Have light, will travel? With the Dogstar handheld portable LED searchlight blazing a 68,000 lumen trail, you’ll go (or at least see) far indeed. Demonstrated at the 2012 RISCON Safety & Security Trade Show in Tokyo, this is one mean photonic bazooka!
Few things are better than having robots perform your chores for you. While wireless robot vacuums have been on the market for years, the earliest models were clunky and not terribly good at their jobs. That has changed as technology has improved, however, and now LG has announced its latest offering: the Hom-Bot Square.
The Hom-Bot square is a small robot vacuum that was previously referred to as the Hom-Bot 3.0 This updated Hom-Bot vacuum features a new square shape (hence its name), as well as longer side brushes and a larger body. According to the announcement, it is 72% more efficient at cleaning corners than the previous model. Check out their “Dirty Nightmare” video for a strange glimpse into its square-shaped goodness.
The top camera performs ceiling localization and mapping, while the sensor creates a map of the room it’s in and keeps the device’s placement within it. The top camera has a sensor that can adjust to darker settings called Illumination Invariant based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, II-SLAM for short. The device uses ultra-sonic distance sensors, and has a learning function that allows it to adjust to the room it’s in.
Like the versions before it, the Hom-Bot Square features Spiral, Zig Zag, and Cell by Cell models; it also features the new My Space mode, which lets it clean a specific area one time, after which point its memory will reset. The device is now on sale in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. It is also known as the Carpet Master in Germany.
[via LG Korea]
LG launches robot vacuum Hom Bot Square is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Japanese designer electronics manufacturer Inter-Culture has introduced a trio of retrofuturistic nylon resin clock radios that combine cutting-edge 3D printing technology with the warm Cold War-era glow of high-voltage Nixie tubes.
Scientists at the Tufts School of Engineering and at the University of Illinois have created simple electronic devices that harmlessly dissolve after a set period of time. The scientists call their invention transient electronics, devices which could have a huge impact on medical devices and on the environment in general. Future computers could melt in your mouth and in your hand. Or anywhere else for that matter.
The devices were made using silicon components that are only “tens of nanometers thick.” These components are then encased in sheets of silk protein. This silk casing can be tweaked to determine the lifespan of the device, and the scientists say the range could be anywhere from minutes to years. Here’s a short video showing how these circuits could dissolve in water.
This breakthrough could lead to medical devices that can be safely left in a patient’s body (and eventually decompose) as well as consumer devices that eventually dissolve instead of piling up in landfills.
A fortunate set of circumstances put 24-year old nurse Nedra Lindsay in
an investigative study linking non-circadean temperatures in breast
cells to abnormal growths within the breasts At her age, breast cancer
was the last thing she expected to be faced with, but her study results
indicated a follow-up with mammography….
Western Digital’s new storage offerings
are sure to satisfy those with a need for fast, reliable,
high-capacity storage technology.
Electronics retailer Best Buy has been having a difficult time recently with sagging profits and other challenges. Best Buy founder Richard Schulze has been working with at least four different private equity firms to examine the books of the ailing retail giant. The reason Schulze is digging through the books is that he is leading an attempt to take Best Buy private with a possible buyout.
Reports indicate that Schulze and the private equity firms working with him could offer as much as $11 billion for Best Buy. Reuters reports that the private equity firms working with the Best Buy founder include Apollo Global Management LLC, Cerberus Capital Management LP, TPG Capital LP, Credit Suisse Group AG, and Leonard Green & Partners LP. Sources indicate that at the same time Schulze, who owns 20% of Best Buy, is pouring through the books he’s also negotiating with these private equity firms on what his role would be after the potential buyout.
Schulze and the private equity firms also have come to agreement on exactly what would become of his 20% stake in the electronics retailer. Reuters reports that the process is in the early stages and no decisions have been made yet according to its sources. The sources also stated that the private equity group wasn’t likely to offer a buyout proposal before the middle of November.
Schulze has previously stated that he could buy Best Buy for $24-$26 per share. That share price would value the company between $8.16 billion and $8.84 billion. When debt is added in the buyout could cost as much as $10.9 billion.
[via Reuters]
Best Buy founder moves ahead with $11 billion buyout plan is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Japan’s annual electronics expo is about to kick off in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba, and we’ve settled down for the week to deliver a peek inside Makuhari Messe, where local carriers will demonstrate their R&D wares, a fair share of robots are expected make their debut and component manufacturers will provide a hint of what’s to come. And, because the Tokyo Motor Show is held only once every two years, that winter exhibition will make a smaller appearance within these Chiba halls, with vehicle designers showing off their latest contributions to the automotive industry. The fun begins in just a few minutes, when dozens of diligent guards will lift the gates to the show. As always, you can follow along from home without spending a single yen. Just keep an eye on our homepage, or head over to the CEATEC 2012 tag for a complete roster of this year’s show coverage.
Filed under: Announcements
We’re live from CEATEC 2012 in Chiba, Japan! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Neurowear, the creators of those bizarre Necomimi cat ears, have taken the field of brainwave actuated mood indicators to a new, lower level with "Shippo", the world’s first mind-controlled wearable tail!
In many ways, graphene is one of technology’s sickest jokes. The tantalizing promise of cheap to produce, efficient to run materials, that could turn the next page in gadget history has always remained frustratingly out of reach. Now, a new process for creating semiconductors grown on graphene could see the super material commercialized in the next five years. Developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the patented process “bombs” graphene with gallium, which forms droplets, and naturally arranges itself to match graphene’s famous hexagonal pattern. Then, arsenic is added to the mix, which enters the droplets and crystallizes at the bottom, creating a stalk. After a few minutes of this process the droplets are raised by the desired height. The new process also does away with the need for a (relatively) thick substrate to grow the nanowire on, making it cheaper, more flexible and transparent. The inventors state that this could be used in flexible and efficient solar cells and light emitting diodes. We say forward the revolution.
New process for nanotube semiconductors could be graphene’s ticket to primetime (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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