technology

Hendo is introducing the world's first real working hoverboard.

So where does the HENDO hoverboard stand today? Well, about 1 inch off the ground. As you can see from the video above, the prototype is real and it works! But to see it hover in person, and better yet, to defy gravity by riding it, is something you need to experience as well.

With the support of the Kickstarter community, we all can. We need your help to put the finishing touches on the Hendo Hoverboard, to help us produce them, and to create places to ride them.

Hendo is looking for $250,000 in funding to refine the working technology from the prototype and start production. Pledges start at $5, but if you want your childhood dream to come true $10,000 will get you a real working Hendo Hoverboard.

In 2015, American consumers will finally be able to purchase fuel cell cars from Toyota and other manufacturers. Although touted as zero-emissions vehicles, most of the cars will run on hydrogen made from natural gas, a fossil fuel that contributes to global warming.

Now, scientists at Stanford Univ. have developed a low-cost, emissions-free device that uses an ordinary AAA battery to produce hydrogen by water electrolysis. The battery sends an electric current through two electrodes that split liquid water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. Unlike other water splitters that use precious-metal catalysts, the electrodes in the Stanford device are made of inexpensive and abundant nickel and iron.

Via NZ Herald: 

The new, 1.55 millimetre-thick contact lens contains an extremely thin, reflective telescope, which is activated by winks.

Released in 2013 and fine-tuned since then, the prototype was unveiled by Eric Tremblay from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in California.

The lenses come with smart glasses that respond to the wearer's winks - but not blinks - so that the user can switch almost effortlessly from normal to magnified vision and back.

The wearer winks with the right eye to activate the telescope, and with the left eye to deactivate it.

Engineers at North Carolina State University invented the metallic bubble wrap as a way to improve the durability of packaging materials for electronics and suitcases, along with other products such as car doors, airplane wings and helmets, where it can also be used in the products themselves. The metal is not meant to replace traditional plastic bubble wrap, but to be used when circumstances call for sturdier cushioning.

Now nanotechnologists from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia have developed an ultra lightweight supercapacitor that can easily be combined with regular batteries to dramatically boost their power while decreasing their weight - and within five years could eliminate the need for batteries altogether.

"Supercapacitors offer a high power output in a short time, meaning a faster acceleration rate of the car and a charging time of just a few minutes, compared to several hours for a standard electric car battery," said Marco Notarianni, a PhD researcher from QUT who worked on the project, in a press release.

But the potential of these devices goes beyond simply upgrading our current batteries - they could also replace them.