3D posters without glasses sure to demand attention

We’ve all seen cards with images that move or provide a 3D effect without glasses when the viewing angle is moved. Although the technology has been around since the 1940s, its limitations in viewing distance and clarity has seen it largely remain a novelty for prizes in cereal boxes, collectible cards and the occasional movie poster. Now researchers have updated the technology for the 21st Century, enabling a much clearer 3D image on posters up to five meters in size which can also be viewed from a distance.

Traditionally such animated or 3D images have been produced using of a technology called lenticular printing which combines two or more images attached to the back of a lenticular lens. Instead of these grooved lenses, the new display consists of 250,000 individual lenses with a diameter of two millimetres each. So unlike lenticular images that can only be viewed well at arm’s length, the new display allows 3D images to be seen clearly from a distance – the other side of the street for example – something that is sure to appeal to advertisers.

The new display developed by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM in Freiburg, working jointly with the RealEyes company and the University of Kiel, owes its improved performance to its greater precision. When a finished picture is glued to the grooved lenticular lens the sheet cannot always be put in the exact position, negatively affecting the final effect. The new process sees the lenticular sheet glued to the photo paper before the image is applied.

Specialized software calculates a complete image for each of the 250,000 individual lenses based on the three-dimensional model of the overall image so that the lenses do not distort the resulting image. Each lens subsequently renders a perspective of the overall image that shifts toward or away from its neighbor to a negligible degree. For each of the 30,000 different viewing angles, the display delivers an independent view of the scene – therefore, the viewer sees one image that continuously changes with the viewing angle.

The researchers have already produced a prototype in A0 size (one meter square) and they expect the first advertising posters to appear over the course of the next year. These posters are expected to be larger and cover a space of approximately three to five meters (9.8 to 16.4 feet).

Simple, effective, revolutionary: V-Lock is the perfect keyhole

Some inventions struggle because they're too complicated to explain. The V-Lock, on the other hand, is gonna do great, because it's instantly understandable even without an explanation, hugely useful and forehead-slappingly simple. Everyone who's ever unlocked a door in the dark will understand the problem and designer Junjie Zhang's clever solution in a flash. We love it and we'll take a dozen please.

Via: Yanko Design.

Barcelona Moon team enters Lunar X PRIZE

Barcelona Moon, a new Spanish team led by entrepreneur Xavier Claramunt, has officially announced its entry into the ongoing $US30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE. To win the Grand Prize, a team must soft land a privately-funded spacecraft on the moon, send a rover at least 500 meters out onto the moon’s surface, and transmit a specific set of video, images and data back to Earth. The as-yet-unnamed Spanish rover, appropriately enough, looks rather like a sombrero.

Xavier Claramunt is an entrepreneur whose Galactic Suite Design company is the driving force behind the proposed Galactic Suite Spaceresort. His team consists mainly of researchers from Spain’s Centre for Aerospace Technology and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) - Barcelona Tech. Students from UPC are also involved in one of the competing teams, the open-source FREDNET team.

“The real goal of our team is to promote, in accordance with the reality of the sector, a widening involvement of private initiative in the development of space technology and industry, including sectors such as exploration and tourism, developing steps and synergies for longer term plans for an appropriate exploitation of space” said Claramunt.

The X Prize Foundation’s Nicole Jordan told us that there are now 21 teams taking part in the competition. The $20 million Grand Prize is up for grabs until December 31st, 2012, After that, the Grand Prize will drop to $15 million and second will get $5 million. The final deadline is December 31, 2014.

More info at the Google Lunar X-Prize site.

World's longest sniper kill - 2.47km twice!

The sniper is without doubt the most feared combatant in any theater of war, the best of whom have an array of skills far beyond simply being able to hit human targets at a distance. Snipers are the most cost effective way of killing the enemy. Individual snipers routinely account for more kills than entire battalions operating in the same place at the same time, hit the target almost every time, and each bullet costs around €2. Whatsmore, snipers inflict a psychological terror on an enemy force that restricts its ability to operate effectively – when elite snipers are operating, they are invisible close up, and can strike from enormous distance, so nowhere is safe. Indeed, an elite sniper's skills cannot be assessed with a single measurement, so the “longest confirmed kill” record stands as the pseudo world championship for military combat riflemen, and as of now there's a new outright champion - using an Accuracy International L115A3, British Corporal Craig Harrison killed two Taliban with consecutive shots at a distance of 2.47 kilometres (8120 ft) in Helmand Province, Afghanistan last November (2009). He then fired a third shot and hit the Taliban's PKM machinegun in perhaps the most prodigious feat of marksmanship in military history.

