SHOWER BED: Dornbracht's Horizontal Shower may make your mornings easier. You lie on a heated bench, while six shower heads directly above play water on you, using programmed temperatures and intensities. Set it up for a gentle massage, an invigorating spray or a soothing sprinkle. The controls are in the head of the bench so you don't even have to lift an arm to change the programme. It still won't change the fact you have to get up and go to work. More at Archello.
SPACE DOCTOR: So you're in space and you get sick. What are your fellow astronauts to do, since they're probably not doctors? With any luck they'll be able to use the ESA's augmented reality unit. The head-mounted display gives the wearer 3D guidance in diagnosing problems or even performing surgery. At the moment the system uses ultrasound. A prototype headset overlays an image on the patient's body and provides cue cards so the wearer knows what to do and what they should be seeing. Surgery in zero gravity could be quite a trick though. Details at ESA Technology.
EARS, BRAIN, COMPUTER: When we hear a sound such as a word certain parts of our brain activate. One scientist in the US recorded brain activity in test subjects while playing them various words. A computer algorithm then determined which words correlated with which brain activity. Then the subjects heard a new set of words and the computer was able to pick out and repeat recognisable words. The researchers hope to one day give those unable to speak a voice. Or the rest of us a way to feed our thoughts directly into the computer. The Guardian has more.
MOTION DETECTIVE: Microsoft's Kinect generally senses people standing in front of it, but in India some visually impaired people may wear it instead, as a key component in a haptic belt. The viSparsh is the product of a team of young engineers in India being guided by the University of Pennsylvania. The Kinect sensors detect obstacles within a range of a couple of metres and the belt then vibrates to guide the wearer. The team hope to reduce the weight of the system, improve the battery and then have the device manufactured in the US. The Kinect just needs to be resized now.
IBNLive has more, and there's video here.
CHARGING ALL OVER: Charging an electric vehicle can be a problem.
Charging stations aren't widespread in the way petrol stations are. That may change though. Swiss company ABB manufacture industrial machines for oil, mining and utility companies. But now they want to back a widespread EV charging network across Asia, the US and Europe. ABB also produce chargers, including the heavy duty DC items that can recharge a car in less than 30 minutes. If they're ubiquitous and fast, and there's free wireless, that'd be a winning combo. Chicago
Tribune.
