Stonehenge, as we all know, is one of the world's great wonders! How did the ancient druids do it? For the first time, I have heard and seen a theory I can agree with: Simple Physics!
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Techknow Thursday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Techknow Thursday. Show all posts
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Techknow Thursday: Stonehenge, Reloaded!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Techknow Thursday!
Hey boys and girls, if you like music, enjoy vehicles, and love improv, then I think you're going to enjoy this next video: Techno Jeep!
For Techknow Thursday, I thought this bit of random techno music would be a great post. I hope you enjoy and if you do, spread it far across the internet to friends and loved ones everywhere! Or, just watch it over and over like I did this morning.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Techknow Thursdays: Cars of the Future
Egads! I almost let this day get away from me. I'm not to be foiled though, as I present to you two items for Techknow Thursday.
This first item is a bit of design and innovation for the interior of a car. Two cars to be precise. Nissan and Toyota are both getting fanciful in their designs, but I find these latest developments enjoyable.
I like how Nissan just goes at it making you feel like you're in the middle of a cockpit, while Toyota gives their idea a bit more finesse and a look of delicate luxury. Personally, I'll stick with the Nissan design because I'm afraid I might break something in the Toyota cockpit
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The second topic for today is the dual screen laptop coming from both Kohjinsha and GScreen and although the idea seems a bit flimsy, I like how they made it work. The two videos below show promise for the idea. I might have to get one for myself...eventually.
Kohjinsha's Dual Screen
And the video for the GScreen Spacebook is over at Gizmodo's site. It's a larger ~15" dual screen laptop, but I like Kohjinsha's styling better. Leia Mais…
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Techknow Thursday, Part 2: CarGo
From designer Adam Schacter via Geek Civilization Online comes this brilliant bit of conceptual design. It's termed the CarGo, and it may help solve a lot of inner city problems with delivery trucks and traffic. It really is a terrific concept!
The CarGo has room for a single occupant and the rear half of the vehicle can reconfigure based on the needs of the driver and the contents which are to be delivered. It accomplishes this with changeable axles and an extendable wheel base which can accomodate various types of deliveries and various types of traffic. Additionally, there is a telescopic tilt which allows the CarGo handle much like a motorcycle or commuter car and allows it to handle corners well.
According to Geek Civilization, the car has three configurations:
Compact mode – for traveling in normal city traffic and for ease of parking.
Narrow mode – for maneuvering in and out of heavy traffic.
Pick-up truck mode – the wheels are extended out for a better stability.
I look forward to seeing the CarGo take over cities across the world as a standard electric commuter car/delivery truck!
Leia Mais…
Techknow Thursday, Part 1: Smart Bump
We've all been there. We're driving home, to the office or wherever and actually going the speed limit when we come upon a street full of annoying speed bumps. Even though we're already going a safe speed, we still hit the large bump which can be jostling for the car and for us. At best, it's a minor annoyance, but there's a company looking to change things.
Mexico's Decano Industries is developing a smart speed bump (sadly, the company has little to no web presence as I learned from Timothy Sykes' blog). Ideally, as long as you're driving the speed limit or below, it will stay in a depressed state - allowing you to travel over it without the bump. However, if you're like me and tend to have a lead foot, then this intelligent tech bump pops into action and slows you down (in other words, it does its job).
At present, that seems to be the only photo we have of the device, but Decanoboss on YouTube has given us the video animation below, along with a short description, showing how the smart bump should function (ideally, of course).
A great Intelligent Bump created by mexican inventor. It´s stays flat when vehicles cross over it at speed limit, but retracts forming a bump when a vehicle cross it exceeding speed limits, so this device only affects vehicles running over speed limits. Low Cost engineered effective speed restrictor, autonomous operation, it is a real lifesaver by reducing accidents, pollution killer because reduce stops and accelerations compared with common bumps, so also improves traffic speed (continuous speed vs. continuous stops ). Easy installation.Article Info via: AutoMotto blog/Geeks Are Sexy Leia Mais…
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Techknow Thursday: Beat It, Stroke It, or Play It Any Way You Want!
Despite what the title of this week's installment of Techknow Thursday might conjure up in your head, this post is about a truly remarkable development in the world of electronic music.
Remember back when synthesizers were large, bulky and cumbersome objects of musical oppression where the musician was forced to stay in one place, often hidden from most of the audience? Technology has made vast improvements since then, and this is the latest and greatest!
