Yet another amazing invention by the Japanese. Susumu Suzuki, president of Tokyo-based building material maker Total System Conductor, has created a battery that gets its power from water.

The electric current from this battery is as powerful as regular alkaline batteries, yet as much as ten times cheaper to produce. The battery is even recyclable for several times.

The battery will be extremely useful in an emergency, as merely licking it will give it enough liquid to power up a small torch. Or maybe even your iPod, so you don’t get bored if you ever get stranded on an island.

Eco-friendly and cheap, what’s not to like?

Halloween costume? Nah, it’s a helmet made by Toshiba that claims to provide a 360-degree view in a 40cm (15.7in) dome-shaped display. But how are we going to enjoy the experience with this 3kg (6.6lbs) thing on our head? No thanks, Toshiba.

This cool-looking door has infrared sensors on each of its slats. With them, the door detects the shape of the person or object passing through, and opens up to a neat approximate shape of it. Other than just looking plain cool, it helps minimize loss of air-conditioning and even entry of dust.

Microsoft Zune is finally officially announced! Will it really become the iPod-killer that some have wished for? Well, let’s take a look at the features it offers.

• Wireless Zune-to-Zune file-sharing (the star feature!)
• 30GB of storage
• 3-inch display
• Built-in FM
• Music, video and photo playback
• Audio supported: MP3, AAC and WMA
• Video supported: h.264, MPEG-4, WMV
• Photo supported: JPEG
• 12 hours of music playback or 3.5 hours of video playback

If you are a storage freak, you might find Zune’s 30GB limiting, in contrast to the new iPod’s 80GB. But of course, we can be sure that Microsoft will come out with higher capacity ones later.

And what really sets the Zune apart from the rest, is its wireless Zune-to-Zune file-sharing feature. This is done by simply selecting the media and then selecting your buddy’s Zune from a list of nearby Zunes. The file will be playable by your buddy for up to three times over three days. After the trial period, he may choose to purchase the song off the Microsoft’s iTune’ish Zune Marketplace.

Microsoft’s lip is still sealed on Zune’s pricing and availability. And meanwhile, it may not be surprising to see Microsoft up Zune’s specifications, judging from how the new iPod managed to trump it in several areas.

Here are two videos to feed your eyes. One featuring Zune’s interface and the other showing the Zune-to-Zune transfer in action.

Created by Russian scientist Viktor Gordeyev, the Power Boots is capable of propelling the wearer up to speeds of 25mph, with each step up to a distance of 13 feet! The boots use bio-fuels such as bio-diesel, vegetable oil, SVO and waste vegetable oil (WVO) to produce the propelling power whenever the user steps down on the metal platform.

Can’t wait for it to become available to the masses! Like skateboards and rollerblades, it could very well become a new kind of street sports.

Here’s a video of the boots in action below.

Chinese company First Auto Works has wowed everyone with its latest Hongqi HQ3 self-driving car! The luxury sedan features two onboard cameras that detects the car’s surroundings and feed it to a computer, which analyzes the situation for safe steering. The company claims that the vehicle is able to recognize turnoffs, street crossings, and stay between lines. Even at a high speed of 93mph, the vehicle is supposedly not confusable. But you can bet I’ll be running far away if I ever spot one on the streets at 93mph!

The vehicle was on display last week at Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo in China. No information yet as to when we can see a clip of it in action.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we reported on the handshake-eliminating algorithm invented by the smart people from MIT. Very promising piece of software that can help minimize the effects of handshakes even after the fact. But what it doesn’t do is eliminating blur caused by motion. This is where Mitsubishi’s new flutter shutter technology comes in.

Current traditional cameras all have single shuttered exposures. And when a shutter speed too low is used for a capturing fast-moving object, the result is a motion-blurred picture of the subject.

The prototype flutter shutter attempts to solve this problem by attaching in front of any camera lens, and fluttering its ferroelectric shutter based on a coded sequence. It is like splitting a single exposure into multiple short exposures. And by applying a post-capture linear system algorithm, the resulting image is an absolutely sharp and de-blurred one.

“We have UV filters. We have polarizing filters. What about time filters?” said senior research scientist Ramesh Raskar.

By combining flutter shutter technology with MIT’s handshake-eliminating algorithm, I can foresee a future where even non-professional photographers are able to capture tack-sharp pictures of moving subjects without breaking a sweat.

For now, a fast shutter speed or the use of a strobe remains the key to freezing motion in photography.

Who said 3G phones have to be all bulky? Samsung sets the record straight with its new Ultra Edition 8.4, also known as the Z370. The slim candybar phone is 8.4mm thin, weighs just 71g, features a 1.93-inch TFT display and dual cameras (a 2-megapixel and a VGA). It takes in microSD cards for data storage.

There is no release date and pricing information yet. So slim-conscious readers, keep a close watch on this one.

Gadgets harnessing E-ink technology is nothing new. But a prototype e-book reader with flexible e-paper screen sure is. The Philips READUS prototype shown in the video above features a 5-inch 320×240 e-paper screen that can be kept rolled up when not in use. A simple pull unrolls the battery-saving screen, which uses power only when pages are turned.

Even at just 5-inch, the prototype looks amazingly good for practical usage. All thanks to the small size when kept rolled up.

Everyday, advancement in technology is slowly replacing the need for humans themselves to perform tasks. People that used to station at carpark entrances are now replaced by machines. And heaven forbid, robots performing unassisted heart surgery.

The latest invention that is also replacing a human’s task is the Virtuoso. It is an amazing violin that is capable of playing by itself. But instead of creating a sophisticated robotic hand to control the pitch, the inventor used an electromagnetic system to achieve the same results. So what we’ll see is the bow bowing magically all by itself in mid-air.

Getting one for your home will surely amaze every guest in the house. But not without a hefty price tag of course. A set will cause a damage of $17,500 to your bank account.