40Tech

There is a near infinite amount of electronic gadgets available for cars. Some are wacky and unnecessary, and some are truly innovative and useful. Here are ten electronic gadgets that will make life easier for any driver.

Remember IBM? They may not be the premier computer manufacturer they once were, but the world’s oldest computer company is still skating on the cutting edge of technology. Their latest achievement? Two DARPA SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics) funded prototype chips that can learn and remember in a way that “begins to rival the brain’s function, power, and speed.”

Can you say Skynet?

This is one time when downscaling technology isn’t a cliché. None of that “cell phone implanted in your tooth” malarkey– the mChip is serious business. Serious, potentially game (and life) changing business.

Once upon a time, getting tested for HIV involved a trip to the doctor, a bit of blood-letting, and a rather tense wait. It was months, at first, then weeks, then days, and eventually it worked its way down to minutes. That’s all fine and dandy if you live in a developed country, but if you happen to live in Africa, where HIV is running rampant, then visiting your local doctor’s office could involve something of a trek. A trek you may not be able to afford or, due to fear of results, lack of time, or whatever other reason, may not be inclined to make.

Researchers at Columbia University have found a way to help.

TED is a home for amazing things. If you’ve never been to TED.com, you should make it a point to go and spend a mini web-vacation there. Hell, spend a couple a week — it’s worth it! Their slogan is “Ideas worth spreading,” and I have yet to run into something on the site that defies that message. The awesome that I happened across this week (thanks to Pamela D Lloyd sharing a Rick Vlaha post on Google+) has made the hallowed halls of my “that was so freakin’ cool!” list.

A robot bird. Scratch that. A robot bird that looks and moves and flies like a real live bird! Holy, unmitigated awesome, Batman! The Wright Brothers’ and Da Vinci’s head would explode if they could see this.

While I was toying about with the Sparks feature of Google+ last night (yeah, yeah, another post that has a reference to Google Plus — sue me, it’s new and it’s shiny!), I came across a video that caused my brain to explode (Plus post). It’s about a visit by theoretical physicist David Kaplan to the Z Corporation, a 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping company that has developed 3D printing tech to the degree that they can replicate tools. Yep, you heard me… Star Trek fans: replicate!

David challenges the Z Corporation to create a Crescent Wrench (adjustable spanner), complete with moving parts – and all in one pass.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is upon us once again! You know what I mean… that one day a year when those of us who are fathers are shown the respect we so richly deserve — and are showered with gifts and free dinners. Well, gifts, anyway.

Sure, the gifts are often things like ties and aftershave and the like, but at 40Tech, we believe in the power of dreams! We believe that if we can imagine it – and most especially: if we can geek on it – that it just might become a reality some day. That may be nothing more than pie in the sky, and possibly even farcical – but we care not! This is a tech-blog dammit! And for our Father’s Day we demand (see: dream about/hope for) TECH!!!

I just spent the last few days rearranging my house, moving my mother, and then rearranging and cleaning my house some more. Naturally, that got me thinking about robots.

As it turns out, there are no robots out there that can do all of those things for us yet (boooo!), but there have been some great strides in the general direction, as well as in artificial intelligence in general. Check out some of the videos that I found:

Every once in a while, we get the opportunity to offer you guys something for free. We don’t always do it, mind you — we get a lot of solicitations, and only care to post about the products we think will be most useful to you. Well, a few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative of Digital Innovations. They make products for cleaning LCD screens, repairing discs, that sort of thing. I’ve seen their products before, or others like them, but honestly never considered buying them. I tend to roll on the cheap, as you know, and didn’t want to spend money on things that I wasn’t sure would even work.

The email came at a good time, though. I happened to be in the middle of transferring my CD and movie collection to digital, and there were a few discs that I couldn’t even put into my machine without the read-difficulty locking everything up. So when he offered to send me a few of their products to test in return for a fair review, and maybe a giveaway for our readers, I said “Sure. But you realize I’m in Canada, right?” A few weeks of shipping and customs errors later, the box arrived.

Here’s what I found:

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. In my life. Seriously. And oddly enough, it’s for a smartphone commercial — the Sharp SH-08C Touch Wood. Picture this, if you will: a quiet day in a beautiful forest, the occasional deer, and a small stream chattering as it flows by on its merry way. Doesn’t that just scream relaxation? Now imagine yourself breathing in that fresh air, drinking in that view — and listening to the sounds of Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147) as it tinkles through the air. You look around, wondering where the music is coming from, and see a long, angled construction between the trees. It’s made of wood, is kind of pretty in its own right, and it’s singing out the notes of the 10th movement as a little wooden ball rolls ever downward, toward the waiting ground.

You can’t tell me that you don’t think that’s cool!

Have you ever stood at the store, looked at the rack of batteries, and tried to decide whether you should fork over extra cash for the brand-name batteries? If you have pondered this, one site purports to have the answer: buy the cheapest batteries that you can, as they all perform similarly (with one exception). Read on for details on some battery testing.