Two of the world’s aluminum giants—Alcoa Corp. and Rio Tinto Aluminum—have announced a revolutionary process to make green aluminum, and we’re not talking colors here. Instead, the joint venture has come up with a new smelting method that produces oxygen instead of direct greenhouse gas emissions.  The project is called Elysis—a reference to the process at the center of aluminum smelting, the electrolysis of alumina. It will be based in Montreal and plans to make this revolutionary method commercially available by 2024. Aside from the environment friendly feature,, the technology is also expected to reduce costs by roughly 15 percent. Apple has partnered with the two companies, and the Governments of Canada and Quebec, to collectively invest a combined $147 million to future research and development. The research and development phase of the technology has spanned decades. Apple joined in 2015 when three of its engineers—Brian Lynch, Jim Yurko and Katie Sassaman—went in search of a cleaner, better way of mass producing aluminum. Aluminum, also known as solid electricity, has been mass produced the same way since 1886, having Alcoa’s founder, Charles Hall as a trail blazer. A strong electrical current is applied to alumina (refined from bauxite) which removes oxygen. In Hall’s experiments as in today’s largest smelters, there is a carbon material that burns during the process, producing greenhouse gases. The new method replaces that carbon with an advanced conducive material. Instead of carbon dioxide, it releases oxygen. This major discovery promised a huge environmental impact. To speed things up, Alcoa realized they needed a partner. Here Apple played a big role: David Tom, Maziar Brumand and Sean Camacho of Apple’s business development department introduced Rio Tinto to Alcoa. What follows that meeting is history unfolding. The future looks greener thanks to...

This device, created by Houston, Texas-based startup Knocki, will take you back to your childhood adventures, reminiscing of the immense power secret knocks had, and, apparently, still have. Knocki is a puck-shaped Wi-Fi gizmo with built-in vibration-sensing tech that fastens onto furniture, walls and doors. It has the ability to translate taps and knocks into controls for the Internet of Things devices. Do you remember now the special patterns like two knocks, a pause, three more knocks which gained you entry to a members-only treehouse? Knocki showed early signs of a truly successful device after it blew way past its $35,000 target set for a Kickstarter campaign, to over $1.1 million committed. Where from comes this magnetism? The gizmo uses an adhesive tape to stick to whatever surface the user wants, their patent-pending SurfaceLinkTM is said to ensure a solid connection to a surface for transmission of gesture signals, but if you’re skeptical about the staying power of that adhesive strip, the company also provides mounting hardware for a more permanent installation. As far as configuration goes, it is said to be as simple as downloading the companion app on your iPhone or Android and entering your Wi-Fi credentials. From there, you should be able to assign up to 10 custom “knocks” to a single Knocki. The device isn’t always on, thus it conserves battery life—four AAA batteries will keep Knocki running for more than one year. Moreover, its simple sensor keeps production costs low. The simple system was designed to help kids, the elderly, as well as the physically and visually impaired control the new generation of IoT hardware, without having to waste more time with a smartphone. Furthermore, the team behind the product claims upcoming support with the likes of IFTTT, Nest,...

Looking back at the course of innovation in technology throughout 2014, it’s clear that wearables have gained a lot of traction. Watch after watch, bracelet after armband, the French are now introducing the wristband – Cicret. The first thing to know about this little wonder is that the prototype is still in the works and if you want to spend some money on it now, the only way to do it is to donate for the development of its first prototype on the Cicret website. Back to the description. The Cicret Bracelet is a small wristband that supposedly has the ability to turn the wearer’s arm into a touchscreen. It sounds pretty cool to be able to give up your smartphone in an era dominated by them. The device works through a tiny embedded pico projector and a row of 8 proximity sensors built into the bracelet that point towards the user’s forearm, reminding of the technology behind projected keyboards. These enable the Cicret system to detect the location and movement of the user’s fingers, turning the surface of the skin into a touchscreen. The regular gestures apply: tap, swipe, and pinch. Cicret will operate as a standalone device and, when activated with a twist of the wrist, projects an Android interface onto the arm. The proximity sensors detect where the user’s fingers are and allow them to interact with the interface as they would on any Android device. Furthermore, the device features an accelerometer and a vibration module, as well as an LED for notifications. Connectivity is provided by way of WiFi, Bluetooth and a Micro USB port. The bracelet will also have its own onboard storage of 16GB and 32GB. The bracelet will allow users to send and receive emails, browse the...