New action cam round-up: Cameras go airborne, 3D and sideways

Welcome to the newsletter for Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for March the 4th, 2013. New action cam round-up: Cameras go airborne, 3D and sideways Thanks to the surplus of affordable wearable video camera hardware, action sports enthusiasts no longer need a sponsorship or film crew to capture their biggest, most exciting trips and moves. Now all it takes is a couple hundred bucks. GoPro and Contour have been one-upping each other for years, and the big guns at Sony, JVC and Panasonic recently decided to join them. While walking the action cam section of the ISPO Munich sports show, we came across some additional competitors – with some very innovative hardware – from around the world. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Record-breaking 320-gigapixel panorama shows London in all its glory Last month, we saw a panorama of Dubai taken from atop the world's tallest building. It was gorgeous, but at 2.5 gigapixels in size, not exactly the largest panorama. No, that title now belongs to a recent 360-degree panoramic photo of London that consists of over 48,000 individual shots and boats an incredible 320 gigapixels resolution. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Equinox Passive House doubles as solar calendar Modern passive house it may be, but as its name suggests, the showstopper at Equinox House in Bulgaria harkens to ancient times when humans built buildings in veneration to heavenly bodies. A narrow aperture in the roof transforms the house into a solar calendar leading it's designer, Ignatov Architects, to refer to the house as a "celestial instrument." Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile BigDog grabs, lifts, and throws cinder blocks with its new arm Boston Dynamics' BigDog may have already been replaced by the beefier LS3, but that doesn't mean it's totally obsolete. Today the company unveiled a version of the quadruped equipped with an arm where a head (or tail) would go. As can be seen in the following video, it's powerful enough to lift and toss a heavy cinder block. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Bizarre self-balancing 1967 Gyro-X car to be restored Back in 1967, California-based Gyro Transport Systems built a prototype vehicle known as the Gyro-X. The automobile had just two wheels, one in front and one in the back and, as the car's name implies, it utilized a built-in gyroscope to remain upright when not moving. Although its developers hoped to take the Gyro-X into production, the company went bankrupt, and the one-and-only specimen of the car became an orphan. For much of the past 40-plus years, that car has passed from owner to owner, its condition deteriorating along the way. Now, it's about to be restored to its former (weird) glory. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile AMD's TressFX Hair gives game characters lovely locks The problems associated with rendering realistic hair has held video games back for years. When Nintendo first created the sprite for Mario in the original Donkey Kong, it gave him a hat because it was too difficult to animate his hair. When video games made the leap into the world of real-time 3D graphics, things didn't get much better. Today AMD is officially unveiling its solution, TressFX Hair, that will significantly improve the look of virtual hair beginning with the new Tomb Raider. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile BMW-powered T-REX 16S joins Campagna's line of three-wheelers Campagna Motors' family of side-by-side reverse trikes has a new addition. Joining the street legal T-REX 14 R, T-REX 14RR and V13R is the T-REX-16S. While the existing T-REX models are powered by a Kawasaki 1400 cc inline cylinder engine and the V13R gets its grunt from a Harley Davidson Liquid-cooled Revolution 60-degree V-Twin engine (the same used in the Harley Davidson V-Rod), the new 16S is powered by a BMW 1649 cc in-line 6-cylinder engine from BMW's Motorrad division. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Rinspeed releases details of microMAX "swarm car" concept Rinspeed has released more information about and images of its microMAX EV concept, now invoking the smart city with its description of the vehicle as "the networked swarm car." The company has released a host of images which give a more detailed idea of Rinspeed CEO Frank M. Rinderknecht's vision for an efficient, space-saving mode of urban vehicle which clearly hopes to catch the eye of taxi operators and parcel delivery firms. It's the interior images that are perhaps most interesting of all. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile MYO armband delivers one-armed gesture control Over the last five years, the touchscreen has supplanted the mouse and keyboard as the primary way that many of us interact with computers. But will multitouch enjoy a 30-year reign like its predecessor? Or will a newcomer swoop in and steal its crown? One up-and-comer, Thalmic Labs, hopes that the answer lies in 3D gesture control. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile CoolShip desktop Android computer looks like nothing more than a keyboard Readers of a certain age will remember, probably with fondness, the computer-in-a-keyboard form factor exemplified by the likes of the Atari 800XL or the mighty Commodore 64. We've seen several impressive attempts at revival in the recent past, including efforts from Barry S Altman's Commodore USA and ASUS. Now China's FocusWill Information Technology is getting in on the act with an Android-flavored, keyboard-based desktop computer called the CoolShip. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Silex Power announces 1,000 km-range Chreos high-performance EV Alternative energy company Silex Power has announced its intention to enter the electric car market at the very top. The company intends to make a limited run of 300 units of its luxury Chreos EV by 2015, and, judging from the press release, the car boasts luxury, if perhaps aspirational, statistics to match – particularly with respect to range and charge times. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Neptune Pine watch makes calls, takes photos, browses the internet ... For decades, the world has had a guilty obsession with gadget watches. Ever since the days of Dick Tracy, we've fantasized about jamming phones, TVs, radios, computers and every other functional gadget into a small, wrist-friendly watch. Despite the rise of super-thin, portable smartphones and tablets, some people (and manufacturers) are still bent on finding the perfect smartwatch. Could the Neptune Pine be it? Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Hennessey bulking the all-new Corvette up to 1000 HP Behind its dramatically restyled front fascia, the 2014 Corvette Stingray packs a new 450-hp 6.2-liter V8 engine. Not surprisingly, that engine isn't quite powerful enough for some gear-heads. Well before the new 'Vette makes its way into showrooms later this year, Hennessey Performance is teasing potential buyers with a version that puts out more than double the horsepower. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Galaxy Note 8.0 vs. Nexus 7 After several years of the 9.7-inch iPad dominating tablet sales, we've seen a shift. Customers are gravitating more toward smaller (and cheaper) 7 to 8-inch slates. Two of today's top choices in that bracket are the Google/Asus Nexus 7 and Samsung's new Galaxy Note 8.0. Read on, as we compare the specs – and other features – of these two mini tablets. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Kibo space robot revealed, undergoes zero G testing The Japanese communication robot destined to join the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) this summer recently underwent some zero gravity testing. The Kibo Robot Project, organized by Dentsu Inc. in response to a proposal made by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, unveiled the final design of its diminutive humanoid robot and its Earthbound counterpart. Watch the cutest robot-related video of the year after the break. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Leap Motion gets a release date ... and an app store It may not quite have the hype of Google Glass, Apple's rumored iWatch, or the Galaxy S IV, but Leap Motion may be one of the most important technology products of 2013. The small sensor that lets you control your computer with mid-air 3D gestures now has a ship date – along with its own app store. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Quadrocopters throw, catch, and balance an inverted pendulum Apparently, balancing a pole on top of a flying quadrocopter robot wasn't challenging enough for the researchers at ETH Zurich's Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control. Their latest project has two quadrocopters playing catch with a precariously balanced pole – the first robot launches the pole into the air, while the second robot deftly moves into position in less than a second to catch it as it falls. The incredible precision flying achieved by the team can be seen in a video after the break. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Portability of Modularflex emergency shelter hinges upon hinges Argentinian designers Matías Alter and Matías Carrizo have developed the Modularflex emergency response shelter in response to what they see as shortcomings with other designs. Generally, alternatives either require on-site assembly, which may require skilled hands; or they come pre-built, making transportation difficult and inefficient. The simple folding design of Modularflex sidesteps both problems. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Review: Samsung Galaxy Camera EK-GC100 The Samsung Galaxy Camera is an intriguing proposition, in that it offers all the capabilities of a high-end smartphone (except the key one of being able to make calls … more on that later) with a capable point-and-shoot camera. It's a new genre of product, a point-and-share smart-camera if you will. But just how smart is it? I spent a bit of quality time with one to find out. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Land Rover to show Electric Defender Research 4WD As automotive electric technology advances and grows, we're seeing it move from small city cars to larger vehicles. Toyota and Tesla have both shown electric crossover models, and electric drivetrains are being swapped into existing vehicles like the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Now, Land Rover is preparing to show an electric update to the most unlikely of models ... the boxy, rugged Defender. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Nokia reveals €15 mobile phone with month-long battery life The 2013 Mobile World Congress (MWC) is in full swing right now with all the big players showing off their latest smartphones and mobile technology. But while companies like LG and HP are rolling out smart devices with a wide range of features, Nokia arrived with a stripped-down cell phone aimed at the budget-conscious consumer. The recently announced Nokia 105 mobile phone will retail for €15 (about US$20) and feature a battery that only needs charging once a month. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Review: XD Design's Window and Port Solar Chargers This time last year, we covered an interesting new solar charger that sought to avoid troublesome shadows from window frames, potted plants and household ornaments by sticking to the glass of the window itself. The Window Solar Charger from XD Design has now been joined by a new, slightly less capacious sibling called the Port Solar Charger, and I've been given the chance to take both for a test drive. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Technological telepathy: brain-to-brain communication between rats achieved Telepathy has long been a subject of controversy in physical and psychological circles, offering the potential for removing the material and sensory walls between individuals, and allowing the direct transmission of information without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interactions. Although true telepathy still appears to be pseudoscience, futurists have long predicted that some form of technologically-based telepathy would eventually emerge ... and, it would appear, it has. 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