A German company recently filed patents for scented text messages. Immediately after, mobile media giants began sniffing around. They claim that in less than two years from now you’ll be sending up to 100 different prefabricated scents via an added accessory the size of an SD-card: the scent chip.

Imagine sending a pumpkin-SMS on Thanksgiving to relatives, ocean smells to friends when on vacation, or that romantic raunchy stench you’re enjoying in the gas station’s bathroom.

If you’re anything like me, you may think that the idea of accurately projecting smells may seem a little fishy. For years networks and would-be innovators have toyed with the concept of anchoring scents to TV. Yet it never quite stuck. Convisual says it has been developing the project for over eight years and plans to release the chips only when they become both affordable and effective.

The sense of smell is one of the first human perceptions that develops in the womb. You better believe advertisers understand that primal urge. Convisual understands too. A built-in function gives you the option to reject messages based on the sender. Make no mistake, whether they are advertisers or telecom giants, companies are feral. And they’re waiting to waft their way into your wallet.

College students build one of the most advanced forms of artificial intelligence and what do they do with it? Have it rank how hot girls are. Typical, right?

An Israeli team of computer scientists have designed a system that can actually make aesthetic judgments. It started with a research group that was formed on campus. Thirty people were told to rate girl’s faces on a scale from 1-7. The pictures were then scanned and mapped mathematically.

Results of that scan revealed that out of all of the girls rated there was a pattern for facial features we humanoids consider “hot.” Those features consisted of things like averages, symmetry, color proportions and smoothness.

Our judgments about what a good looking girl looks like is based on sentiment and abstract considerations.  Needless to say, this is a pretty big step for a computer. It learned to identify beauty by observing human perceptions. That was based on processing some data instead of using a prescribed set of parameters.  After it ran it’s due course the computer came up with answers that were shockingly similar to the research study.

They say that the machine is still having some trouble with men. If you ask me, a guys attractiveness has always been as simple as one variable: income. Good thing those computer scientists are in for some big bucks after this invention.

Organic light being used to change images and text with paper-thin technology is coming on us fast. Ever dream of changing the wallpaper in your house on a whim to any color or pattern? What about having one piece of paper that constantly updates to any book or newspaper with the convenience of being able to fold it up and put it in your pocket?

Organic light-emitting diode’s (OLED) are made by organic compounds being trapped between a plastic polymer. The flat rows and columns are placed on a flat surface by a “printing” process. The results are a matrix of pixels that can turn diffrent colors on a very thin material that uses significantly less power than other light sources.

OLED’s have been around for a while. In fact, you can buy a Sony TV that was released in 2007 made up of the technology. To give you an idea of price point, the 11′ version goes for $1,700. The big headline isn’t that the technology exists, it’s how its being formatted and how that format will be of interest to your daily life.

GE recently unveiled the first demonstration of “roll-to-roll” processed OLEDs. Manufactured in this way, they could be made for a very low cost and are so thin they can be used as newspaper or even wall paper.

After four years the GE Research Team has a working prototype that they are eager to place on the production line. They affirm that there is a lot of work ahead, but the goal is to get us all grooving and shaking with paper thin devices as soon as is possible.

Imagine this: your phone rings and you lift your sleeve and push a tattooed button on your forearm. Next thing you know there is a digital video of the caller, moving in full video on your arm. After you hang up the tattoo completely fades away to leave nothing but your bare skin.

The Digital Tattoo Interface is a Bluetooth device that is inserted into the skin via a small incision. After inserted as a tube, it unrolls as a flat silicon base. It rests between skin and muscle. Glucose and oxygen in your blood fuel the implant via an attached artery and vein.

A special tattoo on the surface of your skin would interact with the field created by the device. Touching it through your skin would make it react similar to a touch screen display. Implications are limitless. Telephones, TV, the Web and just about everything else we rely on could be literally embedded in your skin.

Always on and ready, it stays out of sight until you need it to function. Well, that is unless you have a screen saver of your favorite tattoo’s running during the day. Cross your fingers with me and we might be able to get our hands on this concept sooner rather than later.

Unmanned gliders are using only the thermal power of the sea to carry on tasks that last months. Sounds a bit like science fiction, but rest assured, it’s real.

A joint team from the University of the Virgin Islands and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution launched an underwater vehicle in December of 2007. Uninterrupted all this time, it has traversed along the Virgin Island Basin 20 times, sometimes at depths reaching 2.5 miles deep.

Unlike conventional gliders that rely on batteries and pumps, the thermal glider responds to the differentials in ocean temperature. Tubes made of wax expand into mechanical energy, causing the craft to go buoyant. Those tubes later cool at depths, starting the cycle all over again.

The team has a working prototype that will be able to propel itself with unlimited green energy. They plan to use the design for missions that will take upwards of six months. They are agile, unmanned and can be set to do tasks such as gather salinity, topography, monitor biological activity and acoustic readings.

Everyone on the team is eager to launch more of the crafts in the North Atlantic. Data from the region will shed more light on the response the ocean has had to climate change.

You may just want to keep your eye out for one on your next SCUBA trip to Bermuda. Smile and nod, just don’t try to out swim it.

Last week the MS Beluga Skysails launched from Bremerhaven, Germany on a trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Upon its arrival, the locals in Venezuela noticed that something was amiss. The 140 meter long cargo ship was being pulled across the water by a giant kite. But then again, a new free/green secondary propulsion system would alarm even the most salted of sea dogs.

Even though it’s not completely relying on the kite as its main source of propulsion it is estimated to reduce fuel costs by 10 – 35%, which in turn means less carbon emissions. The kite itself is shaped like an aircraft wing and it is able to adjust with diffrent air conditions.

Operating range for the kite is about 100m – 300m above the surface. Higher altitudes have stronger winds that also remain stable and consistent. It can be flown in a variety of wind conditions and has the ability to be positioned in other areas around the ship to maximize efficiencies.

I’ve been power kiting for a little less than a year now, so naturally I wanted some specs on this massive kite. To give you an idea, I’m 6′3″ at 190lbs and a 5.5 meter power kite can lift me plain off the ground on a windy day. That ship weighs a slight bit more; to compensate they’ll be using a kite that is a massive 160sqm in size.

A kite that size, in the right weather, would have the ability to pull over 200 people directly into the clouds without blinking. Now that’s power.

Do you remember the scene in Minority Report when Tom Cruise was moving pictures and movies around on a floating screen with simple hand gestures? If it seemed amazingly natural it’s because it was meant to be. I mean, it’s not a big secret that we’re not born with the inclination to click a mouse and type on a keyboard.

Products like the the iPhone and Wii have proven that we crave intuitive interfaces. 3DV Systems has catered to our desire by creating an infrared camera controller that captures our gestures and translates them on screen. The ZCam is about the size of a standard Webcam. It works by capturing the reflection of infrared light. The shutter speed is quick so that it’s blind to anything thats beyond 8 feet. Depth is measured by heat signatures.

Just like Tom Cruise you’ll be able to navigate through videos and pictures with a flick of your fingers. Or you can take your best shot at a virtual boxer in a video game, just like in the video below. Eventually, this simple device may even be used to form virtual representations of people in large online environments. Imagine being able to move your fingers across a screen and see your World of Warcraft character react quicker than any amount of button mashing could produce.

Best part about this simple device that you aren’t going to need to wait until 2054 to get to test it out. You’re also not going to need to be rich as a movie star, because it’s cost is estimated below $100. Looks like computers just got a lot more hands on.

If you take a trip to Disney World you might be lucky enough to test a new device that promises to streamline your experience. The “Disney Magic Connection” is a wireless device that plans on radically changing the way you experience the magic. It runs on a Nintendo DS and has the ability to:

• Give current wait times for attractions
• Let you know whether FastPasses are left for that particular attraction
• And when those FastPasses will become available
• Show schedules
• Parade routes
• Interactive maps which reveal the location of rides, shows and attractions, restaurants, character appearances, restrooms, etc.
• It will know which ride you are waiting for and display interactive trivia based on that information to pass the time

I’m what you might call a Disney fanatic. When I heard this announcement I was both intrigued and disappointed. The theme parks are a multi-layered environment. They offer so much detail that even as a Disney fan, I still find new cracks and crevices unexplored on each visit.

It’s exciting that families will be able to share a streamlined “in-the-know” experience. On short trips where you might not have the time to plan out an 8-hour day with tired children, you’ll still have the ability to see a lot. That includes character visits, attractions and activities that you might have overlooked by planning ahead on a generic website.

