Dieting Holy Grail

A big problem for dieters is that it is hard to keep track of all the calories they eat and all the calories they burn. It is possible to keep a record, but doing this is very meticulous and it usually takes the assistance of a professional trainer. PhiloMetron (a biotech company) has realized this problem and has created a device called Weight Watcher. Weight Watcher can monitor all calories being eaten and all calories being burned by the wearer. It does this by using several different kinds of sensors that collect information from the wearer and send the information to a chip that then sends the information to the wearer's phone. The most amazing thing about the device is that it is only the size of a large band-aid. The device's price however, is not so amazing. One kit of these one-week patches can cost up to 400 dollars. Don Jones, vice president of business development for heath and life sciences at Qualcomm says that this device is, "...the holy grail in health and wellness".

Swine Flu

Due to an increasing number of mild cases of Swine Flu, scientists have discovered that the Swine Flu may not be as dangerous as it was thought to have been. But that's not the only good news; scientists have also made some advances in creating a vaccine for the Swine Flu. The only major glitch is that in order to do this the disease must be grown in chicken eggs. So manufacturing the vaccine will be slow due to the limited supply of chicken eggs. However, alternative methods of creating Swine Flu vaccines are being worked on. Scientists say that the Swine Flue will probably be more deadly on a second wave around the world, so hopefully an efficient vaccine will be created by then.

From big...

To small...

Speakers are always stylish.

Digital Picture Viewers

I went to Wal*Mart and took some pictures of these new Digital Photo Viewers. It seems like everybody has one in their home nowadays. The first one is magnetic, so you can put it on your fridge. The second one is small enough to conveniently fit in your pocket. And the third one is a normal Digital Picture Viewer with a wide rich screen.

The Idea Van

A small company called Bright Automotive in Indiana has just unveiled their newest creation- a plug-in hybrid van that can go 100 miles on a single gallon! The van is bulky, but it has an aerodynamic design that makes it sleek and slightly more energy efficient. The van also weighs about 15,000 pounds less then average vans of it's size which helps with the energy efficiency. Bright Automotive says that it plans on mass-producing the hybrid van in 2013. From then they hope to sell about 50,000 a year. Click here to check out the Idea Van on Bright Automotive's website.

Canadian Coal

A small company in Canada has declared that it can make coal a more cleaner and efficient source of energy for the world. The company says that they do this by stripping the coal of it's methane. The result of this process is hydrogen-enriched natural gas that can be used as clean, efficient fuel. The company is a relatively new company called Atlantic Hydrogen. In order to speed-up the production of this new coal energy, Atlantic Hydrogen has joined forces with EnCana Corp (the largest natural gas producing company in Canada).

Oil From Algae

OriginOil has claimed that they have made a machine that can harvest oil from algae cheaply and efficiently. The machine uses ultrasound and an electromagnetic pulse to brake the algae cell walls and retrieve the oil. Other methods of retrieving oil from algae have been used by other companies, but these ways are much more expensive and inefficient. OriginOil's method does not use a lot of expensive machinery and the process only takes a couple of minutes.

How To Build A Computer

Are you the kind of person who wants his computer a certain way. It can sometimes be hard to find a computer that suits you exactly the way you want it. The easiest solution to this is to build your own computer from scratch. When I was in 9th grade I assembled a computer. It looked really hard at first, but once I found this website it became a lot easier. For anyone who wants to try to build a computer I would recommend reading this website. It's kind of long, but it's worth it.  http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer1.htm

Touch/Feel Screen

The major problem with touchscreens is that you can't feel the boutons that you are pushing. So as a result you have to always be looking at the screen when you're typing and it is easy to push a wrong bouton. This is very annoying if you are trying to multitask. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have realized this and have make their own touchscreen. This touchscreen is very unique because it can change it's shape to form boutons that you can push. This design is very simple and can only form certain limited bouton shapes.

Cloaking Device

Two teams have claimed that they have just invented a cloaking device. Unlike previous cloaking devices which used tiny cameras and projectors to make objects look invisible, this new device actually bends light around itself using mirrors and nano pillars. This concept of bending light has been used in the past to bend microwaves, but bending the waves that are seen with the human eye is a new achievement. Both teams' designs are almost exactly identical and it apparently took them both almost exactly the time to build it.

