By Rebecca Northfield With the wind and the rain beating down our summer happiness, I begin to reminisce on the beautiful, albeit brief, warm weather we had and the joy it brought me. When the winter months come knocking, I … Continue reading BTPT: #Bizarre, #pointless #technologies: #smart umbrella, electronic fly swatter, G+Didi washing machine, calming wristband
Each pull-out page of the “Drinkable Book” contains nanoparticles of silver that can kill waterborne bacteria and purify up to 100 litres of water. In trials, the paper successfully removed more than 99 per cent of bacteria. The research is being presented at this week’s American Chemical Society’s national meeting. E&T news covered the Drinkable Book story earlier this week. Click on the graphic for an expanded view. Continue reading #DrinkableBook could save lives by purifying water page by page – an annotated infographic
The “Internet of Things” is the next major technology battle, pitting the likes of Google’s Nest against Apple’s HomeKit for dominance of the smart home. We remain cheerfully dubious about the genuinely beneficial merits of the ‘smart home’. We’ve never once returned to our reassuringly stupid homes and bemoaned their lack of intelligence, so in what ways will a ‘smarter’ home truly improve our lives? Convince us, boffins! Naturally, E&T magazine is still keeping a close eye on all things IoT. If things that talk to other things to make some things happen is your bag, you might very well … Continue reading Connected homes become the next #IoT and #wearables domestic battleground – an annotated infographic
Google has restructured to create a new holding company called Alphabet, separating its core web advertising business from newer ventures like driverless cars. The planned structure resembles that employed by General Electric, with a central unit handling corporate-wide activities such as finance and relatively independent business units focused on specific areas. Analysts have interpreted the move as an attempt to focus on some of its more ambitious projects in areas such as wearable devices, driverless cars, home automation and Internet connectivity. The irony of this somewhat underwhelming announcement (it must be August for this to be such big news) is … Continue reading Google’s Alphabet complicates the simplification – an annotated infographic
Japan is preparing to restart its fleet of mothballed nuclear reactors under a new safety regime introduced in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima accident. 24 out of Japan’s 43 operable reactors have applied for restart permits. The first one to be approved is the Sendai plant on the southern island of Kyushu, which could be back online as soon as August 10. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is keen to revive the nuclear plants to reduce Japan’s reliance on expensive fossil fuel imports, which have driven up electricity prices and increased the country’s trade deficit. Click on the graphic for … Continue reading Japan’s nuclear industry set for revival after #Fukushima – an annotated infographic
Lexus is fine-tuning its levitating skateboard, the Lexus Hoverboard, in Barcelona, and has released a video showcasing the full scale of the device’s abilities. The smoke-emitting hoverboard, relying on superconducting magnets cooled to minus 197 degrees Celsius with liquid nitrogen, could be seen put to test by accomplished skateboarders in a palm tree dotted skateboard park. E&T news reported on the Lexus hoverboard story earlier today. We’ve got the cool videos of it up there, as well. Check it out. Click on the graphic for an expanded view. Continue reading Lexus Slide hoverboard demonstrated on video – an annotated infographic
A minute of silence this morning commemorated the 150,000 victims of the world’s first nuclear explosion targeted to kill civilians – the American attack on Japan’s Hiroshima, which took place 70 years ago today. Uranium fission that provided the basis for the construction of a nuclear weapon was first described by German scientists in 1938. America was thus impelled to fast-track the development of the atomic bomb technology with the knowledge that the Germans had got a headstart. E&T news reported on the Hiroshima 70th anniversary event earlier today. Click on the graphic for an expanded view. Continue reading #Hiroshima honours 70th anniversary of the city’s atomic annihilation by the USA – an annotated infographic
Huzzah! Following the public outcry at hitchBOT’s untimely violent demise in Philadelphia (“City of brotherly love” my arse), the roaming robot’s Canadian creators have floated the possibility of resurrecting his remains and giving the human-trusting bot another shot at fulfilling his road trip dreams. HitchBOT 2, Son of HitchBOT: this time it’s personal. Having successfully ventured across the entirety of Canada, then enjoyed a European vacation touring around Germany and the Netherlands, hitchBOT was sadly vandalised and destroyed near the start of his maiden trip across the USA. He had dreams of going to San Francisco and wearing flowers in … Continue reading #HitchBOT could be revived to enjoy further hitchhiking adventures – an annotated infographic
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Exploding A-bombs in the Bikini Tests on remote Pacific islands, marvelling at the mushroom clouds produced, then two decades later realising that it would probably be wise to gather all the nuclear detritus from these sunshine shenanigans and concrete over it all, before sidling away, whistling nonchalantly. So it went in the 1950s and then the 1970s. Now, the giant concrete dome – the Cactus Dome – put in place and filled with nuclear waste is leaking radiation. Built in the late 1970s on one of those remote Pacific islands … Continue reading Atomic bomb test site leaking radiation – an annotated infographic
Air safety investigators have a “high degree of confidence’ that aircraft debris found in the Indian Ocean is part of a wing of a Boeing 777, the same model as missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. E&T news reported the details of this latest flight MH370 development in full last week. Click on the graphic for an expanded view. Continue reading Flight #MH370 debris finally found on remote Reunion island – an annotated infographic
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