NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Glowing Driveway Sparkles Like a Galaxy

I grew up in a semi-rural town, where people had long gravel driveways spanning the massive acreage up to their homes. These driveways were almost never well lit, and sometimes if you weren't paying attention, you would trample the grass and possibly end up in a ditch. A batch of photo luminescent stones mixed in with the gravel would come in handy on those nights.

That's what Core Glow pebbles are. The pebbles are made of an aggregate of synthetic materials (basically a mashup of a bunch of different elements), resin and a hint of photo luminescent pigments. When exposed to sunlight, the pigments in the stone perk up and get excited. As day turns into night, the rocks emit an afterglow. They naturally illuminate a driveway to create a sparkling pathway that requires absolutely no electricity.

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Because there are no wires and no bulbs needed for this source of light, these rocks, that seem better suited for an aquarium than a driveway, are completely carbon emission-free. The glow lasts for 10 to 20 hours and slowly fades as the charge wanes. The photo luminescent pigments on the rocks have been engineered to be waterproof, so even if a nighttime shower pops up, driveways will still be easy to find.

Completely necessary? No. Cool and extremely helpful in an area otherwise hard to light? Yes. Also, great conversation starter for out-of-town visitors.

Credit: COREglow

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This Bus Does Push-Ups!: Gotta-See Videos

In honor of the 2012 London Olympic games, one artist is creating something completely new and iconic. Doing push-ups could be a training regimen, or a punishment, but you've never seen push-ups like these before. This bright red double-decker bus - one of the popular images of London - can do the biggest push-up you've ever seen. It may not look athletic, but with those beefy arms, it could do a lot more than carry commuters. via Digital Trends

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Apple's WWDC News: iOS Hits The Road

Apple is finally yanking the map out of Google's hands. That's the headline news of the keynote opening Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco: the replacement of the aging, increasingly-uncompetitive Google-based Maps app in the upcoming iOS 6 with an Apple-exclusive program.

But to me, the new maps app isn't the most important change revealed at WWDC (beyond those listed below, others included the arrival of a thin but expensive MacBook Pro laptop with an ultra-high-resolution Retina Display to match the new iPad and the ability to move a browsing session from one copy of Safari to another through Apple's iCloud Web service). It's more like the fifth-most important. Here's what tops it:

1. "Eyes Free" mode. When it ships sometime this fall, iOS 6 (a free upgrade for the iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S, the current iPod touch, the iPad 2 and the new iPad) will allow some drivers to request directions and hear and respond to text messages without even looking at the screens of their phones, much less touching them. They will need an upcoming vehicle from Audi, BMW, Chrysler, GM, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes or Toyota with a "Siri button" on the wheel, but this still sets an important precedent. It's also a smarter response to distracted driving than trying to ban all phone use by drivers.

2. Facebook integration. The social network will be even more tightly integrated in iOS 6 than Twitter is in iOS 5, including automatically synchronizing Facebook events and contacts. (Many Android phones include a similar feature). The same integration is coming to Mountain Lion, a new version of OS X coming in July for $19.99. In the keynote, Apple bragged that Twitter's presence in iOS 5 has led to 47 percent of the photos shared on that service coming from iOS devices; imagine what this sort of Facebook tie-in might yield.

3. Passbook. This new iOS 6 app will collect electronic versions of shopper-loyalty cards, tickets and boarding passes, bringing up the right one automatically on an iPhone's lock screen when it detects it's at a relevant location. If enough vendors and merchants support this feature, this will insert Apple into the middle of an enormous number of transactions. And what if an upcoming version of the iPhone also supports mobile payments with an NFC chip? Let the rumor-mongering begin!

4. Notifications in Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion will copy a feature in iOS 5 (which in turn copied one from Android) by allowing background applications to request a user's attention in compact banners that scroll down from the top-right corner of the screen. (That, in turn, reminds me of a feature I appreciated in the Ubuntu version of Linux two years ago.) This should make Mountain Lion a less cluttered place for its users. It also seems a more sensible borrowing from Apple's mobile efforts than the interface elements Apple crudely transplanted into Lion, most of which I've since disabled.

5. Maps. The maps-and-directions program in iOS 6 looks uncommonly beautiful, with an eye-catching "flyover" mode that lets you soar over a rendered version of many major cities. On a more practical note, it will provide turn-by-turn directions that factor in traffic delays, include Yelp ratings of nearby establishments and let you book OpenTable restaurant reservations. But there's no word of an offline mode to match what Google says it's bringing to the Android version of Google Maps. And this app apparently won't offer walking, bicycling or transit directions, areas that I've found Google's app excels in. (Update, 6/13/2012: Grist's Philip Bump confirmed that it does provide walking navigation.) Apple says it will present third-party apps providing those services in Maps, but that's not as elegant. And elegance, as you may have heard, is kind of a big deal at Apple.

Images via Apple PR

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Parking Jerks Beware!

