Tech Universe: Thursday 26 May

An artist's impression of Shell's FLNG gas facility off the coast of WA. Photo / Supplied

BIG GAS: Shell plans to build a 488m long, 74m wide liquefied natural gas facility 475 Km off the coast of Western Australia. What's special though is that it will be a floating facility right at the site of the gas field, producing at least 5.3 million tonnes of liquids per year. Ocean going carriers will load products directly from the facility. The FLNG will displace around 600,000 tonnes of water and be the largest floating offshore facility in the world. It has been designed to withstand the most powerful tropical cyclones. On-site processing makes a great deal of sense. More at
Shell's site and video here.

TINY KILLER: The uncrewed Acturus drone aircraft weighs only 45 Kg and can fly at 4,500 metres. Its wingspan is just over 5 metres, but wings and the tail snap off to make it easy to carry. It's launched from a pneumatic catapult, but the most important feature is that it can carry a specially made 4Kg laser-guided missile. Do you feel lucky today - it could be circling overhead right now. Paranoia check at Wired.

SKELETON SIGNS: New York City has a 30 mph speed limit. Before long drivers who exceed the limit will see signs by the road displaying a skeleton, and advising them to slow down. The idea is to remind drivers of the deadly consequences of driving too fast. Will drivers try to raise the dead by barely exceeding the limit?
Details at NY Times.

SPELLING LASER: The Safe-Laser System from InvoTek lets people with limited movement write, communicate, and control their environment.
The Safe Laser in a headset projects a low-power light-beam onto a light-sensing keyboard. The keyboard then speaks or send keystrokes to a computer, or a person nearby can just read what's being pointed out.
Simple but very clever. Details here and video on YouTube.

HIGH TECH DOGS: The US Military has a few very special dogs that wear body armour worth $30,000 dollar a piece. The tactical body armour allows for attachable gadgets, such as high-def cameras, microphones and special speakers. The armour is bullet proof and stab proof, yet is light-weight. It's good to see the dogs being well-protected too. More at MSNBC.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz