Hasta La Gadget!

Mobile phones may not be anything too special these days, but 40 years ago today, the world’s first cellphone was just being born, and it was all the rage. On April 3, 1973, the first call from a cellphone was made by the inventor himself, Marty Cooper, where he called out to his rival: the head of the research department at Bell Labs, Joel Engel.

That phone call was made on a Motorola DynaTAC 8000x (pictured above), a 2.5-pound piece of machinery that was priced at $4,000 when it went on sale in 1983. When Cooper called Engel from his DynaTAC, he was quite literal with his feelings, and didn’t say anything too poetic: “Joel, this is Marty. I’m calling you from a cellphone, a real handheld portable cellphone.”

Of course, this may remind you of Alexander Graham Bell’s work and his invention of the first practical telephone. On October 9, 1876, Bell called his assistant, Thomas Watson, and they talked by telephone to each other over a two-mile wire that stretched between Cambridge and Boston, marking it the first time that anyone had ever communicated through two-way voice over electronic signals.

As for the first cellphone, that’s still a remarkable feat, and as with the traditional telephone industry, the mobile phone industry has come a long way since its inception. We went from 2.5-pound cellphones costing thousands of dollars, to devices that weight just a few ounces and can do pretty much anything. We certainly can’t wait to see what the next 40 years will bring us.

Image via Flickr

The cellphone turns 40 years old today is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

First world problems are things that may help our lives by making tasks slightly annoying, but which do nothing to help worldwide problems. A recent opinion piece compares inventors to iterators.

A tech team from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Japan have unveiled a smell-o-vision TV that will bring a sense of reality from our favorite TV programs. The team created a “smelling screen” that enables scents in spots where the corresponding object is placed. The screen generates scents from gel pellets from four air streams on all corners of the display. The scents are blown at varying and controlled rates to make it seem as though the scent is coming directly from the object on-screen.

This isn’t the first time the “smell-o-vision” technology has appeared in the tech world, however it is the first time that is has been implemented into television screens. The smell-o-vision technology was first implemented in a 1960′s film titled “Scent of Mystery”. The film launched in 3 customized movie theaters in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. In the film, there were scents dispersed to the audience during certain moments in the film. Unfortunately, the film was a huge failure due to the malfunctioning of the scent mechanism. There were delayed actions between the specific scenery and the scents, and the mechanisms made a loud noise while releasing the scents.

This Japanese team seems to have been able to address the problem however, and successfully implemented the smell-o-vision technology in televisions. Right now, there can only be one scent released at a time, however, the team hopes to be able to make it so multiple smells could be implemented at the same time. They’re hoping to do so by implementing a cartridge-like system that will allow them to alternate smells more easily.

While the smell-o-vision can make movies and TV shows more engaging and real, it also has somewhat of a negative effect. Advertisement agencies can take advantage of the technology as well, and when they do, all hell will break loose. If you thought that steak in that commercial looked good now, wait until you can actually smell it. With this new technology, restaurants will be able to more effectively rake in customers with their advertisements. We’ll keep you posted as soon as more information regarding the smell-o-vision is unveiled.

[via Daily Mail]

The smell-o-vision TV implements scents with your favorite TV programs is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Automation company Festo loves showing off its technologies and expertise by creating robot versions of animals. We’ve featured the company’s SmartBird before, and you may have also seen its AirPenguin in action. Now the company has released information about its latest pet project, the BionicOpter.

With the BionicOpter, Festo set out to replicate the flying capabilities of the dragonfly. The company says the insect is unique in that it can move in all directions, glide, hover, turn and accelerate quickly and even fly backwards. By replicating how dragonflies use their wings, the BionicOpter ends up being more versatile than a plane, helicopter or glider.

The robot has an aluminum body and carbon fiber wings. It has one external brushless motor and eight motors that handle the movement of its wings. Speaking of which, the robot can orient its wings vertically or horizontally as needed, just like the real deal. The BionicOpter can fly on its own but it can also be controlled remotely. All of that in a machine that weighs only 175g (approx. 0.39lbs.).

If you ask me the best feature of the BionicOpter is that it has a gracefulness to it that I previously thought could only be exhibited by a living creature. Check out Festo’s report (pdf file) if you want to learn more about the robot.

[via Slash Gear]

Festo has created a fascinating robotic BionicOpter dragonfly that has a semi-opaque blue body and four clear wings, which beat as it flies around the room, pausing as it glides and shifts direction, only to resume beating as the robot dives and rises. We have a video of the robotic dragonfly in action after the break, where you can see it demo’d in a large room.

As described, the flight of a dragonfly is unique over, for example, birds, making it an appealing – and relatively difficult – subject for robotics. A dragonfly can move its two pairs of wings independent of each other, can make sharp turns, go backwards, and speed up quickly. Festo undertook the challenge, and the result is the BionicOpter, which the company says is the first model capable of more flight conditions can a plane, glider, and helicopter all mixed together.

You can see all these flight conditions in action in the video above. Festo boasts that each wing is built with amplitude controllers, which allows it to operate independent of its counterpart wing and the other pair of wings, with both thrust intensity and direction being adjustable. There are adjustments for flight vibrations, and the robot is designed to be operational in both outdoor and indoor settings.

One of the most interesting aspects of the BionicOpter is that it can be controlled via a smartphone, with the controlling aspect being similar to flying a toy helicopter – only the direction needs to be changed. The software, sensors, and other hardware take care of the particulars, moving all four wings as necessary to achieve the direction needed in the environmental conditions where it is located.

[via Festo]

Festo shows off BionicOpter robotic dragonfly in video demonstration is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.