For everything from family to computers…
TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook is teaming up with carriers to provide a “social calling” service. Initially striking up a deal with French carrier Orange, it seems the service will allow friends to make voice calls without knowing each other’s numbers. More » 
from Gizmodo
So far your footsteps, breath and nervous energy have all been tapped to charge up batteries, and now researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology scientists have pulled it off using thermal changes. They did it with so-called pyroelectric nanogenerators, which use polarization changes to harvest heat energy from temperature fluctuations. Normally output current is too low for commercial electronics, but by making one with lead zirconate titanate (PZT), the team was able to create a device that could charge a Li-ion coin battery to power a green LED for a few seconds. The researchers predict that by doubling the surface area, they could drive wireless sensors or LCDs using only environmental temperature changes from an engine or water pipe, for instance. The result could be green power, but without all that pesky moving around.
Filed under: Peripherals, Science, Alt
Via: Phys Org
Source: Nano Letters
from Engadget
I wrote about Kelvin Doe before his appearance at Maker Faire New York and met him at the fair. He’s a very impressive kid. He went on to wow at crowd at M.I.T. where he was a visiting fellow for three weeks. Check out this video about Kelvin. Incredible, moving stuff. The power of making is real.
from MAKE
DreamWorks released onto the open market one of the primary software tools used to create the $145 million animated film, “Rise of the Guardians.”
Warning: The information below may not be accurate. I’m publishing it for entertainment purposes only!
Click Picture to Enlarge!
According to the source, this comes from a mock calendar diary that was published back in 1997.
[Via Chemistry-Blog]
Set in the year 2071, where technology has brought mankind to the brink of colonization on a planet named Gaia, one astronaut takes on an isolated mission and discovers unearthly horrors that could bring an end to human life on this planet.
The dream of ubiquitous technology revolves around cheaper materials, and polymer circuits could help make the dream a reality… if the solvents used to produce the circuits didn’t cause more problems than they cured, that is. The National Technical University of Athens has developed a more exacting technique that, like most good things in science, solves the crisis with lasers. The approach fires a laser at a polymer layer (covered by quartz) to throw some of that polymer on to a receiving layer; by moving the two layers, the scientists can print virtually any 2D circuit without resorting to potentially damaging chemicals. Any leftover worries center mostly around risks of changing the chemical composition as well as the usual need to develop a reliable form of mass production. Any long-term success with laser-printed polymers, however, could lead to more affordable technology as well as more instances of flexible and wearable gear — there might not be much of a downside to ditching the circuit status quo.
from Engadget