Peter J Lennartsson | Sighenz

Solar Design from CASE also Purifies Water

SEWR from CASE — Solar Enclosure for Water Reuse, by CASE

The Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE), have just picked up another award for their Solar Enclosure for Water Reuse (SEWR) system, and this time they have won the SPARK awards. CASE conducts interdisciplinary research focused on the next generation of building technologies for a sustainable built environment.

Solar Enclosure for Water Reuse or SEWR consists of a series of modular glass blocks, configured to capture, refocus and intensify sunlight and form the sheathing of the exterior surface for a building. The cast-glass blocks have carefully calculated profiles and each block features a standard flat lite on the interior surface, followed by a stiffening frame. The external lite has solar concentrators and graywater flow channels embedded in a surface that is tilted to capture the maximum amount of solar energy.

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Nokia launches amazing 41MP sensor Nokia 808 PureView

Today at the Mobile World congress, Nokia introduced the new revolutionary Nokia 808 PureView with a large, high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor. with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology. At standard resolutions (2/3, 5 and 8 megapixels) this means the ability to zoom without loss of clarity and capture seven pixels of information, condensing into one pixel for the sharpest images imaginable. At high-resolution (38 megapixel maximum) it means the ability to capture an image, then zoom, reframe, crop and resize afterwards to expose previously unseen levels of details.

With superior low-light performance and the ability to save in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS, and on social networks, the Nokia 808 PureView makes it possible for anyone to capture professional looking images in any conditions.

In addition to superior still imaging technology, the Nokia 808 PureView, also includes full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X lossless zoom and the world’s first use of Nokia Rich Recording. Rich Recording enables audio recording at CD-like levels of quality, previously only possible with external microphones. The Nokia 808 PureView also features exclusive Dolby Headphone technology, transforming stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.

Press Release

HTC One X announced at MWC 2012

HTC have just revealed several new devices at the Mobile World Congress, but the most interesting one is the flashship device called HTC One X. It uses a NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor for the Global edition and a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core for the LTE iteration, and just like the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia N9 it uses a unibody design made from machined white polycarbonate.

It sports a 4.7-inch 1280×720 non-pentile Super LCD 2 display, with Gorilla Glass for protection. For memory it has 1GB DDR2 RAM and 32GB of built-in storage, 26GB of this is available to the user. It also adds additional 25GB free online storage for two years through DropBox. A number that brings SkyDrive on Windows Phone to mind. It supports quad-band GSM and quad-band 42Mbps HSPA+, including AWS frequencies. The device also has a 8MP – F2.0 camera that should take clearer shots even in low light conditions, and supports recording 1080p video with continuous focus.

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Nanotechnology fabric converts heat to power

The Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at Wake Forest University has developed a new material they call Power Felt. The fabric can convert body heat into an electrical current. It’s made of carbon nanotubes held within plastic fibers and the material has the same look and feel of felt, a material well known for keeping in the heat.

When held close to a warm body or other heat source the Power Felt take advantage of temperature differences and create a charge. That means power can be generated just by insulating something. It can be used to charge a mp3 player or a smartphone, but also for something far more interesting. If used to insulate pipes or buildings you could theoretically generate a charge while you turn on your taps, or just being at home.

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Engineers design solar panels that float and track the sun

Colignola floating solar panels (Image: scintec.it)

In the small lake of Colignola, Italy, engineers have built a cost-effective prototype for floating and rotating solar panels. Standard solar panels on buildings, or in fields are often criticized for taking up valuable agricultural land, and also for being a bit of an eye-sore. Most standard solar panels are also stationary, only taking advantage of the sunlight for a limited amount of time during the day. They also have a tendency to lose energy through overheating.

The floating solar panels are intended to resolve a lot of these issues. Designed to take advantage of unused areas of artificial reservoirs or disused quarries they would, if placed correctly, hardly be visible from a far. The water would also keep the panels at low temperatures minimizing overheating issues. The reflectors are positioned to maximize solar capture at different times of day, and rotating to track the sun for optimized performance. This should make them more efficient than a traditional installations.

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LG Optimus 4X HD to be showcased at MWC

Information about several new LG phones to be unveiled at MWC have already showed up on the web before the actual event. The latest, and possibly the most exciting one to be revealed is the LG Optimus 4X HD.

Said to be the successor to the LG Optimus 2X, this new phone features a 4.7-inch screen with True HD IPS LCD giving a resolution of 1280×720. It will be the first to use a 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 CPU. The device also features a 2,150mAh battery, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, and despite a very large screen is has a thickness of only 8.9mm.

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Spitzer space telescope finds solid Buckyballs in Space

Buckministerfullerene — Solid shape Buckyballs (Image from nasa.gov)

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have for the first time discovered buckyballs in a solid form in space. Buckyballs are microscopic carbon spheres formally named buckministerfullerene. They are named after their resemblance to the late architect Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes. Prior to this discovery, they have only been found in gas form in space.

The so called Buckyballs are made up of 60 carbon molecules arranged into a hollow sphere, like a soccer ball. Their unusual structure makes them ideal candidates for electrical and chemical applications, including superconducting materials, medicines, water purification and armor.

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Panasonic Eluga smartphone officially coming to Europe

Panasonic has officially named its first smartphone for Europe, the Panasonic Eluga. A 4.3-inch Android handset which is dustproof, waterproof, and a generally touch and resilient smartphone. It was fist reveled in December 2011 but then unnamed and without an official release date. The Eluga is now planned to arrive in Europe during April 2012.

The device uses a qHD 960 x 540 OLED display and also will support NFC. It uses a super-thin frame and a big screen with a 66% display area ratio. Panasonic say the design is very ergonomic, that should make it easy to control everything with one hand. Hinting that it might be able to also work as a remote control for Panasonic HDTVs.

Measurements are: 123 x 62 x 7.8 mm and the device weighs only 103g

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New UV Light Bottles from Camelbak Cleans Water In 60 Seconds

CamelBak have just introduced their new CamelBak All Clear Bottles that turns nearly any tap or natural water source into potable drinking water in just 60 seconds. Using UV light technology it enable you to cleanse and microbiologically purify water fast and easy. The bottle is equipped with a ultraviolet light source, fitted inside its screw-off top which purifies your water with UV light and kills off almost all of the unwanted germs and bacteria. You can also get an optional filter that when attached will help to clear out potential debris and dirt from the water. Very useful if your water source is for example a stream or a pond.

The UV light utilises proven UV technology to effectively neutralise microbiological contaminants to EPA standards. It is powered by an internal battery which can be recharged via the built-in USB port. A fully charged battery will hold enough power to purify a 80 full bottles of water, equivalent to 60 liters or about 16 gallons.

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