"Content Intelligence"

When people search something on the web using Google or other search engines, they usually come up with a list of documents with the word(s) they're searching in it. This is helpful, but not helpful enough according to researchers at Netbase Solutions. Netbase Solutions has come out with a new way to search for what you need on the internet. Typically if you search for something, such as a disease, you will come up with documents and websites related to that disease. But what this new search engine from netbase does is it takes all the important information from the documents and websites, and gives you just that. So if you search "Swine Flu", then you'll get a list of ailments, causes, etc- the important stuff. The searching software is called Content Intelligence.

New Motion Tracking Device

Researchers at MIT have invented a motion tracking device that is much cheaper and more efficient than normal motion tracking devices. The device is called Second Skin. Instead of using high speed cameras and special markers to track motion, Second Skin just uses a projector and photosensors. Traditional motion tracking devices cost hundreds of thousand of dollars and can only be used in specially lit settings. Second Skin only costs a couple thousand dollars and can be can be used in almost any setting. The way Second Skin works is the projector sends out infrared light which hits the photosensors worn by the object being recorded. The pattern of infrared that hits the photosensors is recorded and converted into binary code and then sent to a computer which calculates the motion. This technology is very useful in movie making.

Heatstroke Preventer

A new device has just come out that can warn football coaches if their players are getting close to getting heatstroke. The device, made by Hothead Technologies in Atlanta is imbedded inside the the football players helmet and sends a wireless signal to a PDA held by the coach on the sidelines. If the device (which is made up of sensors and a wireless transmitter) senses that the players body heat has risen above 39 degrees for more than 20 seconds then it will send out a warning to the coaches PDA. Hothead technologies is planning on making similar models for other activities such as military training and firefighting.

Super Efficient Laptop Battery

HP has just designed and created a laptop battery that lasts longer and charges faster than any other laptop battery available on the market. The battery is a lithium-ion battery. It recharges 50 percent faster that normal laptop batteries, and it can retain 80 percent of its charging capacity after 3 years (compared to the normal 50 percent over 1 year). HP is installing this laptop battery in 18 of its laptop models.

Nano Recording

The ability to make electrical recordings at the level of cells is a relatively resent scientific achievement achieved by researchers at Harvard. Their major achievement, in 2006, was that they found a way to use nanowire transistors to measure electrical signals at fifty points along a single neuron. Now that technology has been improved by the same researchers. They have made a recording system that can record the most precise, high quality electrical recordings ever made from heart cells. This is major advancement and could greatly aid doctors in saving the lives of neurological and heart disease patients.

New Microsoft Surface

Microsoft's Surface touch screen has just been improved. Microsoft realized that a touch screen can only operate software; but their are things in software in which it would be easier to use a controller of some kind. To solve this problem Microsoft built their new Surface with the ability to be controlled with certain controllers that are placed on the screen.

Blue Gene/P

As the small laptop computers and devices get faster and faster, so do the big super computers. IBM has found a way to make supercomputers faster by using stream computing. This kind of computing can crunch a realtime stream of data in microseconds. This is 21 times faster than normal supercomputers. IBM joined forces with TD Securities to make this amazing supercomputer which they call Blue Gene/P. 

The Wii Series

It's amazing how many different kinds of Wii controllers there are today. This is just a taste of all that's out there.

HP

Atomic Clock

3D Imaging Software

Researchers from Texes A&M University have developed a new software that could immensely help rescue teams find victims after a disaster. Before this software was created, rescue teams would have to first draw the wreckage site from hand onto paper. What this new software does is it creates a 3D image of the wreckage site so that rescue teams can see the situation their faced with from all angles. The software builds the 3D image from pictures taken from airplanes above. This system is much more fast, portable, and accurate than the traditional drawing. 

Graphene

Researchers at the National University of Singapore have just created the first ever full functional graphene. Graphene is a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in hexagons which can be used to make high radio frequency logic circuits, transparent electrodes (for flexible flat panel displays), and high surface area electrods (for ultra-capacitors). This is a big step for computer science because this new technology could make hard drives much faster and denser. The concept of graphene has been around, but it hasn't been of any interest because it wasn't thought to be possible. Andre Geim, a professor at the University of Manchester, said that this new technology is thrilling, because it's very simple.