Oh, hey there guy in the the throes of a mid-life crisis. Say, that silver Benz with the scissor doors you're driving is a real screamer. It's sick, yo! Did you just wax it? Because it's shinier than your rhinestoned Ed Hardy t-shirt. Dig your spray-on tan too, bro.

With a car like that it's obvious you're well-endowed with an enormous...bank account and sense of self-pride. You've earned it, working hard to sell people subprime loans over the last few years. Reward yourself. In fact, reward yourself with both of those parking spots. Straddle that line. A Mercedes like that needs some breathing room. You don't want some beater-driving peasant parking too close and dinging up that paint job, now do you?

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Every time I'm in a parking lot and I see some clown with bleached teeth and frosted tips take up two spaces with his status symbol, the above internal monologue courses through me like battery acid. And I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one.

In fact, I'm not. God bless the folks at Moscow-based online newspaper, The Village. They've created a new Android app, eloquently named "Parking Douche." Their modus operandi? Simple: stop the parking jerks by publicly shaming them in the online news and on social media.

When users see someone who has taken up two spaces or parked on a sidewalk, all they have to do is snap a picture with their phone and upload the image to the Parking Douche database.

“The data is streamed live to banner ads that are targeted through an IP address, so people that live or work close to locations where these cars were parked see it.”

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Unfortunately, these banners pop up on websites and "interrupt you while you're trying to read an online article." To get rid of the pop-up ads, users must relay info about the offender on social media. This may be a cool app, but you're not going to win me over with annoying pop-up ads. Still, its creators do seem aware of this by taking measures so users aren't overwhelmed with pop-ups.

However, I don't think being humiliated on social media is enough to make offenders change their ways. I mean, their tolerance for humiliation is obviously quite high. That's why I'm fond of tweezing a dirty diaper out of a near-by trash can and dropping it on their windshield.

 

via Mashable

credit: The Village

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Find a Great Parking Spot, Avoid a Ticket

AutoDefender: $1.99

Seattle Android users might be able to save themselves some parking troubles with a new app designed to make finding a good spot easier. AutoDefender isn’t just another parking spot finder, it also assesses the quality of where you leave your car.

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It does this by first using GPS to find your geographic location, and then pulling information from the Internet related to neighborhood crime rates, parking rules and ticket prices and weather patterns. A neat timer on the easy-to-use interface also lets users know when their meter is about to run out.

The creator of the app, Erik Chelstad, came up with the idea after seeing many of the customers from the Flying Apron -- the bakery/coffee shop he co-owns -- run out to their cars to avoid tickets. Chelstad, who is also president of software company Mossy Side, has plans for an iPhone version as well as expanding the service to include other cities.

Credit: MossySide

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Dish Soap Helps Slide New Bridge Into Place

Who knew that dish soap was the secret ingredient to bridge building?

Engineers from around the United States, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and its partners all gathered on Tuesday to watch something truly remarkable. Two bridges on Interstate 15 near Mesquite were replaced in a matter of hours using hydraulic jacks, metal beams and cleaner of greasy casserole dishes everywhere: Dawn dish soap.

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Traditional bridge construction can take anywhere from eight months to a year, but this new accelerated method for bridge replacement reduces construction time exponentially. In fact, construction crews said they only had to detour traffic for 56 hours.

The overpass slabs were built on metal frames right next to the bridges being retrofitted. Hydraulic jacks and cranes were used to lift and slide the slabs onto Teflon rails lubricated with dish soap. Each slab slid about five feet at a time until secured into place.

But don't work yourself into a lather over the technical details of this method, because as you can imagine, there's no real engineering guidelines for sliding a bridge into place with dish soap.

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"It’s kind of an art at this point," Marty Strganac, NDOT's resident engineer, told the Las Vegas Sun.

The bridge slide is part of the I-15 West Mesquite Interchange Project, a $14 million endeavor to improve the interstate's connectivity.

Along with NDOT, W.W. Clyde and Company, Horrocks Engineers and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada contributed to designing and building the bridges.

More than six bridge slides have been performed in Utah, where the design companies are based. This was the first bridge slide in Nevada.

[Via Las Vegas Sun]

Credit: Julie Duewel, NDOT Photographer

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Earthquake-Proof Bridge Being Built In San Francisco

Within the next 30 years, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 or higher is expected to hit San Francisco. That's why the Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco and Oakland, is undergoing major seismic renovations.

During 1989's Loma Prieta Earthquake, which registered 6.9 on the Richter scale, a section of the Bay Bridge collapsed, killing a motorist. Since then, major studies were conducted to determine if California's largest bridges were seismically safe.

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Results of those studies showed the Bay Bridge -- which is bisected by Yerba Buena Island -- needed major improvements. A one-mile stretch on the west span needed three on- and off-ramps replaced, while the entire east span needed to be completely replaced.

Construction began in 2006 on a 2.2. mile stretch. Its main architectural feature will be a single-tower Self-Anchored Suspension span (SAS). When completed in late 2013, its 1,263-foot main span length will make it the longest, single-tower, self-anchored suspension bridge in the world.

Enhancing the bridge's form and function is the 525-foot single tower that is capable of withstanding a major earthquake. The steel tower is actually composed of four separate towers that are connected by shear link beams designed to move separately and act as shock absorbers in the event of a quake.

Also unique to new SAS is that one continuous main cable will help support the deck, as opposed to traditional suspension bridges that have two separate main cables.

This new design will include a nearly one-mile-long main cable anchored on the Oakland side of the bridge. It will then be carried over the single tower and, as it extends down, the cable will loop around two decks and their foundations on Yerba Buena Island, and back to the original anchor.

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This compresses the entire span and allows for a level of cable tension to be sustained. In traditional suspension spans, any tension in the main cables is resisted by anchor points in the soil.

The estimated $6.281 billion project will also feature cantilevered bicycle and pedestrian paths and special lighting to accentuate the bridge's asymmetric design.

Last month, the 28th and final deck section of the east span was fit into place. Main cable installation is tentatively scheduled to start in early 2012.

 [Via NewScientist]

Credit: Courtesy of Caltrans

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Naked Woman Captured By Google Street View

Depending on your concept of public domain, those roving, camera-rigged Google "street view" vans are either a blatant slap in the face of privacy or they're a comical gift that keeps on giving us truly bizarre photos.

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Pitchfork wielding scuba divers, roadside prostitutes and naked men emerging from car trunks are just a sampling of the comedic, criminal and candid actions captured by Google cameras. In what is surely to continue being a long line of humiliating, risque and just plain goofy snapshots, comes the latest installment: a full-frontal photo of a Miami woman standing on her front porch with a jug of water.

Normally, Google is fairly quick to blur any naughty bits or identifying information like faces and license plates, but the Smoking Gun pointed out on Friday, September 9, that the photo had slipped through the hands of Google censors.

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However, the undoctored photo didn't stay up for too long. As expected, Google was quick to recover the fumble. By Saturday, September 10, the woman's image had been blurred behind a "pixelated shroud" (image above).

Still jonesin' for more tasteless street-view photos? Here's your ticket.

[Via Cnet]

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Cashless Parking Tested in Germany

Finding a parking space is a pain (at least if you live in a city like San Francisco, New York or Boston). Once you get to the parking meter you have to make change. Using a parking garage means trusting your vehicle to the parking valet, or waiting in line behind other cars paying the attendant.

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Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany were likely as fed up as anyone else, so they came up with a cashless system based on radio frequency ID tags -- the same technology used at automated toll booths. The system involves a computer chip stuck to a car's windshield that uses a radio signal to transmit a 12-digit code unique to each vehicle to receivers on the ceiling of a parking garage. The garage ceiling receivers track when a car enters and exists and bills the driver accordingly -- no attendant required. The system, called VIATAG, is being developed for MotionID Technologies and is being tested in three German cities -- Essen, Munich and Duisburg.

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Fraunhofer says hacking isn't a problem because the code doesn't contain any personal information -- it only identifies the car. In addition the RFID chip self-destructs if it is removed from the windshield. This does leave open the possibility of spoofing the car’s identifier, however, which might open a chance to avoid paying or possibly sticking someone else with the bill. We’ll see how the tests work out (and if anyone finds the hack at next year’s Black Hat confab).

Image: MotionID Technologies

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Bike Laser Aims to Increase Cyclist Visibility

Hopping on a bicycle saddle and peddling through the heart of the city is not for the faint of heart. Besides being safeguarded by minimal protection amidst aggressive traffic, their slower pace and low visibility often subject bikers to unfathomable road rage and projectiles hurled from angry motorists.

I've been grazed by enough tossed cups, bottle caps, and side-view mirrors to know that biker visibility is paramount to a more peaceful and safe coexistence between cyclists and motorists.

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Helping bridge this gap is BLAZE, a device invented by Emily Brooke, a final-year Product Design student at the University of Brighton. Her device alerts drivers to the presence of a bikers by projecting a laser image onto the road in front of the bicycle.

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"Eighty percent of cycle accidents occur when bicycles travel straight ahead and a vehicle maneuvers into them," said Emily Brooke, in a university news release. "The most common contributory factor is 'failed to look properly' on the part of a vehicle driver. The evidence shows the bike simply is not seen on city streets."

To make bikers more visible, the handlebar-mounted device projects a bright green, diamond-shaped shared lane symbol on the pavement, several feet in front of the cyclist. The symbol, even visible in daylight, can be made to flash on and off.

The idea is that motorists will notice the green image on the road and take precaution, even if they don't see the cyclist in their blind spot.

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When designing BLAZE, Brooke consulted with road safety experts, Brighton & Hove City Council, the Brighton & Hove Bus Company and driving psychologists. Her resulting invention has won her a tuition-waved course at Babson College in Massachusetts, where she will continue to develop the product. She is also being considered for an Enterprise Award, for innovation.

"With BLAZE, you see the bike before the cyclist and I believe this could really make a difference in the key scenarios threatening cyclists' lives on the roads," she said.

[Via Gizmag]

Credit: Emily Brooke

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