var-temp – Tech Today w/ Ken May

The Light Bandit Lets You Plug Sunlight Directly Into a No-Electricity Lamp

It seems absurd to be burning energy by using lightbulbs while the sun is shining, but buildings can only have so many windows, and sunlight can only penetrate so far. MIT’s Solar Bottle Bulb and Ross Lovegrove’s Sun Tunnel are two ways to get sunlight inside, but both solutions require piercing a roof for installation. This new system called the Light Bandit , in contrast, is a no-construction-required solution. And it’s brilliant: “Sunlight is the fuel that powers all life on Earth, yet our lifestyles block most of it out, ” the developers write. “Between work, school and home we spend most of our time indoors under artificial lighting that lacks important benefits of natural lighting. The Light Bandit changes that.” What’s fascinating is that the coating on the reflectors filters out UV and infrared, delivering only visible light; this means you won’t fade out the part of your couch that’s got a Light Bandit lamp over it. The Light Bandit Kickstarter is no foregone conclusion, by the way; these guys need help and publicity. At press time they’d clocked under six grand out of a $200, 000 target, and there’s just 21 days left to go. But we’ve seen less impressive projects hit higher targets in a shorter stretch of time, so we’re hoping this product becomes a reality. (more…)

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The Light Bandit Lets You Plug Sunlight Directly Into a No-Electricity Lamp

VetiGel: A Plant-Based Polymer That Stops Bleeding in Seconds

I once got stabbed in the head with a wooden knife. It was an accident that occurred during a martial arts training exercise. I’d heard that head wounds bleed badly, but as I waited for the taxi to take me to the hospital (an ambulance is not what you take in NYC if speed is a priority) I was shocked at the amount of blood that came out of my head. While head wounds are bad, severing a femoral or carotid artery is way worse in terms of blood loss. If you slice one of these open and can’t stop the bleeding, that’s basically the last selfie you’ll ever take. But now a tiny biotech company in Brooklyn can change that equation, having developed a product that stops bleeding, whether pinprick or grievous wound, almost instantly. Called VetiGel , the material is a plant-based polymer. It requires no training to use and can be loaded into an ordinary plastic syringe; rather than needing to learn how to prepare a field dressing, someone providing aid can simply aim and squirt it like toothpaste onto a brush. Watch how it works in this video: The leftover material, by the way, can be safely resorbed into the body or removed. As for why it’s called VetiGel, the material is first being marketed towards veterinarians, with approval for human use planned for further down the line. Should the product pass human trials and prove affordable enough to manufacture, it could be a real game changer: Simple syringes loaded up with the stuff and placed into every ambulance, soldier’s pack and first aid kit around the world could mean the difference between life and death for countless people, particularly those for whom a hospital is more than a cab ride away. (more…)

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VetiGel: A Plant-Based Polymer That Stops Bleeding in Seconds

Flotspotting: Freddie Paul’s Beer Tree

For most of us consumers, beer is something we buy in bottles and cans, its creation process something of a mystery; we have a vague notion of grains and a fermentation process being involved. Home brewers more firmly understand the science, but much of their alchemy happens inside opaque stainless steel containers, with your average home brewing set-up hewing to the Walter White Meth Lab school of design. So for his final-year design project Freddie Paul , a Product Design student at London’s South Bank University, decided to make the home brewing process more transparent. Literally. Beer Tree is a gravity fed home brewing kit for brewing craft ales. It concentrates on the brewing process as something to be enjoyed and celebrated. The process can be completely visualised from start to finish, involving the user more than traditional kits to create a strong sense of satisfaction and pride over the final product. The video gives you a better sense of what the Beer Tree looks like in action: We’re digging Paul’s use of laser-etched graphics on the control panel, his use of materials and the overall form. One commenter on the video is more critical: “It looks impossible to clean and sanitize, your mash tun will lose so much heat, it looks like you can’t vorlauf” and more brewerspeak. Another commenter is more upbeat: “My close friends and I have all agreed. We would pay good money to own one of these. Seriously consider making a Kickstarter for manufacturing of this product. I would sign up to back you TODAY.” Paul, if you’re reading this: Given that you’ve graduated and we don’t see a current employer on your Coroflot profile, perhaps the crowdsourcing is worth a go? Check out Paul’s shots of the development process after the jump. (more…)

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Flotspotting: Freddie Paul’s Beer Tree

Radinn’s Electric Powered Wakeboard Lets You Go Surfing Without the Waves

With the goal of “revolutionizing the watersport industry, ” Swedish company Radinn has released their first product: an electric powered wakeboard . The carbon fiber craft carries onboard lithium batteries and is controlled via a wireless handheld remote, allowing the rider to cruise at up to 30 miles per hour. The coolest thing about having a self-propelled board is that it frees the rider from the beach. With an EPW one could navigate rivers, lakes, public fountains in Stockholm… Want. The 64-pound board’s batteries can provide 30 minutes of runtime. Currently in its final testing stages, it’s expected to go on sale next year. And no, it won’t be cheap, but if you’ve got twenty grand to throw around, you could do a lot worse. (more…)

