While harnessing the wind to generate energy isn’t exactly a new idea, with turbines having been around for years, harnessing it with gigantic kites is. Imagine, with a small footprint on the land, a series of gigantic, connected kites using the wind to generate enough energy to power 100,000 homes.

 
 Vibering Jewelry
Sometimes I come across products and ideas that help make the world better in ways that might not have been imagined. The Vibering by designers Kwang-seok Jeong, Min-hee Kim and Hyun-joong Kim is one such creation.
 

 Amazing concept for “remembering” with the other senses
When we think of cameras, we think of recording bouncing photons off mirrors. So how would a visually impaired person use this? This camera records sounds and displays imagery via 3D embossing allowing the person to relive the moment by two other senses, hearing and touch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egAl6sNMaqE

 Welcome to the next evolution of Powerpoint!
OK, so it’s not really a hologram, but it is pretty cool. This project is a combination of a number of technologies. In this video, they are using a multi touch software and combining it with the Musion Eyeliner System.

Super cheap computer being designed at MIT
A new project to create a $12 computer is underway at MIT, the same University that spawned the One Laptop Per Child non-profit laptop.
The PCs will be loosely based on Apple 2 machines, first unveiled over 30 years ago, and the team are actively recruiting enthusiasts of the retro […]

 
A patch has been designed that regenerates cardiac muscle damaged by a heart attack or heart failure. The mesh patch is made of vicryl, which is a material primarily used for suturing injured tissue while later becoming absorbed by the body.

 
The Legendary Ben Bova
Ben Bova’s series of novels about the planets, including his newly released “Mars Life,” has been dubbed “The Grand Tour.” The six-time Hugo-winning author will be making a grand tour of sorts when he comes to Denver this week for the World Science Fiction Convention, where he will receive the Robert A. […]

 
Daniel Nocera has developed a simple method to split water molecules and produce oxygen gas
In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn’t shine. (Video)

The New York Times has a really neat gallery of the Olympic torches and their histories, from the one used in Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936 to today’s Beijing Olympics.

SolarCraft has just completed a 35.4 kilowatt solar energy  system at the new Hamilton Marketplace Complex in Novato, California. The system will enable the new shopping center to generate enough clean electricity to spare the air nearly 31 tons of harmful greenhouse gases annually, equivalent to the air filtering of 6.2 acres of trees.
Hamilton Marketplace […]

 
The battle between the “thinkers” and the “do-ers” takes shape
Capitalism has improved the lives of billions of people — something that’s easy to forget at a time of great economic uncertainty. But it has left out billions more. They have great needs, but they can’t express those needs in ways that matter to markets. So […]

A Lotta Java!

Now that is a large cup of coffee! Vinacafe Bien Hoa, Vietnam’s largest coffee producer, has just been awarded a new Guinness World Record for the largest coffee cup:
 

 
If memory keeps failing you, worry not. IBM has been working on a software that might help you in recalling forgotten pieces of your life.
 

 
German doctors have succeeded in transplanting two complete arms onto a 54-year old man in what their hospital said was the world’s first operation of this kind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPnwycXY6lk

 ”Hey, Honey! Your stool is following you.”
Unlike your average foot stool which sits just out of range, insolently expecting you to move it so that you can put your feet up, the RoboStool will come to you. It’s got three modes: remote control, a mode which uses waypoints for navigation and a thermal sensor for […]

 
 
Talking, eating, texting, changing the radio station…all things that we do while we are driving. They take our attention away from the road and significantly increase the likelihood of an accident, especially at intersections. A new system from Ford, called “Smart Intersection” was designed to reduce the number of accidents related to driver distraction.

Add sweetener to taste…
Obviously, the soaring cost of energy is causing plenty of pain for Americans, especially at a time when they’re being hammered by declining house values and rising food prices. The pain isn’t about to ease, either.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3HGfIy_zCI

 
A new product from Microsoft Research. The Sphere comes from the same Microsoft Researchers that developed the Surface, aka “PlayTable”.
 

Arun Ghosh, at right, a Purdue professor of chemistry and medicinal chemistry, and graduate
student Xiaoming Xu discuss the structure of an enzyme inhibitor designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease
Scientists in Britain have developed a drug which could represent a major breakthrough in treatment for people with Alzheimer’s disease, they said on Wednesday.
The drug, Rember, targets the […]

Looks like a vacuum cleaner when folded
A British designer has come up with a sports car that can be folded in half to park it in tight spaces. Daniel Bailey, 22, has revealed that the BRB Evolution jacks up on its nose with its back wheels sliding underneath on two rollers, and thus uses 50% […]

 
Having been plagued with slow internet speeds literally all my adult life, the news that scientists from the University of Sydney have found a way to make the World Wide Web 60 times faster than current top speeds only makes me more than happy.

 
Instead of using water alone, the Xeros washing machine uses a new formula: plastic chips, friction and solvent. Confused? Don’t be; the machine is simple to understand and use.

Brilliant idea!
The Waterboard is an interactive installation by Mike Burton giving the user a chance to play with water without getting wet. By drawing lines on the whiteboard, the water will follow a different course. Abstract life forms may appear in basins and where the water is stagnant it will become turbid. Video after […]

 
Scientists in Japan have gained a better understanding how influenza viruses replicate, possibly opening the way for the development of drugs to hamper their reproduction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L17Ox4FQTkM

DelFly Micro demonstration
The smallest flapping wing plane with camera in the world. Developed at the TU Delft in the Netherlands.  Second video after the jump.