TATA to expensive CARS

Tata Nano: The World's Cheapest Car

NEW DELHI — With crowds jamming the Tata Motors exhibit at the New Delhi Auto Expo three hours before showtime, the Indian automaker's chief, Ratan Tata, drove the highly-anticipated 1-lakh ($2,500) car, named the Nano.

Promised by Ratan Tata as the world's cheapest car and the people's car, the Nano hatchback goes on sale in India later this year. Exports are planned within three years.

The Nano is rear-drive with a rear gas engine, a 34-horsepower 623cc aluminum twin-cylinder. Tata says the Nano, available in standard or "deluxe" trim, achieves fuel economy of about 50 mpg. However, it meets only Euro III emissions standards, which are up to four years behind current European regulations.

Tata says the Nano already has passed India's full-frontal crash tests and is designed to meet international offset and side-impact crash tests. It has no airbags, but Ratan Tata said they could be added for markets outside India.

A Cornell University-trained architect who personally helped design the Nano, Ratan Tata had long vowed he'd develop a car cheap enough so Indians could trade their motorbike in for one.

"A promise is a promise, and that's what we'd like to leave you with," Ratan Tata said at the conclusion of the press conference.

What this means to you: You won't be seeing a 1-lakh car in the U.S. for awhile — if ever. But if you live in India, you can trade up your motorbike for a Nano. — Nick Kurczewski, AutoObserver Correspondent

faceoff

Physical Interaction Design

Physical Interaction Design” involves the design of objects for sensing (usually humans) and displaying information (to all our senses). It involves making new devices with embedded sensors, electronics, microcontrollers and communication. We believe that the best way to do Physical Interaction Design is with rapid iteration of working prototypes.
» Continue Reading@http://www.futuristics.eu/news/archives/category/all-posts/software/

Blue faster

Bluetooth 3.0 launched

Recently announced, Bluetooth 3.0 is the new Bluetooth wireless standard currently in development by the Bluetooth SIG and Wi-Media Alliance. The new standard is reportedly up to 130 times as fast as current Bluetooth wireless transfer speeds, and builds upon the previous standards. Though we most likely won’t see any of these devices on the shelves until early 2008, the technology has the potential to revolutionize the consumer electronics industry. » Continue Reading@http://www.futuristics.eu/news/archives/category/all-posts/software/

Ipic

IPic - Smallest Web server in the world

Believed to be the world’s tiniest implementation of a TCP/IP stack and a HTTP web-server the iPic Web Server is a complete micro-computer on a single chip. And at less than $1, it seems poised to get your next toaster talking to you through the internet. Using very carefully hand-packed TCP/IP code of about 256 bytes and a HTTP 1.0 compliant

for more : http://www.futuristics.eu/news/archives/category/all-posts/software/

Engine on a chip

Engine On A Chip Promises To Best The Battery

MIT researchers are putting a tiny gas-turbine engine inside a silicon chip about the size of a quarter. The resulting device could run 10 times longer than a battery of the same weight can, powering laptops, cell phones, radios and other electronic devices.

for more: http://futuristics.eu/news/

RED HOT

Limited edition red Xbox 360

When the long-awaited Resident Evil 5 arrives on March 13, it will be the first game in the legendary Resident Evil series to hit the Xbox 360.

Duly excited by the prospect of their first Resident Evil title, the Xbox folks have announced a limited edition red version of their console to celebrate the incoming zombie shooter.

On the same day that Resident Evil 5 launches, fans will be able to pick up* the game as part of a bundle including the crimson console with 120GB hard drive, a matching red wireless controller and a (disappointingly) black headset.

Software-wise, buyers of the special edition machine will also get an "exclusive premium" Resident Evil 5 theme and a code for downloading Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, another Capcom title.

The bright and bloody hue of this commemorative Xbox 360 won't be to everyone's taste. The classic white and black models do a better job of blending with the average home entertainment set-up, after all. But fans of faceplates might be tempted to trade up.

What do you make of this oh-so-red Xbox 360? Would you prefer another colour? And shouldn't a Resident Evil 5 special edition model have some kind of zombie design on it?

(*Supplies apparently "very limited", pre-ordering advised. GAME is taking pre-orders for the bundle, priced at £229.99.)

