15 Most Advanced Robots Ever Invented

From bionic men made of synthetic parts to a metal band entirely composed of robots, we count 15 quirky, complex robots from all over the world.

The World's Future MEGAPROJECTS

A documentary on the ten most ambitious mega-projects currently under development around the world, featuring: Dubai World Central Airport (United Arab Emirates); Songdo International Business District (South Korea); Tokyo-Osaka Maglev Train (Japan); Masdar City (United Arab Emirates); The Grand Canal (Nicaragua); National Trunk Highway System (China); International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor [ITER] - Fusion (France); World's Tallest Building (Azerbaijan); Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (India); King Abdullah Economic City (Saudi Arabia).

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Background music by:
Chris Zabriskie (free music archive)
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Kevin MacLeod 
Incompetech.com
Purple Planet
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Future life on Earth

What will our future look like? Floating cities, flying to work and traveling in cars capable of operating underwater? And how will technology advance to make use of our natural resources to help feed our growing population in such areas as food, water and electricity?

The era of smog-filled skies will be over, because fewer of us will be driving cars. There will no longer be the use for cars and roads as we’ll be piloting environmentally friendly personal vehicles between cities and under the seas. And we will never be lost again thanks to GPS-driven virtual mapping. Then again, with teleportation we will not need to travel at all.

And, best of all, we’ll all have more time to enjoy the astounding advances of our near future, because we’ll all be living longer. A lot longer.

What do you think the future life will be like?

Technology has hijacked family dinnertime but Dolmio created the Pepper Hacker.

Technology has hijacked family dinnertime. So to help bring families together for dinner, Dolmio created the Pepper Hacker. It cracks pepper, shuts down TVs, wipes out WiFi and disables mobile devices. Watch our experiment reclaim family dinnertime.

Effects of Technology

By karina.g, Houston

The majority of people living in America use some sort of technology. Some of the most technological inventions include iPods, computers, and cell phones. This type of technology is said to be resourceful and helpful in meeting new people, and basically in developing social skills. However, I believe it does the opposite of what most technology users think. Although technology is resourceful, it is time consuming and it negatively undermines face-to-face social skills with family and friends.

Non-internet users have been tested to see how using the internet influenced their lives. According to Alfonso,”They also reported spending less time talking with their families, experiencing more daily stress, and feeling more lonely and depressed. These results occurred even though interpersonal communication was their most important reason for using the internet.” This experiment showed how much of a negative impact Internet had on their lives. The excessive usage of the Internet stocked up these people’s lives. Quality time was taken over by typing something to someone instead of talking to the person face-to-face and spending valuable time. According to Nie and Hillygus the difference of the time spent with family and friends between internet users and non-internet users is tremendous. The Internet is resourceful, but the time usage should be limited, because it consumes time that matters, when one should be doing more important things.

Another technological social blocker is the iPod. For example,”Oh, I was listening to my iPod. My bad” (Song 1). The truth is the moment one person places headphones in their ear, it is the moment they create a “don’t talk to me” bubble around themselves. It deteriorates conversation and social interactions that could have caused a good relationship. Instead of creating a relationship one chooses to listen to that special song that could be done on one’s own time.

Those for Internet usage believe,” The Internet can foster openness, and a greater sense of ease and comfort in dealing with others...can even provide opportunities by those who are too depressed to conduct a social life in the real world” (Coget, Yutaka 1). In my response, this isn’t completely true. If someone has low courage and they build this “relationship” on the Internet, when the time comes for in-person interaction, they would be extremely nervous. The reason for this is on the internet you don’t really see how one looks or how one responses to actions. Internet interaction don’t really mean much, those face-to-face interaction are the ones that count for something.

Several people believe that iPods bring people together more than anything. According to Harris,”Once a month, Playlist host iPod Dj nights at a London bar. On these nights, the guests are the entertainment...and make it a social event.” I believe this contains logical fallacies, selective sampling and hasty generalization. Not everyone goes to a bar and gets together jamming to the music from iPods. ONe of the main qualities about an iPod is one can listen to tunes with one’s self. When one does this in public places it limits social interactions, so iPods generally divide people more than bring them together.

In conclusion, although technology is resourceful, it is time consuming and it negatively undermines face-to-face social skills with family and friends. Overall computers and ipods waste valuable time. This is so important because technology detracts from important things in life, like family and friends relations, which are the most important things in a person’s life. 

Amazing Concept Cars for 2057

These are some of the most recent concept cars from the last LA auto show.

Manufacturers like Honda, Mazda, Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors, Nissan and Mercedes Benz have come up with revolutionary designs that are fit fot the probable roads of the future.

The coolest future cars

Designs for futuristic vehicles have been around for decades. Many of those speculative wonders of the past are now actually realistic and even available (for a price). Here are four of the coolest FutureCars you can own today.

by Aaron Turpen

The Flying Car

The dream of climbing into the family commuter and zipping off down the street only to take to the air and fly effortlessly to your destination is now reality. Several iterations of the flying car have been attempted and even been somewhat successful over the years.

Flying cars are nothing new to FutureCars, of course. But until now, they have not been commercially available.

 

Personal Hovercraft

Hovercraft have populated movies since the first working prototypes were created in the 1930s. Action stars like Jackie Chan have featured them in their movies and a growing and popular sport of hovercraft racing has recently taken off.

Most hovercraft are large, commercial machines with a hefty price tag. A new market of personal hovercraft, however, has emerged. These range from single-rider options such as the AirBoard to the multi-occupant units like the Hov Pod. Some are meant as watercraft, others as land-only, but all hover over the ground and have the extreme coolness factor associated with hovercraft.

One thing's for sure: put any type of hovercraft in your driveway and you attain instant James Bond status in the neighborhood.

Monocycle

Many motorized unicycles, single-wheeled scooters, and even one-wheel motorcycles have been attempted and marketed. But the monocycle, which has normally been only in the realm of pedaled vehicles, has finally been commercialized in a self-propelled machine.

The Wheelsurf is a single-seat monocycle that goes up to 25mph thanks to its 31cc Honda engine. It's not street legal, but at those speeds, it's not much of a stretch to call it a motorized bicycle or low speed urban vehicle.

Want to turn heads? Then the motorized monocycle is for you.

Personal Submarines

If you're more of the Jules Verne, underwater type, then this is your lucky century. Personal submarines are no longer for deeply-funded scientific expeditions or questionable sci-fi movies. Now, assuming you've got the cash, you can buy your own 1, 2, or even 6 passenger submersible and go down 100 ñ 1,000 meters into the deep.

Hoping to discover new worlds (or undiscovered treasure ships) beneath? Now it's possible, Captain Nemo.

Read more about this, here.

World of Domotics



Domotica / Domotics?

DOMus infOrmaTICS

Information technology in the home (domus is Latin for home).

Although remote lighting and appliance control have been used for years, domotics is another term for the digital home, including the networks and devices that add comfort and convenience as well as security. Controlling heating, air conditioning, food preparation, TVs, stereos, lights, appliances, entrance gates and security systems all fall under the domotics umbrella.

Safe and comfortable

Continuing to live independently. And feeling safe and at ease in your own home. That is what many older people want. But an ´ordinary´ home is then often not adequate. The thresholds are too high, you are afraid to open the door at night, the curtains are too heavy to close and it´s too dark to feel safe. We want to get away from that. A lot needs to be done to make a home truly suitable for each person´s specific needs. But it can be done! Thanks to Domotics.

What is Domotics?

Domotics is a contraction of the words domus (Latin for house) and robotics automation). Domotics is the combination of technology and services for improved living in the areas of safety, comfort and technical management. It is therefore a complete system, not just a remote control. Things happen automatically, because they are required or because you didn´t remember to do them yourself. But you don´t need to worry that you will no longer have control over things. Everything can also be operated by hand, or the settings can be changed. Tools to serve people.

What is a domotics home?

A domotics home is a ´smart home´ which also takes account of the advancing years of its occupier. The structural provisions meet the standards of the Senioren quality mark: so you don´t need to move as you get older! Safety and comfort are the key. The facilities have been made as user-friendly as possible. A domotics home means that you can carry on enjoying life, and that technology is great fun to use.

