SONY ROLLY DANCING MUSIC PLAYER

Sony has come up with a music player that dances to its own tunes. The new rolling egg-shaped digital music player swivels, flaps its ends, and flashes colorful lights in time to music and is priced at US$354.

Christened the Rolly, which weighs just 300 gram and will hit the markets in Japan on September 29, 2007. The Rolly comes with stereo speakers, 1 Gigabyte of internal flash memory, and a battery good for about five hours of music.

Small enough to sit on a palm, Rolly comes with sensors that recognize which way is up, allowing volume to be controlled by turning the player clockwise or counterclockwise, and tunes to be switched by pushing or pulling it on the floor.

The Rolly turns and stops flapping its wings, and spins to become a blurry circle. Sony has said that packaged moves to tunes will be available as downloads from the company website and users can also use a special program on a personal computer that analyses music to come up with simple choreography that appears to match the rhythm of the songs.

The motion programs would be sent to the Rolly from the PC by Bluetooth. The Rolly, which plays MP3 files, Sony's own audio format called Atrac as well as songs from CDs, can store more than 600 songs.

The Rolly is already seeing some some robotic competition, in Japan, from a rolling machine that moves to music from the hit iPod players of rival Apple Inc. The device comes from Japanese robot maker ZMP Inc.'s Miuro, which looks like a white ball caught between an egg, wheels about in time, with music from any iPod able to lock onto the machine.

SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is a sub orbital spacecraft currently under development by The Spaceship Company (a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites). It forms part of Tier 1b, a two-stage to suborbital-space manned launch system. Virgin Galactic plans to use this for their space tourism venture. The ship in development has been christened VSS Enterprise. The name is an acknowledgement to the USS Enterprise from the Star Trek television series.

It is based on SpaceShipOne, developed by Scaled Composites which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004 for launching a privately-funded reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. The SpaceshipTwo is designed to carry six passengers and two pilots to an altitude of approximately 110 km (360,000 ft). This will be 10km higher than the altitude achieved by SpaceShipOne. The officially defined “boundary of space” is 100km. The SpaceshipTwo will reach a speed of approximately 4000 kmph, using a single hybrid rocket motor, which runs on a rubber-based solid fuel and nitrous oxide oxidizer.

For returning to earth, the SpaceshipTwo uses a technique called feathered reentry. In this system, the spacecraft itself changes the shape of its wings so as to make it less streamlined. This causes more atmospheric gas particles (which are still present at 100km altitude) than otherwise, to hit the spacecraft, increasing drag. This allows the reentry deceleration to occur at a higher altitude and greatly reduces the forces and heating on the structure. Also, the ship, in the feathered configuration, will align itself automatically such that the pilot has a less-critical flight control task. Burt Rutan describes this as "care-free reentry". This is different from the shuttle which re-enters at speeds in excess of 25000 kmph which necessitates heat shields. At approximately 60,000 feet, SpaceshipTwo’s wings are re-configured into their original position allowing for an unpowered (glide) landing back at the spaceport.

The spacecraft is launched mid-air and is carried to launch altitude aboard its mother-ship, the WhiteKnightTwo(WK2). WK2 is an aircraft with a wingspan similar to a B29 bomber ( around 43m) , powered by 4 Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines. It will carry the SpaceshipTwo to an altitude of 15200 m (50000 ft), from where it is dropped. The spacecraft will then fire its hybrid rocket motor to boost it to space.

The spaceline is expected to start operations in late 2008 or early 2009. 100 tickets were initially made available at a cost of $200000 each. After the first 100, the price will drop to $100000 and after the first year, it will drop to $20000. The flight will last 2 ½ hours. Passengers will experience 5 minutes of weightlessness and will be able to experience it unhindered by any seat-belts. There are also a large number of portholes from which the passengers can observe the curvature of the earth. During the initial boost phase, the passengers will experience accelerations of 3 to 4 Gs and up to 6 Gs (for a very short period) during reentry.

The SpaceShipTwo craft along with its mothership will take off from the Mojave Spaceport in California during testing. Spaceport America (formerly Southwest Regional Spaceport), a $200 million spaceport in New Mexico partly funded by the government will become the permanent launch site when commercial launches begin. Weekly launches are planned.

The craft is currently 60% completed and is expected to be finished in June 2008 with first test flights in July. The Scaled Composites SpaceShipThree is a proposed orbital spaceplane to be developed by Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites if SpaceShipTwo is successful. Early reports suggest it will be capable of orbital flight, and possibly able to dock with space stations. SS3 would be part of Scaled Composites/Virgin Galactic's Tier Two program of orbital spaceflight.

