Make: Online: News from the Future Archives

Archive: News from the Future

February 9, 2010

Screw-in coffin patent issues

This is a choice selection of images from the application for U.S. patent 7,631,404, which has since issued to Donald Scruggs of Chino, CA. The title is "Easy inter burial container." [via Neatorama]

January 23, 2010

Astronaut tweets from space

Pt 2478
Tweeting from weird places (like a space station) is the new "I installed linux on a weird thing"... Next up, the space station will tweet on its own...

Expedition 22 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer made first use of the new system Friday, when he posted the first unassisted update to his Twitter account, @Astro_TJ, from the space station. Previous tweets from space had to be e-mailed to the ground where support personnel posted them to the astronaut's Twitter account.

January 21, 2010

Over at Boing Boing, MAKE bud Xeni Jardin has an interview with MSF (aka "Doctors without Borders") Logistics Supervisor Laurent Dedieu in New York, and Hocine Bouhabib in Haiti, about the inflatable hospitals they're setting up in Port-au-Prince.

How do you create a surgery center in a disaster zone in the shortest amount of time possible? The aid group Doctors Without Borders (aka Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) has developed what they call a "plug and play hospital," a series of inflatable tents with generators and sanitation equipment designed to be mostly independent from the water and power systems typically unavailable after a catastrophe. They are setting up one of these in Haiti right now: 9 tents, 100 beds, including surgery and intensive care areas. And if you think Windows install kits are heavy? This one weighs 41 metric tons.

Haiti: HOWTO set up a plug-and-play hospital - Doctors Without Borders

HP to enter the 3D printer market

Hewlett-Packard sets their sites on the budding, low-cost 3D printer market by signing a deal allowing them to brand Stratasys' pre-established technologies (see above demo) -

Stratasys Inc. (Nasdaq: SSYS), the leading manufacturer of 3D printers and 3D production systems, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement with HP for Stratasys to manufacture an HP-branded 3D printer. Used by product designers and architects, Stratasys 3D printers create three-dimensional plastic models directly from 3D digital designs.

Under the terms of the agreement, Stratasys wil develop and manufacture for HP an exclusive line of 3D printers based on Stratasys’ patented Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. HP will begin a phased rollout of the 3D printers in the mechanical design (MCAD) market in selected countries later this year, with the right to extend distribution globally.

“We believe the time is right for 3D printing to become mainstream,” said Stratasys Chairman and CEO Scott Crump. […]

“There are millions of 3D designers using 2D printers who are ready to bring their designs to life in 3D,” said Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager of HP’s Large Format Printing Business. “Stratasys FDM technology is the ideal platform for HP to enter the 3D MCAD printing market and begin to capitalize on this untapped opportunity.”

For those interested, a related audio webcast from a recent meeting between the two companies can be found on the Stratasys site. Hmmm … sorry HP, looks like Makerbot beat ya to this one ;) Here's hoping HP's printer's consumables don't end up costing more than the machine itself! [via Shapeways]

From the pages of MAKE:

MAKE Volume 21: Desktop Manufacturing

Floating spherical robots dance in space

I just had a major "the future has arrived" moment when I saw this video, taken aboard the ISS, of three spherical robots doing precision formation flying in zero-g. Note that the video embedded above is clearly time-lapsed--they're not actually moving that fast. Here's another video (with inevitable Strauss soundtrack) that shows two of the bots orbiting each other at closer to actual speed. They maneuver using compressed carbon dioxide. It's all part of MIT's SPHERES project. [via BotJunkie]

April 9th: global internet of things day?

The folks at Council, think tank focused on the Internet of Things, have declared April 9th the Global Internet of Things Day to help focus attention on this anticipated burgeoning of smart/RFID-enabled/networked spimes.

Council proposes to hold very small Council meetings anywhere in the world on April 9. These can vary to having a cup of coffee with someone and talk about the Internet of Things or hosting a dinner at your place, or going for a walk on the beach, as long as it is on April 9 and about IoT, and we really pump up the jam on this one on Twitter, Facebook, What-have-you, to make it into a yearly Council Internet of Things day.

