Remember that flame burst recorded by an astronaut aboard the ISS ? Well, it wasn’t just for the fireworks. In fact, that great ball of fire led to the discovery of a previously unknown type of cool-burning flame that isn’t even visible to the naked eye. Read more…
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How This ISS Fireball Revealed a New Type of Cool, Invisible Flame
Biking in Seattle can be less than mellow with all the hills, traffic and especially that rain . But those things are exactly what inspired the Teague team of bicycle designers to build the Denny bike for the Oregon Manifest bike design project. Teague’s model (built by fabricator Tom Sizemore ) sports a minimalist frame, which belies all the tech packed inside. First off, you’ve got an electric motor on the front hub (with a removable battery) to boost your pedaling, along with an automatic shifter. To combat the constant showers, the Denny has a simple device with rubber bristles that breaks up the water, rather than a clunky fender. Since city driving is fraught with danger , the Denny also has safety features like daytime running lights, brake lights and turn signals activated by bumping the brake handles. And to keep that minimalist form, the handlebars function as either a nifty quick locking system, or fully detach to secure the frame and back wheel. For now, the bike remains experimental as part of the Oregon Manifest Bike Design Project. However, whichever bike wins the contest will actually go into production, and previous champs like the Faraday Porteur have lived on as crowdfunded production models . Filed under: Transportation Comments
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Bike of the future removes the need to shift gears, pedal up hills or pack a lock
Images via Robbie Khan / PetaPixel While I’d previously caught wind of LG’s new 34″ monitor , the company’s hero shots showed little more than a rectangle covered in Photoshopped fake screens and devoid of local scale. But I just came across photographer Robbie Khan’s write-up on his , and seeing it with actual work on it drives home how gi-normous this thing is. Like many of us creatives Khan spends long stretches in front of a monitor, and the 34UM95’s 21:9 aspect ration and 3440×1440 resolution would go to good use in his work editing panoramic photos. LG’s product copy points out that they’ve included a “Screen Splitter” feature (both Windows and Mac compatible) that automatically tiles out four screens with a single click… (more…)
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Big-Ass Screen: LG’s Envy-Inducing 34" Monster Monitor
A team of security researchers has discovered a security flaw in Google’s mobile OS which affects handsets running versions up to and including 4.4—leaving a potential 82 percent of Android users at risk. Read more…
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A ‘Fake ID’ Flaw in Android Leaves Millions of Phones Vulnerable
Although the perennial buzz around 3D printing has yet to materialize into a proper industrial revolution, the increasingly powerful technology has gained some traction in the medical world, where customizability and on-site availability trump the constraints of cost and scale. It may come as no surprise, then, that one of the 2014 Core77 Design Awards honorees that caught our eye was developed by a previous winner, whose work we’d covered as far back as 2010, before the the inaugural awards program. This time around, Scott Summit took Professional Runner Up in the Social Impact category with the EKSO personal exoskeleton , a mecha-like medical device at the intersection of robotics, rehabilitation and digital fabrication. As a replacement for a wheelchair, the device has the potential to revolutionize mobility for paraplegic individuals. Summit shares credit with Gustavo Fricke, 3D Systems and Ekso Bionics, all of whom worked together to print parts that connect a person to their robot as naturally and respectively as possible. “This is an unusual design effort on every front, ” designer Scott Summit says. “We had challenges with the technical details, since these are massive files, and almost entirely organic, but very precise. It’s also very tricky to scan a paralyzed person, and expect the data to be exactly as desired. We found that even the slightest detail could lead to dangerous bruising.” All of that considered, the prototypes have been met with a great response. The test pilot loves it so much, she wants to use it all of the time. But like many of these things go, the team has to wait until the design is FDA certified to be worn daily. (more…)
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Core77 Design Awards Spotlight: Personal EKSO, an Exoskeleton Designed to Replace the Wheelchair
sciencehabit (1205606) writes “Pregnant women who smoke don’t just harm the health of their baby—they may actually impair their child’s DNA, according to new research. A genetic analysis shows that the children of mothers who smoke harbor far more chemical modifications of their genome — known as epigenetic changes — than kids of non-smoking mothers. Many of these are on genes tied to addiction and fetal development. The finding may explain why the children of smokers continue to suffer health complications later in life. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Automakers aren’t the only ones working to implement self-driving technology . The US Marine Corps has teamed up with TORC Robotics’ (among others) to work on a Jeep-esque option outfitted with the company’s Ground Unmanned Support Surrogate system — or GUSS to save the mouthful. Here, GUSS is used to power a self-driving version of the Marine two-seater truck dubbed the Internally Transportable Vehicle (ITV). As the name suggests, the compact option can be carried on a helicopter or plane for deployment, and its beacon can either send it to a specific location or maneuver it via remote control. As you may recall, TORC’s GUSS system was installed on a Polaris 6×6 ATV a few years back, so the tech has been through its share of tests. The goal is for the vehicle to be used to deliver supplies (up to 1, 600 pounds or evacuate wounded soldiers by determining its own route or being controlled from afar at a speed of 8 MPH. An unmanned ITV reamains in the testing phase, but the team sees similar options in the field in the next five years. [Photo credit: TORC Robotics] Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: Ars Technica Source: Fox News
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Self-driving mini truck put to the test by US Marines
Wiretapping used to be straightforward. Potential drug lord? Bug his phone! But the proliferation of online chat options is making it hard for law enforcement officials and intelligence agents to carry out court-ordered wiretaps. Read more…
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Fed Wiretappers Can’t Keep Up With All These New Chat Apps
Verizon Wireless One of the most common reactions to Verizon’s announcement that it will throttle the heaviest users of its “unlimited” 4G plans went something like this: “That’s the last straw, I’m switching to T-Mobile!” Unfortunately, switching to T-Mobile, AT&T, or Sprint won’t protect you from getting throttled, even if the carrier is claiming to sell you “unlimited” data. Let’s take a look at the relevant passages in each carrier’s terms and conditions. We’ll start with the Verizon Wireless announcement last week: Read 15 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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It’s not just Verizon: All major US carriers throttle “unlimited” data
Many of us rely on Dropbox for file syncing and backup, but you might not be aware of all the different extensions and services that you can plug into it. Here are our five favorite Dropbox add-ons to supercharge your storage. Read more…
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5 Essential Add-Ons For Dropbox