Vertical Gardening with Lifewall

This very picture caught my attention and made me wonder what I perceived was actually true or not. Called the Lifewall from Ceracasa, these are indeed individual tiles laden with different types of flora that is maintained by drip irrigation. The special tiles, each measuring a square meter, in addition to supporting green life also helps in breaking down oxides of nitrogen present in air.The Lifewall tile has been conceived by architect Emilio Llobat of Maqla Architects, Azahar Energy and Ceracasa.

Not only Lifewall lets you enjoy a vertical garden, it also enables designing of the exterior in any pattern. Each Lifewall actually incorporates another technology called the Bionictile from Ceracasa which helps in cleaning the air. Research reveals that “if 200 buildings were coated by ceramic Bionictile, an equivalent volume of 2,638 million cubic meters of air per year would be decontaminated” which would allow 400,000 people to enjoy purified air. It sums up to be a double gain; more plants, less pollution!

Robot fish for guiding other fishes in distress

We have already come across various robot fishes that are meant to perform definite tasks. Here’s another one which is said to have leadership qualities programmed into it! The sole purpose of such a robot is to guide a shoal of fish to a destination that’s safe for them. So how do the real fishes follow a fake fish?

Scientists at Polytechnic Institute of New York University, headed by Maurizio Porfiri have found out that the tendency of the fishes to accept and follow one of them as a leader is its capability to demonstrate faster tail movement which induces greater acceleration. The faster it is, the more it is competent to gather other fishes around it and lead them.

The research was carried on with common bait fish which move about in groups. The fish robot made of iconic polymers as of now has been developed to move in one plane only.The next step would be to make it dive and surface. If the use of robot fish to lead fishes to safe areas succeeds then there is also a probability of constructing robot birds to lead flocks of birds away from disaster stricken places. To know more on this visit here.

Hungry Batteries

You have a pack of rechargeable batteries which you use to power up your devices.You think of charging them again, only when you find out that the device isn’t working. Since there is no way to determine an uncharged battery from a charged one here’s an idea from Mac Funamizu that lets you know about the battery condition before it is completely drained out.The new batteries called the Hungry Batteries starts getting thinner as their energy gets used up. So you can spot the difference that easily. Moreover such thinning of batteries also makes it easier to be removed from the battery holder while replacing.

Sound Proof Stadium in South Africa

You are looking at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa. Apart from it being one of the venues for the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the interesting fact is that it is a ’sound proof’ stadium. Well, you need to think about the residents staying around. Right? The stadium has been equipped with the world’s largest glass ceiling to resist the booming sound effect comprising of cheers and screams from escaping the premises. “The 4,700-ton glass roof is supported by 72 radial steel cables arranged symmetrically around the arena to steady the structure against high winds“. The structure was conceived by designers from German engineering firm Schlaich Bergermann.

Undoubtedly, the use of glass ceiling to the once open air stadium have been appreciated by the residents but it will be a double bonanza for the teams in action because the roaring sound of the fantastic crowd is supposed to reflect back [and you know what that means]! The glass bordering also would act as a shield against the fluctuating weather conditions of Cape Town allowing fans to enjoy as much as they can without any interruption.

The £17million yacht that comes with its own supercar

As far as freebies go, a luxury supercar has got to be near the top of the list.

But then if you're already forking out £17million for a 122ft state-of-the-art super-yacht, you wouldn't really expect anything less.

This ultimate 'buy one, get one free' offer has recently gone on the market attracting attention from billionaires all over the world.

But even if you could afford to buy the exclusive boat, you'd have to order sharpish, as the company are only making six models and has already attracted five possible buyers in the first week on the market.

The luxury yacht has a plush Art Deco interior, boasts four large, double state rooms, a reception area, salon, 52in LED TVs and state-of-the art sound systems in every room - all of which can be personalised.

And you will never be short of thrills as the ship can reach top speeds of 43 knots, with its twin MTU 16V000 engine, with the ability to achieve 55 knots with its optional Rolls Royce KaMeWa boosters offering a staggering 14,000hp.

But not to be outdone, the supercar, which is powered by a 880hp twin turbo V12 engine, has a top speed of 233mph.

You can even park your new car on board the impressive boat in its very own garage, located at the stern of the ship.

Founder of the Swedish company Strand Craft, Kurt Strand, said they had built the boat and car for the 'very wealthy'.

He said: 'We have had a lot of interest from all over the world, specifically the Middle East. It was designed for luxury and for people who want the best.

'The custom-made supercar is the best feature, both the boat and the car are very high performance and the boat is very fast.

'It is very unique and we are making it in limited numbers, so it's exclusive, we are only making six.

'It has a very futuristic design and nothing like this has ever been made before. It even has bulletproof windows.'

Mr Strand said that they would sell the duo on a first come, first served basis, and said the new owner would need to be wealthy to afford it.

'We have already had five people interested in it and we will have meetings with them next week,' he added.

'It's a very expensive boat to produce, it will be the most exclusive in the world.

'It's very good that this design has found so much interest from clients. I am very proud of it.'

LED based Torch light Gloves

Slovenian designer Tilen Sepic has designed this new conceptual torch light that will make you feel like of you are one of the X-Men ! The reason for a design like this is to produce a working light without the problem of shadows being reflected in the object. The battery, powering the gloves is to be worn like a wrist band. All you need is to just to point to the object that needs the light and the optical fibers attached to gloves will take care of the rest. Zaaappped !

HP shows flexible plastic TFT displays

Arizona State University and HP Labs revealed the invention of the first completely flexible plastic display. This has been created by using a process called Self-Aligned Imprint Lithography (SAIL) that let HP “build a thin film transistor screen that can be rolled up without snapping or otherwise easily breaking“. The display also uses Vizplex’s E-Ink technology, currently found in eBook Readers, to increase the readability.

This new technology will be less expensive when produced in mass scale and is also much more environment friendly than conventional LCDs. HP also promises more energy efficiency and extra battery life for laptops and smartphones using this plastic TFT displays.

Intel plans to bring free energy for mobile phones

Intel reported that it is currently pursuing research to generate electrical energy from sources like sunlight and body heat. The company believes that the energy reserved would be enough to power a mobile phone without requiring it to recharge ever again !

Already there are eco-friendly watches that do run from body heat and even more interesting there are cell phones which have displays that doubles as solar cells. So this may not be as impossible as you may think. Intel thinks the energy can even be generated even from the mobile phone’s trackball/joystick. The idea is to create energy from any other existing forms of energy sources around.

Justin Rattner, chief technology officer at Intel says, “Wouldn’t it be nice if, in fact, you were able to go almost indefinitely without charging the battery, if you were able to scavenge enough free energy from the environment?“. Hell…Yes !