Using Waste to Power Car

Two Spanish engineers created an R/C car that runs on aluminum (soda tabs) and sodium hydroxide. This little car zips around at 20 mph and lasts about 40 minutes. This creation just goes to show that our waste can be put to better use than being dumped into a landfill. There are so many possibilities that go along with this re-use of waste products. This could ultimately lead to waste-powered vehicles, alternative fuels. I waited to post because I was looking for a video to show but the video engadget provides is perfect.

R/C car runs on soda tabs

Mandated Data Roaming

This is right up my alley... The Federal Communications Commission recently decided to mandate data roaming. Now the big cellular companies will have to allow their users to access their e-mails and such, despite that they pay their dues to a regional carrier.

I have a dumb phone so I was not aware that roaming charges were even being applied to those with data plans so I was a bit surprised roaming charges still existed. I definitely can see why the FCC decided to include data roaming. It was inconsistent with the dismissal of roaming charges for voice calls and messaging. I think that this change will definitely be something most cell phone users are grateful for, especially those without dumb phones like mine.

FCC Mandate

Nanogenerators

I was perusing through engadget as usual and there is a recently posted article about nanogenerators. Nanogenerators are extremely small fibers that when flexed or strained will emit an electrical charge. If these fibers are woven into your clothing, you could charge your phone in your pocket! How convenient would that be? They took a bunch of the fibers and placed them into a stamp size chip and found that flexing and straining the fibers within this small chip emitted the power of two AA batteries. I think nanogenerators will lead to some definite good in the future... until we find out they cause cancer or some sort of bodily damage.
Info here: Nanogenerators

Interact with Advertisements

I found an article on engadget.com discussing augmented reality advertising in London. Basically, travelers in a train station would be walking through and reach the advertisement area where there were on camera with a large screen up above. Those walking into the advertising square would look up to see themselves accompanied by a fallen angel featured in the advertisement of their product. I think this is definitely a great marketing strategy because not only are consumers paying attention to their advertising, they are interacting with it as you can see in the video I have included. The original post is located here: Augmented Reality Advertisement

Creepy Phone

Alright, so this was not necessarily interesting but it definitely caught my eye. The article I found discusses the Elfoid which is a lot like the Telenoid R1, if anyone knows what that is. Elfoid is basically a small, human-shaped cell phone meant to be carried around in your pocket just as the average cell phone. Not only is the human-like design creepy, but this phone is designed to tickle you when it rings. You talk into the devices "belly" and Elfoid streams the voice of the person you are talking to through its face, which seems normal but wait, it only gets weirder... The device is also designed to make similar gestures as the person to whom you are speaking with. It is supposed to resemble an in-person conversation, I suppose, but I find this to be weird and a bit creepy. The idea is pretty nifty but I am not sure how I would handle sitting face to face with a devices like these.

I found a video of the Telenoid R1 just to demonstrate the gesturing of these devices. Let me know how you feel about it. Information received from: Elfoid .

VR Technology

Virtual Reality Technology caught my attention lately in a few of my different classes so I found an article discussing it. This particular technology is not new, however, it proves very useful and I previously did not know about it. Basically, VR technology is a web-based interactive simulation that is currently used in many ways. These simulations are used to train military personnel, first responders, and even medical personnel. Those going through training interact with the simulation that demonstrates real-life situations designated to the profession in order to habituate, you could say, the trainee to the environment in which they will be immersed. For example, military personnel train in combat simulations, police officers interact with a virtual crime scene, and medical personnel perform surgery on a virtual patient.

 A different use for VR technology is that for treatment of psychological disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety disorders, and/or phobic disorders. Many psychologists utilize this technology to desensitize a patient to the stimulus which provokes the symptoms of his/her disorder. I watched a video in my Abnormal Psychology class in which an individual suffering from a phobia of spiders underwent treatment via VR technology. The individual was slowly introduced to more and more anxiety producing stimuli involving spiders in order to overcome the phobia. You will be glad to know, the patient can now happily hold a tarantula and no longer suffers from the phobia.

I think that Virtual Reality technology has really come a long way and proves itself very useful. I, personally, believe there are more pros than cons (probably because I cannot think of any cons without more research being done). If you are interested the site is here: Virtual Reality

I have also included a video in which an individual has a panic disorder and the treatment is exposure therapy via, you guessed it, Virtual Reality technology:

New Biopsy Methods

I found a neat article discussing a device that a University of Rochester professor created. This device is used in order to take high-resolution 3D images below the skin, which could possibly eliminate biopsies. The prototype that this professor created apparently has a liquid lens, kind of crazy, that takes thousands of images below the epidermis and creates a 3D image of what is underneath the skin. Apparently, the lens is made of water instead of the typical glass lens. I thought that was pretty interesting... I mean, how reliable is a water lens? Probably easy to replace but how does it keep it's shape? I just can't even imagine how it works. This device has been tested but they do not forsee its day-to-day use in the near future.

This article is located here: Biopsy replacement device