Satellite Dishes Can Turn Toxic Waste From Fracking Into Clean Water
Source: http://gizmodo.com/satellite-dishes-can-turn-toxic-waste-from-fracking-int-1651380272
In the past few years, earthquakes in Oklahoma
Monday, October 27, 2014
A Double-Duty Flippable Mug Holds Coffee Or Espresso
Source: http://gizmodo.com/a-double-duty-flippable-mug-holds-coffee-or-espresso-1651388318
If your office doesn't pay for a cleaning service, and every employee is left to wash their own dishes, you'll want to maximize every cup, plate, and spoon you bring to work. So when it comes to caffeine you might want to swap your current mug for this $14 double-duty alternative that holds 5.5 ounces of coffee, or 1.5 ounces of espresso when flipped upside-down.
Tiny tethered drone gives soldiers a view of the dangers ahead
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/27/cyphy-works-pocket-flyer-drone/
Drones already give troops valuable data about enemies and devastated areas, but the existing vehicles have their limits; big aerial drones can't see inside buildings, and their ground-based counterparts can't get over rough terrain. Well, CyPhy Works might just have a reached a happy balance between those two extremes. It recently signed a deal with the US Air Force to produce the Extreme Access Pocket Flyer, a very tiny UAV (it weighs just 2.8oz) that sends HD video to soldiers for up to two hours. The key to its portability is a 250-foot microfilament tether that delivers both power and data -- bulkier gear like batteries will stay with the soldier. This has the upshot of adding reliability and security, since there's no wireless signal subject to interference or jamming.
The military may be calling dibs on the Pocket Flyer, but combat recon (such as special forces and tunnel surveillance) is only part of the story. CyPhy notes that the focus will be on search and rescue; the drone should help find people in collapsed buildings and other situations where it'd be too dangerous to go in blind. While there's no firm timetable for when this pint-sized machine will be ready, it's far enough into development that you could see it enter service relatively quickly.
Filed under: Robots
Via: IEEE Spectrum, Geek
Source: CyPhy Works
App-controlled coffeemaker can automatically mix your perfect blend
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/27/bruvelo-app-controlled-coffeemaker/
You won't even bother denying it: you're somewhat of a coffee snob and have a particular bean-to-water ratio of choice. This new coffeemaker called Bruvelo promises to make it a lot faster to mix your perfect cup -- you don't even have to do anything other than to press a few buttons in an app. According to its Kickstarter page, Bruvelo can filter water, weigh and grind beans, dispense the right amount of water and ground coffee, as well as maintain the brew's temperature at 199 degrees Fahrenheit. (Yes, you can use any bean you want -- it's not going to limit your choices like that one popular high-tech coffee machine.) You merely have to choose among the preconfigured "flavor profiles" (Delicate, Balanced or Robust) or program your own within the app: Bruvelo then receives your commands via WiFi and does the actual work for you. You can get this app-controlled coffeemaker by June 2015 at the earliest if you pledge $300 now, though its campaign must reach its $150,000 goal for production to begin.
Filed under: Household, Mobile
Source: Kickstarter, Bruvelo
Making chiptune music is as easy as gaming with this player
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/27/lo-fi-ses-8-bit-chiptunes/
Chiptune music is one the many phenomena that '80s era gaming nostalgia spawned -- but to get into it you need to mod a working 30-year-old NES into an instrument. Now, a company called Assorted Wires has launched a hackable 8-bit chiptunes instrument on Kickstarter to make it way easier. The pitch is pretty simple: if you're good at video games, you can make music with no practice. That's why they're calling it the Lo-Fi SES, for Sound Entertainment System. It's shaped exactly like a game controller, with the control buttons used to trigger samples, change tempo, and play, record or delete tracks, to name a few functions.
The Lo-Fi SES is designed around the Arduino platform with an Atmega processor. As a result, you can replace the samples with actual sounds from an NES or other console. You can remap the buttons, do sophisticated open-source signal processing and even use it as a... game controller. The team says that no coding experience is needed, but if you like hacking, "it's the perfect platform for audio projects, budding bands or skilled instrumentalists." Finally there's a slot to add three cartridges: a second sound pack, a USB cartridge for custom tweaking and a "Smasher" cartridge that lets you dirty up the music.
So how much does this chiptune fun cost? For $50, you can get an early bird cartridge only, while $110 will grab you the early bird Lo-Fi SES with all three cartridges. Early bird backers should receive their devices by the end of the year, while other buyers will have to wait until April 2015. The campaign has just kicked off with a $5,000 goal.
Source: Kickstarter
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