Latest Inventions

posted by admin on Aug 16

Hello Again - and what a great time to be at the fore-front of the latest inventions and technology!

Almost every day, there is an announcement about something great to advance our thinking or challenge our current ways of thinking - the future looks so different - if only we would make the change!

Looking back over time Adam Park takes us through his top 10 Tech Milestones That Changed The World for a glance at the past - and hopefully they can take us places in the future!

Add to this some of the following technological information here from Susan, as she details her best 25 Startups Revolutionizing Biotechnology. Even small things can make a huge difference!

Staying with the prefix ‘bio’ - take a look at the amazing advances and technology involved with Mike’s great article on: Massive Future MRI Machine Promises to Unravel the Secrets of Human Biochemistry! Great stuff!

Moving on to inventions today - read on if you want to know about something new: Coming Soon to a Classroom Near You: 10 Things To Know About Robot Teachersby the converted Erin Lenderts! Now I’m not sure if these will ever really take over in mainstream schools - but the idea for smaller groups or adult learners could really be a good thing!

And, if you ignore all the adverts at the top - scroll down to a very thorough article by Rick Cole as he reviews the difference between to very similar in-car technologies: Garmin vs TomTom. Worth a peak if you are considering a sat nav in the future.

And finally - How to use Twitter in a way I hadn’t really thought off: Sharons719 offers us 50 “Healthy” Ways to Use Twitter. Very interesting!

And on that note - get back outside and enjoy the nice weather before winter sets in!

posted by admin on May 5

If you can, then you better start making plans to spend the £50,000 prize money!

Or, better still invent a plane that can fulfil the maneuverability guidelines required to win £100,000 instead - although this might take a little longer at the drawing board!

For years humans have dreamed of the idea of human powered flight - although the old ‘wings strapped to the arms’ is a definite no-no!   As you would expect though, Leonardo de Vinci had a try at designing a plane or 2 along with dozens of other not-so-successful attempts over the following centuries.

With still not a hope of staying in the air for more than a micro-second, in the mid-20th century - the Kremer Prize was put to the invention world by the Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain.  There main aim was to spur on the hope of man-powered flight with large amounts of cash!

First Prize:
From the creation of the awards to the first prize being collected was a very long 18 years - and there were still another 5 prizes to be won.

This first prize (£50,000) was won by a plane weighing 32kg with a 29 meter wingspan called the Gossamer Condor in 1977 - and it had had to fly a specific figure-of-eight course at a height of over 10 feet from the ground.

The second prize for distance (£100,000) was won by the same team in 1979 but with their modified plane - the Gossamer Albatross - clocking up an average speed of 18 miles per hour (29km/h).

The third prize was for speed (£20,000) was won in 1983 by a team from MIT - but this still leaves 3 prizes totalling £150,000!

Remaining Prizes:
So, do you think you could see yourself winning 1 of the remaining prizes?  Could you invent the best human-powered plane ever to take to the skies?

I mean now would be the perfect time to perfect a mode of transport that uses no fossil fuels and emits not an ounce of carbon (apart from in the poor peddler’s breath!).

Well?
The prizes you need to aim for are needless to say - not the easiest ones - as they have already been claimed, so what you are left with are the following:

A) 26 Mile Marathon Course In Under An Hour (£50,000)

B) Sporting Aircraft Challenge - stressing maneuverability (100,000)

C) Local School Challenge - for under 18’s (various prizes awarded annually)   

Still think you are up for the challenge?
It would be amazing to think of the multiple advantages to science of the creation of a way to harness human energy and turn it into a forward force.  Obviously the power need not be used for flight, but could be transferred to power just about anything.

Technological advances in these new inventions could lead virtually anywhere - and that is what these awards are trying to promote.

And - if you are not so keen on inventing planes, then take a look at the Sikorsky Prize instead - and build yourself a human powered helicopter instead!  This would win you and your team a tasty $250,000! 

Good Luck!

posted by admin on Apr 20

Your Basketball or Football can now be made with eco friendly materials at no extra cost to you!

It does seem that some advances in manufacturing could have taken place years ago, but it was all down to laziness that things stayed the same.

What I’m talking about is a sport equipment supplier that are now making all their sports balls (and more) out of ethically sourced materials.  This hasn’t really been done before as people we always happy (or at least not bothered) to change from the cheap and sometimes environmentally damaging alternatives.

All through history, people have found the easiest way to make something, and no-one ever complained.  If someone did offer up an alternative it may well have been a bit more expensive or a bit difficult to get hold of and as no-one really saw the point of changing - everything remained the same.

