NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Japanese Floating Train of the Future Has Arrived

Just when you weren't sure whether Japanese trains could get any faster or more convenient, the Central Japan Railway Company unveils the prototype for a floating maglev train designed to hit 311 miles per hour.

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Granted the train isn't scheduled for use until, oh, 2027, but the specs are impressive. The train manufacturer, known as JR Tokai for short, recently showed the public its "Series L0" prototype. With a 92-foot-long front car and a lengthy aerodynamic nose, the 14-carriage train will float above the tracks.

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This frictionless train will use magnetic levitation -- maglev -- to take passengers from central Tokyo to the western city Nagoya in about 40 minutes. For a bullet train, that trip currently takes closer to 90 minutes. By car, the distance between the two cities is a little over 200 miles.

Magnetic levitation promises insanely smooth, quiet and high-speed transportation. But, as Gizmodo's Andrew Tarantola rightfully pointed out, maglev trains are far more expensive and technically challenging to build. This particular project will ultimately cost a mind-boggling $112 billion, Engadget's Nicole Lee reported. For perspective, Boston's Big Dig project cost $24.3 billion, including interest.

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Once the Tokyo-Nagoya leg is completed, the plan is to extend it to Osaka by 2045. Maybe at that point Japanese train prototypes will just be teleporting passengers. A girl can dream, right?

Photo: Central Japan Railway Company's Series L0 prototype is designed to travel at 311 miles per hour. Credit: Phys.org.

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New Ferry Goes To Zero Emissions

A passenger ferry that emits zero carbon will be plying the routes between Denmark, Germany and Sweden in the next five years. FutureShip, a subsidiary of GL Group, has designed a ship that runs on a combination of solar power, fuel cells, batteries and wind power. It can hold 1,500 passengers and about 1.3 miles of parking space for cars.

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The ship is built with a streamlined hull designed for traveling up to 18 knots (21 miles per hour) and would average about 17 knots (20 miles per hour). Storage batteries hold some 2,400 kilowatt-hours and a set of fuel cells totaling 8,300 kilowatts power the engines. Turbines capture additional electricity from the wind.

Human-Powered Helicopter Makes Record Flight

Surplus electricity from the grid produces the hydrogen for the fuel cells, which is stored in tanks on board. There are no diesel engines and thus no emissions. Further efficiencies come from the shape of the hull and propellers.

Such vessels are designed for short trips, where the energy requirements are not as large as for long-haul shipping. The total cost, FutureShip says, is only about 25 percent more than a conventional ferry.

While ferries don't often use the heavy "bunker oil" that older cargo ships do, they do burn a lot of fuel –- about a ton per crossing. They also emit sulphur and oxides of nitrogen in addition to tons of carbon dioxide. So anything that cuts this back is a welcome step in curbing global warming.

via Maritime Propulsion

Credit: GL Group

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Smart Cycles, Transparent Time, Other Disruptions

TechCrunch Disrupt SF, the annual conference held by that widely read tech-news blog in San Francisco, has become a weird, not-so-little circus.

It draws celebrities and politicos (model Jessica Alba and Newark, N.J., mayor Cory Booker each showed up to discuss their online ventures). It features interviews and panels that can be enlightening (Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the company botched its mobile strategy by neglecting its apps) and enervating (TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington spent too much time asking Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff how awesome it was to be rich). It even has a soundtrack, an endlessly replayed loop of techno songs that continues to besiege my brain two days later.

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But Disrupt also serves as a useful stage for startups pitching themselves in the hope of earning extra publicity -- and a $50,000 prize to one company out of 30. (This year's winner, YourMechanic, promises house-call repairs for your car).

Some of these ventures look too oriented towards the kind of people who attend Disrupt -- for instance, an app that filters what people say on all of your other social networks. But others featured clever uses of technology to iron out inefficiencies, tell us more about ourselves and save us time. These five seemed particularly interesting.

Lit Motors

This San Francisco firm showed off its C1, an enclosed electric motorcycle whose steering wheel, sunroof and airbags make it more of a two-wheeled car. Like a Segway, it balances itself automatically with a set of gyroscopes; kickstand-style landing gear deploy when you park it. It will run for 200 miles on a charge, the company says, and should recharge in six hours on a standard outlet. But at a projected price of $19,000 in 2014, it would be an expensive way to streamline a commute.

Chronos

This iPhone app aims to provide "time transparency" by tracking where you spend your day and how long you spend at those places. It uses Foursquare's database to decide which places represent work or play and noting when you're near friends who are also using the app. Think of this service as a FitBit for your calendar instead of your calories, providing quantified data in convenient charts that you can use to improve your life -- say, by realizing you spend too much time at the gym and not enough with your kids or significant other.

MindMeld

Expect Labs' free iPad videoconferencing app listens to a conversation for keywords and then presents relevant search results--for instance, if somebody cites the iPhone 5's introduction, the program starts pulling up stories about it. The idea here is to minimize time spent on calls doing frantic Google searches to figure what somebody else just mentioned; that seems like a worthy goal.

