Honda's Walking Assist Device

Now this is really cool. It is a device you wear and assists you in walking. It is based on the Asimo robotic technology. "Honda to show off experimental walking assist device".

USAF Plans Liquid Coal as Fuel

This is interesting, the USAF plans to invest in liquid coal as a fuel source. "Air Force Prod Aids Coal-to-Fuel Plans". This in theory will reduce and possibly eliminate our dependence on foreign imported oil.

Body Heat Powered Chip

This is a significant advancement. A MIT and Texas Instruments researchers ("Team develops energy-efficient microchip") have designed a microchip that is so efficient that it can be powered from body heat. The potential future biomedical applications are endless. "Microchip powered by body heat".

Rail Guns and the U.S. Navy

This was a breakthrough. The U.S. Navy is researching next generation weapons and has successfully tested an electro-magnetic rail gun. The stuff of science fiction that is becoming reality. "Rail gun uses kinetic engery to deliver Mach 5 wallop".

Torch Flashlight

This is interesting. A flashlight that is so powerful that it can incinerate. "The Torch Flashlight: why illuminate when you can incinerate". Are Lightsabers are possibly on the horizon?

D-Link WiFi Digital Photo Frame

This one looks promising. It is a 10" digital photo frame with Wifi support and supports RSS. You can also send pictures to it! "D-Link's DSM-210, a Fancy Internet and Widget Controlled Photo Frame". I like this one if it lives up to the hype.

Sony MyLo 2.0

This one is definitely cool. Sony Mylo 2.0 looks like a decent portable internet device. Check out the specs, "Sony's new mylo (2) now official".

Semantic Search for Corporate E-Mail

IBM Labs is releasing OmniFind Personal EMail Search for free which uses UIMA and provides semantic searching of Outlook/Notes email archives. Announced here in InformationWeek. Since I use IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition (free version) which works great, this should be another high-quality search product.

300MPG Hybrid Gas-Electric in 2009 ?!

This has been all over the internet the past few days. I first saw this in this TomsHardware article which normally just covers computer hardware technology. Also, see this Engadget article. Aptera, a small electric vehicle startup from California, will be releasing an electric vehicle (Typ-1) in late 2008. Then in 2009, they plan to produce a gas-electric hybrid that will get a whopping 300MPG! This sounds a bit skeptical until I saw the PopularMechanics test drive article and video.

Auto-Drive is Geting Closer Thanks to Nissan

Nissan is integrating "Intelligent Cruise Control" which uses GPS to control the car's speed when approaching curves. See "Nissan's GPS enabled cruise-control foreshadows robot car". So when do we get auto-drive is my question. It is not a matter of technology but more a matter of when. The technology is already here. Come on Honda or Toyota, you can do it!

Sickle Cell Cured by Stem Cells

Using stem cells derived from skin, scientists have cured sickle cell in mice. This was only announced a month after the ground-breaking technique for generating stem cells from skin cells. "Scientists Cure Mice of Sickle Cell using Stem Cell Technique".

LIBS Identifies Elements From a Distance

This sounds like science fiction but apparently is here today. "LIBS sniffs out explosives" mentions some technology that the U.S. Army Research Labratory is doing. Whoa!

Google Android

Google bought this small company called Android back in 2005 (BusinessWeek article). Very little was known about it at the time. Now we have the mobile platform strategy that Google is pushing called Android. Ah, that's what happened. The world will be changing soon.

Were North America's First Inhabitants Japenese Fisherman?

There is an alternative viewpoint based on anthropological research I found online, here. They mention that these seafarers made the journeys 12-16000 years ago following fish and the kelp highway in the Pacific.

Wind-up (kinetic) PMP

Here is an alternative energy (kinetic) Personal Media Player (PMP). "Ecodigital's windup PMP". This is very cool and can't wait to get into these alternative energy devices. Now Sony or Nintendo need to make their PSP and DS work this way.

Navy Preparing Unmanned Combat Aircraft

This is inevitable. Nice picture.

Scaled Composites Now Owned by Northrop Grumman

I was this over at Space.com. "Northrop Grumman Buys Builder of SpaceShipOne". This is interesting, Scaled Composites, the company that Burt Rutan and Richard Branson formed to create SpaceShipOne and are currently working on SpaceShipTwo is now 100% owned by Northrop Grumman. "SpaceShipTwo Development Benefits By New Equity Deal". Northrop Grumman previously had a 40% equity ownership.

Water Found on Extrasolar Planet

You knew this was inevitable. Astronomers have evidence on an extrasolar planet. Still waiting for the discovery of the first Class M planet.

SpaceShipTwo

I just found these great conceptual pictures of SpaceShipTwo at Gizmodo. Check them out, very detailed and shows relative size to SpaceShipOne. Additionally here is a pretty cool YouTube video animation of SpaceShipTwo (13 mins).

Irish Company Claims Energy Breakthrough

I am not sure how to take this one but here is the article anyway. Yet another free energy claim. If it works, would be awesome. I saw this while perusing my Google News.