Hasta La Gadget!

And here you were thinking Mercedes-Benz’s Attention Assist system was the thing in driver alertness aides. In a rather odd, nearly jocose press release, Nissan has revived our faith in corporate R&D with the glorious introduction of the Forest AC. In short, this new air conditioning system “systematically controls cabin temperature, ventilation, aroma and humidity to create an optimal interior environment.” Still bewildered? It means that the system can tap into an array of sensors in order to find out exactly what environment is best for your current state of mind, and if it needs to, it’ll blast your nostrils with gusts of fresh forest in order to increase alertness while keeping stress levels down. The zaniest part of all, however, isn’t the idea of using various aromas to keep one’s attention; it’s the fact that this system is actually scheduled for installation on a vehicle (the Fuga) that’ll ship this fiscal year in Japan.

Filed under: Transportation

Nissan’s Forest AC blows wild scents through your ride, keeps you alert originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yeah, mad scientists have been trying to get the public at large to pay attention to visible light communications for years now, but the gurus over at the University of California, Riverside think that the project they’re involved in holds a special kind of promise. The Center for Ubiquitous Communication by Light (UC-Light) will be funded with $3.5 million from the Multicampus Research Program and Initiatives (MRPI) competition within the University of California system, and at its core, it’s hoping to unearth a magical method for linking up all sorts of electronics (HDTVs, PDAs, information kiosks, PCs, etc.) via light. You know, so your refrigerator can tell your smartphone what groceries are needed during the next supermarket stop, and that massive billboard on I-95 can beam more information that you don’t want right onto your handset. If all goes to plan (and California’s budget problem solves itself), the work will begin in early 2010 and last five years, after which we fully anticipate “very low-cost communication and navigation systems [to be built] on existing lighting infrastructure.” And fowl in every pot. And unicorns in every garage.

[Thanks, Michael]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Science

UC-Light project puts LEDs to work in communication networks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Micro-aerial vehicles, or MAVs as they’re called in the elusive underground, are far from new, but a team from NC State University is hoping to advance the field with an all new critter. The Robo-Bat is a remote controlled creature that relies on a super elastic shape-memory metal alloy for the joints, which is said to provide a full range of motion while enabling it to “always return to its original position — a function performed by many tiny bones, cartilage and tendons in real bats.” The crew is also utilizing other “smart materials” in the muscular system, giving it the ability to react in real time to environmental changes such as sudden wind gusts. Ideally, this bionic chiropteran would be used to chivvy those who dare step foot on Franklin Street or inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, but in less malicious situations, it could help well-meaning scientists get the bottom of that whole “aerodynamics” thing.

Filed under: Robots

NC State gurus build remote control bats, freak out Dukies and Tar Holes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not that we haven’t seen this trick pulled before, but there’s still something magical about the forthcoming Aquasar. Said supercomputer, which will feature two IBM BladeCenter servers in each rack, should be completed by 2010 and reach a top speed of ten teraflops. Such a number pales in comparison to the likes of IBM’s Roadrunner, but it’s the energy factor here that makes it a star. If all goes well, this machine will suck down just 10KW of energy, while the average power consumption of a supercomputer in the top 500 list is 257KW. The secret lies in the new approach to chip-level water cooling, which will utilize a “fine network of capillaries” to bring the water dangerously close to the processors without actually frying any silicon. While it’s crunching numbers, waste heat will also be channeled throughout the heating system at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, giving students and dorm room crashers a good feel for the usefulness of recycled warmth.

Filed under: Desktops

Water-cooled Aquasar supercomputer does math, heats dorm rooms originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Man, the mad scientists are really on a roll of late. First we hear that Li-ion cells are set to magically double in capacity, and now we’re learning that a new form of invisibility cloak is totally gearing up for its Target debut. As the seemingly endless quest to bend light in such a way as to create a sheath of invisibility continues, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Nicholas Fang has reportedly developed a metamaterial that acts as a type of acoustic superlens. In theory, at least, this approach would rely on phreaking with sound rather than light in order to intensely focus ultrasound waves; by doing so, one could hypothetically “hide ships from sonar.” To be fair, this all sounds entirely more believable than hiding massive vessels from human sight, but we’re still not taking our skeptic hat off until we see (er, don’t see?) a little proof.

[Via Slashdot]

Filed under: Science

Acoustic superlens could mask ships from sonar… in theory, anyway originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 21:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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