Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Wearables

The SolarAid really isn′t much different than your average hearing aid in function — it enables hearing-impaired individuals to get a better listen at the world around them. The difference, however, comes from its source of energy. Through a series of tragic and fortunate events, Howard Weinstein wound up in Africa with a goal in mind: to concoct a hearing aid that even the poorest of citizens could afford. Through a series of grants and help from hordes of deaf individuals that had no qualms holding a soldering iron, some 20,000 folks in 30 countries are currently using the solar-powered devices. Best of all, the mastermind isn’t slowing down, as he’s looking to expand the nonprofit into the Middle East, China and India in the not-too-distant future.

[Via CrunchGear]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Networking

Apparently, when CERN isn’t colliding particles (and ripping massive holes in the space-time continuum), it’s busy working on a new “internet” which will be 10,000 times faster than our current version. The project — known as “the grid” — is built atop completely fiber optic networks, and utilizes modern routing centers. By keeping traffic out of our current phone and data systems, the researchers have been able to achieve speeds heretofore unseen on previous networks. The system connects from CERN to 11 centers around the globe, and will be switched on when the Large Hadron Collider is activated, on what the group is calling “Red Button Day.” Project heads believe a network with this speed will lead to all sorts of futuristic innovations — like true cloud computing, holographic video conferencing, and really, really fast pirating of the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series.

 

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

See, the problem with bioengineering isn′t moral or ethical dilemmas, or even homicidal robo-droids enslaving humanity. It’s that if you let researchers go wild, eventually they’ll find a way to make LEDs out of salmon sperm, threatening the sanctity (and sperm-free-ness) of your entire gadget-based lifestyle. Yet that’s exactly what Professor Andrew Steckl of the University of Cincinnati has managed to do, using the DNA found in salmon sperm to enhance the brightness of LEDs. The so-called BioLEDs are being developed in cooperation with the Air Force (yes, the Air Force — they had a “good source” of salmon sperm, apparently) and they’ve been so successful that Steckl has been getting salmon sperm from researchers worldwide “wanting to see if their sperm is good enough.” Steckl says that since salmon sperm is considered a waste product of the fishing industry, BioLEDs are particularly green — kind of like our faces right now.

 

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Original post by Nilay Patel

As we reported earlier this morning, Microsoft announced the latest in a recent string of its acquisitions (or, in some cases, attempted acquisitions): The company picked up mobile software manufacturer, Danger, for an undisclosed amount.

At PCMag.com, Lance Ulanoff waxes analytic regarding the possible ramifications of such a move. Sure, MS could just let the company continue to manufacture the Sidekick software that made it famous. But according to our lead phone analyst, Sascha Segan, Danger may not actually making any money at all at this point. Besides, would whatever revenue Danger does pull in really be of much value to a company like Microsoft?

It’s more likely, Lance proposes, that Microsoft is looking to take on the iPhone the way it has the iPod, by creating a next-generation touchscreen ZunePhone that might be able to compete with Apple’s darling–or, at the very least, offer an alternative to Microsoft’s stuffy Windows Mobile software.

I’m not sure that branding such a product as a Zune would would be the greatest move. Despite the improvements in the newer Zune generation, the line still seems to have a stigma attached.

Original post by Brian Heater

Filed under: Cellphones

In what might be irrationally described as a wave, rash, flood, or deluge, two separate cases of utter and complete phone theft have cropped up this week. The first concerns $8.2-million worth of T-Mobile handsets which apparently have disappeared from one of the company’s warehouses. According to an internal email sent to dealers, someone made off with 36,000 phones (most of which were Sidekicks), and the telco is now in the process of tracking the devices via IMEIs in hopes of getting back the lost goods. In other thievery news, two potential Darwin Award recipients plotted to steal 300 iPhones destined for Hong Kong right off of the truck that they were delivering them on. Following the heist, the men quit their delivery jobs, purchased diamond-studded Yankee earrings and matching cars, and then were promptly apprehended when the hastily-wrapped reams of paper they sent instead of the phones were spotted in Cathay. Gold-plated hats off to you, gentlemen.

[Thanks, Paul B]

Read - T-Mobile gets jacked, around $8.2M in phones vanished like a David Copperfield act
Read - Two Baldwin men arrested in stolen iPhone caper

 

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Laptops

A Little Rock, Arkansas man is taking HP to court over a faulty Compaq Presario that he says is to blame for burning his house down and causing serious injury to his daughter. The Wal-Mart-bought computer seemed perfectly fine until it suddenly burst into flames, catching his entire house on fire. His daughter had to jump out of a second story window to escape the fire, and sustained burns, physical injuries and “extreme mental anguish.” As if it wasn’t bad enough having a Presario in the first place. The lawsuit names unspecified monetary damages.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Blissfully unaware that it’s up against a generation raised in the sensory madhouses known as techno clubs, the Pentagon is reportedly working on a non-lethal weapon that utilizes light and sound to sicken and disorient targets. Like Homeland Security’s “pukelight,” the so-called Distributed Sound and Light Array Debilitator being developed by Penn State′s Applied Research Laboratory is meant to induce a feeling of nauseousness, in this case combining light patterns with “aversive noises.” So yeah, like we said, sounds pretty effective unless you happen to run into a group of insurgents hardened by years of all-night raving and the accompanying neurological damage.

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Evan Blass

Filed under: Robots

International Climbing Machines’ Climber certainly isn′t the first of its kind, but we’ll admit, this thing can handle some pretty daunting tasks. After successfully lasting through a number of field deployments this year, this wall climber is reportedly ready to take on the world in assignments such as “climbing the surfaces of C-5 / C-137 airplanes, decontaminating a vessel in a Nuclear Power Plant and removing paint from concrete walls for the Department Of Energy.” Apparently, this iteration trumps many similar alternatives due to its ability to scale ceilings, rounded / rough surfaces and overcome obstacles that protrude up to 1-inch from a given surface. The rig can be controlled from the ground with a handheld remote, and attachments can be added for painting, cleaning, drilling or just capturing imagery from above. Mum’s the word on pricing, but feel free to check out a couple more shots after the jump.

[Via Gizmag]

Continue reading ICM’s Climber robot ready to ascend

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Darren Murph