Gizmag News - Electric bicycle range reaching the 100 mile mark

Welcome to the newsletter for gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for September the 10th, 2010. Electric bicycle range reaching the 100 mile mark Remember when the Segway was launched in 2001? The company proclaimed that it was going to revolutionize personal transportation, but... well, although Segways are still around, they’re hardly a common sight. What could soon be a common sight, however, are electric bicycles. While a variety of styles were on display at this year’s Eurobike show, commuting ebikes were by far the most common. An electric drive makes sense on a commuter – you still get some exercise and don’t have to register it as a scooter, yet you also don’t arrive at your destination all hot and sweaty. As with all electric vehicles, however, range is always an issue. That is now being addressed, however, with ebikes that can travel up to 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) on one charge. If your commute is longer than that, you really might want to consider, you know... driving. Read More Laws of physics may just be 'local by-laws' Star Trek’s Scotty was adamant that you “canna change the laws of physics,” but, according to a report from a team of astrophysicists based in Australia and England, that could be exactly what happens in different parts of the universe. The report describes how one of the supposed fundamental constants of Nature appears not to be constant after all. Instead, this 'magic number' known as the fine-structure constant – 'alpha' for short – appears to vary throughout the universe. Read More New CCTV tech could spot abandoned baggage and track its owner We’ve told you before about CCTV programs that can identify criminal behavior, or that skip through footage where nothing’s happening. Now, a consortium of ten organizations from six European countries is working on another concept involving video monitoring of public spaces. It’s called the SUBITO project, for Surveillance of Unattended Baggage and the Identification and Tracking of the Owner, and it’s intended to do pretty much what the name suggests. Installed in existing security camera systems at places such as airports or train stations, the software will identify baggage that has been left unattended, and that could therefore possibly contain an explosive device. It will then search back to identify the person who deposited that baggage, then follow them forward through various cameras to establish their present location. Read More The BlueOn – Hyundai’s first highway-capable fully electric vehicle Hyundai has unveiled the company’s – and Korea’s – first Full Speed Electric Vehicle (FSEV). The BlueOn boasts a maximum speed of 130 km/h (80mph) and a range of 140 km (87 miles), making it capable of matching it on the highway with traditional fossil-fuel powered vehicles. With a maximum power of 81ps (61kW) and a maximum torque of 21.4kg/m (210Nm), the BlueOn can go from 0-100km/h (62mph) in 13.1 seconds. Read More Robots taught to deceive Robots can perform an ever-increasing number of human-like actions, but until recently, lying wasn’t one of them. Now, thanks to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, they can. More accurately, the Deep South robots have been taught “deceptive behavior.” This might sound like the recipe for a Philip K. Dick-esque disaster, but it could have practical uses. Robots on the battlefield, for instance, could use deception to elude captors. In a search and rescue scenario, a robot might have to be deceptive to handle a panicking human. For now, however, the robots are using their new skill to play a mean game of hide-and-seek. Read More iPad rides shotgun thanks to car mount from Thanko Released this week, Thanko's Car Laptop Holder for iPad is a twist on the company's Car Laptop Holder from a few years back. We have to admit that the method of attachment is not the most elegant, but if you're a driver who needs an iPad in the cab then this might be for you. Just make sure you don't have the WiFi iPad, otherwise you'll probably be hanging out in the garage or parking next to Starbucks all the time. Read More Apple relaxes development tool restrictions for iOS: Flash is back Apple has caused a lot of confusion for iPhone app developers by banning them from creating apps using any compiler not created by Apple, but then approving apps that break this rule – even going so far as to promote them in the App Store. Finally it looks like Apple has seen the light (and presumably the benefits) and announced that it has relaxed restrictions on its iOS developer license, opening the doors to native Flash and AdMob applications – as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. Read More T-Mobile G2 official, sports HSPA+ and Android 2.2 The follow-up to the Google sanctioned G1 smartphone is on the way and T-Mobile has released official details. The T-Mobile G2 gets Android 2.2, an 800 MHz Snapdragon MSM7230 CPU, applications like Google Voice Actions built-in and 4G speeds via the carrier's HSPA+ network2. The HTC-designed handset also includes a 3.7-inch multi-touch screen, an optical trackpad, a new hinge design for the full QWERTY keyboard and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video capture. Read More Eco Switch kettle stays off the boil We've seen several innovations in the design of the humble electric kettle recently that save time and energy – here's another one. The "Eco Switch" kettle has two settings – one for normal boiling water and a second which heats water to 85-degrees Celsius (185F) for things like soup. This means you get your warm water quicker, save energy, and you don't have to wait for it to cool down before you can drink it. Read More Nike iPhone App for Runners – very useful Nike has rolled-out a new Nike+ GPS iPhone App for iPhone and iPod touch. It is predominately a GPS app that allows you to visually map your run in addition to monitoring time, pace, distance and calories burned. If you're running on a treadmill or out of GPS range the accelerometer is used to keep the data coming and audio feedback and motivation is delivered by the likes of Paula Radcliffe or Lance Armstrong. Read More Samsung announces low power dual core Cortex A9 processor for mobile devices Computing on the move has taken off big time. No longer bound by the shackles of a deskbound screen, we are now working on smartphones, playing on tablets and surfing on netbooks. We need such devices to be both powerful and low on power draw. The latest to answer such needs is Samsung, announcing its most recent foray into the world of mobile chip manufacture – Orion. The 1GHz ARM-based Dual Core chip supports various storage and memory configurations, is HD and 3D ready and has GPS included. Read More Haier shows human-powered washing machine prototype Chinese electronics giant Haier was showcasing its green credentials at IFA 2010 with this human powered washing machine. An exercise bike with a lithium-ion battery that collects energy as you pedal is hard wired to the front loading machine. When you pedal, you power the machine. Twenty minutes effort is said to give you one cold cycle wash without drawing power from the grid. It's an idea we've seen elsewhere in fledgling form – and its a good one. We'd love to see it get beyond prototype stage. Read More If you would like to refer this newsletter to a friend or colleague, please point them at our free subscription page. Please don't try to forward this email, as the formatting is unlikely to remain intact. And don't worry, we don't share email addresses. 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