavia.
Teen's biofuel invention turns algae into fuel
Sabrina Rocco
June 15, 2013
tampabay.com
For a fifth-grade science fair, Evie Sobczak found that the acid in fruit could power clocks; she connected a cut-up orange to a clock with wire and watched it tick. In seventh grade, she generated power by engineering paddles that could harness wind. And in eighth grade, she started a project that eventually would become her passion: She wanted to grow algae and turn it into biofuel.
After four years of tinkering in her garage for about an hour each day, Sobczak (pronounced sob-chek) has finally figured it out. Her algae-to-fuel project won first place and best in category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, beating 1,600 other finalists from 70 countries. The Intel ISEF is one of the largest and most prestigious science fairs in the world.
"When I got there, I looked at all the projects and they were amazing, but I trusted that my project has a lot of capabilities to be used in the real world, so I thought I had a good chance of winning," said Sobczak, a rising senior at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg. The project's official title: Algae to Oil via Photoautotrophic Cultivation and Osmotic Sonication. In less dizzying terms, Sobczak cultivated, harvested and extracted algae oils and turned them into biofuel.
Biofuel is made by taking a mass — such as grass, sugarcane or corn — and converting it to fuel. The process leaves out harmful chemicals, like chloroform and hexane, which are used in making biodiesel and other types of fuel. Also, the use of algae biofuel reduces reliance on fossil fuels. Some research shows that algae fuel could one day be a significant part of the nation's energy supply. But the cost of producing it remains high and scientists are working on ways to bring it down.
"All these Floridians think that algae is bad because it causes red tide, but it can be used as a positive to help our environment and our economy," Sobczak said.
Among a trove of awards and scholarships from the Intel ISEF, Sobczak was given the opportunity to visit NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, where workers control the Mars rover, for three days this month.
"(Sobczak) will get a behind-the-scenes experience of how JPL works: how we conceive and design missions, how we build and operate spacecraft, and then she'll meet scientists who will speak about how they use spacecraft to discover new science," said Larry Bergman, a program manager at the lab.
The world's attention has been on Mars because of the Curiosity rover landing and the Intel ISEF took that into consideration when selecting a prominent research lab to send a student to, Bergman said. In the past, students have gone to places like CERN, the nuclear research lab in Switzerland notable for having the world's largest particle accelerator. "Going to the JPL is not something that everyone can experience, so I am very excited to be able to go," Sobczak said. "I can't wait to see them and talk to them about my project."
Also this summer, she will volunteer in the postpartum unit at St. Petersburg General Hospital and will be involved with a beach restoration project. "She's motivated, she's driven, she's a grinder," said her mom, Lila Sobczak. "Until she finds the answer, she doesn't stop," she said. Sobczak fell in love with science just by doing her schoolwork at Shorecrest. She says her teachers inspired her by getting her involved with science fairs early on. "Evie has two things going for her," said David Hyink, her biology teacher. "She loves science and she has amazing enthusiasm for it. I think those are the two key ingredients to be able to do this."
Sobczak hopes to get into Columbia University or MIT to major in biochemical engineering. She's excited to work in a college lab where she can expand her algae project. Sobczak's dream job: working with other engineers to make algae a biofuel in the United States. Between devoting countless hours to her algae project, keeping up with schoolwork and trying to hold on to her social life, Sobczak gets frazzled. But to that she simply says: "Stress means you're doing a lot of work, so it has to be a good thing."
Canadian engineering duo claim $250,000 prize for first human-powered helicopter
rt.com
July 14, 2013
The world’s first human-powered helicopter by a Canadian engineer has won the Sikorsky Prize after performing a minute-long flight at an altitude of 3.3 meters – fueled only by the pilot’s pedaling of a modified bicycle.
The AHS Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition was established in 1980, in search for the first successful controlled flight of a human powered helicopter. The helicopter had to reach a height of three meters while hovering for at least one minute in a ten-square-meter area. The competition’s $250,000 prize had never previously been awarded, with numerous creative engineers trying and failing to meet the criteria.
“The AHS Sikorsky Prize challenged the technical community to harness teamwork, technical skills, and cutting edge technologies to meet requirements that were on the ragged edge of feasibility,” Mike Hirschberg, AHS International Executive Director, said in a statement.
The University of Toronto’s AeroVelo team pitched their Atlas helicopter against a team from Maryland University, winning the coveted prize. Dozens of students from Toronto’s team were involved in the project.
The Atlas measured 47 meters across and weighed only 54 kilograms, due to its super-lightweight carbon fiber tubes, which connected the vehicle’s four rotors to the bike. The helicopter draws its power from the pilot’s physical strength to keep it in the air. Todd Reichert, who flew and engineered the aerial vehicle, explained to The Ottawa Citizen that “As you spin your legs, you spin the rotors…It's very much an exercise in mental and physical control, at the same time as an all-out physical effort.” He said that flying the Atlas was an “incredible feeling.”
