Researchers develop genuine 3D camera

Researchers have developed a camera system that snaps multi-gigabit images at 30 frames per second over 360 degrees and then displays them as one three dimensional panorama

Cameras that can shoot 3D images are nothing new, but they don't really capture three dimensional moments at all - they actually record images in stereoscopic format, using two 2D images to create the illusion of depth. These photos and videos certainly offer a departure from their conventional two dimensional counterparts, but if you shift your view point, the picture remains the same. Researchers from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) hope to change all that with the development of a strange-looking camera that snaps 360 degrees of simultaneous images and then reconstructs the images in 3D.

The researchers have created two prototype models, both inspired by the multi-lens eyes of insects like the house fly. One has a lens head about the size of an orange and features over a hundred camera lenses - like the ones used in mobile phones - and the other about the size of a golf ball and sporting 15 lenses. Unlike the stereoscopic photographic or video cameras with a front facing lens setup, the prototypes are able to record images from all around them.

The lenses point out through a hemispherical frame and are positioned in such a way that each image captured overlaps slightly on its neighbors. Sophisticated algorithms built into a dedicated hardware platform then judge the actual distance between the camera and subjects in the frame and merges the many gigabits of photographic information captured at 30 frames per second into a 360 degree panorama.

"With this invention, we solved two major problems with traditional cameras," said Professor Pierre Vandergheynst. "The camera angle, which is no longer limited thanks to the camera's ability to film in 360 degrees and in real time; and the depth of field, which is no longer limiting thanks to the 3D reconstruction."

The researchers report that images are captured in real time and without distortion and that users can choose to snap a single shot from a particular lens or have them all work together to produce the 360 degree, three dimensional panorama.

The team's Professor Yusuf Leblebici said that the "work is likely to change the entire field of image acquisition, with a huge range of potential applications" including movie-making and immersive games design.

The project is a collaborative project between the EPFL's Signal Processing Laboratory - who authored the algorithms to calculate the distance between the camera and subjects and those tasked with assembling all of the images into one 360 degree panorama - and the Microelectronic Systems Laboratory - who developed the apparatus and took care of the processing needs.

In the following video LINK, Vandergheynst gives a short explanation of the technology:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFsERnHu0Cc

Scientists attach barcodes to mouse embryos – human ones coming soon

Spanish scientists have attached silicon barcode labels to embryos and oocytes

Fans of the film Blade Runner may remember a scene in which the maker of an artificial snake is identified by a microscopic serial number on one of its scales. Well, in a rare case of present-day technology actually surpassing that predicted in a movie, we’ve now gone one better – bar codes on embryos. Scientists from Spain’s Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), along with colleagues from the Spanish National Research Council, have successfully developed an identification system in which mouse embryos and oocytes (egg cells) are physically tagged with microscopic silicon bar code labels. They expect to try it out on human embryos and oocytes soon.

The purpose of the system is to streamline in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer procedures. If egg cells and embryos can be quickly and easily identified, then things should run much smoother, and success rates should be higher.

The labels, which had been declared biologically innocuous in an earlier study, are microinjected into the perivitelline space of mouse embryos – the perivitelline space is a region between the cell membrane and the zona pellucida, which is a cover that surrounds the embryo’s plasma membrane. The embryo exits the zona pellucida before entering the uterus, so the bar code would be shed at that point.

In the UAB lab studies, labeled embryos were shown to develop normally up until the blastocyst stage, which precedes implantation. The researchers also studied how well the labels stayed on throughout the development cycle, how easily they could be read with a standard microscope, how they could be eliminated after the shedding of the zona pellucida, and how well they could stand up to the freezing and thawing of their host embryo.

There were some problems with embryos being able to free themselves from the labels when they shed the zona pellucida. The scientists are therefore now looking at modifying the surface of the labels, so they could be mounted on the outside of the covering, instead of being injected into the perivitelline space. They are also working on an automated bar code reading system.

Permission has been given by the Government of Catalonia’s Department of Health for UAB to begin testing its system with human oocytes and embryos from several fertility clinics in Spain.

The research was recently published in the journal Human Reproduction.

Mount Everest 3G Base Station

3G networking reaches the top of the world

All of the TeliaSonera/Ncell 3G base stations in the Mount Everest region run on solar or solar hybrid power

Cream brought the country blues classic Sittin' on top of the world to an international audience in the late 1960s... and now you can watch it on YouTube while you're sitting there. Through its subsidiary Ncell, the Swedish telecommunications group TeliaSonera has launched 3G services in the Mount Everest area of Nepal – which makes the company the providers of the world's highest mobile data service.

The new 3G base station is located at an altitude of 5,200 meters (around 17,000 feet) and "will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services to the people living in the Khumbu Valley, trekkers, and climbers alike," according to Lars Nyberg, President and CEO of TeliaSonera. The company has confirmed that those at the summit will be able to update their Facebook profile with a photo from the top of the world (although in such a deadly environment, you could be forgiven for having your mind on other things).

The first video call made over the network was to the highest base station on October 28, with speeds of up to 4-5Mbps being available. TeliaSonera also told Gizmag that there are now seven 3G base stations in the Everest region, all of which are either solar or solar hybrid powered. The company says that 14 cities in the area are also 3G-enabled, including Katmandu, Itahari, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj.

Although the company reports that mobile device use by locals is still relatively low, it is increasing and Ncell says that it will provide coverage for 90 per cent of the people of Nepal by the end of 2011.

Source:

Paul Riddden

Cassete Tape as case for your iPhone4

iTapedeck is a retro case and stand for your iPhone 4

The ridiculously retro iTapedeck for iPhone

iPhone owners will be pleased to hear that they can now wrap their cutting edge mobile device in a ridiculously retro case from technology's past. iTapedeck, from Homeade, is a protective skin for the iPhone 4 that looks just like a cassette tape.

iTapedeck will certainly turn more than a few heads when you hold what looks like a cassette tape to your ear in public. No doubt more than a few onlookers will remark 'That's not how you're supposed to listen to music!' But the iTapedeck is definitely a conversation starter if there ever was one.

Also included with the cassette tape skin is a plastic case that you can use for extra protection. The case has another practical application – it functions as an iPhone stand.

iTapedeck is available for purchase from the Japanese mobile accessory gurus at Strapya, who have priced it at 1600 yen (US$18.80). It's available in two color combos: black and red, and blue and white.

iPhone users might also be interested in Homade's other iPhone stand, the wonderfully named iPlunge, which is little more than a plunger-type kickstand that sticks on the back of your phone. These are wonderfully wacky iPhone accessories for users who don't mind drawing a little attention.

