Tomorrow's Taxi

Yellow taxi cabs are as much a New York City icon as the Empire State Building. Yet Parsons the New School for Design is hosting an exhibit called "Designing the Taxi: Rethinking New York City's Movable Public Space," that attempts to envision the taxi system of the future.

The show includes improvements to cabs, such as more legible and intuitive rooftop lights, one-way windows for privacy, seats designed for better visibility, wireless Internet, monitors that display traffic conditions and note points of interest, electrical outlets for charging laptops and cell phones, and credit/debit card swipers. Designs for next-generation cabs are substantially smaller than the ubiquitous Crown Victorias, noting congestion, fuel economy, and the fact that most cabs carry only one or two passengers at a time.

If you go, the exhibit is at 2 West 13th Street through Jan. 15.

Source: New York Times

Cell Phone Knockoffs

As with any product, the newest and most sophisticated cell phone models are also the most expensive. Hence the market for knockoffs of popular cell phone models such as the Motorola RAZR and Samsung's Anycall.

Such phones are generally made in China, use designs and even names that are remarkably similar to the original ("Samsumg Amycall"), and are substantially less expensive. So if you're planning to upgrade your phone -- and especially if you're offered a sweet deal -- be sure to read the fine print... on your phone as well as elsewhere!

Source: Engadget

Fast Robots

One obstacle faced by today's robots is that their "muscles" -- the devices that allow them to move and perform their tasks -- react 100 times slower than human muscles. To solve this problem, researchers at MIT are developing robotic "muscles" made from conductive polymers that can potentially respond 1,000 times faster than human muscles.

No word on when these "bionic muscles" will enter production... but if and when they do, they will have a profound impact on robotics at all levels.

Source: EurekAlert

Kids Living in "Connected Cocoons"

Back when I was growing up (the Stone Age), any teen who spend hour upon hour locked away in his room would have been considered extremely -- and perhaps dangerously -- antisocial. That's hardly the case anymore, as the average teen's room is now a hub of digital activity, and the portal through which he stays connected with his friends and personal interests.

In trying to get a handle on its core audience of 16-to-24-year-olds, the music channel MTV has dubbed this practice "connected cocooning." While they physically might not be out and about as much as previous generations of teens, today's "MTV generation" can connect to more people than every before through the Internet and an array of devices. Today's teens can network with peers throughout the world, and have access to information (music, games, movies, trends, etc.) that my generation could only dream about.

Of course, such absorption in technology has its ups and downs. On the positive side, kids have a greater access to knowledge than ever before, and their technical skills will serve them well once they enter the workplace. Through social networking tools, even the most isolated, lonely and alienated teen can find kindred spirits. But on the downside, they face risks that earlier generations never faced -- easy access to pornography, identity theft, online predators, gambling. Despite its array of information, the Internet also allows fine filtering, preventing teens from hearing multiple viewpoints and being exposed to different types of people. Plus, every hour spent in front of a computer is one less hour spent outside, getting exercise, or interacting with others face-to-face (how 20th century!).

Even when teens are outdoors, their interactions are shaped by technology. Researchers in Japan have noted that cell phones are causing young Japanese to blur the lines between public and private space, lose the ability to speak face-to-face, and to be oblivious to their surroundings. As a result, they are said to be forming dearuki-zoku (out and about tribes), which, one research claims, resemble the social patterns of chimpanzees... or street gangs. These "tribes," combined with the loss of social context, can lead some to violence, as seen both in Japan and in the UK through its "happy slapping" craze.

The "connected cocoons" will have profound implications in marketing, business, politics, family relations and even religion as today's teens mature. They will certainly shape teens' social skills, affecting the fundamental ways in which they interact in a variety of settings.

Sources: The Guardian, Mainichi Daily News

McKiosk

After years of speculation, McDonald's will soon pilot the use of self-service kiosks in selected restaurants in Houston, Orlando and Denver.

In a typical scenario, a customer places an order through the kiosk and pays with cash or a credit, debit or gift card. The order is sent directly to the kitchen, and the customer is given a receipt to collect his order. Throughout the transaction, the customer need never interact with a human.

Aside from speeding up service, the kiosks, developed by NCR, can converse in 26 languages, display 3D images of selections, and even recommend certain items ("up-selling").

The kiosks would also reduce long-term labor costs and head off an expected labor shortage, though McDonald's is quick to emphasize that affected staff would be re-deployed rather than downsized. Regardless of the technology it deploys, the fast food industry anticipates a need for approximately 1.8 million new workers by 2015.

McDonald's is piloting several kiosk models, ranging from $2,500 to $18,000 per unit, and hopes to deploy them on a wide scale next year. Burger King and Subway are also exploring the use of electronic self-service.

Source: WFAA-TV

On-the-Spot Flu Tests

Researchers at the University of Colorado have developed a chip capable of testing for 11 strains of influenza, including H5N1 (a.k.a. bird flu). Unlike current tests that can take days, this chip allows a physician to diagnose flu almost instantly.

Analyses by the Centers for Disease Control have found the chip to be 90% accurate. However, the research team is working to make the chip more user-friendly.

Such a device would be invaluable in the event of a flu epidemic, allowing patients to be diagnosed, treated with antiviral drugs, and -- if needed -- quarantined rapidly. It would be especially important for healthcare professionals serving rural and remote areas without access to lab services.

Source: New York Times

Print Your Own Organs

The University of Utal College of Pharmacy is developing "organ printing" technology that will allow healing tissue to be "printed" on "bio-paper" and "bio-ink" from a patient's own tissue. The result is a hydrogel that will allow a damaged organ to heal, and that may one day be an alternative to transplants.

"Think of taking a blood vessel — a cylindrical object — and trying to reconstruct it in 3D with two-dimensional slices," said U. Presidential Professor of Medicinal Chemistry Glenn D. Prestwich, who created the hydrogel. He likens the resulting slices to a "non-nutritious doughnut" with muscle cells on the outside and endothelial cells inside. To make the cylinder, those flat doughnut sections are literally printed, one thin layer of cells and hydrogel at a time, the platform moving away from the printer's "bio-ink"-delivering needles as the cylinder grows.

The cells in the gel are alive and will begin to move from one side to the other, one "doughnut" to the other, fusing and interweaving to form a complete, living cylinder. The advantage of his hydrogel over others, Prestwich said, is the cells will stick to them well. They don't with others, which are typically made of synthetic polymers.

The research has received $5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation.

Source: KurzweilAI.net