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Hitachi boarding gate can sniff explosives on passes, keep the transport queues flowing (video)
Anyone who's hopped on a flight at a major airport, or even some land-based transit, knows the agonizing wait that certain agencies demand while they scan for explosives and check boarding passes. Hitachi is working with Nippon Signal and the University of Yamanachi to build a new boarding gate that hopefully kills those two security birds with one stone. As you're swiping your boarding pass (or smartphone), the machine also scans it for particle-sized traces of explosive materials and sends the all-clear or no-go in less than two seconds. If all goes well, the system could check up to 1,200 passengers every hour at a single gate -- a rate quick enough to prevent a logjam at even the busiest terminals. Our chief reservations surround its scope. Hitachi has earned enough trust to get trial installations at Narita International Airport and a Tokyo subway station this coming spring, but we have a hunch that some airport officials would demand a more thorough screening, no matter how much it's actually needed.
Funai Eco Scan projector adds multitouch capabilities to your bedroom wall (video)
Here's hoping every pico projector outfit on the planet is paying attention to what's going down at CEATEC, otherwise they can pretty much forget about competing with what Funai is boasting. Seen here in Japan, this prototype projector utilized a Nippon Signal MEMS scanner and a great deal of top-secret technology in order to actually add multitouch capabilities to whatever surface is lucky enough to receive the projected image. You read right -- if you use this PJ to beam up an image on your bathroom wall, school whiteboard or any other surface, you can count on that surface having multitouch capabilities while the image is live. Once projected, users simply twist and turn the image in order to have it modified in real-time, and while there are obviously far more enterprise-based uses for this than consumer-based uses, there's no denying the awesomeness. Have a peek of the beamer in action after the break, and expect it to go commercial sometime in 2010 (if we're lucky).[Via Tech-On!]%Gallery-75060%
