obvious english

technology

joão lobato
Schweeb Revolution: skycyling through the city
Get inside an individual transport cartridge, comfortably lay your back and choose your destination. You just need to cycle softly and forget the rest to put yourself in movement. If you get bored with television, you have got the option for enjoying a 360º panoramic view above your metropolis, as you are lifted up by a track running through the heart of the city. Welcome to an alternative mean...
sergio coletto
What can be done with diskettes?
The information support became something totally ephemeral during post-modernity. Based on the computers' arrival and their constant evolution, the way we store our data tends to change according to the uprising and diffusion of new technologies. This makes us endlessly migrates bytes in order to not loose texts, photos, videos and so many other files to which we are connected....
benjamin júnior
M11X - music, art and sharing
Mikal Jessie Hameed, also known as M11X, is an American artist with his roots in music and the performing arts. As an artist he does a little of everything - he is an actor, director, video clip producer, sculptor, etc. However, since he established himself in New York, ten years ago, his main work is in production design. His latest work has shown his artistic intervention project: to connect...
benjamin júnior
Extraordinary Weapons of the Nazi Germany - Technologic Progress
During the armed conflicts we can observe the greatest technologic progress. The extra motivation of winning and the search in some areas bring extraordinary progress that would take decades to be reached if the war effort had not happened. The World War II was not an exception. Some of the most notorious progresses began with the German search during this conflict, as, for instance, Russian and American space project...
benjamin júnior
Discovering inexistent sounds with an OTTO
Every object that surrounds us emits small sounds; sudden tremors and vibrations that aren't usually detected by the human ear, product of the activity and movement of daily life....
benjamin júnior
An emotional speech by Steve Jobs
Foto: Paul Sakuma - Associated Press When we watch great figures from afar, we tend to put them a shell or a super-power cape. All of their appearence, which inspires generations, gives them an almost mythical status that a mere mortal is unable to completely understand or reach. However, they too are human and have emotions....
benjamin júnior
Retro futuristic pictures
Several people, throughout history have tried to predict what life would be like in a society in the future. From massive infrastructures, buildings, roads, vehicles to spaceships and outer space habitats....
benjamin júnior
Technological tattoos - fashion or whim?
A new fashion seems to have arisen from the search for new and creative tattoos. Some people have begun to use the space in their bodies to portray their obsession or unconditional love for a brand or technology-related theme. From logos and programming language to keyboard symbols, there is a little bit of everything....
benjamin júnior
Night garden powered by solar energy
At night, this garden, plain during the day, comes alive. Huge flowers light up, changing colors and varying in intensity. At the same time, music is played from somewhere unknown. The atmosphere created is of beauty and tranquility and you could even say we were in a heavenly place. However, we are in one the most troubled places in the world: the Night Garden is located in Israel, in...
seven
An original Christmas Present
The expression "vibrating to the sound of music" has become real. All you need is an electric guitar, an adaptor and two vibrating objects with a long configuration. Isn't it a creative Christmas present?...
benjamin júnior
LHC - the end of the world machine
It seems like, this time, the largest particle accelerator in the world, the LHC - Large Hadron Collider will actually start working. With a budget of 4 billion euros, it is the largest machine on the planet, with a perimetre of almost 27km and a total of 9 300 superconducting magnets in its interior....
andré montejorge
The time machine
What is the origin of matter? What is the universe made of? For many scientists, trying to decipher countless questions like these, can have the unusual answer: "time travel"! But let's explain. Actually, with a project this stratospheric size, worthy of the research involved in it, the CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire), has built the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), the most powerful particle accelerator in the world....
luis soares
The new era of microcelebrities
What defines a celebrity? Showing up in the media and being well-known by the general public, as a cause or consequence of that. We also have local celebrities (the man who works in the butcher shop and is dating a singer), or family celebrities (like the uncle who was a poet and commited suicide when he was young). Whatever the case, being a celebrity means being famous, being part...
benjamin júnior
The wonderful photographs in HDR
Everyone of us has taken pictures and sometimes we stumble upon difficulties in capturing a particular image, especially those that involve great contrast differences, The classic example of taking a photo through a window, for instance. If we want to capture what's going on outside, the entire room becomes dark, whereas if we want the room to be well lit, the exterior explodes into light....
benjamin júnior
"Glass" heart - 3D animation
Hybrid is a company devoted to the creation of medical and scientific images. From 3D models to animations of surgical procedures and the effects of new drugs, Hybrid combines a wide medical knowledge with creativity and artistic competence....
