Games Gadgets n Technology

Friday, August 10, 2007

NASA sends first teacher into space

Cape Canaveral, USA : NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour blasted off Wednesday sending the first teacher into space 21 years after the Challenger explosion tragically ended the dream of another pioneering teacher.

Teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, 55, has become the star of the second shuttle mission to the International Space Station this year. Her chance to fly into space finally came with Endeavour’s launch at 6:36 pm (2236 GMT) Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral.

“Class is in session,” said a NASA mission control spokesman after the external fuel tank separated from the shuttle and the Endeavour entered its orbit less than nine minutes into the flight.

The shuttle is to reach the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) on Friday at 1753 GMT.

Morgan had trained alongside fellow teacher Christa McAuliffe in the 1980s as a backup for the Challenger shuttle mission.

NASA had hoped that sending a teacher into space would fire the imaginations of millions and keep up support for its shuttle program. But on January 28, 1986, Challenger exploded and broke up 73 seconds after blast-off, killing all seven aboard.

After the Challenger disaster Morgan went back to teaching, and then rejoined NASA in 1998.

Once in space she will operate robotic arms on the ISS and the shuttle to unload and install new equipment and supplies on the space station.

Endeavour is on an 11-day mission to continue the expansion of the ISS. The mission will carry a truss section about the size of a small car to extend the space station to a length of 108 metres, about the size of a football pitch.
The astronauts will also replace a defective gyroscope, one of four keeping the space station on an even keel, and install an exterior stowage platform.

NASA could prolong the mission by three days to include a fourth space walk that will allow crews to inspect for potential damage to the shuttle’s heat shield.

The US space agency has been leery of damage to shuttle heat shields since February 2003, when a broken thermal tile led to the disintegration of shuttle Columbia on re-entry, killing all seven aboard and putting the shuttle program on hold for two-and-a-half years.

NASA finally resumed ISS construction missions last year after conducting two missions aimed at improving safety.

Besides Morgan, the Endeavour crew includes US Navy Cmdr Scott Kelly, the commander; Marine Lt Col Charles Hobaugh, the copilot; Rick Mastracchio, Tracy Caldwell, Air Force Col Alvin Drew and Canadian physician Dave Williams.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Power in your hands

Researchers have found a way to create electricity using only body heat. Future applications could include cell phones with no battery, powered by the heat from your hand…


New circuits transform body heat – such as that of a hand – into electrical energy simply from the temperature difference between a hot and a cold environment. The technology could result in wireless health monitoring systems that are powered by your body heat alone.
Picture a hospital’s Intensive Care Unit: Numerous items of medical equipment are attached to the body of a patient. They monitor his heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, pulse and breathing rate. Now also picture the jumble of power cables in that room. All these devices require their own electricity supply, after all.

But if certain German scientists have their way, medical sensors – in the near future – may be able to function without power from a wall socket.

Instead, they will draw all the power they need from the warmth of the human body. And the respective data will be sent by a radio signal to the central monitoring station.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits – in collaboration with colleagues from the Physical Measurement Techniques section and the Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research team – have developed a way to harness natural body heat to generate electricity.

The new system works on the principle of thermoelectric generators (TEG), made from semiconductor elements.

The TEGs extract electrical energy simply from the temperature difference between a hot and a cold environment.

Normally, a difference of several tens of degrees would be required in order to generate enough power, but the differences between the body’s surface temperature and that of its environment are only a few degrees.

“Only low voltages can be produced from differences like these,” explains Peter Spies, a manager with this project. A conventional TEG delivers roughly 200 millivolts, but electronic devices require at least one or two volts.

The engineers have come up with a solution to this problem.

“We combined a number of components in a completely new way to create circuits that can operate on 200 millivolts,” says Spies. “This has enabled us to build entire electronic systems that do not require an internal battery, but draw their energy from body heat alone.”

The scientists are making further improvements to this system: Circuits that are “excited” at 50 millivolts already exist. Spies believes that in future, when further improvements have been made, a temperature difference of only 0.5 degrees will be sufficient to generate electricity.

The scientists have set their eyes on a wide range of possible applications.

“Electricity can be generated from heat, any place where a temperature difference occurs,” claims Spies. “That could be on the body, on radiators to meter the heating costs, when monitoring the cooling chain during the transport of refrigerated goods, or in air conditioning systems.”