One of the greatest invention - The Durnin's D-Drive

Is Steve Durnin's D-Drive the holy grail of infinitely variable transmissions?

The D-Drive: it could be a gearbox revolution, if only people could understand the thing!

Ready for a bit of a mental mechanical challenge? Try your hand at understanding how the D-Drive works. Steve Durnin's ingenious new gearbox design is infinitely variable - that is, with your motor running at a constant speed, the D-Drive transmission can smoothly transition from top gear all the way through neutral and into reverse. It doesn't need a clutch, it doesn't use any friction drive components, and the power is always transmitted through strong, reliable gear teeth. In fact, it's a potential revolution in transmission technology - it could be pretty much the holy grail of gearboxes... if only it wasn't so diabolically hard to explain. We flew to Australia's Gold Coast to take a close look at the D-Drive - and it looks to us like Durnin has pulled a rabbit out of his hat. Check out the video after the jump and see if you can work out if there's a catch.

Geared transmissions - a useful compromise

In basic terms, the idea of a gearbox is to create the ideal level of mechanical advantage between a motor and its output. Motors of all kinds have a speed of maximum efficiency, and a speed of maximum power, and you use a gearbox to decide what engine speed you're running compared to the output speed.

In a car, that means you want a low gear at low speeds or for quick acceleration - because in lower gears, the engine revs harder and produces more power. Cruising on the freeway, you want a high gear that lets you trundle along using the minimum practical engine RPM so you don't waste fuel.

So most gearboxes offer a compromise - manual, semi-auto and auto transmissions offer you a set number of gears you can choose to find one that's close to the ideal ratio for what you're doing. But there's efficiency losses in between gearshifts as you disengage the engine using a clutch - or in the case of an auto, a torque converter. And although some geared transmissions offer lots of gear choices, every set gear ratio is a compromise.

And the clutch itself is a fairly crude device - when you're engaging a clutch, you're basically pushing a set of plates together, some of which are coated in high-friction material, which grab the other plates and force them to spin. This approach is inefficient and prone to slip and wear under large power loads.

Variable transmissions - very good, but not quite

Then there's Continuously Variable Transmissions, or CVTs. The CVT is in theory a much better solution, because it allows a constant range of gear ratios between low and high gears. Scooters use them, as do some cars nowadays - with a CVT, the engine can sit at its most efficient or powerful RPM, while the gear ratio constantly adjusts itself to match wheel speed.

But most CVTs have a limited range of ratios they can work through - so while you can transition all the way from low gear up to high, you can't go all the way down to neutral. So they need to use a friction clutch or torque converter to get them started from a standstill - and what's more, in order to achieve variablilty in the gear ratio, they're almost always built around some sort of friction drive too - like belts pulling on conical rollers, or rollers being mashed against toroid shapes.

All these friction components cause troubles when you start trying to put high power and torque through them - they start to slip and fail, they wear and generally contribute to inefficiencies in the drive train. That's why you tend to go back to gears when you're designing a high-powered machine. Gear teeth are reliable - the bigger the teeth, the more power they can handle.

The D-Drive - infinitely variable, no friction components

If all this gearbox talk seems like a long setup, it's kind of necessary to understand the problem when you're looking at the solution Steve Durnin has come up with.

Because at the heart of it, what Steve has managed to do is create a gearbox that:

• requires no clutch at all;
• is infinitely variable - from top gear through neutral and even into reverse; and
• doesn't use ANY clutches or friction drive components - instead, the power is ALWAYS transmitted from input to output through gear teeth.

But how on Earth do you obtain infinite variability using gears? After all, a cog's a cog - it's not like you can make them magically grow and shrink in size.

The answer is that you've got to stop thinking about gear sizes, or cones and belts, or any familiar transmission picture you have in your head, when you're talking about the D-Drive.

Because when you look at it, the only way to tell what sort of ratio it's in at a given moment is to look at the two spinning shafts in the middle of it. If the bottom shaft is still and the top one's turning, you're in top gear. If the top shaft is still and the bottom one's turning, you're in reverse. If the top and bottom shafts are spinning at the same speed but in opposite directions, you're in neutral. And you can speed up or slow down those shafts as much as you like to vary the gear ratio to any point between full speed reverse and full speed forward.

You really have to watch the attached video to start to understand how this gearbox works - but in essence it's built around planetary gear systems at either side, with sun gears, planet gears and revolving ring gears all interacting with one another.

The energy efficiency equation

In order to control the spinning speeds of the upper and lower shafts, you have to input a certain amount of energy - for instance, to put the D-Drive transmission into neutral, you have to spin the bottom shaft around at a speed that equals the speed of the driven top shaft.

But according to Steve and his engineers' calculations, the energy you put in to do spin that bottom shaft is only a tiny fraction of the energy your main engine is running. All that energy has to do is to spin the planetary gears around one another in such a way as to effect the final ratio.

And you can do that in a number of ways. Steve's current demo prototype uses electric engines both as the input engine and to spin the control shafts as needed.

But, taking the example of using the D-Drive in a car, you could easily use an auxiliary electric motor to control the gear ratios, or a kinetic energy recovery system, or some sort of regenerative braking system. You could even harvest energy directly from the driven shaft and use it to spin the control shaft.

Steve's prototype is only sufficient for demonstration purposes - and you'd have to question how effective a demonstration it is when just about everyone that looks at the thing is left scratching their heads and wondering 'er, so how exactly does that thing work again?'

The next step - building a test rig

Durnin is currently in the process of raising funds to build a test rig - a strong, metallic rendition of the D-Drive with the ability to measure how much energy is going in at the input end, what's coming out at the other end, and how much power is being put into the control shafts - but he and the engineers he's consulted are confident that the D-Drive will be proven to be "an order of magnitude more efficient" than existing gearboxes.

The implications are pretty huge if he's right and the numbers come up looking good; as a geared system, the D-Drive is scalable in the extreme, and could remove the need for friction components or manual gearboxes in everything from cars, motorcycles, trucks, industrial and farm equipment, massive marine applications, wind power generators... basically anything that's got an engine.

Because it's all gears and bearings, reliability should be excellent and servicing or repairing the D-Drive a snap. Because you just need to spin (or lock) those control shafts to come up with your final ratio, you could use anything from a fully computerized smart control system to a manually applied pin through the control shaft to change your gear ratios, making it useful in certain very low-tech situations as well as extremely tunable in an automatic automotive application.

About the inventor

Steve Durnin is a plumbing inspector from Queensland, Australia, who has been tinkering with the D-Drive and several other ideas for more than 20 years. The "D" in D-Drive, incidentally, stands for Durnin.

