Creepy BabyMaker3000 Actually Being Used to Make Virtual Babies
November 11, 2008
Filed under: Vehicle Tech, Personal, Celebrities
As we inch ever closer to a future in which our babies are exactly what we want them to be, German vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen has put together a nifty tiny preview in the form of a promotional Web app. Just upload pictures of yourself and your loved one (or celebrities who you’ve never met), set the key points (eyes, mouth, nose, etc..), and watch the magic unfold.
According to VW’s PR team, the BabyMaker3000 has brought 314,384 digital babies into the world since going live a month ago — surpassing the number of real babies born in the U.S. during a comparable timeframe (295,075). An estimated half million visitors have checked out the site, a pretty mind-boggling number that probably states something about our desire for this type of technology in the real world.
In case you were wondering, the above virtual baby belongs to one Barack Obama and one newly divorced baby mama, Madonna. We’re naming him Barack Hussein Madonna-Obama-Rama, and no, you can’t take his photograph, filthy paparazzi. [From: VW.com]
Creepy BabyMaker3000 Actually Being Used to Make Virtual Babies originally appeared on Switched on Sun, 09 Nov 2008 12:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Caterpillar and CMU Team Up to Create World’s Largest Robotic Truck
November 10, 2008
Filed under: Vehicle Tech
We’re always hearing about some fantastical, nigh-mythical creation that Carnegie Mellon University is in the midst of cobbling together from spare parts, crazy ideas, and pure, simple genius, so maybe we shouldn’t be frothing over the new robotic truck they’ve partnered up with Caterpillar to create, but this one promises to be the “world’s largest.” Adapting software CMU used in the DARPA Urban Challenge, the team hopes to end up with fully automated, 700-ton trucks capable of moving up to 42 miles per hour which will be used for mining. The trucks would theoretically reduce costs, increase productivity, and save lives.
The Frankenstein-ed automobiles will boast GPS, laser range finders to identify massive obstacles, video equipment, and a “robotic driver.” The scientists somewhat predictably foresee some (as of now) rather far-fetched consumer applications in automobiles and trucks over the “next five to ten years,” but we’re taking that with a few salt grains for now. The trucks aren’t ready quite yet but we hear their arrival is imminent, and and we have the ability to only envision that somewhere in the world, Grave Digger is crying to himself.
Update: We’ve changed the title to reflect the accurate arrangement, which is a teaming up of CMU and Caterpillar, not DARPA. Thanks to the commenter who pointed that out.
Caterpillar and CMU Team Up to Create World’s Largest Robotic Truck originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Fujitsu’s In-Car Safety Tech Senses Drowsiness, Wakes You Up
November 10, 2008
Filed under: Car Tech
Not that we haven’t seen similar technology from other outfits before, but we’ll take as many in-car safety advancements as we have the ability to get. It’s bruited that Fujitsu is conjuring up a sophisticated sensor system that can actually detect when a driver gets drowsy or begins to sink into a deep, dark wonder-world of sleep. Put simply, the system would detect specific changes in the motorist’s heart rate via the steering wheel, and once it determined that you weren’t exactly “with it” any longer, the car could then roll its own windows down, blast the stereo or jolt the wheel in order to get your attention. In our minds, the biggest issue here’s to not cause an accident by spooking a sleepy driver out of their slumber, and we presume that’s exactly what the company is working on in its R&D labs.
[Image courtesy of MetroHealth]
Fujitsu’s In-Car Safety Tech Senses Drowsiness, Wakes You Up originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Caterpillar and CMU Team Up to Create World’s Largest Robotic Truck
November 9, 2008
Filed under: Vehicle Tech
We’re always hearing about some fantastical, nigh-mythical creation that Carnegie Mellon University is in the midst of cobbling together from spare parts, crazy ideas, and pure, easy genius, so maybe we shouldn’t be frothing over the new robotic truck they’ve partnered up with Caterpillar to create, but this one promises to be the “world’s largest.” Adapting software CMU used in the DARPA Urban Challenge, the team hopes to end up with fully automated, 700-ton trucks capable of moving up to 42 miles per hour which will be used for mining. The trucks would theoretically reduce costs, increase productivity, and save lives.
The Frankenstein-ed vehicles will boast GPS, laser range finders to identify big obstacles, video equipment, and a “robotic driver.” The scientists somewhat predictably foresee some (as of now) rather far-fetched consumer applications in cars and trucks over the “next five to ten years,” but we’re taking that with a few salt grains for now. The trucks aren’t ready quite yet but we hear their arrival is imminent, and and we have the ability to only envision that somewhere in the world, Grave Digger is crying to himself.
Update: We’ve changed the title to reflect the accurate arrangement, which is a teaming up of CMU and Caterpillar, not DARPA. Thanks to the commenter who pointed that out.
Caterpillar and CMU Team Up to Create World’s Largest Robotic Truck originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Super Efficient Material Converts Automobile Exhaust to Energy
July 30, 2008
Filed under: Automobile Tech, Green Tech
Your vehicle engine wastes up to 75-percent of the power it generates — but a team of Ohio State University researchers thinks it has found a way to capture a lot of that wasted energy and convert it into electricity.
The promise is in a new material they’ve developed, called thallium-doped lead telluride. (Isn’t that a black diamond trail at a Colorado ski resort) This is twice as efficient at converting heat to electricity as any previously developed material.
The research team’s lead, Joseph Heremans, says the thallium-doped lead telluride can convert a car’s wasted heat into energy without causing pollution. “The material does all the work. It produces electrical power just like conventional heat engines — steam engines, gas or diesel engines — that are coupled to electrical generators, but it uses electrons as the working fluids instead of water or gases, and makes electricity directly.”
