Tech Universe: Wednesday 10 November

The ASSET roadside camera checks weather conditions, whether you're wearing a seatbelt, and even your car insurance, as well as your speed. Photo / Thinkstock

A round-up of the latest technology news from around the globe.

SPEEDY CAMERA: Going to be driving in Finland? Take care. The ASSET roadside camera checks weather conditions, whether you're wearing a seatbelt, and even your car insurance, as well as your speed. It has its own generator so it never runs out of juice. A satellite connection and GPS unit mean tickets for multiple offences could be waiting for you before you even get home. No word on remote breath testing. More at the DailyMail.

A TANGLED WEB: Machine Vision Lab already make devices to identify moviegoers recording pirate copies of films. Now they're working on systems to detect audience emotions and movement. The movie industry and advertisers will use the data as part of their market research. Who's watching the watchers now? More at TorrentFreak.

CLOAKED IN LIGHT: Scottish scientists have developed a flexible material, Metaflex, that manipulates light. The metamaterial interacts
with light at a wavelength we can see - 620 nanometers. At that wavelength light flows around the material, hiding what it covers. This may prove popular with moviegoers. More at DiscoveryNews.

YOU'VE GOT URL: The Spanish postal service have created a stamp with a QR Code. Scan the stamp with your smartphone's QR reader and it calls up a web page with a video of the Alhambra palace. Companies can use the stamps for their own promotions too. At least you have to
deliberately scan the codes to get the ads. More at ReadWriteWeb.

SMELLER RAT: Giant African pouched rats are the latest recruits to an organisation called APOPO. They sniff out the TNT in landmines. Two deminers and 2 rats can clear a 200 square-metre minefield in 2 hours. The rats are generally too light to be able to set off a landmine. Once upon a time it was sniffer dogs. New technology's always smaller and lighter though. More at Physorg and APOPO.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz