The Intersection of Science Fiction and Green.

The car you see above may look like one of the many GM or Toyota prototypes that are still many years away from production but  in fact, this one is already on the road (in California.)  With an amazing 100 miles per charge (8 hours for a full charge) you might be thinking the Aptera is some million dollar one off wonder car but in fact, it costs a mere $20,000.  Pretty amazing considering it has: driver and passenger airbags, back up cameras, LED interior and exterior lights, RFID (radio frequency ID) key fob, Solar panel assisted climate control and GPS touch screen navigation all rolled into one 1500lbs package.  As good as this may sound however, I think the design of the Aptera is too much of a step forward on the design front.  I think the auto industry needs to ease into electric cars by using more conventinal design like the Toyota Prius or the Honda Civic Hybrid.   Although the radical design may not be the best, I do like the name Aptera which means a sort of wingless flight. 

High Tech Faucet

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Dvice.com recently posted a weird and wacky article on the ihouse faucet, a peculiar piece of hardware controlled with a touch screen.  Using internal lights, the faucet can also display the temperature of the water by changing the colour of its lights. You can also check your email, the weather, or your calendar via the screen.  For a more comprehensive article visit dvice.com

JetLev

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Who's Watching Big Brother?

When a security guard is trying to watch a bank of up to twenty monitors there is the obvious problem of not being able to see them all at once.  Ulas Vural and Yusuf Akgul of the Gebze Institute of Technology realized this and developed a system which recognizes when a security guard has overlooked particular footage on a particular monitor.  Using web-cam like iris tracking cameras, and some complex software, the system detects when a CCTV operator has his attention focused elsewhere by tracking the direction with which his irises are pointing.  Then, at the end of the operator's shift,  the program compiles a video of all the footage he missed, omitting parts where there are no moving people, cars, or objects. For more information >>