GEOSYNC

Geosynchronous Satellite – as imagined by Arthur C Clarke in ‘Extra-Terrestrial Relays’ Wireless World magazine (1945)

Arthur C. Clarke came up with one of the most astoundingly accurate predictions of our time when he postulated that a network of geosynchronous satellites that revolved at the same speed as the earth and therefore remained in the same position over it, could make global communication possible. Hermann Oberth in his 1920 book ‘Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen’ and John R. Pierce also have claims to have come up with the idea. Although this idea was not first published in a fictional context but in a scientific forum, Clarke also used the idea in his books.

Be Active

Best waterproof watches for active lifestyles

You have always been a man of sport, enjoying every activity that helped you keep your very good shape just like it was a couple of years ago, when the last thing you needed was to work for your silhouette. Now things have dramatically changed, but thank God you’re not too lazy for jogging in the mornings and never against the idea of a little escapade to the seaside. Moreover, you are what people call a “son of sea”, so water sports are just what the doctor ordered for your body and soul.

But as much as you love swimming, surfing, sailing (or whatever you might come up with), you can’t neglect the fact that a Rolex is wrapped around your wrist and you wouldn’t like to have it ruined or lost due to your underwater escapades. On the other hand, you want to always be connected, so you don’t like the idea of not knowing the time, even when you’re scuba diving.

Well then, let me make a suggestion: the Breo watch, a device that “is waterproof to 10 meters and comes with a permanently affixed natural rubber band made with the naturally occurring mineral Tourmaline (which we’ve been told is responsible for many beneficial effects when worn next to the skin”. The watch is very easy to use, so all you are supposed to do is to just wrap it around your wrist and forget you have it.

The wristwatch is available in three color versions, pink, blue and black, and each of these comes in three different sizes: small, medium and large. Maybe the Breo devices are far from being the best waterproof watches, but you’d rather take them with you underwater, facing them with all sorts of unexpected risks, than other expensive timepieces.

The watch face measures 4 x 1.5 centimeters, while the strap measures 19 cm (the small size), 23 cm (the medium size) and 25 cm (the large size). The Breo watch retails for only £9.99.

Be James Bond

I sometimes get overwhelmed by the astonishing inventions that wouldn’t have crossed your mind in a million years. Sometimes you’re excited and you’re eager to put your hands on the product, but sometimes you just can’t understand how in earth the idea became reality.

And if you ever had the chance to hear someone talking about a shoe phone and you thought this is the most outrageous of them all then you should know that an Australian IT expert doesn’t share your opinion. More than that, he spared no efforts in order to make it happen. This is the easiest way for those who tend to lose things to never lose their mobile phone again. Because when you have it attached to your shoe, it’s quite difficult to get rid of it.

The creator is 32-year-old Paul Garner-Stephen, who came up with a suggestion for a local theatrical production of a TV parody named “Get smart” (a spoof the the 60’s), where Maxwell Smart, an agent, used a shoe phone. Therefore, with the help of a shoemaker friend, he brought this device in the spotlight. The shoe phone has the mobile handset inside of one heel, while the Bluetooth headset is fitted in the other.

Here what the designer has to say: “Your first thought is ‘It’s completely impractical’. But it’s actuallty not that bad. The phone rings, you slip off the shoe, then you open the heel, press the button and you’re talking in around the same time it would take to fumble in a bag and pull one out”.

This is a crazy invention, and there is no doubt about it. Imagine that you’re on the street and it’s raining cats and dogs, and you can’t wait for the moment you get home. But you’re streets away, and your phone starts ringing. You know it might be important, your boss who wants to inform you about a project you must finish by the end of the week. You want to answer, God knows you do, but come one! The cats and dogs are everywhere! You can’t, you just can’t take your shoe off and answer that inopportune boss of yours! Doesn’t he know that you are not available to phone talks when you’re on the street? Especially when it’s raining like hell. But he doesn’t want to give up, God damn it!

Yeah, the shoe phone sounds great! Absolutely great!

Eco-friendly lifestyle

People are very interested these days in adopting the “greenest” attitude possible. They talk about green devices, about the importance of the environment and the consequences of their actions, they encourage each other into becoming responsible human beings and they are permanently looking for more and more ways to help the Planet survive.



And of these ways is for people to begin composting. I know, for people living in the country this is a simple task, because they find no difficulty in setting up a compost pile. They can do this, as they have a yard that allows them to set it up without any restraint. But when it comes to the urban life, things are a little bit different.