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Radinn’s Electric Powered Wakeboard Lets You Go Surfing Without the Waves

Sit Happens: Noonee’s So-Called ‘Chairless Chair’ Offers Wearable Seating Solution

Some are calling it an invisible chair while others are going with bionic pants —semantics, perhaps, but considering that the chair is a canonical example of industrial design, it’s worth examining the distinction when it comes to Noonee ‘s “Chairless Chair.” “Based on robotic principles of Bio-Inspired Legged Locomotion and Actuation, ” the exoskeletal assistive device consists of a pair of mechatronic struts that run the length of the user’s leg, with attachment points across the thighs and at the heels of the user’s shoes. Hinged at the knee to allow for normal movement—viz. walking and running—while a battery-powered variable damper system can be engaged to direct body weight from the knees to the heels of one’s feet. Of course, the Chairless Chair is intended not for us deskbound office peons but for environments in which workers must stand for extended periods, if not entire 8-hour shifts. As the story goes, 29-year-old Keith Gunura was inspired by his experience working in a packaging factory in the U.K.; now, a decade later, he is the CEO and founder of Zurich-based company. CNN, which duly notes the precedent of the one-legged Swiss milking stool, sums up these workplace health concerns (as does the Noonee website ): Physical strain, repetitive movements and poor posture can lead to conditions called Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), which are now one of the leading causes of lost workday injury and illness. In 2011, MSDs accounted for 33 percent of all worker injuries and illnesses in the U.S. with over 378, 000 cases, according to data from the United States Department of Labor. In Europe, over 40 million workers are affected by MSDs attributable to their job, according to a study entitled Fit For Work Europe and conducted across 23 European countries. Gunura demo’ing the Chairless Chair (more…)

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Sit Happens: Noonee’s So-Called ‘Chairless Chair’ Offers Wearable Seating Solution

The TSA Wants You– To Design a Solution to Our Collective Airport Security Woes (For a Chance to Win to $5K of Prize Money)

The airport security line is the kind of universally despised ordeal that extraterrestrials, should they exist, would dread; even a seasoned traveler will bristle at the thought of the rigmarole of boarding pass / I.D., uncooperative scanners, doffing footwear, unwieldy bins, more scanners. Not to belabor the point, but it’s a mildly demeaning nuisance at best. What are you going to do about it? Well, it turns out that the TSA wants to know—they recently announced an Ideation Challenge soliciting proposals for expediting the process, specifically for TSA Pre✓ passengers but ostensibly for us plebs as well. “America’s Next Generation Checkpoint Queue Design Model” may not roll off the tongue, but, hey, that’s what we’re up against (…and, as we saw a couple of weeks ago, this is what the TSA is up against ). TSA is looking for the Next Generation Checkpoint Queue Design Model to apply a scientific and simulation modeling approach to meet the dynamic security screening environment. The new queue design should include, but not limited to the following queue lanes: · TSA Pre✓ · Standard · Premier Passengers (1st class, business class, frequent fliers, etc.) · Employee and Flight Crews · PWD (wheelchair access) The Challenge is to provide a simulation modeling concept that can form the basis to plan, develop requirements, and design a queue appropriately. The concept will be used to develop a model to be applied in decision analysis and to take in considerations of site specific requirements, peak and non-peak hours, flight schedules and TSA staffing schedules. Solvers are expected to provide the concept and provide evidence that it works as described in the requirements. As in the MTA’s 2012 ” App Quest ” competition, the Transportation Security Authority is offering a total of $15, 000 as, um, Innocentive . (I know it’s a portmanteau of ‘innovation’ and ‘incentive, ‘ but I can’t help but read it as ‘innocent’—see also Rapiscan ; cf. Dr. Tobias Funke’s business cards .) (more…)

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The TSA Wants You– To Design a Solution to Our Collective Airport Security Woes (For a Chance to Win to $5K of Prize Money)

More Anamorphosis: Bernard Pras’ Amazing 3D Trompe L’Oeils

I hate to write this, but “You’ll never believe what happens next!” Speaking of anamorphosis , check out French artist Bernard Pras’ nutty room-sized sculpture below. Pras practices the cylinder-free variant of anamorphosis, and the results have to be seen to be believed: (more…)

California Oil Spill Turns Out to Be a Freakishly Massive Amount of Fish

Earlier this week in La Jolla, California, what appeared to be a massive oil spill in the water began creeping towards the beach. However, closer inspection revealed that the inky cloud was not a batch of Exxon-Mobil’s finest at all, but an enormous school of fish. Specifically, anchovies. (more…)

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California Oil Spill Turns Out to Be a Freakishly Massive Amount of Fish