Video: Flight testing the Seabreacher X – the 300 horsepower bionic shark

Welcome to the newsletter for Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for April the 29th, 2013. Video: Flight testing the Seabreacher X – the 300 horsepower bionic shark Though it fails to fit into any traditional man-made watercraft category, the Seabreacher X is remarkably comfortable in the water, turning quicker than anything made by man and happily skipping across the tops of the waves at 50 mph. This is not surprising given that it's based on a shape refined over 420 million years at the top of the ocean food chain – the shark. Give it more horsepower than Valentino Rossi's MotoGP bike, make it so light that it has the power-to-weight ratio of a Bugatti Veyron and you get the Seabreacher X. Its semi-pressurized hull enables it to tickle your adrenalin glands both above and below the waves, and it rates as the most outrageous boy's toy I have ever sampled. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Smartphone Comparison Guide 2013 Shopping for a new smartphone can be overwhelming. Even after you've chosen a wireless carrier, there are so many phones – many of which look almost the same – that you might not know where to begin. The choice is made even more difficult by the constantly shifting sands of the smartphone marketplace and this year has already seen a number of major new players enter the fray. So how do you sort through it all? Look no further, as Gizmag breaks down the top smartphones of (early) 2013. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Hyundai thinks out of the box with hovering cars and transforming vehicles Hyundai has been running the IDEA festival, an internal contest to challenge designers and engineers to come up with futuristic transportation solutions, for three years. In preparing for IDEA 2013, Hyundai provides a look at some of the best concepts conceived during IDEA 2012 – everything from flying cars, to egg-shaped transporters, to spare tires that transform into bikes. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile In pictures: Top ten green buildings in the US The American Institute of Architects announced its top ten green buildings in the US for 2013 on Monday (Earth Day, uncoincidentally). It's a diverse list, containing a cheese factory, senior citizens' apartments, school buildings, and a smattering of LEED certificates. There's only one net zero building on the list, though it's worth remembering that it's much easier to build a net zero home than it is a net zero office or factory. Step inside for a short profile of each of the buildings, or head straight to the gallery for the architectural eye candy. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile The garage-built EMX – electric motocross soul in a mountain bike's body About three years ago, in a cramped, musty garage in Graz, Austria, a handful of determined bike gear heads set to work on building an environmentally friendlier motocross-inspired e-bike. What they popped out three months later wasn't quite an FMX/motocross bike and wasn't quite a mountain bike. It was the all-electric EMX, a little bit of both. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile BeagleBone Black flies faster than the speed of Pi for just $45 Developers, makers, and hobbyists looking for a beefier alternative to Gizmag favorite the Raspberry Pi will be delighted to learn that BeagleBoard.org has taken the wraps off a 1 GHz ARM-based board named the BeagleBone Black. Though it may look like a slightly more expensive outlay, its manufacturer says that by providing everything needed for display, keyboard and network connectivity right out of the box, the Black provides "a lower total cost of ownership than the nearest competitor." Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Volvo confirms fuel savings of 25 percent with flywheel KERS After extensive testing of its kinetic flywheel technology, Volvo has announced that the system can boost fuel economy by 25 percent. The company is now looking at integrating the Flywheel KERS system into its production line. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Propul~Surf screw-propelled snowboard rips uphill Snowboarders endure a lot of issues when compared to their skiing counterparts – these include twisting and contorting their ankles to fit on footrests designed for skiers, wearing useless leashes around their legs even though skis are more likely to pop off, and getting stuck on flat traverses that skiers push through with their poles. All those issues aren't getting solved in a day, but a group of French students is working on the last one. Their solution is called the Propul~Surf and it's designed to motor knuckle-draggers over flat ground and up hills. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Modular luggage and backpacks adjust to trips of all types No matter how many different suitcases, backpacks, carry-ons, purses, man-satchels and such that you own, you can still find yourself lugging the wrong type of bag and thinking "man, I need some new luggage." A number of manufacturers are attempting to make your jet-setting a little easier by designing modular luggage pieces that can grow, shrink and shift shapes to suit a variety of situations. This new generation of modular luggage should make everything from overnighters to multi-year pilgrimages a little easier for travelers of all types and stripes. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile IBM applies supercomputer cooling to solar collector for 80% efficiency Solar power may provide a clean, abundant source of energy, but we know the sun's rays are capable of much, much more. Aside from generating electricity, we've seen solar energy harnessed to produce drinkable water as well, so why not combine the two processes into one system? That's what IBM and its collaborators are hoping to do with an affordable High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system that uses cooling technology from supercomputers to harvest solar energy more efficiently and produce purified water at the same time. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Toshiba KIRAbook vs. MacBook Pro with Retina display Last week, Toshiba entered the ultra high-end laptop market with the KIRAbook, a thin and light Ultrabook with a number of compelling features. The laptop is the first Windows 8 device to feature a Retina-level display (or PixelPure as Toshiba calls it), throwing it into direct competition with Apple's MacBook Pro with Retina display. We take a look at both devices to see which (if either) comes out on top. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile New streetlight design curbs light pollution For astronomers, a well-lit city means a sky unavailable for study. Worse, light pollution is blamed for affecting bird migration, sea turtle hatching, and wildlife mating and feeding routines. Researchers at National Central University, Taiwan, and Unidad Academica de Fisica, Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, Mexico, have attacked the problem with a new LED street lamp designed to shine only where needed, without splashing into unwanted areas, as a way to reduce light pollution while providing better lighting. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Mammuth Rewarron is claimed to be world's first 1:3 scale production RC car Good things may often come in small packages, but the Mammuth Rewarron sees the humble radio-controlled car supersized. Aptly referred to as "remote controlled testosterone" by manufacturer Mammuth Works, the gas-guzzling monster can reach a top speed of roughly 70 km/h (45 mph). It is also said to be the first production RC car built to a 1:3 scale. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Review: Cree LED light bulb In late March, all of the US Home Depot stores began carrying Cree's new LED light bulbs. While they're by no means the first such bulbs to offer the same form factor as standard incandescent bulbs, their combination of a relatively low price and visually-pleasing light quality have got some people – and not just publicists working for Cree – saying that they could be what finally brings LED light bulbs into the mainstream. I recently got a chance to try one out for myself, and I definitely liked what I saw. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile NASA's goggle-eyed SPHERE robots create 3D maps on the fly Take the little floating ball that gave Luke Skywalker so much trouble during lightsaber practice, slap a pair of huge welder's goggles on it and you start to get a picture of NASA's latest foray into flying robots. Currently being tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS), MIT Space Systems Laboratory's SPHERES-VERTIGO system is a free-flying robot with stereoscopic vision that is part of a program to develop ways for small satellites to autonomously create 3D maps of objects such as asteroids or disabled satellites. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Virtuix Omni and Oculus Rift come together for literal running and gunning Omni-directional treadmills promise to take things a stationary step further than current motion controllers, such as the Wii-mote, PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect, by translating movements to an onscreen avatar as users walk and run on the spot. The Omni from Virtuix is one such treadmill aimed at home users and its creators recently demonstrated its use with the Oculus Rift, providing a tantalizing glimpse of its potential to provide an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience and really get gamers moving. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Nitecore "Tiny Monster" flashlight belts out 3,500 lumens When it comes to electronic gadgets, consumers like to see more power packed into a smaller device. With that in mind, all the flashlight geeks out there should be fans of Nitecore's new Tiny Monster TM26 – it's billed as the world's smallest 3,500-lumen flashlight. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Powertraveller silverback-gorilla portable power pack runs a laptop all day In its travels, portable power system manufacturer Powertraveller says that it's come across the question many times: "Can you make a battery with enough charge to run a laptop all day?" It now has an answer. The silverback-gorilla is its beefiest portable power pack yet. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile FuoriSalone: Milan Design Week 2013 round-up Wrapping up our coverage on the Milan Design Week 2013, we've taken a look at some of the innovative and new ideas which graced the various exhibition spaces of FuoriSalone. The special event has been running parallel to the Salone Internazionale del Mobile since 1990 and each year sees hundreds of independent designers and architects inhabit local shops, buildings and public spaces in and around central Milan. By showcasing an array of creative designs, FuoriSalone hopes to launch the careers of young designers from around the world, while at the same time giving the public a limited time access to view; experience and in some cases purchase from the collection. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Siemens and Volvo bring EV charge times down to 90 minutes When it comes to electric vehicles, the conversation invariably diverts to concerns about vehicle range, infrastructure, and recharge times. To address the last of those issues, Volvo and Siemens have developed a new fast-charging system that cuts recharge times down to 90 minutes. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Kohler's Numi toilet features Bluetooth, SD card, and $6,650 price tag The toilet is often referred to as "the throne," and Kohler is almost taking that expression literally with the introduction of its new Numi model. We've already seen the Kohler C3 toilet seat, which was pretty advanced in its own right, but the Numi certainly wears the crown as one of the most feature-packed toilets we've ever seen, and it comes with a US$6,650 price tag to match. Read on Desktop or Read on Mobile Special promotion for Gizmag readers "Ubuntu: An Absolute Beginners Guide" This 30 page guide was written for beginners and will tell you everything you need to know about the Ubuntu experience. You will learn how to install and setup Ubuntu on your computer, find technical support in your community, understand the Ubuntu philosophy, navigate the Unity desktop interface and use Ubuntu compatible software programs. 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