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Algae Mines
Here’s another story about abandoned man-made structures, but this one may have a happy ending.
Instead of using aboveground ponds to grow algae for biofuels, researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology have proposed growing algae underground in abandoned mines. What are the advantages? Underground mines are cheap, maintain constant temperature, solve the aboveground evaporation and contamination problems, and the site preparation has already been done by the mining companies.
But don’t algae need sunlight to grow? Not necessarily, says mining engineering professor David Summers.
It happens that algae work best when they use only the blue and red parts of the light spectrum, which can be provided by LED lights, and they need periods of darkness in which to process the photons.
An added benefit: Mine owners like the idea because it eliminates the need for them to clean up the sites, as algae are particularly good at sequestering metals.
Win + win + win? I guess we’ll find out.
More information at Scientific American.
How Many Solar Panels Does it Take to Power the World?

Ever wondered just how much surface area you would need to supply the entire world with all of its power needs using only energy collected from solar panels? Luckily for us the Land Art Generator Initiative have done all the math. Crunching the numbers based on our current and projected energy usage and using statistics grounded on the solar technology that is available to us today, they have created this handy map of what 2030 could look like. The map shows use distributed roughly proportional to use and weather patterns.
A related link in the article shows an alternative map based on offshore wind power.
Link – via coolinfographics
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by renderanything.
When You Gotta Go...At The Movies
RunPee is a handy site that let’s you know when it’s the best time to run to the bathroom during any given movie. Then they tell you what happens during the 4-5 minutes you were away.
“This way you not only know when to go, but can also find out what you’ll be missing. You will no longer miss those ultra-important scenes, or need to come back to your seat and ask someone, ‘What did I miss?’”
They have new releases and classics, and now there’s even an iPhone app that alerts you when a good opportunity is coming to answer Nature’s call.
Link | Image courtesy Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Turn on the TV Using the Power of Thought
A ‘telepathy’ chip that allows people to control computers, televisions and light switches by the power of thought is being developed by British scientists. The idea was conceived by Dr. Jon Spratley while he was studying at the University of Birmingham.
The tiny sensor would sit on the surface of the brain, picking up the electrical activity of nerve cells and passing the signal wirelessly to a receiver on the skull.
The signal would then be used to control a cursor on a computer screen, operate electronic gadgets or steer an electric wheelchair.
This type of technology would allow disabled people such as Stephen Hawking to have more control over their environment. Link
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by scaryman.
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Corralling Carp with Noisy Bubbles
Invasive Asian carp are populating the Great Lakes and forcing native species out of their traditional habitats. Scientists are taking steps to contain the invaders without affecting other species. They’ve developed an underwater “wall of sound” that takes advantage of the physical differences between Asian carp and native fish.
In a tributary near Havana, about 200 miles from Chicago, ecologist Greg Sass is testing a barrier that injects beeping sounds into an effervescent wall, which captures and magnifies the noise. The chirping bothers only the carp because it hears higher frequencies than native species do; a series of tiny bones connecting the carp’s swim bladder to its auditory system amplifies sound. In hatchery trials, the acoustic “fence” stopped 95 percent of the invasive fish.
Outlet Wall Helps You Manage Cables
If you’re like me, you have a major problem with cables taking over your home life. Here’s a great, visually interesting way to overkill the solution -a whole wall of outlets.
Bionic Penguins And More
Festo, has been shown here on Neatorama several times in the past and each time their robotics and bizarre creations blew our collective minds…our Neatorama Hivemind to be exact…but that’s a story for another time.
In this video you’ll get to see creepy blue LED robotic penguins swimming about in a large pool. Also, you’ll see it’s more lighter cousin who probably is the envy of every penguin in being able to fly/float and much more in terms of various robotic creations. Really fascinating stuff!
More info here – Link
For older Neatorama Festo links:
Festo’s Upside-Down Hot Air Balloon
AquaJelly and AirJelly
Air Ray: The Blimp With Wings
Meet Aqua Ray
Festo Airic’s Robotic Arm
Floating Fish Blimp
When Technology Is Good Enough
I think this is as close to a nightmare scenario to computer companies and gadget makers everywhere: not that their new stuff aren’t any good – it’s that the old stuff are good enough so that except for hardcore enthusiasts, people just don’t see any point in upgrading.
TechRadar UK explains:
The problem of ‘good enough’ is a huge headache for the tech industry. When your computer isn’t good enough – when a slow processor, meagre memory and tiny hard disk struggle with even everyday tasks – you’ll buy a better model as soon as it becomes available.
Now, though, the weakest link isn’t your PC: it’s you.
Will a 200-core processor make you type an email more quickly, make you work more productively or make your Facebook status updates any more amusing?
Yes ... Now Even Your Houseplants can Twitter

