Tech Universe: Wednesday 9 November

BELATED BETS:

Want to beat the casino with a bit of clever cheating?

Look out for the cameras. One UK casino chain is checking out software that can spot cheating at the roulette table and alert the croupier. Cameras and the software watch for people putting down their chips after last bets has been called and the wheel is already in motion. The system can also watch for chips of the wrong colour that can give away cheating but might not be noticed by the croupier. First rule ofcasinos: your system can't beat theirs. More at

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BONE PRINTS: Sometimes surgeons have do very complex procedures, maybe involving bones. They can do 3D scans to get images of the area they'll work on, but getting a physical model may be far too slow and costly to be practicable. One surgeon in Scotland has found a cheaper way to do things. He sent 3D scans to a 3D printing firm in Europe and had the low-cost model back within a week. It seems obvious they should spring for their own 3D printer. BBC has details.

SHIRT CHARGES: Wouldn't it be great if your shirt could charge your phone while you sit at your desk? Belgian company Imec have created a standard office shirt that includes a hidden thermoelectric generator. The generator produces 1mW when sitting and 2mW when walking, more in cooler temperatures. The shirt could easily power health-monitoring devices, such as for wireless electrocardiography. And at Christmas time you could wear your own little flashing lights. details.

UNTOUCHED PHONE: The Korean SKY Vega LTE Android Smartphone uses its front-facing camera to detect gestures such as a swipe or a shake for actions such as answering calls. Using 4G LTE technology it also allows for high-speed downloads and uploads and fast HD multimedia. Oops, shaking your fist at an unwanted caller may just answer their call.  Pantech has more, and there's video here.

ROBOPHOTO: Eddie's a party photographer. This robot wields a DSLR camera and roams a party looking for a person. When it finds one it centres them in the image, takes the photo and can upload it directly to Flickr. Infrared sensors detect obstacles. A Kinect allows the robot to identify people and centre them in the frame. It seems to have a bit of a problem detecting personal space though.  Microsoft Robotics Blog has details here and there's video here -
footage of the robot at work starts around 4.5 minutes in.

-Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz