Makina. Home automation. nr how to build a binary clock s.103. the new OSX s.30. think faster with RAM s.84 alternative use for old CDs s.

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1 Makina nr Home automation s.02 the new OSX s.30 how to build a binary clock s.103 think faster with RAM s.84 alternative use for old CDs s.56 1

2 Today, we re going to find out why home automation is worth bothering with or not. Automation, in all areas of life, will usually do one of two things for you: save you time you can use productively, or provide you with convenience. It s up to you to draw those sort of conclusions for yourself in this case. Home Automation: What It Can Do for You Home automation is a fascinating area that for some is a reality, but for many, something that borders on science fiction. The truth is, there are all sorts of products out there to help you automate elements of your home, ranging from those that the average Joe can afford and implement to those that cost as much as the house itself. 1. Lighting Lighting has been the most popular and common use of home automation since it was a technically and financially viable option. It s no wonder; Think how annoying it is getting into bed only to realize that a light has been left on. You can rig up your home to control your lights from a remote control panel inside the home, for when you hop into bed, or remotely, when you get to work only to realize you left everything on. And of course you can just as easily turn them all back on once you get home. Of course, lighting control can t stop at bulbs. There s natural light to consider as well, and there are products available to help you control curtains, blinds and shades. 2. Home Theater If you ve ever bought one of those programmable, all-in-one remotes, you ve taken part in a small part of home automation. But there s also multi-zone audio to consider - the ability to select various speakers around the house through which to play audio from any given source, or even the ability to play from them all at once (or any combination thereof). If you ve used AirTunes at home, you re familiar with multi-zone audio, and as far as I ve seen AirTunes provides one of the smoothest integration and operation experiences. 3. Communication Intercom technology often falls into the home automation field. Hobbyists often like to have an intercom system right through the house, in every room. Intercom systems can be made accessible to your PDA or smartphone via wifi, and practically any device via the Internet. They can also assist in transmitting alarms right throughout the house; if you have trouble hearing the smoke alarm from your bedroom, this may just be what you need to keep alive for the rest of the year! 4. Air You re sitting at work in the air conditioning and you know it s going to be a hot drive home. The last thing you want to do is get out of the hot car and into a hot house. With home automation you can get your air conditioner and a 2 couple of fans going just as you take off for the day. Of course, the same thing applies to heating and ventilation, too. Air conditioners are expensive beasts. If you ve routinely caught someone in your home forgetting to turn the thing off and running up the electricity bill, use an automation system to shut your air conditioner off after a half hour s use. 5. Security and Surveillance An automated security system in your home provides a far more protective and much safer experience than traditional methods. With cameras you can view over the Internet, you can ensure nobody is taking off with your «Automation, in all areas of HDTV (or even keep life, will usually do one of two an eye on the kids). You can have a motion things for you: save you time you sensor that sends you can use productively, or proa text message if it notices movement when vide you with convenience» nobody is meant to be home, or if sensors on your windows sense the glass breaking. And remember when we talked about lighting automation so you could have all the bulbs in your house switch off when you leave home? Advanced systems even allow you to lock up all the doors and windows as you re leaving at the same time. Of course, there s the old simulation of presence trick. If you re going on holidays, get your system to randomly play with your blinds, play music and flick lights own or off; you can sleep a little sounder knowing that your home is a little less likely to be broken into. And More There s much more to home automation. There are systems for getting your pets fed on time, in case you ve killed a rat or two due to negligence, and irrigation automation, in case you re guilty of the same when it comes to plants. You can even have your percolator or espresso machine brewing fifteen minutes before your alarm goes off. Needless to say, we can all live without this stuff. We have been for thousands of years. But these things can make life easier and more enjoyable, so they re certainly worth considering if you ve got the interest and the budget. 3

