Gizmag News - Ducati prepares to smash adventure bike market with its 2010 Multistrada

Welcome to the newsletter for gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for December the 3rd, 2009. Ducati prepares to smash the adventure bike market to pieces with its 2010 Multistrada 1200 The Ducati team set itself a very ambitious goal when it went about re-imagining its least popular model, the Multistrada adventure bike. The aim was to make the 2010 Multistrada a much more flexible bike than anything before it, offering proper sportsbike performance, true long-range touring abilities, easy commuting and a genuine ability to get offroad and play in the dirt. Starting with the monstrous v-twin from the 1198 superbike, the design team has pulled together and integrated a huge range of cutting-edge technologies to get there. In fact, with its traction control, variable engine maps and electronically adjustable Ohlins suspension, there's a good argument to say that it'll be the most technologically advanced motorcycle in production next year. Oh, and it'll be much, much lighter and much, much more powerful than anything else in the adventure bike world. Forget everything you know about Multistradas, this bike is going to be an absolute animal. Read More BOSS unveils eBand Audio Player for guitarists For the budding guitarist one of the best ways to learn music is to play along with familiar tunes, and for more experienced axemeisters, the ability to build songs using loops and backing tracks is an important writing tool. The BOSS eBand JS-8 Audio Player is a versatile solution that suits both scenarios. Designed for guitarists who play and practice at home, the portable eBand has a built-in speaker stereo system and offers preset guitar sounds and effects, functions to change tempo and pitch and the ability to record sessions. Read More Honda cracks snack-sized P-NUT concept at LA Auto Show With the variety of different engine technologies emerging to replace the traditional internal combustion engine, Honda has taken a very smart approach with its Personal-Neo Urban Transport (P-NUT) ultra-compact vehicle. The concept car features a modular rear engine bay designed to accommodate a wide variety of potential powertrain technologies including a conventional small internal combustion engine, a hybrid system, or a battery-electric drivetrain. Read More Sniffing out the condition of historical books and documents Establishing the condition of old books and precious historical documents traditionally involves removing samples of the paper from the valuable archival materials for testing in a laboratory. Naturally such destructive forms of testing are far from ideal. Now scientists have come up with a better option with the development of a nondestructive “sniff” test that can measure the degradation of old books and documents based on their smell. Read More Zilico’s cervical cancer screening device: could this mean the end of pap smear testing? For most women, pap smear tests are a necessary but often uncomfortable experience they have to endure every few years. And afterwards, they may have a stressful few weeks waiting for the test results. A cervical cancer screening device currently being trialed in Europe could signal the end of pap smear testing. Zilico’s system consists of a portable, handheld device and a base unit and as opposed to pap smear tests, can provide a result in a matter of minutes. Read More HH2 hydrogen technology purports to turn any gas-guzzler into a hybrid When the promoters of the HH2 Hydrogen Generator Clean Air Combustion System made an appearance at last year’s LA Auto Show they attracted their fair share of skepticism. Hardly surprising given their claims of boosting the horsepower, performance, and mileage of existing vehicles through the addition of an aftermarket device that mixes hydrogen and oxygen extracted from water with existing fuel. But the naysayers haven’t discouraged the system’s developers as they are fronting up to the LA Auto Show again this year with even loftier claims thanks to improvements to their system. Read More Hyperdog 4-ball launcher arms you with a canine exercise 'weapon' The first thing that gets tired when I take my two Border Collies for their morning walk is my arm – from repeatedly throwing a tennis ball for them. I used a tennis racket once but after two hits the ball was in someone else’s backyard, lost forever. Try explaining that to two ball-crazy canines. But relief for people like me – owners of dogs with boundless energy but blessed with a poor throwing arm - thanks to the Hyperdog 4-Ball Launcher. Read More 'Flipper' discs to contain both Blu-ray and DVD formats on a single disc Universal Studios Home Entertainment are easing the transition from DVD to Blu-ray with the announcement it will release dual-format discs containing both Blu-ray and DVD versions of some of its films on a single disc. The so-called “flipper” discs will allow users to choose between Blu-ray and DVD formats by flipping the disc, making it easy for movie buffs to future-proof their collections. Read More Sanyo's Air Washer Plus eliminates airborne nasties Sanyo has just released a home-use air purification system that could save hayfever sufferers a lot of sniffles. Billed as the first of its kind in the United States, the Air Washer Plus is designed to use electrolyzed water technology to suppress bacteria and germs, reduce the amount of airborne pollen and allergy-causing dust, and eliminate unpleasant odors in the home. Read More New development boosts output of DSSC solar cells In a world first, an international research team based in Melbourne, Australia, has developed a way to boost the output of the next generation of solar cells by creating a more efficient dye that makes dye-sensitive solar cells (DSSC) perform better than previous versions. Read More Windows Mobile 6.5 reviews are in: better, but not good Recent mobile coverage at Gizmag HTC Dragon to put Android on the Snapdragon chipset? HP Mini 311 gets benchmarked App Store hits two billion downloads AT&T launches MMS support for the iPhone 3G and 3GS The Vertu Constellation Ayxta: yours for just 4,900 Euros BlackBerry Desktop Software for OS X coming very soon NTT's TOUCH WOOD concept phones Intel's Core i7 Mobile processors bring desktop performance to the road If you would like to refer this newsletter to a friend or colleague, please point them at our free subscription page. Please don't try to forward this email, as the formatting is unlikely to remain intact. And don't worry, we don't share email addresses. Please read our privacy policy if you are concerned. Watch for more of the best new innovations, ideas and practical technologies in your inbox. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our daily newsletter at http://www.gizmag.com. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter please click here to unsubscribe. COPYRIGHT GIZMAG (C) 2009