How Engineers Will Make The Costa Concordia Float Once Again

Next week, Italians will finally say goodbye to the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship that has been sitting off the coast of Giglio Island for two and a half years.

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G-BOOM Wireless Bluetooth Boombox Speaker

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Chameleon Pen: Scan, Save & Draw Up to 16 Million Unique Hues

Five years ago it was an mind-boggling design concept, but today the idea color-changing pen has morphed into a working prototype that draws colors from objects and surfaces, natural or artificial, then lets you use them in all kinds of creative ways. This real-world version can make over 16,000,000 different tones and store over 100,000 unique colors in its memory.





Imagine the possibilities of Scribble, both artistic and practical: instead of trying to mix just the right paints to capture a landscape or replicate a color scheme for your interior remodel, you can scan the actual colors of environments and use those. Users can then upload, store, tag and share their color picks for future applications.



The Color Picker by Jinsun Park (shown below) was a purely conceptual design model at the time, but operated on the same principle (like the Photoshop eyedropper tool), made to contain a series of inks that (much like a printer) would mix in the appropriate amounts, reproducing colors scanned into it. This new variant on the device also converts the colors into other formats (like binary, decimal and hexadecimal) that can be saved and deployed for digital art. And with cartridge refills, you will never need to buy another color of pen.


The applications are myriad: “For the colour blind, kids, interior decorators, homeowners, teachers, artists, photographers, designers and students, the Scribble colour picker pen will make copying an exact colour, any colour from any object, an absolute breeze. With Scribble you can scan, match or compare colours, draw on paper or your mobile device.” Of course, you don’t have to scan in a new color – you can always mix your own on the computer and input that preferred tone too.




Here is the executive summary from the company: “Scribble is the first coloring device of its kind that can take the world of color around you and transfer it directly to either paper or your favourite mobile device. Simple hold the Scribble’s scanner up to any color, like on a wall, a book or magazine, a painting or even a child’s toy and within a second or two that color is stored in Scribble’s internal memory. You can now instantly draw on paper with the Scribble Ink Pen or draw on a digital device like an iPad or Wacom Tablet with the Scribble Stylus Pen.”




6D Motorcycle Helmets Might Just Save Your Life


It pays to play it safe, especially when you’re on the road. Thousands of motorists die every year in accidents; while there’s no surefire way or system to eliminate these unfortunate occurrences entirely, there are some things that you can wear on your head to cushion the blow or install on your bike.

On a related note, 6D has come up with a redesigned motorcycle helmet that’s supposed to help reduce concussions. I think its a given that anyone who owns or rides a bike should have a helmet; they’re probably the most important bike accessories around in the first place. 6D’s helmet is described as having elastomeric dampers that absorb the force of low-speed impacts, which is where most traditional styro-and-shell helmets often fail.

The gel dampers in 6D’s helmets will cushion the fall in low speed situations (below 9mph). Note that styro-and-shell helmets work best during impact situations at above 9mph.