Look and listen, and that concert poster just might be singing. Engineers have designed antennas（天线）that can turn everyday objects, from posters to clothing, into radio stations. Anyone walking or driving by can tune in and hear what’s on. The devices use radio waves, but they don’t generate their own. They hijack（劫持）the same waves that carry music and news to your smartphone.

Vikram Iyer co-led the project with Anran Wang, a graduate student in computer science and engineering. The two got the idea for their invention by paving attention to what was already around them. “It's the ideal way to minimize the power consumption for any kind of communication,” notes Iyer. Their research had focused on new types of wireless communications that won’t require much energy. They wanted something that would work outdoors in a city. Then they realized the air is already filled with wireless communications in the form of radio stations.

Radio waves carry energy at the speed of light from tall transmission towers to radios in cars, phones and homes. These waves of the antennas take in existing radio waves and change them slightly. Those changes add new sound information. The changed waves are then sent back out into the world where people can listen in. So the device only needs enough power to change the waves, not to generate them.

The scientists tested their device with a poster. It advertised a Seattle concert by Simply Three. People standing almost 4 meters away from the poster could use FM receivers on smartphones to listen to all songs of the band's music. Those in cars as far as 18 meters away could use car radios to pick up some parts of the songs.

The technology could even extend to clothes. Iyer, Wang and their team turned the shirt into an antenna. It let the shirt talk to the wearer’s smartphone. If a sensor in the shirt tracked a person’s heart rate during exercise, for instance, the antenna could transmit those data to the wearer’s phone.

Las Vegas CES Report

Each year people who are crazy about high-tech goods and tools head to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronic Show (CES). Below we have listed some of the latest and greatest things that we saw.

If you’re the kind of person who comes out of the airport coffee shop and realise 10 minutes later that you’ve left your suitcase there, the AI-powered suitcase is for you.

With five cameras in its handle, it comes with a special wristband (腕带) that you wear, so if you move too far away from the suitcase’s cameras, the wristband vibrates (震动), and the suitcase follows the vibrates.

Advertised as “fast”, “practical” and “fuel-free”, this special stove will cook your food with solar power only. The food is placed in a vacuum tube within a solar-powered device. The stoves come in different sizes; there is even a size that you can comfortably take with you if you go hiking.

Created in France, where people enjoy the finer things in life, this alarm will wake people with the sweet smells they enjoy. The producers believe that they will make your mornings happier with a sweet wake-up smell: baked croissant, expresso coffee, the seaside, chocolate…

TCL knows that good software is the key to success when it comes to consumer TVs. This year’s models will come with the option for either Android or Roku OS, allowing you to choose which of the two best TV operating systems you prefer.

Giraffenap is a new style of sleeping pod (仓) that encourages workers to get power naps during the day as a way of improving concentration and work efficiency.

Japan usually emphasizes extreme dedication to one’s work. In order to get used to this kind of heavy schedule and stress, some workers turn to short power naps. These are known to improve energy levels and concentration, as long as the person doesn’t go into deep sleep. In order to make it easier for people to get power naps pretty much anywhere, one company has begun installing vertical (垂直的) sleeping pods called Giraffenap in cafes all over the country.

One of the main reasons that Giraffenap pods have a vertical orientation is space—it’s much easier to have them installed in small cafes and restaurants because they take up little room—but it’s not the only reason. The standing position makes it easier for the person using the pod to wake up from their power nap.

Each Giraffenap pod features an alarm system that can be set by the user and support points for various parts of the body, which can make sure that the user remains in an upright position when napping. The pods also feature a height adjustment system so that anyone can achieve the perfect posture while using them.

Giraffenap sleeping pods currently come in two styles: a plain white model and one that uses a more traditional bamboo design. They offer great sound insulation (隔音), various sounds designed to support sleep and a built-in ventilation system.

Giraffenap is currently being put into effect in some coffee shops in Japan, and if the response is positive enough, we might also start seeing them in other places.