Scratched glasses give perfect vision for any eyesight

Zeev Zalevsky at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, has developed a technique to turn a standard lens into one that perfectly focuses light from anything between 33 centimetres away and the horizon.

It involves engraving the surface of a standard lens with a grid of 25 near-circular structures each 2 millimetres across and containing two concentric rings. The engraved rings are just a few hundred micrometres wide and a micrometre deep. "The exact number and size of the sets will change from one lens to another," depending on its size and shape, says Zalevsky.

The rings shift the phase of the light waves passing through the lens, leading to patterns of both constructive and destructive interference. Using a computer model to calculate how changes in the diameter and position of the rings alter the pattern, Zalevsky came up with a design that creates a channel of constructive interference perpendicular to the lens through each of the 25 structures. Within these channels, light from both near and distant objects is in perfect focus.

 Article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827806.000-scratched-glasses-give-perfect-vision-for-any-eyesight.html

A blind architect relearns his craft

Two and a half years ago, Downey had just started running the architecture practice at a stylish green-design firm. A few weeks after he took the job, he noticed something wrong with his vision. A tumor was wrapped around his optic nerve; he needed surgery right away. When he woke up, everything was blurry, but he could see. “Five days later,” he said, “it all went black.”

Downey returned to the office. But he couldn’t use design software. He couldn’t read plans. A few months passed, and the firm was caught up in the housing crash. Downey scheduled a talk with the owner, an old friend, to figure out how he could be more useful. He was at a workstation, up on a loft, when she came to see him, and he could tell by her footfalls that it wasn’t going to be the kind of conversation he had been planning to have.

San Francisco was full of laid-off architects. Downey could be pretty sure he was the only blind one. It turned out to be an interesting credential. SmithGroup and another firm, the Design Partnership, hired him as a consultant.

Akihabara Tour

Link catre tot turul: http://www.tokyohackerspace.org/akihabara/

This Pool Creates Waves In The Shape Of…Anything!

The pool consists of several generators that are pulled and pushed in and out of the pool creating the perfect wave in the form of anything you can think of. No shape or angle is too complicated… if you’re prepared to calculate the exact movement and impact point of each and every generated push.

Sursa: http://www.bitrebels.com/geek/this-pool-creates-waves-in-the-shape-of…anything/

Cursa masinute in parcarea Baneasa

Inteleg ca e si maine.

Reclama interzisa de Apple

De ce a fost interzisa?

The newspaper responsible for the ad, Newsday, told me yesterday; "We have taken the commercial 'Flypaper' down and its short, glorious run appears to be over." Newsday would not say why and Apple did not respond to my request for comment.

This morning I open an e-mail from someone purporting to work at Newsday and asking that his identity not be revealed.

 "Newsday got a cease and desist letter threatening all of our apps, if we did not remove the commercial immediately. They took exception to the fact that the (iPad) glass shattered into large jagged pieces ... Your instincts are correct."

Mai multe: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/66382

The Inner Life of a Cell Explained

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