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In the next five years your shoe may be what powers the battery in your cell phone. Engineers are harnessing the power of kinetic energy and one IBM employee thinks widespread usage of the technology isn’t far off.

Harry Kolar, an engineer with IBM, described harvesting energy from human movements as bodies becoming “an energy-generating machine,” in a blog post about what energy changes may occur in the next five years. In essence, we create energy from many of the little activities we do throughout the day. This includes the simply click of a heel on the ground, jogging and biking. It’s similar to the hamster on the wheel scenario. This time, however, it’s on a much larger, human scale and only takes energy from our regular activities. Kolar explains the energy collection could come from a small device and antenna implanted into the sole of your shoe, measuring each time it comes in contact with the ground, or even simply bends. Similar devices could be implanted on the spokes of bike wheels, or even attached to pipes to catch energy from running water.

“This science — parasitic power collection — pulls and transmits energy created by the slightest movement.” said Kolar in the blog post. “Think about the possibilities.”

Kolar also predicts that we will figure out how to best harness wave and tidal energy. Currently, we have floating energy receptacles, which harvest wave energy, but they are clunky and may have a negative impact on the environment around it. When we think of pollution, we usually think about plastic bags and bottles floating in water, confusing fish into thinking it’s food, and hurting the environment. This is certainly one kind of pollution, but rarely do people consider noise to be pollution. If you’re a person raised in the quiet countryside, trying to fall asleep to car alarms and sirens may feel intrusive. Well, this is the same for fish and marine animals who have to listen to hums and whirrs that exist from man-made machinery.

“My team is working with The Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland to use real-time streaming analytics that monitor the underwater noise and track its potential impact on the marine environment,” said Koler. “That data will be shared across the wave energy industry to help build a clearer picture of how this type of technology can be safely, sustainably used and controlled.”

Others are already taking advantage of this parasitic power collection, with the goal of powering third world countries through soccer. Yes, soccer. Soccket has created a durable soccer ball that when kicked around for only a half hour can power up an LED light for up to three hours. The balls are made specifically for communities with little resources and sometimes rough terrain. The ball replaces kerosene lamps, which according to Soccket are the equivalent of smoking 40 cigarettes a day.

Kinetic energy will play a big role is where we get out energy from, and we’re already starting to develop way of capturing it. It’l be important to keep innovation rolling over the next five years as Kolar believes we’re running out of resources — and quickly.

“With populations growing and electricity demand expected to grow at 2.2 percent per year to 2035 (according to the World Energy Outlook 2010),” Kolar explain, “Our current energy infrastructure is just not enough.”

Google wants Voice Search to master the Tower of Babel. So Linne Ha travels the world, gathering the language samples used to train it.

Google’s Voice Search, which launched on cellphones in 2008 and was added to the desktop in June, seems like such a simple proposition. You speak your query into your phone (or computer), and, ta-da, the system pops out an answer.

But teaching Google’s voice bot to understand what users are saying isn’t simple at all. And if you’re trying to get it to speak all the languages in the world, it’s even more complicated.

Enter Linne Ha (pictured, right), Google’s Voice Hunter. Her official title is "International Program Manager, Google Voice Search," but Ha spends her days crisscrossing the globe, gathering the voice samples needed to train the voice bot, the way a lepidopterist might go hunting for rare butterflies.

Typically, a company would solve this problem by licensing samples from firms that specialize in assembling speech databases. But that wasn’t going to work for Google.

Many of the standard lexicons simply don’t include the kind of words people use in search queries. (And Google has found, interestingly enough, that the words people use in voice searches are pretty much the same as the ones they use in written ones.)

Plus, Google needed their bot to understand queries spoken in all the settings that someone might possibly use Voice Search (or voice input and Voice Actions, two other Android features that also use the acoustic models created using the samples). Traditional firms weren’t set up to handle those situations.

So Ha had to get scrappy. Her solution: Tap local Google users around the world and hand them Android smartphones loaded with a specially designed speech-gathering app. Then send them out into their communities to record their family and friends.

“The local experts are people who would be using our products,” Ha tells Fast Company. “We want to make sure that whatever we develop is something they would want to use.”

The program, dubbed “word of mouth,” started last year, when Ha, who previously worked on Google Maps and Google Earth, developed the project. It’s taken her everywhere from Mexico City to Hanoi, Amsterdam, and Jakarta, and kept her on the road for over 230 days a year.

So far, “word of mouth” has collected “millions” of samples, Ha says—Google won’t get more specific—including a whopping 250,000 utterances for each language or dialect.

To make sure Google’s scientists get the range of samples they need, Ha’s local teams have gotten creative about where they do their recordings. In Hong Kong, they jumped on trolleys and subways, since so many people there use their phones during commutes. In Brazil, they went to shopping centers, in Singapore to soccer matches, and in the Netherlands to the beach.

And while Ha has had to tangle with everything from power outages to typhoons, she says it hasn’t been a problem finding locals to participate in the program. In Indonesia, they put out a call for volunteers to show up at a university, and over 900 people turned out.

“People are really proud of their language,” Ha says. “They want to make sure [Voice Search] works properly and that they can use it with their native tongue.”

So far Voice Search works with 27 languages and dialects, which means it has about 273 more to go just to support the 300 languages in the world that have more than a million speakers. At the current rate, it could take another Ha another decade to collect all the necessary samples herself. So instead, she’s looking to scale the program by partnering with organizations on the ground, like universities, to do some of the voice hunting on Google’s behalf.

In the meantime, Ha is getting ready for her next trip, which will take the program to Africa for the first time. But before that, Ha has a little vacation planned. Her destination? She’s staying home.