More:

January 20, 2010

Awesome wall-climbing robots, including a "snail"

Roboticists at Israel's Ben Gurion University, led by Dr. Amir Shapiro, have posted a cool video on YouTube showing four of their wall-climbing bot designs in action:

First, a magnetic climber that has compliant magnetic wheels and is capable to climb on ferromagnetic surfaces. This robot can be used for inspection of ship hull or bridges. Second, is a Snail inspired wall climbing robot capable of climbing on non metallic surfaces using hot melt glue. The robot secretes the adhesive at the front and peels off the track from the wall at the bottom leaving a trail behind just like the snail does. Third, is a robot that uses sticky wheels in order to attach itself to the wall. It simply has 3Ms sticky tape on the wheels. It can climb on smooth surfaces like glass. Fourth, is a four legged wall climbing robot for climbing on rough surfaces. It has 12 claws made of fishing hooks mounted on each footpad, and it climbs like cat or other rodents.

I think the second bot, the "snail" one, is my favorite. It starts climbing around 0:30. [via BotJunkie]

January 14, 2010

Google files patent on Streetview billboard ad replacer

Google has just filed a patent application for a method to automagically detect billboards in Streetview-type imagery and replace them in real time with Google's own dynamically-generated ads. It's just a patent application at this point, so there's no way of knowing if it's actually going to happen yet. Still, an interesting idea. [via Gizmodo]

January 12, 2010

Real-life "landspeeder" prototype

Noah Shactman just brought Israeli defense contractor Urban Aeronautics' AirMule VTOL UAV project to my attention. The photo released by Urban Aeronautics, shown above, purports to show the first successful hovering flight of an AirMule prototype, secured against wandering off by guy-wires. Video would've been more persuasive. The design goal of the AirMule project is to produce an unmanned vehicle that can be used to ferry supplies into, or wounder soldiers out of, a hostile, closely-packed urban combat environment. [via Danger Room]

January 7, 2010

Alt.CES: Everything's amazing and nobody's happy

The gadget orgy of CES, and the angry kerfuffle over the SparkFun Free Day, made me think of this viral video from an appearance of comedian Louis CK on Conan O'Brien. We take so much of our modern technology and modern services for granted. They seem to almost instantaneously become birthrights to us.

Example: A few months after getting my first iPhone, my son and I went out to lunch. It was the middle of the workday and we were in the middle of putting one of our Make: Books to bed. Thanks to the iPhone, I was able to continue to answer the flurry of email that was gusted into my inbox as we waited for our meal. But this was the first-gen iPhone, with that lovable Edge technology. It was taking "forever" for my mail to load and my responses to woosh their way back out into the aether. I started cursing. My son said: "Yeah, it's such a drag to have to wait a few seconds to answer your email, on your phone, while you're out having lunch." It definitely put a different perspective on things. Without this net phone, I wouldn't have been able to go out to lunch, wouldn't have been able to read and answer any mail, at any speed -- and I hadn't been capable of doing such a thing just a couple of months before. But already, I treated high-speed Net services on my mobile like a right that was being cruelly denied to me.

Louis uses this very example in the video ("Give it a second. It's going into SPACE!"). And the part about how we all take air travel utterly for granted is poignant.

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy [Non-embeddable video]

December 28, 2009

Make paper conductive using simple carbon nanotube ink

Ordinary copy paper can be made highly conductive by treating it with a simple water-based dispersion of carbon nanotubes. Bing Hu and other graduate students under Stanford researcher Yi Cui published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) describing the use of such conductive paper to create high-performing prototype supercapacitors, batteries, and fuel cells. He also studied the wear resistance of the nanotube ink and found that it bonds very tightly to the paper; his data show that soaking, rinsing, and wringing-out in water does not significantly affect the properties of the treated paper. The supplementary information for his PNAS paper is freely available for download and describes his experimental methods in detail, including the recipe for his ink and the trick of reloading a commercial highlighter with it. [via Science Daily]

Researchers create golden aluminum, black platinum, blue silver

Photos by Richard Baker, University of Rochester.

University of Rochester Associate Processor Chunlei Guo has developed a technique that uses a femtosecond laser to blast nanoscale features into the surface of a piece of metal--pretty much any metal. These tiny features interact selectively with white light to reflect a particular color--pretty much any color. It's also possible to achieve a near-perfect black finish and iridescence. If the process can be made economical (it's very slow at present, requiring about half an hour to treat a dime-sized area), it could be a complete game-changer when it comes to finishing metals. Guo gives the example of a bicycle factory that could use only a single laser to make parts of any color or color scheme.

December 24, 2009

Thorium as the future of nuclear power?

Interesting article over on Wired about Kirk Sorensen and the community served by his Energy From Thorium blog. To hear these people tell it, thorium fission in fluid fuel reactors offers an idyllic vision of a boundless-energy-from-the-atom type future no one has really believed in since the early 50s. Thorium, reportedly, is abundant, safe, highly efficient as a nuclear fuel, and produces waste that is radioactive only for a few hundred years instead of tens of thousands.

December 17, 2009

Drone hacking

Drones
Skygrabb9Wk
Drone hacking? Really? With off the shelf software?

Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations. Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes' systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber -- available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet -- to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.

SkyGrabber is software that's usually used to download movies from satellites. It appears you can just hook it up to a satellite dish for for its "connection" and you're off. Instead of downloading the latest Vampire movie, you could get video feeds from the drones. Wild.

In the MakerShed
Mksf4-2
ArduPilot is a full-featured autopilot based on the Arduino open-source hardware platform. It uses infrared (thermopile) sensors for stabilization and GPS for navigation. Requires a GPS module and an infrared XY sensor (not included). The autopilot handles both stabilization and navigation, eliminating the need for a separate stabilization system. It also supports a "fly-by-wire" mode that can stabilize an aircraft when flying manually under RC control, making it easier and safer to fly.

December 13, 2009

What technology don't you use?

Interesting mind stretching video with Kevin Kelly... via Kottke-

I'm interested in how people personally decide to refuse a technology. I'm interested in that process, because I think that will happen more and more as the number of technologies keep increasing. The only way we can sort our identity is by not using technology. We're used to be that you define yourself by what you use now. You define yourself by what you don't use.

What don't you use? For me, it's not so much as a refusal, perhaps I am just starting to optimize. I don't drive or have a car any longer, no TV, TiVo-like device, DVD player, land line or AM/FM radio, recently deleted accounts on most social networks that were value-negative. Removed all Office tools and replaced them with open source versions. "Voicemail" is no longer voice, it's text that is transcribed. Oh, I actually do refuse one thing, a microwave - have one, don't use, don't like it.

December 9, 2009

Your FedEx package is getting hot, and it's right behind you...

Pt 2370
"FedEx Joins the Internet of Things With SenseAware" - Richard writes -

International courier giant Fedex has just released a new tracking device and web service for packages. Called SenseAware, it keeps tabs on the temperature, location and other vital signs of a package - including when it's opened and whether it was tampered with along the way. Fedex is running a trial period of about a year with 50 health care and life science companies, for tracking delivery of surgery kits, medical equipment - and even live organs. We spoke with FedEx head of innovation, Mark Hamm, about SenseAware and how Fedex is tapping into the emerging trend called Internet of Things.

December 8, 2009

Power outlet with USB charging ports

You can pre-order yours now at Fastmac. Supposedly they will ship "in early 2010." Or you could just make your own. If you try it, remember Louie the Lightning Bug: "You gotta play it safe around electricity." [via Slippery Brick]

December 7, 2009

Soft-setting adhesive putty

Sugru is a lot like epoxy putty, except that it sets on exposure to air (so you don't have to knead two different components together) and that it dries to a soft, pliable, bouncy silicone elastomer. It sticks to most surfaces and bonds especially well to metals. [via Hack a Day]

December 4, 2009

Rocket fuel from aluminum and ice

Really cool video, with great experimental footage, chronicling the development of the so-called ALICE (ALuminum and water ICE) solid rocket propellant by a team from Purdue and Penn State. The key to the process is that the metallic aluminum is present as a nano-scale powder, and its oxidation by water thus occurs over a huge surface area and therefore proceeds very quickly, releasing amazing amounts of energy. The video starts with the acoustic mixing of the nano-aluminum with water to make a gray paste which is frozen, in a mold, to make a tubular rocket motor. It then proceeds through various test-bench firings and culminates (at 4:00) in the launch of an actual rocket using the mixture.

December 3, 2009

Cement-impregnated fabric

Although they could probably use some more exciting branding, Concrete Cloth from the UK's Concrete Canvas company is a pretty cool idea. The cloth, which is draped over forming members and then set by exposure to water (as, for instance, from rain), has a projected lifespan of 10 years.