A super-maglev enclosed tube vehicle has been unveiled in China.
Thanks to their incredible speed and capacity, magnetic levitation trains, or maglev for short, have been a big hit in Asia. But a new development called super-maglev could be set to push the limits even higher.
Continue reading… “China’s super maglev may be the future of train travel”
High Concentration Photo Voltaic Thermal (HCPVT)
IBM, the American multinational technology and consulting corporation are renowned the world over for being technology leaders and innovators with an aim to ‘shape the future of society and make the world work better and build a smarter planet.’ Their latest creation is being considered as one of their best projects yet.
Continue reading… “IBM creates a solar magnifying glass that could power the Earth”
flexible polymer solar cells are integrated into the textile battery eliminating the need for connecting the battery to a power outlet for recharging.
Google Glass and a wave of smartwatches are just some of the choices in wearable electronics, and they are quickly multiplying. But the batteries still need to be plugged into something to charge up. What if your watch strap could contain the battery components, along with a flexible solar cell? Voilà: No more plugging in.
Continue reading… “Solar-powered batteries woven into fabric boost wearable technology”
A nanophotonic solar thermophotovoltaic device.
Traditional photovoltaic solar cells have an inherent limit on the efficiency at which they can convert sunlight into energy. This limit—based on the bandgap of the material used and known as the Shockley-Queisser limit—is about 33.7 percent for standard solar cells. It is essentially due to any material’s inability to respond to all wavelengths of sunlight; so what if there was a way to change the wavelengths that actually reach the cell to those it converts best? MIT researchers have unveiled the best-yet version of that idea, known as solar thermophotovoltaics.
Alpha Machine
Robots are taking over even the most ignobly esteemed jobs like flipping burgers. Alpha machine from Momentum Machines cooks up a tasty burger with all the fixings. And it does it with such quality and efficiency it’ll produce “gourmet quality burgers at fast food prices.”
Continue reading… “Alpha robot serves up 360 hamburgers an hour”
Stephen Hawking
There is the realistic potential for malicious artificial intelligence to wreak havoc on humanity’s way of life. Physicist Stephen Hawking agrees it’s worth worrying about.
Mink printer
Grace Choi decided to disrupt the beauty industry when she was attending Harvard Business School. She did a little research and realized that beauty brands create and then majorly mark up their products by mixing lots of colors. (Video)
Continue reading… “Grace Choi figures out how to 3D print makeup from any home computer”
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two
NASA has lost the urgency of the space race years of the 1960’s, but today’s commercial space sector looks to be recapturing some of that fervor. On Friday, May 2nd at New York City’s historic Explorer’s Club the players in America’s private space race were out in force at this event, each one promising major breakthroughs that will arrive within the next year or two.
Automation will help agriculture via large-scale robotic and microrobots.
Below are 15 emerging technologies related to agricultural and natural manufacturing under four key areas of accelerating change: Sensors, Food, Automation and Engineering.
Continue reading… “Top 15 emerging agriculture technologies that will change the world”
Find My iPhone has made it fundamentally easier to track down your phone after you’ve misplaced it following a night of responsible drinking. David Pogue, human dad-joke and Yahoo tech guy, even once used it to find his.
Volvo’s Drive Me project
Volvo Car Group’s “Drive Me” project — featuring 100 self-driving Volvos on public roads in everyday driving conditions — is moving forward rapidly, with the first test cars now driving around the Swedish city of Gothenburg.
Continue reading… “Volvo testing self-driving cars on public roads in Sweden”
TVs, toys, and DVD players are getting cheap.
What has gotten more expensive in the last ten years? What has gotten less expensive? Here’s a fascinating snapshot of the last decade in American prices…
Continue reading… “Essentials in America are getting more expensive while toys are getting cheap”