This is the first invention that Steve has tried to patent and commercialize, so while the D-Drive looks very promising, it's taking him some time to push through the relevant channels. His demonstration prototype and patents were paid for by a small group of private investors, who stand to gain a heck of a lot if the D-Drive cranks out the right numbers on a test dyno and breaks into the market.

We thank Steve for his time and wish him all the best with the D-Drive. It's a diabolically hard invention to understand even when you're looking at the prototype in action - so he's one clever cookie to be able to come up with the concept from scratch, particularly seeing as he claims he had never heard of a planetary gear system before he'd designed one as part of the D-Drive.

Quite an achievement!

Firesheep session hijacking tool makes public Wi-Fi useless

This a warming to all wifi user specially mga "tambay" sa starbucks, burgerking, mall etc..using their facebook and other socail networking site..Read this..
I personnaly test it and it works..one table away lang ung na access account ko..hmm..i would definitely not used my facebook account in fastfoods and mall again to be safe..!!! But i would be using Force-TLS to counter this firesheep maybe..
Websites have a responsibility to protect the people who depend on their services. They've been ignoring this responsibility for too long, and it's time for everyone to demand a more secure web.

The Firesheep add-on for Firefox

At the Toorcon 12 hacker conference in San Diego on Sunday,(10-26-10) Seattle programmer Eric Butler introduced his Firesheep add-on for the Firefox Web browser in an effort to bring attention to the weakness of open Wi-Fi networks. In a practice known as HTTP session hijacking (or “sidejacking”) the add-on intercepts browser cookies used by many sites, including Facebook and Twitter, to identify users and allows anyone running the program to log in as the legitimate user and do anything that user can do on a particular website.

In a post on his site Butler describes how Firesheep works. Once installed, Firesheep displays a sidebar with a “Start Capturing” button. All the user needs to do is connect to an open Wi-Fi network, click the button and as soon as anyone on the network visits an insecure site known to Firesheep, the program captures the cookie that contains their log in details and their name and photo will be displayed in the sidebar. Double click on the displayed user and you’ll be logged in as them and able to wreak all kinds of havoc.

Butler highlights Facebook and Twitter as two of the more popular sites that are vulnerable to sidejacking using Firesheep but the program can also capture cookies from Foursquare, Gowalla, Amazon.com, Basecamp, bit.ly, Cisco, CNET, Dropbox, Enom, Evernote, Flickr, Github, Google, HackerNews, Harvest, Windows Live, NY Times, Pivotal Tracker, Slicehost, tumblr, WordPress, Yahoo and Yelp. Additionally, users can write their own plugins to access other unsecured HTTP sites.

Butler says the only effective way to combat the vulnerability Firesheep takes advantage of is for the sites to use full end-to-end encryption, known as HTTPS or SSL but many sites default to the HTTP protocol because it’s quicker. A TechCruch reader claims to have found a workaround using the existing Force-TLS Firefox extension that forces sites to use the HTTPS protocol, thereby making a user’s cookies invisible to Firesheep. But with most people unlikely to be security conscious enough to install it’s hardly a complete solution.

Butler has released Firesheep as open source and it can be downloaded from his site for both Mac OS X and Windows, with a Linux version on the way.

The new MacBook Air - Apple adds 11-inch model

The new MacBook Air - Apple adds 11-inch model

Apple's new Macbook Air

The new MacBook Air has arrived – and it has a smaller sibling. Apple's update to its ultra portable notebook range includes the addition of an 11-inch model alongside the 13-inch, with both flavors coming in at a slender 0.11-0.68 inches (0.3-1.7 cm) in height and weighing 2.3 and 2.9 pounds respectively. The top spec 13-inch has a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 256GB of flash storage, 7 hour battery life, 1440 by 900 resolution screen and, in a welcome nod to practicality, both models now feature two USB ports.

A full-size keyboard, stereo speakers and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processors are featured on both models along with, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and a Multi-Touch trackpad.

Along with two USB ports (sans the fiddly cover featured on the first MacBook Air) there's a Mini DisplayPort with support for up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display. The 13-inch also gets an SD card slot.

11-inch MacBook Air

• Solid state flash storage: 64GB or 128GB

Processor

• 4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache
• Optional 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache
• 800MHz frontside bus

Memory

• 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory / 4GB maximum configurable option

• Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm)
• Width: 11.8 inches (29.95 cm)
• Depth: 7.56 inches (19.2 cm)
• Weight: 2.3 pounds (1.06 kg)
• Battery: 35-watt-hour, up to 5 hours

13-inch MacBook Air

• Solid state flash storage: 128GB or 256GB

Processor

• 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB on-chip shared L2 cache
• Optional 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache
• 1066MHz frontside bus

Memory

• 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory / 4GB maximum configurable option

• Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm)
• Width: 12.8 inches (32.5 cm)
• Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
• Weight: 2.9 pounds (1.32 kg)
• Battery: 50-watt-hour, up to 7 hours

The 11-inch MacBook Air costs US$999 for the 64GB and $1,119 for the 128GB. The 13-inch costs $1,299 for the 128GB and $1,599 for the 256GB.

Apple has a comparison of the two models here.

Launch Video Camera into Outer Space

Father and son launch video camera into outer space

An image of the earth and the blackness of outer space, obtained by Luke and Max Geissbuhler

It’s an inspiring story that reminds you how the wonders of scientific exploration aren’t just limited to research institutions with big budgets... in August of this year, Luke Geissbuhler and his seven year-old son Max attached an HD video camera to a weather balloon and set it loose. They proceeded to obtain footage of the blackness of outer space, 19 miles (30 km) above the surface of the earth. Needless to say, there was a little more to it than just tying a piece of string around a camcorder.

Luke and Max created a miniature space capsule for their Brooklyn Space Program experiment, using a food take-out container. It contained the camera (with a peep hole for its lens), hand warmers to keep its battery warm, a “please return if you find this” note, and an iPhone, so that they could use its GPS to locate the capsule once it landed. The whole thing was coated in foam, to absorb the energy of a high-speed landing, and attached to a parachute.

The pair launched the balloon from Newburgh, New York, near their home in Brooklyn. Over the next 72 minutes, it proceeded to climb to over 100,000 feet (30,480 meters), encountering 100mph (161km/h) winds and temperatures of -60F(-51C) along the way. Due to the lack of pressure at such high altitudes, the balloon eventually expanded beyond its capacity and burst, sending the capsule on a 150mph (241km/h) parachute-assisted fall back to earth.