Microsoft's LucidTouch see-through touchscreen unveiled

10 March 2008

The recent Microsoft Techfest showcased a range of new technologies including LucidTouch, a mobile device that allows the user to control the application by touching the back of the see-through device.

Banking on technology called pseudo-transparency, LucidTouch makes use of overlaying an image of the user’s hands onto the screen and created the illusion of the mobile device itself being semitransparent. This pseudo-transparency allows users to accurately acquire targets while not occluding the screen with their fingers and hand.

The device, part of Microsoft's annual display of research projects at the company, reportedly supports multi-touch input, allowing users to operate the device simultaneously with all ten fingers. This device actually sees, reflects and responds to the user’s fingers touching the back of the device.

Though seen as a large handheld computer with a small video camera attached on an arm about a foot's length off the back of the device, the current form of LucidTouch has a technology that enables it could easily change now that the concept is proven. LucidTouch boasts of a touch sensor layer on its back which senses when a user's fingers are touching it. The camera attached behind it sends an image of the user's fingers to the device, where the image is overlaid lightly, like a shadow, on the screen.

In the future, the camera arrangement in the prototype might be replaced by a couple of other technologies, including one that another group is working on that would use infrared to pick up finger movements.

Yamaha YZF-R15 will debut in India in the later half of 2008 at an expected price of Rs 90,000 on-road Delhi.

3 March, 2008

The YZF-R15 wil be the first motorcycle in India with six gears after the old venerable Yamaha RD 350. Good that the new one too is coming from Yamaha. After the iconic Yamaha RX 100 which came to India in the 90s (or was it before that?) Yamaha has consistently managed to play the mileage game instead of the performance game. And lost.

The new direction is what everyone has been waiting for from Yamaha. Forget the six gears – the greatest thing about the Yamaha YZF R15 is its looks. Very like the Yamaha R1 superbike, which is also now available in India anyway as a high priced flagship motorcycle. The Yamaha YZF-R15 was shown to the Indian pubic for the first time at the Auto Expo. And it took the collective breath of India's motoring press away.

The YZF-R15 is India's first fully faired motorcycle. So far the closest we have come to a full fairing in India is the Karizma and the Pulsar models – which have that half fairing. But the fully faired YZF-R15 can make the Karizma and Pulsar models pee in their fairings.

This one is pretty much international, extremely well designed – and get this – there will be a little piece of plastic that will fit snugly over the rear seat giving your r15 motorcycle that single-seater look. What else have we got? You get a steel Deltabox twin-spar frame, digital speedometer and tachometer, tubeless tyres, clip-on handlebars.

You have the close ratio six speed gearbox, 150ccs, liquid cooling, and a massive 18-22 bhp (massive by Indian standards). The 4-valve engine will use fuel injection, and you get both emission haven and power too. Stopping power is provided by the single disc brakes in front and back. Front suspension is traditional, but you have a monoshock at the back.

And them most important factor – price. No official figures have been given so far, but rumors say it would cost Rs 90,000 max on-road in Delhi – add a couple of thousands more for Mumbai. What are the negatives that might creep in by the time the YZF-R15 hits the road?

For one the price might be higher. That would be a dampener for many. Two, expect Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto to try and out-punch the Yamaha YZF-R15 – both in price and power. If Yamaha can really manage a price of 90,000 on road for a 18-22 bhp motorcycle, sure Bajaj and Hero Honda too can do the same. And that might steal a bit of the the YZF-R15's thunder. No matter, we don't think they will easily match the R1-esque looks of the YZF-R15. Expect news on the final pricing and launch dates by June-July 2008.

After the big news of the upcoming launch of the Yamaha YZF-R15, almost nothing else seems woth your while – and then you see the Yamaha FZ. More than a decade back, I rode around on the streets f Mumbai, shit-scared, on a BMW F650 Funduro. The bike cost more than 4 lakhs, and was an unqualified disaster when it came to sales. But it had a stance which reminded Mumbaikars of a horse – and collected a crowd wherever I parked it.

The Yamaha FZ – they call it a prototype – reminded me of the F650 with its color scheme and upright stance. But the FZ looks more modern for sure. Yamaha says that the FZ is just a prototype. Nobody in the motoring press believes them. Chances are, this 150 cc air-cooled motorcycle will make it into production towards the end of 2008.

