iPhone 3G S Upgrade Eligibility Update

After much thought and many complaints from AT&T customers, AT&T has gone ahead and changed the eligibility for their best upgrade pricing to the iPhone 3G S. When the iPhone 3G S eligibility rules were released, current iPhone 3G customers were taken back and began complaining against the upgrade prices of $399 and $499. Customers who previously would not have become upgrade eligible until July, August, or September of this year, will now qualify for AT&T’s lowest upgrade pricing starting tomorrow, making them eligible to purchase the iPhone 3G S at $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB).

We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18.

The updated eligibilty tools will reflect this change on June 18th. If you’ve already pre-ordered an iPhone 3G S, the price of the device will be adjusted when picked up, or credit will be given for the difference in price. If you still aren’t eligible for our best upgrade pricing and you still want iPhone 3G S now, you do have options:

* You may qualify for the iPhone 3G S early upgrade price of $399 (16GB) or $499 (32GB).
* You can pay full retail—and not have to sign a 2-year contract—at $599 (16GB) or $699 (32GB).

Users can check their upgrade eligibility status by visiting AT&T’s iPhone page, calling *NEW# on their AT&T handset, or visiting any AT&T store. Remember, the new pricing will not appear in the eligibility tools listed until Thursday, June 18th.

So will these changes encourage you to go buy an iPhone 3G S. Do you plan on waiting in the lines this Friday or will you wait for the crowds to die down?

Hybrid Scooter That Runs on Anything That Burns

The multimillionaire inventor behind the Segway personal transporter is developing of a new bike that combines electric power and a radical generator which will allow it to burn almost any fuel.
Built around a fairly conventional battery and electric motor combination to provide the drive to the wheel, something experience with the Segway makes relatively easy, the radical part of the design is the inclusion of a Stirling engine to recharge the bike's battery pack.
Based on technology that pre-dates the internal combustion engine by nearly a century, the Stirling engine is closer in concept to a steam engine, using external combustion, and without the need for a fuel that can be injected and burned incredibly fast inside a normal engine's combustion chamber, it can run on virtually anything that burns – opening the door to easily renewable fuels rather than relying on dwindling fossil fuel supplies.

Portable, Inkless Printer

Dell has released a photo printer that uses a technology called Zero-ink. Dell’s Wasabi PZ310 Ultramobile Photo Printer holds up to 12 sheets of adhesive-backed ZINK Paper, and can connect to a digital camera via PictBridge or wirelessly to a camera phone or computer via Bluetooth.

ZINK Zero-ink technology replaces the hassles and expense of ink or toner with paper that is embedded with cyan, yellow and magenta dye crystals. These crystals respond to targeted heat pulses of specific duration to form all the colors of the rainbow and produce prints that are long-lasting, smudge-proof, water-resistant, tear-proof and fade-resistant.

'Waterless' Washing Machine

A washing machine that cuts water usage by 90% is due to hit American shores next year. The Xeros washing machine, which takes its name from the Greek word for “dry”, cleans clothes using reusable nylon polymer beads with an inherent polarity that attracts stains.

The beads are added to the wash along with as little as a cup of water and a drop of detergent. After the water dissolves the stains, the beads, which become absorbent under humid conditions, soak up the water along with the dirt. The dirt is not just attracted to the surface, but is absorbed into the center of the beads.

The Intelligent Hose

The Measuring Consumption water sprayer displays how much water is consumed during your watering/washing activities. This knowledge can help you save water consumption because you will know when and where you are using the most water.

Metromorph - The Car That Hangs Out of Your Window

The Metromorph hangs outside of a high-rise window. At the push of a button, it gently glides down to the ground level. When it touches ground it transforms into a car.
The Peugeot Metromorph is powered by two in wheel motors placed in the back. There are two battery cases on the back as well. The seats are held by rotating arms which keep the seat level when the vehicle goes vertical or horizontal. When the vehicle is a balcony the seats are placed on a rolling base which enables them to become lounge chairs thus freeing up the interior of the car to make it a balcony. The interior is also left fairly hollow to accommodate the balcony mode.

