Could Shaking Batteries Power Gadgets?

What if you could recharge batteries simply by shaking them? Japan's Brother Industries thinks its prototype rechargeable batteries could shake up the gadget market.

Brother showed off the prototype Vibration Energy Cell at techno Frontier 2010 this week in Tokyo, demonstrating it in a TV remote control, LED flashlight, and a remote lamp switch.

The generator comes in AA and AAA formats (either in a single case or as a battery attached to a generator, seen above) and produces up to 3.2 volts with a coil, magnet, and condenser.

The juice is enough to power a remote control. By leaving the battery in a remote control and shaking it, the cell will be recharged. It's unclear how long (or vigorously) you'd have to shake it, but I doubt it would require shaking your fist at the TV for an entire episode of your most hated show.

Brother says it developed the Vibration Energy Cell to reduce waste from disposable and rechargeable batteries. But if it gives me another incentive not to hurl my remote at the tube, I'd go for it.

Four Decades Later, Recovering Lunar Images

Between 1966 and 1967, the U.S. launched a series of five unmanned Lunar Orbiter missions that photographed and mapped 99 percent of the lunar surface. The spacecraft, equipped with a dual-lens Kodak camera, captured both a 610mm high-resolution image and a 80mm wide-angle low-resolution image and placed the two exposures on a single roll of 70mm film.

In orbit, the onboard system developed the film, scanned the images into a series of strips, and the analog data was then transmitted to NASA back on Earth where it was written to magnetic tape, stored away, and nearly forgotten.

Around 2005, space entrepreneur Dennis Wingo and Keith Cowing of NASA Watch learned of prior attempts at restoring the images. With a renewed interest from NASA in moon exploration and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter set to go to the moon in 2009, Wingo and Cowing became more and more motivated to work toward restoring the tapes.

Eventually, in mid-2008, with volunteer help and funding from NASA and other outside grants, the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) moved the 1,478 tape cartridges and the drives into an abandoned McDonald's which is (still) slated for demolition at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

Solar Plane Stays Aloft For 26 hours

PARIS — Slender as a stick insect, a solar-powered experimental airplane with a huge wing span completed its first test flight of more than 24 hours on Thursday, powered overnight by energy collected from the sun during a day aloft over Switzerland.

The organizers said the flight was the longest and highest by a piloted solar-powered craft, reaching an altitude of just over 28,000 feet above sea level at an average speed of 23 knots, around 26 miles per hour.

The plane — Solar Impulse — landed where it had taken off 26 hours and 9 minutes earlier at Payerne, 30 miles southwest of the capital, Bern, after gliding and looping over the Jura Mountains, its 12,000 solar cells absorbing energy to keep its batteries charged when the sun went down.

The pilot, André Borschberg, 57, a former Swiss air force fighter pilot, flew the plane from a cramped, single-seat cockpit, buffeted by low-level turbulence after takeoff and chilled by low temperatures overnight.

“I’ve been a pilot for 40 years now, but this flight has been the most incredible one of my flying career,” Mr. Borschberg said as he landed, according to a statement from the organizers of the project. “Just sitting there and watching the battery charge level rise and rise thanks to the sun. I have just flown more than 26 hours without using a drop of fuel and without causing any pollution.”

The project’s co-founder, Dr. Bertrand Piccard, who himself achieved fame by completing the first nonstop,round the world flightby hot air ballon in 1999, embraced the pilot after he landed the plane to the cheers of hundreds of supporters.

“When you took off it was another era,” The Associated Press quoted Dr. Piccard as saying. “You land in a new era where people understand that with renewable energy you can do impossible things.”

The project’s designers had set out to prove that, theoretically at least, the plane with its airliner-size, 208-foot wingspan could stay aloft indefinitely, recharging batteries during the day and using the stored power overnight. “We are on the verge of the perpetual flight,” Dr. Piccard said.

The project’s founders say their ambition is for one of their craft to fly around the world using solar power. The propeller-driven Solar Impulse, made of carbon fiber, is powered by four small electric motors and weighs around 3,500 pounds. During its 26-hour flight, the plane reached a maximum speed of 68 knots, or 78 miles per hour, the organizers said.

The seven-year-old project is not intended to replace jet transportation — or its comforts.

Just 17 hours after takeoff, a blog on the project's website reported, “André says he’s feeling great up there.”

