One of the biggest concerns about traveling to a foreign country is not being able to understand the language. For those desiring to explore the world but nervous about trying to get directions or order food on their trip, digital translation company Timekettle has just the gadget for you. The company’s handheld Fluentalk T1 can instantly convert spoken words from one language into another, potentially eliminating the main barrier to international trips.

Over 40 Languages

The Fluentalk T1 can translate over 40 languages and 93 different accents with up to 95 percent accuracy. In places where you can’t connect to the internet, the device can still translate 13 language pairs in offline mode.

Ask for Directions Without a Guidebook

There is a specific mode on the Fluentalk T1 for asking for directions, one of the most common needs as a tourist. Users simply have to double click the power button to start a conversation with someone on the street.

Chat Translation

For longer exchanges, users can turn on chat mode and place the Fluentalk T1 in between them to have their dialogue translated in real time via advanced streaming automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology and a global internet connection. A built-in microphone array uses noise reduction algorithms to distinguish between human voices and ambient sounds, providing a clear audio experience for every member of the conversation.

Listen Mode

The Fluentalk T1 also features a listen mode that can continuously translate the speech around the user into their own language. This could be helpful while sitting in a meeting or dinner to be able to understand all the surrounding chatter.

Image/Photo Translation

Not only can it translate spoken words, but Timekettle’s handy machine can also decipher street signage and menus. With its 8-megapixel camera and optical character recognition (OCR) offline translation engine, the Fluentalk T1 can instantly translate images in 36 languages.

Voice Memos

The Fluentalk T1 also comes with a voice memo mode for making travel or business notes. You can even make a quick audio file for later translation if you’re in a hurry.

Cellular Data

For the first two years, the company offers free mobile data around the world. After that users can either purchase more data from Timekettle or insert their own mobile phone SIM card. They can also use a local Wi-Fi connection if available.

World Clock and Currency Exchange Rates

These two bonus features make it easier to keep track of local time and current money exchange rates in whatever country you’re visiting.

Pocket-Sized Portability

Smaller than the typical smartphone, the Fluentalk T1 is designed to be extremely portable. About the size of a credit card and weighing only a quarter of a pound, it can easily be slipped into a pocket or purse.

For those interested in a more comprehendible travel experience, the Fluentalk T1 is available for $299.99 on the company website.

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“Today, we tell the world that America has achieved a tremendous scientific breakthrough,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a December press conference. “…This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society. If we can advance fusion energy, we could use it to produce electricity, transportation fuels, power heavy industry, [and] so much more.”

The revolutionary leap forward took place on December 5th in the National Ignition Facility at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where scientists have been trying to generate fusion since 2009.

“The pursuit of fusion ignition in the laboratory is one of the most significant scientific challenges ever tackled by humanity, and achieving it is a triumph of science, engineering, and most of all, people,” says LLNL Director Dr. Kim Budil. “Crossing this threshold is the vision that has driven 60 years of dedicated pursuit — a continual process of learning, building, expanding knowledge and capability, and then finding ways to overcome the new challenges that emerged. These are the problems that the U.S. national laboratories were created to solve.”

The experiment consisted of physicists pointing 192 of the world’s most powerful lasers at a pencil eraser-sized fuel pellet wrapped in a diamond. The pellet, made up of deuterium and tritium (both isotopes of hydrogen), was blasted with 2.05 megajoules of energy and heated up to 3 million degrees Celsius for a fraction of a second. The heat vaporized the hydrogen nub and released a wave of neutron particles that produced 3 megajoules of energy.

This is the first time that scientists have been able to breach the dividing line of “ignition,” the point at which the amount of energy created equals the amount of energy required to start the reaction.

“You see one diagnostic and you think maybe that’s not real and then you start to see more and more diagnostics rolling in, pointing to the same thing,” says Annie Kritcher, a physicist at Livermore who reviewed the data immediately after the experiment. “It’s a great feeling.”

By breaking the ignition barrier, scientists have proved that reproducing the same energy that creates stars is possible and could eventually lead to a sustainable form of energy that doesn’t require harmful carbon dioxide or other polluting byproducts.

Of course, it could still be years before clean energy on is available on a mass scale. “Probably decades,” said Dr. Budil during the press conference. “Not six decades, I don’t think. I think not five decades, which is what we used to say. I think it’s moving into the foreground and probably, with concerted effort and investment, a few decades of research on the underlying technologies could put us in a position to build a power plant.”

To make nuclear fusion viable as a global energy source, scientists will have to develop more efficient lasers and better containment options. Current power plant designs can’t handle the kind of heat and energy created by nuclear fusion.

The December 5th breakthrough in nuclear fusion gives us hope that truly clean energy is in our planet’s future. “This is a great day,” said Energy Secretary Granholm, one that “will go down in the history books.”

The post New Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Could Lead to Limitless Clean Energy first appeared on Dornob.

The winners of this year’s British Ecological Society Photography Competition captured animals interacting with the world around them in bold and breathtaking ways.The annual contest aims to showcase the wonder of ecology across six categories. The 2022 entrants focused on everything from prey-predator relationships and wildlife affected by human changes to the beauty of biology on a microscopic scale.

