Camera sensor size: Why does it matter and exactly how big are they?

Welcome to the newsletter for Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for March the 25th, 2013. Camera sensor size: Why does it matter and exactly how big are they? The megapixel myth has treated camera manufacturers well over the years, those ever increasing, and often meaningless, numbers have sold millions of cameras. But consumers are getting wise to it. We've all seen dodgy images from high megapixel cameras and know that after a point, megapixels don't matter for most people – a 16 MP compact isn't ever going to be as good as a 12 MP Full Frame DSLR. What does matter is sensor size! Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Mercedes Benz 544 hp G 63 AMG 6x6 off-roader close to production What type of vehicle do you want if you plan to tackle dirt trails, rock fields and rolling slickrock expanses? Why, a 4x4, of course! Not necessarily, says Mercedes-Benz. You may want to add a pair of wheels and capitalize on the sheer power and might of the new G 63 AMG 6x6. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Family moves into first net zero Active House in the U.S. We've seen plenty of impressive net zero houses in the past, from the motion-controlled CHIP House in California to the budget-priced Sosoljip in South Korea. But one issue that seems predominant in most energy-neutral homes is that they typically take on a design that doesn't suit many suburban areas. That may soon change though with the first Active House, which uses natural lighting and ventilation to reduce its energy consumption while still blending in with the architecture of the surrounding neighborhood. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Unfolding house hides all the mod cons I don't know. You wait all year for a single-room house-shaped tube with wall-to-wall glass at each end to arrive, then two come along at once. First we had Bunkie, a sort of spare-room-in-your-yard with bunk beds craftily squirrelled away in the walls and roof. Now we have Bunkie's spiritual bigger brother, 2by4-architects' Summer House, with its unfolding, and even-more secretive walls. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. Nexus 4 Nexus and Galaxy. The two brands represent opposing ends of the Android spectrum. Nexus devices have always been Google's pure, untarnished vision of its platform. Samsung's wildly-successful Galaxy devices, meanwhile, still use Android, but also threaten to overshadow it. What happens when you put the best of each side-by-side? Read on, as we compare the specs and features of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and LG Nexus 4. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Who says a wallet can't also perform 11 other functions? The MULTI is a new wallet that aims to pack as many features as possible into a tiny package. To start with, it's a minimalistic wallet made with high-strength aluminum or titanium, depending on the model. However, it also offers a ton of other functions, most of which are things you would never expect to see in a wallet. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Skate Guitars breathes new life into old decks Though looking street-worn, beaten and abused can actually be a rather favorable look for a skateboard deck, there comes a time when stylish scuff gives way to unsightly eyesore and it's time to break in a new board. Rather than simply throw away all that quality wood, offbeat Argentinian luthier Ezequiel Galasso and pro skateboarder Gianfranco de Gennaro Gilmour have teamed up to repurpose old boards into "born to shred" guitars. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile A clean-sheet V-Twin engine for the new 2014 Indian Motorcycles line Indian Motorcycles has once again risen from the dustbin of history. Purchased by Polaris Industries in 2011, the 2014 model year involves a complete redesign of the Indian motorcycle line. The most notable new feature is the new Thunder Stroke 111 V-Twin engine. A fresh design from the ground up, the design goals included keeping the classic Indian engine look while implementing a 49 degree V-Twin geometry with modern technology. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Crowdfunding hope for human-powered helicopter project Last September, the Gamera II team from the A. James Clark School of Engineering got so close to claiming the Sikorsky Prize of US$250,000 for human-powered helicopter flight that the American Helicopter Society must surely have been preparing to pull the dust covers off the safe and hand over the cash. Gamera II features a huge cross-shaped frame with enormous rotors at each of its four points, which are powered by sustained hand and foot pumping from a pilot at the center. It's a design that's been used by many of those attempting to nab the elusive prize (including AeroVelo's Atlas), but Georgia's Kenneth Huff has a rather more compact vision for success. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Pricing and production numbers for E Type-inspired Lyonheart K announced Last year, we covered Lyonheart's take on the classic Jaguar E Type, the Lyonheart K. Not much has been heard of it since then, but thirteen months later, the Coventry-based car maker has resurfaced with an announcement of the Lyonheart K Coupé, including Convertible prices and production numbers. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Jeff Bezos recovers Apollo F-1 engines from the ocean floor Amazon.com founder and the man behind Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos, has recovered parts of the F-1 rocket engines used in the Apollo missions. Recovered by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) from the multi-purpose offshore vessel Seabed Worker, they were brought up from a depth of over 14,000 feet (4,267 m) over a three week period. Bezos has been working on the project for over a year in hopes of recovering the engines used to launch Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969. However, the serial numbers for the recovered engines are missing or partly missing, so identifying which mission the rockets are from will be difficult. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile DNA-inspired twisting Agora Garden underway in Taipei City Construction on this unusual twisting tower, named Agora Garden, in Taipei City recently began, according to its designer Vincent Callebaut Architecte. The trademark twist was inspired by the double helix of the DNA molecule. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile FireFly's TRON-like shell keeps cyclists dry and visible If there are two things cyclists have to worry about, they would be the weather and making sure cars can see them. That's why the designers at GeoSpace Studio set about building a vehicle to resolve both issues. The FireFly is a recumbent tricycle outfitted with an LED-lit dome that keeps the rider visible and protected from the elements. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Rare 1905 Fiat 60HP to go under the hammer at Concorso d'Eleganza Before Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the dinosaur and Velcro, before Z rated tires, roofs, airbags and the annoyance of windshields came a wondrous piece of automotive pioneering – the 1905 Fiat 60HP. A legendary predecessor to today's luxo-performance sedans, the Fiat 60HP was the open-aired ride for the industrial elite of the era. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Landsat's first LDCM images show Rocky Mountains in stunning detail We haven't heard anything from NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) spacecraft since its launch in February, but the satellite is now ready to start sending its first images back home. The first batch of photos are part of a three-month testing period, and show the meeting of the Great Plains with the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado. Viewed from space, it's already a pretty spectacular scene, but the images from the LDCM managed to enhance it even further. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Voyager 1 leaves the Solar System? Has Voyager 1 left the Solar System? Is it officially the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space? It depends on whom you ask. NASA says no, but W.R. Webber of the New Mexico State University Department of Astronomy and F.B. McDonald of the University of Maryland Institute of Physical Science and Technology say yes. They contend that the unmanned, nuclear-powered probe left the Solar System on August 25, 2012 at a distance of 121.7 AU (18.2 billion km) from the Sun when its instruments on board detected a major shift in cosmic ray intensity. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Colibri electric inner city one-seater set for production in 2014 Two seats, limited parking and a gas engine too much? Then worry no longer inner-city traveler, thanks to Innovative Mobility Automobile's single-seat electric Colibri, parking opportunities just doubled. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Graphene aerogel takes world's lightest material crown Not even a year after it claimed the title of the world's lightest material, aerographite has been knocked off its crown by a new aerogel made from graphene. Created by a research team from China's Zhejiang University in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering lab headed by Professor Gao Chao, the ultra-light aerogel has a density lower than that of helium and just twice that of hydrogen. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile SinterHab concept calls for a sustainable moon base made from baked lunar dust The race to build a manned research station on the moon has been slowly picking up steam in recent years, with several developed nations actively studying a variety of construction methods. In just the past few months, the European Space Agency revealed a design involving 3D-printed structures and the Russian Federal Space Agency announced plans for a moon base by 2037. Now international design agency, Architecture Et Cetera (A-ETC), has thrown its hat into the ring with a proposal for SinterHab, a moon base consisting of bubble-like compartments coated in a protective layer of melted lunar dust. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile FrankenDrone USV goes where other remote-control watercraft can't If you want to explore places like the shallow, weedy Florida Everglades, do you use a traditional boat with a submerged propeller? Heck no, you use an air boat! You know, one of those things with the big airplane-style propeller on the back – the boat is pushed across the surface of the water, and there are no fragile underwater bits to worry about. Aerospace engineer Larry Friese has taken that same principle, and applied it to his remote-control FrankenDrone USV ... or Unmanned Surface Vehicle. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Review: FAVI SmartStick The connected living room has been the next big thing for several years now. The fruition of that promise, though, has been mostly limited to set-top boxes, game consoles, and Smart TVs with confusing software. In other words, the "connected living room" looks about the same as it did two years ago. But that hasn't stopped companies from pushing out new devices that try to shake things up. Read on, as we review one such device: the FAVI SmartStick. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile University of Cambridge debuts virtual talking head capable of expressing human emotions The University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom has unveiled a virtual "talking head" that is capable of expressing a range of human emotions. The team believes that the lifelike face, called Zoe, is the most expressive controllable avatar ever created, and could one day be used as a digital personal assistant. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile 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