In an effort to make air travel easier, passengers at the Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport will soon be able to use their cellphones and PDAs to board flights. Continental Airlines is running a 3 month test allowing digital versions of boarding passes to be presented instead of their paper counterparts. A boarding pass containing a bar code encrypted with flight and passenger details will be emailed to passengers participating in the program. They can then present this bar code via a cellphone or PDA at the airport security checkpoints and gates, where the bar code will be scanned with a handheld scanner.
It’s no secret that the current traffic control light system is severly antiquated. We’ve all sat at a traffic light of an empty intersection and wondered why the light didn’t turn green. Or have been at an extremely congested intersection and scratched our heads in disbelief as only a few cars made it through each cycle. We waste hours sitting in traffic because the current traffic systems and infrastructure simply can’t handle current traffic levels. Or can they?
Most of the existing traffic systems were built in the 1960s and ’70s, when traffic levels were just a small percentage of what they are today. Computers didn’t have enough computing power to calculate complex systems to speed traffic along according to levels at that moment, so they were simply programmed to repeat in cycles. At the time they worked efficiently. With some changes to the current systems, traffic flow could be improved by as much as 95%.
What’s usually the most important detail when purchasing a new car? Performance? Sometimes. Airbags and safety ratings? Nah, I live in the edge. Cupholders? I hope not. Paint color? Bingo. Auto companies spend millions of dollars determining what color consumers want and will sell the best. Research groups and customer surveys help determine auto paint colors that can, ultimately, make or break a new vehicle model.
Nissan has developed a new paint coating that it calls “paramagnetic”, which can change colors instantly. This technology applies an electric current to an iron oxide polymer layer of paint that changes color based on the level of the current and number of iron oxide particles. Theoretically, almost any color could be produced in this manner. The one downfall is that the electric current needs to remain on to keep that color. Once the car is turned off the paint will revert back to white.
Carnegie Mellon and their autonomous self-driving 2007 Chevy Tahoe SUV named “Boss” won the latest DARPA Urban Challenge, earning them the first place prize of $2 million. Without any human interaction the vehicle was able to navigate the difficult urban obstacle course which included other human driven and robot driven vehicles. The course followed 55 miles of urban landscape and each competing vehicle had to operate safely and within California driving laws.
The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Challenge started a few years ago to stimulate innovation in the robotics and artificial intelligence fields. The challenge involves building a robotic vehicle that can maneuver through an obstacle course without human interaction. Each year the course gets more difficult as competitors build increasingly sophisticated vehicles. The robot vehicles use cameras, sensors, and lots of computing power to continuously guage the situation and calculate the next move. Millions of inputs and situations need to be calculated to correctly select each move and navigate the course successfully.
For decades artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics have been touted as the wave of the future but have never quite lived up to hype. Public challenges like DARPA’s not only spur development in these areas but show the world that these technologies can be used safely and efficiently.
The U.K. army begain testing technology that can make a tank nearly invisible. In trials last week, the army was able to make a tank completely disapear.
This invisible technology works by projecting images of the surrounding landscape onto the surface of the tank (or any object to be hidden). This gives the effect of looking through the object as the landscape that would normally be obscured by the tank is now visible. The weakest point of this intricate and delicate system of cameras and projectors is that it would have to be able to handle intense conditions.
The invisible tank is expected to be battle ready by 2012. I think we will see invisibility technology in use with other military machinery by that time as well.
Ferrari and Segway (yes, they do still exist - albeit only slightly more than unicorns and leprechauns) have teamed up to to create a limited edition Ferrari Segway personal transporter that is guaranteed to go from 0 to dumb in 3.5 seconds. This misguided marriage comes about because Ferrari has been using Segways in their factories for some time and Ferrari can’t resist renting out their brand to any company with a product and a wallet. If you’ve got the money to waste and need to fill up an empty space in your basement you can purchase one of these Segways, complete with the signature Ferrari red paint job. If they choose to put a Ferrari engine on one of these, maybe then I’ll take one for a spin.
The Infiniti EX35, slated for a December 2007 launch in the North American market, will utilize the Around View Monitor (AVM) system. The AVM system offers the driver a bird’s eye view of the vehicle and its surroundings. The system displays a bird’s eye image of the vehicle by processing four images shot with ultra wide angle, high-res cameras mounted in the front grille, rearview mirrors, and in the rear end. Auxiliary sonar devices in the corners of the vehicle will supplement the function of the cameras by providing audible distance feedback.
This is pretty sweet, but chances are that my wife still won’t be able to park it.
Rider Quang Nguyen has tricked out his red Vespa GTS250 with a PC running XP, touchscreen display, soundsystem, and Wifi. One of the coolest transportation mods we’ve ever seen, a true geek mobile. Congratulations to him for winning the Best Modern Vespa award in the Amerivespa Concours d’Elegance. More pics
A Korean has unveiled the Black Eagle a.k.a. MD3000, a GPS unit with integrated “black box” for cars, similar to the ones used in aircraft. This isn’t the first black box for cars (see Eclipse), but it’s the first to be integrated with a GPS unit.
The unit’s camera records video of an accident for 18 seconds - 12 seconds before the accident and 6 seconds after. How does it know to record 12 second before an accident? Well, it’s not psychic (sorry), but it starts recording each time you reach a negative 1.1G acceleration in the vehicle. More pics [Navigadget]
As far as gadgets go, they don’t get much bigger than this. 185mph in pure comfort. I love how the story explains that it’s the first re-design in eight years, as though that’s a long time. In England some of the trains seem to date back to the stone age.
Most of the existing traffic systems were built in the 1960s and ’70s, when traffic levels were just a small percentage of what they are today. Computers didn’t have enough computing power to calculate complex systems to speed traffic along according to levels at that moment, so they were simply programmed to repeat in cycles. At the time they worked efficiently. With some changes to the current systems, traffic flow could be improved by as much as 95%.
Nissan has developed a new paint coating that it calls “paramagnetic”, which can change colors instantly. This technology applies an electric current to an iron oxide polymer layer of paint that changes color based on the level of the current and number of iron oxide particles. Theoretically, almost any color could be produced in this manner. The one downfall is that the electric current needs to remain on to keep that color. Once the car is turned off the paint will revert back to white.
The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Challenge started a few years ago to stimulate innovation in the robotics and artificial intelligence fields. The challenge involves building a robotic vehicle that can maneuver through an obstacle course without human interaction. Each year the course gets more difficult as competitors build increasingly sophisticated vehicles. The robot vehicles use cameras, sensors, and lots of computing power to continuously guage the situation and calculate the next move. Millions of inputs and situations need to be calculated to correctly select each move and navigate the course successfully.
As far as gadgets go, they don’t get much bigger than