Toyota’s futuristic Concept-i, and more in the week that was
Costa Rica has invested heavily in alternative energy, and it’s paying off in spades: The nation 1.5 million electric vehicles a year. Israel is building the world’s tallest solar tower, which will power 130,000 households once it’s complete. A company in India has developed a groundbreaking new technology to transform carbon pollution into harmless baking powder. And China just announced plans to invest $361 billion...
Six new technologies that will enable faster, better internet to the world
Facebook aims for solar-powered internet-beaming droneFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is famous for expressing a desire to connect the entire globe to the internet, and the company wants to launch giant soaring drones to beam out internet access around the world. Facebook’s own Connectivity Lab has developed a solar-powered drone with a wingspan as large as that of a Boeing 747. Dubbed Aquila, the drone took its first test...
Nike designers on self-lacing shoes and the future of footwear
Tinker Hatfield and Tiffany Beers, the designers behind Nike’s Mag and HyperAdapt 1.0, joined us on stage at CES 2017 to talk about how these self-lacing sneakers came to life. They also discussed how 3D-printed materials could shape the future of footwear, since we’re seeing more of the technology being used for prototypes and models that end up making it to retail. As for what’s next for HyperAdapt, Hatfield and...
Honda’s amazing self-balancing motorcycle defies gravity
But it’s not just showing off a bike that helps a person keep a bike upright. Instead, the motorcycle keeps its balance even without a rider. The researchers even have the bike drive itself without a person. If you’re thinking that Honda has outfitted their research bike with gyroscopes you would be mistaken. Instead the company has taken its Uni-Cub mobility research and applied it to a real-world problem.When the bike...
ASUS finally has mesh routers of its own
You’ll need at least three HiveSpot or HiveDot nodes to get a system up and running, and ASUS notes that any of them can be configured as a “master” device connected to your modem over a gigabit LAN port. But if you’re just looking to spread out WiFi around your home, you can also connect the master device to an existing router. ASUS says each system will support up to five separate nodes, which should allow...
