sensors

8 Stories

France's New Street Sensors to Battle 'Unbearable' Issue

'Sound radars' in select cities will ID, photograph vehicles making excessive noise

(Newser) - "It's unbearable—it's a constant acoustic aggression." That's how one resident of Paris describes the never-ending traffic noise outside his family's apartment, and it's a problem France now hopes to solve with its new "sound radars," reports the New York Times...

Stores Using Floor Sensors to Track Customer Activity

The latest tactic to combat online retail

(Newser) - Online clicks give retailers valuable insight into consumer behavior, but what can they learn from footsteps? It's a question Milwaukee-based startup Scanalytics is helping businesses explore with floor sensors that track people's movements, highlighting one of several efforts brick-and-mortar stores are undertaking to better understand consumer habits and...

IBM Working on Bot to Help Elderly Age at Home

Sensors can detect motion, scent, audio, and more

(Newser) - Assisted living facilities and personal nurses aren't exactly cheap. And as the Baby Boomer generation ages, finding affordable means of helping people age in the comfort of their own homes could be good not just for seniors, but for their wallets, too. So IBM is working on a prototype...

Temporary Tattoo Tells You When You're Drunk

It has an electronic sensor

(Newser) - These days there are plenty of options for those who want to test their (or a friend's) blood alcohol content before getting behind the wheel, but a finger prick is the best bet if what you're after is accuracy. Now researchers at the University of California San Diego...

Air France Changes Airbus Speed Sensors

Icing concerns fueled replacements beginning last month

(Newser) - Air France is speeding up the process of replacing sensors on its Airbus planes following the crash of Flight 447, the BBC reports, a process it began in April. In May of last year, Air France said, it observed a “small number” of “incidents of loss of airspeed...

Microsoft May Unveil Wii-Like Remote in June

(Newser) - Just-released patent applications suggest Microsoft has indeed created a so-called “Magic Wand” to rival the Wii remote, the BBC reports. It could come out at next month's industry expo in Los Angeles. The applications say the wand has "biometric sensors" that would detect "fingerprint, hand geometry, hand...

Seals Plunge for Climate Data
 Seals Plunge for Climate Data

Aug 17, 2008 1:29 PM CDT

Seals Plunge for Climate Data

Scientists use deep-diving creatures for Antarctic research

(Newser) - Giant seals living in the chilly waters of Antarctica are helping researchers gather important data on climate change, reports Popular Mechanics. The elephant seals, tagged with hat-like sensors, make frequent dives deep into the Southern Ocean and surface with valuable details about water temperature and salinity. The dense waters of...

You'd Better Silence That Spray Paint

SoCal city installs sensors that can hear graffiti artists

(Newser) - If you’re going out to tag in Montebello, Calif., consider using a paintbrush. The Los Angeles neighborhood has spent $1 million on an anti-graffiti system that can hear aerosol cans up to 80 feet away. The 25 “tagger traps” employ sound sensors to catch graffiti artists red-(or blue-...

8 Stories