You have basically the same engine as the YZF-R15 Yamaha on this motorcycle, but this is more a road-and-track motorcycle than the YZF, which has racing pretensions even in the 150 cc guise. So what you have is a motorcycle that will take on the Pulsars directly, and will tempt the owners of the regular econo-miser 150 cc motorcycles. The Yamaha FZ will hav a 5-speed gearbox which will put some 16-18 bp on the road – enough to become the performance 150cc king. The expected price (absolutely unconfirmed, and based on rumors, etc etc) is Rs 70,000 on-road in Delhi.

One advice: If you can hold on to your motorcycle purchase decision for a while, do so till you hear about the YZF R15 and the FZ from Yamaha. They might both be path-breaking motorcycles in India, and you don't want to feel bad about not buying them. Wait for a bit, it'll be worth it.

Yamaha FZ 150 motorcycle will debut in India in later half of 2008 at an expected price of Rs 90,000 and Rs 70,000 on-road Delhi.

3 March, 2008

After the big news of the upcoming launch of the Yamaha YZF-R15, almost nothing else seems worth waiting for – and then you see the Yamaha FZ 150 cc motorcycle. You can see the official photo f the FZ 150 above - you know what I am talking about.

More than a decade back, I rode around on the streets f Mumbai, shit-scared, on a BMW F650 Funduro. The bike cost more than Rs 4 lakhs, and was an unqualified disaster when it came to sales. But it had a stance which reminded Mumbaikars of a stallion. Crowds gathered wherever I parked it.

The Yamaha FZ revealed for the first time at Auto Expo 2008 – they call it a prototype – reminded me of the F650 with its color scheme and upright stance. But the FZ looks more modern for sure. Yamaha says that the FZ 150 is just a prototype. Nobody in the motoring press believes them. Chances are, this 150 cc air-cooled motorcycle will make it into production towards the end of 2008.

You have basically the same engine as the YZF-R15 Yamaha on the Yamaha FZ 150, but this is more a road-and-track motorcycle than the YZF, which has racing pretensions even in the 150 cc guise.

So what you have is a motorcycle that will take on the Pulsars directly, and will tempt the owners of the regular econo-miser 150 cc motorcycles. The Yamaha FZ 150 will have a 5-speed gearbox which will put some 16-18 bp on the road – enough to become the performance 150cc king. The expected price (absolutely unconfirmed, and based on rumors, etc etc) is Rs 70,000 on-road in Delhi.

One advice: If you can hold on to your motorcycle purchase decision for a while, do so till you hear about the YZF R15 and the FZ from Yamaha. They might both be path-breaking motorcycles in India, and you don't want to feel bad about not buying them. Wait for a bit, it'll be worth it.

Apart from the A-Star concept car, Maruti Suzuki plans to launch another small hatchback, the Suzuki Splash, at the Auto Expo 2008. Suzuki Splash will be positioned between Zen Estilo and Swift and can be called the next generation Wagon R. Splash is expected to be priced around Rs 3.5 lakh, the price of the Wagon R.

The Splash is a great looker - just take a look at the photos of the Splash on this page and you will know what we mean!

A 1.2 litre petrol and 1.3 litre diesel engine will power the Splash. Like the A-Star concept, the Splash will also be an A-segment car and will be produced at Maruti’s Manesar plant. Osamu Suzuki, Suzuki Motor chairman, has said that the premium hatchback Splash will be manufactured in India and will be available in the Indian market by mid-2008. Splash will be launched in Europe and other overseas markets in 2008.

The Suzuki Splash was first displayed at the 2006 Paris motor show and then at the Frankfurt Motor Show. In terms of design, Splash is reminiscent of the Swift and the SX4, which is not surprising considering the styling team for Splash was led by Akira Kamio who was also a critical part of the Swift styling team.

The Splash has been described by Suzuki as a multiutility vehicle for small families. The Suzuki Splash has spacious interiors though the Indian Splash will be functional to the point of being bare with safety features like seatbelt force limiters for the front seat. The dashboard will be fuss free in keeping with the Splash's youthful, fresh look. The Splash also has high seating positions and good visibility.

The engineering shows a judicious use of space. For example, the rear seats of the Splash can be folded back to make a flat load floor and a compartment below for storage. Cute and affordable, the Splash is very likely to make a huge splash in the Indian market.

The Splash is expected to make its Indian debut at the Auto Expo, and price and specs would be hopefully revealed by then.