Gizmag News - Taiwan to build 390-meter tower with floating observatory blimps

Welcome to the newsletter for gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for November the 29th, 2010. A skyscraper like no other: Taiwan to build 390-meter tower with floating observatory blimps It might look like something out of Isaac Asimov's imagination, it might look like it could never stand up, but this bizarre concept building is about to go into construction. "Floating Observatories" is Stefan Dorin's winning entry in the recent Taiwan Tower Conceptual International Competition - and in return for his US$130,000 first prize, now he has to actually build the thing. The new tower, standing more than 300 metres tall with its helium-filled observatory "leaves", will be the crown jewel of Taechung, the third largest city in Taiwan. Read More Fart-proof 4SKINS underwear soaks up offensive rear end odors We’ve looked at plenty of breakthroughs in wind technology over the years here at Gizmag, but maybe none so beneficial to mankind as 4SKINS underwear. Taking the idea behind the Better Marriage Blanket to the next obvious level, this new underwear is made from odor absorbing fabric that soaks up offensive gases so you won’t have to blame that nostril burning stench on the dog. Read More Gas turbine model train looks (and sounds) incredible Developed by Hidepon Works, this train is about as bad-ass as model trains can possibly get. It's powered by a gas turbine engine, thus giving it a very noisy and very sexy jet-like sound as it prepares to "take off" on its run. We took a closer look at Make Fair in Tokyo. Read More Pole-climbing bike lock hoists bikes beyond the reach of would-be thieves Bikes are an all-too-easy target for thieves and protecting your two-wheeled conveyance from their pilfering mitts is almost impossible. While chains and cables are the traditional choice for cyclists looking to make life just a little bit more difficult for would-be thieves, they are usually easily handled with a pair of bolt cutters – even if that results in a nice blast of permanent dye. The latest hard-core solution we've encountered is this innovative bike lock created by a group of German designers that literally puts your bike beyond the reach of thieves by carting it up a light pole. Read More Pure Twilight combines wake up light with digital radio There are numerous dawn simulation wake up solutions currently on the market, but Pure is claiming a first with its dawn simulator and digital radio combination. Twilight uses half a dozen bright LED lights to help combat the nasty effects of seasonal affective disorder by mimicking a gentle sunrise before an alarm kicks in to make sure you get out of bed. The device can also help create different soothing moods using sound and light and see youngsters off to sleep with a selection of lullabies. Read More Latest LHC experiments show early universe behaved like a liquid Physicists from the ALICE detector team have been colliding lead nuclei together at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in an attempt to recreate the conditions in the first few microseconds after the Big Bang. Early results have shown that the quark-gluon plasma created at these energies does not form a gas as predicted, but instead suggest that the very early universe behaved like a hot liquid. Read More OnLive Game System streams online games straight to TV Online gaming service provider Onlive has announced a system that brings its cloud-based, instant-play titles direct to the television. Instead of sitting in front of a console and loading in games via optical disc or waiting for them to download, Onlive has a bunch of dedicated servers for sending the chosen title straight to the TV over a broadband Internet line. Players can even choose whether to use the included wireless game controller or a USB keyboard and mouse to control the onscreen action. Read More Dynamic Eye sunglasses use moving LCD spot to reduce glare Chris Mullin from Pittsburgh has designed a pair of smart electronic sunglasses that pinpoint and reduce glare using a moving liquid crystal display spot inside the lens. Dubbed "Dynamic Eye", the sunglasses dim direct sunlight or other hot spots without dimming everything else in view, so you no longer have to worry about driving home with the sun streaming directly into your line of vision. Read More Taming qubits with quantum rings The latest development in quantum computing might hold the key to taming qubits, the building blocks of quantum systems. Holding these elusive qubits in a controlled state for longer than nanoseconds has proven extremely difficult in the past but researchers have recently discovered a method could see their lifespan reach seconds if not tens of seconds. Read More Hanvon aims to be first to sell e-Reader with color e-Ink Other manufacturers may be holding back to see how the land lies but Hanvon has bitten the bullet and announced that it intends to be the first company to bring a color e-Ink reader to the consumer marketplace. The color e-Reader was shown off recently at a trade show in Japan and will be available in China from March next year. There's scant official information available but read on for what we do know for sure. Read More More funds for Hawaii's Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant An Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) pilot plant off the coast of Hawaii’s Big Island is now a step closer to reality. The U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NFEC) has just awarded Lockheed Martin a US$4.4 million contract modification to develop critical system components and designs for the plant – this amount is in addition to the $8.1 million contract the NFEC issued in 2009, as well as two grants totaling $1 million that Lockheed Martin received from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2008 and this March. Hopefully, this means the streets of Kona may someday be lit by electricity obtained from the temperature difference between warm and cold sea water. Read More Jellyfish inspire flexible pumps We’ve seen the swimming motions of fish emulated by underwater robots several times before, but jellyfish (with an exception or two) don’t seem to inspire mechanical imitation quite as much. A student at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (Caltech), however, thinks that their unique propulsion system might be the perfect model for another type of technology: tiny pumps that can be implanted in peoples’ bodies, or used in soft robotics. Read More The future of cotton Cotton has held an important significance for mankind for thousands of years. Not only are all parts of the cotton plant economically useful, but the multitude of uses and processes it can be put to make it America's number one value-added crop. Over the years we have crushed and extruded and woven cotton into many forms, but even today scientists and entrepreneurs are transforming the way we use cotton; from reducing pollution, insulating homes, and cleaning up oil spills to feeding the hungry. Here's a look at seven new companies being championed for their sustainability by Cotton Incorporated. Read More Ceramic speaker is just 1mm thick Design company Nendo has joined forces with Masagasu Mitsuke to create a super thin ceramic speaker set for a project aimed at injecting some new life into traditional Japanese crafts. Normally hidden away in such things as LED lighting, the ceramic substrate used for the creation is boldly brought out into the open for a striking piece of functional art. Read More Play robot moves effortlessly between real and virtual worlds In an increasingly tech-centric world, keeping kids interested in learning can be an uphill battle. With teaching that involves play recently attracting some powerful supportive voices, students from MIT's Media Lab have developed a system which merges technology and play to stimulate young minds. The Playtime Computing system uses infrared emitters and tracking cameras to monitor the position of a special robot within a play area. As the bot disappears into a hole in a panel, it appears to continue its journey into a virtual world projected onto the walls. Read More Monitor blood pressure while scrolling and clicking with the MDMouse Monitoring blood pressure at home is recommended by the American Heart Association for the estimated 74.5 million American adults suffering from hypertension. CalHealth has created a blood pressure monitor that's housed in a computer mouse. After a user pushes a finger into the cuff monitor, the device sends readings to software on a PC for analysis, or to send on to doctors via email. Read More TikTok and LunaTik kits turn your iPod Nano into a wearable watch Scott Wilson, the founder of Chicago-based design firm MINIMAL, has put the call out for funding to bring his iPod Nano watch designs to fruition. Wilson has created two unique watch converters, that transform the Nano into a multi-touch watch. The TikTok is a basic snap-in style wristband that allows users to easily lock their Nano into the wrist dock. The LunaTik is the premium version, designed to keep the Nano aboard for permanent use. Read More If you would like to refer this newsletter to a friend or colleague, please point them at our free subscription page. Please don't try to forward this email, as the formatting is unlikely to remain intact. And don't worry, we don't share email addresses. Please read our privacy policy if you are concerned. Watch for more of the best new innovations, ideas and practical technologies in your inbox. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our daily newsletter at http://www.gizmag.com. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter please click here to unsubscribe. COPYRIGHT GIZMAG (C) 2010