gizmag: Good Thinking

Criminal Liability for Non-Aggressive Death

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:05:55 +1000

August 27, 2008 The crime of manslaughter exists as a 'catch-all offence' to punish those who are blameworthy in causing the death of another but whose culpability falls short of that required for murder. Manslaughter is an extremely broad offence and it has a difficult task in ensuring that all those who warrant punishment for 'non-aggressive' deaths are convicted. Simultaneously, it should not be too broad in covering those who do not warrant punishment for such deaths. There is little consistency in whether a particular dangerous activity leads to liability for a specific offence or for the generic offence of manslaughter when death is caused. This new book, entitled “Criminal Liability for Non-Aggressive Death” examines the current law and includes a variety of perspectives on the subject with chapters on specific modes of killing as well as issues that permeate all areas. ..

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New functionality for Zoombak A-GPS locators

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:43:40 +1000

Following the release of the basic GPS Locator product earlier this year, Zoombak has begun its roll-out of additional functionality with the release of "Mobile Location Requests", a feature that lets users find their Zoombak in real-time from any cell phone...

Tags: Automotive, Bike, GPS

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Engadget HD on Vampire Energy - don't shoot the plasma

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:56:00 +1000

July 31, 2008 Yesterday we showed you GOOD Magazine's data on Vampire Energy, but Ben Drawbaugh from Engadget HD didn't like the look of it. Using a Kill A Watt, he measured the standby draw of a 60-inch Pioneer Kuro plasma to be 20 Watts - that's an annual cost of $20 (based on a price of $0.11 per kilowatt-hour) - far from the $159 figure that GOOD Magazine claimed...

Tags: HDTV, LCD, Plasma

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The Kill A Watt identifies your biggest energy consumers

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:46:50 +1000

July 31, 2008 GOOD Magazine have you wondering how much power your HDTV consumes? Simply plug it (or any electrical device) into the Kill A Watt and the LCD display will tell you the drain of the device in Volts, Amps, Watts, Hz, VA or kilowatt-hours (kWh)..

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GOOD Magazine on Vampire Energy

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:30:40 +1000

July 30, 2008 Power wastage associated with standby modes in consumer electronics devices makes up a staggering 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and costs the average household the equivalent of one months bill every year. GOOD Magazine has dubbed this wastage "vampire energy" and assembled a compelling graph that shows the average yearly cost of standby modes in common household devices - with the increasingly common plasma TV costing a whopping $159.76 per year to leave on standby...

Tags: Home Entertainment

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Six-month anti-piracy strategy delays Dark Knight piracy for just 38 hours

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:21:45 +1000

July 29, 2008 Warner Bros. devoted six months to an unprecedented anti-piracy strategy for the release of "The Dark Knight", and have deemed the 38 hour period between the film's premiere screening and its first appearance on file-sharing sites to be a success - keeping bootleg DVDs off the streets as the film racked up a record-breaking US$158.4 million on its all important opening weekend. ..

Tags: Crackdown, Digital Video

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Protect your HDTV with TV Armor

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:00:04 +1000

July 29, 2008 While shelling out for a big-screen HDTV gives you a nice big picture, it also provides a nice big target for common hazards like the infamous flying Wii controller. TV Armor screen protectors are clear plastic screens that come in a range of sizes to fit TVs from 30-52 inches, protecting them from scratches, fingerprints, marks, splashes and household projectiles. ..

Tags: HDTV

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Novel approach to car stereo theft-prevention

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:15:10 +1000

Instructables is a website dedicated to supplying information from members on how to complete a vast array of DIY projects. One of the more unusual, but potentially useful, ideas is to hide your fancy new car stereo with a crappier one in order to ward off would-be thieves...

Tags: Automotive, Car Audio, Security

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DNA Barcode initiative

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:59:37 +1000

July 6, 2008 Barcoding is little more than half a century old, yet it has permeated every corner of civilisation. Barcodes enabled machines to recognise objects, and was the first viable technology for enabling computers to track vast systems. Barcodes saved money and time in every area of logistics, but more importantly brought order so that we could measure and analyse very large and complex systems. Now, in an ambitious initiative scientists want to apply this concept to life by using DNA - nature's unique barcode of every species of animal, plant and microbe - to create a vast library of every living organism on the planet. Such a global DNA barcode database would prove invaluable in numerous ways, from identifying new species of organism and monitoring biodiversity to detecting fraud...