Atrificial Heart Inspired by Cockroaches

Cockroaches have multi-chambered hearts shaped like tubes that are much more resistant to failure than human hearts. The chambers are organized sequentially, each one pushing blood into the next, until the ideal output pressure is reached in the last chamber. Due to this setup, a single chamber failure in a cockroach heart is not cataclysmic to the organ; It can continue beating, but with less efficiency.
A team of biomedical engineers out of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITK), have developed a new artificial heart, modeled after this muti-chamber idea. But instead of shaping the heart as a tube, they've created the chambers in a series of concentric spheres like an onion.

Airless Tire

A new airless tire using a flexible, honeycomb-like internal structure could again prove to be a disruptive technology in one of the world’s largest industries. With development funded by the U.S. DoD, the initial aim of the project was to replace the Achilles heel of the military vehicle, but now the technology looks like going commercial for the rest of us.
The patent-pending Resilient design relies on a precise pattern of six-sided cells that are arranged, like a honeycomb, in a way that best mimics the "ride feel" of pneumatic tires. The honeycomb geometry also does a great job of reducing noise levels and reducing heat generated during usage - two common problems with past applications.

Citrus-Powered Car

The Stauro Concept is an innovative idea that looks at alternative source of fuel in a much more creative way than most.
The Stauro has a 700 horsepower engine that runs on a citrus based fuel and burns almost completely clean. The Stauro will also have as many recycled materials as feasibly possible. The shell will be 100% recycled aluminum, while the body panels will be constructed using a new kind of resin that is mixed using up to 40% recycled materials.
The Stauro is still in the design phase, but could enter production without too much trouble.

Energy Bracelet Recharges Phones

Dyson Energy Bracelet is a gadget that uses the Seebeck effect to harness energy and power mobile phones. The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage.
Thanks to the Seebeck effect, the temperature difference between the surface which touch the skin and the other which is in the ambient air allows to produce electricity that is stocked in a battery. When the user needs to recharge a mobile device, he plugs it into the Dyson Energy through a micro-USB port and can have some additional minutes in use.

The World's Fastest Cars

Gas prices are up. The economy is down. For some, neither matters--all they want is to be able to drive faster than anyone else on the road, whatever the cost.

And the cars that can deliver that promise are built solely for speed. They're not the kinds of cars that are particularly good for anything else, such as dropping off the kids at school (unless they're running exceptionally late that day) or picking up a carton of milk on the way home from work.

These cars reach obscene speeds in mere seconds, the same amount of time that normal cars need just to warm up. Just ask Tom duPont, publisher of duPont Registry, a gallery of fine automobiles.

"A Bugatti test driver took a $100 bill and plastered it on the dashboard," recalls duPont, who was invited to strap into the passenger seat for a demonstration drive. "He told me I could have it if I could grab it once we took off."

The French-made Bugatti Veyron races from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and effortlessly cruises to a top speed of 253 mph. Most probably can't imagine what that feels like, but duPont learned firsthand.

"The car accelerates so fast that you can't touch [the $100 bill]," he said. "You can't move your hands.”

Rescue Reel Escape Device

The Rescue Reel is a compact, self-contained device designed to allow people to escape from high-rise buildings in an emergency. The design features a simple sling harness and enough cord to descend from a 100 story building, yet the device is small enough to be stored in a standard filing cabinet drawer.
The user first attaches the Kevlar cord to a secure object (such as a door frame) and then steps into the one-size-fits-all harness before rappelling through an open window to the ground.
The device is also equipped with a dynamic braking system which automatically applies a centrifugal brake to slow the person’s descent.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Inflatable Tower Could Reach the Edge of Space

Researchers say that a giant inflatable tower could carry people to the edge of space without the need for a rocket, and could be completed much sooner than a cable-based space elevator.
Inflatable pneumatic modules already used in some spacecraft could be assembled into a 15-kilometre-high tower, say Brendan Quine, Raj Seth and George Zhu at York University in Toronto, Canada.
If built from a suitable mountain top it could reach an altitude of around 20 KM, where it could be used for atmospheric research, tourism, telecoms or launching spacecraft.
The tower does a similar job as the proposed space elevator. But while the elevator envisages using ribbons woven from superstrong nanotubes - a material that is as yet non-existent - the tower would use materials that are already available.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Controlling Heat in Large Data Centers