It’s thinner, it’s faster, it’s recyclable: The new iMacs

Cupertino, United States: Apple on Tuesday unveiled a new line of iMac computers and slick software, hoping the glow of iPod MP3 players and iPhones will help shine Apple’s core products.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, in his trademark blue jeans and black shirt, demonstrated the offerings to reporters and analysts at the company’s headquarters in the Silicon Valley city of Cupertino.

“The iMac has a tremendous amount of momentum,” Jobs said. “We’d like to make it better.”

Apple is replacing its white, plastic iMac with a more powerful, slimmer aluminium-and-glass machine for either the same price or lesser than its predecessors, depending on the model.

Apple calls iMac the “all-in-one” desktop because the hardware – now driven by Intel Core 2 Duo processors – is built into the screen that is also equipped with a Web camera and a
microphone.

That’s right, there’s no bulky CPU to attach to your monitor.

“The iMac has been really successful for us. And we’ve managed to make it even thinner than before,” Jobs said.
In the past, environmental groups have criticised Apple for not doing more to eliminate electronic waste. Jobs replied with the new iMac’s recyclable aluminium-and-glass components.

“It’s really been thought through from a recycling point of view,” he said.

He also showed upgrades and innovations packed into Apple iLife software for organising and editing digital movies, pictures or music.

The company also launched a ‘Web Gallery’ where people can easily share videos and images online using its programs. The software lets people use Google’s AdSense to profit from online advertising on blogs or other personal Web sites.

Another software introduced was a spreadsheet program called ‘Numbers’, in a bid to make Apple computers more attractive to offices and business.

“The overriding message here is, there is an Apple ecosystem,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research.

“It’s not just iPods and iPhones. Sometimes people forget that Apple still makes great computers too.”

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Original or fake? Infrared to detect imitation art

Screening paintings (left) with infrared light reveals the watermarks (right) of the paper mills. These enable works to be dated and examined for authenticity without risk of damage


Recovered paintings of the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt have a unique feature about them: Experts are never really sure which ones he created himself.

Many of the paintings, etchings and drawings attributed to the artist were actually created by his pupils.

And to add to that, several other works - attributed to him - were actually painted by imitators, many decades after the master’s death.

These imitations are so brilliant, that at times, it is even difficult for art historians to distinguish the original works of art from the fakes.

However, German research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut (WKI), in collaboration with colleagues from the TU Braunschweig, have developed a simple way of exposing fake paintings.

The new method screens the pictures with infrared radiation, which exposes the watermarks of the paper mills, thus allowing researchers to date the works without risk of damage.

The watermarks in the paper were woven into the wires of the screen moulds that were used to scoop paper fibres out of the pulp.

“Every paper mill had several different watermarks at any one time - often a different one on each screen mould,” says WKI project manager Peter Meinlschmidt. “We know a lot about which watermarks were used by which paper mill at which period of time.”

Paper can be dated even more accurately by studying tiny changes in the watermarks that were caused as the screen moulds progressively wore out.

Art historians usually hold the drawings against the light to see the watermark. However, the marks are often obscured by ink, handwriting and paints on the front and back of the painting to the point where they are indecipherable.

The former solution was to trace them, which may leave pressure marks on the picture.

X-rays also reveal the watermark, but the X-ray technique is not usually possible in museums for technical reasons and for the sake of radiation protection.

On the other hand, it is risky to remove the works of art from their air-conditioned environments and take them to a laboratory.

“Most inks are transparent in infrared light,” says Meinlschmidt, explaining the crucial feature of the new method. “So we put a warm plate with a temperature of 35 to 40 degrees Celsius behind the picture and use an infrared camera to register how much heat the picture allows to pass through. This shows up the differences in paper density, and thus also the watermark.”

This exposure to heat is perfectly safe for the picture: As it is placed at a distance of one centimetre from the hot plate for the duration of only one second, it absorbs less heat than if it were touched briefly by someone’s fingers.

The Bavarian State Library in Munich is considering using this method to file the watermarks with the respective pictures in its digital archive.

Scientists draw code of ethics for robotics

Seoul: With the advent of robots in the service sector – from those guarding borders to those caring for the elderly – their interaction with humans is on the rise.

Now, South Korea – which has set an ambitious goal of a robot in every home by 2013 – is attempting to draw up a code of ethics for robotic technology.

“We are setting rules on how far robotic technology can go and how humans live together with robots,” said Kim Dae-Won, a professor at Myongji University who heads a team of 12 scientists, doctors, psychologists and robot developers that is writing what it believes will be the world’s first Robot Ethics Charter.

It will be released by year’s end.