Overall Winner: A Light in the Shadows by Roberto García Roa

“Like two beacons in the dark, the striking eyes of a Helena’s treefrog seem to glow in the darkness of the night,” says García Roa, a conservation photographer and evolutionary biologist at Sweden’s Lund University.

“This image reveals the beauty of nature hidden in Tambopata, [Peru,] a region that is currently threatened by gold mining. It is paradoxical to see the eyes of this frog as small golden pearls, because in reality, the true treasure lies in ensuring the protection of this area and its inhabitants.”

Student Winner: Takeout by Sam Eberhard

Shot on the shores of Oregon’s Cannon Beach, this image depicts of a group of western gulls surrounding and squawking at a bald eagle trying to carry off its latest meal, a common murre.

“’Takeout’ is a frozen moment of intense action at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach…,” says Sam Eberhard, an environmental studies and biology student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “While photographically documenting tufted puffins at Cannon Beach, I did not hesitate to capture a few shots of this bald eagle.”

Up Close and Personal Winner: Wild Pearls by Javier Lobon-Rovira

Javier Lobon-Rovira, a Ph.D student in biodiversity, genetics, and evolution at the University of Porto and CIBIO-InBIO, zoomed in on an endangered gold-striped salamander working its way through a nursery of eggs, their color and luminescence reminiscent of precious pearls.

Dynamic Ecosystems Winner: Invasive Battle-Fire Fierce by Javier Lobon-Rovira

Lobon-Rovira also took top honors in this category demonstrating interactions between different species within an ecosystem. “Isn’t it utopian that two invasive species cross paths in the race for survival?’ the photographer notes. “That is the case that crossed my lens when I found an army of fire ants immobilizing, killing, and causing the disappearance of a house gecko in my backyard in Florida…Eat or be eaten is the only mission in the struggle for survival.”

Individuals and Populations Student Winner: The Shrike Strikes Again! by Jennifer Holguin

“A round-tailed Horn Lizard impaled by a yucca stalk in the Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA. The culprit? A gray, medium-sized songbird known as the Loggerhead Shrike or Butcherbird,” says winner Jennifer Holguin, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Ecology in Action Winner: Bruma by Roberto García Roa

García Roa picked up another award for his image of a dead female eagle lying face down after flying into overhead power lines. The GPS that Bruma the eagle was fitted with at birth helped scientists and authorities determine which power line caused her demise and allowed them to fix it to keep other birds from meeting the same fate.

People and Nature Winner: A New Plastic Home by Andreas Eich

The terrestrial hermit crab in this image shows its adaptability by claiming a discarded plastic bottle cap as its new shell. The scene contrasts with the idyllic beach scene in the background, according to winner Andreas Eich.

The Art of Ecology Student Winner: Diwali in the Forest by Naitik Patel

The light from a congregation of fireflies near India’s Kaziranga National Park reminded student winner Naitik Patel of the joyful feel of Diwali. He explains: “Diwali is a festival of lights. These adorable little fireflies were creating their own festival of lights by gently glowing green and creating undulating trails of light on the forest floor.”

The post A Look at the Spectacular Winning Shots from the 2022 British Ecological Society Photography Competition first appeared on Dornob.

“To see the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine finally open is emblematic of Lower Manhattan’s storied future and defining past,” says Santiago Calatrava, the architect who designed the structure. “I hope to see this structure serve its purpose as a sanctuary for worship but also as a place for reflection on what the city endured and how it is moving forward.”

Calatrava and his eponymous firm also designed and rebuilt the WTC’s “Oculus” transportation hub, which opened in 2016. The station’s arched wings “symbolize a dove released from a child’s hand,” or a phoenix rising from the ashes.

The Saint Nicholas church design is similarly intended to evoke the ideas of strength, resilience, and light, according to Calatrava. “Architecture can have an intrinsic symbolic value, which is not written or expressed in a specific way but in an abstract and synthetic manner, sending a message and thus leaving a lasting legacy,” he notes.

Taking architectural cues from another well-known Greek house of God, the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the new church features four stone towers that support and surround a large inner dome. Calatrava also chose to sheath the towers in Pentelic marble, the same material that makes up the Parthenon in Athens.

The ridged dome is constructed from thin stone and laminated glass panels. Thanks to the lighting inside the church and behind the stone, “the entire church appear[s] to glow from within, invoking the feeling of being a beacon of hope amid the night.”

The interior includes more Byzantine-influenced design, with 40 windows and structural ribs and a glass painting of Christ in the center of the dome’s ceiling. In between the ribs is iconography of 20 prophets in traditional Byzantine colors.

In addition to the worship spaces, the church also has two “community” rooms on the second and third floors, areas that are open to the public for meetings and other activities. Calatrava feels “these spaces are a significant component of the building’s program as they accentuate the church’s open and welcoming relationship with the greater World Trade Center Memorial site, as well as the community of Lower Manhattan.”