Some experts argue that only about 25-percent of the energy produced by a typical gasoline engine is used to move a automobile or power its accessories, and nearly 60-percent is lost through waste heat — much of which escapes in engine exhaust. A thermoelectric (TE) device can capture some of that waste heat, Heremans stated, and it would also make a practical addition to an car, because it has no moving parts to wear out or break down.
Heremans’ team didn’t just try random new types of metals or coatings for their research — the team is also working on the nanotechnology and quantum level. “We hope to go much further. I think it should be quite possible to apply other lessons learned from thermoelectric nanotechnology to boost the rating by another factor of two — that’s what we’re shooting for now,” he said.
If Hereman’s next announcement is for a flux capacitor (1.21 gigawatts!), we’ll know we’ve crossed over from science advancement to science fiction. Either way, with rising fuel costs, we hope automobile makers take notice of Hereman’s breakthrough. [Source: BetaNews]
||| Via [switched]
Five Things to Consider Before Buying a GPS System
July 30, 2008
Filed under: Car Tech, Back to School Guide 2008
GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation devices — those talking screens with maps that give you real-time directions to wherever you’re going (as you’re going there) — used to be the province of the well-to-do with high-end vehicles. But nowadays, real-time navigation technology is available for all budgets in all sorts of shapes, sizes and feature packages. So which type of GPS is for you Should you spend a mere $2.99 to get directions on your cell phone or splurge up to $500 for a high-end portable Are factory-installed navigation systems you get with a new vehicle superior than a standalone portable Do you really need an MP3 player with your traffic directions For answers to these questions and more, check out the five things to consider before you purchase a GPS, which we’ve organized by the most commonly asked questions on the following pages (click below to get to tip number 1).
Super Efficient Material Converts Automobile Exhaust to Energy
July 29, 2008
Filed under: Car Tech, Green Tech
Your automobile engine wastes up to 75-percent of the power it generates — but a team of Ohio State University researchers thinks it has found a way to capture a lot of that wasted energy and convert it into electricity.
The promise is in a new material they’ve developed, called thallium-doped lead telluride. (Isn’t that a black diamond trail at a Colorado ski resort) This is twice as efficient at converting heat to electricity as any previously developed material.
The research team’s lead, Joseph Heremans, states the thallium-doped lead telluride can convert a car’s wasted heat into energy without causing pollution. “The material does all the work. It produces electrical power just like conventional heat engines — steam engines, gas or diesel engines — that are coupled to electrical generators, but it uses electrons as the working fluids instead of water or gases, and makes electricity directly.”
Some experts argue that only about 25-percent of the energy produced by a typical gasoline engine is used to move a car or power its accessories, and almost 60-percent is lost through waste heat — much of which escapes in engine exhaust. A thermoelectric (TE) device can capture some of that waste heat, Heremans said, and it would also make a practical addition to an vehicle, because it has no moving parts to wear out or break down.
Heremans’ team didn’t just try random new types of metals or coatings for their research — the team is also working on the nanotechnology and quantum level. “We hope to go much further. I think it should be quite possible to apply other lessons learned from thermoelectric nanotechnology to boost the rating by another factor of two — that’s what we’re shooting for now,” he stated.
If Hereman’s next announcement is for a flux capacitor (1.21 gigawatts!), we’ll know we’ve crossed over from science advancement to science fiction. Either way, with rising fuel costs, we hope vehicle makers take notice of Hereman’s breakthrough. [Source: BetaNews]
||| Via [switched]
FCC Approves Sirius and XM Satellite Radio Merger
July 29, 2008
Filed under: Audio/Video, Automobile Tech
In a somewhat unsurprising move, the FCC has approved the merger of Sirius and XM after protracted — and incredibly boring — multi-year negotiations. The Federal Communication Commission decided tonight to allow a deal that’ll bring the two satellite radio providers together, creating a combined subscriber base of roughly 18 million users.
The deal isn’t without catches, however, with the Commission stating that the companies must cap prices for three years following the merger, allow subscriber choice on content, and lower fees for channel packages. FCC head Kevin Martin seemed pleased with the final outcome, stating, “Consumers will get to like the ideal of the programming on both services.” You know who wasn’t so stoked Clear Channel. [Source: Washington Post]
||| Via [switched]
Artist Uses Remote Control Vehicles to Paint…Cars
July 28, 2008
Filed under: Vehicle Tech, Summer Fun
English artist Ian Cook has a one-of-a-kind method for producing artistic masterpieces. He takes remote control cars of various sizes, dips them in acrylic paint, and then controls them to create paintings.
Cook calls it ‘Popbang Colour.’ We call it awesome.
His most recent creation, a painting of a new Camaro, was created using remote control General Motors replica automobiles. Nice touch, eh It’s currently on display at the British International Motor Show. Cook will do a live demonstration at the show on August 3rd (he’ll be painting a Chevrolet Lacetti World Touring Car).
Cook states he wanted to be an artist from an early age, but he also wanted to approach the craft in a unique way. We think he managed to do both brilliantly. [Source: Autoblog]
Electric MINI Hits US Streets in Summer 2009
July 25, 2008
Filed under: Automobile Tech, Summer Fun
Not that electric MINIs are anything new, but unless you were willing to pay for all the mods yourself, procuring one wasn’t exactly simple. Now, however, we’re hearing that MINI itself will be bringing scads of these buggers to American streets in the summer of 2009. Yeah, like, one year from right now.
MINI USA VP Jim McDowell was the source of said statement (so it’s pretty much official, yeah), though he didn’t mention whether all of them would be reserved for California or if they would be available sold out nationwide. Hey MINI, we’d say you’ve got a hit on your hands. [Source: Autoblog Green]
||| Via [switched]
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