Ford announced today a new technology called MyKey in which car owners will be able to control their vehicle’s speed, stereo volume, and seatbelt warning functions. MyKey will be standard on the 2010 Ford Focus Coupe and eventually be incorporated into the rest of the company’s lineup.
The technology is essentially aimed for parents wanting to control their children’s driving habits. Three things can be done with MyKey: limit a vehicle’s top speed to 80 miles per hour, set a stereo’s max volume to 44% of its normal limit, and set a sustaining warning chime if seat belts are not fastened.
According to a Ford survey, 67% of teenagers polled did not approve of the idea, although it dropped to 36% disapproval if the MyKey system led parents to allowing their kids to use the car more often.
MyKey uses some existing technology from Ford, particularly the SecuriLock anti-theft feature, to identify which keys are in the ignition and in turn letting the vehicle know which driving mode to engage.
Other MyKey features include setting warning sounds when the car approaches 45, 55, or 65 mph, and enabling a permanent traction control system. Ford is confident that this system will make their Ford Focus Coupe
a popular choice amongst parents with teenage drivers, at least until competitor companies start implementing the same idea.
Russian billionaire and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich plans on building an armor-plated, bulletproof-glass-installed super yacht complete with anti-missile radar systems, a private submarine, and two helicopters for more than 200 million euros, or almost $300 million.
With his personal fortune of 16 billion dollars, the tycoon plans on constructing an impenetrable floating fortress with a full defense system against sea pirates. Pirates are becoming more common in the waters around Africa; should Abramovich decide to sail to the 2010 World Cup in Africa, he will be ready to defend. Over 269 vessels were attacked and 300 hostages taken last year by pirates according to the International Maritime Bureau.
Under maritime law, non military ships are forbidden from carrying lethal weapons and firearms. Yacht owners are more commonly equipping their vessels with high powered water cannons, ear-splitting klaxons, and lubricant foam to deter walking.
It’s no wonder that Abramovich’s new ship, called the Eclipse, will include a radar system to warn the crew of 70 former SAS members of incoming rockets. Armored plating and bulletproof glass make the ship hardened against gun fire. There are also two helipads and equipment to deter bugging.
Should intruders make it on board the ship, Abramovich can escape with his 26 year old girlfriend Daria Zhukova in a yellow submarine which can dive to 160 feet.
The Eclipse — overshadowing all other boats at sea – stretches 550 feet and is being secretly built in Germany at the same shipyard that produced the World War II battleship the Bismarck. Abramovich will be adding this new boat to his existing collection of the 377 feet Pelorus, 282 feet Ecstasea, and 160 feet Sussurro.
The mega yacht will also have cabins for 24 guests as well as a movie theater, aquariam, disco, and hospital.
If you love going to a 3D movie, but you hate the long drives and the high prices of getting to an IMAX theater – if there even is one in your area – then your solution may be coming to a regular theater near you next year.
Sony will be demonstrating its latest in digital cinema technology innovation: a single-projector 3D adaptor designed to work specifically with its 4K projectors in movie theaters.
The new adaptor for traditional theater projectors will use the full height of Sony’s 4K imaging device, with the ability to display full 2K images for the left and right eye simultaneously and in parallel, from top and bottom.
The new lens units, models LKRL-A002 (X1.1 -1.9) and LKRL-A003 (X1.9 - 3.3), consists of an optical and mechanical assembly for each left and right eye image. It is designed to meet DCI specifications for 3D digital projection, while overcoming the bandwidth and resolution limitations of currently available 3D systems.
“With the addition of the 3D adaptor to our digital cinema product line-up, Sony can now offer the best of all worlds to exhibition: stunning 4K imagery from 4K movies, and incredible 3D with no triple-flash artifacts,” said Gary Johns, vice president of Sony Electronics’ Digital Cinema Systems Division.
The system was developed to give exhibitors the flexibility to switch between showing 4K and 3D content. The 3D adaptor attaches onto the lens mount of the projector and is compatible with all Sony 4K projectors currently in the field.It can be easily removed or re-attached within minutes.
The 3D adaptor is expected to be available in March 2009.