What can you see in a domotics home?

For example: as you enter the house, you switch off the burglar alarm. This automatically switches on the passive alarm. The house then checks that you remain active and have not fallen or become unwell. If that happens, help is summoned automatically, for example from the home care service. When you go to sleep, you can use a simple button above the bed to turn the passive alarm and the bedside light off, activate the burglar alarm, switch off any lights left on in other rooms, and lower the central heating thermostat by a couple of degrees.

Other examples of domotics

If someone calls at the door, that person´s image will appear on your TV. You talk to this person using the telephone, and open the door using one of the buttons on the phone. Or the lights in the hall and bathroom can switch on automatically when you enter those rooms. You can switch all the lights in the house on or off with a single remote control. Shutters and curtains can also be closed and opened using a remote control.

Revolutionary: voice control!

If most people consider remote controls to be new, voice-activated control is altogether revolutionary. In a domotics home lights can switch on or off and curtains can open or close, all on commands given in your own voice. But various things in the home can also be controlled from elsewhere without you needing to be present, by talking to your home by telephone: switch on the video recorder, increase the temperature, switch off the coffee machine, etc., etc. The options are limitless.

Teenagers and Texting: Hazardous or Harmless?

Cell-phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends, with cell calling a close second. One in three teens sends more than 100 text messages a day, or 3000 texts a month. Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004. Those phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns, and for many parents, teens' attachment to their phones is an area of conflict and regulation.

Teens are texting almost 80 messages a day – at school, on the bus, during dinner, and in bed late at night, and the number of teen texters are on the sharp rise since 2006. As of 2009, more than half of teens (54%) were found to be daily texters.

Do you remember back then when chatting on the Internet was the trend?  Well, with mobile phone technology bringing you the ability to send text to other phones, chatting has gone mobile. Like its predecessor, texting can be quite dangerous and hazardous especially when children do it with reckless abandon, most especially teens. In fact, many children have regressed in their development because of texting.

It calls parents and professionals to wonder, what effect is this having on teens’ education, health and well-being? Do you think teen texting is harmless or harmful?

Cell phones and radiation - how safe are cell phones?

Cell phones are almost as common as pocket change these days. It seems nearly everyone, including an increasing number of children, carries a cell phone wherever they go. Cell phones are now so popular and convenient that they are surpassing landlines as the primary form of telecommunication for many people.

Yet, as cell-phone use continues to grow, so does concern about the possible health risks of prolonged exposure to cell-phone radiation. Is Growing Cell-Phone Use Increasing Health Risks?

Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer?

Wireless cell phones transmit signals via radio frequency (RF), the same kind of low-frequency radiation used in microwave ovens and AM/FM radios. Scientists have known for years that large doses of high-frequency radiation—the kind used in X-rays—causes cancer, but less is understood about the risks of low-frequency radiation.

Studies on the health risks of cell-phone use have produced mixed results, but scientists and medical experts warn that people should not assume no risk exists. Cell phones have been widely available for only the past 10 years or so, but tumors may take twice that long to develop.

Because cell phones haven’t been around very long, scientists haven’t been able to assess the effects of long-term cell-phone use, or to study the effects of low-frequency radiation on growing children. Most studies have focused on people who have been using cell phones for three to five years, but some studies have indicated that using a cell phone an hour a day for 10 years or more can significantly increase the risk of developing a rare brain tumor.

What Makes Cell Phones Potentially Dangerous?

Most RF from cell phones comes from the antenna, which sends signals to the nearest base station. The farther the cell phone is from the nearest base station, the more radiation it requires to send the signal and make the connection. As a result, scientists theorize that the health risks from cell-phone radiation would be greater for people who live and work where base stations are farther away or fewer in number—and research is beginning to support that theory.

In December 2007, Israeli researchers reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology that long-term cell-phone users who live in rural areas face a "consistently elevated risk" of developing tumors in the parotid gland compared with users who live in urban or suburban locations. The parotid gland is a salivary gland located just below a person’s ear.