Amazingly, it landed just 30 miles (48 km) from its lift-off point, in the middle of the night. Using its external LED lamp to locate it visually, the Geissbuhlers found the capsule hanging from its parachute in a tree.

The project involved eight months of research and testing, but as you can see in the video below, the results were well worth the effort.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

Sony Internet TV powered by GoogIe

Heavyweights team up to create Sony Internet TV, powered by Google TV

Sony NSX-24GT with remote

In May, Sony and Google announced a strategic alliance to develop new Android-based hardware products. The partnership is bearing fruit in the form of Sony Internet TV, powered by Google TV. It seems that most premium new release HDTVs come with Internet connectivity these days but one of the big differences offered by Sony’s Internet TV devices is a Dual View feature that lets viewers watch TV and surf the web at the same time.

Sony Internet TV is available in integrated LCD HDTV models as well as a Blu-ray Disc player that brings Sony Internet TV functionality to an existing HDTV. Built on the Android platform, it runs the Google Chrome browser and is powered by an Intel Atom processor. All the TVs include 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, USB ports, DLNA, UPnP and 8 GB of built-in storage. As well as Sony’s Video On Demand powered by Qriocity streaming service and a variety of pre-installed apps including CNBC, Napster, NBA, Netflix, Pandora, Twitter and YouTube, from early 2011 the devices will also let users access and add applications from the Android Market.

The ability to surf the web to find the name of some actor, tweet about what they’re watching or check their gmail without losing a minute of their favorite show will no doubt appeal to many people and that’s just what Dual View does. However, the Dual View function doesn’t split the screen 50/50 or let the user decide whether the TV picture or Internet content will dominate. Instead the TV picture is relegated to a small Picture-in-Picture (PIP) in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Making sure the on screen text was large enough to read and the aspect ratio of the widescreen format probably didn’t make things easy in this regard but it would be nice to see an update that at least lets users easily switch which content is relegated to the PIP.

The ability to browse the Internet also means a chunky remote in the form of an RF QWERTY keypad that incorporates an optical mouse. The remote’s layout and size means that, although it might be convenient for surfing the web, it’s probably going to be too big for one-handed surfing of the channel variety. Users of select Android phones will also be able to control the TV with an app that will be available from the Android Market in a few months.

The Sony Internet TV line includes the 24-inch NSX-24GT1 (US$599.99), the 32-inch NSX-32GT1 ($799.99), the 40-inch NSX-40GT1 ($999.99), and the 46-inch NSX-46GT1 ($1,399.99). Those looking to get onboard with Sony Internet TV but don’t want to buy a new TV can opt for the NSZ-GT1 Blu-ray Disc Player ($399.99). All the TVs feature distinctive white backs with black gloss bezels, while the Blu-ray player features white front and sides and gloss black top. All come with the QWERTY keypad and all will be available from Sony Style from October 16 and at Best Buy shortly after.

Hybrid Electric Yacht

Hybrid-electric Tag 60 yacht hits the water

Tang in St Francis Bay, South Africa

Vehicles of the wheeled variety aren’t the only ones going green. U.S. companies International Battery and Electric Marine Propulsion (EMP) are partnering up to build a hybrid power train for the world’s largest plug-in, hybrid electric boats and yachts. The partnership has resulted in one of the world’s largest plug-in hybrid sailboats, a Tag 60 catamaran christened Tang, hitting the water on September 21. It is a 60 ft (18m) carbon-fiber speedster that can be powered by the wind, even when the wind isn’t blowing.

Tang is powered by twin EMP E motion 18 kW permanent-magnet electric motors and International Battery lithium battery cells configured into a 144-volt battery pack providing a total energy capacity of 46 kWh. The boat’s main renewable energy input to the large-format battery pack is electricity regenerated by wind power as the boat’s propellers spin in the boat's wake when it is under sail. The propellers turn the 18-kW motors, which automatically become generators and send electricity back to the batteries. The companies say solar panels can also be set up to feed into the battery pack, but Tang is not equipped with them.

Tang is the first boat to have the new motors installed but assuming the system performs as expected, they’ll also be installed on the next Tag 60, which is already more than half built.

When there’s not enough wind, twin 22-kW diesel generators kick in, either together or individually as needed, to recharge the batteries. The generators are 144-volt dc units that recharge the batteries directly without the normal energy loss incurred through a charger.

The batteries can also be charged with a 144-volt charger that plugs into shore power and is designed to handle a wide range of voltages and frequencies – handy for those out-of-the-way ports with erratic electricity supplies.

“The initial thrust and response when engaging forward is vastly better than anything experienced with standard diesel propulsion,” said Tim van der Steene, managing director of Tag Yachts. “It’s quiet, and the power is there instantly. It goes hand-in-hand with sailing, which is about moving in harmony with nature, quietly, without polluting the environment.”

While the main power output from the battery pack goes to power the twin propulsion motors, it also sends power to a DC-AC inverter that makes 110/220-volt, 50/60 Hz alternating current for powering AC appliances, a DC-DC converter that steps down the voltage for 24-volt and 12-volt house power and a pair of 144 vdc hydraulic pumps. These pumps power a hydraulic system that operates the rotating wing mast, centerboards, sheet winches, anchor windlass, dinghy platform, controllable-pitch feathering propellers and other moving parts on the boat.

The battery pack’s 46 kWh capacity is more than twice the usable capacity of an 8D battery pack – the largest conventional size carried with the E motion system – yet weighs roughly 40 percent less.

International Battery CEO, Ake Almgren, says, “Using our large-format lithium prismatic cells as the building blocks, we can provide battery systems with high energy density, which means smaller footprints and lower weight. In addition, because we use a unique, environmentally friendly, water-based manufacturing process, our batteries will feel right at home storing clean, renewable energy for this hybrid vessel and others to follow.”

The extra energy capacity allows the yacht to include a variety of creature comforts, including a 37-inch TV, Bose entertainment system, LED lighting, café-size espresso machine, two refrigerator-freezers, microwave, conventional oven, gas or electrical burner top, washer-dryer, air-conditioning and a water maker.

The Tag 60 line was designed by New Zealand naval architect Greg Young and Tang is currently undergoing tests at Tag facilities in St. Francis Bay, South Africa. She’s due to set sail across the Atlantic to her owner in Florida later this year and will appear at the Miami Sailboat Show in February.

Source: Daren Quick

Next Generation Calculator

Casio unveils next gen graphing calculator

Casio has unveiled its next generation graphing calculator - the PRIZM, designed to deliver graphs and statistical data as they appear in color textbooks

A quarter of a century after introducing the world's first graphing calculator, Casio has announced its next generation model that's been designed to deliver graphs and statistical data as they appear in color textbooks. The PRIZM gets a new, modern body design, offers high resolution color graphics and gives students the opportunity to plot graphs over background image curves and then discover the math functions used to create them.