Mars Flight Stimulation

An international team of researchers have met in Moscow to do a 105 day stimulation of the flight to Mars. The crew is an all-male crew that is made up of 4 Russians, 1 German, and 1 Frenchman. The communications to the control team will be delayed 20 minutes to stimulate real flight communication. The researchers who built the stimulation did not input one of the toughest challenges into the flight: deadly space radiation. This probably because they have no answer for that at this time. This is a big step in putting men on Mars.

New Multi Touch Technology

Researchers from New York University have just made a breakthrough in multitouch technology. Former multitouch technology was fairly expensive and it only allowed the user to touch with his or her finger. This new multitouch technology allows the user to interact in the screen with other objects, or his or her entire hand. The screen is paper-thin and very cheap.  The researchers at New York University have called this new multitouch screen IMPAD (Inexpensive Multitouch Pressure Acquisition Device). 

Artificial Protein

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have just made a breakthrough in biomedicine. They have created an artificial protein from scratch. The protein can do many vital functions that natural proteins do such as carrying blood in the blood stream. Scientists say that this is a major step in the advancement of artificial blood. And after artificial blood is created then scientists say that it will enormously help circumvent problems in donor blood.

Technological Brain

An international team of scientists in Europe have just created a silicon chip that functions like a human brain. This means that it can learn like humans can. Although this technology is not new, and it cannot mimic the brain perfectly, this technology is getting better and better, and closer than ever to mimicking a human brain. This silicon chip only carries 200,000 neurons which is not even close to the number of neurons in a real human brain. But the amazing thing about this technology is that it can operate about 100,000 time faster than a real human brain.

Cyber Communism

Communism in China is becoming more at large over the internet. The Chinese government has just completely banned the use of YouTube in China. They did not say why it is being censored. However, it is speculated that it is being censored because of a resent video on Youtube that showed Chinese police using violent measures to shut down tibetan protesters. This is definitely a big step for China.

PowerBook

 The PowerBook is an amazing laptop. It's screen is much brighter than most computers and its processing speed is very fast. For it's incredible thinness the PowerBook is incredibly powerful. Although the PowerBook is powerful, I've known some people who've gotten PowerBooks and have had lots of technical glitches with them. But I suppose all computers have technical issues here and there. 

Mac's Got Style

Show Notes For TechReport Episodes

Episode 1:

- Ford's first ever dashboard computer

- New touchscreen phone, Palm Pre- www.palm.com

- Window 7- www.microsoft.com/window/window-7

Episode 2:

- Sony Ericson Cybershot smart phone

- W508 smart phone

- BlackBerry Curve 8900 smart phone

- USE63 smart phone

- Motosurf A3100

Episode 3:

-Nicholas Morgan's new cheap solar concentrator

-Ten terabits in one square inch!

Episode 4:

- Georgia Tech's new nanogenerator

- SanDisk makes a fingernail sized memory card that holds up to 64 gigabits of memory

Episode 5:

- Power Pack (a fuel cell made by Medis) is as small as a bar of soap- www.medistechnologies.com

- Abu Dhabi begins construction of their entirely green city.

Eden Pure

Bose Speakers

Tomato "juice"

A new way to get energy...

...not really

The evolution of MacBooks

The iPods

Here are two pictures I took using a white backdrop. It's harder than it looks.

Aging Solutions In Moles

People have been trying to slow aging for years. Now scientists think they may have a lead. Mole rats are the longest living rodents on earth; they can live up to 30 years, when normal rodents (such as rats and mice) only live a few years. Scientists believe that by studying these creatures they might be able to produce some kind of medication that can slow aging in humans. Moles, despite their wrinkled and decrepit look, are actually very health animals, and rarely get diseases. This makes them an even better candidate in age-slowing research.

Air Hybrid

Engineers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have just designed a new kind of hybrid car. This hybrid is not like any other hybrid ever created. Breaking out of the mold of the normal gas/electric hybrid, the engineers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have designed the first ever gas/air hybrid. There are many benefits with this new hybrid technology, but the largest benefit of the gas/air hybrid is probably that it saves as much gas as normal gas/electric hybrids, but at a fraction of the cost. Testing for the vehicle will begin in April.

Healing Laser

Physicists at Tel Aviv University, located in Israel, have made a remarkable breakthrough in medical technology. They have just invented a laser that can seal shut deep cuts and wounds that would other wise need stitches. Doctors and scientists say that this method of healing is much more reliable and faster than ordinary stitches. Experiments on real patients in Israeli operating rooms have proven successful. Their wounds healed faster and with less scarring. Avraham Katzir, head of Applied Physics at Tel Aviv University, said that this method of healing could also be used in keyhole surgery to seal internal wounds instead of needing to make large invasive incisions on the body.