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Hirsch Electronics' versatile building security solution

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:27:00 +1000

Increasingly, building managers and government organizations are finding they have to adopt more sophisticated security systems to protect their employees, customers and buildings from security threats. Recognizing the need for flexibility on this arena, Hirsch Electronics has manufactured the Verification Station- a high-security, multi-purpose biometric system which allows a building administrator to select and change at will the means of entry to a building if the security situation is heightened. Employees may be required to use smart cards or fingerprints or they may have to use a number of authentication processes, perhaps their finger and smart card or their finger, smart card and identification code...

Tags: Building and Construction, Safety, Security

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Reptile friendly tunnel improves road safety for the cold blooded

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:23:36 +1000

A new tunnel designed by multi-disciplinary consultancy firm Scott Wilson will allow reptiles to pass under the road at a UK airport to ensure their safety. The tunnel was created with the reptiles’ biology in mind, providing a warm and inviting space to enter using LED lighting and heating coils...

Tags: Road Safety, Safety

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Live Luggage power assisted suitcase

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:51:07 +1000

One of humanity's great technological achievements, the wheel has been with us since before recorded history began. For some reason though, it wasn't until the 1980's that the very, very sensible idea of attaching them to a suitcase took-off and the era of "wheelie luggage" began. Technology doesn't rest though, and after just a few decades another pioneering travel innovation has emerged - the power assisted suitcase. Billed as a world first and five years in the making, Live Luggage is set to premiere its power assisted luggage range which uses in-wheel "pancake" electric motors, tilt sensors and an intelligent torque control system to power the wheels when the handle is tilted and pressure is applied - good news for the weary traveler! ..

Tags: Travel and Tourism

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New technique lifts fingerprints off cleaned guns

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:46:10 +1000

Wiping the gun clean has long been considered best practice for villains but may soon become a quaint custom that will ultimately prove fruitless. Researchers have developed a method to ‘visualize fingerprints’ even after the print itself has been removed by measuring the corrosion of the surface by deposits from the fingerprints. The technique can enhance – after firing– a fingerprint that has been deposited on a small caliber metal cartridge case before it is fired. The technique promises the ability to reopen many cases and solve cold cases around the world because the “underlying print never disappears” according to the scientists. ..

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Cirque du Soleil 3-D online ticketing system

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:39:11 +1000

Known most notably for on-stage spectaculars, Cirque du Soleil is now offering an innovative and time-saving off-stage experience for customers buying tickets. The company’s new online ticketing system offers audience members the chance to select their seat(s) from 3-D images of the venue set up...

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AltusLumen TRI-L LED flashlight

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:25:45 +1000

Working with a portable light source like a flashlight can quickly become a headache when both hands are required for the job you are doing. Head-mounted torches are a great solution, but they don't always solve the issue if the light beam needs to come from another direction. Short of growing another arm, this practical and versatile LED light design from AltusLumen is one of the best answers we've seen. Targeted primarily at the engineering market, the TRI-L Magnesium Rechargeable LED Light uses two light sources and a 360 degree hinge to deliver distinctive foldable tripod shapes that should cater for almost any situation...

Tags: LED, Lighting

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ProActive smart safety helmet

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:14:50 +1000

A young industrial designer has created a new type of safety helmet for the construction industry that is a little smarter than most. The “ProActive” helmet features a flexible inner layer that remains soft and comfortable during normal use, but immediately becomes hard and shock-absorbent when subjected to impact. ..

Tags: Building and Construction, Safety

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Safemanuals - 880,000 online user manuals

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:17:47 +1000

May 6, 2008 There are a million reasons why your user manual gets separated from your gizmo, but the universal law of gadgetry stipulates that it does, and most importantly, it isn’t available when you most need it. Accordingly, Paris-based SafeManuals is certainly worth putting in your bookmarks. It’s a free service, has 880,000 user manuals online already and grows by around 500 user manuals daily. Indeed, given that the growth is based on user-contributed manuals, perhaps you could scan your manuals and send them in so you can happily clear out the cupboards...