However now, things ARE changing.  People have found that previous products were damaging the very planet we live on, and even though the manufacturers were making a huge profit - we; the consumers, were only getting their products a little bit cheaper than the more ethical alternatives.  And so we brought the alternative.

The Brand of Ethletic are one such manufacturer, and have found that they can make sports products from sustainable and eco friendly materials, and sell them for virtually the same cost as ‘normal’ sports products.

So that is what they have done.

Their Products:
Ranging from basketballs, footballs, childrens sneakers, sporting accessories, brightly-colored baseball boots and even personalised balloons - all their products have an ethical claim and certification.

Whether it is FSC certified forestry for their 100% compostable latex, Fair Trade certification for their rubber and cotton networks, recyclable or biodegradable packaging or their use of only organic cotton - their products are certainly in a niche of their own.

And you can bulk buy products for your school, college or sports group so you get a fair deal too!  And you can choose the color, logo and other wording on them too!

Now there is no need to NOT buy the Fair Trade version of anything really, as these products are becoming more and more available thanks to new manufacturing and retail developments.

posted by admin on Jan 3

There is lots of speculation - but nothing confirmed?

Seeing as the netbook niche has been so popular - and people aren’t put off by the size of the iPhone, it seems as though Apple are going to merge the 2 ideas and create a giant version of the iPhone - about the size of a closed netbook!

The iSlate seems to be the name in the media at the moment - and apparently Apple have already brought the domain name iSlate.com - so are they right?

Apparently Apple have recently released the patent details for such a gadget, but still the details are not certain. 

The ‘Facts’
Well, a 10.1 inch touchscreen display seems to be the most talked about quality of this new gadget, (or possibly a 7 inch smaller version) but writers are also speculating about it having an embedded front facing webcam as well - which would certainly be a nice touch.

The keyboard would be on the screen itself, with the potential for slightly raised areas within the screen to identify where certain ‘home keys’ are if not all keys having raised lips.

Also, it would have internet access - probably wi-fi - with access to iTunes as well as films, TV and books - making it a huge ebook reader!

Apparently rumoured to run on the iPhone OS software, this tablet computer should have all the standard features of any other laptop or netbook.

It is also rumoured that an industry insider reported that Apple are already in the process of making up to 10 million iSlate tablet computers for release this year; 2010.

The Idea:
Some of the mock-up images of the iSlate look amazing with a magazine front cover on it, or some photo’s of friends, but how will you carry it around?  Yeah, ladies can put it in their purse - but it won’t be fitting in any-one’s jean pocket - so will it be as social as the iPhone currently is?

Without a ‘lid’ so to speak - will it be practical for use and transporting around between meetings or when on vacation?  The screen could be up for a real hard time - unless it stays at home like a coffee table ‘book’ used for parties, get-togethers or instead of the TV!

And the cost will certainly be around the same as a small netbook as well - or more for all the Apple specific features - so people are guessing at around $800 to $1000 for an estimated price.

The Launch:
Apple have apparently rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco for an announcement about a ’major product launch’ on January 26th, 2010.

And there is apparently an artists impression of a possible Apple Tablet computer on a Clearwire site showing all the other Apple gadgets! Interesting indeed.

See you at the end of the month!

posted by admin on Dec 28

Why is so much money still be spent on inventions for our pleasure rather than our survival?

There is plenty of talk about the range of new products and technologies that we need to be inventing in the next few decades to make sure that we lower carbon emissions and get energy from water - yet money is still being spent on inventing another mobile phone application to help you call the restaurant down the road without using a phone book!

Or inventing a talking, dancing giant hamster for kids to play with?

Should the world start looking at more pressing inventions, and stop funding things ‘for fun’ or just ‘to find out what so-and-so does’?

Yes, Because…..

There could be a massive argument that without funding of alternative energy sources or a reduction in the emissions from current energy practices - there won’t really be a captive audience left to buy that hamster!

If the scientific facts floating about at the moment about the effects of our emissions and our other activities, then there are going to be some major changes to the way we view ‘normal’.

People can get quite frustrated with the governments or science bodies when they hear about apparently pointless studies and inventions.  People want to see things being achieved that will change their lives - not finding the elusive Higgs -Boson!

No, Because…..

So many things have been invented for one purpose - but then changed slightly to do something completely different - and what if that new thing was the best invention ever?

I know this money all comes from us somewhere down the line (as does all funding) but the more people there are tinkering with this and that - the more chance they will find something great.

We all know the story of Post-It notes and the like, where it’s all a big mistake, but maybe we are looking at the environment in the wrong way and we need a scientist to accidentally turn up with the answer to everything!