PayTap

Consider this a sign of crummy economic times: PayTap allows friends and family to team up easily and securely to pay somebody else's bills without having to send checks back and forth, collect cash, share credit-card numbers or take turns covering the entire tab. The Dallas company charges $1 for each group payment, which beats PayPal's fees in some cases but not others.

Spinlister

Your bicycle spends much of the time sitting idle, so why not make a little money by renting it out, much as you might rent a spare room on Airbnb? This Facebook-linked service lets cyclists in New York and San Francisco do that, allowing renters to choose bikes by size and type (and, in the bargain, illustrating yet another way that technology can make transportation more efficient). Rates can go from $5 to $130 a day, with insurance included for bike owners; the site collects 25 percent of the proceeds.

Credit: Rob Pegoraro/Discovery

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Grocery Shop at the Airport

Whenever I come back from a long trip, I start stressing about what I’m going to eat for dinner when I get home. Like most people, I empty out my fridge of all perishables that may go bad while I’m gone, which usually leaves me with a jar of olives and a bottle of mustard. U.K travelers going through Gatwick Airport are getting a chance to avoid that fate by setting up food delivery before they return from a trip. The grocery chain Tesco is testing out virtual grocery store lounge.

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The U.K. grocery store chain is testing an interactive grocery store that let shoppers browse virtual
shelves holding 80 products. A smartphone app allows the shopper to scan a bar code and add the item to a virtual shopping cart. When it's time to check out, the shopper picks a date for delivery, up to three weeks in advance. According to the BBC, this is Tesco’s way of competing with the growth of mobile shopping, which is expected to account for 15 percent of all online shopping by the end of the year. The chain insists the virtual grocery store isn’t a gimmick; instead it’s an opportunity to get customer feedback and meet the demand for shopping on the go.

Gimmick or not, if it keeps jet-lagged travelers from having to trek the aisles of a grocery store after a long vacation, it’s got a good chance of becoming a convenient feature in airports everywhere.

via BBC

Credit: Tesco

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Domino's Pizza Engine Noise: Gotta-See Videos

Electric scooters are environmentally friendly but pedestrian hostile. Without engine noise, walking people don't know to look for a motor vehicle. Domino's Pizza chain in The Netherlands chose to protect the environment, but rather than ignoring the safety issues they added engine noise in the most unique way... with a human voice making engine noise. Don't miss this one, it will have you rolling (pun intended).

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Want to recommend a video? Tweet it to @Discovery_News with the hashtag #GottaSeeVideos.

Don't miss today's Must-Read News Nuggets too!

Human-Powered Sub Sets Speed Record

The Olympics may be in London, but in Gosport, some 80 miles away on the south coast of England, another international competition unfolded for the fastest human-powered submarine.

The inaugural European International Submarine Races (eISR) were held on June 25-39 at Qinetiq, the former Royal Navy's testing facility in Gosport. Teams of students from around the world showed off their designs for a submarine powered entirely by human muscle. No energy storage was allowed -- no batteries, flywheels or motor assists.

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The winner was the Omer 8 (above), from the Ecole de Technologie Superieure of Montreal, Quebec. It hit a speed of 7.03 knots (8.08 mph) over a 13-meter section of the course. In second place was the Talon 1, from Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Bath's Minerva was in third.

The Talon 1, from FLorida Atlantic University, came in second place.

The race was in a 60- by 120-meter pool, with both a speed section and a slalom -- the point was to demonstrate both speed and maneuverability. Each team's overall score was calculated from how the sub performed on different tasks. So while Omer 8 won the speed round, FAU's Talon 1 took the prize for agility and the University of Michigan's Wolverine won for innovation.

The University of Bath's Minerva.

All were crewed by a person in SCUBA gear, as adding a separate air supply complicates the design. But they took slightly different tacks for powering the subs and maneuvering them -- some had electrical assists for adjusting fins in order to steer.

The Wolverine, the entry from the University of Michigan.

Powering a submarine is a lot different from a bicycle or even the human-powered aircraft designs, though they all use pedals. "You have to strap your feet into the pedals," said Jennifer Blowers, a mechanical engineering student on the University of Bath's team. "On a bike you have gravity and momentum, but on the boat you don't get any of that."

This means that a human crew member has to push that much harder. It's also important that the bottom of the sub be transparent, because the course is marked at the bottom of the pool.

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Then there are the engineering challenges of working in the water. "You've got rust, friction and you try not to drop the Allen keys," Blowers said.

This record has been accepted by the International Submarine Races -- home of human-powered submarine racing in the United States, which sponsors its own race, the next of which is scheduled for June 2013.

Photo: The Omer 8, which set the speed record (top). Credit: European International Submarine Races

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Human-Powered Helicopter Makes Record Flight

The concept of a human-powered helicopter dates back to Leonardo Da Vinci. A team of University of Maryland Students has made it a reality, breaking a flight duration record.

Called the Gamera II, the helicopter has four rotor blades, and is 105 feet across but only weighs about 71 pounds. It's powered by the pilot, who controls the flight via a system of cables. Yesterday the craft managed a flight of 50 seconds, far surpassing the last record of 11.4 seconds set last year by the Gamera I, the first version. (The Wright brothers first flights were about 12 seconds, so this group of students has done at least as well).

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The helicopter was built by students at the Alfred Gessow Rotocraft Center, part of the university's school of engineering, and is aimed at the $250,000 Sikorsky Prize, given by the American Helicopter Society. The winning design has to hover about 10 feet off the ground for 60 seconds. The University of Maryland team didn't manage to fill out the requirements for the prize, but they have come closer than any team before.

More flights are planned for August that will be observed by the National Aeronautic Association, which will certify the record.

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There are still some problems to be ironed out: one is drift. Dennis Bodewits, an assistant research scientist in the astronomy department and one of the pilots, told Discovery News that the size of the room can limit the tests because the helicopter drifts too close to a wall. But flights of 30 seconds are becoming standard, and the group is still working to optimize the drive train to get more power.

Photo: Pilot Dennis Bouweits aboard the Gamera II. Credit: University of Maryland

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Hologram Lady Will Greet You at the Airport

"I'm so versatile, I can be used for just about anything," the woman said in a sugary voice, changing her shirt. "I can say what you want, dress the way you want and be just about anything you want me to be!" Meet the new holographic customer service rep that will be tested in three New York City area airports.

Each lifesized holographic lady appears on a flatscreen cutout and works with sensors that detect someone speaking to it. Then she begins dispensing information about flights, shuttle buses and taxis. Each slender brunette avatar costs $60,000.

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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced this week that it will be installing holograms at LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports in early July. Although she says she never takes a break, doesn't charge overtime, doesn't need a background check and hardly ever takes sick leave, the hologram-like avatar has already drawn ire.

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"Sexist, Anti-Labor (Anti-Human?) Robots Take Over Customer Service Duty At Area Airports" reads Village Voice blogger Steven Thrasher's headline. Jezebel's Cassie Murdoch wrote, "[I]t seems more like she's been designed as a submissive sex doll for men who are vehemently opposed to people being employed than she does a helpful friend."

Her self-introduction certainly was nauseating in this WNYC Radio video, but the strange part is she's not interactive. Visitors can listen to her but not ask questions. Then again, maybe that's for the best since certain responses might trigger actual violence. And to be fair, the Port Authority is also hiring 70 new multilingual human agents.

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The holographic deployment is part of a larger effort to improve customer service at New York airports. Other measures include limiting taxi hustling, adding power poles for charging devices, and making bathrooms cleaner, according to a Port Authority press release. In my book a sparkling restroom trumps a holographic greeter.

Photo: The holographic airport greeter in action during a recent demonstration for the press. Credit: WNYC Radio (video)

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Around The World In Six Hours

You know those clear vacuum tubes at bank drive-thrus -- the ones that suck up deposit canisters at lightning speed? Sure you do, they're mesmerizing. Admit it, if there was a mode of transportation that allowed you to travel back and forth like those canisters do, you would be the first to hop aboard.

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Well, if Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT or ET3) can ever turn their patent into a reality, your totally tubular pipe dreams just might be plumb for picking.

How does zooming from New York to Beijing in just two hours sound, or a round-the-world trip in six hours? Did I mention you'll be traveling at the better-than-Botox speed of 4,000 miles per hour?

Ok, technically, the tubes work differently from the drive-up bank tubes, which are based on pneumatic tube transport. This is evacuated tube transport. It works by creating a tube where all of the air is removed. The passenger vehicle is, which is pressurized and has plenty of air and other amenities, moves through the airless environment levitating on a magnetic track. Its movement is controlled by manipulating the magnetic forces that are at play between the track and the capsule. (Think of how opposite ends of a magnetic attract each other and same ends repel.)

So-called Maglev trains are already in use in Europe and China for high-speed transportation. But this one, moving through the airless, frictionless environment of the tube, would glide way faster using far less energy those subjected to gravity. Airlocks at stations would allow people to get on and off the capsule without letting air into the sealed tube.

I know what you're thinking. This sounds like a lost exhibit from Disney's Epcot Center. Not such a stretch of the imagination, seeing this company is based in Florida.

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However, ETT says they aren't out to take you for a ride. They claim this method of travel provides 50 times more transportation per kilowatt-hour than electric cars or trains. They also make this claim on their website:

ET3 capsules weigh only 183 kg (400 lbs), yet like an automobile, can carry up to six people or 367 kg (800 lbs) of cargo. Compared to high speed rail, ET3 needs only 1/20th the material to build because the vehicles are so light. With automated passive switching, a pair of ET3 tubes can exceed the capacity of a 32 lane freeway. ET3 can be built for 1/10th the cost of High Speed Rail, or 1/4th the cost of a freeway.

ETT's patent was issued in 1999, which gives them seven more years to get this off the ground according to terms of the patent. The company says they've been working with interested parties in China, but still need more investors. A 3D virtual tour of the system was slated for release last year, yet it still hasn't materialized.

Hark the herald angels sing, are those the errant strands of the Simpsons' "Monorail" song I hear?

via Gizmag

Credit: Evacuated Tube Transport

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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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