“A society in which robots and humans live together may come soon, probably within 10 years,” Dae-Won said.

Many scientists expect the use of babysitting or dishwashing robots by 2050.

The Korean charter will set guidelines to curb the use of robots for undesirable or dangerous purposes.

“The purpose of this charter is to find ways of coexistence between humans and robots, not to restrict the development of robotics,” Kim said.

Key considerations include ensuring that humans maintain control over robots, preventing their illegal use, protecting data acquired by robots and ensuring they can be clearly identified and traced.

Military robots will require separate rules not covered in the charter, Kim said, as the question of legal liability may create hurdles.

Future Robots, now South Korea last year unveiled a high-tech, machine gun-toting sentry robot designed eventually to support troops guarding their borders.

Min Young-Gi, a manager of the Korea Advanced Intelligent Robot Association set up by manufacturers, does not oppose a charter but noted: “The robot industry requires practical guidelines, not a broad, non-binding declaration.”

The association forged a deal with a nursery school chain in July to provide 8,000 network robots that are programmed to play with or teach kids, and provide extra security.

Korean scientists have developed a variety of robots – some devoted to work and others to play.

The state-run Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has developed EveR-2 Muse, a robot version of a woman in her 20s who can hold a conversation, sing a song, make eye contact and express emotions.

Claiming a breakthrough, KAIST said in July it had developed an artificial brain system which enables a robot to make a decision based on context, or check its surroundings before opting how to behave.

Also, about 300 Korean scientists are working on developing robot caregivers which could tackle chores and monitor the health of the elderly. The project is due for completion in 2013.

Sim Hag-Bong, director of the Commerce Ministry’s Robot Industry Division, said the proposed charter “reflects our determination to secure the upper hand in the field of service robots.”

Friday, August 03, 2007

Halt !!!! U R drunk::::CAR TECHNOLOGY


Motorists tempted to get behind the wheel after one alcoholic drink too many could soon get a ticking off from an unlikely source: Their car.

A new concept car, manufactured by Japan’s Nissan Motor Co, with its breathalyser-like detection systems may aid policing systems, the world over, to keep impaired drivers off the road.

Nissan’s prototype alcohol-detection sensors check odour, sweat and driver awareness, issuing a voice alert from the navigation system and locking up the ignition if necessary.

Rivals Toyota and Honda are also researching anti-drink driving systems, said Credit Suisse auto analyst Koji Endo.

“Everybody’s concern nowadays is with safety and environmental issues,” he said.

ALCOHOL ODOUR SENSORS
Nissan’s hi-sensitivity alcohol odour sensor is built into the gear shift knob, which is able to detect the presence of alcohol in the perspiration of the driver’s palm as he or she attempts to start driving.

When the alcohol-level detected is above the pre-determined threshold, the system automatically locks the transmission, immobilising the car.

A ‘drunk driving’ voice alert is also issued via the car navigation system.

Additional alcohol odour sensors are also incorporated into the driver’s and passenger seats to detect the presence of alcohol in the air. When it is detected, the system issues both a voice alert and a message alert on the navigation system monitor.

“We’ve placed odour detectors and a sweat sensor on the gear shift. But, for example, if the gear-shift sensor was bypassed by a passenger using it instead of the driver, the facial recognition system would be used,” Kazuhiro Doi, Nissan’s General Manager, said.

FACIAL RECOGNITIO
N SYSTEM

A camera is mounted behind the steering wheel to monitor the driver’s face. The system is calibrated to monitor the driver’s state of consciousness through the blinking of the eyes.

Upon detecting signs of drowsiness, it issues a voice and message alert. Additionally, a seat-belt mechanism is activated which tightens around the driver to gain his or her immediate attention.

But the system doesn’t become dormant once the car is in motion.


DRIVING BEHAVIOUR


The system constantly monitors the operational behaviour of the vehicle, such as sensing if the vehicle is veering out of its driving lane. It thus identifies signs of inattentiveness in the driver.


Upon detecting such behaviour, voice and message alerts as well as the seat-belt alert mechanism are activated.

NOT YET FOOL-PROOF

However, the car company is still in the process of distilling exactly what impairment means.

“If you drink one beer, it’s going to register, so we need to study what’s the appropriate level for the system to activate,” said Doi.

The automaker is also testing a new on-board breathalyser that will prevent inebriated motorists from starting up their cars.

Nissan has no specific timetable for marketing, but aims to yoke all technology to cut the number of fatalities involving its vehicles to half 1995 levels by 2015.