And in January 2008, the French Health Ministry issued a warning against excessive cell phone use, especially by children, despite the lack of conclusive scientific evidence linking cell-phone use with cancer or other serious health effects. In a public statement, the ministry said: "As the hypothesis of a risk cannot be entirely excluded, precaution is justified."

How to Protect Yourself from Cell-Phone Radiation

General recommendations to minimize the potential health risks include talking on cell phones only when necessary, and using a hands-free device to keep the cell phone away from your head.

If you’re concerned about your exposure to cell-phone radiation, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires manufacturers to report the relative amount of RF absorbed into a user’s head (known as the specific absorption rate, or SAR) from every type of cell phone on the market today.

The future of screen technology

Did you know that...?

Work Smart: Stop Multitasking and Start Doing One Thing ...

A human's ability to do several things at once is a wonder of biology: it means we can eat a burrito while we walk down the street and listen to music and daydream about the weekend all at the same time. But some kinds of multitasking costs you more time than you save.

Doing two things at once, like singing while you take a shower, is not the same as instant messaging while writing a research report. Don't fool yourself into thinking you can multitask jobs that need your full attention. You're not really having a conversation while you write; you're shifting your attention back and forth between the two activities quickly. You're juggling. When you juggle tasks, your work suffers AND takes longer--because switching tasks costs.

When your brain switches its attention from one task to another, it takes time to get into a new train of thought. You lose any momentum you had on the first task, which costs you on the next switch. On the internet or in an office where distractions ...

Multitasking and the Brain

Media Multitaskers Pay Mental Price

Think you can watch videos, make cell phone calls and send e-mails all at once? Stanford experts say even trying can impair your cognitive control. Communication professor Cliff Nass and researcher Eyal Ophir explain why.

To watch the video, click here.

"Multi-taskers" are bad at one thing: multi-tasking

People who text-message while listening to an iPod while reading the newspaper probably think they are good at "multi-tasking." They are wrong, according to a study published Monday.

By Amy Norton

Researchers at Stanford University found that college students who made a habit of immersing themselves in various media at once were not very skilled at tests of memory, attention and, ironically, "task-switching."

In a nutshell, "they're terrible at multi-tasking," Dr. Clifford Nass, one of the researchers on the work, told Reuters Health in an interview. The findings, published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are surprising, the researchers admit. The findings also suggest that today's array of devices that make multi-tasking possible, and supposedly easy, may not be a good thing.

Going into the study, Nass said, he and his colleagues assumed that "heavy multi-taskers" must have some innate ability that allowed them to handle several tasks at once. Maybe they were good at filtering out irrelevant distractions from their environment, the researchers hypothesized.

But a simple cognitive test of such filtering -- where test-takers were asked to focus on the characteristics of a group of red triangles while ignoring a few extraneous blue triangles -- showed that multi- taskers performed more poorly than people who were not prone to media multi-tasking

The same was true when study participants took a test that measures the brain's ability to organize and file away information, and when they took a test of task-switching. The multi-taskers were actually slower to shift their attention from one test task to another.

The study included 262 college undergraduates who filled out questionnaires on their media use -- how often they went online, watched TV, read, listened to music, emailed and text-messaged, and how often they did a few of those things at once. Students classified as either heavy or light media multi-taskers then took the series of cognitive tests. While the results suggest that heavy multi-taskers are not actually good at what they do, the reasons for that are not clear, Nass said.

Overexposure to too many media distractions may be at fault -- or it may be that people who are "born bad multi-taskers" are, ironically, more drawn to doing it.

It's possible, according to Nass and his colleagues, that heavy multi- taskers tend to have a generally "exploratory" orientation: they simply like to gather lots of information, even if that means sacrificing their performance on the task at hand.

But whether heavy media multi-tasking causes the differences seen in this study or not, Nass said, the implication would seem to be the same: "Heavy multi-taskers should stop doing it."

"Society is developing tools all the time to make multi-tasking easier," he said. "The question is whether that's a good thing."