seven
Alternative uses for your laptop
If the computer was one of the biggest technological conquests of the twentieth century, then the portable computer is the icing on the cake. In a small rectangle of reduced width and light weight, made out of plastic or metal, there is an entire world of hidden possibilities. Here are some suggestions of uses that make the laptop an object adaptable to any situation, as strange as it may...
benjamin júnior
Ten nostalgic minutes of ZX Spectrum
As a follow up to the article about the Commodore Amiga, today we are taking a trip even futher back in time and revisiting some of the most remarkable ZX Spectrum games....
seven
MailRail - the underground London mail
In London there's an underground system of mail distribution which served the city for over 140 years, the MailRail. This surprising fact, however, is unknown to most people. The structure is similar to that of a subway, with small carriages moving along tunnels with a 2-metre diameter, as is if they were small mine wagons, which is understandable, given Britain's mining tradition. It seems like a toy, but the...
benjamin júnior
Anatomy of a stroke
When we analyse how much we've evolved in the last twenty years, we realize the gigantic leap we've given into the future. In no other time in history have we been so connected and had such good conditions available to make science cross boundaries and dare to make the impossible possible. I can't imagine what the future will be like a decade from now. In this line of thought,...
andré montejorge
Russian submarine base
Built by the Stalin government in the 50s, this Russian submarine base was extremely secret. Located in the Black Sea, in Balaklava, in the Ukraine peninsula, the fantastic military building is worthy of action movies. Its access was only possible through an underground channel, protected by six-metre thick titanium doors and placs that should guarantee its survival, even in case of a nuclear attack of 100 megatons. After the...
benjamin júnior
Ten nostalgic minutes minutes of Commodore Amiga
The Commodore Amiga was a truly ground-breaking personal computer of its time. With unique and innovative characteristics, it openned the doors to a whole generation of enthusiasts who dared to dream about the future of technology. If you too are one of those people who lived a part of your youth during the late 80s and were lucky enough to have an Amiga, then you probably played some of...
benjamin júnior
Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder
When you think about recording something, you usually have sound or image in mind, but, contrary to what you might think you can record all sorts of other information. John Francis Campbell felt the need to record sun lightthe Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder....
seven
The Ottoman cannon
In the 15th century, a time when artillery was still incipient, the cannon became one of the most feared weapons of the Ottoman empire. Actually, the taking over of Constantinople by the Turkish in 1453 was only possible thanks to the intense use of cannons that destroyed the invincible walls. But the Turkish Ottoman didn't have traditions in the use of artillery and, if it weren't for an ironic,...
seven
Futurama 2 - twenty years later...
In 1964, the World Fair returned to New York, about twenty years after the first event. Taking the opportunity, GM once again marked its presence with its pavilion where it revisited the future with the Futurama II exhibit, in an up-to-date and improved version. This time, though, its forecast didn't have the same twenty-year reach, nor did it limit itself to cities and roads: the future that was idealized...
seven
Futurama - a view of the future
It has always been men's wish to look into the future. It's easy to fantasize about a distant future, filled with striking, utopic inventions. Either way, no one will be alive to see if they'll come true... But it's hard to imagine such innovations happening in a short term. This was the hard task General Motors embraced when it decided to promote the Highways and Horizons exhibit, also known...
seven
Welding masks and fashion
These are the typical welding masks: functional, light, resistant, clean-cut and only with the strictly necessary elements to guarantee its user a safe and comfortable job. But design also reached these industrial accessories and managed to innovate and improve what seemed to have nothing more to invent....
seven
Old payment systems in stores
The Lamson tube, which we've already talked about in this blog, was destined to, among its various uses, carry out payments in shops and other commercial establishments. Distrustful, the owners and managers guaranteed, this way, that the money didn't go through the hands of their employees and went straight to a central financial section where every cash register operation was done and where the control was easier. Many other...
seven
Lamson tube - pneumatic transport system
Even though technological solutions of the past always seem to make us smile condescendingly, when compared to systems nowadays, you have to recognize their craftiness. In some cases you actually need to bend before its visionary spirit and realization ability; in some cases, even, its effectiveness and functionality didn't decrease with time. In the latter category, the pneumatic transport system, also known as the Lamson tube, is included....
seven
The Zero Energy Media Wall
Whoever gets close to the sports complex where the Olympic Games will take place, will stumble into a huge, colourful and sparkly facade. The GreenPix is named appropriately, as it is powered exclusively by a system of photovoltaic cells, which transforms solar light into energy, during the day. At night, that energy is used to light up thousands of small LEDs, that come together to form a colossal flat...
jr
3D Tumours
A new technique that allows us to learn more about the was cells and human tissues organize themselves has begun openning new perspectives to bioengineers, that until very recently would've been unimaginable, in the fields of tumour organization investigation and tissue regeneration....