The church leaders are grateful to have their physical structure restored, but they’re even more excited for what its return symbolizes. “This Shrine will be a place for everyone who comes to the Sacred Ground at the World Trade Center, a place for them to imagine and envision a world where mercy is inevitable, reconciliation is desirable, and forgiveness is possible,” said His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America in a statement. “The National Shrine…will stand as witness not only to the vitality of Holy Orthodoxy, but for America’s commitment to religious freedom. The Shrine will be a defiant symbol of opposition to the forces or intolerance around the globe.”

The post 20 Years After 9/11, the World Trade Center’s Only Church is Reborn first appeared on Dornob.

Her passion for creating Black art stems from her childhood as a minority in Pomona, California. “Growing up, I was often the only Black kid in my class, and I found it hard to find things that represented my background,” Brown says on her website DomoINK.com. “My father and I would go out of our way to find greeting cards that had images of Black families on [them]. We’d buy them from individual sellers because many retailers didn’t carry them.”

As an adult looking to decorate her own home, the artist recognized there was still a severe lack of Black art at big-box stores. That’s when she decided to do something about it by starting her own brand of art prints, apparel, and home décor in her spare time.

“Our voices, idea, and stories still remain unspoken for in the art world,” Brown says. “I want my portraits to tell unknown stories. I want people of color to be represented.”

One of her most popular prints is her “Black Hair is Dope” portrait, which depicts a Black woman with a head cover and long twisted braids. Brown says of the piece: “I created this portrait to challenge stereotypes about Black people wearing durags. It serves to humanize and normalize that this headpiece is an essential aspect of our culture.”

At the start of the pandemic, Brown was working two full-time marketing jobs, putting in 80-hour weeks and making roughly $130,000 a year. She then quit one of those jobs and started designing in her evening hours. Although “there were a lot of sleepless nights” in the beginning, her artistic investment soon paid off. Brown’s after-hours work now amounts to less than two hours a day now and earns her $22,000 a month, thanks to sales on her website, Etsy shop, Society6 shop, and retail partnerships.

World-renowned companies including Disney, Samsung, and Lowe’s quickly took notice of Brown’s distinctive style and asked for collaborations. She’s even created art for the L.A. Lakers.

This year, Bath & Body Works commissioned Brown to craft a piece in honor of the Juneteenth. The result was an image of a Black family enjoying a picnic on the national holiday. She also recently completed a one-of-one artwork to decorate the walls of a Santa Monica Dr. Martens shop.

While her art career has officially taken off, Brown continues to work a traditional job as a marketing manager for an insurance company offering health care options to low-income Californians — but she loves making her mark with her side hustle.

“My ultimate goal is to make DomoINK a lifestyle retailer that can be a source of representation for those who are underrepresented,” Brown says. “The feedback I have gotten from people who feel seen by my work has been incredibly gratifying, and it inspires me to grow my business even more.”

The post Domonique Brown’s Art Brings Representation to People of Color — and Earns Her $22,000 a Month first appeared on Dornob.

“We’ve tried to take all the iconic qualities of Quito – such as the enjoyment of living in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, in a city on the equator where the seasons are perfect for both human and plant life – and bring that experience into the vertical dimension,” says BIG’s founder Bjarke Ingels. “IQON is an entire vertical community of individual homes; an extension of La Carolina Park that now climbs all the way up to the rooftop.”

BIG approached the design in characteristically bold fashion. “IQON’s architectural identity is defined by its ‘stripped back’ facade.” the BIG website says. “The raw, exposed concrete simultaneously functions as the building’s structure. Individual ‘pixels’ are stacked 32 floors high and rotated to provide the best possible views while simultaneously creating terraces for the apartments.”

The building consists of 220 residential apartment units ranging from one to three bedrooms in size. Some apartments even have panoramic views of the city and the nearby Pichincha volcano. “Each apartment floor features through-units – apartments that have terraces on both the north and south facades – which not only allows for views across the entire city, but also offers the opportunity for cross ventilation and a sense of openness, ” explains BIG partner Thomas Christofferson.

The country’s rich biodiversity is fully embraced in the IQON plan. “Celebrating native trees and plants, the building integrates greenery wherever possible to take advantage of Ecuador’s temperate climate and ecology – the country with the most plant species per square meter in the world,” the company website says. Trees and shrubs adorn each balcony, and the ground floor features a public vegetable garden.

The building’s ecosystem is intentionally circular. As the company explains, “The building also acts as an urban tree farm; once the vegetation planted on the terraces outgrows its planter, it can be replanted in parks all over the city. In this way, the building becomes part of a green cycle – from park to building, and back to park.”

The lower floors incorporate room for five retail shops and 36 commercial offices, and the inside of the ground floor offers a soft contrast to the building’s sharp-angled exterior. “The ground floor plaza includes generous public spaces, retail units, and public art. This central plaza functions as a new east-west pathway, connecting the park to the rest of the neighborhood,” the BIG website says. “Upon entering the lobby, the material palette transitions from the raw, pared-back exterior to a more refined aesthetic; marble stone pavers complement the custom millwork reception desk, and concrete touchpoints nod to the facade. Deep emerald green tones are utilized on the ceiling tiles, mailboxes, and through to the elevator lobby – an area located beyond a blackened-steel portal.”

IQON also boasts a rooftop pool and terrace, sports and spa facilities, a music room, and a bowling alley.

