2012: A year in technology

Welcome to the newsletter for Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for January the 7th, 2013. 2012: A year in technology Keeping tabs on the furious rate of technological development happening all around us is no easy task and the passing of another year provides a good excuse to reflect and take stock of the major milestones we've seen. So sit back in your power-generating rocking chair, crack yourself a self-chilling beverage and enjoy our take on the significant trends, technological victories and scientific bombshells of 2012. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Gost Barefoots get medieval with chainmail barefoot shoes At times, the barefoot shoe movement has played out like an all-out unleashing of designers' unbridled creativity. We've seen foam feet, ruggedized socks, foot condoms, half shoes and every other type of foot-suit imaginable. Now we add one that goes beyond our wildest imaginings: chainmail foot sleeves. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Aeros completes construction of Aeroscraft demonstrator California-based Aeros Corporation has completed construction of its Aeroscraft airship proof-of-design sub-scale prototype. The 79-meter (260-ft) long aircraft will demonstrate the vertical take-off and landing and point to point delivery capabilities of the platform, paving the way for a planned full-scale craft that will be almost twice as long and carry payloads of up to 66 tons. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Top five astronomical targets for your new telescope If you received a telescope for Christmas, or bought one for your kids, your adventures in amateur astronomy are just beginning. Astronomy is the art and science of actually looking at the heavens and even a small telescope will let you find a host of celestial wonders. So where do you begin? Here are our suggestions for five of the most rewarding and spectacular objects with which to start your adventure in amateur astronomy ... plus some important tips on using a telescope. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Top ten cycling innovations of 2012 As many readers have no doubt noticed, we like bikes here at Gizmag. We particularly like truly unique cycling products, even when they may ultimately be a little too out there to garner much commercial success. With that in mind, here's a look at the ten bicycle-related innovations from the past year, that most made us say "Hmm, now that's interesting." Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile MINI prepares to defend Dakar title Despite an available ALL4 all-wheel drive, the MINI Countryman isn't necessarily the most ideal car to take off road – unless of course it's outfitted for Dakar dominance. Last year's event saw the Countryman taking home the top spot and four other top-ten finishes, with the overall victory secured by French driver Stéphane Peterhansel in his 10th career Dakar win. The Monster X-Raid Team has prepared the Countryman to defend its strong performance at last year's Dakar Rally . Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Samsung teases TV with "unprecedented" design When we talk about revolutionizing television, we usually mean new approaches to content and connectivity, expecting the television's form factor to remain roughly the same. But if a new teaser is any indication, Samsung may turn that idea on its head … or perhaps on its side. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile DARPA's sub-hunting drone appears in concept video The murky details of DARPA's sub-hunting drone project are a bit clearer, thanks to a new concept video published by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). DARPA is spending US$58 million to have SAIC build the first Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vehicle (ACTUV), which will detect and track a growing number of stealthy, inexpensive diesel-electric subs. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile intelliPaper reveals disposable, paper-based USB drives USB drives have become so prolific in recent years that they've become practically disposable. Now, one company has created a different type of flash drive that can literally be crumpled up and thrown in the garbage. With an embedded silicon chip, intelliPaper seamlessly turns an ordinary strip of paper into a fully functioning USB drive. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile The 13 safest cars for 2013 The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has released its list of safest vehicles for the 2013 model year. In all, the list includes 117 cars that were awarded a Top Safety Pick. Thirteen cars were given the Top Safety Pick+ award, which is an even higher award for vehicle safety. These vehicles go deeper to bring a safer ride to drivers and passengers, and we're going to take a quick look at each one. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Android-powered ARCHOS TV connect turns a HDTV into an oversized tablet Despite being developed primarily with mobile devices in mind, Android is finding its way onto bigger screens via Google TV set top boxes and games consoles such as the OUYA and GameStick. Already having mobile Android gaming covered with its GamePad, French company ARCHOS is adding to the Android-powered devices battling it out for a place on the big screen with the TV connect. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Pittsburgh's "breathing" building aims to be the world's greenest skyscraper The PNC Financial Services Group hopes to exceed LEED Platinum requirements along with promoting a healthy indoor workplace with its latest development – the Tower at PNC Plaza. Located in downtown Pittsburgh on the corner of Fifth and Wood Streets, the building will be approximately 800,00 gross sq.ft (74,322 sq.mt) in size with a construction budget of approximately US$240 million. The "breathing" design created by architecture firm Gensler moves away from the traditional closed air-conditioned environment and has the lofty aim of becoming the greenest skyscraper in the world. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Pavegen kinetic energy tiles seek crowd-funding for school installations "Create electricity, just by walking" is an evocative statement, and one which surely warrants some attention in these eco-efficient times when the need to seek alternative energy sources is well understood. Pavegen – a system for harvesting kinetic energy from foot traffic, and which the catchy soundbite belongs to – is now being put forward for crowd-funding through Kickstarter with the aim of raising enough money to fund two school projects, one in the U.S. and one in the U.K. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Leikr GPS sports watch maps your progress in color One of the big sports-based breakthroughs of 2012 was the integration of GPS navigation into sports watches. Watches like the Garmin Fenix and Suunto Ambit offer users the ability to create tracks and navigate routes from the wrist. We're barely into 2013, and the GPS sports watch has made another big step: color mapping. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Bentley to debut world's fastest four-seat convertible at NAIAS 2013 On January 14, the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible makes its international debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Boasting a six-liter twin-turbocharged 48-valve W12 engine, improved suspension, all-wheel drive and a top speed of 202 mph (325 km/h), Bentley claims it is the world's fastest four-seat convertible. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Samsung announces NX300 mirrorless camera and 2D/3D lens Samsung has announced the NX300, its latest NX series mirrorless camera. In addition to a revamped 20.3MP APS-CMOS sensor, the NX300 features updated smart camera functionality and a new hybrid autofocus system. Also revealed was a compatible 45 mm f1.8 2D/3D lens which is said to be the first one-lens 3D system capable of capturing both stills and HD video. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile MIT students develop oneTesla self-build, music-playing Tesla coil kit Educational electronics kits like the one from Minty Geek are a great introduction to the world of circuit building and electronic tinkering, but are perhaps a little too basic for more advanced hobbyists. Three MIT students are currently enjoying enormous success on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform with a DIY Tesla coil kit called oneTesla that can make artificial lightning sing ... well, erm, play music from a MIDI source. Now where did I put that polyphonic version of This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us by Sparks? Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile LG releasing first large screen OLED TV next month With stunning picture quality and ultrathin panels, the OLED TVs trundled out at trade shows by major manufacturers over the past few years have had many salivating. But unless you're willing to settle for smaller screen sizes, manufacturing hurdles have seen OLED TVs struggle to make the jump to retail stores. That is now about to change with LG announcing its 55-inch OLED TV will be available in South Korea from February, with pricing and availability for other markets to be announced in the coming weeks. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Inexpensive card-sized device runs 50 blood tests in seconds Ordinarily, when medical clinicians are conducting blood tests, it's a somewhat elaborate affair. A full vial of blood must be drawn, individual portions of which are then loaded into large, expensive machines such as mass spectrometers. The results are usually quite accurate, but they're not instantaneous, and require the services of trained personnel in a well-equipped lab. That may be about to change, however. Scientists from Houston's Methodist Hospital Research Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center have created a credit card-sized gadget, that can instantly check a single drop of blood for up to 50 different substances – and it costs about US$10. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile NASA considers putting an asteroid into orbit around the Moon To paraphrase an old saying, if the astronaut can't go to the asteroid, the the asteroid must come to the astronaut. In a study released by the Keck Institute for Space Studies, researchers outlined a mission to tow an asteroid into lunar orbit by 2025 using ion propulsion and a really big bag. The idea is to bring an asteroid close to Earth for easy study and visits by astronauts without the hazards and expense of a deep space mission. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Review: Masimo iSpO2 Pulse Oximeter If someone asked you what you can do with an iPhone, you could say playing games, listening to music, watching videos and even making phone calls. One thing that you probably wouldn't mention is checking your blood oxygen saturation. But you can now add that to the list, thanks to Masimo's iSpO2 pulse oximeter. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Digital audio files converted into 3D-printable records Like many music lovers today, I have a huge digital library and even though I've now converted much of my vinyl collection to MP3, I still return to my racks often. I've not really considered the possibility of converting my MP3/OGG/FLAC files into 12-inch records ... until now. While exploring the limits of today's 3D-printing technology, digital music tinkerer Amanda Ghassaei has come up with a technique for converting digital audio files of virtually any format into 3D-printed, 33.3 RPM records that can be played on any ordinary turntable. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Corning announces stronger, more scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3 Few things are more frustrating than scratching the display of your expensive smartphone or tablet. The rest of the device could be banged and bruised, but a blemish on its screen changes everything. The window to your apps, videos, and books is suddenly tarnished. Corning is moving one step closer to solving this problem, with a new and improved version of its Gorilla Glass. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Special promotion for Gizmag readers *Coding classes suck. However, there is a better and easier way to learn coding.* The demand for top-tier web development talent outweighs the supply in almost everywhere. While companies are desperately looking for development talent, the average web developer salary continues to climb. Luckily for you, the folks at Udemy have kindly offered their "Become a Certified Web Developer" online course to Gizmag subscribers for $99 instead of $199 -- (50% OFF) In this course you will learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and MySQL from master trainer Mark Lassoff, and upon completing the course, you will receive a certification signed by him. Don't miss this great offer, click here to get started. Read More You are receiving this email because you signed up for our daily newsletter at http://www.gizmag.com. If you would like to switch to our daily newsletter, click here If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter please click here to unsubscribe. COPYRIGHT GIZMAG (C) 2013