How About A Flying Hovercraft

 

If you’re an outdoors fan, and you’re looking for a better way to get around over water and land, you have to check out the Flying Hovercraft by Universal. Most hovercraft elevate just a few inches above the water and barely skim over the surface. The flying hovercraft is different.

Leveraging the aeronautic principal known as the “ground effect”, the flying hovercraft glides over water and land at a cruising altitude of 2 to 6 feet and can fly at speeds of 75 mph and more. The good news is that operating a flying vehicle in “ground-effect” does not require a pilots license. But you will need to register the flying hovercraft as a boat.

The flying hovercraft presents interesting possibilities for many commercial applications and is a great idea for the tourism industry if you want to offer outdoor enthusiasts a new and different experience.

The integrated wings enable the hovercraft to literally fly over water and land. Powered by a 130 horsepower twin-cylinder, turbocharged and fuel-injected, liquid-cooled gasoline engine. Propelled by a 60 inch wood and carbon composite propeller and an 1,100 RPM 34 inch lift fan inflates the durable vinyl-coated nylon skirt to hover above the ground.

The flying hovercraft can operate in fresh and saltwater environments and can maneuver over sand, grass, mud, swamp, desert, ice and snow at up to 30 percent inclines. The wings and horizontal elevator allow the pilot to literally hop over land or water based obstacles with the ability for brief 20 foot high jumps. These types of obstacles are usually insurmountable for normal or typical hovercraft,

You pilot the flying hovercraft with a joystick that controls three vertical rudders and the elevator. A twist friction-lock throttle controls forward speed. And a variable drive system controls the lift fan for hovering. You break or slow the hovercraft by lowering the lift fan RPMs which will cause the vehicle to come to rest on the Kevlar composite landing skids.

The flying hovercraft, with a low center of gravity and lighter weight composite fiberglass/PVC hull, can operate in winds as high as 25 mph and can navigate waves as high as 6 feet when in flight.

The two nine-gallon gasoline tanks hold enough fuel to enable a 160 mile range, and the flying hovercraft can support pilot and passenger payloads of up to 600 pounds. Dimensions are 19 feet in length, by 7 feet 8 inches wide, by 6 feet 6 inches high, and weighs 1,100 pounds.

At $190,000, the flying hovercraft may be out of reach for most people, but if you have the budget, this fun outdoor gadget will undoubtedly draw lots of attention and place you in a class of your own.

Available: Hammacher

Price: $190,000

Apple Mac Users Hit With The Flashback Virus (Trojan Actually)

 

 

Mac users have been hit recently by the Flashback trojan. I was thinking this Flashback trojan malware might perform some sort of retro wizardry that morphs your Mac back into an Apple 1, the first Apple computer that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created in the garage of their Los Altos home back in 1976.

Not that kind of flashback? OK, maybe a stretch But hey, this is a gadget site, I had to tie in a gadget somehow … and besides, the Apple 1 is pretty cool, don’t you think?

Computer malware has primarily been the scourge of Windows based PCs. You don’t often hear about Apple computers and Macs having a problem with computer viruses and malware. In fact, Apple users will often site the superior security and safety of Apple computers as one of the preferred advantages over Microsoft Windows and PCs.

Admittedly, the malicious creators of computer malware have historically focused their efforts toward Windows based PCs with a much larger user footprint out there. After all, the goal of a someone who creates a computer virus is to impact as many people as possible, so they go where the numbers are. Apple computers have only accounted for about 10% of the computers out there, although that number is climbing with the advent of iPads and the increasing popularity of Apple products.

But Apple computers are not impervious to malware. It is possible to create a Mac virus, and we’ve seen a bit more Mac malware activity recently. With the latest being this Flashback trojan. Officially called BackDoor.Flashback.39, the Mac trojan exploit originally started as a phony Adobe Flash player installer that surfaced sometime last September (2011).

In its first incarnation, Flashback was pretty harmless and easy enough to avoid. But the trojan has evolved into a more serious threat by exploiting unpatched security holes in Java which Apple has now addressed. The Flashback trojan is estimated to have infected more than 600,000 Mac computers worldwide, with most of the impact in the U.S and Canada.

 Tools to check for the Flashback Trojan on your Mac

• Online Tool from Dr. Web to check if you’ve been infected with Backdoor.Flashback.39
• FlasbackChecker from GitHub is a program you can install to check for the Flashback trojan.

How to remove the Flashback Trojan from your Mac

• CNET has provided this step-by-step guide that explains how to remove Backdoor.Flashback.39
• Flashback removal instructions from Finnish security company F-Secure.

Computer  viruses, trojans and worms are no fun. And while malware may be the familiar, almost daily occurrence for Windows PC users, it looks like Apple and Mac users will likely see more of the same in the future as well.

The Hubos Robotic Band Performing Come Together By The Beatles

 

Engineering students at Drexel University showcase software they’ve developed that enables a group of HUBO robots to perform music by following a musical score, without human control or assistance.

