WaveJet
A jet-powered boards designed to make paddling, catching and even riding waves easier and more enjoyable is coming to a surfing lineup near you.
Fluffy Cat Ears That Wiggle with Your Every Emotion
Neurowear has developed a set of ears that apparently respond to the wearer’s emotions via a sensor.
Some people spend their lives wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Thanks to a Japanese company, you can show off exhibit your innermost feelings somewhere else – a pair of fluffy ears on your head. (Pics and video)
Continue reading… “Fluffy Cat Ears That Wiggle with Your Every Emotion”
Mobile Phones Could be Charged by the Sound of Your Voice
Engineers have developed a new technique for turning sound into electricity, allowing a mobile to be powered up while its user holds a conversation
A dead battery or a lost charger are among the frustrations of modern life for cellphone users. There is now new research that promises a way to recharge phones using nothing but the power of the human voice.
Smartphone App Finds Empty Parking Spaces for Drivers
A smartphone app gives information about open parking spots.
The most agonizing everyday experience the urban driver must face? The search for an empty parking place.
It is part sleuthing and part blood sport. Circling, narrowly missing a spot, outmaneuvering other motorists to finally ease into a space only to discover that it is off limits during working hours.
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For The High-Tech Naturalist: LeafSnap Identifies Leaves Using Your iPhone’s Camera
Leaf identification in a snap!
This is just plain fantastic. The LeafSnapapp for iPhone identifies any leaf you take a picture of, as long as it’s in their library. Right now it’s limited to trees native to the Northeastern US, but they’re working on expanding that. The best part is it’s free! Hopefully this will get me to finally learn the names of the trees around here. All I know is “pine” if it has pine cones and “not pine” if it doesn’t.
Sugar Sues High Fructose Corn Syrup
Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup The Same Thing? No? It’s about the lesser of two evils, isn’t it?
But when push comes to shove, how different is sugar from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)?
The Western Sugar Cooperative is claiming that the two are in fact very different. It recently filed suit against sugar refiners for misleading consumers in calling HFCS corn sugar, according to the Des Moines Register and as discussed on Food Politics. “The lawsuit names as defendants Archer Daniels Midland Co., Cargill Inc., and other major corn syrup processors as well as the Corn Refiners Association.”
So, is it fair to call HFCS sugar? Not according to the Western Sugar Cooperative…
Fantastic Ways To Recycle Tires
A pair of woman’s shorts, made predominantly from tyres by – unsurprisingly given the logo – Michelin.
Each year – and this is in Britain alone – they apparently throw away approximately 500’000 tonnes of tyres; as such, and due in part to their incredible durability, the disposal of disused tyres is seen as one of the largest waste problems in the world. Below are several examples of tire recycling that really capture the imagination, and serve to remind us that the trusty tyre is actually an incredibly versatile object that can, with a little imagination, be transformed into a wide range of different products…
Familiarity Contraction Principle
Futurist Thomas Frey: The first time a person gets into a car and drives to some place new, the discovery process causes a heightened sense of awareness and the perception that time has slowed down. Each subsequent trip to that same destination involves fewer discoveries, less awareness, and the perception of less time spent to get there.
U.S. Manufacturers Scramble to Find Enough Highly Paid Skilled Workers
Highly paid skilled manufacturing workers scarce.
Long known for layoffs and shipping jobs overseas, U.S. manufacturing companies, now find themselves in a very different position: scrambling for scarce talent at home.
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It’s the Comedian, Not the Joke, That Makes People Laugh
‘It’s the way I tell ’em’
Do you ever wonder why repeating a famous joke never gets the same laughs? It is not how you tell them but who tells them that matters, a study has shown. Researchers have found that how funny people perceive a gag to be depends on the person who is telling it, not the quality of the material.
The Cube – World’s Smallest Eco-home
The Cube, the smallest eco-home in the world
If you think your home is a little cramped, take a look at this one. (Pics)
Here Comes Internet Boom 2.0
Groupon’s headquarters in the former Montgomery Wards’ catalog warehouse.
The prospect of finding the next Facebook, Groupon or Twitter is driving the biggest rush of venture capital into the Internet start-up arena since dot-com mania first boomed and then fizzled more than a decade ago.
