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You’d think the Sonance Kayak speaker is some sort of watercraft boom box that’ll let you swiftly cut through the waves and scare the sharks with some metal music, but no, the Kayak Is actually an art exhibit from the future. Of course it’s rather meant to be more decorative than functional, but the Kayak has its interesting features nonetheless. The single speaker design is said to be offering incredible stereo sound and taking care of this aspect are the Italian guys over at NACSound.

Here’s how the speaker works according to DVice: the lamp-like cones on the top and bottom each contain a coaxial driver array. Not that hard to figure out, but what about that thing in the middle? That would be an acoustic reflector, which was actually designed on a computer in order for the resulting sound field to give the best possible stereo image. The cool thing is that the speaker doesn’t care if it remains suspended vertically or horizontally.

The Italians seem to be asking for quite a decent price in the case of the Kayak: $2,900 in any of its 14 available finishes. I say decent because I know you’ve seen some crazy looking speakers that cost a fortune and don’t really have anything to offer on the esthetic part.

Do you have at least a relative who has something against technology? Come on, you gotta have at least a grandmother always rumbling about those computers, mobile phones, and machines that will bring this world to an end! Well, I hope the situation is not that far off the line, but the idea is that a lot of people are still asking themselves and those around them "Why is technology important today?..." Since "technology" is a word defining almost everything around us, I think we should go back a long way in time, and try to remember where and when it all began. Ready or not, here we go...

When a monkey got smarter than the others, and started to use tools, that was the dawn of technology. The wheel was also a major step ahead. Everything was done extremely slow, in thousands of years. You can call this "evolution," or you can consider it was "divine inspiration," but the outcome is the same: the human race started slowly, but surely, to master various tools, and despite the fact nature around remained stronger for ages, these so-called "technologies" made human life easier. First, it was about adapting to the environment, and now it's about making what we want of the world around, but let's see where does this word come from, shall we?

"Technology" has Greek origins, since the word "technologia"("τεχνολογία") has been formed by uniting "techne", "τέχνη" ("craft") and "logia", "λογία" ("saying"). While "technology" is often use to describe a certain crafting methodology, this term is much more than that, and I usually think about "information technology" first of all.

Why information technology? In the past centuries, history managed to prove that information is one of the most powerful weapons, and even the latest conflicts clearly proved why is technology important today, but I think we should remain in the civilian field, so let me highlight two or three important things...<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->

First of all, if you're asking yourself why is technology important, better ask yourself how many of your relatives or friends were saved by medical technology. You got a very important answer - technology is important to help humans survive in situations that were a certain one way ride a century ago, or even a few decades ago. I won't get into examples, I will only mention that next big thing I am waiting for to see in the medical technology field is artificial eyes for those born blind, as well as full eye implants for those that were blinded by certain diseases or accidents.

Next, it's environmentalism. A term having a lot of meanings, environmentalism is "hiding" one of the greatest treasures current technology allows us to find and exploit, but certain corporations and governments won't allow yet - absolutely clean energy, and alternative propulsion devices. Also, there are plenty of technologies waiting in line to reduce global warming, but from what I've managed to read here and there on the Internet, a lot of people are still thinking this is more of a hoax than a reality. Well, guys, you should use your heads, check some weather statistics in the last two decades, and then draw your conclusions. If you're living in a house with air conditioning, that doesn't mean global waming does not exist!

At last, and most important - we have the Internet, probably the most important part of the larger "information technology" crowd, together with the computers, these "brilliant idiots"(why idiots? think that a computer is nothing without the humans programming or using it, and you'll get your answer), and all that comes with it - the future, today.

I know the above may not be enough, so I challenge you to answer this question: "Why is technology important today?" for you, your beloved ones, and the entire mankind!

Women would be very happy to hear that researchers at Australia’s Monash University have come up with a nanoparticle coating that could make self-cleaning clothes a reality. Ladies could soon say bye, bye to hand washing and washing machines.

According to DVice, the particles, made of anatase titanium dioxide, will coat fibers in wool and silk. In order for these particles to be effective, you need to expose the clothes to sunlight for a few hours, and the particles start munching on errant spills as well as any harmful and smell-causing microorganisms and other dirt. Researchers claim that the particles won’t be introduced right away. However, they assure us that the particles are nontoxic and can be permanently bonded to the fiber, resisting laundering while keeping the cloth’s prized texture the same. Researchers are alos looking to accelerate the cleaning process.

The benefits coming from such nanotechnology can be translated into cash savings on clothes, since these clothes won’t be degraded that quick, plus you can help save wasted energy from washing machines, prevent water consumption and eliminate the use of dry-clean chemicals.

If only they could find a way o include a similar technology in every man-made thing so we don’t have to wash them and waste time on maintenance.

Looks like the days when humans and machines will be fusing are not that far away. According to NewScientist, researchers from the University of Reading in the UK have managed to design a robot that relies on electronic chips and on neurons in order to interact witht the surrounding world. The main controller of the robot nestles inside a small pot containing a pink broth of nutrients and antibiotics. Inside that pot, around 300,000 rat neurons have made - and continue to make - connections with each other.

The disembodied neurons are communicating, sending electrical signals to one another just as they do in a living creature. The neuronal activity is constantly monitored by the researchers through 80 electrodes connected at the base of a port in the robot. The electrodes detect the voltages sparked by the neurons, which are then displayed on a computer screen.

By stimulating the neurons with signals from sensors on the robot and using the neurons' response to get the robots to respond, the Reading researchers hope to gain insights into how brains function. The data gathered from these experiments can help cure conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and epilepsy.

"We're trying to understand what is going on inside this brain material that could have direct implications for human health," says Kevin Warwick, Reading's head of cybernetics, also helped Hammond and Ben Whalley, both neuroscientists.

Here’s a short clip that depicts how the robot is responding to external stimuli:



For more information, read the full article from NewScientist.

What happens when you combine music with cars? Well, you may end up with an MP3 player on wheels. But what if that MP3 player comes in the form of a cool car? Like this one right here:

It’s the Audi O designed by Ondrej Jirec, a design student from the Czech Republic. YankoDesign tells us that the Audi car is inspired by the sleek appearance of a current generation iPod. This concept Audi design takes that American legacy of making vehicles into one giant rolling boombox to new heights. I’d call it the White Fury, since it features the all-white iPod look, but it still packs some serious audio power with internet connectivity for downloading music onto the built-in 650 GB hard drive, and Bluetooth system for connecting two or more Audi O cars together, so you and your buddies can form an exclusivist club.

And that’s not all. Seamlessly integrated in the back trap door is a couple of DJ decks and mixer. No need to pimp this ride, it can easily be featured in the upcoming Fast and the Furious Def Jam. Well, on second thought, I could throw in some cool aerographed effects and a black pearl paint.