Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, February 04, 2008

Elliptic Touchless UI Puts the Input Interface in Thin Air [UIs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/228438398/elliptic-touchless-ui-puts-the-input-interface-in-thin-air

touchless_3d_nav%20GI.jpg Touchscreen interfaces are great, but all that touching, like foreplay, can be a little bit of a drag. Enter the wonder kids from Elliptic Labs, who are hard at work on implementing a touchless interface. The input method is, well, in thin air. The technology detects motion in 3D and requires no special worn-sensors for operation. By simply pointing at the screen, users can manipulate the object being displayed in all three dimensions. Details are light on how this actually functions, but what we do know is this:

Sensors are mounted around the screen that is being used, by interacting in the line-of-sight of these sensors the motion is detected and interpreted into on-screen movements. What is to stop unintentional gestures being used as input is not entirely clear, but it looks promising nonetheless. The best part? Elliptic Labs says their technology will be easily small enough to be implemented into cellphones and the like. iPod touchless, anyone? Check out the video to see it in action. [Elliptic Labs via Technabob]

Purple Magic is Sub-$100 Linux 3G Cellphone, Not Recreational Drug [Cellphones]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/228450433/purple-magic-is-sub+100-linux-3g-cellphone-not-recreational-drug

purple-magic-2%20GI.jpg The fellows at NXP Semiconductors and Purple Labs have teamed up to put together the Purple Magic 3G cellphone. The Linux based handset will retail below $100, and if that does not have you interested, perhaps the video calling ability, incorporated MP3 player and high-speed internet browsing will have your bargain alarms hitting overdrive.

The cellphone will seamlessly switch between 2G and 3G networks depending on availability, and the creators hope to define a new niche in the market, where functionality does not come at too steep a price. The Purple Magic handset will be showcased at the Mobile World Congress later this month, but is said not to have any of the euphoric effects of purple haze—major downer. Nevertheless, we'll be sure to ~~try and smoke it~~ give it a grope when we get to Barcelona. [Slashphone]

Infrared solar panels even work at night, but can't output energy

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/228073304/

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Solar's had a pretty rough time breaking the ~40% efficiency level over the years, but Idaho National Laboratory researchers have apparently developed a nano-antenna array capable of collecting power not from photonic energy as is done today, but from infrared energy that could be harvested in any weather (or even at night). The cell production process is even supposed to be ridiculously cheap compared to making standard silicon photovoltaic cells, but, as always, there's a rub. The grid collects its oscillating IR energy at ten thousand billion times per second, which is proving to be a challenge to the nerds behind the tech, who are working on a way to convert that to the 50-60Hz power that the world uses. So yeah, it might be a few more years before this one pans out (if it does pan out).

[Via EcoGeek]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Maxablaster mega-flashlight is a step away from lightsaber

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/228267673/

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

You thought the goggles did nothing before? Shine the 38-million-candle Maxablaster (which, we hear, has been bumped up to 52m in a recent build) and watch as faces melt Raiders of the Lost Ark style under its concentrated mercury arc plasma bulb powered by a 54 battery pack. Right now it's just the pet project of a Dutch engineer by the name of Ralf Ottow, which is probably for the best, since this would be far more effective at boring holes in concrete than lighting any scene.

[Thanks, Trev]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Researchers devise method for colorizing metals, alchemists swoon

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/228352853/

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Unfortunately, Dr. Chunlei Guo of the University of Rochester hasn't yet figured out how to turn scrap metals into gold, but he, along with Dr. Anatoliy Y. Vorobyev, has discovered how to colorize a variety of metals. By utilizing a "femtosecond laser processing technique," the duo has crafted a method for turning even aluminum into aluminum with an impeccable gold finish. Furthermore, they've also been successful in turning tungsten dark blue, leaving reason to believe that nearly any metal could be altered to appear as a different color. Ah, just imagine what these folks could do with your MacBook Pro.

[Via The New York Times, thanks Jonathan]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments