Daily Technology News

Nissan’s BR23C avoids obstacles like a bee.

(Credit: Nissan)

With the admirable goal of cutting accident rates in half by 2015, Nissan released details of an accident-avoiding robot, the BR23C. This moniker somehow stands for Biomimetic Car Robot Drive. Nissan patterned the robot’s behavior after bees, which apparently don’t get in accidents. Bees, according to the press release, maintain an oval-shaped personal space, using their compound eyes, which can see 300 degrees around them.

The BR23C uses laser range finders to stake out a similarly shaped area 180 degrees in front of the car, with a distance of about 6 feet. Where a bee will change direction if an obstacle enters its safety zone, the BR23C will likewise react by turning its wheels at a 90-degree angle or greater, sending it in another direction.

The BR23C seems like a perfect companion to Honda’s Asimo.

(Credit: Nissan)

C-3PO to the BR23C’s R2-D2?

(Credit: Honda)

Nissan engineers describe the programming of the BR23C as instinctual, not requiring heavy processing power or maintaining a history of where the car has previously traveled. We’re not sure if these engineers have ever seen a Roomba, but it sounds kind of similar. Also, with only a 6-foot detection range, we assume the BR23C isn’t barreling along at 80 mph.

Nissan describes the avoidance technology used by this robot as just the final layer in a series of safety technologies. We’ve previously seen the company’s lane departure prevention technology in the Infiniti EX35. That feature seems like the precursor to a raft of accident-avoidance technology.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–Promethean Power Systems, a start-up developing solar-powered refrigerators for India, has raised a round of angel funding from the Quercus Trust.

The funding, finalized Thursday, will allow the company to build another prototype which it hopes to test in India next year, according to company CEO Sorin Gramma.

Promethean Power prototype of a solar-powered refrigerator.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)

Promethean Power showed off its first prototype this week at the Technology Review EmTech 2008 conference.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinoff is combining solar power with thermoelectrics–materials that create cooling or heat from electrical current–to make a standalone refrigeration unit for rural India.

At the heart of its system is what it calls its hybrid compressor, a cooling unit that can run both off of a diesel generator and three to five 180-watt solar panels.

Solar panels make this sort of refrigerator far more expensive. But Gramma estimates that a milk or food distribution company could save two-thirds what it spends picking up food from farmers.

The refrigeration allows for one, rather than two, milk pick-ups a day. Also, by squeezing as much power as possible from the sun, these cooling stations don’t need to run their generators as often.

The electricity from the panels flows through the thermoelectric modules. A heat-exchange system of water tubes creates ice for cold storage, while the heat is whisked away.

Gramma said the company is probably two years away from having a commercial product.

The Quercus Trust, run by David Gelbaum, keeps a low profile but has made a number of seed investments in the clean-tech area.

“The Quercus Trust is a leading investor in solar and other clean-tech technologies and is proud to provide Promethean with capital to further its goal of providing better living conditions for the communities that can most benefit from this technology,” it said in a statement.

Apple has made a few changes to the way applications are listed in the App Store.

(Credit: CNET)

Apple made a few changes to the App Store over the weekend that should cheer up developers, even if the underlying issues remain unaddressed.

Reviews for App Store applications must now be filled out by someone who has actually purchased the application in question, making it more difficult for developers to pump up their own application with favorable reviews as well as for rival developers to “Astroturf” a competitor’s application with fake reviews. Applications will also now be listed according to their original release date; before this weekend, an update to an application reset the release date to the time when the application was released, changing the order in which applications are listed in the App Store. (Links via AppleInsider.)

As developer Matt Gemmell noted, the move at least shows Apple is listening to some developer concerns over how the App Store is run. However, the basic question of what is permitted on the App Store, and what isn’t, remains unanswered.

It seems probable that Apple has been simply overwhelmed this quarter with iPhone applications, as we draw near the three-month anniversary of the launch of the App Store, and that further changes may be afoot as the concept matures. Apple’s quiet deliberate nature has frustrated developers to date, but those frustrations may ease if Apple can address some of the major concerns while keeping focused on the main goal: selling a bunch of iPhones.

The Lensbaby Composer has a traditional focusing ring.

(Credit: Lensbaby)

Lensbaby’s selective-focus lenses thus far have brought a seat-of-the-pants, analog feel to the electronic and digital world that photography has become. But a new model announced Tuesday has a more traditional interface for those who weren’t happy with the company’s earlier approach of squeezing and flexing the lens until the image looks about right.

For the uninitiated, the company’s approach deserves a little explanation here. Lensbaby lenses let people focus tightly on a selected spot; the rest of the view quickly recedes into blurriness. It’s a bit gimmicky, but it gives a different look than most lenses, it can be fun to play with, and if done well it can really focus attention well on the subject. The product works because its outer lens element can be bent so it’s not parallel to the image sensor–in effect, it’s a cheap tilt-shift lens.

The new model, the $270 Composer, forsakes the earlier flexible plastic bellows system for something resembling a ball-and-socket joint. Instead of squeezing to focus, the photographer twists a traditional focusing ring. The mechanism looks much cleaner and easier to use than the complicated struts-and-knobs approach of the earlier Lensbaby 3G, though I fear grit could work its way into the mechanism.

The 3G got a redesign, too. It’s morphed into the $270 Control Freak. And the first-generation Lensbaby is similarly reworked into the Muse, which costs $100 to $150 depending on whether it uses plastic or glass lenses.

The major new feature of the updated models is what the company calls the Optic Swap System, which lets users change the lenses. The four options are a double glass element, a single glass element, a single plastic element, and a pinhole/zone plate.

The announcement came during the Photokina photography show in Germany.

Piaggio MP3 500ie is a pretty snazzy car replacement.

(Credit: Carey Russ)

After three days, the grin factor is as high as ever. And the Piaggio MP3 500ie is not just entertaining, it’s also commendably useful and fuel-efficient. When the fuel gauge dropped to the top of the red reserve zone, I pumped in 10 bucks worth of premium unleaded. It only took seven and change. Eyeball estimate is between 55 and 60 miles per gallon. With a 3.2-gallon fuel tank, that’s 150-plus miles between fill-ups, and, unlike many motorcycles, the tank opening takes the antivapor sheath of a California gas pump hose without any hassle.

If the 55-to-60 mpg figure doesn’t measure up to the 100 or more of a smaller scooter, the 500ie is much more versatile, and fully capable of doing distance on the highway at real highway speeds. It’s not life in the slow lane, and wind protection is very good, as is seat comfort.

Fuel Filler

(Credit: Carey Russ)

Usefulness? For helmet security while shopping, there’s locking space under the seat for a full-face helmet. Once you put your helmet back on, there is plenty of space groceries, and a light makes seeing into the chamber at night easier. It does get warm in there, so you might not want to put the ice cream in there. A power point can be used to recharge a cell phone or other small electronic devices, including, presumably, an MP3 player. And there is a “No Pets” sticker at the front of the compartment. Legal disclaimers are everywhere…

Under the Seat

(Credit: Carey Russ)

Add the built-in rack behind the seat and the grocery bag holder above the parking brake, and the big MP3 500ie works well as a car replacement. It’s easier to park, too, although planning ahead to get it out is a good idea, as it does weigh well over 500 pounds. I haven’t tried, but there is more than adequate room and power for a passenger.

Luggage Rack

(Credit: Carey Russ)

Grocery Hook and Parking Brake

(Credit: Carey Russ)

A short conversation with Piaggio/Vespa brand manager Kevin Andrews cleared up some questions I had. The MP3 name comes from “moto projecto 3″, which translates to something like “moto project with 3 wheels,” and has nothing to do with music players. The lineup consists of 250cc, 400cc, and 500cc models, with the 250 and 400 sold throughout the world under the Piaggio name and sharing a more traditional scooter appearance. The 400 is larger and more refined. The 500 is the Gilera Fuoco in Europe, and its more aggressive looks are meant to make it more attractive to non-scooter riders, i.e. motorcycle people. Motorcycles and scooters in the same household? Hey, Mods vs. Rockers was a long time ago, and largely exaggerated by the press anyway.

I wonder how the MP3 500ie would look with a few extra mirrors?

Up: Power, handling, brakes, fuel economy, front-end lock-up for security while stopped or parked, rider comfort, wind protection, looks, and attention.

Down: Weight (538 lbs. dry) makes backing it out of a parking space exciting, especially for shorter riders. It’s manageable, but can be a workout. Looks (and the attention from same) could be a problem, if you don’t want to be noticed.

SAN JOSE, Calif.–The West Coast Green 2008 building show kicked off on Thursday, for the first time in this city with one of the nation’s most ambitious “greening” plans.

During our sneak peek at some of the 400 exhibits, products that caught our attention included a device that seemed to make water out of thin air, a solar-powered table, home energy automation systems, and better concrete blocks. Check out the video below for more.

Element Four

Element Four claims to extract water from the air. Its Watermill appliance is supposed to supply enough water daily to quench the needs of a six-person family. It costs around 35 cents to produce more than 3 gallons of drinking water each day, according to the British Columbia-based company. The Watermill is set to become available next February for around $1,300.

CEO Rick Howard said he’d like to create different versions of the 300-watt Watermill, perhaps powered by the sun or wind. He sees the technology as ideal for household use during emergencies, as well as for people in the developing world. It could even customize flavored water, Howard added.

As air enters the Watermill, humidity condenses on a patented coil, and passes into a reservoir. Water passes through a carbon filter and past a germ-killing UV light. The product could be hooked up to a kitchen faucet.

Most drinking water technologies, by contrast, take dirty or salty water, or even sludge, then purify it.

Intelligent Forms

This Vancouver design firm’s $14,000 solar panel-topped table could become a fixture on the decks of cruise ships and on poolside patios of the well-heeled and eco-chic. The weather-sealed, stainless-steel shell encases a 110-volt outlet and USB ports meant for a laptop and various gadgets. Beneath the SOlo lounge table’s top are an inverter and 18 batteries of 12 volts each.

“Everything we did we tried to stick with local suppliers and as much recycled content as we could,” said co-founder and designer Keith Doyle.

Adura Technologies

Adura Technologies of San Francisco specializes in wireless lighting controls for commercial buildings, which make up nearly 20 percent of U.S. energy consumption and carbon emissions. The system can be installed within light fixtures, without running wires or tearing up walls, and controlled remotely with an iPod or other handheld device. The company, a 2005 winner of the California Clean Tech Open competition, is closing a $5 million Series A round of financing.

Agilewaves

Agilewaves of Menlo Park, Calif., makes energy monitoring systems to help homeowners see and control their use of gas, water, and electricity. At West Coast Green, Agilewaves demonstrated its product within a showcase home made from five shipping containers.

The company integrated its product this summer with home control systems from Crestron.

“We can now truly make a smart home,” said David Brock, chief technology officer.
“You may set up your carbon budget, and this system will tell the home control system that it needs to reduce the carbon footprint. Maybe that means reducing your lights by 20 percent by turning off nonessential appliances.”

Integrity Block

Integrity Block of Los Altos, Calif., aims to build more sustainable buildings from the bottom up by reinventing the lowly concrete block. Cement manufacturing increasingly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and cement can’t be recycled easily. Integrity Block, by contrast, says it uses an engineered soil composite, including recycled materials, resulting in 40 percent fewer carbon emissions.

“We have a block that’s inherently sustainable,” said company co-founder Randy Schmitz.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is on the advisory board of Integrity Block, which raised $2.7 million in capital in June.

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It’s a boon that digital photos can incorporate textual information, leaving behind some film-era complications, such as having to separately record a photo’s caption or copyright status.

But there are some problems handling this so-called metadata, and now Canon, Adobe Systems, Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and Nokia have banded together to solve some of them.

The companies have formed the Metatdata Working Group and released a first set of guidelines that attempts to standardize some issues that can crop up as metadata travels from cameras to computers, software, and Web sites. On Wednesday, the group announced its work at the Photokina camera show in Germany.

“Whether you’re a soccer mom uploading photos to a Kodak gallery, or a pro selling images on Getty, these are issues everybody deals with,” said Josh Weisberg, Microsoft’s director of digital imaging evangelism and the metadata group’s chairman and founder.

For example, when moving a photo from one application to another, a vertically orientated photo can get rotated 90 degrees into a landscape orientation, or captions and descriptive keywords can get lost. Part of the problem is that there are multiple ways to record metadata, including EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format), IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council), and Adobe’s XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform).

The working group has produced guidelines to try to bring common practices to metadata areas including keywords, description, creator, star rating, orientation, and location, Weisberg said. The group dealt with three file formats: TIFF, JPEG, and Adobe Photoshop’s PSD.

The Metadata Working Group’s guidelines are a free download from the Web site, and anyone is free to implement them without worrying about infringing any of the members’ intellectual property, Weisberg said.

Being guidelines, others are free to handle metadata they way they want, but the collective clout of the working group members–the two major operating system makers, the top camera maker, and the top image-editing software maker–mean it’s likely others will follow suit.

Up next: Handling raw images
There’s more work to be done, though.

The working group got started on the current guidelines a year ago. Now, it’s moving on to the next set of issues. “With the first version, we began with consumer scenarios. We’re formulating a plan for a second version. It’s our intent to address professional scenarios,” Weisberg said.

One big issue is handling the profusion of raw file formats produced by higher-end cameras and commonly used by professionals and advanced amateurs. These formats are generally proprietary, so it’s hard to handle their metadata. Windows does so by relying on software supplied by camera makers, but Adobe and Apple do their own reverse-engineering work to handle the metadata. So for example, unless a Windows Vista user has downloaded the appropriate support, the operating system’s file browser software can’t report when a raw photo was taken, even though that metadata is stored in the photo file.

“It is a goal to try to establish guidelines for where and how metadata is stored in raw formats,” Weisberg said.

Another possible issue is handling metadata for photo licensing information, which could bring some rights management order to the today’s image copying free-for-all, but that’s tricky. “We’re in the phase of capturing the problem,” Weisberg said. “There are no standards in the industry for licensing images that are widely adhered to.”

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