Volkswagen Demonstrates the 'Temporary Auto Pilot'

This past month in June, Volkswagen; as a part of the 'HAVEit' project presented to the world the “Temporary Auto Pilot” (TAP) system, which allows the car to drive semi-autonomously up to a speed of 130 kilometres per hour on a motorways. The driver has to monitor the vehicle, this technology actually is a link between today’s driver assistance systems and the vision of fully automatic driving for the future.

Research project 'HAVEit' (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport) is basically an EU funded project aimed at increasing driving safety and boosting the European automotive industry in the international market. HAVEit, is a collaboration between 17 partners from the European automotive industry and scientific community. 

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Power Up: Gives Paper Airplane a Motor and Propeller

At some point as a kid or teenager everyone is fascinated with paper airplanes. Despite the hi-tech world we live in, there hasn't been a lot of changes as to how we make and fly our paper crafts. In fact nobody thought of paper airplane in the commercial sense. But now finally we have an add-on to the paper airplane that can make paper airplanes fly for longer and thus making them more exciting. It has been finally empowered with a motor!

A new toy company which calls its self  'Taylor L.L.C.' started up this year with it’s first new product called 'PowerUp – Electric powered paper airplane'. Founder and owner 'Shai Goitein' set up the company as a platform for developing and selling unique and innovative toys.

Cyclocopter Aircraft: Another way to hover and fly.

The human dream of flying has a long history, the aircraft designs we see today are the outcome of all the sacrifice and hardwork of a long list of inventors. On the contrary some designs never made it in the real world because of their complexities and lack of resources. One such aircraft design is the Cyclocopter also called a Cyclogyro. The original idea is know to be almost a century old. Basically, a cyclocopter is similar to a helicopter, it creates lift by means of rapidly moving airfoils. But unlike a helicopter, a cyclocopter's airfoils rotate about a horizontal axis, they continually changing their pitch in order to generate thrust in one single direction.

The idea is not as simple as it sounds and that's the reason no aircraft based on this system made it into real world applications. But that might change for good, a team of researchers at the University of Maryland from the Department of Aerospace Engineering have been working on this concept since 2008. It is a radically alternate concept to conventional helicopters. It can revolutionize vertical flight especially in the field of robotic Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) which have a wide range of military and civilian applications.

Tata builds the world's cheapest house (flatpack)

The TATA group of companies have been gaining a lot of international attention, one reason being its endeavour of buying out Jaguar, Land Rover and Corus Steel, the other being building the worlds cheapest car, the 'Tata Nano'.

The latest thing that's making news from TATA is their latest project of creating the world's cheapest houses dubbed 'Nano homes'.

India is a highly populous country, only second to China and a lot of people live below poverty line. This project from Tata can help a lot of poor people not only in India but around the world. The project is aimed to provide poor families who could not normally afford to own property. Its mainly aimed to eradicate the ever growing slums in cities like Mumbai.

Getting into the details, its a project undertaking from Tata Steel. The house comes with pre-fabricated materials, including roofs, doors and windows. It's basically a kit, which can be erected or assembled. The basic house is so designed to fit in a space of 20 square meters. Materials used in the kit consist of coconut or jute cladding complete with interior layouts. The house will cost a mere Rs.32000 or 500 Euros and can be erected in a weeks time on a patch of land. There is also a larger 30 square meter house which includes optional extras, such as a front verandah and a solar energy system

Ideum MT55: The Thinnest, Largest, Most Powerful Multitouch Table

Ideum, a U.S. based company that's known for designing and creating interactive computer-based exhibits and multitouch installations, has unveiled a new multi-touch table called the MT55, adding to its already existing MT55 PROTouch Table, the major difference being the dimensions and thus the hardware.

LG introduces the world's first 'Glasses-Free' 3D monitor

3D technology has been pretty slow in being a part of our everyday lives, mainly cause of the odd glasses you need wear to view the content, and also because of the high price of the technology. That may not be the case anymore. LG electronics unveiled the world's first Glasses-free 3D monitor with eye-tracking technology. The special feature of the monitor is it utilizes 'eye-tracking technology' to maintain an optimal 3D image from a range of viewing angles, this has been made possible because of the integrated webcam in the top sleeve of the screen.