IllumiRoom takes video games beyond the TV

Welcome to the newsletter for Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for January the 14th, 2013. IllumiRoom takes video games beyond the TV The way we play video games is forever evolving. Nintendo brought motion control to the masses with the Wii, while the rise of smartphones and tablets has meant the number of casual games (and casual gamers) has grown exponentially over the past few years. What is next on the agenda? The signs all point towards a more immersive experience being the main aim and Microsoft Research is keen to lead the way with IllumiRoom. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Sony reveals next generation of 3D digital recording binoculars It's been over a year since Sony released its DEV-3 and DEV-5 digital recording binoculars, and while they've been a welcome device for nature lovers and sightseers, they're still quite bulky to carry around. At CES this year though, Sony revealed a prototype for its next pair of 3D digital recording binoculars that will provide more features in a smaller form factor. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile NanoLight claims to be world's most efficient light bulb Until recently LED light bulb manufacturers have struggled to find a solution in the 75 to 100-watt range which successfully replaces the soon-to-be redundant, energy crunching 100 W incandescent bulb in terms of size and brightness. Three friends from the University of Toronto are the latest to offer a feasible product to match the classic 100 W bulb without compromising on electricity consumption with their proposed NanoLight LED light bulbs. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile NASA awards contract to Bigelow Aerospace for inflatable ISS module NASA has announced that it has awarded a US$17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide the International Space Station with an inflatable module. Details of the award will be discussed by NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and Bigelow Aerospace President Robert Bigelow at a press conference on January 16 at the Bigelow Aerospace facilities in North Las Vegas. However, based on previous talks, it's likely that the module in question could be the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Threadlike carbon nanotube fiber combines strength, flexibility and conductivity At about 100 times the strength of steel at one sixth the weight and with impressive electrical conductive properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have promised much since their discovery in 1991. The problem has been translating their impressive nanoscale properties into real-world applications on the macro scale. Researchers have now unveiled a new CNT fiber that conducts heat and electricity like a metal wire, is very strong like carbon fiber, and is flexible like a textile thread. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Sony Xperia Z vs. Nexus 4 Samsung phones may rule the Android roost, but the platform's biggest fans hold a special place for Nexus handsets. The latest, the Nexus 4, has been selling out as quickly as LG's (limited) shipments can stock them. But is the Nexus 4 a better buy than 2013's first big release, Sony's Xperia Z? Let's take a look. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Central Standard Timing makes bid for world's thinnest wristwatch crown Though e-ink watches have been around for a few years now, most, like the Touch Time, tend to follow the same form factor as their LCD-screened cousins, which are themselves based on analog ancestors. The patent-pending CST-01 from Chicago-based Central Standard Timing is a different proposition altogether. Claimed to be the world's thinnest watch at just 0.8 mm thin, yet still managing to squeeze in a rechargeable battery, it makes use of segmented (rather than pixel-based) e-ink technology, has no buttons or knobs and has only one function ... to let its wearer know what time it is. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Scientists say at least one in six stars has an Earth-sized planet The latest analysis of data coming from NASA's Kepler telescope has revealed that nearly all the Sun-like stars in our galaxy appear to have planets orbiting them, and that at least 17 percent of them – about one in six – are hosting a planet the size of our own in close orbit. Because the Milky Way is estimated to contain some 100 billion stars, this means that our galaxy alone could have at least 17 billion Earth-sized planets, some of which may harbor the conditions for life. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Amazon AutoRip CD buyers also get MP3 version Although sales of digital music tracks are rising year-on-year, it's clear that U.S. music lovers are still spending most of their hard-earned cash on physical media. According to Nielson SoundScan (which measures point-of-sale of recorded music products), of the 316 million albums purchased stateside in 2012, 193 million were on CD, compared to 118 million digital downloads. Amazon has launched a new service called AutoRip that will save many of those spinning disc buyers the trouble of converting the just-arrived CD to MP3 for playback on a modern portable music player. Anyone who buys an AutoRip CD from the online retail giant will also get a digital copy free-of-charge. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile iPotty: Toilet training ... now with added iPad It's an unspoken truth of gadgets that some people use their smartphone or even tablet computer while in the bathroom. Now even toddlers who are yet to master the toilet can get in on the action with iPotty – a child's toilet training potty with a built-in iPad stand. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Panasonic debuts new Windows 8 Toughpad While consumers may have mixed opinions about the features offered by Windows 8, computer and tablet makers were pushing a ton of devices with the OS at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Panasonic was no exception, backing-up its 20-inch monster tablet with a new 10.1-inch Toughpad running Windows 8. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Graphene oxide causes radioactive material to "clump" out of water Removing radioactive material from contaminated water, such as that in Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plants, could be getting a little easier. Scientists from Houston's Rice University and Lomonosov Moscow State University have discovered that when flakes of graphene oxide are added to such water, it causes the radionuclides to condense into clumps. Those clumps can then be separated and disposed of. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Need to lose weight? Install a stomach pump There's good news and bad news in the fight against morbid obesity. The good news is that there is a new approach to surgical weight-loss which is far less invasive than conventional operations. The bad news is how it works. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile White House officially responds to "build a Death Star" petition The White House has officially responded to a petition calling on the US government to "begin a construction of a Death Star by 2016." Though the news for proponents of space fascism wasn't good, Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, did respond in the spirit of the original petition… Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Olive oil may save York Minster cathedral York Minster is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe and one of the great monuments of medieval architecture. Built in the city of York, UK between 1220 and 1472, it has suffered looting, vandalism, arson and a devastating fire after a lightning strike in 1984. Despite decades of restoration costing millions of pounds, the Minster still faces an implacable enemy, the air itself. In hopes of protecting the Minster from rotting away due to air pollution, Dr. Karen Wilson and Prof. Adam Lee of the Cardiff School of Chemistry, Cardiff University along with researchers at the University of Iowa have discovered that the key to saving the church may lie in olive oil. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Intellect Motion shows off new motion-sensing gaming devices While opinions are divided on how video games affect young minds, one thing seems to be definite – spending a lot of time playing sit-down games makes kids fat. Fortunately, gaming systems like Wii and Kinect are getting players active. Now, motion capture and medical diagnostics company Intellect Motion hopes to take that trend farther, with a line of active gaming products aimed at keeping children fit. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile GCW Zero handheld plays all your favorite classic games There's an avalanche of new gaming devices coming our way, from tablets with controller attachments to Android-based consoles that can fit in the palm of your hand. On top of that, there's a growing class of devices best described as portable emulator machines, built to capitalize on older gamers' nostalgia, with the latest called the Game Consoles Worldwide (GCW) Zero. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile World's first car-carrying electric ferry to see use in Norway Presently, the Norwegian villages of Lavik and Oppedal are linked by a ferry that burns about a million liters (264,172 US gallons) of diesel a year, emitting 570 tonnes (628 tons) of carbon dioxide and 15 tonnes (16.5 tons) of nitrogen oxides. That's about to change, however, as it's slated to be replaced by what is claimed to be the world's first all-electric car-carrying ferry. Developed by Siemens and Norwegian shipyard Fjellstrand, the vessel can recharge its batteries in just ten minutes. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Gigantic C SEED 201 outdoor LED TV descends into the ground when not in use For those who go in for outdoor television viewing with a big dash of ostentation, Porsche Design Studio of Zell am See, Austria offers the C SEED 201 LED television. This 201-inch (5.11 m) 16:9 LED behemoth isn't just enormous, it also rises out of the ground like something out of a Bond film and unfolds itself in less than 30 seconds. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Collision creates largest known spiral galaxy A new study has led to the classification of NGC 6872 as the largest known spiral galaxy. The galaxy measures some 522,000 light-years across and resides 212 million light-years from earth. The stellar system exists in close proximity to the small disk galaxy IC 4970, which is thought to have recently collided with the larger system. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Seagate adds two wireless devices to its storage line Seagate Technology has unveiled two new data storage devices at CES in Las Vegas. One, the Seagate Wireless Plus, is a wireless one-terabyte hard drive with Wi-Fi capability and the other, the Seagate Central, is a centralized data storage system for all the computers and other digital devices in the home. The purpose of the two devices is to provide new storage capabilities for home networks and handheld devices. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Pure readies Jongo wireless speakers for U.S. release Being able to wander from room to room throughout the house and enjoy one continuous streamed audio experience can, unfortunately, be a very expensive luxury indeed. Happily, the UK's Pure is getting ready to launch a new range of wireless speakers that promise quality audio at a much more attractive price point than similar multiroom systems offered by the likes of Sonos. The first of the new Jongo series to hit the market will be the S340B portable speaker, followed by the A140B hi-fi adapter and the T640B stereo speaker. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Blade Dynamics to make first 100-meter wind turbine blades? The Energy Technologies Institute in the United Kingdom has announced that UK-based wind turbine blade manufacturer Blade Dynamics has been awarded a contract that will see the creation of the world's longest turbine blades, between 80 and 100 meters (262 and 328 feet) in length. Currently, the longest turbine blades are for offshore wind farms, maxing out at 75 meters (246 feet). Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Inexpensive catalyst for producing hydrogen under real-world conditions found Hydrogen has been hailed as the fuel of the future, but producing it cleanly using platinum as a catalyst is simply too costly to service the world's energy needs. On the flipside, producing hydrogen with fossil fuels not only releases CO2 as a byproduct, but is unsustainable, negating hydrogen's green potential. However, hydrogen may yet make good on its promise thanks to a group of scientists at the University of Cambridge. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Special promotion for Gizmag readers Certification Course: Learn How to Create Custom WordPress Sites from Scratch WordPress offers more flexibility for creating personal and professional sites than any other content management system on the market. Now, in this multi-part WordPress training course on Udemy (114 lectures, 9+ hrs of content), you'll learn everything you need to know to create a completely custom site from the ground up, from design, to installation and everyday management. No other WordPress tutorial series offers such an extensive guide to website creation! Gizmag readers can get this course for only $59 this week. (Normally - $99) Don't miss this awesome opportunity, click here to learn more. 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 weekly newsletter, click here If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter please click here to unsubscribe. COPYRIGHT GIZMAG (C) 2013