Posts tagged tech

Supermarket terminal lets you choose your own music to shop to.

New Zealand supermarket Pak ‘N Save is installing the touch terminals at all of its 50 locations, allowing customers to que up music from the supermarkets own database to play while shopping. To avoid misuse of the system, once a song has been selected it can’t be replayed for a couple of hours.

Retailers have been accused by psychologists of pumping out high-tempo music to encourage impulse purchases.

But Jules Lloyd, brand director at Pak ‘n Save’s parent company Foodstuffs, said research showed customers were happier shopping when they were listening to their favourite music.

“And we are all about giving our customers the best experience whilst in store.”

Artificial heart ready for human trials.

French company CARMAT have announced that their artificial heart is scheduled to be implanted into patients in four medical centers around the world. The device completely replaces the patient’s original heart.

The artificial heart consists of two cavities, mimicking the organ’s ventricles, which are separated by a moving membrane that’s hydraulically powered via a special actioning fluid. This membrane reproduces the action of the ventricular wall during contractions, creating blood flow in and out of the device. The system is works in conjunctions with sensors and a microcontroller that continuously adjust the activity of the prosthesis to match the needs of the patient.

Tens of thousands apply for one-way trip to Mars.

Mars One opened applications for their Astronaut Selection Program two weeks ago, with hopes to start sending humans one-way to Mars in 2023.

The company has revealed that 78,000 people from over 120 countries have already applied. Applications are still being accepted for another three months, here.

• Mars One introductory video.
• Mars One opens astronaut selection program.

Autonomous NASA rover released on Greenland ice sheet.

GROVER, which stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, is an autonomous, solar-operated robot that carries a ground-penetrating radar to examine the layers of Greenland’s ice sheet. Its findings will help scientists understand how the massive ice sheet gains and loses ice. 

The robot’s tests on the ice began on May 8, defying winds of up to 23 mph (37 kph) and temperatures as low as minus 22 F (minus 30 C). The tests will continue through June 8. Its trial in Greenland will also serve as a test of using rovers in harsh polar regions to gather data.

• Curiosity collects first ever drilling sample.
• Photo: Oh grow up, Mars rovers.

Samsung hopes for 2020 launch of 5G.

Despite 4G technology still only just reaching many consumers, Samsung have been working on the next generation of mobile data transmission, claiming speeds of up to 1.056 Gbps. By comparison, real world tests on speeds of 4G networks in the US hardly got above 10 Mbps, or 0.01 Gbps.

Samsung said it plans to accelerate the research and development of 5G technologies, including adaptive array transceiver at the millimeter-wave bands, to commercialize those technologies by 2020. 

Is Yahoo trying to buy Tumblr?

According to reports, Yahoo could be preparing to offer up to $1 billion for Tumblr.

Here’s hoping that deal doesn’t go through, I used to love Flickr until Yahoo took it over (Related, this is a great read on that subject). Delicious was good before Yahoo took it over too… And Geocities… And probably many of these 76 companies. Yahoo just shouldn’t have nice things!

Opportunity breaks NASA’s distance record.

The Mars rover Opportunity has clocked up 22.22 miles since arriving on Mars, breaking NASA’s previous record for distance covered on another planet which was previously set in 1972 when two astronauts drove 22.21 miles on the surface of the Moon.

The international record is still held by the Russians, however. In 1973 the then Soviet Union’s remote-controlled Lunokhod 2 rover traveled 23 miles (37 kilometers) on the surface of the Moon.