Radio wave powered mobile phone

http://www.greenlaunches.com/
filed under: electronics, energy, telecom

Property spectrum: State
One of the most prominent property spectra is the state. It describes an evolution of products and processes starting with solid matter and then moving to liquids, gases and finally fields. Using radio waves to recharge cellphones will make solar power redundant.

http://www.core77.com/
filed under: gadgets, sports

Property spectrum: Size
Producers of all kinds of products are making their products smaller and smaller. Sometimes, an increase in size can also be useful. This large, single fin allows a swimmer to swim even quicker than with separate fins.

Contact lenses to dispense drugs

Eye-drops may be a simple way of medicating the eye, but patients don't always get the right dose at the right time. Eyenovations has developed contact lenses that can deliver drugs to the eye in measured doses for a month or longer. The start-up company's initial focus is developing a lens to help glaucoma patients. However, it believes the technology can be used to help other eye conditions and deliver antibiotics following surgery.

The team from Cambridge, Massachusetts has developed the drug-dispensing technology using a hydro-gel lens with a polymer film inside, which contains the medication.

The lens gradually releases the medication at a rate determined by the properties of both the lens and polymer film. Future versions may allow the medication to be stored in the hydro-gel material of the lens. This ensures patients with eye conditions requiring drops, especially those who struggle to follow a medication schedule, receive the right amount of medication at the right time.

http://www.gizmag.com/
filed under: chemistry, healthcare, optics

Property spectrum: Activity
Materials increasingly evolve from passive to full adaptive materials, e.g. shape memory alloys and thermo chromic materials. The properties of the lens and polymer films, allows this lens to gradually release medication.

Hard rectangular disk

The replacement for the SSD may already be on the horizon if a company called DataSlide can get its new Hard Rectangular Drive (HRD) out of the prototype stage. The drive has staggering performance with claims of up to 160,000 IOPS and 500MB/sec read speeds. Even with those whopping performance levels the drive still claims to consume less than 4W of power.

The drive consists of a piezoelectric actuator that keeps the rectangular media moving under the read heads. A diamond solid lubricant coating protects the surface of the HRD from the direct contact and constant motion for years of service. The prototype uses a massively parallel 2D array of magnetic heads that remain stationary and the media underneath moves.

The technology allows reads or writes on up to 64 embedded heads at a time. The drive is in the prototype stage but it uses technologies and manufacturing processes that are readily available today. The technologies used include perpendicular magnetic recording media, semiconductor lithographic heads, and LCD glass treatments.

http://apcmag.com/
filed under: computers & accessories, technologies

Property spectrum: Multiplicity
This property highlights the benefits associated with increasing the number of similar elements within a system. Two eyes give a focus, two bins allow you to separate waste types. Increasing then number of read/write heads to 64 will greatly increase the access time.

Mercedes ESF 2009 - safest car ever

The ESF 2009 is the first Experimental Safety Vehicle to be built by Mercedes-Benz since 1974. Like its historic predecessors, it illustrates trailblazing innovations in the field of safety and makes the progress achieved clearly visible.

These amazing but by no means crazy ideas include inflatable metallic sections which give more stability to structural components within fractions of a second, as well as the so-called "Braking Bag". This airbag housed within the vehicle floor is deployed when a crash is deemed to be unavoidable, and uses a friction coating to support the vehicle against the road surface.

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http://www.newscientist.com/
filed under: automotive, safety, technologies

Property spectrum: Porosity
Solid bodies and shapes trend towards increased porosity. Porosity is achieved through the incorporation of hollow spaces or pores. Porosity allows for reduced weight, improved surface area and in this car, with inflatable metallic sections, increased user safety.

 'Beehive Fence' deters elephants

A simple fence made from wood, wire and beehives can deter elephants from raiding farmers' crops. A pilot study in Kenya has shown that such fences reduce the number of raids by elephants by almost half.

The work is the culmination of previous research which showed elephants are naturally scared of African honey bees. A much larger trial is now under way in the hope the fences will provide an elegant solution to years of conflict between elephants and farmers.

In Kenya, elephants are not confined to national parks or reserves. As they roam, they often come across increasing numbers of farms created by pastoralists who are being encouraged to settle down and grow crops. The elephants break into the farms and raid them for food such as ripe tomatoes, potatoes and maize.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/
filed under: agriculture, animals

Property spectrum: Components
Increasing the number of dissimilar elements in a system can bring additional functionality, improved operability, and convenience. Using bees in a fence is an excellent and natural way of fending off the hungry elephants.