composites

Car parts that store energy, power car

Range anxiety is one of the biggest hurdles to widespread EV adoption. But to build a car with longer range, you need a bigger battery pack. Unfortunately, the bigger the battery, the higher the price.

But what if instead of increasing the battery size, you turned the entire car into a battery pack on wheels?

Volvo is working with several research groups to replace the metallic parts of cars with a composite material that will one day power its vehicles. The composite is a blend of carbon fibers and polymer resin that can store energy and charge and discharge faster than conventional batteries. The only downside is that it's still a few years away.

Volvo got involved with this three-year project started by the Imperial College in London early this year. The first stage of the project is to produce this material on an industrial scale and study ways to replace existing metallic components in the car with the composite battery, starting with the car's spare wheel recess. … Read more

Reflex Dock Pro outputs video, too

I come from the PalmPilot school of gadgetry, which means I like my PDAs, MP3 players, and phones to sit upright, proudly, in a dock when they're pulling desk duty. Otherwise they're just flopping around, along with their sync cables.

Alas, Apple doesn't bundle docks with iPhones and iPods, so it's up to third-party vendors to fill the void.

The Konnet Reflex Dock Pro fills it nicely, if a little expensively. This stylish, lightweight plastic stand is compatible with nearly all models, from the iPhone 4 on down to the iPod Classic. And it does more … Read more

Even the master can learn new tricks

The bottom line: Photoshop CS5 greatly expands the toolset that Adobe offers in its flagship product, charting new ways to make image manipulation easier while making older tools work better than before. Don't worry about the lack of a new interface, the new ways to get your project done make this version a must.

Photoshop has been in the English lexicon as a term to edit images for a long time, but the latest version of Adobe's flagship program stretches the canvas of manipulation much farther than ever before. The look of the program has changed so little … Read more

Even the master can learn new tricks

The bottom line: Photoshop CS5 greatly expands the toolset that Adobe offers in its flagship product, charting new ways to make image manipulation easier while making older tools work better than before. Don't worry about the lack of a new interface; the new ways to get your project done make this version a must.

Photoshop has been in the English lexicon as a term to edit images for a long time, but the latest version of Adobe's flagship program stretches the canvas of manipulation much further than ever before. The look of the program has changed so little … Read more

Even the master can learn new tricks

The bottom line: Photoshop CS5 greatly expands the toolset that Adobe offers in its flagship product, charting new ways to make image manipulation easier while making older tools work better than before. Don't worry about the lack of a new interface; the new ways to get your project done make this version a must.

Santa's green sleigh of the future

Author Gregory Mone is not the only one touting would-be Santa technology this year.

General Electric has released its own theory of how the legendary Santa Claus could make his yearly trip while communicating with Mrs. Claus and the elves back at HQ. This version, however, showcases real-world technology with a green bent under development at GE labs. While the Santa hook is child's play, the technology presented has useful applications in the adult world.

For example, the company is developing "icephobic" coatings that prevent ice and water from sticking to a vehicle even when driving through … Read more

Virgin Galactic unveils rocket plane thrill ride

MOJAVE, Calif.--Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne took the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004, unveiled the VSS Enterprise Monday, a sleek commercial rocket plane that represents the ultimate thrill ride for well-heeled space tourists and amateur astronauts.

Seating six passengers and two pilots, Virgin Space Ship Enterprise--also known as SpaceShipTwo--will begin test flights next year with commercial launchings carrying paying customers starting after government regulatory requirements are met. More than 300 people have already put down deposits or paid the full $200,000 cost of a ticket for future sub-orbital … Read more

Dent an Aptera 2e, win $100

In Aptera Motor's manufacturing facility, visitors are given a sledgehammer and encouraged to swing away at the company's electric vehicle prototype. Dent it, and you can win $100.

This challenge, of course, will not apply to accidents on the streets when the three-wheeled aerodynamic vehicle hits California's congested highways in October.

The hands-on exercise demonstrates the vehicle's inherent safety, and is an attempt to overcome the perception that a small, lightweight, three-wheeled vehicle isn't as safe as a conventional gas-fueled car. … Read more

Get more out of cut-and-paste

Play With Pictures takes one of the most essential image editing features and expands it into an entire program. It is not a photo editor, at least not in the mold of Photoshop. Play With Pictures takes the cut-and-paste feature and simplifies the process while building out supplementary features for creating online avatars, greetings cards, and other projects that require image mash-ups.

The interface presents a re-imagining of the image editing toolset, gearing users towards projects instead of stand-alone edits. The left nav toolbar even notes the steps needed to take a user from start to finish. Tools are categorized … Read more

Noteflight puts music composition in your browser

Fledgling musicians looking to ditch expensive composition software might want to check out Noteflight. It's a composition community that lets you put together musical scores right in your browser--that is, as long as you know what you're doing.

The good news is that the service's composition tools are wonderfully simple to use. Instead of requiring a MIDI keyboard to enter notes, you can simply plug them in with your keyboard and/or mouse. Each note can be modified with a simple drop down menu that follows you as you move around the page. It also contains an … Read more