Future tech

Six out of seven people here at Crave Asia are bespectacled, and the last time I checked, everyone had their eyes glued to at least a 19-inch LCD monitor. Some have it worse with gigantic plasma screens, while others have to squint at pathetic QVGA displays.

It doesn't take an Einstein to know that our eyes go through an obscene amount of stress daily. Less work and more play obviously wouldn't sit well with our editors or HR policies. And citing risks of developing Digital Eye Fatigue or Computer Vision Syndrome, at best, will earn you a few … Read more

Seems like everyone is into the spirit of democracy these days.

Peugeot is soliciting your vote for its 2008 Design Contest. This year's challenge is for a vehicle that complements environmental and population concerns in the megalopolis of tomorrow.

The French-based car company released a list of 29 finalists, which can be voted on through September 15. You can vote anonymously, or vote giving your personal info for a chance to win an Xbox 360. Keep in mind that only those who vote for the winning concept car will be eligible to win one of 20 Xbox 360 consoles … Read more

Designers Jukka Roitto, Miska Vaisanen, and Jordan Siegler have seen the road map to the future, and it sits on your wrist. It has a name that's crystal clear even to the geographically challenged: Seek.

This Minority Report-like wristband concept packs a portable GPS system and music player all in one--though given how power-hungry GPS units are, you might not want to drain that battery pack tuning in to Coldplay or Madonna. No idea, either, on how this juices up. But we do know the Seek offers directional guides and location-based services accessed via its interactive touch screen.

Now … Read more

University of Oklahoma researchers are working on a high-tech breath test that could one day help detect cancer.

The team is using mid-infrared laser technology to measure suspected cancer biomarkers in the breath, such as ethane, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde, and to establish the relationship between those gas molecules and the disease. Ultimately, they hope their work will lead to easy-to-use detection devices that don't emit radiation.

But it may take a while before doctors have such devices in hand. Patrick McCann, an OU professor of electrical and computer engineering who's leading the team, predicts that it will take … Read more

After 16 days, the Olympics concluded with 43 world records being broken. However, there's now another record that's no less exciting.

QinetiQ claimed Sunday that its propeller-driven aircraft called Zephyr flew for 83 hours and 37 minutes nonstop, more than doubling the official world record set by Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk in 2001.

The Zephyr is much different from the Global Hawk, which is about the size of a fighter and requires a runway for taking off and landing.

Zephyr, on the other hand, is an ultra-lightweight carbon-fiber aircraft that weighs less than 70 pounds and is … Read more

Via Technologies' EPIA-P700 Pico-ITX is an x86 embedded board that measures 10 cm x 7.2 cm, uses a 1GHz Via C7 CPU, and thanks to its low power consumption, is an ideal fit to process small little cute robots that will soon be our lords and masters. Well, maybe not soon, but one day, you'll see.

With robotics development representing the cutting edge of technological progress, Via's commitment to extremely compact designs, robust performance, extensive feature sets, and extremely low power consumption means that the company's off-the-shelf EPIA boards are becoming an essential component for academic, hobbyist, and commercial robot developers.

Via plans to be at the forefront of the eventual robot takeover as it has been a major supporter of robotics development for academics, hobbyists, and military applications. Friday in Taiwan--which is probably Thursday by now--Via showed off its EPIA Pico-ITX-based robots at the Taipei International Robot Show (TIROS), taking place August 21 to 24.

At the Via booth will be three compact robots provided by PlayRobot, a Taiwan-based robot developer and distributor of educational, scientific, and entertainment robots for government, academic, and research institutes, as well as robot kits for enthusiasts. … Read more

At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco this week, the chipmaker painted a bullish future with advances in processing, communication, robots, materials science, and human-computer interfaces. Click on the photo above to see more on Intel's vision of future, including a robot that can sense nearby objects through electromagnetic field changes, a basic video game controlled directly to the brain's electrical signals, and catons, programmable building blocks like computerized atoms that Intel believes will be the building blocks for shape-shifting devices.

According to a report at RIA Novosti, the head of the Iran Aerospace Organization said Wednesday that Iran plans to send its first astronaut to the moon within the next 10 years.

Space Agency chief Reza Taghipoor was quoted as saying that Iran is currently looking into the possibility of sending a human into outer space and that this is one of the country's priorities in the next decade. The exact date of the flight would be determined by the end of the year.

Earlier this year Iran said it wanted to put a satellite in orbit within a … Read more

This story has been updated. Other vendors, such as Netgear or Slingmedia also, offer multiple-port PowerLine adapters.

I remember Belkin was the first vendor who sent us a Pre-N router, the Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router way back in 2004. Ever since, it hasn't been the most prolific vendor in wireless networking in comparison with D-Link, Linksys, or Netgear.

However, I've learned recently that in October Belkin is releasing a few new networking products, including the all new Belkin N+ Wireless Router and the Powerline AV+.

According to Belkin's Web site, the new router will have network storage … Read more