Technology in the news – Articles from 2011

2012 onwards | 2011 | 2010

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Viewing 151 to 165 of 192 articles

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CNN News article, 14 October
What if buildings had lungs that could absorb carbon emissions from the city and convert them into something useful? What if they had skin that could control their temperature without the need for radiators or air-conditioning? What if buildings could come "alive?"
Discussion starters:
• Architectural Technology: biological programming; protocel
• Manufacturing Technology: scale-up issues
Stuff.co.nz article, 17 October
Tucked down a driveway in the Wellington suburb of Newtown, alongside a bowling club and the SPCA, two high school mates are quietly building a niche but thriving manufacturing business. They are the business and design brains behind Calibre Equipment, which makes machines for grading and testing timber.
Discussion starters:
• Nature of Technology: sociocultural influences - regulatory compliance; economic gains
• Marketing strategies: international licencing
Stuff.co.nz article, 17 October
Eco-hamlet developer Andy Duncan reckons he has found a neat balance between a "beard-o weirdo hippie commune and a straight-line subdivision" with his rural Masterton housing development, Totarabank.
Discussion starter:
• Design in Technology: planning sustainable communities
NZ Herald online article, 17 October
John Brown designed the new Matangi trains for Wellington, where he grew up, and was one of two final contenders for the Metro electric train fleet in Auckland, where he was born and spent his early years in the shadow of One Tree Hill. Brown's Sydney-based industrial design business also includes boats, white goods and consumer products. His international clients include battery giants Energizer and Eveready, Danish cookware maker Scanpan and America's VeriFone, one of the world's leading producers of retail and banking transaction terminals.
Discussion starter:
• Design in Technology: Human factors in design
BBC news online, 17 October
Plugging gadgets into a socket in the wall, or loading them with batteries - or maybe even unfurling a solar panel - is how most of us think of getting electricity. But what about plugging them into your body? A group from the University of Grenoble have built a device to do just that.
Discussion starter:
• Energy technology: Biofuel cells
Stuff.co.nz article, 21 October
Built to simulate a human being, SimMan 3G is helping to train medical professionals at Waikato hospital's Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre. Designed to simulate a range of medical situations, the SimMan 3G can quickly become a she.
Discussion starters:
• Digital Technologies: human-robot interaction
• Technological Systems: wireless control; simulation technology
Stuff.co.nz article and video, 21 October
Canterbury University students have "trained" robots to perform the haka in time for the Rugby World Cup final. The four computer science interns used the Kinnect program to mimic human movement. This movement is then directly mapped to the robots.
Discussion starters:
• Digital Technologies: human-robot interaction
• Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: 'proper' and 'alternative' function
Stuff.co.nz article, 21 October
In the biggest study so far, Danish researchers have found no evidence of any link between cellphones and cancer, suggesting that billions of people who are rarely more than a few inches from their phones have no special health concerns.
Discussion starter:
• Consumer safety: product evaluation; testing and trialling
TVNZ Business News interview, 25 October
If you can dream it up, odds on Ponoko can make it. Using Ponoko.com systems you can design online or customise an existing design, then they'll make it and send the finished product back to you.
Discussion starters:
• Digital Fabrication Technologies: Design tools; CAD softwar
• Manufacturing Technology: distributed manufacture
NZHerald online article, 27 October
Latest research shows that gaming is no longer just for moody teenagers, geeks or boys who like their toys. Today's gamers are more likely to be in their 30s - and almost half of them are female.
Discussion starter:
• Gaming Technology: demographics; 'snack gaming'
Idealog Daily Bacon article, 27 October
Torino, Seoul and Helsinki have all earned it in the past, but now congratulations is being sent to the city of Cape Town, which has been named World Design Capital 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. The honour is awarded to cities based on their commitment to use design as an effective tool for social, cultural and economic development.
Discussion starter:
• Urban design: infrastructural enhancement; social responsibility; sustainability
TVNZ News article, 27 October
Geo-engineering technology to absorb climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere can be rolled out by 2018 according to the UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The institution is demonstrating the air capture technology, resembling a giant fly swat, which is a thousand times more effective at absorbing carbon dioxide from the air than a tree of the same size.
Discussion starter:
• Global warming: geo-engineering solutions
BBC online news article, 31 October
Imagining the future, we naturally think of it as a different place to the one we live in now. It is populated with new technologies, advanced science and perhaps even a more evolved version of humanity. But who are the architects of this future, whose ideas will shape the coming reality?
Discussion starter:
• Nature of Technology: process of invention; futurism - prediction techniques; culturomics
NZ Herald online article, 2 November
Parents of teenage downloaders could be in for a shock, with fans of female pop stars Lady Gaga and Rihanna the first targets of new attempts to crack down on internet piracy.
Discussion starter:
• Intellectual property : ethical issues; legal requirements
NZ Herald online article, 2 November
An Auckland company says a "stealth wetsuit" it has helped to develop will allow scuba divers and spear fishermen to get closer to marine life. Glenfield-based textile and apparel firm FOB Direct worked with a mill in Taiwan to develop a carbon fabric called the Hecs Stealthscreen.
Discussion starters:
• Manufacturing Technology: innovation in textile technology
• Characteristics of Technological products: material properties and performance characteristics

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