Hasta La Gadget!

Remember that one-inch Chobi Cam One spotted in Japan earlier this year? Well, its tiny self has now reappeared on US shores, ready to be lost in a sofa or coat pocket near you. Unimaginatively titled “The World’s Smallest Camera,” it’s priced at $99.95 and packs a petite, two megapixel autofocus sensor capable of recording VGA video. Resembling a Lego Man’s DSLR, storage is done on a microSD card, though you’re more likely to run out of battery juice than space — the battery will give a maximum of 30 minutes use from one hour’s charge. “The world’s smallest” are words we hear a lot at Engadget, and we’re inclined to agree with CNET that JTT’s previous camera, the Chobi Cam, is actually smaller by volume. The Chobi Cam One arrived with extra detachable lenses, but there’s no word yet on whether these add-ons will appear in Hammacher Sclemmer’s online store — not that we really want to be lugging around a whole bunch of tiny lenses with us.

Continue reading Two megapixel mini-camera measures in at under a cubic inch, weighs under an ounce

Two megapixel mini-camera measures in at under a cubic inch, weighs under an ounce originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The DockBoss puts your Android phone into an Apple dock

Problem: You own an Android phone, but you live in an iPhone world. Every device, from cars through speakers to refrigerators comes with a 30-pin dock connector.

Solution: The DockBoss. This adapter lets you take anything with a 3.5mm jack and hook it up to an iPhone dock, including your Android phone or even your Zune.

Inside the business end — which plugs into the dock itself — is a mess of electronics which are powered by the dock (both USB and ancient FireWire docks are supported). These make sure that the sound is sent properly to the host device, so pretty much anything should work.

And yes, you could even use this to plug your iPhone into Apple’s Universal Dock.

It’s a smart idea marred only by the fact that almost all iPhone-compatible accessory come with a 3.5mm jack socket too. On the other hand, for just $23, the DockBoss means you’re ready for absolutely everything.

DockBoss [Cable Jive]

See Also:

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The Raincatch coat captures and purifies rainwater. Photo CIID

The Raincatch coat is pretty much perfect for the thirsty Briton. The jacket, from the Copenhagen Institute if Interaction Design, catches falling rain and then purifies it, ready for the wearer to drink.

Rain is collected in the collar, from where it runs through a network of tubes to be filtered by charcoal and chemically purified. The resulting clean drinking water is stored on the hips and can be sucked out through another tube.

The project is more symbolic than practical, I guess. There are certainly easier-to-carry ways to purify water, and it seems unlikely that you’d be getting dangerously dehydrated in a country wet enough to need a raincoat. For cyclists, though, it could be near ideal, combining a rain cape with a water filter.

Raincatch [CIID via the Giz]

See Also:

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• Ambient Umbrella Knows When it Will Rain

Back in 2005, Bruce Logan and his team of Penn State researchers developed a microbial fuel cell capable of converting poop into power. Now, Logan has refined his system to the point where it can produce hydrogen from wastewater or biodegradable organic materials without using a drop of grid electricity, and without emitting even a hint of carbon dioxide. His approach, outlined in the September 19th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involves something known as reverse-electrodialysis (RED) — a process that harvests energy from the ionic discrepancy between fresh and salt water. Logan’s bacterial hydrolysis cell (pictured left) features a so-called RED stack that’s comprised of alternating positive and negative ion exchange membranes, which it uses to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Normally, this process would involve about 25 pairs of membranes, but by using RED technology in conjunction with electricity-producing exoelectrogenic bacteria, Penn State’s team was able to extract hydrogen with just five membrane pairs. All told, Logan’s cells proved to be about 58 to 64 percent energy efficient, while producing between 0.8 to 1.6 cubic meters of hydrogen for every cubic meter of liquid that passed through the system. The researchers’ results show that only one percent of that energy was used to pump water through the cells, which are completely carbon neutral, as well. According to Logan, this breakthrough demonstrates that “pure hydrogen gas can efficiently be produced from virtually limitless supplies of seawater and river water and biodegradable organic matter.” Somewhere, the US Navy is taking scrupulous notes. Full PR after the break.

[Image courtesy of Penn State / Bruce Logan]

Continue reading Microbial fuel cell produces hydrogen from wastewater without wasting energy

Microbial fuel cell produces hydrogen from wastewater without wasting energy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Add “getting into your house” to the list of things you won’t be able to do if you lose your phone, thanks to Yale’s fancy new NFC-controlled lock.

The touch-screen locks use a companion app on an NFC (near field communication) phone (in the demo video, an iPhone with an NFC case is used). You select the correct “key” from the app, hold the phone up to the lock and you’re done. The lock recognizes a friendly key and opens up.

With more phones likely to feature NFC chips in the near future, this kind of tech is likely to get more common. The phone has already replaced computers, books, cameras and MP3 players. Next it’ll be wallets, keys, loyalty cards and probably even train and plane tickets. Just don’t leave home without a charger.

Yale Door Locks: Is NFC the Next Big Thing in Home Tech? [CE Pro]

Press release [CE Pro / Yale]

See Also:

• Keyfree Yale Doors Mix Old-Style and New-Tech
• Lockitron: Unlock Your Home With Your Cellphone
• Art Lebedev Redesigns the Door Chain Lock For Security Fetishists …