Toyota and Peugeot announce plans for hybrid race cars

Toyota and Peugeot announce plans for hybrid race cars: "Toyota is going sports car racing, and it intends to enter the hotly-contested LMP1 class from next year with a car powered by a petrol hybrid power-train. Though rumors have predicted a Toyota LMP1 car even before the company closed its calamitous F1 effort at the end of 2009, Toyota's presence appears certain to invigorate Le Mans racing which has been a battle of the diesel cars of Peugeot and Audi for the last few years."

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Haptic shoe could replace the white cane

Haptic shoe could replace the white cane: "Within just the past few years, scientists have developed an impressive number of experimental systems designed to help the blind navigate city streets. These have included devices that mount on the wrist, are incorporated into glasses, are worn as a vest, and that augment a traditional white cane."

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GM developing vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications systems

GM developing vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications systems: "Basic car safety systems designed to save lives in the event of an accident like seatbelts and airbags are being supplemented in modern vehicles by increasingly sophisticated preventative technologies such as ABS and lane departure warning systems."

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DeLorean to be resurrected with US$100,000 EV

DeLorean to be resurrected with US$100,000 EV: "If you fell in love with the De Lorean in the Back to the Future movie series, the good news is that in 2013, you'll be able to buy a real one again. It won't have a flux capacitor, won't time-travel and it'll still be a thirty year-old design, albeit styled by Giugiaro himself, and structurally redesigned by Colin Chapman of Lotus fame after De Lorean himself screwed up the first design."

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Volvo V60 diesel plug-in hybrid to launch next year

Volvo V60 diesel plug-in hybrid to launch next year: "At its unveiling at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, Volvo said its V60 plug-in hybrid was "virtually production-ready." This was an accurate statement as it turns out, with the Swedish automaker announcing that from next year it will begin selling what is likely to be the world's first diesel plug-in hybrid production car. The V60 plug-in hybrid has a range of up to 50 km (31 miles) when driven purely by the electric motor, with the car's total operating range extending up to 1,200 km (745.6 miles) when combined with the ICE."

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See the Army’s New Suicide Drone in Action | Video | TheBlaze.com

See the Army’s New Suicide Drone in Action | Video | TheBlaze.com: "The U.S. military’ newest drone is a twenty-first century take on the kamikaze that can both surveil and eliminate America’s foes in a suicide attack— and it all fits in a backpack."

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Pavegen tiles harvest energy from footsteps

Pavegen tiles harvest energy from footsteps: "Can you imagine the power of 50,000 steps a day? Well, Laurence Kembell-Cook, the director of Pavegen Systems imagined it and created Pavegen tiles - a low carbon solution that aims to bring kinetic energy harvesting to the streets. Not surprisingly, the tile is receiving a great deal of attention as a solution for power-hungry cities with a lot of walking traffic."

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MIT-developed radar sees through concrete walls up to eight inches thick

MIT-developed radar sees through concrete walls up to eight inches thick: "MIT researchers have developed radar technology that provides real-time video of what is happening behind solid concrete walls measuring four to eight inches (10-20 cm) thick. Just like any other radar, the device emits radio waves that bounce off objects and then analyzes the return signal, but to give it its X-ray spec capabilities, the newly developed radar technology disregards the 99.9975 percent of the signal that returns to the radar after bouncing off the wall and amplifies the remaining 0.0025 percent of the signal that makes it through."

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Logic gates created from DNA and bacteria could form basis of biological computers

Logic gates created from DNA and bacteria could form basis of biological computers: "DNA is often referred to as the building block of life. Now scientists from Imperial College London have demonstrated that DNA (and bacteria) can be used to create the fundamental building blocks of a computer - logic gates. Using DNA and harmless gut bacteria, the scientists have built what they claim are the most advanced biological logic gates ever created by scientists."

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Fisker Automotive's Karma sedan PHEV finally on sale

Fisker Automotive's Karma sedan PHEV finally on sale: "Having unveiled the Fisker Karma at NAIAS 2008, Fisker Automotive had originally intended to begin sales of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) in late 2009, but funding setbacks saw the car's launch date delayed several times. "

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Why all HDMI cables are the same | Crave - CNET

Why all HDMI cables are the same | Crave - CNET: "There's lots of money in cables. Your money.
Dozens of reputable and disreputable companies market HDMI cables, and many outright lie to consumers about the "advantages" of their product."

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OmniTouch turns any surface into a touchscreen interface

OmniTouch turns any surface into a touchscreen interface: "Had Shakespeare been born several centuries later, he might have said "All the world's an interface," especially if he'd had a chance to play with the recently-developed, wearable OmniTouch system. "

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Another Brough Superior joins the top 10 most valuable motorcycles at auction

Another Brough Superior joins the top 10 most valuable motorcycles at auction: "Another Brough Superior motorcycle has moved into the top 10 most valuable motorcycles sold at auction when the 1929 SS100 commonly known as 'Moby Dick' sold for GBP 210,500 (US$333,210)."

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Current-steering nanomaterial could lead to self-rewiring electronics

Current-steering nanomaterial could lead to self-rewiring electronics: "By now, we're all fairly used to electronic devices such as smartphones, which can act as a mobile phone, computer, camera and navigation unit all at once. These devices, while multi-functional, still use different hard-wired electrical circuits for their different functions."

