A visitor gives MetaCookie+ a go
Being able to transform a simple cookie into chocolate, strawberries, or even mushrooms is not magic, it’s science according to Tokyo University researchers who showcased their latest invention at a technology event in Japan last week.
The MetaCookie+ is a virtual tasting headgear set where multiple hoses send the smell of a particular food to the wearer’s nose while the image of the desired food appears in the hands of the wearer on a TV screen. In doing so, scientists have found they can trick the human brain into thinking that what the wearer sees and smells must be real, and ultimately changes the taste of the food being eaten.
To date, Tokyo University professor Michitaka Hirose and lecturer Tomohiro Tanikawa’s research team have been able to program in seven different foods into MetaCookie+. They have been reported to have said they hope to improve the gadget enough so it can be used by hospital patients who are put on strict diets that often involve plain food.
Visitors at Tokyo’s Digital Content Expo 2010 last week were able give the gadget a go, and more than 80 per cent of users said the taste of their food had changed.
* Credits to the Science Media Centre of Japan.
Using parts sold at your local electronics store to make a supercomputer? Sounds like something MacGyver would do.
But at last week’s Supercomputing Conference in Oregon, USA, a Gordon Bell Prize was awarded to a team of researchers who did just that.
Nagasaki University associate professor Tsuyoshi Hamada and his team spent a mere NZ$600,000 to develop their supercomputer made from 256 graphics processing units. These graphics processing units are commonly found in mobiles, computers, and game consoles because they are efficient at manipulating computer graphics. The parts are commonly found in electronics stores around Tokyo’s Akihabara – the electric city and geek town of Japan.
The average supercomputer can cost anything from NZ$2 million, so this really was a bargain.
The prize-winning supercomputer was able to perform at 42Teraflops, or 42000000000000 instructions or calculations each second.
Mr Hamada and his team had spent three years developing their currently 380 graphics processing unit supercomputer.
Nagasaki University associate professor Tsuyoshi Hamada stands next to his team's 380 graphics processing unit supercomputer
The Gordon Bell prizes are awarded to conference exhibits which show the best high performance computing applications. Past recipients include New Zealander Ian Foster, the “father of grid computing” according to a scientific advancement organisation, Lifeboat Foundation.
The Supercomputing Conference has been held every year since 1987. It is an international conference which draws in exhibits in areas of high performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis.
Buying electricity generated from home solar panels could be a way to get people involved in saving the environment.
This month, Japanese electricity companies began buying electricity from people whose home solar panels generated more than enough juice.
Families receive 48 yen (75 cents) for every 1 kilowatt of electricity, creating a new income source.
Solar panels alone are expected to drop carbon dioxide emissions by 45 million tonnes by 2020. But this only accounts for 10% of Japan’s 2020 goal. If the country wants to meet its carbon dioxide goal using solar panels alone, it would need 37 times as more panels than it has today.
The Environment Department says that even though solar energy doesn’t have a large role, they hope it will attract public attention to the problem, reports the Yomiuri newspaper.
Japan isn’t the first country to allow electric companies to buy homemade energy. European countries such as Spain and Germany have been doing this for a few years and have seen an increase in the number solar panels being installed.
Taking it to the next level
A search engine programmed to look at your clothes will cut the hours you would spend staring at security camera footage to find that thief who stole your bag.
Japanese IT company NEC have developed a search engine which looks for individuals in video footage based on the colour of their clothes.
If say, a person tells police they were mugged by a someone wearing a brown jacket and black jeans, the search system will look at the top and bottom halves of people in security camera footage and pick footage showing people matching that colour description.
The system could also be used to find lost children.
NEC began developing the search engine after seeing that it would be important to have a system which could making people-searching easier in a country that was installing more and more security cameras.
Real-life trials are expected to begin in 2010.
Chatting to someone in Russian, reading a book in German, or just being able to understand those Japanese car instructions are now possible after IT company NEC have developed the world’s first computer glasses.
Wearing computer glasses
Tele Scouter is made up of a compact microphone, camera, and ear phone which fit around the wearer’s glasses. These are connected to a small computer that transmits audio and visual information to a remote server.
This means that if a kiwi bloke finds himself talking to someone speaking Italian, the speech is picked up by the microphone. The audio recording is relayed to the waist computer, which transmits the information to a remote server. The server translates the words and sends back translated text which shows up on a small screen on the glasses.
NEC are pushing the business benefits of this gadget, particularly in factories where workers can waste hours trying to read complex manuals while fixing machines. By using the handsfree Tele Scouter, workers can get online help while they carry out operations.
Image of what a wearer would see while using Tele Scouter
However, Tele Scouter is still a prototype. NEC only has 30 sets available on the market currently, and each comes with a 7.5million yen (NZ$110,000) price tag.
NEC hopes to sell 1000 sets over the next three years. Overseas shipments are also scheduled to begin in November 2010.
The wearable computer Tele Scouter was unveiled at the C&C User Forum and iEXPO 2009 in Tokyo last week.
Images from http://www.nec.co.jp/press/ja/0910/2602-02.html
Chic mobiles Motoko Kakubayashi Nov 13
First there was choosing colours, then ringtones, and now it is possible to individualise your mobile by smell.
A new range of mobile phones that allows individuals to spray their favourite perfume onto a special chip embedded in the mobile has been unveiled by Japanese computer hardware and IT services company Fujitsu yesterday.
The fragrance mobile comes with a ceramic fragrance chip, which is embedded in the back of the mobile. Users simply take the chip out, spray their perfume onto the chip, and can then enjoy using their mobile phones in a new way.
The docomoSTYLEseries F-02B mobiles were unveiled as part of mobile company NTT DoCoMo’s 2009 winter/spring collection.
docomoSTYLEseries F-02B mobile phones
Of course, don’t forget some of the other things this mobile comes with:
- 8.1 mega pixel camera.
- smile finder – a camera function which automatically takes a photo as soon as a smile on the face is detected.
- waterproof to a depth of 1.5m, where the camera is still functional.
- fitness calculator
Images from http://www.fmworld.net/product/phone/f-02b/?fmwfrom=f-02b_info