The Eigenharp, by Eigenlabs in the UK, is finally here.
After eight long and exciting years of development, the Eigenharp is an amazing all-in-one instrument that you can strum, stroke, beat, and blow. It's still undergoing developments on the software end, but it can already pull off some amazing feats of musicality (is that even a word? who cares.). It's so great that I've decided to stop yammering and have included several videos below of the various features, but the best video I wasn't able to embed. It's over at Synthopia.com. Enjoy!
This first video is basically a quick overview of physical development of the Eigenharp. Think Science channel's How It's Made.
This next video shows how the arranger feature of the Eigenharp functions. It's pretty nifty.
And now, your wonderful patience has paid off. For your audible enjoyment, a little 007 action by Davek and Mark on the Eigenharp!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Techknow Thursday!
According to the wonderful people over at Gizmodo, apparently NASA has been able to create a small anti-gravity field, giving them the ability to levitate mice and other small rodents.
So far, they haven't been able to create anything larger in size, but that is a hopeful eventuality. The true technological amazingness about this entire system is that it relies on supermagnets to push on the water in the body of the rats, allowing them to rise. That' s awesome, but what's even more amazing is that they were able to do this at room temperature instead of needing an extremely cold environment for this to function.
Additionally, the rats apparently began trying to move after being lifted which caused the rat's to spin. Without friction, they would just spin faster and faster causing the rodents to become disoriented. In order to counter this, the second batch of rats were sedated, so NASA has now successfully levitated and drugged mice...all in the name of science! I personally agree with Gizmodo: I want to see some hoverboards, and soon!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Techknow Thursday!
Wow...absolutely wow is all I can say after watching this video, and yes, it falls under the topic of Techknow Thursday because these shepherds do some amazing things simply by knowing their trade really, really well! I can only imagine the time they must have spent on the project seen below in the video, but it is great! Fantastic! Beautiful!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Techknow Thursday!
Before getting to the main topic for Thursdays, I briefly wanted to mention that the Fayetteville Public Library is a pretty amazing library! It has a fantastic selection of books (new and old), a massive Audio Book/music CD collection, and it has a pretty good foreign films selection. I was also surprised to find that they are fairly on top of the technology realm as they have a nice selection of computer labs for children and adults, and they even offer up a sizeable Blue-Ray movie collection. It's a great place to go whether for research or leisure, and for a large college town, I'm surprised to find such a public library seeing how the University already has a fairly large library itself.
Sorry about the rambling, but I should think that some of you might like to hear that there is a great public option for books and other media in a college town as opposed to Arkadelphia which severely lacks options for the public off-campus.
Now on to our great tech or science find of the day! This actually is nothing great and upcoming in technology, but I saw it and thought Awesome!, so I'm sharing with the whole class! Apparently the awesome guys at Orange County Choppers are coming into the 21st century by creating the first custom electric chopper! I've included a picture below.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Techknow Thursday!
I was reading on the BBC site and checking reddit when I came across this wonderful article which describes how scientists have made breakthroughs on decoding the HIV-1 virus and its genetic material. What this means is that along with the information decoded from human "junk DNA," as described in this article, there may be, in the not-too-distant future, a cure or vaccine for HIV and AIDS. That's fascinating!
Apparently, most of our DNA is actually comprised of "junk DNA" which is little more than an evolutionary artifact...a fossil so to speak. Through examining this DNA though, scientists may have provided a bullet-proof vaccine. In the BBC article, scientists have also gotten through the genetic code of HIV-1 which can only lead to a better understanding of how the virus operates which may lead to better drugs and eventually a cure. Let's hope they keep finding breakthroughs along these lines! You should read both articles...great reads!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Techknow Thursday!
Wow, is it really Thursday again...already?! Okay, well for today's daily post, I have a few new pieces to share with you that all fit in the relevant topic, but I'll start with what seems to me as the best bit of news that could be implemented the fastest due to its need in society. We shall see...
It is a bionic/cybernetic arm that is controlled by thoughts alone...almost like the real thing! Anyway, there have been studies done with monkeys, as seen in the picture, where the monkeys were able to feed themselves with the arm simply through the power of thought! That's is awesome! Hey, I wonder if they could graft these things onto people who already have two arms? Wouldn't that be handy (pun intended)?! Anyway, the research and pictures come via the University of Reading and I came across it in the UK's Daily Mail Online news. You should really read the entire article, but one of the most amazing things is the sensor that allows the arm to read the monkey's thoughts. Check out the size of this tiny thing!
