Thursday, 28. May 2009, 09:25:26
transport, web access, Computer, environmental monitoring
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High-tech bus stops so cool they might actually entice you to take a ride will be installed next year in Florence, Italy.
The urban fixtures have been designed by a group of researchers led by Carlo Ratti, head of the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The EyeStop is a touch-screen bus shelter that monitors environmental conditions and real-time bus movement and also provides information and communication tools that can interact with your cell phone.
The EyeStop, which has touch sensitive e-Ink screens as well as LEDs, features a bus map plotting locations in real-time, e-mail and Web access, tools for planning a best route and getting directions, a community bulletin board, and, of course, a place for silent video advertisements. It will also use sensors to monitor and display local air quality.
Riders can choose to have their local EyeStop bus stop sync with their cell phone. The EyeStop you normally frequent, for example, could twitter you that your usual bus is running late that morning.
Intended for tourists as well as locals, the EyeStop tools will be accessible in several languages.
Source:http://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-10245304-72.html?tag=mncol;title
Friday, 8. May 2009, 07:22:51
transport, VTOL, flying car
A company in Australia is developing a flight technology that allows for compact Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) using a type of fan system to move air that is commonly found in central heating/cooling systems.
Entecho is using a proprietary centrifugal fan that allows for the creation of an extremely compact craft with VTOL capabilities and high lifting efficiencies. The company currently has two VTOL platforms; the Hoverpod, a manned Personal Aerial Vehicle (PAV) and the Mupod, a micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
As Gizmag points out, the “cylindrical fan-forced flying saucer” is quite different from PAV concepts we’ve seen lately like Terrafugia’s folding-wing plane or Moller International’s Skycar.
Source:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1524
Wednesday, 29. October 2008, 09:55:12
transport, buckypaper, nanotechnology, nanotubes
It's called "buckypaper" and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made.
Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.
That idea - that there is great future promise for buckypaper and other derivatives of the ultra-tiny cylinders known as carbon nanotubes - has been floated for years now. However, researchers at Florida State University say they have made important progress that may soon turn hype into reality.
Source:
http://www.physorg.com/news143462841.html
Friday, 19. September 2008, 09:46:00
transport, Computer, self-steering
California's dream of using self-steering buses to fight traffic congestion made headway in San Leandro on Friday when UC Berkeley researchers conducted their first test on a public street of a bus guided by magnets.
A driver removed his hands from the wheel of the moving bus on East 14th Street to signal that a computer had taken over, steering in response to cues from the tiny magnets, which were embedded in the pavement.
With the driver controlling speed but not direction, the 60-foot-long bus cruised in a straight line until pulling over to a bus stop with uncanny accuracy — leaving a gap of only a half-inch between the bus and the curb.
Source:
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_10393928
Friday, 8. August 2008, 08:35:46
transport, jetpack, turbine, engineering
Recently an inventor from New Zealand unveiled what he calls “the world’s first practical jetpack” at the EAA AirVenture, the gigantic annual air show here. The inventor, Glenn Martin, 48, who has spent 27 years developing the devices, said he hoped to begin selling them next year for $100,000 apiece.
The current iteration of the product, the 11th, weighs about 250 pounds and provides 600 pounds of thrust. It includes safety features like a so-called ballistic parachute with a small explosive charge for rapid deployment in case of an emergency, like those used in some small airplanes.
Only 12 people have flown the jetpack, and no one has gained more than three hours of experience in the air. Mr. Martin plans to take it up to 500 feet within six months. This time, he said with a smile, he will be the first.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/science/29jetpack.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin
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