August 2011
Hybrid Power -
First by Land and Now by Sea
The NY Hornblower is the first not classified vessel to spin its propellers and power its electrical systems using a hybrid system that combines hydrogen fuel cells, solar panels, and wind turbines. When this column went to press, the NY Hornblower was still in its construction dry-dock almost ready for its New York City debut. When it goes into service, perhaps this month, it will transport passengers to the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island immigration museum fromManhattan’s pier 40.
By Alan J. Pierce EdD
September 2011
By Alan J. Pierce EdD
A new GPS/Wi-Fi enabled system has recently been announced, and when it goes online it will allow location-based social networking systems to track enabled phones and tablets indoors. The system is called WIFISLAM.
WiFiSLAM can find your indoor location by fusing information from a number of sources. The starting point, of course, would be your last GPS location. When your GPS signal is lost, your phone will start to rely on the signals it receives from in-range Wi-Fi networks.
WIFISLAM =s Indoor GPS
Fake Tattoo Can Monitor a Person’s Vital Signs
This Fake Tattoo Can Monitor a Person’s Vital Signs
October 2011
Professor John Rogers and his team at the University of Illinois have developed a prototype temporary tattoo that contains microelectronic circuits on a clear rubber transfer medium. The team’s temporary body art tattoos can monitor a person's vital signs while they are up and about performing their normal daily activities.
By Alan J. Pierce EdD
A Tattoo
Medical Breakthrough
Microelectronic circuits inside the tattoo monitor vital signs of the patient.
Hi-Tech Flywheels Spin Kinetic Energy into Electricity
November 2011
Since their invention, flywheels have stayed relevant because of their amazing ability to function as an energy intensifier, energy equalizer, and storage medium for energy derived from intermittent resources. We find them in a seemingly infinite number of places, including automobile engines, industrial machines, earth satellites, and even children’s toys.
How are we now using them to spin kinetic energy into electricity?
Goto: TechDirections On Line
By Alan J. Pierce EdD
Hi-Tech Flywheels Spin Kinetic Energy into Electricity
Imagine Car Crash Survival Systems
Empowered by Car to Car Communication
December 2011
Goto: TechDirections On Line
By Alan J. Pierce EdD
When modern cars collide they are designed to absorb energy to protect the people inside the vehicle. Car Experts now believe that new car to car communication systems can be designed to keep vehicles from crashing into each other. If each car could tell every other car, “here I am,” a new accident avoidance systems could reduce car crashes, bodily injury, passenger deaths, and car insurance damage claims.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is now funding a major test to determine if accidents and driving times could be reduced if cars talked to each other. Data collection and evaluation will be performed by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute.
Cambridge Crude
The MIT Liquid Fuel in a New Battery Architecture
January 2012
Goto: TechDirections On Line
By Alan J. Pierce EdD
The future automobile will run on electricity not gasoline! This could quickly happen if you could pull up with your EV to a "gas" pump to recharge your car with a liquid electric fuel.
Cambridge Crude, the nickname of a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) liquid battery recharging system will let you do just that. This new liquid charge goes in as the old one goes out for re-charging by the fueling station; to be used over and over again.
MIT "Engine"
Turns a Liquid into Electricity
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Using Technology (Playlater and the Wi-Drive)
To Make Travel Time Fly
February 2012
By Alan J. Pierce EdD
PlayLater is a PC DVR that is married to an Internet browser. It lets you record shows from all the channels shown in the photo. You need an Internet connection to record your shows, but you don’t need a connection to watch them.
The Wi-Drive establishes a private Wi-Fi network. It is about the same size as an iPod Touch and it lets you supersize the storage capacity of your handheld devices. It can broadcast different content to up to three different-brand handheld units at the same time.
Click an image to Watch
a Playlater or Wi-Drive Video
Click an image to Watch
a Playlater or Wi-Drive Video
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