Pothos has thousands of followers and gives regular updates. Pothos … is also a plant. A built-in moisture meter relays messages about the plant’s current state in order to remind its owner when it needs watering. This is, one has to admit, a potentially wonderful innovation for those of us with thumbs that are anything but green. Still, Twitter is all the rage these days, sure, but plants Twittering? Has this fad gone too far?
Are you slowly killing your houseplants? Is it because you’re too busy Twittering? THEN HAS THE INTERNET GOT THE SOLUTION FOR YOU!
link -via huffingtonpost
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Green Roofs: Style + Sustainable = 17 Sweet Designs
Green roofs have become about more than just sustainable architecture – they have become new, long-unused canvasses for artistic expression and creative design.
This collection of green roof designs shows the possibilities of not only environmental architecture but of making something beautiful out of one of the most ubiquitous bare surfaces in the world – the roof – as we move into the future of sustainable design.
We’ve always thought we had roofs covered. They had to be barren, hostile places the rain and the wildlife slid from before they could do any damage. Nature had no place on our roofs. Except…we couldn’t have been more wrong. A green roof may required a little extra engineering behind the scenes, but it’s far better than its non-living counterparts for regulating house temperature, filtering out pollutants, scrubbing the surrounding air, controlling stormwater run-off, absorbing sound and many more factors that impact our quality of life. A green roof is a healthy roof.
12 "Dead Technology" Advertisements

Ah, remember Compuserve? This 1983 ad says “You’ll use Compuserve’s Electronic Mail System (we call it Email™) to compose, edit, and send letters to friends or business associates.” You also paid by the minute, PLUS long distance phone charges. This is part of a collection of ads for obsolete technology that we thought was the greatest thing since sliced bread …at the time. Link -Thanks Kiltak!
Everything is Amazing Yet Nobody is Happy...
[YouTube - Link]
Comedian Louis CK was on Late Night with Conan O’Brien explaining how amazing everything is, and yet nobody is happy. You’d think with all this technology and instant gratification, we would at least realize how lucky we are.
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by JKirchartz.
The World’s First Touch Watch Phone
As a kid I remember watching Dick Tracy and being awed by his ultra cool wrist-watch phone. I wanted one. I still want one. Thanks to the folks at LG, now we can all have one. LG’s G910 Touch Watch phone, available later this year, is a mere 13.9mm thick and features a full touch-screen interface, video calling capabilities and an MP3 player. There are a lot of firsts for this little device – it’s the first of its kind and the first to be supported by a major mobile phone carrier. That mobile carrier is Europe’s Orange, which means if you don’t live in Europe you’ll probably have to wait a bit longer to sprint through the streets pretending to be on a top-secret mission.
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by whitespace.
How the Amish Hack Technology to Meet Their Needs and Beliefs
The Amish are often portrayed as anti-technology Luddites, but in fact they often accept non-electrical forms of technology, as long as they can remain "off the grid" and independent.
The photo shows a home-crafted gas-powered ice cutter used to harvest lake ice for non-electric iceboxes.
The diesel engine burns fuel to drive the compressor that fills the reservoir with pressure. From the tank a series of high-pressure pipes snake off toward every corner of the factory. A hard rubber flexible hose connects each tool to a pipe. The entire shop runs on compressed air. Every piece of machine is running on pneumatic power. Amos even shows me a pneumatic switch, which you can flick like a light switch, to turn on some paint-drying fans.
The Amish call this pneumatic system “Amish electricity.”
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.
IBM Files for Bullet Dodging Bionic Body Armor Patent
IBM has filed for a patent on technology that would heighten reflexes, making it possible to actually dodge bullets. This body armor continuously scans the area for incoming projectviles. When one is detected the system delivers a shock to the body’s muscles, thus creating a reflexive movement away from the incoming bullet.
The present invention relates generally to the protection of an individual against a projectile propelled from a firearm. More particularly, the present invention relates to a body armor system and its method of use that is capable of detecting a projectile propelled from a firearm, computing the trajectory of the projectile, and moving the individual out of the path of the projectile to avoid being hit.
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by Gukbe2000.
Trash or Treasure: the Art of Tech Waste
You just love buying the latest technologies, right? Can’t stand to sit without the coolest and newest gadget. But wait … where did your old one go? There are graveyards for these kinds of things, believe it or not, and some are more impressive than you ever imagined.
The city of Guiyu is home to 5,500 businesses devoted to processing discarded electronics, known as e-waste. According to local websites, the region dismantles 1.5 million pounds of junked computers, cell phones and other devices a year.
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by Urbanist.
Colorsonic MP3 Player
Colorsonic is an MP3 player that uses color indication to play music based upon certain moods.
Music is loaded to the Colorsonic like an ordinary MP3 player and converts the songs to color associations chosen by the user. Colors are assigned individual emotional states and playlists correlating to those states can later be accessed by selecting that color on the device.
As an added bonus, the hole in the center of the donut shaped product is used to magnetically store earbuds.
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by whitespace.
10 Things You've Gotten Used To, But Your Grandkids Won't Remember
You may like land line phones and going out to Blockbuster video to browse down their aisles, but by the time your great grandkids are old enough to start to figure out the world, there will be plenty of things that will just be a faint memory in their little minds.
Here’s a list of 10 things from I Heart Chaos that your grandkids will barely even know existed.
From the Upcoming
ueue, submitted by cbz3000.
25th Anniversary of Apple’s 1984 Ad
[YouTube - Link]
On January 22nd, 1984, Apple Computer announced the January 24th arrival of its Macintosh computer with a clever ad during Super Bowl XVIII’s third quarter. Last week marked the 25th anniversary of the memorable ad. - via i
From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by whitespace.
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The LambdaTable: Probably Not Coming Soon to an IKEA Near You
It’s the highest-resolution tabletop display system ever built and has a combined resolution of 24 million pixels! My non-technical self, though, just keeps thinking what an awesome coffee table it would make. I bet you’re in trouble the first time you dump your Diet Coke over on it. I know; I’m sad.
Robo-Maid
The robot has two arms, laser sensors, five recognition cameras and moves around on wheels. In a demonstration held for the media, “the robot cleaned up rooms, smoothly put away dishes from a dining table and picked up shirts and put them in a washing machine”. The robot has the capacity to recognize objects such as furniture and cleaning equipment as well as analyze its shortcomings and correct its mistakes.
From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by whitespace.
How iPhone App Icons Are Designed

