Doctor’s Business Card Measures Holder’s Heartbeat

A Hungarian ECG company puts real-time pulse on a business card

Adding something extra to one’s business card is important if you want to stand out from the crowd. This one, however, is the only card that lets you measure your heartbeat.MobilECG, an open-source electrocardiogram company, found a way to create business cards with small electrocardiograph meters built in.

Based in Hungary, MobilECG created a reader which finds a person’s heart rate by having them place two fingers on the card. The business information is located on the front of the card while the reader and tiny monitor screen are located on the back. It works by implementing what is known as Lead I in Einthoven’s triangle. To put it simply, in order for an electrocardiogram to read your heart rate, the readers have to form an inverted triangle with the heart in the middle so that the voltages when added up will have 0 potential, essentially giving the machine the most accurate result possible. Putting two fingers from opposite hands thus creates an Einthoven triangle, and your heartbeat is displayed.

The company has made it clear, however, that this is not meant to be a diagnostic device, referring to it on their website as a “toy card.” However, MobilECG’s main product is a small, more affordable ECG machine than the ones used now in hospitals and clinics. Currently in its second generation of design, the MobilECG itself costs between $100 – $150 and cause uses different points of data collection to give accurate readings.

MobilECG is taking orders, with each card currently set at $29 each. The team, dedicated to being open source, has also posted the schematics here if you want to build you own.

The Stethoscope Gets Redesigned, After 200 Years

Get your vitals checked lately? When a doctor needs to listen to your heartbeat or breathing, they often turn to one specific tool: the stethoscope. And this timeless device just got an upgrade. It’s called the U-Scope, it’s an FDA-approved stethoscope redesigned with ergonomic features aimed to be both comfortable and elegant.

The basic design of stethoscopes went unchanged for 200 years. Thus, the team behind the design wondered why the stethoscope has always remained the same. Further, they were curious if the current build was truly the most ideal shape for the medical tool. These questions lead Tokyo-based Classico to rethink the design from the ear down.
•U-Scope is designed so that air doesn’t escape from the diaphragm to the ear piece. This feature is said to minimize sound decay.
•It has an inner T-shaped structure portion which helps reduce the pressure on the ears of its wearer by 30 percent.
•The bell on it is a special chest piece. It has been created through ergonomic designing so it fits naturally in our fingers. It also fits a patient’s body and allows optimum wrist movement for doctors, resulting in better hearing.
•The unit can be folded so doctors can put it in their pocket rather than walk around with it around their neck.

Device which prints moving images

Using augmented reality, bring your photos to life by pointing your smartphone at them

Following both the trend in portable printers and augmented reality, LifePrint wants to let you print ‘HyperPhotos’ that ‘come to life in your hands.’

Coupled with an app that aggregates all of your images from your camera roll, social media accounts, and even your GoPro, both still and live photos can be printed through the device. While the images don’t move by themselves, the same aggregating app enables you to animate the pictures simply by enabling your camera and hovering over the printout with your phone, a process it calls ‘Harry Potter mode.’


Devoid of any toner or ink cartridges, the startup’s website boasts of the relative ease of use, designed with technology (thermal printing) specifically picked out for a quality user experience. Moreover, the LifePrint printer ‘literally fits in your back pocket,’ and supports up to 15 prints per battery charge.


Even better, images are instantly shareable with friends and family in your network at click of a button, and can be sent discretely using a private mode for the express intent of ‘romantic pictures,’ Lastly, a robust photo editing suite, makes it possible to edit photos before being sent or printed, after which you have to option to print as a stick for pasting onto your mac or the deck of your skateboard.

Having been touted as your smartphone’s new BFF by Popsugar, a social network where you can follow people by Digital Trends and a physical Instagram for nostalgic Polaroid fans by Vice, the printer is being marketed as the ‘mobile printer for everyone.’ And while its true that all the social media and app support the printer comes packaged with broadens the range of those who can make use of it, be warned: only the iPhone 5s, Samsung Galaxy 5s, GoPro Hero 3 and GoPro Session generations and onwards are compatible.

With a print time of roughly 30 seconds, a battery charge time of one hour and printed photo sizes of 2″x3″ (50mm x 76mm), there are still some kinks to work out, but the technology looks promising for the democratization of AR capabilities. Whereas augmented reality was the exclusive domain of the business elite, think GoogleGlass, the introduction of the technology in smartphones and its ‘embed-ability’ in tangible objects means anyone can get their hands on it.

That said, LifePrint is currently retailing its printer at a base price of $129 plus shipping as a pre-order on IndieGoGo, with additional perks requiring you to add on certain lump sums.

Tone Your Legs and Do Your Laundry at the Same Time

On those days when 24 hours come up short, the Bike Washing Machine will let you kill two chores with one stone as you can tend to laundry while working out.