“IQON…represent[s] the ongoing transformation of Quito into a cornerstone of architecture, design, and innovation,” said Uribe Schwarzkopf’s co-founder Tommy Schwarzkopf. “As the first residents move in and businesses begin to take space in the building, we are looking forward to seeing [it] come to life and become part of the fabric of the city.”

The post BIG’s First South American Project is the Tallest Building in Quito first appeared on Dornob.

“Humanity’s excessive production of material waste poses a critical environmental threat, and the problem is only escalating, especially in the past few decades with the rapid development of powerful electronic tools and persistent consumer desire to upgrade to the newest available technology,” the team, led by Professor Soekheun Choi, wrote in a paper published in the ASC Applied Materials and Interfaces journal.

“The poor disposability of electronics,” the researchers continue, “is especially an issue for the newly arising field of single-use devices and sensors, which are often used to evaluate human health and monitor environmental conditions, and for other novel applications. Though impressive in terms of function and convenience, usage of conventional electronic components in these applications would inflict an immense surge in waste and result in higher costs.”

Traditional circuit boards are manufactured from resin, glass fibers, and metal wiring, making them somewhat bulky and harder to recycle. That means that millions of single-use circuits in things like personal wearable devices, point-of-care medical devices, and environmental monitors simply get tossed in the trash every day.

In response to this issue, the team — assembled from the University’s Bioelectrics and Microsystems Laboratory in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering — turned to an exercise in “papertronics.” They created a single-use, amplifier-type electronic circuit board made from renewable and biodegradable materials like paper and wax.

The started by printing out electronic channels using wax onto a single sheet of filter paper. The wax was heated to 266 degrees Fahrenheit for two minutes so it could soak completely through the paper. The next step was to fill in all the areas not covered in wax with both semi-conductive and conductive ink. The team then screen-printed conductive metal components onto the paper before bonding the layers together with Thru-hole technology. Lastly, they cast a gel-based electrolyte at 140 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes onto the sheet.

The tiny, flexible circuit board proved effective when it came to resistor, capacitor, and transistor functions. If left unused, it could biodegrade over time with minimal permanent waste left behind — but the team also demonstrated that the board could be completely disintegrated within seconds with just the smallest of flames. And because of the limited amount of materials required, producing these paper circuit boards would likely be very inexpensive, and easily scalable for mass production.

Professor Choi and his team are excited by the potential their creation has to curb e-waste on a global scale. As they explain: “All electronic components are paper-based and integrated on paper-based printed circuit boards (PCBs), innovatively providing a realistic and practical solution for green electronic platforms.”

The post Research Team Creates Paper Circuit Board to Curb E-Waste first appeared on Dornob.

Bose Frames Tenor ($249)

Take out the earbuds with these combination speaker and sunglasses. Packaged in a sleek, black frame with polarized lenses, the Tenor’s state-of-the-art Bose Bluetooth speaker allows wearers to enjoy the natural sounds of their environment while discreetly listening to music in crystal clear quality.

Loftie Smart Alarm Clock ($149)

More than just an alarm clock, this smart device is also a white noise machine and includes a Bluetooth speaker that can play guided meditations, soothing evening playlists, and sound baths. It’s everything that special someone in your life needs to get the perfect night’s sleep.

Moleskine Smart Writing System ($279)

Digital technology makes note-taking and journaling so easy to store, but studies show that writing by hand increases brain activity over typing on a tablet or smartphone. The perfect compromise? The Moleskine Smart Writing System, comprised of a smart Ncoded paper and Smart Pen that instantly uploads digital copies of all your hand-written notes.

eTape16 Digital Electronic Tape Measure ($39.99)

For all your handy friends, this electronic tape provides a digital readout for all measurements and can even remember them, eliminating the need for a pen and paper to write it all down.

Anker Nebula Solar Portable Mini Projector ($399.99)

This compact mini projector lets your friends take their TV and movie-watching fun on the road. The1080p projector has a battery that can last for three hours on a single charge. It also doubles as a Bluetooth speaker to provide a full wireless entertainment experience in one machine.

Ekster Parliament Leather Smart Wallet ($69)

If your loved one isn’t ready to go all in on digital finance yet, this smart wallet provides identity theft protection with its RFID coating. With just the push of a button, their desired card is pushed up for easy access at the checkout line. The stylish wallet can also be connected and tracked via smartphone, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant so it never stays lost for long. It can hold up to seven cards and is handily powered by sunlight.

MUSE 2: The Brain Sensing Headband ($249.99)

Help your loved ones achieve greater focus and clarity this year with a Muse 2 Brain Sensing Headband. It monitors your brain activity, heart rate, breathing, and body movement in real time. When it’s connected to the accompanying smartphone app, the Muse 2 provides over 500 guided meditations for improved emotional and mental health.

Hydrate Spark 3 ($69.99)

Help your family stay properly hydrated with this smart, BPA-free plastic water bottle. The bottom glows when its times to take a sip again. Users can connect the Hidrate Spark to their phones to track how much water they drink each day and to track it if ever goes missing.

Solawave Advanced Skincare Wand ($149)

Give the gift of beauty with this skin care wand that uses red light therapy and microcurrent waves to roll back the clock on fine lines, dark circles, and acne scars.

Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder ($249.99)

For your aviary-loving friends, this bird feeder cam can identify over 6,000 types of winged creatures. With 1080p resolution, a macro lens, and built-in zoom, your loved one will be capture unmatched views of all their favorite birds. It also has a voice feature to keep any annoying squirrels from stealing the food.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commissions at no cost to you.

The post Top 10 Tech Gifts to Get Your Loved Ones This Holiday Season first appeared on Dornob.

The 13-foot, tear-shaped electric motor boat can accommodate up to five adults in its jacuzzi seating and comes with a gas-powered, ambience-enhancing fireplace. It’s self-cleaning, self-heating, and can cruise for up to five hours on heavily regulated bodies of water.

With its electric engine, the Spacruzzi is a more eco-friendly watercraft option. “Unlike most power boats on the water, our all-electric propulsion and our patent protected electric and propane heating system do not put pollutants into the air or water,” Kanwetz said in a statement.

While it’s not designed to go far, it is simple to operate, and users can always swap out extra batteries for longer fun. “The boat will not travel more than four or four and a half miles per hour,” notes Kanwetz. “It’s about getting to a space, getting comfortable, and just sitting there. If you’ve never driven a boat, you’re an expert after about 30 seconds.”

The company, which manufactures all its Spacruzzis in its Nevada and Montana facilities, uses a patent-pending UV and saltwater filtration system to circulate and clean water throughout the boat, and an onboard gas fireplace to keep the soaking temperature perfectly pleasant. A ladder connected to the back of the fiberglass hull makes it easy to take a dip in the lake when passengers are ready to cool off.

The floating hot tub’s popularity has been explosive ever since its release. Speaking to a Lake Tahoe news outlet in June, Kanwetz said: “We expected to build a hundred boats this year.” But after a 41-day soft-site opening, the company had completely sold out.

“Since we launched, we’ve seen immediate growth in both our rental and direct-to-consumer sales ,and this is continuing to grow,” Kanwetz said in a separate statement. “As you begin to see more rental operations popping up, we expect the awareness of the product to grow on the national level as more people see that this isn’t just a novelty item, but an experience that can’t be matched on the water.”

At just 1,200 pounds, the Spacruzzi is relatively easy to transport. “We have customers putting these boats on a trailer, along with a generator, and taking them to auto races, concerts, you name it,” Kanwetz adds. The vessel’s onboard heater even converts the local lake into a year-round leisure option. “You’re in the lake, it’s snowing. It’s gentile. It’s a mind-blowing experience. It’s really, really cool.”

Spacruzzis sell for about $50,000 and can be ordered on the company website. They’re available for both rental fleet and individual owner options. Buyers can customize the decking, paint, metal, and wood finishes. Further add-ons include shade towers, floating drink caddies, underwater lights, and trailers. Just be ready to wait a little while for yours, since the company says the construction-to-delivery process can take up to 120 days.

The post Floating “Spacruzzi” Hot Tub Takes Luxury to the Lake first appeared on Dornob.

While their initial napkin drawings and estimates for a prototype in six months were a little shortsighted, the team recently announced that their two-seater electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVOTL) Model A is scheduled for roll out as early as 2025.

The company website shows a simulated version of the car driving in normal road traffic. When it approaches a blocked roadway, it immediately goes into lift mode, flying up and over the obstacle, landing on the other side, and continuing on its drive.

The Model A was specifically intended to be a real driving car for short commutes that could seamlessly transition to flight. “Most commuters typically travel under 30 miles on average,” CEO Jim Dukhovny told Robb Report. “We designed it to be the fastest and most convenient transport ever created for both rural and urban settings.”

Because the wings are built directly into the car’s carbon-fiber chassis, the Model A can takeoff and land virtually anywhere, bypassing airports that are normally required for vehicles with retractable wings. “That can eliminate 50 percent of the travel time,” Dukhovny adds.

Structurally, the wing configuration is similar to a two-wing biplane. When the Model A goes into aircraft mode, the cockpit (i.e. the front two seats) can tilt up to 90 degrees forward, allowing the vehicle to essentially fly on its side with its wheels pointed backward and air flowing through the perforated carbon-fiber body. As Dukhovny says: “the whole car is the wing.”

Boasting a distributed electric propulsion system and eight motors for ample backup power, the Alef flying car is billed as having a 200-mile driving range and a 110-mile flight range. The initial top speed for air travel will cap at 35 mph to comply with U.S. regulations on low-speed electric vehicles. However, the company is sure the speed limit will increase as other flying car models pass through the federal certification process.

Other Model A features include a software flight stabilization program, all-wheel driving, concealed props, obstacle detection and avoidance, and a full-vehicle parachute.

Alef’s progress has attracted some top-tier investors like Tim Draper of Draper Associates, an early investor in both Tesla and SpaceX. Draper has already contributed $3 million in seed money for Alef’s Model A.

“I put more (money in) when I saw that they had created a small drone prototype that did exactly what they told me it would do,” he said in an email. “The design is extraordinary. The sides of the car become the wings when the plane goes horizontal.”