He added that “this isn't something that you're going to commute to work in any time soon, but it's an exercise in really pushing the limits on what's physically possible, and what you can do with lightweight materials and really creative design.”
Winning the prize has inspired the Canadian team to continue doing what they love while inspiring others to pursue big ideas, Reichert said. More than a year was spent developing the Atlas helicopter, which faced many obstacles and underwent many changes along the way. The team’s structural engineer, Cameron Robertson, said he hopes “that this inspires not only our fellow Canadians, but also global citizens to do more with less.”
David Zingg, a professor at the University of Toronto’s engineering department, said the victory was “a great technological achievement, requiring ingenuity, knowledge, and experience in a number of challenging technical areas.” He added that “Todd and Cameron have provided tremendous inspiration for young engineers both in Canada and around the world.”
Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson started AeroVelo as a team geared toward developing the award-winning helicopter and other human-powered vehicles. It is their hope that such projects will soon become an alternative or an accompaniment to vehicles which rely exclusively on burning fossil fuels.
The team has already had other wins, namely the 2010 human-powered ornithopter which they dubbed “Snowbird.”The invention flapped its wings to stay airborne, becoming the first bird-like vehicle to be flown by man.
Hacks Give Google Glass Many Unintended Powers
Steve Henn
July 17, 2013
npr.org
story as mp3
At Philz Coffee in Palo Alto, Calif., a kid who looks like he should still be in high school is sitting across from me. He's wearing Google Glass. As I stare into the device's cyborg eye, I'm waiting for its tiny screen to light up. Then, I wait for a signal that Google Glass has recognized my face. It isn't supposed to do that, but he has hacked it. "Essentially what I am building is an alternative operating system that runs on Glass but is not controlled by Google," he said.
Balaban wants to make it possible to do all sorts of things with Glass that Google's designers didn't have in mind. One of the biggest fears about Google Glass is that the proliferation of these head-mounted computers equipped with intelligent cameras will fundamentally .
Google has tried to respond to these fears by designing Glass so it is obvious to the people around these devices when and how they are being used. For example, to take a picture with Google Glass, you need to issue a voice command or tap your temple before the screen lights up.
But hackers are proving it's possible to re-engineer Google Glass in any number of creative ways. And in the process, they've put Google in an awkward position. The company needs to embrace their creative talents if it hopes to build a software ecosystem around its new device that might one day attract millions of consumers. But at the same time, Google wants to try to rein in uses for Glass or spook politicians pointed questions about privacy.
So when Balaban first announced he had built an app that let folks use Glass for facial recognition, Google reacted harshly. "I'd be lying if I said I was surprised," he said. The company said it wouldn't support programs on Glass that made facial recognition possible — and changed its terms of service to ban them. But that hasn't stopped techies like Balaban from building these services anyway.
And now, there are all sorts of things developers are doing with Glass that were not built into the original design. Marc Rogers, a principal security researcher at Lookout, realized he could hijack Glass if you could trick someone into taking a picture of a malicious QR code — a kind of square-shaped bar code that can send a computer directly to a website.
But today, Rogers has nothing but praise for how Google responded to his hack. He says less than two weeks after he disclosed the problem to Google, the company had fixed it. "The other thing that is really good is the way they pushed Google Glass out to a community of people who are particularly good at finding vulnerabilities and improving software and fixing software — way before it is a consumer product," Rogers said. "This means that all of these vulnerabilities — or at least most of them — are going to be found long before Google Glass ever hits the market."
Google's decision to give the first few thousand pairs of Google Glass to tinkerers and hackers and geeks was intentional. "In a case where you have [a product] that is so different from what is on the market currently, you really have to do these living laboratories where you figure out what the social and technical issues are before you release it more widely," said Thad Starner, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech and a manager at Google Glass.
When Google , it didn't sell it to just anyone. The first few thousand people who got a pair were developers, a technically sophisticated group whose first impulse was to take it apart, peer inside its code and understand how it works. These people are hackers at heart, and when they got their hands on Google Glass, they broke it on purpose, cracking it open and exploring all the ways it could be used or possibly abused.
"That's the great service our [Google Glass] explorers are doing for us," Starner said. "They are actually teaching us what these issues are and how we can address them."
But some of the issues raised by Google Glass might not be possible to address with a simple technical fix. Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington who specializes in new technologies and privacy, has suggested that gadgets like Google Glass or civilian drones could act as "" and spur conversations and legal debates about privacy in the digital age. Calo believes the conversations are long overdue.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
