fraunhofer

For more than 60 years, Germany's Fraunhofer Institute has promoted and undertaken "applied research...of wide benefit to society as a whole," according to its mission statement. That's why it's not at all surprising to hear that they recently came up with the Perfect Coffee Mug, a temperature-regulating drinking receptacle that keeps coffee at the ideal drinking temperature for up to 30 minutes.

The mug uses phase change material (PCM)--that's a substance with a high heat of fusion that can store and release energy (heat) over time. By adjusting the amount of PCM … Read more

Since moving to Portland in 2005--land of not only good beer and bikes but also a number of renowned farmers' markets--I've learned how to pick a peach. In fact, I spend so much time in the produce section that I recently landed a book deal while squeezing the avocados at my local produce market. (No seriously, the publisher called while I was squeezing avocados.)

But when it comes to determining the freshness of harder-to-read foods like pineapple and pork, I'm a total neophyte. Which is why a press release titled "Ripe pineapple and delicious pork" out … Read more

If you thought there were enough menaces on the road with people yakking away on Bluetooth headsets and texting while driving, these OLED data eyeglasses just upped the ante.

Just imagine if this little invention out of the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems in Germany were to hit mainstream use. We'd have a global epidemic of distracted users plugged into their eyewear, busily accessing the day's news, e-mails, instant messages, and miscellaneous data on their glasses, barely paying attention to where they're going.

Still, there's no halting technology. So looking on the bright side, this interactive … Read more

Ever found yourself peddling along madly and forgetting to breathe? If you have a respiratory illness, that can cause more than a minor glitch on the bike path. To monitor patients' inhalations and exhalations, scientists at Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft research institute have conceived of a digital assistant that behaves something like a pulmonary specialist along for the ride.

The Respisens system registers the pace and strength of the wearer's breathing. Measurements are taken with the aid of respiration straps--conductors integrated into a T-shirt across the patient's chest and stomach that emit an electric signal when expanded. The raw … Read more

Back in February, a jury in the District Court of Southern California found Microsoft guilty of infringing two patents held by Alcatel-Lucent related to MP3 technology, and awarded Alcatel-Lucent $1.52 billion. It was the biggest patent-infringement verdict in U.S. history, and also the biggest fine ever levied against Microsoft. (Although the company did pay a larger amount--$1.95 billion--in 2004 to settle antitrust and patent infringement claims brought by Sun Microsystems.)

I'm not a patent lawyer, and Microsoft has certainly been found guilty of illegal business tactics before, but this verdict seemed crazy at the time. … Read more

We've been concerned about misplacing some media players because of their petite frames, but never video cameras. And certainly not high-definition ones. But at a barely more than 1.5 by 3 inches and "smaller than a bar of soap," the "MicroHDTV" from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute could easily slip out of our pocket and into the lost-and-found category.

Engadget says the camcorder is purportedly small enough to fit in "a racing-car cockpit, helmet or any other tiny space you'd like to broadcast HDTV from." That's a euro in the photo … Read more