Casio's new PRIZM (fx-CG10) graphing calculator's outer shell now benefits from a more modern, mobile phone-like appearance. Above the rows of input buttons is a high resolution 82,944 dot, 3.7-inch color LCD screen that's said to offer a textbook-like display. There's 61,440 byte program and 16MB storage capacity and the power consumption of 0.6W is claimed to translate to 140 hours of use on four AAA-sized alkaline batteries.

Casio has included something called the Picture Plot function which enables "students to experiment by creating their own graphs over pictures of real-life scenes, and then understand the functions from the graphs that they created on their own." Once the graph has been plotted over any one of 55 types of color images of real-life curved shapes such as the parabola of jets from a water fountain, the student can then perform regression calculations to help them understand what math functions were used to generate the graph overlay.

The PRIZM comes pre-loaded with 40 images which can be used in eight of the calculator's 15 applications and also features a Color Link function that matches spreadsheet values to colors used in graphs to help students better understand changes in trends and values.

The 0.81 x 3.52 x 7.42-inch (20.57 x 89.4 x 188.46mm) graphing calculator has a USB 2.0 port for hooking up to Casio's GREEN SLIM data projectors for display to the whole class or direct connection to a computer to allow students to share calculations using Casio's manager software.

Casio says that the PRIZM will be available from January 2011 for a suggested retail price of US$129.

Source: Paul Ridden

Unbreakable Umbrella

The Unbreakable Umbrella is a peculiar mix of genteel elegance and chilling weaponry..

Looking like an unassuming weapon from Oddjob's arsenal, the Unbreakable Umbrella is the weapon of choice for well-heeled bowler-hatted gentlemen cum ninja assassins everywhere. It's also a good buy for anyone who has some cash to splash on a nifty umbrella that not only keeps the rain off but can carve up a watermelon with one well-placed chop.

Aside from making jam of unsuspecting fruit, these umbrellas can also withstand the weight of an adult man and are hand-crafted in Europe from high quality materials in limited quantities. Buyers can choose from a handle-crook or straight knob and all are supplied with a fabric sheath. Not only can this umbrella render a man unconscious, it can also withstand rain and severe wind as you'd hope to expect from any umbrella costing US$189.95.

The Unbreakable Umbrella comes from the slightly alarming Real Self Defense where they suggest that the ideal self defense weapons are “those that are legal to carry everywhere, do not attract attention, are simple to use and do not require practice”. We at Gizmag do not advocate going out and putting the kibosh on anyone, but with a “whack as strong as a steel pipe and weighing less than 2lbs” you could really give any would-be attacker something to cry about.

Perhaps Real Self Defense were inspired by Edward William Barton-Wright's lethal martial art Bartitsu, based on stick-work but applied in the modern day using umbrellas. Or perhaps they were inspired by George Borrow's quote from Wild Wales: “The respectable man sees you have an umbrella, and concludes that you do not intend to rob him, and with justice, for robbers never carry umbrellas... amongst the very best friends of man must be reckoned an umbrella.” Either way they are a peculiar mix of genteel elegance and chilling weaponry.

World`s first GPS goggle

Zeal/Recon have unveiled the world's first goggles with GPS and head mounted display

A coming together of sports lens developer Zeal Optics and display innovator Recon Instruments has managed to successfully squeeze both GPS technology and head-mounted display into a set of ski goggles named Transcend. A tiny computer gathers information from a number of onboard sensors and provides location, speed, altitude and temperature information to the wearer via a micro-LCD display inside the goggles. The image from the display is then virtually projected so that it appears out in front of the user.

In addition to being touted by Recon and Zeal as the world's first GPS-enabled skiing goggles, the Transcend eyewear also provides the wearer with live performance information and details of the surrounding environment. A head mounted micro-LCD display inside the goggles shows real-time speed, altitude, vertical odometer, distance, location and temperature as well as keeping track of the time and having a stopwatch and chronometer mode.

The optical system designed by Recon Instruments has been likened to the dashboard of a sports car and made to appear as though it hangs about six feet in front of the user. Your first thought might be that the last thing you need mid-boost are performance stats blocking out your landing, but the designers say that the "optics are completely non-obtrusive for front and peripheral vision."

Recon has produced a promo giving an overview of the kind of things on offer, which is worth a watch:

To the side of the Transcend goggles are a threesome of nice, big, glove-friendly buttons to control the kind of information shown. There's also a USB port to enable users to download trip stats to a computer or laptop and to charge the Li-ion battery, which is said to give seven hours between charges. The goggles weigh 257 grams (9 ounces) and come shipped with a protective hard case, lens cleaning bag and a charger with European and North American adapters.

Showing off an epic journey to friends is given a more impressive twist with the ability to overlay Google Maps onto stats and highlights courtesy of Recon HQ software. Any particularly impressive snippets can be uploaded to Recon's new online portal and shared with the world – or at the very least, family and friends.

There will be two Recon/Zeal Optics Transcend lens options available at limited release launch on October 10. The option with an SPPX polarized and photochromic lens – which auto adjusts to changing light conditions – carries a retail price of US$499. Said to reduce glare by 99 per cent, coming with built-in anti-fog technology and benefiting from a wide vision frame, the goggles featuring an SPX polarized lens are priced at US$399.

Rumor has it that there's also an open API app development and download community in the pipeline, details will appear on the above link.

Seagate outs industry's first 12TB Storage

Seagate has managed to squeeze a whopping 12TB of storage into a new 4-bay network attached storage unit (NAS) that's about the same size as the subwoofer on my surround sound system. The BlackArmor NAS 440 small business solution can support up to 50 workstations, offers data encryption, is both Windows and Mac compatible and sports a foursome of USB ports for extra connectivity.

As more and more businesses go digital, the need for storage space increases. For small concerns with less than 50 employees, Seagate has unveiled what it claims to be the industry's first 12TB, four-bay NAS. Initially, the BlackArmor NAS 440 network storage server will come shipped with four hot-swappable 3TB drives which can be RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 or JBOD configured and will be available exclusively from Seagate and selected retailers for a suggested retail price of US$1,899.99.

The BlackArmor NAS 440 server comes with support for Microsoft Active Directory that enables user and group population, hardware-based encryption, included online access and ftp functionality and is DNLA compliant. Full system backup and recovery is offered courtesy of SafetyDrill+ software and there's email event notification too. The status of the servers can also be viewed on the unit's onboard LCD screen. Other features include Access Control List support, multi-volume management capability and volume level encryption.