At the same time it’s disappointing because it separates park goers into two groups, those who can afford the device and those who can not. It also has the ability to trivialize the experience by making a job out of the visit. Unless it’s designed with the parks atmosphere in mind, I fear that some guests may constantly be looking down into the screen rather than at the meticulous detail that the parks are known for.

Either way, it should be available for the general public by April of 2009. Chalk up another one to the Imagineers for continuously innovating the theme park experience.

Who likes paying $3 a gallon? Answer: no one. Least of all the producers of the new Extreme Hybrid SUV, AFS Trinity. They’ve set out to create a hybrid that will go up to 150 miles per gallon. Surprisingly the road hasn’t had too many bumps.

Hybrids today use the electric portion of the car at low speeds and as the car accelerates the internal combustion engine kicks in. This system goes a completely diffrent route. It runs completely on batteries for the first 40 miles and then allows the engine to kick in after they are drained. Rationale is that the average American drives about that distance to work and back. So why pay at the pump when electricity gets you there smoothly without even using gas?

Long distances on pure electric comes with a price: a full electric motor alongside a full-size gasoline engine. To conquer the obstacle they installed a a 200-horsepower G.M. VueGreen Line motor in the bottom rear of the vehicle. Drivetrain is then run by a belt to propel the front wheels while the custom AFS Trinity motor propels the rear.

Another key difference from regular hybrids is the addition of ultracapacitors. When you press on a normal hybrid’s brakes it converts that energy into a current that recharges the battery. More than half of the energy produced is wasted with this method. Ultracapacitors promise to significantly increase the efficiency of regenerative braking while maintaining the same amount of space taken up by current day lithium ion batteries.

Their working prototype will be shown at the North American International Auto Show this coming Sunday in Detroit. Personally I can’t wait for an innovation like this to hit the showroom floor at an affordable price. Lucky for me, that wait may soon be over.

Scramjet engines would be capable of flying from New York to Tokyo in two hours. They’ve been in development for decades and governments from around the world – USA, Australia and China – are finally making them a reality.

So just how fast is a scramjet? You may need a bit of comparison:

• A Boeing 747 cruises at 567 mph (Mach 0.85).
• The Concorde was capable of speeds of up to 1,330 mph (Mach 2.02).
• An F-14 Tomcat maxes out at 1,544 mph (Mach 2.34).
• The SR-71 Blackbird holds the speed record: 2,511 mph (Mach 3.3).
• Scramjets are projected at Mach 15, that’s upwards of 10,000 mph.

The jet engines of today aren’t able to go faster than Mach 3 because they use turbines that would melt under the outrageous temperatures that occur beyond that speed. So how is it possible to weather the storm? Take out the turbines. Scramjets are force-fed air engines with no moving or meltable components.

Inaugural attempts at this technology began with Reagan announcing a public scramjet project called the National Aerospace Plane (Rockwell X-30) in 1986. Dreams of “a new Orient Express” scheduled to have the technology up and running to ferry passengers by the 90’s. President Clinton canceled the project in 1994 because of all of the barriers and problems the research had.

Yet, as usual, the lessons of yesteryear gave us insight for todays research. Instead of trying to create a plane that can takeoff and reach Mach 25 within moments researchers are slowly developing the engines to instead go off in stages.

The first field tested scramjet flight was in 2002 by Australian researchers, called HyShot. It was essentially a rocket with a scramjet engine strapped on it that was launched 20 miles above the surface of the earth. Upon it’s re-entry the engine fired for five seconds, reaching 5,000 miles per hour (Mach 7.6) before crashing into the ground.

In 2004 NASA’s X-43A, a rocket craft, was launched off a moving airplane and reached a jaw dropping 7,307 mph (Mach 9.6) after 10 seconds. The new goal is 100 seconds of continuous flight. The X-1 engine design is currently being tested in Langley and hopefuls think that its flight time is capable of being extended to an hour of continuous flight.

So when will you finally be able to enjoy the benefits of all this blazing, neck-whipping speed? Darpa’s HTV-3X Blackswift is an unmanned vehicle that is set to make it’s first flight in 2012. After that it’s all a matter of adding some seats and charging a hell of a premium.

[Popsi]