Watch any space-based Sci-fi program and there will be some engineer complaining to the captain that “the last photon torpedo disrupted the nuclear fusion reactor” or “if we reverse the polarity of the nuclear fusion generator we can travel back in time and get some whales to save earth!”.

Nuclear fusion pops up so often in popular culture, that we forget that researchers are actually working on it at this moment. In fact research is going so well that a unique nuclear fusion test will take place this summer.

Researchers from the University of Washington, with funding from Nasa, are working on a new type of plasma encapsulated in a magnetic field. This material is so powerful that just one grain produces as much energy as a gallon of traditional rocket fuel.

The team behind the research believe that using nuclear fusion to power rockets and space stations would be cheaper and simpler, but also faster with a trip from the Earth to Mars taking just 30 days rather than 4 years if we were to use current fuel methods.

Of course, don’t expect this to happen anytime soon. Still, the potential is there. What do you think?

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The boffins at Fujitsu have have been scratching their heads trying to think of a better purpose for those front facing cameras on our smartphones, tablets and laptops. What they have come up with is a new imaging system which can calculate your pulse and help monitor health.

The system measures the amount of green light, which is absorbed by haemoglobin, reflected from your face to work out your blood-flow and calculate your pulse. The software can work using existing hardware and only requires users to hold still for 5 seconds to make it’s calculations.

Fujitsu aims to have the system adopted by device makers and also hopes it can be implemented to TV’s, mirrors and other household devices. What do you think of the idea, intrigued or not?

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If you’re running Android Jelly Bean on your phone or tablet, you will likely have tried out Google Now. If you haven’t then I strongly suggest you do. I’m currently running Google Now on my phone and I love the fact it can always tell me the shortest route home, the weather for my local area and even tell me if I’m close to the coffee shop I Google’d earlier in the week.

It’s easily my favourite built-in feature of Jelly Bean, and a killer feature for anyone trying to choose between an Android or iOS device right now, but this might not be the case for much longer!

Earlier this week a YouTube video (now removed) appeared showing a very realistic looking advert for Google Now for iOS. Then around the same time Francois Beaufort, a French web developer found pieces of the Google Now puzzle hidden in a development version of Chromium suggesting Windows and Mac OS users could also be getting some Google Now love.

True to form, Google is keeping quiet about both the video and the Chromium leak, but with so much evidence it sure is hard for them to deny.

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Vending machines are super useful. You can grab a cold coke on a hot day, tasty snack in-between meals and, if you’re in Japan, discard lingerie when the need arises.

But what about for those times you need something a little out of the ordinary, like those times you need a custom made candle stick holder, prototype suspension linkage or emergency replacement chess pieces? Now, thanks to the Dreambox, a vending machine will dispense 3D-printed models.

The Dreambox is the invention of 3 students at the University of California, Berkeley. The trio were frustrated that conventional 3D printers weren’t easily accessible so they decided to create their own which can be accessed whenever needed.

Designs can be either sent to the Dreambox via computer or connected USB and once printed a text message is sent to say you can pick your model up. The start-up is currently taking orders for their creation which they hope will be a common site in universities in the future.

What do you think of the concept, intrigued?

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Do you own a busy gambling den and/or casino? Are your staff taking unnecessary “bathroom, breaks”, taking winnings for themselves or cheating the system? Perhaps you just want a more secure, calculating system with little chance of human error? Then what you need is Yaskawa Motoman Robotics new SDA10F blackjack dealing robot.

The sophisticated robot uses its own vision system to recognize cards to aid with dealing and general Blackjack duties. See it in action in the video below:

While this is certainly a cool idea, it likely doesn’t come cheap either. What do you think of this unique robotic Blackjack dealer?

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Back at CES, Samsung announced an all new version of the Exynos processor called the Exynos 5 Octa. Simply put, the 5 Octa is a 8-core CPU which will be used in mobile devices from phones and tablets to possibly even Chromebooks, but it’s not all as open shut as that.