At the Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers are using a 1,100-square-foot simulated data center to optimize cooling strategies and develop new heat transfer models that can be used by the designers of future facilities and equipment.
The researchers believe that there exists the potential to reduce data center energy consumption by as much as 15 percent by adopting more efficient cooling techniques being developed by their lab.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Convertible Motorcycle-Aircraft

Samson Motorworks has developed an aircraft/motorcycle multi mode vehicle. Two dual-use Multi Mode Vehicles models are in development - the Skybike, which uses a patent pending telescoping wing design, and the Switchblade, which uses a scissor wing design to retract the wings when you swap the airway for the freeway.
The MMVs feature a canard layout, with the main wing at the back and the tailplane at the front. This design keeps the center of weight low and to the rear, reducing the potential for overturning while traveling on the ground and placing most of the lift where the majority of the weight is located, resulting in greater stability while airborne. Additionally, the canard design is also stall resistant, providing an extra level of safety. The company aims to have its designs classified as motorbikes for ground based travel.

Ferrari Testa Rossa

The Testarossa name, which, in Italian means "red head", comes from the red-painted cylinder heads on the flat-12 engine. The engine was technically a 180° V engine, since it shared flat-plane crankshaft pins with opposing cylinders. Output was 390 hp (291 kW), and the car won many comparison tests and admirers - it was featured on the cover of Road & Track magazine nine times in just five years. Almost 10,000 Testarossas, 512TRs, and 512Ms were produced, making it one of the most common Ferrari models, despite its high price and exotic design. In 1985, the Testarossa retailed for about $94,000 ($176,032 in 2006 dollars) in the United States. This included a $2,700 (i.e., $5,100) "gas-guzzler" tax.
Although successful on the road, the Testarossa did not appear on race tracks, unlike the 512BBi, which had done so with minor success.The original Testarossa was thoroughly re-engineered for 1991 and released as the 512TR, effectively a completely new car. It increased the output of the 4.9 L engine to 428 hp (319 kW).

The 512TR's engine was modified in many ways. Nikasil liners were added, along with a new air intake system, Bosch engine management system, 10.1:1 compression ratio with new pistons, larger intake valves, and a revised exhaust system. In addition to the extra power, the modifications delivered a flatter torque curve for better acceleration.

Google Wave Aims to Reinvent Email

This week Google introduced Google Wave, which one of its developers claims is "what email would look like if it were invented today."
Google Wave draws together email, instant messaging, web chatting and project management software. Users can swap a range of files from videos to documents among friends in real time. There's also the option to instant message those within a conversation window or "wave" in real time - that's to say, you see what your friends are typing as they type, rather than waiting for them to finish a sentence and post it to online.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Electric-Powered Superbike

TTX Grand Prix founder Azhar Hussein has built a demonstrator electric superbike based around a Suzuki GSX 750 and dubbed it the TTX01. It's the first prototype of what he hopes will become a production motorcycle within a year or three.

The first green-powered Grand Prix bike has been built by the people behind the TTXGP, the world's first clean emission motorcycle race due to be held on June 12 on the Isle of Man as part of the annual TT races.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Stem-Cell Contact Lenses Restore Sight in One Month

Researchers have restored sight in patients suffering corneal damage using a groundbreaking technique where contact lenses are cultured with stem cells.
Stem cells from the cornea stick to contact lenses - employing three patients who were blind in one eye, the researchers obtained stem cells from their healthy eyes and cultured them in extended wear contact lenses for ten days. The surfaces of the patients’ corneas were cleaned and the contact lenses inserted. Within 10 to 14 days the stem cells began to recolonize and repair the cornea.
Of the three patients, two were legally blind but can now read the big letters on an eye chart, while the third, who could previously read the top few rows of the chart, is now able to pass the vision test for a driver’s license.
The research team has applied for funds to continue the project.