TFOT - The Future Of Things
The Future of Things - Your source for future science and technology
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No Diablo III in 2010
Last week in New York, Blizzard offered a product release roadmap for the next few years, showing what is to come in 2009, 2010, and a few years beyond. For this year, the company listed World of Warcraft only, however Blizzard obviously plans to provide content beyond 2011 with the release of Catac …
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Windows 7 Desktops Will Host 3rd-Party Ads
Is it a step towards a free OS? That may or may not be the case with a decision by Microsoft to sell desktop real estate in Windows 7. The advertisements, announced over the weekend, will come in the form of sponsored desktop themes from the likes of Twentieth Century Fox, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Infini …
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Apple Patent Could Embed Ads in OS
The New York Times reports on an Apple patent that was disclosed last month (the same day as the Windows 7 launch, incidentally) that would embed ads within the Apple OS, possibly as a way of subsidizing its hardware. "In return for paying attention to the advertisements, the user can receive a prod …
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Age of Cyber Warfare is 'Dawning'
Cyber war has moved from fiction to fact, says a report. Compiled by security firm McAfee, it bases its conclusion on analysis of recent net-based attacks. Analysis of the motives of the actors behind many attacks carried out via the internet showed that many were mounted with a explicitly political …
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Darwin's Finches Tracked to Study Evolution
A husband and wife team has spotted what could be the beginning of a new species of finch on one of the Galapagos Islands, where Charles Darwin developed his ideas about evolution. Peter and Rosemary Grant, evolutionary biologists at Princeton University in New Jersey, have spent nearly four decades …
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Intel Debuts Text Reading Device
Chip giant Intel has shown-off a device designed to give vision-impaired and dyslexic people access to printed text. The device, known as the Reader, captures text and then reads it aloud and displays it on its built-in screen. The development is unusual because so-called "assistive technologies" ar …
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Floating Jelly Hat
This jellyfish named 'voragonema pedunculata' uses its myriad tentacles (between 1,000 and 2,000 of them)to capture and consume tiny crustaceans. Jellyfish are opportunistic creatures; the key to their 500-million-year success is their adaptability.
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The AVENUE Urban Robot
Researchers at Columbia University in New York City have developed an autonomous robot capable of exploring urban areas and creating site models based on imaging and other collected data with little or no human interaction. Such models, currently created by hand and prone to error, are used by urban …
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Paralysed Rats Sprint
Rats with severed spinal cords and no feeling in their hind limbs can walk, run, step sideways and jog backwards without re-growing the nerves between the injured site and the brain, raising the prospect of a treatment for people with spinal injuries. Although these rats have no voluntary control ov …
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Pedal-Power Your iPhone
California-based company Dahon has recently unveiled an innovative charging solution for portable gadgets, named ReeCharge. The new device utilizes bicycles' pedal-power in order to power almost any electronic device, including iPods, iPhones, PDAs and GPS units.
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Solar-Powered Bluetooth Speakers
Devotec Industries, England, has introduced innovative, portable speakers that utilize Bluetooth connectivity to wirelessly play music from various devices such as iPods, MP3 players and even cellular phones. Moreover, the new product is powered ecologically from the Sun, and therefore it is dubbed …
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Bone Setting Glue
Researchers at the University of Utah have developed a new glue that sticks to bone and other wet surfaces. The glue, based on the adhesive used by sandcastle worms building their underwater homes, turns from liquid to solid as it is exposed to higher pH levels. The result is a glue as strong as sup …
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Nostalgia: The Atari Wallet
For most people, a wallet is made from leather or some other common textile. Now, designer NilesZ is introducing a new wallet made from 100% original Atari 2600 games; each unit is made by hand and requires over 2 hours of meticulous assembly. Four incredibly strong neodymium rare earth magnets are …
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ATT Develops a Smart Remote Control
AT&T has recently introduced new universal remote control, named Point Anywhere RF, which offers better controlling of various devices. Its most innovative advantage is the ability to work through walls - giving users the option to command DVD players, VCRs and television sets from all around the ho …
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Speed Limit To The Pace of Evolution
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a theoretical model that informs the understanding of evolution and determines how quickly an organism will evolve using a catalogue of "evolutionary speed limits." The model provides quantitative predictions for the speed of evolution on …
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Asus Launching ''Smartbook'' in Q1 2010
On Friday, China Times reported that Asus plans to launch a Snapdragon-based smartbook sometime during Q1 2010. Asus CEO Jerry Shen made the announcement last week during an investor conference held in Taipei, revealing that the upcoming device will likely cost consumers around $184 USD. The company …
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The Melting Snows of Kilimanjaro
Glaciers crowning Africa's tallest mountain could disappear within decades. The snows of Kilimanjaro are rapidly disappearing and will be gone by 2033, predicts the most detailed analysis yet of the iconic glaciers gracing Africa's highest peak. In addition to shrinking in area, Kilimanjaro's glacie …
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Blind Assistance with Haptic Reader
Non-Braille books are made accessible to the blind with the Haptic Reader, designed by researchers at Handong Global University and Keimyung University, both in South Korea. When placed on a page, the reader scans typed letters and converts them to their Braille equivalent on the device's upper surf …
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The H1N1 Swine Flu: A Look Inside
The H1N1 swine flu virus has become a pandemic. James Williams takes a look at where the swine flu originated and what happens to the virus once it gets inside our bodies. Swine influenza virus is common throughout pig populations worldwide. Transmission of the virus from pigs to humans is not commo …
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�Darkfield' Lasers Let Mice Track on Glass
Logitech has recently introduced a new technology that allows optical PC mice to operate on glass. This feature can solve the common problem offices encounter when users work on stylish desktops made of glass, crystal or other transparent materials.
TFOT - The Future Of Things