This innovative robotic music project is an entertaining example of the ongoing research conducted at the MET-Lab, the Music and Entertainment Technology Lab at Drexel University. MET-Lab research focuses on digital media technologies that will shape the future of entertainment primarily in the area of sound and music.

Most definitely an entertaining and intriguing example that demonstrates the capabilities of current robotic technology and the ability for robots to approach the human activity of creative musical expression.

However, if you play music or enjoy music performed by humans, I wouldn’t worry about the robots taking over just yet. Trust me, you can definitely tell the difference between the robots and the humans when it comes to performing music.

Drexel along with seven other universities in the US are part of a humanoid research project in collaboration with KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), the designer of the HUBO robot. The name “HUBO” is a combination the the terms humanoid and robot.

The robotic musical demo was performed during Drexel Univerity’s  ”Engineers Week” that took place last month.

It’s certainly an interesting demonstration of robotic technology. But the Hubos obviously have their work cut out for them. Perhaps a few more years of dedicated practice and rehearsal, then lets see how they sound?

In the meantime, I think the future prospects for creative musical expression remain safely in the hands of the humans. Wouldn’t you agree?

XSense Flexible Touch Screen Technology from Atmel

 

Atmel, the world’s largest supplier touch sensing solutions, introduces XSense, a breakthrough film-based flexible touch sensor technology that can be used on curved surfaces and edges. XSense enables capacitive touchscreen applications and designs that previously have not been possible.

With XSense, smartphone, tablet, and ultrabook manufacturers will be able to design lighter, sleeker, curved and edgeless touch screen enabled solutions. XSense touch screen technology will also offers better optical clarity, thinner and lighter solutions, and lower power consumption.

Imagine a new generation of smartphone devices equipped with an “edgeless” touchscreen without the familiar bezel around the edge. Or curved devices with a touchscreen that literally wraps around the contour of the surface.

XSense Flexible Touch Screen Demonstration

Atmel is providing XSense touch sensor samples to OEM manufacturers now, and limited production quantities are expected to start shipping in Q3 2012.

Source: Atmel XSense Touch Sense

FXI Cotton Candy – The Miniature PC On A Stick

 

FXI Technologies has recently just released in limited availability the Cotton Candy miniaturized dual-core PC computer the size of a USB flash drive.

The FXI cotton candy is referred to as an “any screen computer” which really means it’s a tiny miniaturized fully capable PC computer that doesn’t come with a screen or monitor. These miniaturized computer devices are ideal for embeded applications including portable set top box gaming and entertainment equipment, mobile “any screen” computing, and a full range of specialized applications including medical, automotive, security, surveillance, and other dedicated solutions.

This tiny fully contained computer is packed with impressive raw horsepower and offers integrated HDMI, USB and MicroUSB connectivity for surprising flexibility in the portable market.

And let’s talk about just how how tiny and compact. The Cotton Candy miniaturized PC on a stick weighs only 21 grams. That’s just a little over 1/2 ounce. The dimensions of this super miniaturized computer are roughly 3 inches in length and a bit over 1/2 inch in width.

The cotton candy architecture will lend itself as an ideal add on to smartphones, tablet computers and notebook PCs including Macs. In addition, the device is perfect for adding intelligent computing capabilities to displays, set top boxes and gaming consoles.

 FXI Cotton Candy Technical Specifications

• ARM® Cortex™ A9 1.2GHz Central Processing Unit (CPU) with NEON extensions and Trustzone extensions.
• ARM® Mali™ 400MP Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) delivers 720p and 1080p OpenGL ES v2.0, can process 30M Polygons and 1.2 GPixels per second.
• Wifi 802.11 b/g/n network connectivity.
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.
• 1GB DRAM memory.
• Up to 64GB expandable memory with microSD local storage.
• Supports standard OS’s including, Android (Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich), Linux (Ubuntu),  and includes embedded virtualization client for Windows, Linux, Mac.
• USB 2.0 port for power and connection to devices that support USB mass storage.
• HDMI 2.1 port with audio.
• Decodes MPEG-4, H.264 and other video formats, displays HD graphics on any HDMI equipped screen.

FXI Technologies (www.fxitech.com) is a Norway-based hardware and software startup with a focus on improving the world of digital screens with smart and personal capabilities. This includes initiatives

• Improving consumer access to Cloud computing.
• Accelerate the adoption and use of “smart screen” technologies.
• Easy ability to share media and content (videos, movies, photos, games, etc.) from mobile and portable devices on large screens and projectors.

FXI Cotton Candy, the PC on a stick, may very well open up even more exciting embedded computing applications around the corner, and we’ll be ready to talk about it here at Mint Gadgets. If you’re interested in learning more about the cotton candy miniature PC on a stick, you can visit the comunity website at cstick.com where development units are available now for pre-order.

Source: [FXI - cstick.com]

 

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