While excited fans can pre-order the first version with a $1,500 deposit on the company website, the $299,999 price tag may be off-putting to most people. However, Alef is already proposing a 2030 release of a middle class-friendly Model Z with a range of 400 driving miles and 200 flight miles that would cost just $35,000, well under the current price of a self-driving Tesla.

The post Flying Car Aims to be the World’s Most Efficient Commuting Vehicle first appeared on Dornob.

To incorporate that sense of bonding with the beyond, Duy and his team at Duy Le Architects decided to use lots of glass and mirrors to create duplicating illusions throughout the space.

“At some specific angles, an infinite view can be seen within the house,” he says. “Some details in the house are only half-designed and once reflected by the mirror, they will reveal the complete pattern.”

The top floor hosts a Catholic altar for linkage with ancestors, and an extra bedroom upstairs further hints at the Coco theme with a solitary guitar positioned in the corner.

exterior

The entire exterior facade is composed of curved glass bricks in a nod to the eternal waves of the ubiquitous waterways intersecting the Sóc Trăng region. They also provide an open and airy feel, allowing the indoor spaces to flow seamlessly into outdoors.

The residents also wanted to be able to run their medical business out of the house, and enjoy their hobbies of gardening and koi fish ponds. The architect maximized the small space (only 15 feet wide) by removing as many walls as possible and creating clear sightlines across both levels.

The bottom floor includes a parking area, a clinic work space, the primary bedroom, bathroom, and an open concept kitchen and living area. The kitchen island was designed to expand between six and 18 seats, according to the daily family or business needs of the residents. The lounge area in this space feels like a tropical getaway, with a giant hammock opposite the island and seating inside a boat floating in a koi pond.

To accommodate the clients’ passion for gardening, the Duy Le team created five separate gardens spanning both floors of the Coco House, with marbled pebble skylights and glass block walls providing abundant natural light for both the vegetation and koi fish.

In fact, the architects created an entire microclimate for the home by strategically placing vented glass blocks in the walls. “The design utilizes ventilation bricks to ensure protection from rainy weather. It also allows air circulation from the facade to every nook and cranny. The selection and arrangement of the ventilation bricks, which have been under thorough consideration from the architect, are set up in different directions for aesthetic aspects as well as functioning as drainage and ventilators,” says Duy Le, who adds that the pond also helps regulate the temperature within the tropical abode.

The Coco House fits in perfectly with Duy Le Architects’ mission. “Our two main design influences are sculpture and climate,” the company website says. “It all starts with being sensitive to the local climate and mitigating the effects of climate change by using readily available, cost-effective, energy efficient, sustainable materials.”

The founder adds, “I always want to create impressive and different architectural works, sustainable with time, expressing the creativity and personality of Vietnamese people, not only for Vietnamese customers but also…all over the world.”

The post Vietnam’s Zen Coco House Connects to Family and Nature first appeared on Dornob.

“Everyone thinks of the desert as monochromatic,” says Schweitzer. “But when you look carefully, there are all these amazing colors: a vivid green lichen growing on a rock, a bright red flower, and the impossibly blue sky. This compound takes those colors and builds them at the scale of man, which is bigger than the flower, but a lot smaller than the rocks.”

The Monument House is one of many multicolored homes in the park. “Following in the footsteps of Lloyd Wright’s nearby New City of Mentalphysics, this home continues a rich tradition of experimental and radical architecture in the California high desert,” says the website for Homestead Modern, the Joshua Tree rental firm currently managing the property.

The listing follows a recent renovation of the Monument House. The home’s moss-colored building features an open plan living room with comfy but modern furniture and a bright orange fireplace, with views of the desert landscape framed by trapezoidal windows and doors on all sides. These playful geometric openings are meant to mirror the shapes of the large boulders in the surrounding park. While there’s no TV here, there are plenty of books, games, and internet access to provide entertainment.

In the blue structure, a canary yellow “chef style” kitchen has all the essentials for small gathering meal prep. The dining room is equally sunny, with a table by Roy McMakin and chairs designed by Schweitzer himself. If you’d rather eat outside, you’ll have no problem dining al fresco in the home’s red-colored outdoor gazebo, complete with a propane barbecue grill.

Come nighttime, visitors to the Monument House can stargaze around the outdoor firepit before heading inside to the solo bedroom with its plush mint king-size mattress from Tuft & Needle. Or they take a dip in the outdoor hot tub (hidden in a deck) to enjoy 360-degree views of the five-acre estate and beyond. The home also includes an electric vehicle charger for any EV-driving guests.

The property location is idyllic. Located just one mile from the entrance to Joshua Tree Nation Park, the house is easily accessible while retaining a secluded feel, standing alone against a rocky hill in a valley of boulders. It’s important to note that guests are not permitted to use the rental for any photo or film shoots without advance permission. Bookings at the historic Monument House start at $299 for a two-night minimum stay.

The post Colorful Joshua Tree Monument House is Now Available to Rent first appeared on Dornob.

“We envision a potential new stadium that makes our community proud and enhances the reputation of our great city and state,” says Titans president and CEO Burke Nihill. “We’re focused on designing a stadium capable of hosting a prestigious international event on a Sunday and a steady flow of impactful community programming later that same week. This is a building that would serve Nashville and Tennessee for generations.”