Memory Drug

Everybody has bad memories they want to forget about past. Imagine being able to take a pill erase those memories from your brain permanently! A group of Dutch researchers have announced that they can do just that. However their not sure yet if the pill erases your memories forever or just temporarily. There are still many questions being asked about the drug and it is not out on the market yet.

Presidential BlackBerry

Despite warnings from his advisors, President Obama apparently keeps all of his schedules and plans on his BlackBerry. This has made his BlackBerry a kind of "Holy Grail" for hackers. Hacking into the president's phone is not as easy as it sounds however. President Obama's BlackBerry runs a special super-encrypting software that makes it almost un-hackable. Mitnick, the world's best x-hacker, says that it's a long shot, but it is possible to hack Obama's BlackBerry. 

Technologyreview.com

Here's a link to a cool tech review website I found- http://www.technologyreview.com/

PowerMeter

Another cool new release by Google just came out- PowerMeter. PowerMeter is an online dashboard that is designed to download data from smart meters and display current electricity use and show how much power your refrigerator, big-screen television and other appliances are using at any point in time. The handy thing about PowerMeter is that it gives the user more control over their household electricity, and thus allows them better control over how much they're spending.

Ford's Future Electrical Cars

Ford has announced that they will release the first ever fully electrical van in 2010. The car will be called the Transit Connect. It is going to be a small van and it will be able to get 100 miles on a fully charged battery. Ford said that the car is intended for business owners and not families. Ford's "electrical" plans also involve the creation of a small, battery-powered car, advanced hybrid cars, and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2011 and 2012.

If you want to read more about Ford's electrical cars for the future then go to- http://www.mpgomatic.com/2009/01/22/ford-electric-cars/

TechReport Podcasts

Here are the links to two podcast I have made about new technology. The first one is about a month old. The second one is as old as this post.

http://skateboardguy106.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-01-14T16_49_55-08_00
http://skateboardguy106.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-02-04T21_00_48-08_00

Google Latitude

Another cool new release from Google just came out today- Google Latitude. Google Latitude is a very handy program that you can install into your phone or computer. What the program does is it allows you to see where your friends or family are (as long as they also have the program installed) where ever they go. The program uses GPS to track the phones belonging to the people you want to find. Of course the people on the other end of the phone have to give their consent to let you to see where they are, which is why the program is meant mainly for friends and family.

To see more about Google Latitude go to- 

http://www.google.com/latitude/intro.html

Google Oceans

Google has made some amazing breakthroughs in cyber technology through the years, and now Google is doing it again. Google has just come out with new computer software that virtually lets you explore the any part of the ocean you want. The program has many features- it has an accurate layout of the ocean floor that you can move around on, it has links that you can click on to see information about something that happened at certain locations, and it even has a touring feature that you can use to follow the path of sharks and other marine animals. This program has many more features that you can check out at- http://earth.google.com/ocean/

Cloned Dog

A couple in South Florida recently lost their dearly beloved labrador retriever- Lancelot. They were apparently so dismayed with their loss that they preserved the dog's DNA, sent it to a science lab in Korea, and had the dog cloned. The cloned pup (Lancelot Encore) is now in perfect shape and lives with the family in Florida. The family payed $155,000 for the cloning, and it is said that this is the first ever commercially cloned animal.

Electric Bandages!

Check this out- a small medical company just came out with the first ever over-the-counter electric bandage. The company that invented the electric bandage (Vomaris Innovations) found out through studies that electricity actually speeds up the healing process of living cells. This works because each living cell stores and uses energy to do it's every day functions, such as regenerating. The bandage holds tiny electrical batteries that give out a small electrical current (1.2 volts) of energy over the affected skin. The product has not come out on the market yet and all I know is that it will come out soon. To see more about the electrical bandage go to- http://www.smp-prosit.com/

Blog Intro

 What I'm going to do with this blog is post information about new technology. I will also attach links to sites with more information on the technology that I'm reporting on so you can look at the technology first hand. I already have a TechReport podcast on Podomatic, so you can check that out too- http://www.podomatic.com/people/index/skateboardguy106