Articles by John Beveridge

Music, traffic information, navigation and cloud-based vehicle management will all be happening via the internet, most likely through a SIM card mounted in the car but also through connected mobile phones.Connexion Media chief executive George Parthimos is planning to be an integral part of moving cars online and already the little Aussie company has outfoxed some much bigger rivals by getting accreditation from large car companies such as General Motors to supply applications and hardware.That is not a guarantee of success but given that car model runs can continue for up to seven years, it is a very handy foot in the door.Connexion's miRoamer system is now available as an option in the new Skoda Fabia and in many Volkswagen models, using a MirrorLink that allows a plugged in mobile phone to provide data for built-in systems.However, the big new development for the company is the imminent launch of a plug-in diagnostic device that will be able to keep real-time tabs on a wide variety of vehicle data.That could be particularly useful for hire car fleets, with drivers able to be warned if they are breaching rules such as speed, engine revs or straying on to a dirt road."You can set a range of alarms and notifications and it is a great opportunity to change driver behaviour in real time," explained Mr Parthimos.It could also be a great way to raise some extra revenue if certain boxes have been ticked in a rental agreement.For other fleets, the opportunity to know where trucks or cars are at any time and get relevant information such as vehicle mileage and an approaching service should be well worth the estimated two minutes of productivity improvement a day that is required to pay for the system.Longer term, Mr Parthimos has plenty of apps and hardware to keep Connexion at the forefront of cars with built-in SIM cards but the current products should start some useful cash flow this year. A speculative buy.Many biotechnology companies are great at coming up with alternative uses of their research.Cancer treatment company Circadian is a good example, with a highly promising eye treatment now one of the keys to the company's future.While it has three solid tumour cancer compounds in clinical testing with large pharmaceutical partners, the treatment for age-related wet macular degeneration of the eyes (AMD) could well be a company maker on its own.With an estimated US market alone of greater than $5 billion a year and the incidence of AMD increasing as the population ages, it is a major commercial opportunity and a chance to slow down the major cause of blindness in people aged 55 or older.The two existing drugs for the condition block the action of what is known as VEGF-A while the Circadian treatment blocks VEGF-C and D.Either on its own or in conjunction with the existing drugs, Circadian's OPT-302 drug holds the promise of preventing the blood vessel growth and leakage that lead to wet macular degeneration.Chief executive Dr Megan Baldwin said testing in mice had shown a significant improvement compared to treatment with existing drugs alone.Circadian has assembled an impressive range of US and Australian AMD experts for its clinical board, including some who helped develop the existing AMD treatments.A speculative buy, given the size of the world market for a better eye treatment.

Computer scientists at Free University in Berlin have raised the bar with an iPhone application to remotely drive a car.   Of course, this is no ordinary car. Dubbed the Spirit of Berlin, it uses GPS, Wi-Fi, a dashboard video camera and laser 3D sensors to allow it to be driven remotely.   At the end of all that technology is a customised iPhone application called iDriver which shows the view out of the windscreen and parts of the touch screen which can be used to steer, brake and accelerate. In short, it is a similar system to that used by James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies to escape from a sticky situation and way ahead of the simple shoe phone used by Maxwell Smart in Get Smart. The range on the car is apparently good enough for the user to navigate it remotely all the way down a four-storey car park before the car picks up the driver.  The car and the remote were both built by the Artificial Intelligence Group at the university, which is looking at how autonomous vehicles could change our lives in the future. Project director Professor Raal Rojas said that in the not-too-distant future people would not need to have their own car, with driverless taxis taking people anywhere they wanted to go.

It has taken a long time but elements of the Jetson's futuristic lifestyle are finally becoming real.George's treadmill, which must have appeared ridiculous in 1962, is now an everyday reality.Rosie the robot maid is not quite here yet, but the Japanese seem to be closing in.And US company Moller International has put a flying saucer into production that looks remarkably like George's perspex topped transportation.The personal flying pod, called the M200G Volantor, can glide three metres off the ground and carry two passengers.The M200G is the size of a small car and takes off and lands vertically.Company founder Dr Paul Moller said the craft was “the ultimate off-road vehicle” because it can travel over any surface.“It's not a hovercraft, although its operation is just as easy. You can speed over rocks, swampland, fences, or log-infested waterways with ease because you're not limited by the surface.”The flying saucer is governed by computers to fly at a maximum altitude of three metres so that it doesn't require registration as an aircraft.That enables it to sit on a cushion of air and travel at 80kph in any direction.Other versions are being developed to dock with skyscrapers for rescues and for military use.The crafts are powered by eight rotary engines, each driving an enclosed fan to produce lift.It can still hover if one engine fails while a second failure “will lead to a survivable hard landing.”Moller, which has been researching a variety of flying cars since the 1960s, is expecting the M200G to be available to buy from next year.With only two simple hand operated controls, the craft will present a licensing and registration quandary for authorities because it doesn't actually travel on roads but is not an aircraft.Initially, the flying saucer will cost around $146,000 but the price might fall further with mass production.Moller doesn't reveal if parts come from Cogswell Cogs or Spacely Space Sprockets.Do you think there is a future for the Jetsons car?