The new technology will be shown off at ShowEast, the Motion Picture Industry Convention which runs between October 13th and 16th.
The only thing that this blogger really cares about is if the projectors will make it out to us locals in time for the release of the final Harry Potter movie.
ExoFly, a flying insect-sized aerobot, is destined to charter the surfaces of Mars. Based on the DelFly, a dragonfly-like micro air vehicle (MAV) developed at the Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University, the ExoFly is modified and equipped with a camera to explore Mars, possibly Venus or the moon Titan.
The design is lightweight with the current prototype weighing a mere 17 grams, a length of 400mm, and a wingspan of 350mm. Equipped with a lithium polymer cell battery, it has a flight time of 12 minutes. There may also be plans through cooperative efforts between the universities and Ursa Minor Space & Navigation to increase the weight to 20 grams in order to add a solar energy panel and lengthen its traveling distance to 15 km.
Programmed in C++, it will most likely be able to gather data and images to simulate a 3D environment for detailed analysis and studying.
The size of the ExoFly would allow it to become part of the infrastructure of a larger planetary exploration mission. The aerobot would be able to reach areas that cannot be regularly accessed, such as rock crevices, for further geological study. Its insect like form and flight method is much like a dragonfly, allowing it to hover and navigate in all directions. The flapped wing flight allows it to be well suited enough to perfectly traverse the low density and highly vicious Martian atmosphere.
No mention of NASA interest in this aerobot yet, although Gordon Freeman was seen blasting a couple of these to bits in City 17.
Ever wake up in the morning (or the late afternoon, like many geeks) and the first thing you did was check your computer? As you groggily rub your eyes and check through your e-mails, you keep thinking in the back of your mind that dreaded, mundane thing you must do. No, not take a shower, sheesh. Making your bed!
Well now, behold! The solution for all lazy dorks out there — meet Selfy, the self-making bed machine. Here at FutureNerd, we’ve decided that Selfy is the most ridiculous invention for the laziest people so far for the 2008 year, and it doesn’t seem likely anything else will beat it this year (the self turning motorized ice cream cone is one of the laziest, but that was back in 1999).
Selfy was created by Enrico Berruti, suspected master of laziness, and he claims that people who are too sick or injured to make the bed on their own was the reason behind his invention. This crazy gadget was debuted in Geneva at the International Exhibition of Inventions back in April and Selfy selected by USA Today as the most notable invention there (ah, so no wonder USA Today isn’t a daily newspaper… those lazy journalists).
So how does Selfy work? Well the bed sheets are attached to some fasteners which slide along rails on the sides of the bed. Once the machine is in action, the sheets are spread evenly out as the fasteners start sliding. Just make sure no mischief makers press the make-bed button while you’re in the bed. Either you’ll break Selfy or be suffocated tightly in the sheets.
The M80 Stiletto is equipped with four C32 1232 kW (1652 HP) engines manufactured by the Caterpillar, Inc., yielding a top speed in excess of 50 knots (90 km/h) and a range of 500 nautical miles (900 km) when fully loaded. It can be outfitted with jet drives for shallow water operations and beaching. This extreme performance is based on M Ship Co.’s proprietary, globally patented technology, retaking the bow wave using its energy to create an air cushion for more efficient planing. It weighs 45 tons and carries 2,000 sq. ft. of cargo. It cost roughly $6 million but the fully equipped vessel with cost $10 million.
The design and construction of this vessel made from carbon fiber for reduced weight and added rigidity. You will be seeing these vessels operational in littoral or coastal zone. The M80 Stiletto is also notable because it is the largest U.S. Naval vessel built using carbon fibre composite and epoxy building techniques, which yields a very light, but strong hull.
The Stiletto has been popular for its efficiency, low cost, innovation, higher payload fraction, agility, shock mitigation, shallow draft and stealth which are the new priorities for the next generation naval craft.