The 8.15 x 6.3 x 10.59-inch (207 x 160 x 269mm) NAS is said to offer easy configuration and setup, is both Windows and Mac compatible and sports four USB ports for extra connectivity, a 1.2GHz processor, 256MB of memory and two Ethernet ports for local network connection.

source By Paul Ridden

Goodbye to BIOS and say hello to UEFI

Whereas antiquated BIOS can take around 30 seconds before allowing an operating system to ...
Whereas antiquated BIOS can take around 30 seconds before allowing an operating system to start, UEFI is said to boot in a fraction of that time.. Those frustrating boot-up moments while we wait an absolute age for our computers to load up are set to get somewhat shorter with the impending retirement of system BIOS. Despite now being a very old technology and relatively stuck in its ways, the BIOS is still found in many modern machines. Instead of taking around 25 - 30 seconds before giving the all-clear for an operating system to start, a new kid on the block is well on its way to offering instant-on. It's not quite there yet, but the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is getting closer. That void before the welcome arrival of an operating system's splash screen has caused frustration and annoyance for almost as many years as BIOS software has been running. The software is stored on a chip that sits on a computer's main board and jumps to life as soon as the start button is pressed. The job of a computer's BIOS (which stands for basic input/output system) is to identify and enable all of the hardware periphery attached to a computer before the operating system starts. In addition to informing the operating system of the existence of the graphics card, keyboard, mouse, storage and optical drives and so on, the BIOS is also where the system clock is set and hardware is configured by the user. It's been around for a long time, and the once-central role it played in the operation of a computer system has become less and less important over the years. Now, it looks set for retirement. The computer boot up - the next generation The system boot upgrade comes in the form of UEFI, which is currently up to version 2.3 and is said to break the ties of being based on the specifications and design of old technology. The Forum overseeing its development includes eleven industry leaders and says it "will provide a clean interface between operating systems and platform firmware at boot time." UEFI started life as an Intel specification but has now changed into a general standard that offers similar boot and runtime services as the BIOS, but has the advantage of not being specifically tied to any processor architecture. It also has a different approach to dealing with the process of identifying and activating hardware prior to handing over to the OS. For example, instead of telling the operating system that there's a mouse attached to a specific port, UEFI simply recognizes that somewhere in the machine there's a device that behaves like a mouse. The future-proof standard is already being used in some devices, with 2011 being earmarked as the tipping point for machine domination. More information on UEFI is available from the Forum's website.

Source: By Paul Ridden

Japanese company hopes use submarines to subdue incoming typhoons

We usually accept it as a given that we can't change the weather. When it comes to extreme situations like hurricanes or earthquakes, such disasters are labeled "acts of god" because we generally feel helpless to in the face of nature's wrath. But recently an ambitious Japanese manufacturing firm Ise Kogyo has boldly claimed that they can help weaken the impact of typhoons. And even more surprising, the company's weapon of choice is the submarine.

In principle, the premise appears sound. Typhoons generally require warmer water temperatures at surface level before they become dangerous, typically around 25 degrees. So when typhoons develop, the theory is that a fleet of submarines equipped with 20m-long water pumps can deliver colder water to the surface, thus bringing the surface temperature down by two or three degrees and weakening the storm.

According to the company, 20 submarines could cover an area of about 57,000 square meters and they would be deployed into a typhoons path once initial signs of an oncoming typhoon are evident.

This solution has been proposed as far back as 2002, but we have yet to see it practically implemented to date. First of all, submarines are hardly a dime a dozen and to set 20 of them aside for typhoon prevention would be no easy task.

More practical proposals involving the use of surface vessels to bring up cool water have been put forth before as well, though they are admittedly far less awesome than the submarine idea. But re-purposing military ships that patrol key areas might be the only way to bring such a "pipe dream" to fruition.

These aspirations to control the weather may remind our Asian readers of China's pre-Olympic efforts to create blue skies as well as subsequent struggles to induce rain amid summer droughts that plagues the agriculture industry there.

The latter procedure is called cloud seeding, and it typically involves dusting clouds with a silver compound in order to bring about the formation of rain droplets. In the past however, China's rainmaker program drew as much attention for its inadvertent stray rockets as for its ambitious scope.

Earlier this year Gizmag also reported on a Swiss team working in cloud seeding who, rather than use silver compounds, opted to induce water droplet formation using infrared light.

It remains to be seen whether or not programs like these will ever make the transition from experimental to common technologies that contribute to our safety and our quality of living. But for now, it is exciting to hear even talk of how humans might gain some mastery over the weather. With extreme weather patterns becoming more and more frequent (thanks global warming!) we're going to need every advantage we can get.

Glee: Charice - Listen (Official Full Scene)

charice on glee video

Dreamslide Bike

Eleven years ago, French rollerblading and boardsports enthusiast Jean‐Marc Gobillard decided that the small wheels of rollerblades weren’t quite speedy enough. He experimented with a few different ideas, which ultimately led him to design the Dreamslide. This unique device combines the standing stance of things like skateboards and roller blades with the efficient locomotion and larger, faster wheels of a bicycle. It even has its own special pedaling system, designed for a standing rider.

The first question people might have is, “Why would you want to stand instead of sit?” Well, for one thing, Gobillard likes the idea of being able to bodily lean into corners like a downhill skier – he believes that by standing on it, the Dreamslide becomes more like a part of the rider’s body, and less like a separate contraption.

Secondly, as anyone who has climbed a hill on a bicycle knows, you can deliver more power to the pedals by standing on them. If you try to ride a bike very far in a standing position, however, you’ll get tired pretty quickly. This is because you have to pump your entire body weight up and down with every pedal stroke. To get around this limitation, Gobillard has invented what he calls the Adaptive Pedaling System, or APS.

On a bicycle, the pedal crank arms are connected by an axle, so they move directly in proportion to one another. With APS, the cranks move independently, adapting to the rider’s muscle power. In the neutral position, both of the rider’s feet are down, one forward and one back. When they start a pedal stroke, the back foot moves forward and lifts slightly, as in a jogging gait, while the front foot slides back.

Not only is this system said to minimize the body-weight-bobbing drawback of pedaling while standing, but it also reportedly eliminates the “dead zone” in the conventional pedaling set up – a point in the pedal revolution at which it has been claimed that neither leg is delivering optimum power to the bicycle. This zone was addressed in the 80s with Shimano’s oval Biopace chainring, the wisdom of which is still debated to this day.

Gobillard asserts that the standing position combined with APS will mean riders can generate more torque with less effort, will have less knee problems, and greater control. If any mechanical engineers out there have an opinion on these claims, we’d love to hear from you.

The Dreamslide is just hitting stores in Europe this year, and is also available through the company website for €1,250 (US$1,682).

Nikon's 16.2MP D7000 digital SLR revealed

Nikon has announced a feature-rich addition to its digital SLR camera family, the 16.2 megapixel D7000. In addition to a new image processing engine and 3D Matrix metering system, the camera also offers full HD video recording with autofocus, twin media card slots, over a thousand shots between battery charges and up to six frames per second burst shooting. Its low-light-friendly too – with sensitivity expansion to ISO25600, noise reduction and shake reduction all promising to help grab the best shot in the most testing conditions. The D7000 is among the many photographic treats we're checking out at Photokina in Cologne this week.
Built around a magnesium-alloy chassis, the new Nikon D7000 digital SLR camera body has been dust and moisture sealed and features a 16.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, the company's own 39-point Multi-CAM 4800DX autofocus sensor module with TTL phase detection and a new EXPEED 2 image processing engine. The smooth, fast focusing system allows for dynamic or single-point autofocus and nine center cross-type sensors plus 3D tracking follow moving subjects and highlight the activated AF point in the eye-level glass pentaprism optical viewfinder.

As well as taking care of the camera's nippy six frames-per-second continuous shooting at full resolution and managing the 50-millisecond shutter response and autofocus capabilities, the new EXPEED 2 engine works with 14-bit analog/digital conversion to bring what Nikon describes as "a new level of even tonal gradations while managing color, contrast, exposure, and noise resulting in brilliant image quality."

Using the 2,016 pixel RGB 3D Matrix Metering System, the Scene Recognition System accesses a database of over 30,000 images to choose optimum focus, exposure and white balance. Low light, flash-free photography gets high sensitivity assist thanks to the standard ISO100 to ISO6400 range – with expansion up to ISO25600 – Vibration Reduction (VR) II and low noise technology.

Live View functionality on the D7000's 3-inch, 921,000 dot resolution LCD display gives the user another option when framing shots or shooting video. The camera offers full 1080p high definition movie recording at 24 frames per second with full-time autofocus, face and subject tracking and on-the-fly exposure adjustment. In addition to a built-in mono microphone there's a stereo mic input and basic movie editing can be done on the camera itself. A HDMI-out port allows for viewing of images or videos on a big screen TV.

Nikon has redesigned the mode dial atop the 5.2 x 4.1 x 3-inch (132 x 103 x 77mm) D7000. Gone are the familiar scene choices in favor of advanced manual functions and a couple of user-defined settings. Other highlights include in-camera image retouching, including direct processing of RAW images and side-by-side image comparison, a virtual horizon indicator helps ensure that your camera is always level if you need it to be, twin media card slots with SDXC support and a new EN-EL15 Li-ion battery that's said to give 1050 shots between charges.

Compatible with numerous NIKKOR lenses courtesy of Nikon's F mount, the D7000 digital SLR will be available from mid-October for a recommended retail of US$1200 for the body-only and US$1500 for a kit which includes the body and AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens.

Sikorsky’s X2 demonstrator sets unofficial world record speed of 250 knots

Sikorsky Aircraft’s coaxial X2 Technology demonstrator has achieved the 250-knot (287.69 mph) milestone that was established as the goal of the craft from its inception. The speed, which was achieved in level flight during a 1.1-hour flight on Wednesday, September 15, is an unofficial speed record for a helicopter, easily beating the current official world record that stands at 216.46 knots (249.1 mph) set by the British built Westland Lynx ZB-500 in 1986.

US$5 million Winner Most Economical Car of the Future

The Edison2 team took away US$5 million for winning the Mainstream class of the Automotive X-PRIZE last week with its 100+ MPG car of the future – Very Light Car #98.

The Progressive Automotive X-Prize required vehicles to attain a fuel economy of at least 100 miles-per US gallon equivalent (2.35L/100km), while also remaining practical for real-world use. The Mainstream class of the event was particularly significant, as vehicles had to attain twice the range of vehicles in the Alternative class, and would presumably be the vehicles most likely to find acceptance with a large number of consumers. and the vehicle that made it possible, the Very Light Car.

First, a little about the car itself. Edison2 began with four versions of the Very Light Car entered in the competition, two in the Alternative class and two in Mainstream. The rear-wheel-drive four-seater car that won the Mainstream, #98, attained 102.5MPGe (2.29L/100km) and weighs just 830 pounds (376.48 kg). All of the Very Light Cars are powered by a rear-mounted, 1-cylinder 250cc turbocharged combustion engine. In the case of #98, that engine generates 40 horsepower, for a reported top speed of over 100mph (161km/h) and a maximum range of over 600 miles (966 km) on one tank of E-85 ethanol.

The reason it won, Kuttner explained, was the “brutal efficiency” of its light weight and aerodynamics.

“Insulation for the building industry is what we are for the car industry,” he told us. “It takes three-and-a-half horsepower for our car to go 50 miles an hour – that’s very little energy... We can build a brutally more efficient electric car, with a smaller battery, and we can build a brutally more efficient gasoline car.”

With the vast majority of the X-PRIZE vehicles being electrically-powered, however, one might wonder why Edison2 chose to go with a gas engine.

“Because the results are much more meaningful,” says Kuttner. “Anybody in the industry knows that you can get 100 miles per gallon by building an OK car with a good electric drive. Everybody in the industry also knows that if you can do 100 miles per gallon while meeting emissions with a car with four people in it, that’s almost impossible. So we did it because the real money isn’t the prize, the real money is what happens from now on. This is the starting line of our company.”

That point made, the production version of the car could very likely be a hybrid, or even a pure electric.

“By our estimates, we can improve on what we have by about ten percent right now,” he stated. “That said, we would give back a lot to make this car more mainstream, more consumer friendly. So what we really envision is a car that is quite normal. Although it looks very different, it’s quite normal in use.”

Yes, but... what about its “different” looks? Does he worry that consumers simply might not be ready for something that makes such a radical aesthetic statement?

“The three winners are drastic departures from the normal,” he noted. “For me, that speaks loud and clear. It’s not really wise for consumers to think [you can take a normal-looking car], stick an electric motor in it, and say ‘Oh, I’ve done it.’ It doesn’t work like that. In order to build a truly more efficient car, you must be prepared to depart from the normal.”

