Daily Bits

Wear This Shirt and Forget Batteries

by

If Zhong Lin Wang (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Jong Min Kim (Samsung Electronics) are successful, we might not to lug around heavy batteries for our mobile devices anymore. The two guys, together with their teams, have unveiled a prototype of their pet project – a flexible energy storage device. This flexible energy storage device is made of zinc oxide nanowires which are incorporated into fibers that are used for everyday clothing. In other words, we just might have shirts and dresses that can function as batteries!

The concept is not that new, actually, but others before this current team were unable to make prototypes that were light enough. In making this new prototype, though, the team made use of supercapacitors which are so tiny that they make the idea feasible. More than being light, these supercapacitors are also very flexible, making them perfect for clothing material.

Of course, more than the flexibility and wearability, we are also concerned about the power capacity of these supercapacitors. Well, the good news is that they can be recharged very quickly and almost endlessly. Even better, the zinc oxide nanowires can be recharged by the person’s heartbeat or a light wind. So if you need to recharge your batteries – literally – you just need to walk a little faster to increase your heart rate and get a bit of wind blowing on the shirt! It does sound too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Since this is all in the development stage, we might not see “battery shirts” in the market any time soon. One thing that is bugging me though: I wonder how much they will sell for?

Photo via Me and Him

Starship Edelweiss: Trekkies Considered Yourselves Warned

by

starship
I am serious about that warning for hardcore Star Trek fans out there. I saw this video YouTube, and the word starship caught my eye. Of course, I just had to watch the video. Then again, I should have heeded the red flags that were going up all over the place because of the “electronica” tag associated with it.

Now I don’t know if it’s just me, but there is something not right about the whole concept. Mr. Spock must be turning in his grave right now! Just take a look at the video and tell me if I am overreacting or what.

So what do you think of Edelweiss’s spin on starships, space, and science fiction in general?

Anyhow, the song has been around for a while – since the early 90s. The band Edelweiss is from Austria and it seems that they are not together anymore today. (I wonder if Trekkies had anything to do with that?)

To be fair to the musicians, the line about beaming up to the stars is on repeat in my head. Maybe there is something wrong with me!

Get Ready for Blue Monday

by

Blue Monday
Did you know that there is such a thing as Blue Monday? I am NOT talking about having the blues on Monday, but a special Monday of the year that is characterized as statistically being the most depressing day – ever. No one really knows just how true this is, especially since the idea started as a publicity campaign by Sky Travel. (You can never really tell when it comes to these kinds of campaigns.)

However, it is not without some sort of scientific support. Psychologist Cliff Arnall is attributed with the formula that calculates just how depressing this day is. See if you can make the formula out:

[W + (D-d)] x TQ
M x Na

where weather=W, debt=d, time since Christmas=T, time since failing our new year’s resolutions=Q, low motivational levels=M and the feeling of a need to take action=Na. ‘D’ is not defined in the release, nor are units. (Wikipedia)

There is no doubt that a lot of people experience the Monday Blues, and that the period immediately after the holidays can be quite difficult, but does Arnall’s premise hold water? Not surprisingly, he has had his critics. It seems that even the exact Monday is unclear – is it the third or the fourth Monday of January? Wikipedia says it’s the fourth, while other sources (MNN) say it’s the third.

I have an idea. Whether or not Blue Monday exists, why don’t we just gear up for the weekend and start having fun early on a Friday? What do you say? 😉

Photo via Softpedia

A is for Arial, B is for Baskerville

by

Font Alphabet
Learning the alphabet is always fun, teaching it even more so. I realize that that statement is questionable, depending on your point of view, but how can you not have fun with the alphabet if you have tools such as that book (A is for Ackbar) I wrote about recently? If Star Wars isn’t your thing, then video might do it for you.

Alessandro Novelli is obviously a font lover, and he came up with his own version of the English alphabet. Each letter stands for a font, starting with A is for Arial. It is followed by B is for Baskerville, then C if for Cochin, and then D is for Didot…

Care to complete that list before checking out the video below?

The Alphabet from n9ve on Vimeo.

I have to be honest and admit that many of the fonts in the video are unfamiliar. Then again, I have never been a “font person”. Still, the concept and its execution is worth spending a minute or so on.

If you were given the chance to create your own font alphabet, which fonts would you choose?

FRACT Beta: Get Your Abstract Fix

by

FRACT
Video games a pound a penny these days, with everyone and their mom creating their own video games. The big studios have the budget to churn out one game after another, and there are many gamers who will not hesitate to buy their creations. There are some people, however, who prefer the indie games every now and then. If you belong to the latter group, then here is a new game that you might want to try out.

Developed by Richard E. Flanagan, the game is called FRACT, and it is in its beta stage. FRACT is a first-person puzzle game which is sure to make your head spin – figuratively for some and literally for others. The premise is quite simple: the player enters an abstract world, the foundation of which are sounds and structures inspired by electronic music. The objective of the game is for the player to figure out the puzzles by “resurrecting and reviving the long forgotten machinery of the musical world”.

The game is actually a project that Flanagan worked on for his Post Undergrad in Game Design at Universite de Montreal. Being still in the beta stage, the game is not quite complete, but is already playable. Yes, there are bugs in the game, and he can use the help of players in finding them.

There are versions for Mac and PC, both of which are free to download. Here’s a preview of the game.

FRACT – Indie Adventure Game from Richard Flanagan on Vimeo.

Oh, and if you need more reason to give FRACT a try, it has been selected as one of the 2011 Independent Games Festival student showcase winners.

Color Me – Julian

by

Julian Assange of WikiLeaks fame has graced the front pages of newspapers (the traditional kind), news web sites, blogs, and practically every other kind of web site you can find. Whether you admire him or you detest him, you cannot deny that he does attract attention. How can he not?

Here’s another web site that places Julian Assange in focus – in a different way. The Julian Assange Coloring Book may not be on your list of gifts for your children, but it might give you something to do if you do not feel like working. More so, if you are particularly interested in expressing your creative side, you will find the site a nice distraction.

The concept is the same as that of any other coloring book’s concept: you get pages with sketches that need to be filled with colored. The difference is that you get eight pages – all of them virtual – of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks-related images. You also have a color palette from which you can pick colors. As long as you have a computer, you will be able to color your heart out. Now all you need is a teeny weeny spark of artistic sense in you.

Here’s a sample image that needs some work.
Assange Plain

This one is a work in progress.
Assange Colored

As you can probably see, I did not spend much time with coloring books when I was a kid. This web site is not bound to change anything for me.