2. Sea Shadow (IX-529)
A futuristic-looking vessel with a shape reminiscent of Darth Vader’s helmet, Sea Shadow is a test platform for researching advanced technologies in propulsion, automation, sea-keeping and reduced signatures. Sea Shadow provides government and industry an opportunity to test new technologies at sea before committing to using them in new ship designs.Sea Shadow has a SWATH hull design. Below the water are submerged twin hulls, each with a propeller, aft stabilizer, and inboard canard. The portion of the ship above water is connected to the hulls via the two angled struts. The SWATH design helps the ship remain stable even in very rough water of up to sea state 6 (wave height of 18 feet (5.5 m) or “very rough” sea).
The T-AGOS 19-and-23-class oceanographic ships have inherited the stabilizer and canard method to help perform their stability-sensitive surveillance missions. The vehicle cost approximately $50 million to build and the total test program is approximately $195 million over roughly 10 years. It is owned by the Navy and operated by LMSC personnel.
3. Sea Fighter
The Sea Fighter is an aluminum catamaran designed to operate effectively in littoral, or coastal, waters. It can maneuver in as little as 11 feet (3.35 m) of water. The hull number FSF-1 stands for “fast sea frame” and is the first U.S. Naval vessel to have a catamaran design. The experimental vessel will be used to test the hydrodynamic performance, structural performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility and propulsion-system efficiency of high-speed vessels.
A multi-purpose stern ramp allows the ship to launch and recover manned and unmanned surface and sub-surface vehicles up to the size of an 11-meter Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB). From its flight deck, the Sea Fighter can operate while supporting two H-60 helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (VTUAV) at a time. The ship has a modern computer system to control its systems and for navigation. Steering and throttle control are done by wire rather than mechanical linkage.
Sea Fighter is expected to pave the way for a future line of fast, long range destroyers capable of travelling fast enough to avoid or out maneuver most of the current generation of torpedoes. They have a very low radar signature, making detection difficult. They would be able to respond quickly to targets located by air or satellite and aggressively attack surface and submerged vessels using their speed to evade torpedo and missile attack.
4. P960 Skjold Patrol Boat
The Skjold class patrol boats is a new range of superfast, large stealth missile craft, also known as MTBs (missile torpedo boats). The word Skjold means “shield” in Norwegian. The flexibility inherent in Skjold is interesting also to other navies. They are among the fastest warships in the world and can reach speeds of up to 60 knots / 110 km/t. An important capability of the Skjold is its covert operational capability in littoral warfare, particularly in using Norway’s coastal topography with its islands and fjords, to carry out surveillance and engage hostile forces from a close distance while remaining undetected. The shallow draught of 0.9m to 2.3m allows the ship to access very shallow waters denied to other vessels.
To ensure stealth capabilities radar absorbent materials (RAM) have been used in the load-bearing structures over large areas of the ship. This strategy leads to significant weight saving compared to conventional construction techniques of applying RAM cladding to the external surfaces. The ship’s profile has a faceted appearance with no right angle structures and few orientations of reflective panels. Doors and hatches are flush with the surfaces and the windows are flush without visible coaming (edge of window aperture) and are fitted with radar reflective screens.
5. FNS Tornio
The FNS Tornio has been designed and constructed as stealth ships with minimal magnetic, heat and radar signatures. The shape of the vessel has been designed to reduce radar signature. Metal parts have been covered with radar absorbent material, and the composite parts have radar absorbent material embedded in the structure. Radar transparent materials (kevlar, balsa) have been used where applicable.
“It’s harder to find this vessel and harder for an aeroplane to attack us,” adds LtSG Lehto, commanding officer of the Hamina-class fast attack craft (FAC), FNS Tornio. This vessel is equipped with legacy weapons and combat data system fit that included 40 mm and 23 mm guns and an electro-optronic director. Trials resulted in the improvements seen first in ship two, Tornio, which includes Umkhonto vertical launch surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), RBS 15SF surface-to-surface missiles and a Bofors 57 mm gun, integrated with the Advanced Naval Combat System (ANCS) SQ 2000.
The technology is essentially aimed for parents wanting to control their children’s driving habits. Three things can be done with MyKey: limit a vehicle’s top speed to 80 miles per hour, set a stereo’s max volume to 44% of its normal limit, and set a sustaining warning chime if seat belts are not fastened.
