Scientists have been able to use metal to do tricks with light. Now they can differentiate that light into a spectrum, and store each colour in separate little grooves on the metal. With the power of plasmonics, you may one day have a rainbow on your keychain. More »
A piece of plastic goes in, a piece of metal comes out. At least, that’s what vapour metallising seems to accomplish, at least to our immediate senses. It’s gilding, except it’s been updated for the electronics age. And it’s everywhere. More »
If there’s one thing that makes me vomit in my mouth, it’s plastic gadgets painted silver.
Apple’s Bluetooth headset is already small and stylish, but designer Andi Monn has come up with a way of adding to it that also improves its utility. His headset has “sleds”, which slide over the device and turn it into techy jewellery, of a sort. Plus they let you carry the gizmo around without wearing it in your ear, and thus you avoid looking overly geeky. The headset is held inside magnetically, and the sleds come with a keyring so you can carry it around discretely, if that’s your fancy. However, since they’re available in high-grade brushed steel, .925 Sterling silver (or other precious metals, on request) and cost around US$253, then hiding them in your pocket is probably the last thing you want to do. [Technabob] galleryPost('appleBTjewelry', 3, '');
Those nano-silver socks you’ve been using to soak up the rank of your athlete’s foot—not only are they leaching poisons into fish habitats every time you wash them, their effects on your own blood stream could be just as bad but the EPA’s not doing anything about it. Fed up by government inaction, a consumer safety group is now suing the EPA for failing to regulate nanomaterials.
It’s hard to believe that, just a year ago, the name of the phone on everyone’s lips was LG’s collaboration with Prada, the sexy touchscreen number that let its users believe that their fingers were fashion (or something). And now, post iPhone, what of the Prada phone? Well, a silver version is now available in Europe, complete with new UI (also silver, apparently) and matching silver accessories. It’s available in most of Europe, but don’t expect to see it Stateside anytime soon. A couple more pics after the jump.
