The bus of the future

Many designers have their imaginations firmly focussed on the future. As a consequence, specialist blogs regularly publish images that we would swear came out of a sci-fi comic book.

Theoretical aeroplane projects or cars from the year 3000, the craziest ideas are sometimes born from the unbridled creativity of artists who often have their hearts set on inventing concepts that call on the latest technology, at the same time as thinking about how to protect the environment. That is the case with an innovative bus prototype, dreamt up the Hungarian designer Peter Simon.

Designed with the help of very lightweight materials such as composite plastics, the prototype "Credo E-bone" emits absolutely no carbon gases. It is equipped with hydrogen fuel cells, powered in tandem with lithium-ion batteries located on the roof. And to top it off, this concept bus looks frankly pretty amazing

Any surface can become a touchscreen

When we talk about interactive systems between man and machine, we can without exaggeration say that the future is now! In terms of the prototypes produced in recent months, sci-fi movie fans have been able to get excited on more than one occasion. For example, the discovery of the concept of the multi-touch screen (even though you don't exactly touch it), dreamt up by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute, who have been able to detect and isolate the movements of the ten individual fingers of a user.

Displax, a Portuguese company, has just launched a touchscreen film that is just as innovative; it can detect and function with as many as 16 fingers. The "Skin", is ultra slim, transparent and non-rigid, and can be applied to any surface. In addition, the screen is sensitive even if it is behind a layer of glass, provided the glass is no thicker than 17 millimetres.

Neurochips have a future

In the often controversial field of biotechnology, research is moving steadily forward and provides a rather encouraging outlook, particularly in the realm of healthcare.

A team of scientists led by Doctor Naweed Syed, at the University of Calgary, in Canada, has developed a new generation of neurochips. They are able to decode neural signals with the clearest precision yet and will allow for a better understanding of how the brain functions.

In addition, in the future thanks to this kind of system, we will be able to ask neurochips to act directly on brain cells in order to, for example, inhibit sensations of pain. It is also deemed possible to operate artificial limbs via signals transmitted by this new type of electronic chip.

Resourceful high school students

For a number of years now, designers and engineers have been competing to come up with a design for concept cars that are genuinely fuel efficient. The Swiss company Rinspeed, for example, specialises in the creation of prototypes of this kind. Its most recent exploit, a futuristic electric car steered with a joystick, certainly made an impression.

Students from the DeLaSalle School, in Kansas City, in the United States, clearly appreciated this inspiring prototype. An entire class undertook the inspirational task of creating a fuel efficient concept-car. From a distance, their prototype looks like it has been covered with a transparent plastic tarpaulin. But it is the bodywork of the car, ultra lightweight and aerodynamic. Its fuel consumption is equivalent to a car travelling 300 miles per gallon. The Guinness Book of Records has been contacted

Dress up as Iron Man

Do you dream of looking like Iron Man and gaining his superhuman physical abilities? If so, here is some exciting news. The military contractor Raytheon has perfected the biomechanical exoskeleton that it manufactures, which is highly reminiscent of the Marvel comic character.

The futuristic armour, called XOS 2, is more resistant and lighter than previously designed models. The person who slides into the prosthetic outfit can carry out a variety of physically challenging activities with a very satisfying degree of freedom of movement. Using this equipment, an individual can perform tasks that would normally require the strength of 3 people. The exoskeleton was designed primarily for the military.

Space Hotels

Now, you can check into a hotel in space and orbit the Earth as you sleep. The view from your hotel window will be the most spectacular one you have ever seen, with the Earth on one side and the Moon on the other. In between will lie the vast expanse of space, with stars twinkling as far as the eyes can see.

And how will you get to the hotel in space? Flag down a space taxi of course!

The New Hobby of the Super Rich: Space Tourism
Private space tourism is growing in leaps and bound, with people ready to pay a million dollars or more to book a seat on one of the best joyrides ever invented by man.

In facts, there are reports that Virgin Atlantic Airways, owned by the glamorous Richard Branson, is already planning test launches of flights to space this year through its subsidiary company, Virgin Galactic.

However, a time will come when people will no longer be content to simply take a spin through space and then come back down to boring ol' Earth. They will want to spend more time up there in the heavens... hopefully a couple of nights.

Taking this thought forward, an entrepreneurial company wishes to build a hotel in space. The lead contractor at the International Space Station is a Russian company, and it is planning to build the very first hotel in space in order to cash in on the new hobby of the super rich: space tourism.

The company called Energia, and it is actively looking for investors who believe that a private space station is the new big idea for space tourism. Deputy chief designer Alexander Derechin envisages a hotel accommodating around seven people at a time.

It will be fitted with equipment enabling scientists to carry out research. In addition, there will be an entertainment area inside the space hotel.

Apparently it is a guaranteed success, because "commercial space ships are being built around the world - they will need to fly somewhere". Energia has teamed up with Orbital Technologies, according to a report by Reuters.