3 Camera is revealing terrorists Compressed air engines The world s first commercial compressed air-powered vehicle is rolling towards the production line. The Air Car, developed by exformula One engineer Guy Nègre, will be built by India s largest automaker, Tata Motors. Facts about aircar Uses less than two Liters per hundred Kilometers (at 90 Km/h for MiniFlowAIR Zero NOx, 3 to 4000 times less unburned HC compared to conventional engines. 3 times less C02 emissions in comparison to classic engines. price from $ 4500 max speed from 90 km/h 4 The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine s pistons. It is anticipated that approximately 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India by If the manufacturers have no surprises up their exhaust pipes the car will be practical and reasonably priced. The CityCat model will clock out at 68 mph with a driving range of 125 miles. These engines are used on vehicles designed for urban use, backup generators or industrial tractors. They are particularly tailored for applications where the torque has an importance and when an averagely moderate power is needed. Together with the zero pollution engines, some other versions having the same technical basis have also been created by MDI, they are known as the dual-energy engines. In the case of dual-energy engines, an energetic adjuvant (petrol, diesel, oil, alcohol or gas) is burned in an external continuous combustion chamber. These dual-energy engines have more range and the amount of toxic gases released is very low. The engines These engines will be fitted on production generators. Regarding the vehicles that will be operated using these engines; there will be no pollution when used in towns as they would be operating on the compressed air mode only. On the motorway these engines provide a good range thanks to the combustion of the liquid or gas adjuvant. Finally based on this new technology, MDI has imagined and developed a «thermodynamic theory» which will give rise to further improvement in the years to come, thus creating a real energetic revolution. All MDI engines have an active chamber and are protected worldwide by patents. They can be used for a wide range of applications, varying from 4 to 75 hp. Transparent tree Start with a tree and end up with something transparent? Does it sound impossible? Not with nanotechnology. De fleste av oss har hatt smertelige erfaringer med trefibre i form av en flis i fingeren. På samme måte som fibrene sammen danner et tre, er også selve fibrene igjen bygd av mindre bestanddeler. Det kalles fibriller og de trådlignende strukturene kan være bare 5 nanometer i diameter eller omtrent en titusendel av et hårstrå. Dette er nesten ufattelig smått. 5 nanometer er 0,05 mikrometer som er 0, millimeter, noe som er helt umulig å se med det blotte øyet. Transparent nanopaper Ved å behandle cellulose som er utgangspunkt for å lage papir, kan forskerne få fram nanofibrillene fra de større fibrene. I dag jobber forskere ved Papir og fiberinstituttet og Sintef i Trondheim med å lage supersterkt papir av fibrillene. Men de håper også at de kan gjøre det gjennomsiktig. Amerikanske imigrasjonsmyndigheter er i ferd med å utvikle et spesialkamera som skal avsløre terrorister bare ved å filme hvordan de ser ut, beveger seg og snakker. De merker små, nesten umerkelige forandringer i mimikken kan avsløre om en person er vanlig turist eller terrorist. Systemet skal også registrere stemmens klang og stabilitet og bevegelsene til personens hender. Filmingen skal skje mens turistene svarer på kontrollørenes spørsmål, og kameraet skal registrere alt fra kroppstemperatur til hjertebank og pustefrekvens, og dermed kunne avsløre de fysiske tegnene på at noen lyver. - Prototypen har allerede en presisjon på prosent, sier lederen av Human Factors Division, Sharla Rausch, til Ingeniøren. Best in adopting new technology Norge ligger helt i verdenstoppen når det gjelder å forstå og ta i bruk ny teknologi. Bare Japan slår oss i dette kappløpet, viser amerikansk forskning. Japan troner på toppen når det gjelder å ta i bruk ny teknologi. I gjennomsnitt tar det 5.4 år fra et product blir lansert i Japan til det er i alment bruk i befolkningen. Hakk i hæl fulgte Norge (5.7 år) med sine nordiske naboer Sverige, Danmark og Nederland på plassene deretter. USA kom på sjetteplass med 6.2 år og deretter Sveits og Østerrike. The mouse can be history in 3 years Det er analyseselskapet Gartner som spår det over 40 år gamle pekeverktøyet en snarlig død. Arvtakeren blir ifølge analytikerne trykkfølsomme pekeskjermer og ansiktsgjenkjenning. - Datamusen virker bra i et kontorlandskap, men for hjemmeunderholdning og bærbare datamaskiner er den snart historie, sier analytiker Steve Prentice til BBC. 5

4 Sketch Furniture Is it possible to let a first sketch become an object, to design directly onto space? The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialise free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined. Pen strokes made in the air are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then materialised through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture. Some sketch furniture made by FRONT. Design as a performance The Swedish design group FRONT has been working in Japan since September. During this time they have developed and explored the technique they used in the making of Sketch Furniture which they showed in Art Basel Miami/ Design 05 with Barry Friedman Gallery Ltd (New York). Front make design as a performance. During Tokyo Design week they will show the process of making Sketch Furniture and the final pieces of furniture at Tokyo Wonder Site 31 October 5 November. 3D Motion Capture is a technique that translates motions into 3D-files. Motion capture is mostly used for animations in movies and computer games. Front have used the technique to simply record the tip of a pen when they draw pieces of furniture in the air. Rapid Prototyping is a technique that materialises 3D-files. A laser beam builds the 3D-file layer by layer within a liquid plastic material. Every 0.1mm the liquid harden by a laser beam. After a few hours, the 3D-files come out as materialised pieces. 6 7

5 Online cab tracking Cabspotting traces San Francisco s taxi cabs as they travel throughout the Bay Area. The patterns traced by each cab create a living and always-changing map of city life. This map hints at economic, social, and cultural trends that are otherwise invisible. The Exploratorium has invited artists and researchers to use this information to reveal these Invisible Dynamics. The core of this project is the Cab Tracker. The Tracker averages the last four hours of cab routes into a ghostly image, and then draws the routes of Once every minute ten in-progress cab or so, each cab rides over it. The Time Lapse area reports it s location to of the project reveals the central dispatch time-varying patterns such as rush hour, traffic jams, holidays and unusual events. New projects are produced by the Exploratorium s visiting artists and also created by the larger Cabspotting community. How does this work? Yellow Cab is one of a number of taxi companies which uses GPS technology to track the locations of their taxis as they drive around the city. Once every minute or so, each cab reports it s location to the central dispatch. As orders for pick ups come in over the phone, these addresses are automatically passed to drivers, depending on how close they are. This location data is usually discarded after being reported - but Yellow Cab has generously allowed us to capture this information over time, allowing the generation of the maps you see on this site. See the About page for more information. 8 How are you addressing privacy concerns with this project? Out of respect for the privacy of cab drivers and customers, no direct access to cab data with identifiable cab numbers is provided to the public or to our artists. The project emphasizes the analysis of aggregate data and data patterns, with most of this analysis happening on historic data and larger data patterns using scrambled cab numbers. Real-time information is limited to a small sample of random cabs. The display resolution is also limited to prevent tracking to and from individual addresses. We welcome comments and suggestions on how to restrict the system to a benevolent use of the data. I would like to create an artist s project how do I do it? You are welcome, and encouraged, to make your own interpretation or analysis of this data at any time and post it to your own website or blog. If you would like a link or a copy of your work included on this site, please contact the webmaster: info@stamen.com. I would like to create my own Cabspotting client how do I do it? Please contact: info@stamen.com for the instructions on writing to our API and for the open source Flash example client. 9