Designing those little icons is tougher than you might think. Check out how designer Felix Sockwell went through the creative process (and the review process, of course) to come up with the icons for the New York Times app.
Link via Boing Boing
Inventions they Said Would Never Work
What we now take for granted many people once took for granted could never work.
The lightbulb. The telephone. Email. If you’re a specialist in your field, there are two ways to become a household name: create something new…or claim it can never be done. If you want to be remembered on the Internet, choose the second one. Here are 9 examples of breakthroughs, inventions and innovations the experts were completely wrong about.
Evolution of Technology Ad
Evolution of Technology is a jaw-droppingly creative ad on the "evolution" of steampunk robotic dinosaurs to modern androids. It’s developed by Scholz&Friends Group for the German electric store Saturn.
Laughing Squid blog has the clip: Link [embedded YouTube]
Previously on Neatorama: Evolution of Tech Logos
Hexapod Dance Competition
Robots + Dancing = Awesome.
But is it useful to society in anyway? Maybe the way the Hexapod (six legged) robot moves flexibly and its precision movements could be applied to many fields. Until then we’ll have to be just content with the robots dancing at the third Austrian Hexapod Championship.
Inflatable Mouse

The device itself is fairly simple: a small flexible circuit board inside a body that is composed of plastic and can be blown up manually. When not in use, it can be de-flated and folded into a compact size or slid between the screen and keyboard of your laptop when it’s closed.
Source: Gizmodo
Disappearing Car Door
The original inventors and designers of the exciting Disappearing Car Door technology are now in a position to equip your favorite automobile with a cool, sexy, safe and convenient automatic door.
The vehicle architecture offers an attractive rethink for car design and adds greatly to overall vehicle safety including structural integration of the door with the unibody and cruciform door frame technology.
One thing is for sure, it will definitely grab everyone’s attention when you drive a car with Disappearing Doors!
Totally Awesome!
Source: disappearing-car-door
Video: Youtube