The new 1.7-million-square-foot stadium will have room for roughly 60,000 guests, a decrease from the current venue’s 69,000 capacity and a move that would make it the smallest in the entire NFL. However, the reduced size is a strategic business decision. “It’s an industry best thinking at this point,” Nihill explained during a recent Metro city council meeting. “It’s a little bit of a painful experience because it’s my job to make sure we sell out the stadium. We don’t sell out the stadium for most of our games.”

Additionally, the NFL has adjusted their requirements when it comes to where the Super Bowl can be held. It is no longer simply a matter of seat capacity, but also whether the local area has nearby hotels, venues, and other fan experiences to support any travelers to the game. By building a newer stadium, lots of prime riverfront real estate will be freed up for the city of Nashville to develop into exactly those types of spaces.

Even though there will be fewer seats at the Titans’ new stadium, they will all have excellent visibility. “Every seat has been pulled further forward and slightly steeper. That means the views are closer and better to the game or the concert than they are in the existing building. In fact, the entire upper deck is pulled about 30 feet closer,” says David Manica, head architect at Manica Architecture, the firm tapped to create the initial design and mock-ups for the stadium.

Manica Architecture is no stranger to designing professional sports venues. In March, David and his team were commissioned to lead the initial design for the Chicago Bears’ new NFL stadium. The firm previously designed the Las Vegas Raiders’ “Death Star” stadium, as well as the team’s headquarters and training facility.

The rest of the $2.1 billion Titans stadium specs include exterior terraces and porches with panoramic views of the city that will offer prime mingling space during events. The stadium will also be weatherproofed with a circular ETFE (lightweight glass substitute) translucent roof. Immediately adjacent to the new stadium will be a 12,000-square-foot community plaza that can be used for “educational opportunities, non-profit events, and other community-minded purposes,” according to the Titans.

It looks as if the Titans’ stadium is already attracting the notice of non-NFL groups. The WWE has reportedly made a verbal agreement to bring Wrestle Mania (its biggest event of the year) to Nashville as long as an enclosed stadium is constructed.

The post New Tennessee Titans Stadium Will Be State of the Art, but Smallest in the NFL first appeared on Dornob.

He created 10,000 original pieces the size of a standard sheet of paper, each with an NFT twin. Each piece was truly unique, as no painting had a single repeated color in its dots. Every artwork was also signed by Hirst, numbered, stamped, watermarked, given a microdot, and included a hologram of the artist’s portrait on the back. Further utilizing modern-day technology for his first NFT project, Hirst fed his favorite song lyrics into an AI-enabled computer program to generate titles for all 10,000 pieces. Standout titles include “Totally gonna sell you,” “Laugh in our faces,” and “None of this mattered.”

The purchasing period began in July 2021. Buyers could opt for the physical or the digital copy of the piece, and the one they didn’t choose would be destroyed. They had a full year (until July 2022) to decide.

Interest in Hirst’s collection boomed for the first month, with 2,036 purchases and over $47 million in sales. However, over the course of the remaining 11 months, the collection’s gimmicky nature lost its shock value, causing floor prices and trading volumes to steadily decline. By the spring of 2022, “crypto winter” hit and sent the NFT market into a nosedive.

In the end, buyers were fairly evenly split. “The final numbers are: 5,149 physicals and 4,851 NFTs (meaning I will have to burn 4,851 corresponding physical Tenders),” Hirst wrote on Twitter, beneath a photo of himself despondently laying prostrate over boxes of his artwork.

That same day, Hirst also tweeted: “I have no idea what the future holds, whether the NFTs or physicals are going to be more valuable or less. But that is art! The fun, part of the journey, and maybe the point of the whole project. Even after one year, I feel the journey is just beginning.”

Partnering with HENI, Hirst put the pieces on display at London’s Newport Street Gallery from September 9th to October 31st. Everyday for an hour, the physical counterparts of purchased NFTs would be thrown into a fireplace for visitors to watch. The remainder were all burned simultaneously at the close of the show.

Public reception for the show was mixed. Artist Roy Tyson, known as Roy’s People, snatched up the tangible piece #4,967 entitled “What Am I To Know,” opting instead to destroy the NFT version. He says: “I’m a big fan of Hirst and I love the way he pushes the boundaries and doesn’t answer to anyone, doesn’t really sort of stick to any old-fashioned rules of the art world.”

On the other hand, detractors see “The Currency” as a shameless commercial ploy. Art critic Florence Hallett wrote in Britain’s i paper that the collection is “rather like a small child dangling teddy over the lavatory in a bid for the upper hand — only with considerably less sincerity and stupendous amounts of money.”

In his early days, Hirst himself said “I can’t wait to get into a position to make really bad art and get away with it. At the moment if I did certain things people would look at it, consider it ,and then say ‘f off’. But after a while you can get away with things.”

Known not only for his spots, but his art of taxidermized dead animals, Hirst is considered the richest living British artist today. More of his work can be viewed on his Instagram account.

The post Artist Damien Hirst Burns Physical Copies of His NFTs first appeared on Dornob.