Investors have already committed up to a billion dollars to the project. Derechin says, "I do not think we will be able to complete it before 2015, but I do not think we should wait much beyond that. The competition is growing and we need to hurry up."

Drool Worthy Gadgets

Wireless chargers, mobile phones with two screens, augmented reality on your car windscreen and on your spectacles, 3D TV without glasses, OLED screens that are modular and flexible and lots more!

If you are not already salivating over these ultra-cool gadgets then, consider this: these are not futuristic gadgets that you can buy and use at some point in the distant future. All of these gadgets already exist in the present and are available commercially right now or will be, very soon. Here is the low-down on all the gadgets that we are planning to buy and that you should jot down on your shopping lists. Get set to drool!

Aren't you sick of wires hanging off your walls and getting tangled around your mobile phones, iPhones, iPads and laptops? Bid them a quick farewell for a wireless charger is here for all sorts of portable gadgets. NTT DoCoMo has launched batteries that use Qi (pronounce it as "chi"). All you need to do is place your mobile on a pad and it starts charging the batteries. Watch the YouTube video to see how it works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbZWmwU-Zc

Forget about touchscreen mobiles, what would you do if your mobile had two screens and it didn't have a keypad at all? Fujitsu has a prototype dual screen phone that is super-fast with data transfers. It has two screens, one for all your local or offline work and the other for remote or online work. See how the dual screen mobile works here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcCTEZDoh7c

Remember how "Terminator" could focus on something and all the specifications of the object would be displayed in front of him? That is now possible in real life with NTT DoCoMo's "AR Walker". It's a tiny device that can be attached to your spectacles and it becomes your very own augmented reality screen. If you look around, it lists the restaurants or shops closest to you. If you look up, you can see details about the weather and if you look ahead, then navigation and directions are displayed on the glass of your spectacles. See it all here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXBFFtv6EKY

Now, imagine an augmented reality display on the windscreen of your car! You can see the screen of your mobile phone right up on your windscreen as well as seeing the road ahead. Perhaps you might like to know the speed or the model of the car cruising behind you or get an update on the traffic situation? No problem, use Pioneer's augmented reality display device on your car windscreen:
http://www.komverse.com/2010/10/08/pioneer-develops-minority-report-style-visor-for-your-car/

See 3D TV in your own home without those cumbersome glasses. Toshiba's 3D TVs have created a lot of buzz and you can find out more about them here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4DpXDu72OE
http://www.arabia.msn.com/Technology/GadgetsObjects/2010/October/2849241.aspx

Flexible OLED screens made of plastic have been launched by TDK. These are just 0.3 millimetres thick, are more durable than glass screens and can even be bent slightly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ChF6S1vUo

A modular OLED screen has also been launched by Mitsubishi which you can use to create a screen of any size you want:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rng5Mdu4i1E

Planet Earth Has a Twin

It seems we are not alone. Mankind might have other living things in the galaxy keeping us company. Indeed, a new planet has been discovered, which is just like our home, panet Earth!

How can we be sure about this? The newly discovered planet, Gliese 581 g, is 3 or 4 times larger than Earth. This means that the surface of the planet is solid, not liquid or gaseous.

The planet revolves around a star and is bang in the middle of that planetary system. This makes it the right distance from the star for the water on the planet to remain in a liquid state. Otherwise, it would have been frozen into solid ice or heated into steam.

In other words, the planet is in the "habitable zone", and that's all that is required to suggest that life may be present on the planet.

Other than that, the planetary system and its star are boring in every way that you can imagine. The star, named Gliese 581, is a common red dwarf, the most lowly type of star in the Milky Way.

It is about one third the size of our star, the Sun, and is about 20 light years away from us. So, if you were to shine a ray of light from Earth roughly in the direction of Libra, it would reach Gliese 581 in twenty years.

The planet looks ordinary, and you can't see it without a telescope. However, everyone in the scientific world is hopping with excitement. Just recently, it was discovered that a total of six planets are orbiting the star, making this one of the most exciting solar systems that we know of.

In fact, the presence of an Earth-like planet alone is enough to cause a buzz. Ever since the dawn of science, man has wondered whether there is any other Earth-like planet out in space. Now, it seems, we are very close to a definite answer.

However, does Earth's new "twin" also support life? That is the zillion-dollar question on everyone's lips.

Steve Vogt of the University of California says, "We're pretty excited about it... I think this is what everyone's been after for the past 15 years... this is right next door to us. That's the big result."

In a cluster of 116 stars, we now have two potentially life-friendly planets, including Earth itself. But there could be many more! After all, we have only carefully studied nine planets out of the 116. So what are the chances of another one coming up?

If there turns out to be a whole group of other habitable, life-friendly planets, just imagine if even one of them has life on it!