The Bike Washing Machine is a designed by Xuefei Liu, Weiwei Li, Xiaoyu Gao Xueyi Wang, Linhao Su, Di Fang, Zhanbing Li, Wen Fan, Deqian Zhao, Liying Zhu, Huan Li, and Mengmeng Hu, students of Dalian Nationalities University. The product, of course, targets the time-crunched as not having enough time to do your laundry or workout has become a too common excuse in a busy, busy world.

Either excuse will no longer work because this stationary will double as a washing machine. When you ride, the pedaling gives power to the washer to spin the laundry inside it.

The Bike Washing Machine first appeared on Tuvie, though it seems it won’t be hitting the market for some time (if ever). Moreover, the load capacity of the washing machine remains unclear as well as how long it would take to fully wash one small load.

While the Bike Washing Machine will not replace the traditional washing machine or the pains of heading to the laundromat, the machine is note-worthy especially if it will help people cross off mutilple items off the to-do list simultaneously.

Source: PSFK

Virtual Reality to be the next Game Changer for Smartphone Companies

Virtual Reality is the next platform, where anyone can create and experience anything they want. As of for now, VR is mostly used for games and entertainment, but that's quickly evolving, and one day you're going to be able to put on a headset and that's going to change the way that you live, work and communicate.

So imagine being able to sit in front of a camp-fire and hang out with your friends any time that you want, or watch a movie in a private theatre with your friends any time you want. Imagine holding a group meeting or event anywhere that you want, welcome to the untapped world of Virtual Reality, that is according to Face Book's Boss Mark Zuckerberg.

Phone makers are trying to renew consumer appetite by luring their attention to virtual reality headsets that can be paired with their devices to view videos and play games. The emphasis on virtual reality comes as the increasingly-saturated smartphone market begins to slow.

Research firm Trend Force predicts global smartphone sales will grow by 8.1 percent in 2016, down from 10.3 percent last year. The headsets which went on sale in November is powered by technology developed by Oculus, a virtual reality company Facebook bought in 2014 for $2 billion (1.8 billion euros).

Mozilla Research launched an experimental build of Firefox with VR-enablers bundled, empowering developers to turn any website into a virtual reality experience. No plugins, installs or expensive development tools required.
VR presents immense challenges, but also immense opportunities right from latency to interaction design, Mozilla Research is looking forward to make the web an awesome platform for VR with Air Mozilla.

Even the Google Store is now selling VR headsets, with three models to choose from. You can pick up Cardboard from Google, the View-Master from Mattel or a travel-ready model from Goggle.

Samsung, the world's number one smartphone maker, announced at the Mobile World Congress trade fair in Barcelona that it would give away its Gear VR headset for free with every pre-order for its new flagship Galaxy S7 phone.

Thousands of people donned the headsets which have a slot where you insert a smartphone to view the presentation of the firm's new phones at a Barcelona congress centre on the eve of the start of the fair. The crowd gasped and applauded as the new phones appeared to be floating in the air before their eyes.

Rival South Korean tech firm LG, which lost money from its mobile business last year, unveiled its own virtual reality goggles to go with its new G5 smartphone at the fair. Struggling Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has decided to refocus completely on virtual reality and away from smartphones.

The smartphones virtual reality headsets sparked huge interest at the trade fair in Barcelona as long lines formed outside a pop-up virtual reality theatre set up by Samsung that allowed people to experience a roller coaster ride using the Gear VR headset as their seats rocked from side to side.

Tilt your head back with the headset on and you see a clear blue sky. Turn sideways and you see the rest of an amusement park and mountains in the distance. Look down and you see a fast approaching plunge.

People gripped the arms of their seats even though they were not moving and raised their hands in the air during the simulations.

Research firm CCS Insight predicts the number of sold virtual reality devices will grow from 2.2 million last year to 20 million in 2018, with smartphone-based devices representing the vast majority.

More sophisticated virtual reality headsets that run on an expensive computer will remain a niche product because of their high cost, though some users of the smartphone virtual reality headsets complained of being able to see the pixels in the images being broadcast.

"The quality of the systems is not quite there yet, when virtual reality goes mainstream we won’t be looking at social media we will be almost standing inside it. " said Edward Tang, founder and president of Avegant which makes virtual reality headsets.

( Sources and Citation : http://www.itv.com/news/2016-02-22/mark-zuckerberg-virtual-reality-is-the-next-platform/ )

NASA and Lockheed collaborate for a Commercial Supersonic Jet Project

The return of supersonic passenger air travel is one step closer to reality with NASA's award of a contract for the preliminary design of a “low boom” flight demonstration aircraft.

Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden on Monday said that it has awarded a first contract, worth $20 million to the US Company Lockheed Martin to develop a preliminary design of an aircraft which surpasses the speed of sound, EFE news reported. US space agency Nasa announced that it is planning to build a supersonic passenger jet which will be as quiet and efficient as possible.

Despite using a jet engine, which traditionally causes loud noise, the sound levels produced by the new aircraft would be minimal. The new design would also meet the requirements for reduction of pollution as it would optimize fuel consumption. "NASA is working hard to make flight greener, safer and quieter," said Bolden.

The design and the construction of the new supersonic aircraft will take several years and NASA estimates that first flight tests would start around 2020.

NASA selected a team led by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company of Palmdale, California, to complete a preliminary design for Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST). The work will be conducted under a task order against the Basic and Applied Aerospace Research and Technology (BAART) contract at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

After conducting feasibility studies and working to better understand acceptable sound levels across the country, NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology Project asked industry teams to submit design concepts for a piloted test aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds, creating a supersonic soft thump rather than the disruptive boom currently associated with supersonic flights.





Commercial supersonic flights were cancelled when British Airways and Air France ceased their Concorde operations in 2003. The Concorde aircraft was capable of travelling at a maximum speed of 2.180 kph, more than twice the speed of sound. The safety and profitability of the aircraft, known as the "White Bird", became questionable following the crash of a Concorde in Paris in 2000, which killed all 113 people on board.

In addition to design and building, this Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) phase of the project also will include validation of community response to the new, quieter supersonic design. The detailed design and building of the QueSST aircraft, conducted under the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Integrated Aviation Systems Program, will fall under a future contract competition.

NASA’s 10-year New Aviation Horizons initiative has the ambitious goals of reducing fuel use, emissions and noise through innovations in aircraft design that departs from the conventional tube-and-wing aircraft shape.

The New Aviation Horizons X-planes will typically be about half-scale of a production aircraft and likely are to be piloted. Design-and-build will take several years with aircraft starting their flight campaign around 2020, depending on funding.

( Sources and Citation : http://www.geek.com/science/nasa-and-lockheed-plan-low-boom-supersonic-passenger-jet-1648680/ )

Korean Researchers unveil Smart Glasses that can Type via Virtual Keyboard

K-Glass is an even stronger model of smart glasses reinforced with augmented reality (AR) that were first developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2014, with the second version released in 2015. This processor is composed of a pre-processing core to implement stereo vision, seven deep-learning cores to accelerate real-time scene recognition within 33 milliseconds, and one rendering engine for the display.

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed smart glasses that offer users a virtual keyboard to type text. The glasses, called K-Glass 3, comes with a stereo-vision camera located at the front of the device. The two lenses of the camera work similar to the way human eyes work, and can sense depth. This allows users to surf the internet and type text using the virtual keyboard, or even play a virtual piano in thin air.






The stereo-vision camera, located on the front of K-Glass 3, works in a manner similar to three dimension (3D) sensing in human vision. The camera's two lenses, displayed horizontally from one another just like depth perception produced by left and right eyes, take pictures of the same objects or scenes and combine these two different images to extract spatial depth information, which is necessary to reconstruct 3D environments.


The camera's vision algorithm has an energy efficiency of 20 milliwatts on average, allowing it to operate in the Glass more than 24 hours without interruption. The research team adopted deep-learning-multi core technology dedicated for mobile devices to recognize user's gestures based on the depth of information.





Additionally, K-Glass 3 uses a pre-processing core to use stereo-vision as well as seven deep-learning cores to speed up real-time screen recognition. The researchers say that the camera’s vision algorithm has an energy efficiency of 20 milliwatts on average, allowing it to be used for 24 hours without interruption.

The multi-core processor becomes idle when it detects no motion from the user. The team uses deep-learning multi-core technology that is dedicated for mobile devices to recognize gesture inputs. This has improved the glass’s accuracy with images and speed, while also shortening the time needed to process and analyze data.



Instead, it executes complex deep-learning algorithms with a minimal power to achieve high performance as researchers succeeded in fabricating a low-power multi-core processor that consumes only 126.1 milliwatts of power with a high efficiency rate. This technology has greatly improved the Glass's recognition accuracy with images and speech, while shortening the time needed to process and analyze data. In addition, the Glass's multi-core processor is advanced enough to become idle when it detects no motion from users.

Owing to the deep-learning-multi core technology, this gesture controlled device has been greatly enhanced. The newly constructed one takes minimal time to analyse data and possesses greater sensing power. With all these desirable features, it’s definitely a device to try out on as soon as it launches in the market.


( Sources and Citation : http://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/k-glass-3-featuring-augmented-reality-to-be-launched-soon.87365/ )