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Team Tokai wins 2011 World Solar Challenge

Team Tokai wins 2011 World Solar Challenge: "Team Tokai has just reached the finish line in Adelaide, Australia, to become the winner of the 2011 World Solar Challenge. The victory makes it back-to-back wins for the Japanese team which took out the previous event in 2009."

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"Gloria" will allow internet astronomers to access worldwide robotic telescope network

"Gloria" will allow internet astronomers to access worldwide robotic telescope network: "Amateur astronomers wanting to observe celestial bodies soon won't be limited to just their own personal telescopes, or visits to the local public observatory. Starting next year, the first in a worldwide network of robotic telescopes will be going online, which users from any location on the planet will be able to operate for free via the internet."

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Bosco Verticale: the world's first vertical forest

Bosco Verticale: the world's first vertical forest: "Italian architecture firm Stefano Boeri Architetti hopes to merge vegetation and urban architecture, with its Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) project. The Milan-based firm has designed a model that could see the "reforestation and naturalization" of metropolitan cities, by growing forests sky-ways."

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App turns smartphone into a medical monitor

App turns smartphone into a medical monitor: "Users of the Pulse Phone app may be justifiably impressed at the way in which it lets them measure their heart rate, simply by placing their finger over their iPhone's camera lens. Well, a biomedical engineer at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts has taken that concept several steps farther."

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Marchi Mobile's eleMMent RV - a luxury mansion on wheels

Marchi Mobile's eleMMent RV - a luxury mansion on wheels: "Partially based on a 2001 design by Luigi Colani, this mobile luxury villa resting on a DAF XF 105 track chassis features deliberately radical elements such as the highly conspicuous oval windscreen that make the it stand out at first sight."

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Initiative challenges young minds to design Space Station science experiment

Initiative challenges young minds to design Space Station science experiment: "YouTube and Lenovo have joined forces to launch a global initiative that challenges youngsters to design a science experiment which can be performed in space. Two winning entries chosen by a panel of scientists, astronauts and educators - "

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Computer modeling suggests Tyrannosaurus rex was much bigger than previously thought

Computer modeling suggests Tyrannosaurus rex was much bigger than previously thought: Tyrannosaurus rex, that coolest of all the dinosaurs, may have been even bigger and scarier than originally thought. That's the conclusion that was recently reached by a team of scientists, who used computer modeling technology to estimate the average body mass of the carnivorous dinosaurs.

Throwable ball camera captures panoramic images

Throwable ball camera captures panoramic images: Taking pictures is about to get a lot more fun if computer engineer Jonas Pfeil and his colleagues have anything to say about it. A recent graduate from the Technical University of Berlin, Pfeil and his team designed and built a working prototype "ball" camera- a foam-studded sphere (about 8 inches in diameter) peppered with 36 tiny 2-megapixel cell phone cameras.

AshPoopie concept turns dog doo into ashes

AshPoopie concept turns dog doo into ashes: Most dog-walkers accept the necessity of cleaning up after their charges, but no one is claiming that it's a pleasurable experience. While we've seen eco-friendly dog waste disposal bags and systems that turn poop into plant fertilizer, we've yet to come across an approach that takes care of both collection and disposal quite like AshPoopie.

NASA charters suborbital research flights aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo

NASA charters suborbital research flights aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo: Although Virgin Galactic is generally known as a space tourism company, it sees research experiments as a future mission segment and significant business opportunity. To this end, the company has signed a contract with NASA to provide up to three charter flights on its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane.

Kawasaki's 2012 ZX-14R will be the most powerful production motorcycle ever

Kawasaki's 2012 ZX-14R will be the most powerful production motorcycle ever: Kawasaki has released details of its 2012 ZX-14R and the Japanese giant has once again gazumped the competition to retake top spot on the motorcycle horsepower ladder.

New device to generate electricity from human breathing

New device to generate electricity from human breathing: "One of the biggest hurdles facing the developers of biological implants is coming up with a power source to keep the implanted devices ticking"

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Low-impact Hobbit home only cost US$4,650 to build

Low-impact Hobbit home only cost US$4,650 to build: "Simon Dale, with the help of his father in-law, has single-handedly built this low impact Hobbit house in the woodlands of West Wales. The eco-house, which rose from a muddy hole in the ground and took three months to complete, came in at under US$5,000"

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FeTRAM memory could be faster than SRAM and more energy efficient than flash

FeTRAM memory could be faster than SRAM and more energy efficient than flash: "Researchers at Purdue University are developing a new type of computer memory that they claim could be faster than SRAM and use 99 percent less energy than flash memory."

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Hi-Tech Marine’s Oronero – the world's first convertible yacht tender

Hi-Tech Marine’s Oronero – the world's first convertible yacht tender: "Yacht tenders are generally open top boats that leave their passengers exposed to the elements, but Alex Pirard Yacht Design has created a more civilized option. Laying claim to the title of the the first yacht tender in the world to feature a convertible and completely automatized hard-top,"

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SeaTwirl puts a new spin on offshore wind turbines

SeaTwirl puts a new spin on offshore wind turbines: "One of the main drawbacks of wind turbines is the fact that for maximum efficiency, the power that they generate must be fed into the grid right as the wind is blowing and their blades are spinning."

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