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It's a sports car few people will be able to get their hands on. In production since last December, only 500 Lexus LFAs will be produced and they were already sold out in early June 2010 (see photo below). But it's not just its top speed of 325 kilometres per hour that's attracting buyers. The car is being used as a test bed for newly-designed parts made from carbon fibre and plastic. Compared to steel or aluminium, it makes the car stronger and lighter but producing these components is much more time-consuming: only one car is currently being assembled per day. One of the key technologies being used is a high-tech circular loom, guided by lasers, that can weave 3D objects (see video above). The machine's futuristic design attracted lots of media attention two years ago, but the video was pulled for fear it would expose company secrets. Now Lexus is revealing how the loom is being used to create complex 3D parts with varying thicknesses and curved shapes. For example, it can create roof rails by weaving fibres around a core, two layers at time, until twelve layers later a hollow roof rail is produced. The piece can then be moulded and injected with resin to create the finished part. The machine was also used to create the car's chassis and front pillars as well as the steering wheel.

A study appearing Feb. 10 in Science Express calculates the world's total technological capacity to store, communicate and compute information, part of a Special Online Collection: Dealing with Data. The study by the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism estimates that in 2007, humankind was able to store 2.9 × 1020 optimally compressed bytes, communicate almost 2 × 1021 bytes, and carry out 6.4 × 1018 instructions per second on general-purpose computers. General-purpose computing capacity grew at an annual rate of 58%. The world's capacity for bidirectional telecommunication grew at 28% per year, closely followed by the increase in globally stored information (23%). Humankind's capacity for unidirectional information diffusion through broadcasting channels has experienced comparatively modest annual growth (6%). Telecommunication has been dominated by digital technologies since 1990 (99.9% in digital format in 2007), and the majority of our technological memory has been in digital format since the early 2000s (94% digital in 2007).

A polymer that mends itself could lead to medical implants or engine parts that fix themselves.

The founder of Palm, Jeff Hawkins, solves the mystery of Artificial Intelligence and presents his theory at the RSA Conference 2008. He gives a brief tutorial on the neocortex and then explains how the brain stores memory and then describes how to use that knowledge to create artificial intelligence. This lecture is insightful and his theory will revolutionize computer science.

A must read! Learn how Mobile Device Management for Android like Scalefusion helps businesses to easily track, locate and manage company-owned Android devices deployed for work as part of an Enterprise Mobility program.

Mobility is not a buzzword anymore and is counted as an essential factor towards digital transformation for a business. Know how Mobile Device Management Solution is catalyzing digital transformation and allowing businesses to drive mobility to the core.

"For the first time, researchers power an implantable electronic device using an electrical potential - a natural battery - deep in the inner ear."

"All of D-Lab's classes assess the needs of people in less-privileged communities around the world, examining innovations in technology, education or communications that might address those needs. The classes then seek ways to spread word of these solutions - and in some cases, to spur the creation of organizations to help disseminate them. Specific projects have focused on improved wheelchairs and prosthetics; water and sanitation systems; and recycling waste to produce useful products, including charcoal fuel made from agricultural waste."

An amateur gunsmith, operating under the handle of "HaveBlue" (incidentally, "Have Blue" is the codename that was used for the prototype stealth fighter that became the Lockheed F-117), announced recently in online forums that he had successfully printed a serviceable .22 caliber pistol. Despite predictions of disaster, the pistol worked. It successfully fired 200 rounds in testing.