The Exynos 5 Octa is actually made up of 4 Cortex-A15 cores and 4 Cortex-A7 cores, with the cores switching on an off as and when they are needed. For example opening a web-page requires more grunt so the A15′s will kick in, but once the page has loaded the A7′s will take over. Playing graphically intensive games will make use of the A15 side of the Exynos 5 Octa, while video will only need the power of the A7 side.

This LITTLE.big core switching means the processor can run more efficiently and can possibly reduce power drain by as much as 50%.

Samsung has put together a prototype tablet running the Exynos 5 Octa for ARM at MWC, where Engadget have been able to take some video of it in action, as seen below:

What do you think, impressed by the prototype unit or not?

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I remember way back in the day when Casio calculator watches and even TV watches were what was considered “the in thing”, but the latest wave of Smartwatches make those devices look prehistoric. Rumors of an Apple iWatch have been doing the rounds of late and now it appears Samsung is jumping on the Smartwatch bandwagon with a Galaxy watch of its own.

The rumors of a Samsung Smartwatch kicked-off after alleged leaked images turned up on a Korean message board. According to reports the watch will be named the Galaxy Altius and will feature on-board storage, its own AltiusOS and will sport a 500 x 500 resolution display.

Could the Altius arrive in the middle of next month along with the Samsung Galaxy S4? Recently a rumor indicated that an S4, S4 Mini and third non-phone device were all in the works, could this be what the rumor was indicating?

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Late last year, Microsoft introduced the Windows RT-based Microsoft Surface tablet.  Would it be out of the realm of possibility for Microsoft to create an Ultrabook of their own?  With a continued push by Microsoft’s hardware partners into convertible territory, some rumors suggest that an ultrabook convertible/hybrid could be the next obvious step.

Designer Clemente Puertolas feels the same way and has come up with a Surface ultrabook concept of his own. The concept ultrabook has touchscreen capabilities, the power of Windows 8, and an ultra thin design that is even thinner than the Apple MacBook Air.

While touchscreen laptops already exist, Puertolas thinks they are too complicated, fragile and sometimes too thick.  Based on his designs, this Surface Ultrabook concept looks insanely thin and very stylish. Is this an avenue you think Microsoft would be willing to take?

Would they have more success here than they have had with the Surface RT?

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One word that provokes an immediate man grunt: hovercraft.

These amphibious vehicles don’t provide much for aesthetic value, though.  That’s where the Engineers at Mercier-Jones come in. Mercier-Jones have taken to the challenge of developing a lustful hovercraft design that would make any car enthusiast water at the mouth.

Hovercrafts have the ability to be just as comfortable on land as they are on water which makes them desirable.  However the design has always been functional and more boat like in the past.  Mercier–Jones however took some obvious cues from car makers like Audi, Bugatti and Lamborghini and developed a model that would look good anywhere it sat.

The car uses a new directional control system that they claim makes it as easy to drive as a car.  It also has a hybrid powerplant that uses a gasoline engine that powers a series of electric fans.  This hopefully would take care of the other current issue of hovercrafts, noise.  The current version is a two seater so you can take your best lady along with you (or buddy to go tearing up some aquatic land).

At this time Mercier-Jones has not given a release date for the vehicle, but they claim to be able to produce a base model for less than $20,000. Not a bad starting price for such a unique looking craft.

What do you think of this interesting hovercraft, like it or not?

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Samsung is apparently planning on revealing a television at CES 2013 that will take TVs to the next level: see through.

Yesterday, on the Samsung blog, the company showed a picture of a vertically sitting television.  In the picture is a landscape type background which you can see directly through the TV.  While Samsung didn’t give any details about the TV, it did a it did say  “A true innovation of TV design is coming up with an unprecedented new TV shape and timeless design”.

So the questions that will have to wait until next weeks Consumer Electronics Show are, is this tv going to attempt to convert TV to portrait viewing?  Is this truly a see through set, or are they just showing off the realism of the display?

Last year if we recall, Samsung did show off a transparent LCD panel  designed for store windows and kiosks, so this wouldn’t be that much of a stretch considering they did hint that a 46 inch version was in the works.

Check the picture, what is your opinion? If a see-through TV did exist, what practical implications does it have? Would you want one?

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