Judging by the reactions, especially from the younger generation, it seems like a lot of people are ready to make that departure. “I did not expect our car to have any consumer appeal in it at all,” he said. “I expected we’d have a lot of work to do in that direction, and we’re still doing a lot of work, but I can tell you right now, we would probably be able to sell somewhere between five and ten cars per day at this moment.”

Before you get too excited, Kuttner added that Edison2 is still “generations away” from a consumer model.

Congratulations to Oliver Kuttner and the Edison2 team... along with all the other dedicated participants.

World`s Most Expensive Stuff 2010

For the world’s wealthiest, money is no object when extraordinary things enter the market—even during a global recession. Items may be deemed “priceless” for their cachet, beauty, rarity, or historic significance. Extremely well-to-do consumers have paid $3 million for a gold iPhone, but more unbelievable sums have been offered for elite luxury goods.To identify some of the biggest sales ever made, Bloomberg Businessweek combed through years of news reports and blogs and spoke with high-end retailers and auction houses. We looked at objects ranging from automobiles and boats to jewelry and electronics. The biggest price tag is for the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s new megayacht, the Eclipse, which is expected to cost as much as $1.2 billion. While average consumers cut spending during the recession, the market for diamond-studded accessories and high-end art has been surprisingly resilient. The economy has not deterred aficionados with the means to spend, says Bo Bengtsson, president of Transmission Audio, a company in Sweden that recently introduced a $2 million speaker set. “I’ve been getting calls from very rich people who are also huge music lovers,” he says.

Most Expensive Television PrestigeHD Supreme Rose Edition by Stuart Hughes Price: $2.3 million*

Swiss luxury television maker PrestigeHD asked Stuart Hughes of Goldstriker International to design a spectacular piece for the company, says Hughes. So he took a 55-inch PrestigeHD television and covered it in 28 kilograms of 18-carat rose gold and 72 diamonds. Alligator skin was hand sewn into the bezel. This limited edition TV, introduced just this year, surpasses Hughes’ £1 million television for PrestigeHD, which uses 22-carat yellow gold and 48 diamonds. PrestigeHD CEO Simon M. Troxler says the company is close to closing its first contract for the Supreme Rose Edition and “we are very confident that the limited edition of only three TVs will be sold out soon.”

*Price converted from £1.5 million

Most Expensive Hotel Room Royal Penthouse Suite, Hotel President Wilson in Geneva Price: $65,000 per night

This palatial suite, which occupies an entire floor of the hotel and measures 18,083 square feet, has 10 rooms and seven bathrooms. It was renovated in January 2009 to add a new private fitness area, according to a spokesperson.

Most Expensive Motorcycle Dodge Tomahawk V10 Superbike Price: $700,000

The Dodge Tomahawk, a 1,500-lb. motorcycle with four wheels, has a Dodge Viper’s V10 engine and can go from zero to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds, according to Edmunds.com. The top speed is estimated to be more than 300 mph. The vehicle, which made its debut at the 2003 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, was reportedly priced at $550,000, but a Dodge spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg Businessweek that two units were sold at an even higher $700,000.

Most Expensive Cell Phone iPhone 3GS Supreme Rose by Stuart Hughes Price: $2.97 million*

Stuart Hughes—who also designed the most expensive television—made headlines in 2009 when he crafted a 22-carat gold iPhone studded with 53 diamonds for an unnamed Australian businessman for £1.92 million. More recently, he says, he was commissioned to make an even pricier version of the phone in 18-carat rose gold with hundreds of diamonds, including a single-cut, 7.1-carat diamond for the main navigation button.

*Price converted from £1.93 million

Most Expensive Golf Club Long-Nose Putter Stamped “A.D.,” attributed to Andrew Dickson Price: $181,000

An “A.D.” stamp on this circa 18th century, long-nose putter is attributed to Andrew Dickson, the oldest known clubmaker to mark his clubs. He is said to have served as a caddy to the Duke of York as a young boy, according to Sotheby’s. This item was estimated to sell for $200,000 to $300,000 but fetched $181,000 in a Sotheby’s auction in New York in 2007.

Most Expensive Car 1954-55 Mercedes-Benz W196 Price: $24 million

Think a brand-new $1.7 million Bugatti Veyron is expensive? Try the Mercedes-Benz W196, which won the Grand Prix in 1954 and 1955, and sold at auction in 1990 for a staggering $24 million. According to the U.K.’s Times Online Times Online, Mercedes donated the car to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in the 1980s, which later sold it for £1.5 million to finance a museum renovation. It was again sold in 1990 to a French industrialist for $24 million but changed hands once more to a German industrialist for less than half that sum.

Most Expensive House Antilla Price: $1 billion

According to a February report by Property Magazine, the most expensive house in the world, named Antilla (in picture above at left), is in downtown Mumbai, India, and will be the residence of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani. The 27-story, 570-foot-tall tower has a helipad, a health club, and a six-floor garage that can hold 168 cars. Each level has gardens. It will be serviced by a staff of 600 people. Some reports list the price of the house at $2 billion. The architecture and design firms working on this project, Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, declined comment.

Most Expensive Yacht Eclipse Price: £1.2 billion

This 560-foot-long yacht has two helipads, 11 guest cabins, two swimming pools, three launch boats, an aquarium, and a minisubmarine that can dive to 50 meters below the ocean surface, according to London’s Daily Mail. The master bedroom and bridge have bulletproof glass, and the security system includes missile detection systems that warn of incoming rockets. The owner Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire who also owns Britain’s Chelsea Football Club, reportedly fitted the yacht with a laser system that prevents paparazzi from taking photos. It was built by Blohm + Voss in Hamburg, Germany.

Most Expensive Speakers Transmission Audio Ultimate System Price: $2 million per pair

With a total of 12 units—four dipole subwoofers, two dipole mid-woofers, four dipole medium-frequency and high-frequency ribbon panels, and two dipole high-fidelity super ribbon panels—Transmission Audio’s Ultimate speaker system is a hefty piece of equipment, spanning 37 feet and weighing 5 metric tons. All units are made from aircraft aluminum and have stands in polished red or black granite. The set was introduced in late 2009, and so far two pairs have been preordered, says Bo Bengtsson, president of Transmission Audio. None has yet been delivered, as the assembly time is about six months.

Most Expensive Ring Chopard Blue Diamond Ring Price: $16.26 million

The centerpiece of Chopard Blue Diamond Ring is a 9-carat blue diamond (in photo) with diamond shoulders. The 18-carat white gold band is paved with diamonds. It sold overseas in 2007 to a fancy color diamond collector, reportedly for $16,260,000, but a Chopard spokesperson says the estimated value of the ring today is $18,561,310.

Source: Businessweek