When she got the commission to build the central pavilion for northern Europe’s largest design event, Dutch architect Marjan van Aubel immediately looked for collaborators to help her highlight the power of the sun.

“Marjan van Aubel called us in May, asking: can you help? …Of course, it was short notice, so we had to move quickly,” explains Michiel Raaphorst, co-founder of V8 Architects. “Three days later, we met with Marjan and Miriam van der Lubbe, the Creative Head of DDW. While sketching, we came up with a surface that allows you to harvest solar energy but also forms a meaningful part of the environment.”

“We use technology to represent a natural phenomenon, and to do so, we harvest the energy from that natural phenomenon itself. So the solar pavilion represents the energy of the sun and cooperation,” Raaphorst adds. “All these parties worked together to realize this project because we all believe in Marjan van Aubel’s message: the time for a solar revolution is now.”

The two groups came up with a gazebo whose shape followed the slope of a cloth beach chair. Supported by four steel masts, the roof was fashioned from 380 wafer-thin glass solar panels in happy shades of red, orange, yellow, and blue. From above, it looked like a sun rising in a blue sky.

The collection of colorful photovoltaic tiles produced roughly 7.5 kilowatts of energy during peak performance hours, sending enough juice to an onsite battery to provide light and heat for all evening visitors. The intended effect was to allow guests to experience the sensation of sitting in the sun even in its absence.

The underside of the roof was left exposed for maximum technological transparency. “The structure contains about five thousand kilos of solar panels,” Raaphorst explains. “We deliberately left all the connections, wires, and discs visible so visitors can see how everything works. A practical view of the structure.”

The design teams also included two connecting staircases that led to a viewing porthole where visitors could have their picture taken via an app. “Up there, you suddenly find yourself in this other world: the solar field,” Raaphorst muses. Underneath the pavilion, a reflective circular bench and steel and wood seats provided places for observers to rest throughout the day.

V8 Architects and Marjan van Aubel Studio also pulled in a dozen other companies to help with parts and assembly. In keeping with the eco-friendly ethos, they borrowed most of the standard building and energy components, returning each part to its owners after the event for a circular resource design.

The architects were excited for the chance to show how earth-conscious technology like solar can and should be incorporated into everyday life. Says Raaphorst, “Currently, energy is only harvested in a techno-functional way. We explore how to integrate the sun’s energy into our daily lives so that we can love and embrace it.”

“Solar energy needs a new, more personal perspective that is part of our culture,” adds Marjan van Aubel. “This pavilion demonstrates that solar energy can be experienced and used in a new way.”

The post Colorful Solar Pavilion Brings Shade to Dutch Design Week first appeared on Dornob.

In her new book The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants, University of British Columbia professor Karen Bakker outlines some of the most ground-breaking experiments in animal and plant communication.

“Digital technologies, so often associated with our alienation from nature, are offering us an opportunity to listen to nonhumans in powerful ways, reviving our connection to the natural world,” writes Bakker, a director at the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability.

She points out that digital listening posts are now being used to continuously record the sounds of ecosystems around the planet, from rainforests to the bottom of the ocean. Developments in miniaturization have even enabled scientists to place microphones on tiny animals like honeybees.

“Combined, these digital devices function like a planetary-scale hearing aid: enabling humans to observe and study nature’s sounds beyond the limits of our sensory capabilities,” Bakker writes. The next step for many scientists is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to sift through these sounds and enable robots to “speak animal languages and essentially breach the barrier of interspecies communication.”

She cites a team of researchers in Germany that have taught tiny robots how to do the honeybee waggle dance. Using these dancing machines, the scientists were able to command the honeybees to stop moving, and to communicate where to fly to collect a specific nectar. The researchers plan to experiment with implanting robots into the hives so that the honeybees accept them as members of their community.

Bakker also writes about bioacoustics scientist Katie Payne and her discoveries regarding elephant communication. Payne was the first to find that elephants make infrasound signals, sounds below the human hearing range. The vibrations of these signals allow elephants to send messages across long distances through soil and stones. Scientists have since found that elephants have different signals for “honeybee” and “human,” as well as distinguishable signals for “threatening human” versus “nonthreatening human.” If the power of AI could be harnessed to send messages to elephant herds, we might be able to help protect their dwindling populations without removing them from their natural habitats.

Coral reefs also get attention in Bakker’s book. “A healthy coral reef sounds a little bit like an underwater symphony,” she explains. “There are cracks and burbles and hisses and clicks from the reef and its inhabitants and even whales dozens of miles away. If you could hear in the ultrasonic, you might hear the coral itself.” With the use of AI, scientists might eventually be able to get coral to repopulate certain areas by broadcasting “healthy coral reef” sounds to coral larvae.

While the idea of someday having “a zoological version of Google Translate” sounds overwhelmingly positive, there is the fear is that unscrupulous humans might use the technology to control animal populations for their own gain. Bakker warns that the possibility of exploiting animals “raises a lot of alarm bells” and that our “newfound powers” should never be used “to assert our domination over animals and plants.”

The post New AI Tech Allows Humans to Talk to Animals first appeared on Dornob.