It continued: “His only complaints involve little things like a slightly sore back as well as a 10-hour period during which it was minus 20 degrees Celsius in the cockpit.

“That made his drinking water system freeze up and worse of all his iPod batteries die.”

How Flying Cars Will Work?

Sitting amidst a sea of cars in bumper-to-bumper traffic on an endless expresswa y, have you ever daydreamed about your car taking off and flying over the road? Imagine if you could just flip a switch and unshackle yourself from the asphalt!

Traffic jams are the bane of any commuter. Many of us spend an hour or so stuck in traffic every week. The growing population is partly to blame for our congested roads, but the main problem is that we are not expanding our transportation systems fast enough to meet ever increasing demands. One solution is to create a new type of transportation that doesn't rely on roads, which could one day make traffic jams a 20th century relic. To do this, we must look to the sky.In the last century, airplanes and mass- produced cars have changed the way we live. Cars, which became affordable for the general population, have allowed us to move farther away from cities, and planes have cut travel time to faraway destinations considerably. At the beginning of a new century, we may see the realization of a century-old dream -- the merging of cars and planes into roadable aircraft, or flying cars. You've probably heard promises about flying cars before, and the technology to make them safe and easy to fly may finally be here.

In this article, we will take a look back at some of the attempts to build a flying car, and examine some of the flying vehicles that you may be able to park in your garage in the next decade!

History Of Flying Cars

Just a decade and a half after the Wright Brothers took off in their airplane over the plains of Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1903, other pioneering men began chasing the dream of a flying car. There was even one attempt in the 18th century to develop a gliding horse cart, which, to no great surprise, failed. There are nearly 80 patents on file at the United States Patent And Trade Mark Office for various kinds of flying cars. Some of these have actually flown. Most have not. And all have come up short of reaching the goal of the mass-produced flying car. Here's a look back at a few of the flying cars that distinguished themselves from the pack:

• Curtiss Autoplane - In 1917, Glenn Curtiss, who could be called the father of the flying car, unveiled the first attempt at such a vehicle. His aluminum Autoplane sported three wings that spanned 40 feet (12.2 meters). The car's motor drove a four-bladed propeller at the rear of the car. The Autoplane never truly flew, but it did manage a few short hops.
• Arrowbile - Developed by Waldo Waterman in 1937, the Arrowbile was a hybrid Studebaker-aircraft. Like the Autoplane, it too had a propeller attached to the rear of the vehicle. The three-wheeled car was powered by a typical 100-horsepower Studebaker engine. The wings detached for storage. A lack of funding killed the project.
• Airphibian - Robert Fulton, who was a distant relative of the steam engine inventor, developed the Airphibian in 1946. Instead of adapting a car for flying, Fulton adapted a plane for the road. The wings and tail section of the plane could be removed to accommodate road travel, and the propeller could be stored inside the plane's fuselage. It took only five minutes to convert the plane into a car. The Airphibian was the first flying car to be certified by the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the predecessor of the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It had a 150-horsepower, six-cylinder engine and could fly 120 miles per hour and drive at 50 mph. Despite his success, Fulton couldn't find a reliable financial backer for the Airphibian.
• ConvAirCar - In the 1940s, Consolidated-Vultee developed a two-door sedan equipped with a detachable airplane unit. The ConvAirCar debuted in 1947, and offered one hour of flight and a gas mileage of 45 miles (72 kilometers) per gallon. Plans to market the car ended when it crashed on its third flight.
• Avrocar - The first flying car designed for military use was the Avrocar, developed in a joint effort between Canadian and British military. The flying-saucer-like vehicle was supposed to be a lightweight air carrier that would move troops to the battlefield.
• Aerocar - Inspired by the Airphibian and Robert Fulton, whom he had met years before, Moulton "Molt" Taylor created perhaps the most well-known and most successful flying car to date. The Aerocar was designed to drive, fly and then drive again without interruption. Taylor covered his car with a fiberglass shell. A 10-foot-long (3-meter) drive shaft connected the engine to a pusher propeller. It cruised at 120 mph (193 kph) in the air and was the second and last roadable aircraft to receive FAA approval. In 1970, Ford Motor Co. even considered marketing the vehicle, but the decade's oil crisis dashed those plans

These pioneers never managed to develop a viable flying car, and some even died testing their inventions. However, they proved that a car could be built to fly, and inspired a new group of roadable aircraft enthusiasts. With advances in lightweight material, computer modeling and computer-controlled aircraft, the dream is very close to becoming reality. In the next section, we will look at the flying cars being developed today that eventually could be in our garages.

Paper Batteries To Power Laptops,Drive Cars

Scientists at Stanford University,USA,have reported that they have successfully turned a specific type of paper coated with ink made of silver &carbon nanomaterials into a "Paper Battery".There is a specific feature which helps ink stick to the surface of paper.The same feature also allows it to hold on to the single-walled carbon nanotubes & silver nanowire films.Taking advantage of the mature paper technology,low-cost & high-performance energy storage are realised by using conductive paper as current collectors and electrodes.this type of battery could be useful in powering electric or hybrid vehicles.The best part about the new battery is that in addition to being useful for portable electronics & wearable electronics,the paper supercapitators can also be used for all kinds of applications that require instant high power.

Washing Machine Reuses Water

Common washing machines wash the clothing and send the dirty wateer down the drain.This results in a huge waste of water.Mr.Klein Washing Machine treats water as a scarce item.It cleans all the dirty clothes and saves the water to be used again for another round.It uses a filteration system to do this job and the system takes all of the contaminants out of the water before reusing it.Though it still a concept,it is going to be available very soon.

Robots Clones To Imitate Human Beings

Kokoro,a premier Japanese robot manufacturer,has made possible one of the most enduring fantasies of the scientific domain,i.e.to produce robots that resemble human beings in such aspects as looks,voice,etc.Kokoro is initially making only two robot clones.Both are made of silicone.The robots can move only their upper bodies.The Actroid & Geminoid androids are powered by quiet air servo system that moves their upper bodies.They cannot walk.Both the robots are based on two real persons-one version of Actroid is based on a popular Japanese newsreader,& the Germinoid is based on the famous robotics from Osaka University,Japan.

Lawn Mower Scooter

Lawn moving is thought to be one of the most boring chores.And that is why Lawn Mower Scooter has been designed.The scooter can reach a speed of up to 6km/hr.The grass is collected inside it.There is a transparent window to see whether its inside needs to be emptied.It runs on liquid fuel.Designer VickyPetihovski is the brains behind this lawnmower scooter concept that we find rather interesting for bringing in the satisfaction factor where before it was just boring work with a conventional lawnmower.

The ride-on mower is powered by a small electric motor, which also activates the grass-cutting blades, so users can enjoy their lawn ride and get the chore done with the least of effort. It sure beats a conventional lawn mower.

Electric Car

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit unveiled the zero-emission electric car - Twizy ZE concept, at the inauguration ceremony of the Delhi Auto Expo 2010. The car has been designed by French auto maker Renault. The two-seater Twizy is one of four electric cars that Renault unveiled in September 2009, and is being displayed outside Europe for the first time. The concept model is currently on display at the auto show which will also display more “green cars” over the course of the expo.

Twizy Z.E. Concept is an innovative response to the challenge of urban mobility. With its four-wheel chassis, Twizy Z.E. Concept offers the driver and passenger – seated one behind the other – an all-electric means of transport which produces no CO₂ emissions. With its futuristic, pearlescent white bodywork, Twizy Z.E. Concept clearly belongs to a new era of urban mobility. As opposed to a conventional car, the body colour wheel fairings are not spherical but octagonal, and cover the tyres entirely. Along with the pearlescent white and blue hub caps, they form a pleasing, harmonious design in which the wheels can no longer be seen rotating. Instead, the only visible movement is that of the hub caps, so Twizy Z.E. Concept appears to glide gracefully and silently, along the road.

Twizy Z.E. Concept is powered by a 15kW (20hp) electric motor. This develops 70Nm of torque, and combines comfort with responsive performance at all engine speeds. Twizy Z.E. Concept can accelerate at a similar rate to a 125cc bike, and pulls away briskly from standstill. With a top speed of 75kph, Twizy Z.E. Concept will also be in its element in suburban traffic.

Coming Soon:Breath-Controlled Mobiles

It will soon be possible to answer a call on the mobile phone without touching a button.Such phones are equipped with the revolutionary breath-controlled technology.The breath=controlled technology is called Sensawaft.It is developed by Zyxio,a US firm.Sensawaft is powered by microelectromechanical systems,tiny chips that can be embedded in other devices,such as a video games or hands-free-mobile phone headset.This new technology will be used by wide range of gadgets as possible,including aids for disabled people,as well as hands-free mobile phones.