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Nanotechnologies just keep on getting more and more popular nowadays. They are a true marvel of technological progress, and can aid us in many ways usual things cannot. When it comes to cleaning, nanotechnologies do their best because of size. We already wrote about self-cleaning fabrics earlier, now it is the time for another way of using those modern helpers - to clean the windshield from water and dirt without any need of windshield wipers!

The Italian automobile designer Leonardo Fioravanti from the Pininfarina design studio has made an interesting prototype of a windshield that does not need any windshield wipers to clean itself! All dirty work is done by micro layers that are covering the windshield. First layer has water-repellent and sunrays-shielding capabilities. The second layer consists of microscopic nanoparticles, which are there to repel the dirt to the sides of this window. Third layer is a control one, which detects the dirt and if it finds one on a windshield, it will activate the nanoparticles to do the cleaning. And the fourth layer, which acts as energy source for others three, bringing them electricity to operate. The air will aid the cleaning process, because of good aerodynamic design of both windshield and the car (which name is “Hidra”).

Fioravanti thinks that this technology will be widely spread among new cars in five years. It is hard to believe that modern machines will be fully without any wipers, but who knows, maybe he is completely right, and the windshield cleaning will be completely done by nano particles? This new nanoparticle windshield is a working prototype now, exists only in a unique quantity and can be seen on a concept car “Hidra”.

It is interesting how this technology will be introduced in mass production. Will it be a proprietary feature of some car manufacturer, or it will be widely spread among all new cars? However, we can be assured that as the time passes, nanotechnologies will play bigger role in everybody’s life.

Posted Mar 18th 2008 3:14AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: cellphones, Digital Cameras
Measuring just 8.5-mm thin, you’re looking at what Samsung claims to be the slimmest CMOS camera module of its kind. The 8 megapixel module is expected to supplant the 5 megapixel job found in todays top-end cameraphones sometime in the second half of the year. Fortunately, this isn’t just a case of megapixel marketing as the module also features anti-shake, a 1-cm macro, and face tracking technology. It also packs a smile shutter feature to snap that picture just as soon as a smile, or vinegar, is detected.

Pentax has recently introduced the 8-megapixel V20, a seemingly worthy addition to Pentax’s point-and-shoot camera line. The V20 boasts of a 5x zoom lens aside from the high megapixels, plus a generous LCD screen that measures 3-inches.

The V20 is a stylish and ultra-slim camera that also comes with three more innovative features: Face Recognition, Smile Capture, and the Blink Detection. Face Recognition detects faces and automatically sets the camera’s exposure to a maximum. The Smile Capture, on the other hand, enables the camera to only shoot if the subject is already smiling, just like an other new cameras now. Blink Detection impresses by alarming the camera user when subjects’ eyes are closed for a possible retake. Additional features also include Auto-Macro mode for taking photos as near as 4-inches for a better take at close-up photography and the Auto-tracking AF mode for moving subjects.

The new camera from Pentax doesn’t impress much but it’s definitely an upgrade to their older models. The Pentax Optio V20 starts shipping in May for only $279.95.

Via [Engadget]

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Posted Mar 18th 2008 2:48AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Laptops
If you caught the Charlie Rose show last night, this was the gruff ruffian you found presenting. The last thing you’d expect from the usually staid, easy going interviewer. Turns out Rose had a choice to make when he tripped on a 59th street pothole in New York City: protect his newly purchased macbook air, or his face — he chose the former. According to his producers, “The Macbook Air is fine, he showed us the blood stains on it this morning.” Wow, in an instant he took a measurable shot to his dignity and redefined the term, “air head.” Not bad.

TouchPad Pro is an app built for the iphone which allows you to take control of your PC or Mac. Your iPhone needs to be Jailbroken for the application to work, and once installed it allows full control of your mouse as well as allowing you to use the multi-touch screen for zooming, scrolling and general keyboard entry. The iPhone TouchPad Pro app works differently on different apps. If you use a PDF document you can scroll up and down the page by placing 2 fingers on the screen and sliding them up and down. To zoom in to the document you move a finger and thumb apart to move closer to the page. I have to admit that it is one rather good looking application and just another reason for me to look in to buying an iPhone.

Video after the jump.

Product Page Source - GeekyGadgets

Guest Post by Matthew of Gadget Venue.

This mirrored iphone case not only helps keep your precious iPhone’s screen safe from unwanted scratches but it also doubles up as a mirror whenever the display is turned off. The protector itself is a snap to apply and remove, and you will be able to wash and replace it as often as you like, although I’m pretty sure there will come a time when the protector is so scratched up, you’d need to fork out another $9.95 to pick another one up from Proporta. Each purchase comes with an application card that helps prevent bubbles from appearing and a screen polishing cloth. Other than the iPhone, there are also ipod touch and 3G nano versions to choose from.

Portable media players made by Polaroid aren’t very popular, but their latest product can be a hit…

In terms of supported files, it has WMV and MPEG4 in the video list, plus MP3, WMA, and WAV for the audio. In the near future there are plans to incorporate DivX plug-ins, but at this stage they aren’t available. The internal memory can be considered good - 60GB - and the bigger than usual 4.3-inch LCD screen is also a positive detail.

Priced at 200, the Polaroid player still has Wi-Fi as a wireless connection, a FM receiver, and lastly, a battery life of 4 hours in video mode, or 16 hours of audio.

Whilst not a touch screen it does have touch controls, to let you scroll through the different options and an easily navigable menu.

via

Posted Mar 17th 2008 5:56PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Handhelds
Sure, it might not be as filling as the Skoda cakemobile, or as family oriented as Martha Stewart’s Wii cake, but do those contain the thrilling tale of The Light Beam Rider? Yeah, we thought not.

Paul: “Unfortunately the screen refresh times of ‘30-35 minutes at 350 degrees’ is just plain unacceptable.”
Chris: “Moments later, a naked Jeff Bezos burst out, ready to greet everyone at the shareholders’ meeting.”
Richard: “Philippe Starck calls the Kindle ‘a little delicious.’ “
Sean: “No friends, that’s not the iCing phone, tis the Kindle Cake and it serves 12.”
Don: “You can never be too careful buying gadgets on eBay.”
Josh: “The Light-Beam Rider was surprisingly short.”
Ross: “The book is a lie.”

[Via The Raw Feed]

Posted Mar 18th 2008 1:50AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Laptops, Storage Bad news for those banking on SSD as the savior of all things laptop. While the drives have been proven to improve battery life and speed start times, other drawbacks have buyers thinking second thoughts about the major premium for laptops like the macbook air and Lenovo X300 with SSD — about $1000 in the case of those two. A new study shows that flash-based laptops are being returned at a rate of 10 to 20 percent for technical failure, compared to the 1 to 2 percent of regular laptop returns due to HDD issues. Perhaps it should be expected from an emerging tech like SSD, but consumers certainly aren’t expected to enjoy it. Other consumers are sending ‘em back just due to lackluster performance — particular applications like streaming video and, strangely, Microsoft Outlook, see a performance hit from SSD. Hopefully speedier drives will address this latter problem, but how about everybody cuts their prices in half and we just forget the whole thing, eh?