Self-Driving Cars from Google

Have you heard about Google's latest big secret? No, it is not a new browser, OS, CEO or code! It is a new car - correction, a new type of car - that Google has been testing. And we must say, they have been very secretive about it, keeping it well away from prying eyes... so far!

What is Google "Driving" At, Now?
The giant multinational company recently announced, rather casually on its Google Blog, that it has been testing a new type of fully automated car. They have teamed up with some engineers at DARPA Challenges and to bring out a car that can be driven without a human being sitting inside it!

The reason they felt compelled to launch a fully automated car is that they believe too many people are killed on the roads due to human error: annually, 1.2 million people are killed on the road, according to a WHO statistic.

If we remove the flawed judgement of a human from the equation, it results in two things: a car controlled by a machine/computer and, ergo, safer roads.

Self-Driving Cars
How will this impact our lives and lifestyles? The blog talks about a unique forward-thinking concept of "highway trains". This will be a direct result of shared cars and car pooling. These trains will result in a cleaner environment as they will reduce emissions and the use of precious fossil fuels. A fully automated bus or train would also make our roads safer, reducing accidents and traffic jams.

This will also leave us more free time to pursue other interests, as commuting will become quicker and more efficient. If solar-powered electric cars can be used, they will leave almost a zero carbon footprint too.

Google's automated cars have, so far, completed an astounding 140,000 miles. These cars operate by using radar sensors, maps, video cameras as well as a "laser range finder" that helps them sense and "see" other vehicles and pedestrians on the road. All this information is fed into Google's central data bank, which processes it and then maps the terrain for these cars.

The Team That Built Google's Self-Driving Cars
The team that was responsible for this remarkable type of car includes Chris Urmson (team leader of the winning CMU team at the Urban Challenge, 2007), Mike Montemerlo (the Stanford lead for the winning team of the Grand Challenge, 2005) and Anthony Levandowski (builder of the first automated bike, as well as the builder of a fully automated pizza delivery vehicle).

During these tests, Google clarified, their test cars were always manned by a trained driver and a software professional, and they received support from the local California police.

A camera faster than the human eye

Progress in the field of robotics is reaching the stage that the paranoid amongst us could seriously qualify as worrying! In fact, you could quite easily be left with a nagging sensation that some prototypes could enable the implementation of devices and systems that wouldn't necessarily increase the overall happiness of humankind...

Such is the case with an invention developed by German scientists at the Technical University of Munich. They have developed a miniature camera with a lens that is able to pan and tilt autonomously and that actually works faster than the human eye! In fact, panning speeds can reach 2500 degrees per second! We hardly dare imagine what this kind of system could engender once implanted into a humanoid... "Terminator", does that ring any bells?

The robot ice sculptor

Clearly, advances in robotic engineering will soon adversely impact the careers of artists in all sorts of fields! We remember the robot able to draw portraits, recently developed by Goldsmiths University in London. A gadget endowed with equally impressive abilities has been built by McGill University in Canada.

Dreamt up within the framework of a computer assisted architectural programme, FAB@HOME has the ability to create beautiful ice sculptures in a variety of shapes and sizes. The system could ultimately be used to decorate ice hotels, a new concept in tourism for adventurous souls who aren't afraid of the cold!

Attachmate buying Novell for 2.2 billion dollars

US enterprise software maker Novell announced Monday that it had agreed to be acquired for 2.2 billion dollars by Attachmate, an investment group made up of three private equity firms.
The deal calls for Attachmate, which is owned by Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital and Thoma Bravo, to buy Novell for 6.10 dollars per share in cash, a nine percent premium over Friday's closing price in New York.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-based Novell also said it had agreed to sell unspecified intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings, a consortium of technology companies led by Microsoft for 450 million dollars in cash.
"We are pleased that these transactions appropriately recognize the value of Novell's relationships, technology and solutions, while providing our stockholders with an attractive cash premium for their investment," Novell president and chief executive Ron Hovsepian said in a statement.
Attachmate said it expects the deals to close in the first quarter of 2011.
Novell provides identity and security, systems management and collaboration solutions for Linux-based operating platforms.
Novell shares gained 6.62 percent on Wall Street on Monday to close at 5.96 dollars.

Barcelona is most popular team on Facebook - club

FC Barcelona says it has attracted over seven million fans on Facebook, making it the most popular sports club on the social networking site ahead of Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Real Madrid, the team's arch rivals in the Spanish league, are the second most popular club on the site with just over six million fans while Manchester United, which has yet to get five million fans, is in third place, Barcelona said in a statement posted on its web site.
"This is further evidence that FC Barcelona is the most supported club in the world, way ahead of the opposition," it said.
Spain has the most FC Barcelona Facebook fans, followed by Indonesia, Turkey, France and the United States.
More than 80 percent of the club's fans on the site are males under 35 years of age. FC Barcelona officially joined Facebook in November 2009.
The Los Angeles Lakers, the reigning National Basketball Association champions, are the fourth most popular sports club on Facebook with over four million fans.