Object that enhances the interaction with not only people but also with other Smart Objects. It can not only refer to interaction with physical world objects but also to interaction with virtual (computing environment) objects. A smart physical object may be created either as an artifact or manufactured product or by embedding electronic tags such as RFID tags or sensors into non-smart physical objects. As the new networks link data from products, company assets, or the operating environme...

Imagine if your home was powered by solar balloons that sat above the clouds. Scientists at the Japanese-French Laboratory for Next Generation Photovolatic Cells (NextPV) are aiming to do just that. Solar cells’ efficiency relies on the proximity of the cells to sunlight. Even if the cells are put directly in the path of sunlight, their efficiency is affected significantly by clouds or terrible weather. On a cloudy day, solar panels can produce less than 30% of the electricity they are design...

Imagine if water tasted like juice—without the calories. The Right Cup, a new product featured on Indiegogo, promises to do just that. The Right Cup takes the same FDA approved aromatic fruit flavors which beverage companies use in their drink and using proprietary Encapsulated Aroma Release technology, the makers insert them into the Right Cup to create a scented inner lining. During the process, the aroma and flavor become part of the cup itself but the plastic characteristics of the cup ar...

BUILD is adaptable furniture: it can be your room divider, wall rack, storage box, or even something else! Many furniture pieces that are produced are toxic and can eventually fall apart. BUILD is designed to be an easy-to-assemble furniture solution that is a versatile solution that is free of toxics. The product is a toxin-free, emission free, allergy friendly and 100% recyclable “build-your-own” furniture product. A single modular element is the essence of this lightweight shelving and ...

Inspired by her late grandmother who had Alzheimer’s disease, Sha Yao, an industrial designer, developed Eatwell: a user-centered tableware set designed to help increase food intake and maintain dignity for those with Alzheimer’s. Her product won first place at 2014 Stanford Design Challenge out of 52 teams from 15 countries. Firm in her commitment to improve the quality of life for those with Alzheimer’s, Yao set out to understand more about their lives. Through volunteering, she discovered ...

The government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a vision of developing 100 smart cities as satellite towns of larger cities and by modernizing the existing mid-sized cities. The government plans to identify 20 smart cities in 2015, 40 in 2016 and another 40 in 2017. Currently, 31% of India’s population live in cities, and generate 63% of the nation’s economic activity. Urban population numbers are increasing rapidly, with almost half of India’s population p...

Carrying water is a time-consuming and tiring chore for millions of women and children in rural Africa. Typically, a woman can manage no more than a 20-litre bucket carried on her head, often walking long distance to bring it home. The Hippo water roller allows up to 90 litres of water to be carried in a single trip, and with much less effort. Hippo Water Roller was created in 1991 by two South Africans, Mr. Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker. They both grew up on farms and had seen the eff...

Liter of Light is a global open source movement aiming to provide ecologically sustainable and cost-free lighting for simple dwellings with thin roofs. The device is simple: a transparent 1.5–2 L plastic bottle, as typically used for carbonated drinks, is filled with water plus a little bleach to inhibit algal growth and fitted into a hole in a roof. The device functions like a deck prism: during daytime the water inside the bottle refracts sunlight, delivering about as much light as a 40–60 wat...

More than a quarter of the world’s population burns fossil fuels for light, resulting in about 190 million tons of CO2 being emitted into the air each year. A small company - Nokero – has developed a solar light bulb that promises to reduce those emissions as rural and remote areas of the world adopt this technology. Nokero N100 bulbs contain their own solar cells and rechargeable batteries that power four LED lights. With the charge from one day in the sun, they run for two to four hours, pr...

Biochemist Daniel Nocera has been working for decades on an "artificial leaf" — a silicon wafer that can create energy from sunlight and water the way real leaves do. HARVARD SCIENTISTS have created a “bionic leaf” that converts solar energy into a liquid fuel. The work—a proof of concept in an exciting new field that might be termed biomanufacturing—is the fruit of a collaboration between the laboratories of Adams professor of biochemistry and systems biology Pamela Silver at Harvard Medical...

Diamanti’s solar powered water filter is designed to provide drinking water for families in developing countries. Eliodomestico is a solar still that operates a bit like an upside-down coffee maker. At the beginning of the day, water is poured into the terracotta chamber. As the day begins the still heats up and eventually gets hot enough to boil the water, creating steam. The steam forced into the expansion nozzle at the top and then condenses against the lid, where it then drips down into the ...

GravityLight is a revolutionary new approach to storing energy and creating illumination. It takes only 3 seconds to lift the weight which powers GravityLight, creating 30 minutes of light on its descent. For free. The burning of Kerosene for lighting also produces 244 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide annually. GravityLight vs Solar powered lighting. A commonly held view is that solar powered lighting is the answer to these problems in the developing world. However a numbe...

Nutrition app list - iPhone and Android Daily Burn An RDN reviews Daily Burn, an app to keep track of calories consumed and track workouts to see how much energy is burned. eaTipster Created by the Dietitians of Canada, eaTipster delivers daily healthy eating tips to your mobile devices. The app addresses common food and nutrition questions and concerns and provides tips to increase healthy eating, support a healthy weight and fight chronic disease. Diet Assistant Diet Assistant provid...

Voice to Text software is basically a speech recognition software tool that converts voice into text. This is an ideal software tool that allows the users to talk to the computer and lets it type the text. Users can adjust the computer settings to recognize the voice and type the text accordingly.  The program types the text based on voice recognition software and the work can be done without the need to type the words or text. Audacity is a free, easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and ...

