gizmag

AIRCRAFT DARPA demonstrates robotic landing gear for helicopters Helicopters are versatile machines, but when it comes to takeoffs and landings, they are very fussy creatures. DARPA recently demonstrated a new robotic landing gear system in an unmanned flight that is able to land on broken or uneven terrain with a high degree of safety.  read more OUTDOORS Portable wood-burning stove offers heat on the go UK-based outdoors company Anevay recently unveiled a portable wood-burning stove that looks like it could be a good fit for small-living enthusiasts and off-grid types. The firm says that the Frontier Plus can be safely used in a tiny house, van, tipi, or even a tent.  read more MOBILE TECHNOLOGY Five of the best budget smartphones for 2015 When it's time to pick out your next smartphone, it's always tempting to look at top shelf handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, iPhone 6s or LG G4, but is it always worth spending the extra for premium tech? Here are five smartphones that make a pretty good case for going budget.  read more WEARABLE ELECTRONICS Batband headphones provide ears-free listening Listening to music via headphones can isolate the listener from the rest of the world. The new Batband bone conduction headphones, however, allow users to to still hear what is going on around them. Audio is transmitted through the bones of the skull, while the ears remain uncovered.  read more HOME ENTERTAINMENT B&W rebuilds iconic 800 Series Diamond speakers from the ground up After seven years of research and development, B&W revealed its new 800 Series Diamond speakers late last week, stating that virtually all of the components differ from the previous generation speakers.  read more COLLECTIBLES 40-year-old Aston Martin "barn find" special heads to auction After almost 40 years in storage, an unusual fiberglass-bodied, custom Aston Martin has surfaced. One of only three ever made, this rare vehicle is heading to auction later this year.  read more AUTOMOTIVE Brabus turns up the wick on AMG GT S A lack of power wouldn't be a criticism you'd level at the Mercedes-AMG range, but as per usual, Brabus has seen room for improvement. The company's latest tuning treatment gives the AMG GT S an extra 90 hp (66 kW), and a raft of sinister carbon fiber styling tweaks.  read more WEARABLE ELECTRONICS Responsive sports bra opens up when things get hot and sweaty To show off the potential for its Curie module, Intel teamed up with architectural sportswear designer Chromat to produce two "responsive garments" – a bra and a dress – which change shape is response to the wearer's body temperature, adrenaline or stress levels.  read more SPACE World's first all-electric propulsion satellite goes on line Boeing has announced that the first satellite with all-electric propulsion is now fully operational. Launched last March, the ABS-3A satellite was formally handed over to its owner, telecommunications company ABS, on August 31.  read more COLLECTIBLES 14 "Million Dollar Cars" sell at six auctions in eight days Despite some forebodings that the collectible car market had finally "topped out", it appears that predictions of its demise were somewhat premature. In the last eight days, 14 cars have topped the magic million dollar mark across six auctions.  read more MOTORCYCLES Dainese announces new stand-alone motorcycle airbag jacket The soon-to-be released Misano 1000 leather jacket from Dainese contains a raft of sensors combined with highly-tuned triggering algorithms to produce a full upper-body airbag system for motorcycle riders.  read more OUTDOORS Mannen Caravan project puts a man cave on wheels The Dutch-designed Mannen Caravan lets a man take his man cave on the road. He can tow his retractable TV, beer keg, big-screen projector system and roof-top lounge anywhere the road takes him and set up camp like a king among men.   read more PETS Darwin Tank: The jellyfish aquarium as objet d'art Tanks for keeping jellyfish in a home lack a certain flair, so Belgium's Darwin Sect came up with the Darwin Tank jellyfish aquarium that looks like a high-tech habitat with a touch of old-world charm thrown in.  read more AUTOMOTIVE Honda blends race car and motorcycle into the Project 2&4  After a short teaser campaign, Honda has pulled the cloth off its wicked little Project 2&4. Honda's 2&4 employs an RC213V four-cylinder competition motorcycle engine in opening up the freedom of a motorcycle with the handling and stability of a car.  read more SCIENCE Anti-counterfeiting 3D barcodes could be molded into products Although barcodes are currently utilized mainly to keep track of merchandise, they may soon also be used to detect counterfeit goods. We're not talking about ordinary barcodes, however. Instead, scientists have devised a new 3D barcode that's actually molded into plastic or composite items.  read more SCIENCE Bioelectronic nose sniffs out bacteria in water Researchers from Seoul National University have developed a "bioelectronic nose" that could be used on location to detect bacteria in water. It is reportedly more sensitive than existing techniques.  read more MOTORCYCLES How much of a MotoGP winner does the $184,000 RC213V-S buy? Honda launched the online pre-ordering platform for the RC213V-S on July 13, and in less than two months the whole production run of 213 bikes has been sold out. With the bike’s full spec sheet in hand we take a closer look at what is on offer from Honda’s road-legal MotoGP replica.  read more MUSIC V-Moda loses the cables with latest Crossfade Wireless headphones The V-Moda Crossfade Wireless over-ear headphones are the company’s first Bluetooth-enabled product after so many years of cable-only models. The Crossfade Wireless is designed to offer virtually-identical analog and wireless playback while maintaining V-Moda’s iconic silhouette.  read more SPACE ESA's Mars Express orbiter captures stunning image of Martian landscape During a planned calibration maneuver, ESA's Mars Express spacecraft has captured a stunning shot of a huge swathe of the Martian environment. The image, snapped on February 25, captures a number of impressive features present on the surface of the Red Planet.  read more SPACE SpaceX shows off Crew Dragon interior SpaceX is giving the public a look at the interior of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Sporting a minimalist design, it's intended to not only provide safety, but a considerable degree of comfort.  read more MOTORCYCLES Kawasaki to unveil new race-oriented Ninja ZX-10R superbike Kawasaki has teased its 2016 Ninja ZX-10R with a partial image and some rudimentary info. Scheduled for presentation in October, the new superbike will be a race biased evolution of the current model in an effort to further cement its dominance in the World Superbike Championship.  read more AUTOMOTIVE Lotus 3-Eleven posts 7-minutes 06-seconds lap-time splits at Nürburgring Nordschleife  Lotus debuted the 3-Eleven at Goodwood earlier this year, calling the car its "quickest and most expensive series production car ever." But just how quick is it? To find out, the carmaker has been testing the 3-Eleven at the Nürburgring, and it turns out it's faster than even Lotus thought.  read more SPECIAL PROMOTION FOR GIZMAG READERS 4-Star Rating by PC Mag, Enjoy Topflight Internet Security & Blistering Fast Connections at 89% OFF Surf the web with ultimate peace of mind – both at home and on the road – over proXPN’s fully-encrypted, lightning-fast servers. Your lifetime premium subscription gets you unlimited bandwidth on their ultra-private global server network and complete online anonymity—it even unblocks geo-locked content so you can browse freely around the world.  read more