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Arpro packaging turns into a TV stand

Tue, 20 May 2008 23:16:57 +1000

Concerned about the high volume of non degradable waste which makes up most consumer packaging, UK designer Tom Ballhatchet has developed an innovative idea for re-using the box your television comes in as a durable stand...

Tags: Environmental, Home Entertainment, Plasma

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Smart Lid a winner at packaging awards

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:38:50 +1000

In 2005 Gizmag reported on an innovative way to warn caffeine-addicts when their coffee too hot to drink, by changing the color of the takeaway cup lid. The Smart Lid has now been awarded ‘Best of Show’ at the AmeriStar Award hosted by the Institute of Packaging Professionals...

Tags: Australia, Coffee, Food technology

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RoboBraille online text translation service

Tue, 13 May 2008 17:29:04 +1000

May 13, 2008 Vision impaired users can now access books, news articles and web pages using an email-based service that translates text into Braille and audio recordings. RoboBraille is a free service offering a simple way of converting text without the need for users to operate complicated software and has completed more than 250,000 translations since its launch in January...

Tags: Medical, Web Applications

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Periscope book light

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:12:50 +1000

Avid readers know the trials of keeping a book light attached to your book whilst also maintaining a comfy reading position. The new Periscope Book Light Bookcover offers a solution for both hardcover and paperback books by integrating a retractable LED into the spine. ..

Tags: LED, Lighting

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Two-mile high termite nest proposed to counter the population challenge

Mon, 05 May 2008 11:01:45 +1000

May 5, 2008 Forward-thinking architects are looking upwards in an effort to control a global population that is growing by around 2.2 per cent every year and becoming ever more concentrated in crowded cities. Eugene Tsui is taking nature as the inspiration for his 2-mile high, one-mile wide Ultima Tower, capable of housing up to a million people. Designed to be virtually impervious to wind, water and earthquakes, the massive tower is conceived less as an architecture project but as a series of mini-ecosystems within which other architectural projects can be developed. And it offers some ingenious ideas on energy production, water use and intra-colony transport. At US$150 billion a pop, you wouldn't expect to see the Ultima being built any time soon, but as population pressure increases, it's pioneering ideas like these that will form the inspiration for real-world solutions...

Tags: Alternative Energy Sources, Architecture, Building and Construction

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The world's largest portable TV... and a new advertising medium

Thu, 01 May 2008 15:53:42 +1000

May 1, 2008 Media sells its audience. Regardless of how the media assembles the audience, the profile, size and engagement of the audience is the value the media offers advertisers, which effectively means Big Moving Pictures’ fleet of rolling mobile Light-Emitting-Diode screen displays constitutes a new advertising medium. The company is mounting massive (40 x 22 ft) HDTV LED displays on trucks so it can engage audiences of 100,000+ at major outdoor events (such as air shows and auto racing) in a new way. To be built using the brightest technology available, MEGASCREENS are the biggest and most powerful LED-based display solution yet devised. ..

Tags: Big Moving Pictures, LED, Outdoor TV

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28 km bridge to link Africa and Middle East

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:53:50 +1000

May 1, 2008 A 28 kilometer-long bridge is being planned to link the Middle East and Africa. The US$20 billion bridge will become the longest suspension bridge in the world and tower some 400 meters above the water, with at least three spans of around 2700m each. Undoubtedly set to become one of the wonders of the modern world, the project includes plans to build entire cities at each end, linked by a six-lane motorway and a four-track railway. Adding complexity to the enormous task, which is expected to take some 12 years to complete, the bridge it is to be built in an area of intense seismic activity. ..

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The new and improved postcard advertising medium

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:31:31 +1000

April 16, 2008 Free postcard advertising has many strengths, most notably great cost-efficiency and excellent targeting, so we were very interested recently when we spied a new and vastly improved variation on the theme. Unlike the traditional postcard size which has no logical destination (and hey, get real, how many people post adverts to their friends), the Minicard is the size of a business card, meaning there’s a place for it in a purse or wallet. Equally as importantly, the smaller size makes for a more orderly and space efficient visual display unit and the standardised layout ensures the cards are informational and useful to the audience they reach...

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