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Professor’s solar-panel breakthrough wins Millenium Technology Prize, could lead to solar ubiquity: “

The sun is like a big spender at a casino, throwing wads of energy-money at the spinning roulette table that is the Earth, most of it turning into losses. The amount of solar energy hitting our planet reportedly exceeds global demand by a factor of 5,000.

Hopefully that will change due to a breakthrough by Professor Michael Gratzel, who won this year’s Millenium Technology Prize, the Finland-sponsored competition to develop ‘life-enhancing technological innovations.’ The biannual MTP is recognized as ‘the world’s biggest technology prize’ and Gratzel’s entry could be similarly huge: He’s developed solar cells that are organically made, cheap to produce, translucent, and tintable to a variety of colors.

Hit the jump for a video and more info.

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(Via core77.com’s design blog.)

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Felix Vorreiter’s handheld skywriter: “

More proof that it takes (x) years to make an overnight success: Karlsruhe-based communications designer Felix Vorreiter invented the txtBOMBER back in 2005, but it’s just in the past few days that it’s exploded onto the blogosphere.

What is it? It’s basically a handheld skywriter that prints on walls using an Arduino processor and seven markers. Pretty damn rad!

TEXTBOMER from H@nnes at HfG on Vimeo.

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(Via core77.com’s design blog.)

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Ghosts now officially exist, thanks to Sergey Larenkov’s computational rephotography: “

Photographer Sergey Larenkov uses computational rephotography (as shown above and explained here by Wired) to overlay extant WWII-era photographs on their corresponding modern settings. The results are both spooky and stunning:

The shots really do have to be seen large, so check out Larenkov’s LJ page for the rest of ‘em.

via gizmodo

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(Via core77.com’s design blog.)

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Guimeraicinca’s SunRed solar moped concept: “

The armadillo-like SunRed solar moped concept features a cool way to cover the bike up when it’s parked: a retractable shell covered in solar panels. When you’re ready to go, just roll the cover back and fire the moped up, as it’s now been juiced up by the sun.

Designed by Barcelona-based Guimeraicinca, a partnership between designers and educators Oriol Guimera and Joan Cinca, the SunRed won a special jury mention at the Barcelona International Motor Show’s Awards for Technological Innovation. Check out more Guimeraicinca projects here.

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(Via core77.com’s design blog.)

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Telescopic eye implant approved by the FDA: “

Telescopic eye implant approved by the FDA originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:29:00 EDT.

(Via Engadget.)

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Wireless in the world 2: “

Visualizing wireless networks in the physical world – @TimoArnall is back with round 2

Wireless in the world 2 from timo on Vimeo.

from: laboralcentrodearte.org/en/735-concept

(via brainpicker)

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(Via swissmiss.)

Must-see interface design video: Before displays go 3D, there’s still amazing possibilities with 2D: “

Much has been made of forthcoming 3D display technology, which has the potential to revolutionize how we interact with data. But until that day comes, there are still plenty of things we can do with 2D displays that mimic 3D and require 3-dimensional user input. To see what we’re talking about, check out the absolutely mind-blowing display technology, demonstrated at TED by researcher John Underkoffler, which kottke.org has dubbed the ‘Real-world Minority Report computer interface.’

Fast-forward to 6:30 and get ready to spit your drink out:

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(Via core77.com’s design blog.)

Web 3.0: “

A story about the Semantic Web. Transcript, interview bios, and other info on kateray.net
Downloadable version on drop.io/web3point0

Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.

(via jeffbeil)

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(Via swissmiss.)

LG’s “Design the Future” design competition winners: “

LG has announced the winners of their 3rd Annual Design the Future Competition, which asked entrants to ‘define the future of mobile communication’ via a design for a cell phone. Oddly, the press release does not include images of the winning design (done by Virginia Tech ID students Zack Filbert, Chris Carpenter, James Connors, and Kees Luyendijk) but does include runners up:

The second place winning entry - titled Premium - is a mobile phone with 3D interface that connects the phone and the car together to adjust in-car climate, control the infotainment system, select seat memory, check tire pressure, gauge the fuel amount, etc. It should come as no surprise that the winner, Nouphone Bansasine, is a professional car designer.

This year’s competition marked the first-ever Prop Mater’s Choice Award which was given to Dua Xiong for his cutting-edge design titled the Flutter. A smartphone that fans open to reveal a beautiful flexible OLED touch screen that scrolls radially, the Flutter has won the opportunity to be featured in future blockbuster film.

Participants submitted a wide range of ideas including accessories and concepts for the disabled. For example, an honorable mention - titled Atlas - is a smartphone that docks into a base which projected the pages, so you can view multiple applications simultaneously. The dock features a tracking system which senses your hand gestures, so you can spin the pages in a loop and zoom in and out.

Another honourable mention - titled Surface - is a watch phone for the blind and features a Braille keypad and a unique shape, so you can distinguish orientation of the phone by feel.

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(Via core77.com’s design blog.)

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FirstView’s $95 Android / Windows CE PC607V tips a craptablet iceberg at CeBIT: “

Doesn’t look too bad for a $95 Android tablet, huh? Well, there’s plenty more where that came from. Scattered along the main halls of CeBIT are dozens of Chinese and Taiwanese consumer electronics resellers looking to sell products to new customers, and this year they sure loaded up the suitcases with cheap Android / Windows CE tablets. For the most part all these tablets (or small smartbooks) have ARM 9 or 11 processors and 5 to 7-inch resistive touch displays. While some like the FirstView PC607V tablet (pictured above) have attractive skins on top of Windows CE, others from companies like Forsa and Huawei have gone with stock versions of Android. In truth, all of the ones we played with felt chintzy, but it was easier to lower our standards when we learned they wouldn’t draw more than $150 from our wallets. We’ve got a hands-on video with FirstView’s Android tablet after the break, but if that doesn’t fill your cheap tablet needs hit the more coverage links for videos by some serious Android / ARM tablet lovers.

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(Via Engadget.)

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