The WEpods will run from Wageningen to Ede in a pilot.

WEpods

These guys have launched a wildly succesfull kickstarter to produce what is basically a large touchpad. You can print 3D overlays which magnetically lock into place. Programming new overlays shouldn’t be too tough. It’s sensitive enough to detect paint brushes. Now let’s hope it can be a keyboard with the pinch and zoom and multifinger gestures the guys at Fingerworks invented before it was bought up (and then commercially killed) by Apple!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1152958674/the-sensel-morph-interaction-evolved

3 Ports USB 3.0 Hub with RJ45 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Converter LAN Wired Network Adapter for Laptops, Ultrabooks and Tablet PCs with USB Ports

Source: Amazon.com: [3-Port USB 3.0 + 1-Port RJ45] iClever IC-HR004 3 Ports USB 3.0 Hub with RJ45 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Converter LAN Wired Network Adapter for Laptops, Ultrabooks and Tablet PCs with USB Ports, Compatible with Windows XP/7/8, Mac OS-X, Linux Chromebook Anroid 4.0 and above: Computers & Accessories

Awesome plan!

Bij online veilinghuis Catawiki kunt u elke week meebieden op meer dan 12.000 bijzondere en unieke objecten in de meer dan 100 wekelijkse veilingen.

Source: Catawiki – Veilinghuis en catalogus voor verzamelaars

Redesigning a laptop with the black rubberised outside, using the old style, non-chicklet keyboard, with red dot and forward and back buttons next to the arrow keys – all the best they got rid of after the 520, but then thin and powerful! Hope they also consider a serial port on it, as well as a built in optical drive and seperate buttons from the mousepad. I might forgive their spyware policy – hey, I reinstall linux on it anyway!

ThinkPad Time Machine?

A group of chemists and engineers who work with nanotechnology published a paper this month in Nature Nanotechnology about an ultra-fine mesh that can merge into the brain to create what appears to be a seamless interface between machine and biological circuitry. Called “mesh electronics,” the device is so thin and supple that it can be injected with a needle — they’ve already tested it on mice, who survived the implantation and are thriving. The researchers describe their device as “syringe-injectable electronics,” and say it has a number of uses, including monitoring brain activity, delivering treatment for degenerative disorders like Parkinson’s, and even enhancing brain capabilities.

Source: Scientists Just Invented the Neural Lace

This is the last ThinkPad with the old keyboard, before they introduced the chicklet style. Of course, the backlighting they got with the new keyboard of the T530 was nice, and the replacement of the page up / pagedown / escape keys was debated, but the spacing between the keys and the lower quality was a turn off for most people.

Source: lenovo thinkpad t520 | eBay

Of course the T530 keyboard was built in different qualities:

“New FRU for keyboard that is great:  04W3063
Old FRU of keyboard that was lousy:  04W3137

It’s also easy to tell which one you have – remove the trackpoint cap:

04W3063 = yellow under trackpoint
04W3137 = blue under trackpoint”

from https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Thinkpad-T520-vs-T530-keyboard/td-p/787997/page/2

One way to improve your T520 is to upgrade the screen for under $100,- to full HD

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Upgrading+the+Lenovo+ThinkPad+T520+Display/9763

And there is a way to get the T520 keyboard onto a T530. You can remap a lot of the keys and get quite a way, but not all the way…

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Install_Classic_Keyboard_on_xx30_Series_ThinkPads

Good luck!

The technique required the men to have their lower arms amputated and fitted with a robotic replacement which responds to electrical impulses when the muscles contract in the same way as a real hand.

“In effect, brachial plexus avulsion injuries represent an inner amputation, irreversibly separating the hand from neural control,” said Professor Oskar Aszmann, Director of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Restoration of Extremity Function at the Medical University of Vienna, who pioneered the technique.

via Watch: Star Wars-style ‘bionic hand’ fitted to first patients – Telegraph.

Myo – Gesture control armband by Thalmic Labs.

These are 2 tiny dots that connect from a distance without WiFi at 6Gbit per second. This sounds like a wonderful replacement of USB / Firewire cabling you have to fidget to plug in.

Our Technology – Keyssa.

CompuLab is introducing fitlet – a miniature 0.22l fanless quad-core PC that is not only packing more features than any other PC in its class, but is also designed from the ground up for unprecedented openness: Memory, storage, networking, extension cards and operating system can all be easily installed and upgraded by the user.

The Linux version of fitlet was developed with the Linux Mint team and will be available under the “MintBox Mini” brand.

fitlet is powered by latest AMD low-power APU and is built into a sleek, passively-cooled ruggedized housing. Three fitlet models are offered in various configurations ranging from a plug-and-play Windows PC to a barebone system priced at $129. All models come with a 5 year warranty.

via fitlet press release.

When you’re on the path to becoming a power user, you begin to notice certain things that the average person might not. One of those is the difference between typing on a sweet mechanical keyboard with luxurious key action versus pounding away on a run-of-the-mill squishy plank that relies on mushy membranes to register your keystrokes. The difference may seem subtle to the uninitiated, though even casual typists can recognize that there’s something inherently superior about typing on a mechanical keyboard, even if they can’t pinpoint what exactly it is.Of course, we know it’s the mechanical key switches that are responsible for elevating the typing experience. These are better than the rubber domes found in membrane keyboards that used to dominate the market in a number of ways, including feel, responsiveness, and durability.

via Know Your Type: Five Mechanical Gaming Keyboards Compared.

We present a method for creating three-dimensional haptic shapes in mid-air using focused ultrasound. This approach applies the principles of acoustic radiation force, whereby the non-linear effects of sound produce forces on the skin which are strong enough to generate tactile sensations. This mid-air haptic feedback eliminates the need for any attachment of actuators or contact with physical devices

via Rendering volumetric haptic shapes in mid-air using ultrasound – University of Bristol.

Lockheed Martin is developing an exoskeleton that transfers all the energy used to the ground, thus allowing you to lift heavy loads without using batteries.
FORTIS Exoskeleton · Lockheed Martin.

The Parallax Propellor 1 microcontroller has been completely open sourced.

Propeller 1 Open Source | Parallax Inc.

Open-source metal 3-D printer – Appropedia: The sustainability wiki.

Soldier receives UK’s first mind-controlled robot arm – News stories – GOV.UK.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Moverio/Home.do

3D ScanningFast, Easy and Low-costWith Skanect, capturing a full color 3d model of an object, a person or a room has never been so easy and affordable. Skanect transforms your Microsoft Kinect or Asus Xtion camera into an ultra-low cost scanner able to create 3D meshes out of real scenes in a few minutes. Enter the world of 3D scanning now!

via Skanect by Occipital | 3D Scanning Made Easy.

This machine uses lasers to scan a small object, allowing you to replicate it in a 3D Printer. It’s an early adopter thing that costs $1400,- but allows you to print stuff without any knowledge of 3D modelling.

Digitizer | 3D Scanner | 3D Scanning | MakerBot.

A very clear howto on creating your own PCB and how to plan and execute your design.

How to Make the Perfect PCB – Part 1 – Michael Leonard.

By printing layered objects within the structure of an object you can put more information inside it to be read with a millimetric radar.

Microsoft Has Invented a Way To Embed Data in 3D Printed Objects.

The makerbot scans items using cameras and laters and saves the 3d model so that you can replicate it later on a 3d printer. http://store.makerbot.com/digitizer.html