Live stream video is going mainstream as new apps are placing real-time broadcast ability in the hands of any smartphone user. Ustream Broadcaster Ustream Live Broadcaster lets you broadcast high quality video to the world. This works over 3G and Wi-Fi. You can switch between the front or back cameras on the fly. There is a simple one click button to share your streams with the world. If you have viewers you can interact with them in the chat room. There has never been an easier and simpler ...

AT&T* has an agreement with Amber Alert GPS to provide wireless connectivity for the Amber Alert GPS V3, a child tracking device that keeps parents notified of the current location of their children. The V3 offers parents the ability to create “Zones” around their home, neighborhood, school, soccer field, etc., and receive an email or text alert whenever their child enters or exits a Zone. The V3 integrates its tracking with the National Sex Offender database, alerting parents when their ...

Verizon Telematics has launched a new telematics vehicle platform that gives drivers detailed information on their car's health and how to get help in the event of an emergency or car trouble. 'Hum' a device that plugs into the car and diagnoses the vehicle health and reports issues. It's a monthly service requires drivers to install a small dongle into their car's onboard diagnostic reader (OBD) port. Almost every car made after 1996 has an OBD.   A Bluetooth-enabled device that s...

There is a lot of work and research being done to find ways to improve life for partially-sighted and blind people. Reading and recognition devices could make smartphones, tablets, and smart glasses into indispensable aids for the visually impaired. CINVESTAV (Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute) in Mexico, there is another smart glasses project in progress. It combines computational geometry, artificial intelligence, and ultrasound techniques, among...

Smart Refrigerator The smart refrigerator, also known as ‘internet fridge’ or ‘wifi fridge’, is part of the so called ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT). Basically, it is a fridge that has a computer built into it, which can connect to the internet. The net fridge is just one of many internet appliances. Others include smartphones, personal digital assistants and more. In fact, there are now even internet microwaves! The first smart refrigerator was the LG Digital Multimedia Side-by-Side Fridge Fr...

Consert converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology which allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Smart-grid rollouts are either imminent or already taking root across the globe. In terms of what communications standards, infrastructure, etc. will be used to enable the smart grid, ...

Smart clothes are the next step beyond wearables. Despite smart watches and activity trackers just beginning to become popular, smart clothing is already starting to appear. So far there are already items of smart clothing available including t-shirts that measure biometrics and bras that adapt to support in certain situations. Few innovative products: Victoria's Secret, the women's lingerie specialist, has released a sports bra that is capable of measuring the wearer's heart rate. The...

Over at the University of Pennsylvania, robotics researchers have taught the Willow Garage PR2 to pick up dog leavings, so you don’t have to. But now researchers at George Washington University are taking that pet-care robotics research one step further – they’re teaching PR2 robots to walk dogs and play fetch with them. As robotics applications shift from repetitive factory labor to everyday environments, robots must possess more perception and action capabilities that enable them to comm...

Irreducible complexity (IC) is a pseudoscientific argument that certain biological systems cannot be evolved by successive, slight modifications to a functional precursor system through natural selection acting upon a series of advantageous naturally occurring chance mutations. Michael Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, first argued that irreducible complexity made evolution purely through natural selection of random mutations impossible. However, evolutionary biologists ...

Biomechatronics is an applied interdisciplinary science that aims to integrate mechanical elements, electronics and parts of biological organisms. Biomechatronics includes the aspects of biology, mechanics, and electronics. It also encompasses the fields of robotics and neuroscience. MiT's research in Enhancing human physical capability: We know from early Roman mosaics that physical rehabilitation and amplification technologies have been used during much of recorded history. Although the ...

Plans are afoot to build a manned base on the Moon. NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program is working on everything that will be needed to make the Moon a place where a crew of astronauts can live for months. Explorers from Earth will have to build their own habitat, or home. Their home must protect them like no home on Earth would ever need to do. There is no air on the Moon. And the temperature varies from 387 degrees Fahrenheit BELOW zero (-233 Celsius) at night to 253 deg...

Biocryptology ® is an encryption-based authentication technology that represents a generational step forward in online security and a transformative approach to combating cybercrime. The technology makes identification private and secure using human biometry via a unique biocryptic process and offers a secure solution for a host of everyday applications. Biocryptology® is based on the principle that the conventional biometric information that is captured by a biocryptic device is transformed ...

A GMO is a plant developed through a process in which a copy of a desired gene or section of genetic material from one plant or organism, such as the ability to use water more efficiently, is placed in another plant. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement on biosafety as a supplement to the Convention on Biological Diversity effective since 2003. The Biosafety Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential...

Many of the ancient city of Alexandria’s relics, including the alleged remains of Cleopatra VII’s palace  are submerged under 20 feet of water, and have sat placidly beneath the surface of Abu Qir Bay for more than 1,000 years. The ruins, both mysterious and integral to Egypt’s rich history, have been publicly known as hidden artifacts, but might become part of a fantastical tourist attraction in the coming years. Antiquities buried a mere 20 feet under the surface in Abukir Bay include th...

Google and Ford are planning to develop and build self-driving vehicles together in a joint venture and will announce the deal at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, says a report in Yahoo Autos. The partnership would represent a major collaboration between two of the biggest names in the tech and automotive industries. According to Yahoo Autos’ sources, the deal is not exclusive, which means Google would be free to work with other automakers who are interested in its self-dr...

Victorian Chair Eco Remix The Victorian Chair Eco Remix takes an unusual approach to reintroducing vintage objects through its complete and curious reconstruction. Prasanna Sankhe began with five-ply corrugated boards as the primary material in the assembly of this eccentric dining chair. Folded into a boxy form with a rigid backrest. Folding Paper Furniture Lightweight Paper Table That Folds Away Like Origami. Paper table by Forrest Radford is simple and functional. The origa...