Food Printer wins innovation competition

China daily reported that a device to capture aroma of meal on a postcard has won the "most-fun" award of the sixth Sony Student Design Workshop.

The design combines camera, smell extractor and a printer.  While on holidays, people enjoy delicious and distinctive local food, they can use this device to take pictures and collect the aroma simultaneously and then print them in a postcard-style and  post the cards to family and friends to share a great eating experience visually and aromatically.

"I spent several months designing it," said the 20-year-old student majoring in industry design. "What I completed was just an idea and draft sketch. Without the help of Sony's designers, I could not have made the model."

This competition aims to erect a platform for Chinese university students to undertake industry design, inspire their creative potential and support China's innovations and inventions industry.

According to Han Jia, assistant manager of Sony China Creative Center, this year's work started last September. Han's team visited nine universities and colleges around China to promote the design workshop and received a total of 413 ideas from 133 of them.

"None of the designs have been commercialized so far because they are concept designs and very avant garde," said Cai Leilei, senior manager with the corporate public relations department of Sony (China) Ltd. "But we are considering taking some of the designs to the market."

Read full news at http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-07/23/content_15606937.htm

Wind Energy in your hand

The News: Humdinger has launched small scale wind energy charger that is purportedly 10 times more effective at gathering energy than other systems of the same size. The piezoelectric turbine-based system uses aeroelastic flutter and vibration of a membrane - rather than a spinning turbine.


The Good: It can be used in applications such as HVAC systems, using the airflow to power the device and therefore skipping the need for more expensive batteries. And because the system doesn't mess with spinning turbines that can break more easily, it expects a long lifespan - as much as 20 years.

The Bad: The company is still looking for funds to commercialize the discovery

Read more at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/humdinger-wind-energys-tiny-turbine-is-ten-times-more-efficient.php

EN-V Urban Mobility Vehicle

The News - General Motors (GM) and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group (SAIC) have come up with a concept two-wheeled vehicle called EN-V.  EN-V(Electric Networked-Vehicle) is a two-seat, local emission-free vehicle propelled by electric motors in each of its two driving-mode wheels. EN-V is to address the need for personal urban transportation in the cities of the future.


The Good -The vehicle has autonomous operating capability which means the vehicle can automatically select the fastest route based on real-time traffic information. Freedom from Traffic Jams !

The Bad - EN-V can only travel upto 40 km on a single charge.

Read more at http://www.gizmag.com/gm-en-v-concept-vehicle/14617/

A mobile phone that works with AAA batteries

The News - An Indian mobile phone company has launched a low-cost handset that uses commonly available AAA sized batteries aimed at the rural corners of India and other parts of the world where power supply is not very stable.

The Good - It is an innovation aimed at the lower end of the pyramid and it will help bring improve the mobile phone penetration of rural areas, which is welcome.

The Challenge - The phone runs only for 1 hour non-stop on the AAA battery though it runs 3 hours non-stop on a rechargeable lithium battery. So definitely scope for improvement on that front.

Read more at - http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/techolic/post.htm?id=63017641&scid=hm_bl

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Google from your TV Set

The News - Google is reportedly trialing a new service which would include its search engine on set-top television boxes. The new set up boxes will run a version of Android and potentially will be integrated with the Google Ads

The Good - How many times you wanted to search more on the something you just saw on TV ? Life will become more easier and information lot more integrated.

The Bad - Will Google be serving us ads in lieu of free cable tv ?

Read more here - http://bit.ly/9qaGN9

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Turn your arm into gaming console or phone

The News - The idea is to turn your skin into a touch screen and your arm into the  input device. The devise is named Skinput (Skin Input), the device can detect different sound wavelengths generated when an arm or a hand is tapped, allowing the wearer to complete a function like sending a text message or making a phone call.

The Good - Skinput has an accuracy of 95% when detecting taps on a users arm and can be used when the body is in motion.

The Challenge- The devise in prototype stage and will take some time to be available commercially

Read more here
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10462255-1.html

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Full proof way to protect your PC and data

The News - The company InZero has launched an zero intruder device which sits between your PC and the internet. The device will execute all the commands from its own memory, creating a kind of sandbox for you. The only difference is the sandbox is read only which means no malware code will get executed and no threat or virus will ever reach your data.
The Good - It is a hardware device which can be plugged in and does not require any changes to your existing PC or network architecture
The Bad -  The company is planning to launch a InZero Laptop which will protect from all kind of malware. Replacing your existing laptop and buying a new InZero laptop may not be the best of idea's for everyone.

Read the story at
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_10/b4169052653415.htm

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net