So, yeah, that's amazing technology that could really assist the multitudes of people who have lost a limb or both whatever the reason. And this next piece of advanced tech might just get the paraplegic and quadriplegic moving and shaking. It's codename is "HAL" (a bit scary, but okay) which is a Hybrid Control System undergoing development by CYBERDYNE, Inc. of Japan.
"HAL" is a two part system which works together to allow the person to get up and walk around. It is, from the looks of it, a bit further off in the future than the cyber arm, but it will mean that the thousands of bedridden people who have suffered from accident or disease, would again be able to do simple things like getting up and going outside or even just sitting up! This is wonderful and I hope that it really gets off the ground and into mass production quickly. Apparently, I can't offer you any pictures, but use the link to check out how this incredible machine will aid in motorlocation for the body. It's fascinating!
Alright, so the last two pieces of technology are great and fantastic developments designed to aid those persons who have been left at a bit of a detrement in just being able to complete some of the many basic tasks that you or I do on a daily basis, and while many of those individuals have been able to work around their problems, this is a great saving grace for some of them.
This last advancement is purely for improving our entertainment and communications while still looking aesthetically pleasing instead of a jumble or wires. The company of Goldsmiths, in conjunction with TalkTalk (I love the way the guy in the video says "rooter" for router - awesome), have developed a few internet routers with the aim of functionability and improving the aesthetical value of the box that many of us simply tuck away in some corner in order to use the internet. The video is below explaining the routers uses and looks, but I've included a couple of still photos for those of you who may not be able to view the YouTube clip.
And here are the photos(sorry they're a bit grainy, but I had to capture them from the video). This first one is the router clockface which allows the users to view the best time(s) of the day to use the internet via the colors on the face and also simply tells the time of day like any other clock.
This next one is a router that has another function as an end table. It looks pretty great.
The third router they are developing is an energy saving router that holds four sets of keys. When the last set of keys is lifted from the router, the router turns off in order to stop using power. Pretty neat, as long as there are four or less people living in the home.
And the last piece is called the jellyfish because that's what it looks like. It's mainly an art piece that functions as a router and includes ethernet cables for LAN parties or what not. I like this one, but if I were to purchase one, it would probably be the end table. I like that one most due to the dual functionality. So there you have it. Four awesome routers and the end to this segment of Techknow Thursdays!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Techknow Thursday!
Bear with me here, this post really does pertain to today's topic. There is an actual relevance, and if you make it through the first part, I'll make up for it in the second half. Thanks.
Okay, so when I was quite a bit younger and first learned that bananas grow "upside down," I didn't really think much of it, but a few years later, when I began learning about biology and nature and how there is a certain order to nature, I began to wonder again about the growth of bananas. This led me (yes I ponder some of the strangest questions sometimes) to wonder why we, as a society in general, eat bananas from the opposite "top" than how they grow, but this question was just a hypothetical that I quickly blew off.
versus 
Fast forward to yesterday, when I found the video below which made complete sense of this ridiculous and very miniscule predicament. Of course, I should have just paid attention to the monkeys earlier! Oh, well...now I know, right? And on a funny note, if you have ever watched Aladdin (version a la Disney), you'll notice that when Abu, as an elephant, is trying to eat bananas, he does so like in the video below using the correct top of the banana, but he ends up just squishing them into his face. At least Disney gets some things right in their movies!
And as I promised, for being such great sports and reading my insane drivel, here's a more intriguing entry for Techknow Thursday! I actually just found out fairly recently that my dad is restoring/modifying a 1990 Ford Mustang for drag racing, and when I found this article/video, it made me think of him and really anyone else looking for outdated car parts. The video below is from Popular Mechanics and Jay Leno's Garage (he's got a massive and wonderfully diverse collection of cars). It basically describes and demonstrates the re-engineering of obsolete car parts via a 3D scanner and 3D printer which forms the part in hard plastic.
Now I've heard of 3D printers before that do 3D renderings using glue and paper dust, but this is amazing. Not only are there uses for recreating obsolete car and machine parts, but it can save tons of time machining working models of new products! It's great, and now I'll leave you with the video!
Leia Mais…
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