If you're wondering why it took so long for Harrison's kill to be made public, (it was made last November and only became commonly known in the last few days), understand that the publicity such a feat brings may not necessarily be wanted, or healthy, particularly if you are still "in theater". Harrison, who also survived a bullet passing through his helmet, and two broken arms from an IED explosion, has now finished his tour of duty and the story can be told.

The previous longest kill by Canadian Army Corporal Rob Furlong had been spoken of by soldiers in hushed tones for five years before it fell upon the ears of a reporter and become public knowledge and his name revealed.

Harrison's feat is clearly the stuff of legend.

The previous record holder - Furlong - killed an al-Qaeda fighter from 2.43 km during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan in 2002. Furlong's shot was also legendary – he made military history. There would not be any military personnel in the world who would not be aware of Furlong's feat, and subsequently Harrison's, and who would not measure that distance off towards the horizon every day when they are in a combat zone. Harrison bested it TWICE – with consecutive shots – then fired at and hit the much smaller target of the gun the Taliban had been carrying. This is completely without parallel in military history.

The rifle used by Furlong for his previous record was the “Big Mac”, the McMillan Bros Tac-50 used by Canadian Special Forces and the best .50 sniper rifle in the world.

Like Juan Manuel Fangio's car, Valentino Rossi's motorcycle or Sir Donald Bradman's bat, a varying proportion of the glory should also go to the champion's tool of choice – for snipers, the tool of choice is critical, with Harrison using an Accuracy International L115A3 Long-Range rifle – a rifle originally developed by an Olympic gold medalist target shooter which we wrote up two years ago in an article entitled – the best sniper rifle in the world.

Craig Harrison's AI L115A3 cost the British Ministry of Defence GBP23,000 (US$34,000), weighs 6.8 kilograms, and fires an 8.59mm bullet which is heavier than the 7.62mm round of the previous L96 model and hence less likely to be deflected over extremely long ranges. The L115A3 has a five-round magazine, enabling the sniper to fire five rounds rapidly, though that would almost never happen.

The L115A3 has an adjustable cheek piece to comfortably align the shooter's eye with scope, and a folding stock so the rifle can be more easily carried in a backpack.

It comes with an adjustable bi-pod stand and a suppressor to reduce the flash and noise of the gun – once the enemy knows where a sniper is, he too becomes a target – and a scope, in this case a 25 X magnification S&B 5-25x56 day scope.

In extremely skilled hands, the L115A3 can hit a human-sized target from 1400 meters (even at that range, it hits harder than a .44 Magnum does in the same room), which means Harrison's shots put him in almost superhuman company, as he almost doubled that distance, in combat, and killed a first then second Taliban with consecutive shots, then took a third shot at the PKM machinegun they unfortunate pair had been carrying with the intention of disabling it – the gun was hit but damage could not be assessed.

Firing one bullet with that accuracy over more than a mile and half, has never been recorded previously – Harrison did it three times running. Though the bullet leaves the barrel at three times the speed of sound, it still takes more than two and a half seconds to travel that distance. Though the day was clear and still and in thin mountain air, Harrison still had to aim six feet higher than the targets, and two feet to the left to allow for the gentlest of breezes and bullet fall.

If the world of the military sniper is intriguing to you, I can suggest an excellent new book on the subject written by Hans Halberstadt entitled “Trigger Men” I just spent seven and a half hours listening to the audio book though, go figure, exactly the same book is much cheaper in printed form, despite the cost of paper and printing and binding and schlepping and postage.

The book more than adequately kept my brain busy during an international flight and covers the exploits of the modern sniper with hours of anecdotes from Iraq and other recent wars. Halberstadt spoke with some of the most revered names in sniping history to put the book together – names such as Carlos Hathcock II, who recorded 93 kills, including one of 2.29 kilometers during the Vietnam war, and Sgt James Gilliland, who also pulled off one of the most remarkable kill shots ever recorded in a strong breeze. The role of the sniper has changed, and this book explains why.

