Tech Universe: Tuesday 19 April

Kiwi-invented WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery takes only 7 days to produce 23 litres of chilled ready-to-drink brew. Photo / Supplied

BREW YOUR OWN: Remember summer, when you enjoyed a beer to cool down with? Perhaps a Kiwi-invented WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery would fit in your kitchen? It takes only 7 days to produce 23 litres of chilled ready-to-drink brew. The all-in-one stainless steel unit handles the whole process and is about the size of a dishwasher. Farewell Espresso machine. More at WilliamsWarn.

COP SHOW: Police officers in Brazil have smart new sunglasses. At up to 50 metres a tiny camera in the glasses can scan 400 faces per second and compare the faces to a database of criminals and terrorists. The glasses compare 46,000 biometric points on a face. A red light inside the frame indicates a match. 46,000 points must check every pore and eyelash! More at AOLNews.

MIND GAMES: Myndplay is a mind controlled media player. A NeuroSky headset records EEG output from your brain and uses that to interact with and change the outcome of a movie, video or sports app. In the films the viewer is the protagonist. A high level of mental focus will achieve a positive outcome for the character. Twistaplot goes high tech. More at NewScientist and video on YouTube.

MIND CALL: Researchers from the University of California have created a system that uses an EEG headband to record brain signals and send them via Bluetooth to a Nokia N73 cell phone. The phone processes the signals and dials a number. A brief training period gives almost 100% dialling accuracy. It's all in the mind these days. More at TechnologyReview.

POWER TOWER: The world's largest solar power tower is being built in California. The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System has a 137 metre tower at the centre of 173,000 heliostats that all focus the
sun's rays onto a collector. By 2013 the system should be generating 392 MW of solar energy. Google are a major investor in the plant. It's all about the focus. More at Gizmag.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz