Five Interesting Things: Today’s Scan Hits
Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today.
- The Serval project offers free software to enable cellular phones to exchange calls and text messages without a cellular network. Serval is seeking crowdfunding for its “Mesh Extender,” a device that would extend the ad hoc mesh networks created by Serval to greater distances.
- Researchers at the University of Maryland have hit upon the idea of using a thin layer of wood coated in conductive carbon nanotubes as a way to address problems with sodium-ion batteries. Sodium-ion batteries are seen as more environmentally friendly than current lithium-ion batteries and cheaper too. The problem is that they fall apart after only 20 charges, and the anode swells up. Early tests show the wood fiber wrap holds the battery together and also allows for up to 400 charges.
- McKinsey forecasts continued strong growth for the Chinese middle class, with three-fourths of urbanites reaching middle income levels by 2022.
- A variety of retail chains are testing systems to track the behavior of shoppers in their stores–how much time they spend in various departments or aisles, for example. These systems appear to raise more objections from shoppers in physical stores than the equivalent information-gathering conducted during online shopping.
- Materials researchers have developed glass windows with pores that allow the passage of air, but attenuate sounds by up to 35db. The window pores trap the sound waves in engineered cavities, while allowing air to pass through.