Maingear claims fastest 15″ HD gaming notebooktitle with eX-L 15

Maingear has recently unveiled what it claims to be the fastest 15" gaming laptop on the market. Offering top-of-the-line components while still allowing for several customization options, the new eX-L promises to satisfy even the most demanding of hardcore gamers.

The MAINGEAR eX-L run on either a powerful 45 nanometer quad-core processor or the newly released 32 nanometer Intel Core i5 and i7 for improved battery life.

In charge of the graphics department is the powerful 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon 5870, well suited to the task of rendering graphics on the 1080p LED backlit display. To sustain even the most processing-heavy tasks without overheating, MAINGEAR implemented a dual heatpipe cooling design for both the CPU and GPU with Artic Cooling thermal paste.

As for connectivity, the usual DVI, HDMI, and S/PDIF audio out are included along with eSata, Firewire, 4 USB ports and a webcam.

The base base model - 1600x900 display, Intel Core i5 2.4GHz processor 4GB RAM, 250GB HD - sells for $1,599, although the many customizations can add in performance (and cost) to accommodate the users' requirements.

The eX-L 15 is available directly from the MAINGEAR website.

• CPU: Intel Core i5/i7 Processors
• Memory: 4GB Kingston DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM (Dual Channel)
• Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5
• Display: 15.6" 16:9 LED back-lit 1600×900 with 1920×1080 option
• Storage: Configurable (including several SSD options)
• Optical drive: DVD and Blu-ray burner options
• Operating system: Windows 7 Premium

Pure Internet radio threesome head for the U.S.

British digital and internet radio enthusiasts have enjoyed the quality sound and cool styling of PURE products for a good while now. Happily, the company has just announced that three of the range first announced at CES 2010 will shortly be available to U.S. customers. The award-winning EVOKE Flow, the independence-inducing Oasis Flow and the Siesta Flow bedside companion are leading the charge, with others following a little later.

PURE's Internet and digital radios will undoubtedly raise a smile thanks to their cool retro styling but should also please those who want, as Paul Smith (general manager of PURE worldwide) puts it: "the best in terms of value, features, design and quality." The company announced the creation of its U.S. wing at CES 2010 and promised to deliver its range sometime in 2010.

True to its word, PURE has announced availability from July 1 for three of its products showcased during the tech event. The award-winning EVOKE Flow will be priced at US$229 and features integrated 802.11b/g WiFi for access to the thousands of Internet radio stations as well as any media streaming computers, FM 87.5-108 MHz tuner with Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) support and an auxiliary input for connection to a portable music player (for when users are out of streaming range). There's also a full drive three inch speaker, touch sensitive controls and a high contrast OLED display.

At US$249, the rugged, rechargeable Oasis Flow is built with the outdoor life in mind. Waterproof and splash resistant (even the detachable aerial is rubberized) and benefiting from a 10W full range four inch drive unit, it offers all of the connectivity of the EVOKE in a grab and go portable package.

Styled very much like an eighties alarm clock radio, the compact Siesta Flow weighs in at US$139 and comes with access to a different weird and wonderful Internet alarm sound for every day of the year, up to four independent alarms and a selection of ambient sounds to go to sleep to. It'll give 2.3W per channel output from each of its speakers, charge any device connected to its USB PowerPort and like the device's above, is WiFi-enabled and receives FM with RBDS and RadioText support.

All of the Flow range has access to PURE's radio and media portal, the Lounge, where users can organize and synchronize favorite internet radio stations as well as search through recommendations and popular picks. Various accessories to complement the range will also be available.

The company has also announced that its flagship Sensia radio and Sirocco 550 sound system will also enjoy a U.S. release with pricing and availability for each announced shortly.

The world's most expensive speeding ticket

Authorities around the world have long puzzled how to effectively deter those who would endanger innocent lives by driving recklessly on public roads. Car confiscation laws are now in place in many jurisdictions within America, Canada, Australia, Holland, Israel, South Africa and Poland, and in Iran you can have your car confiscated if it is carrying a pet or an inadequately covered female or playing loud music – indeed, in Iran, you can even be imprisoned and flogged for driving offenses. Maybe that would be preferable for some, compared to what happened to this guy.

