Posts Tagged ‘cools’
Climbing robot melts and cools plastic to get its footing
Author: Janet Odell
We’ve seen plenty of robots scale walls over the years, from models that emit supersonic streams of air to gecko-inspired creations, but few can carry more than their own weight, much less handle rough terrain. Enter this unique Swiss-made machine, which handles both tasks with aplomb thanks to the rapid melting and cooling of its thermoplastic adhesive feet. Created by the whiz kids over at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the plastic compounds in the contraption’s tootsies melt at around 70 degrees Celsius (158 Fahrenheit), where they’re tacky enough to stick and fill surface gaps. If the bot needs to take a step forward, a thermoelectric effect kicks in to cool the plastics down, detaching the foot in the process. Repeat the motion several times and you get a tiny climbing critter that’s able to carry about six to seven times its own weight over complex surfaces, a feat that’s sure to be of actual use someday. It’s certainly more practical, though a lot less fun, than one that mixes cocktails. Go on after the break to see the little climber in action.
Source: IEEE Explore, New Scientist
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Columbia announces Omni-Freeze ZERO, sports gear that cools you down the hotter you get (video)
Author: Matthew Wilson
Columbia is announcing the Omni-Freeze ZERO, a range of sports gear that cools you the more you sweat. Blue rings of cooling polymer cover the garments, which swell when exposed to moisture — letting air pass around you as if you had goosebumps. Unlike typical compression garments, which wick the sweat away from you, this puts your natural resources to good use, so much so that the company believes it’s cooler than taking your top off entirely. The futuristic gear will also turn up in a new range of footwear, but before you can get too excited, there’s a catch; it isn’t due to hit stores until next year, so you’ve still got a few months of getting sweaty.
Columbia announces Omni-Freeze ZERO, sports gear that cools you down the hotter you get (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 08:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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No Galaxy Tab 10.1 For The Outback Until The Apple-Samsung War Cools Down
Author: Markus Smith
G’day, mates. At least, it’s a good Monday for us. Australians, on the other hand, have just been excluded from all the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 fun as a result of the continuing patent battle between Samsung and Apple. During a break in the hearing, both parties reached an agreement whereby Samsung would stop advertising the Tab 10.1 in Australia and not sell the device until Samsung wins court approval or the lawsuit itself comes to a conclusion.
One of Apple’s lawyers, Steven Burley, claimed that Samsung’s newest 10-inch tablet infringes on 10 Apple patents related to the iPad, concerning both the external design and certain facets of the touchscreen technology. Of course, if a judge rules in favor of Samsung on this one, than Apple has agreed to pay unspecified damages for time wasted and profits forfeited, reports Bloomberg.
The Outback isn’t the only place where Samsung may face trouble. Though the Cupertino-based company has not divulged all the details, it’s clear that Apple will try to seek import bans in countries other than Australia. And before you go getting all angry with Apple, know that Samsung started it. At least when it comes to the import bans.
Samsung filed with the United States International Trade Commission at the end of June asking to ban imports of iStuff. An official decision has yet to be reached. Then again, neither company would be in this mess at all if Apple hadn’t come after Samsung in the first place, crying copycat and patent infringement all the way to the courtroom.
The patent-infringing Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the version meant to be distributed in the U.S. According to Samsung’s lawyers, the Australian version of the tablet is different, and Apple will have a chance to review three units of the Aussie’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 at least a week before Samsung plans to launch the device.
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MOG hits the Chrome Web Store, cools our Flash fever with a nice cool HTML5 washcloth
Author: Brian McKinnell
We long been proponents of subscription music, but it’s always a rocky relationship: Rhapsody’s excellent selection but bad app and terrible web player (you call that a bitrate?), Zune’s beautiful UI but Windows-only-ness, and Spotify’s continued inability to work in the US. Eventually, this particular writer drifted over to MOG, which was initially a $ 5 a month web-only service, best known for its high bitrate and decent selection, with a more recent move to Android and iPhone apps (including offline play) for a still-palatable $ 10 a month price. Unfortunately, all this time we’ve had to put up with the indignities of a pop-up, window-based Flash player for our main MOG experience, which crashes any browser on a Mac at least once a day — like most Flash things on the Mac. Which brings us to today: MOG is a featured app on Google’s new Chrome Web Store, and once “installed” it offers an all-new luscious, speedy, HTML5 UI for MOG. Better yet, the web app also works in Safari at mog.com/chrome. Under the hood there’s still a “headless” Flash playback element for DRM purporses, but everything else is a vast improvement. The only thing that could make us happier would be some sort of exfm-style Chrome extension for adding music we discover on the web to MOG playlists. You know, as long as we’re getting lifelong dreams granted like this, might as well go for broke.
MOG hits the Chrome Web Store, cools our Flash fever with a nice cool HTML5 washcloth originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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