3D ANTENNA PRINTING PROMISES BETTER RECEPTION

Researchers at the University of Illinois have come up with a nanoscale printing technique that allows for the creation of so-called 3D antennas. The researchers printing process uses nanoparticle silver ink onto a curved substrate, as shown up above. The resulting components "exhibit performance metrics that are an order of magnitude better than those realized by monopole antenna designs." In fact these creations are said to approach the Chu-Harrington Limit of theoretical performance in an antenna. Plus, they look really cool...too bad they will hidden away inside your mobile device.

GOOGLE CLOUD PRINT ALLOWS PRINTING FROM PHONE

Google recently released Cloud Print, a web feature that allowed you to print documents on your home printer from anywhere. Today, they're going to start rolling out that feature for mobile Gmail, so you can print straight from your smartphone.

Until today, Google Cloud Print was only available for Chrome OS, but now iPhone and Android users can print anything from mobile Gmail on-the-go. So, if you're out and about and want to print out an email (or one of its attachments, like a .doc or .pdf file), you can just head to Gmail's mobile web interface and hit the print button from the top right-hand dropdown. When you gethome, your email will be waiting for you at the printer. To set up Google Cloud Print, just head to Chrome's preferences and go to Under the Hood > Sign in to Google Cloud Print. It should automatically add all printers hooked up to that computer to your Google Cloud Print manager, and you'll be able to print to them from your phone. Note that as of right now, it only works on Windows, and you'll need the latest beta version of Google Chrome to set it up.

URBEE HYBRID BODY CAME FROM A PRINTER

The Urbee Hybrid vehicle is a concept with an interesting twist. The body of the vehicle was produced from a printer...a really big 3D printer. The result is a partnership between Kor Ecologic, a transportation company, and Stratasys, a printer company that markets its 3D printers as HP Designjets.

Kor provided the concept and the underpinnings of the thing, a design that amazingly has its roots in the early '90s but has been given a new, teardrop body 100 percent printed by Stratasys. Underneath is a plug-in hybrid powertrain that manages up to 200mpg on the highway and 100mpg around town running on ethanol or plain 'ol gasoline. No, there are no plans for the three-wheelin' Urbee to actually see production, and beneath that luscious shape rolls something that looks rather more like a work in progress. [Engadget]