Whilst those of us fortunate enough to live in civilized countries may consider such punishments overly harsh, at least they punish the perpetrator. Many punishments in countries we consider civilized are now targeting the owner of the car rather than the perpetrator.

In Perth, Australia, we recently saw a US$200,000 Lamborghini impounded although it was being driven by a mechanic who had just serviced the vehicle – the Doctor who owned the car had no knowledge of what was being done with his vehicle but he still paid the price, losing the use of his vehicle for some period of time before it was returned.

Similarly, when F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was leaving the Albert Park circuit after practice for the first race of the 2010 season, he did a burn-out in his AMG Mercedes courtesy car and got that impounded. In most countries in the world, he'd have been cheered by the constabulary, but in the Australian State of Victoria, where the powers-that-be have declared war on "hoons", the wallopers were forced to book him.

Some jurisdictions give the cars back after impounding them for a period of time, though in Holland, the car can be confiscated permanently and that's just what happened a few weeks back when a 20-year old who had borrowed his dad's car, was booked for doing double the speed limit – 160 kmh in an 80 kmh zone.

That was just far enough over the limit to permanently lose the vehicle he was driving, and win him the world record for the most expensive speeding ticket in history, even if it was effectively being paid by his father – he was driving pop's Bugatti Veyron worth EUR1.8 million!

As far as we can determine, the car is gone for good, and dad is no doubt having a few stern words with junior, despite dad's long term association with motorsport.

The owner of the Veyron, with whom we thoroughly sympathize, is none other than technology entrepreneur Michel Perridon, the founder and CEO of Trust International, manufacturers of some of Europe's best selling computer peripherals.

Michel is a long time sponsor of motorsport and only last year Trust International was sponsoring the Red Bull Formula One team. That's F1 ace Mark Webber, Red Bull F1 Team Leader Christian Horner and wunderkind Sebastien Vettel holding a Trust International Red Bull computer mouse in the photo.

Truly, we do feel sorry for Michel – he wasn't even driving the car, yet if there's an upside, and we think there might be, it's that we think he can legitimately claim the record for himself - after all, he paid the fine. Whatsmore, he isn't going to lose the record soon. If we adjust the world's-most-expensive-speeding-ticket going forward to take inflation into account, it's gonna be a loooong time before he relinquishes the title.

The previously most expensive speeding ticket on record was handed out earlier this year in Switzerland where speeding fines are calculated on your net worth, as opposed to flat penalties which do not seriously deter the mega-wealthy.

The record holder was a diplomat from the republic of Guinea-Bissau caught driving a Ferrari Testarossa at 137 kmh (85 mph) through a village in Eastern Switzerland. The penalty was calculated as a percentage of the motorist’s wealth – assessed to be 24 million Swiss francs by the court – and the seriousness of the offense, his record and… the speeding ticket totalled nearly US$290,000 – a King's ransom for most, but a trifle in comparison to Perridon's fine – and he wasn't driving the car. In this case the perpetrator claimed diplomatic immunity for his offense, it only succeeded in saving him from being named, not from being fined.

The previous world record ticket was set in 2002, held by Jussi Salonoja, the then 27-year-old heir to a northern European meatpacking empire. In Finland, the fines for speeding offenses are levied against the annual income of the driver. Salonoja earned US$11.5 million in 2002, which resulted in a fine of around US$200,000.

So our suggestion is that Michel is now the rightful record holder, and despite the gravity of the offense, it wasn't his fault, so there's a degree of latitude that should be afforded him in how he wears his crown.

Trust appears to have dropped its Red Bull F1 sponsorship for 2010 (before this incident), but in winning the title of “the world's most expensive speeding ticket” perhaps Trust could issue a commemorative mouse so the unfortunate Perridon might be able to recoup his losses. And perhaps it should carry the inscription, "the road is not a racetrack."

And so far as the prosecution of innocent parties, let's make sure that the person who commits the crime serves the time. It was not the Lamborghini-owning Perth Doctor or Michel Perridon who should be paying the price, but the people behind the wheel.

More than a million lives are lost each year on public roads across the globe - in the words of Adam Smith, "mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent."