On The Line

Gartner’s 2014 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies (plus Hype Cycle from 2000)

Same procedure as every year. Go industry go! Fulfill Gartner’s prophecy.

The city is fast becoming China’s city of clones. Boasting 56 famous replica bridges as well as Venetian- and Dutch-style villages, the Chinese city of Suzhou is the home of ‘duplitecture’. But what’s driving this passion for urban mimicry?

How Nanotechnology Could Reengineer Us

from Keithly:

Nanotechnology is an important new area of research that promises significant advances in electronics, materials, biotechnology, alternative energy sources, and dozens of other applications. The graphic below illustrates, at a personal level, the potential impact on each of us. And where electrical measurement is required, Keithley instrumentation is being used in an expanding list of nanotechnology research and development settings.

The high demand for diamonds is a product of the very successful marketing strategy by DeBeers which began in the 1940′s. Diamonds have become prized for their hardness and their light-refracting ability, which makes them sparkly and beautiful, but there are plenty of other gems that are scarcer than diamonds.

How Spritz Redesigned Reading, Letting You Scan 1,000 Words A Minute

When we read, our eyes move across a page or a screen to digest the words. All of that eye movement slows us down, but a new technology called Spritz claims to have figured out a way to turn us into speed-readers. By flashing words onto a single point on a screen, much like watching TV, Spritz says it will double your reading speed.

More> Co.Design

New York’s Lowline Project Part of a Larger Trend Toward Underground Architecture

A group in New York has proposed plans to transform an abandoned trolley terminal into an underground park. The “Lowline,” a name chosen to complement the city’s High Line park, would transform a one-acre tunnel below Manhattan’s Lower East Side into a public space. A solar collection dish, situated above ground, would gather sunlight and transfer it through a tube down to dome lights above the underground park.

The project gained its initial funds through a Kickstarter campaign in 2012. Dan Barasch, one of the project’s cofounders, tells Mashable that every Lower East Side elected official has supported the idea. Logistics are still being finalized, he says, but he expects the park to be completed in five years.