Machine To Make Drinking Water from Toilet Waste

A new invention, being funded by billionaire Bill Gates, aims to turn used toilet water into drinking water, a British nanotechnology expert says.

According to Manchester University's Sarah Haigh, the invention could make waste water from toilets safe to drink, the Daily Mail reported.

She believes a new range of materials could extract energy from human waste.The innovation could transform the lives of millions of people in the Third World.

The researcher says, even if the result may not be bottled mineral water but it could be the difference between life-and-death in regions without clean water.

She said: "I get a lot of comments about the research I do. I don't mind people making jokes as long as they're clean ones.

"There has been a lot of research into biofuels. There is a lot of energy already present in human waste. Nano-scale materials mean that you can harvest the hydrogen and turn it into hydrozene - which is basically rocket fuel."

Samsung's Flexible Display Coming in 2012

Samsung has teamed up with Corning to make a bendable Gorilla Glass screen which is much thinner and lighter. Samsung’s YOUM brand which focuses on AMOLED display is now entirely concentrating on flexible displays, which are expected to hit the gadget market by the end of 2012. The company has already displayed a prototype model of its flexible display at CES 2011 and had said that these screens will grace the tablet or smartphones by 2012.

Samsung is already known for their best displays, especially in their tablets. These new screens will be thinner, lighter and unbreakable than present displays. The secret behind the flexible nature of these screens will be its film-based encapsulation and TFT layers, in place on glass. This complete lack of glass substrate removes the brittleness from the display and makes it resistive from breakage.

LG has already launched its flexible E-paper display which is meant to the used in E-book. With the release of bendable displays by Samsung the tablet and smartphone industry will be getting a new face as we will be seeing some good looking wraparound smartphones, foldable tablets and lots of other ‘bendy screened’ gadgets in the market

500 Startups Moving Ahead with Big Money and Big Plans

With over 250 investment ventures in the bag already, 500 startups is taking a huge leap of faith by raising $50 million for the second round of investment. It has been a great year for Dave McClure, founder of 500 startups and company in terms of incubation and expansion. Dave McClure has already been investing in Latin-America and is now planning to spread the roots into Asia, Middle-East and the Eastern European countries. As a step towards the company’s expansion in Asia, a program called ‘Geeks on a Plane Trip to India’ was launched by 500 Startups last December which focuses on learning from startups with great ideas present in Indian market.

Startup entrepreneurs from all around the globe visited India to learn the ways of the business and some colloquial Tricks of Trade.The news of $50 million came along with another sweet sound to the ears of the startups, i.e. a $30 million fund for official investment in startup seed money launched by 500 Startups. McClure and company state that 500 Startups is a successful investment organization, not only in the level of startups but they have also been funding other incubators. Some of these incubators derive their roots from seed accelerator groups like Y Combinator, Techstars, Seedcamp, etc.

According to another ground breaking revelation, Mentors from 500 Startups will also be able to co-invest in its accelerator companies. This is something that not many of the other capital funding firms are doing at the moment. 500 Startups in no longer a one person show as Paul Singh and Christen O’Brien, who were mentoring companies in subjects of customer acquisition and expertise, have been promoted as business partners. O’Brien will be leading business development events and conferences while Singh heads the investment acceleration program as the Data/Metrics Guru. Bedy Yang and George Kellerman will also join the group of partners to expand the business of scouting emerging talent in Latin-America and Japan.

An added feather to the much decorated cap would be a conference called MamaBear that focuses on new technology for Kids and Mothers. The one day event organized by 500 Startups would see guest speakers from Disney, Sesame Street, BabyCenter and many more. With a lot of plans under the sleeves and really big money in the bag, the fresh team of 500 Startups looks all geared up for the long road ahead.

Intel's Rugged 'Studybook' Tablet for Students

Intel has unveiled a new tablet named ‘Studybook’ under its classroom computer series. This new tablet is rugged and is meant to be a classmate for all students. The tablet is loaded with education tools like Intel’s Learning Series software, an interactive e-reader and LabCam applications.

The tablet sports a 7-inch multi-touch LCD screen, 1060 x 600 pixel resolution, front and rear-facing cameras, a microphone, light sensor support and mobile learning environment. It is powered by Intel Atom Z650 processor and can run on either Windows 7 or Android Honeycomb operating system. Some addition specs are 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, 4 GB and 32 GB of internal storage, an accelerometer, an optional light sensor, one USB port, microSD card slot, one opening for a 3G card, audio out and optional HDMI output. For connectivity it has 802.11 b/g/n, optional 3G and optional Bluetooth.

Students today live in a virtual world and this device can give a valid scientific experience for students in emerging economies.

This tuff tablet can handle the carless usage of kids, it can withstand 70-centimeter drop and comes with a rubber band reinforcing the bezel to keep sand and other elements, and it is made of plastic and weighs 525-gram. Price of this tablet is not yet confirmed, it is expected to be around $200 or less.

A Living Robot Who Smiles, Sings Like A Girl!

A Japanese company has created a robot with 65 facial expressions which can talk, sing and can easily be mistaken for a real-life girl at first sight.

The Geminoid F can create smiles and even enigmatic, quizzical expressions, using mechanical actuators underneath her rubber 'skin', the Daily Mail reported.

She can smile, furrow her brows and move her mouth - although she often looks rather dazed. It can also talk and sing - playing recordings, or 'mouthing' other people's voices.

Geminoid F has been produced by Hiroshi Ishiguro, a renowned robot designer at Osaka University in western Japan, whose androids (designed to resemble a human) come with a steep $1.2 million price tag.

But Geminoid F is cheaper -- $110,000 -- which Ishiguro hopes may take the technology closer to the mainstream.

Her creator says his goal is to create a robot that can fool people into believing it is a human being.

Geminoid TMF is equipped with 12 motorised actuators, powered by air pressure, which allow her to 'copy' human facial expressions.

Ishiguro, who has designed several robots made to look like humans in the past - even building one in his own image, says the day is not far when robots could fool us into believing they are human.

Nokia Launches their Cheapest Phone

Nokia, the leading finished mobile manufacturer is now targeting the low-cost mobile market by announcing Nokia 103, an ultra affordable super cheap phone. The Nokia 103 is the cheapest phone ever by the company at a price tag of 1000.

The 103 is designed with dust proof key mat and blue matte finished back. The device comes with series 30 user interface, supports GSM 900/1800, longer battery life up to 11 hours of talk time, up to 27 days of standby time, FM radio, up to 500 phonebooks entries, speaking clock/alarm clock and pre installed games.

Nokia will launch this phone first in Nigeria and will make it available globally in next few weeks. It is expected to be price 1000, but the company hasn’t officially specified its availability and price in India.

Now Charge your Kindle in the Sun

A solar Kindle case lets readers "top up" their gadget simply by leaving it in the sun.The case has a built-in solar panel and battery, which is guaranteed to provide three months of reading time in "normal" sunlight, without dipping into Kindle's own power.

The gadget goes on sale this week, priced at $80, Daily Mail reported Tuesday.Once the gadget's topped up, the SolarKindle diverts power to a backup battery.

Eight hours will fully charge the backup, which offers roughly three weeks' use. The battery also powers an LED light, which can run for 50 hours.

Given that Kindle is built for wireless use, with books and gadgets delivered to the gizmo via wi-fi or cellular networks, it's likely many SolarKindle-equipped e-readers may never be plugged in at all, the newspaper said.

The leather-clad pouch with charger panel and battery comes at quite a premium, though - it's $80, only $30 short of the price of Kindle itself