SOFT Rocker uses solar to top up your gadgets while you relax

SOFT Rocker uses solar to top up your gadgets while you relax: "There's nothing quite like an old rocking chair for finding your center and chilling out. Originally thought to have been developed as garden furniture, the rocker has now come full circle with the development of the SOFT Rocker by Professor Sheila Kennedy and architecture students from MIT."

The foldable phone concept

The foldable phone concept: "We've seen the cardboard record player and cardboard USB sticks, now another design that thinks outside the (cardboard) box - the foldable phone concept. Created by Chengyuan Wei, the Origami phone handset comes flat and like a pop-up book, transforms into a 3D handset with a few simple folds ... oh, and it's recyclable."

Asus Padfone - 4.3-inch smartphone docks inside 10.1-inch tablet

Asus Padfone - 4.3-inch smartphone docks inside 10.1-inch tablet: "Asus always opens its home computer show Computex with a bang and this year it was the Padfone - a 4.3-inch smartphone that docks inside a 10.1-inch tablet dock with dynamic display switching, two batteries, a shared SIM card, a single hard drive, Qualcomm processor, Android's next generation operating system (Ice Cream Sandwich) and a Q4, 2011 launch date with a price in the US$800-1,000 area."

Gorilla 900GB, 2GB/s PCIe solid state storage solution announced

Gorilla 900GB, 2GB/s PCIe solid state storage solution announced: "Texas Memory Systems has just unveiled a monster enterprise-level PCIe-based solid state storage solution that's blisteringly fast and offers almost a terabyte of available capacity. Nicknamed Gorilla by the company, the RamSan-70 represents the seventh generation of the RamSan product family and uses Toshiba 32nm SLC Flash on a single half-length x8 PCIe card."

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster - more details and new pics

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster - more details and new pics: "The SLS AMG roadster is nearing its official unveiling date of autumn 2011 and Mercedes is looking to further whet our appetites with the release of more images and info on the AMG-developed droptop supercar"

Sanzpont proposes shape shifting 'Room for London'

Sanzpont proposes shape shifting 'Room for London': "Commissioned by Living Architecture and Artangel, the challenge of 'A Room for London' was to design a one-bedroom temporary installation to be perched on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre, well known to be one of London's most visible sites."

GPS-based ToyToyota app lets kids 'drive' from the backseat

GPS-based ToyToyota app lets kids 'drive' from the backseat: "Backseat Driver is the first 'toy' by ToyToyota, a new brand from the Japanese automotive company. It's in the form of a simple GPS-based app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and allows kids to take a virtual drive linked by GPS to the current driving route in the real world."

Steampunk Plasma Speaker produces electrifying sound

Steampunk Plasma Speaker produces electrifying sound: "So, you've downloaded some songs by Abney Park (one of the world's few steampunk bands) onto your Datamancer laptop or your Old Time Computers-accessorized PC ... do you just listen to them through the built-in speakers? Not if you're Polish tinkerer Conscious Flesh."

HipDisk - bending over backwards for music

HipDisk - bending over backwards for music: "We've seen a number of weird and wonderful musical creations here at Gizmag but we have to agree with the creator of the hipDisk when she describes it as possibly the most undignified musical instrument ever."

Victorinox Slim Flash bladeless Swiss Army tool is now available

Victorinox Slim Flash bladeless Swiss Army tool is now available: "A quality Swiss Army multi-tool with a knife used to be in every boy's wishlist in the past, but with the modern day road warrior's kit now taking a decidedly digital bent Victorinox Swiss Army is now offering tools that don't feature any kind of blade at all."

Hydrogen found to be essential to creating better graphene

Hydrogen found to be essential to creating better graphene: "Graphene, the 'wonder material' composed of single-atom-thick carbon sheets, is currently finding its way into a variety of electronic devices including computer chips, capacitors, transistors and batteries, just to name a few. It is typically created using a chemical vapor deposition process, in which carbon-containing gases are made to decompose on a copper foil substrate."

Graphene coating harvests energy from flowing water

Graphene coating harvests energy from flowing water: "Hydroelectricity is the most widely used form of renewable energy, supplying around 20 percent of the world's electricity in 2006, which accounted for about 88 percent of electricity from renewable sources. Now researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to harvest energy from flowing water using a nanoengineered graphene coating."

Ideum introduces new MT55 Platform multitouch table

Ideum introduces new MT55 Platform multitouch table: "Ideum has unveiled a new addition to its series of 55-inch, high definition LCD multitouch tables. Billed as the thinnest commercially-available multitouch table top on the market, the new MT55 Platform sports an optical touch system capable of handling 32 touch points simultaneously and comes with SSD storage."

Ship-based system designed to harness energy from waves

Ship-based system designed to harness energy from waves: "Why don't we have stationary commercial fishing platforms that are anchored offshore, where they sweep the waters with their nets, sending the captured fish back to shore through a pipeline?"

New fluorescent protein allows scientists to see living organs

New fluorescent protein allows scientists to see living organs: "There are several techniques used by researchers and physicians to image the internal organs of people and animals, but each of these techniques have their shortcomings."

Study shows why human-like robots give people the creeps

Study shows why human-like robots give people the creeps: "People seem to enjoy watching robots and cartoon characters move about, and usually don't mind seeing other humans going through their daily motions, but when it comes to artificial creations that are made to look very human ... they're not always so popular."

Home-built LEGO PC donates its computing power to medical research

Home-built LEGO PC donates its computing power to medical research: "Most of the custom-built DIY PCs featuring unusual case mods are made just for fun or fashion. The LEGO-bodied PC by Mike Schropp is quite different, however, despite the fact it looks really impressive. It's a 12-core PC setup consisting of three systems in a single box made of LEGO, with its computing power being donated to medical research and humanitarian projects via IBM's World Community Grid project."

The Model 367 “BiPod” hybrid flying car designed by Burt Rutan

The Model 367 “BiPod” hybrid flying car designed by Burt Rutan: "The team at Scaled Composites pulled out all the stops to realize the final design of the company's founder and former CTO, Burt Rutan, ahead of his retirement in April earlier this year. In just four months, the Scaled Composites team went from beginning the preliminary design to the first flight of the 'BiPod', a hybrid gasoline-electric flying car that grew out of a program to develop a rapid, low-cost electric test bed using as many off-the-shelf components as possible."

Batmobile replica powered by real jet engine

Batmobile replica powered by real jet engine: "Last October, we told you about the full-scale working Batmobile replica built by movie prop-maker Bob Dullam. The version of the iconic superhero vehicle that Dullam chose to recreate was the rugged, Hummer-esque beauty from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, known as the Tumbler."

MIRAI SANZO - Android-powered home robot from Sanyo

MIRAI SANZO - Android-powered home robot from Sanyo: "Japanese company Sanyo Homes has introduced its MIRAI SANZO Android-based robot for the Japanese market. It connects to external networked devices, and allows them to be controlled via voice commands or remotely, through a smartphone."

Sony unveils smaller new W Series Walkman

Sony unveils smaller new W Series Walkman: "You like listening to music while you work out, but you don't like snagging your personal music player's cord with your arms, nor do you like ruining your earphones by getting them all sweated up."

Final flight of Sikorsky X2 demonstrator makes way for S-97 Raider helicopter

Final flight of Sikorsky X2 demonstrator makes way for S-97 Raider helicopter: "Sikorsky's X2 Technology Demonstrator that first took to the air on August 27, 2008 has flown for the last time. The 23rd and final flight was conducted in the early morning of July 14, 2011 from Sikorsky's new Innovations Center in West Palm Beach, Florida."

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft becomes first probe to enter orbit around object in asteroid belt

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft becomes first probe to enter orbit around object in asteroid belt: "On Saturday, NASA'a Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around the asteroid Vesta, becoming the first probe ever to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter."

Aluminum-Celmet material could boost the range of electric vehicles by 200 percent

Aluminum-Celmet material could boost the range of electric vehicles by 200 percent: "Range anxiety, the fear that such vehicles will leave the vehicle's occupants stranded well short of their destination, remains one of, if not the main barrier to the widespread adoption of EVs."