[Top Image: Flickr user jaredpolin]

[Additional Images: Ha in Iceland (top), Voice collections in Jakarta (middle) and Buenos Aires (bottom), courtesy Google]

E.B. Boyd is FastCompany.com's Silicon Valley reporter. Twitter. Google+. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

At the peak of summer, the weather is not all that’s heating up – privacy, it turns out, has never been hotter. From senators to major news outlets, it seems everyone has privacy on the mind these days.

What does this have to do with your upcoming vacation? Well, chances are you’re packing more than a swimsuit and a beach book – what about your smartphone, laptop, tablet and digital camera? These devices are loaded with personal information and pose significant privacy risks if not properly protected during travel. Exercise a little common sense and follow these privacy tips to help protect your personal information and ensure a safe and relaxing vacation.

1. Use Secure Wi-Fi and “https” Whenever Possible

If you’re connecting to a wireless network, be it at a café or your hotel lobby, it should be password-protected to prevent unauthorized persons from accessing the network. You can also ask the venue if they have encryption enabled for their wireless router, which provides an extra layer of defense. If you plan to log in to your online accounts or enter sensitive credit card information over Wi-Fi, make sure the website URLs begin with “https,” indicating that they encrypt your data during transmission.

2. Consider Tracking or “Find Me” Apps for Your Digital Devices

Computers, tablets and smartphones are popular theft targets due to their high resale value, but you can equip them with 21st century anti-theft protection. Choose from a variety of apps that allow you to track and potentially recover your devices in the event of theft. Some apps take photos of the perpetrator, geo-locate the stolen devices or even allow you to remotely log in to the devices.

3. Don’t Broadcast Your Absence on Social Media

Announcing your travel plans on a social media account can clue potential thieves to an opportunity to raid your vacant home. This threat is especially magnified if your social media accounts are public.

4. Log Out Of Public Computers

If you check your email at an Apple store or Internet café while on vacation, remember to sign out of your online accounts when you’re done. Simply closing the browser window is not enough – some accounts may keep you logged in. Therefore, the next person who tries to log in to their own email or social networking account will have full access to yours.

5. Consider Leaving Your Laptop At Home

If you’re thinking about packing your work computer, remember it may contain sensitive information. Border agents have sweeping search powers upon country reentry, and have the power to search and copy the contents of your smartphone or computer. Depending on the device’s information, maybe it’s best to leave it at home.

6. Monitor Your Financial Statements In Real Time

A daily check of your credit card and bank account while traveling can’t hurt. Tourists are often prominent targets for fraud; therefore, daily monitoring can help target suspicious activity (like double-charges) right away. However, remember to only check these sensitive financial accounts using a secure Internet connection.

7. Password-Protect Your Devices

Your devices and the data they contain are more vulnerable when you are on the road or visiting an unfamiliar place. If you have sensitive information on your digital devices such as medical records, password-protect or even encrypt sensitive files for further protection. If your devices are stolen, you’ll have peace of mind knowing your data is safe.

8. Lock Sensitive Documents/Devices In Your Hotel Room Safe

If the place at which you’re staying doesn’t offer a safe, then securely carry them on your person.

9. Cameras Are At-Risk Too

Your smartphone and laptop aren’t the only devices with personal data. Last year I lost my Wi-Fi-equipped camera while traveling abroad. After my return to the U.S., I discovered that the camera had automatically uploaded pictures to my online account. Lo and behold, they were not my photos! The new camera owners had unwittingly uploaded their family vacation photos to my online account via the camera’s Wi-Fi-enabled memory card.

10. Check Your Privacy Settings Before Sharing Vacation Photos

When you return from your travels, it may be tempting to immediately upload your vacation photos to your social networking account, but take a minute to review your privacy settings beforehand. That photo of you taking tequila shots at the poolside bar could end up in the network feed of your boss or a future employer.

Images courtesy of Flickr, Giorgio Montersino, jjprojects, Jack Zalium.

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Feeling bleary-eyed after a long day in front of your various screens? Here’s an infographic full of tips and techniques to ease your eyes into the digital world, showing you ways to cope with staring into screens all day.

If that’s not enough, the infographic gives you a peek at present and future tech that will make your eyes positively bionic, as well as new devices doctors are now using to diagnose eye problems much more efficiently than ever.

This must be getting bad — Those Acronym-Making People (TAMP — okay, I made that one up) have created one for the eye health problems that ensue after staring at screens for an average of six hours per day: CVS, or Computer Vision Syndrome:

Infographic created by Mezzmer Eyeglasses

More About: computer vision syndrome, CVS, eyestrain, health, infographic, trending, vision

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This Philips LED bulb is the winner of the DOE's million competition to develop a low-cost, energy efficient, high-performance replacement for the incandescent bulb.

Incandescent bulbs may be inefficient, but they give off a more pleasant light than most CFL bulbs, and LED lights--which cast a nicer glow--are still pricey. Philips may have the solution. The company just won the Department of Energy's first L Prize competition to develop a low-cost, energy efficient, high-performance replacement for the incandescent bulb. Philips took the top prize ( million) for its 60-watt equivalent LED bulb, which will be in stores next year.

The bulb was submitted in 2009 and underwent 18 months of lab and field-testing at the DOE, including exposure to extreme humidity, temperatures, vibration, and voltage changes. Philips' entry uses less than 10 watts for the same light output as a 60 watt incandescent--an energy savings of 83%.

The DOE claims that if everyone in the U.S. converted their 60 watt incandescent lamps to the Philips bulb, we would save 35 terawatt-hours of electricity in one year, or enough to power the lights of almost 18 million households.

The bulb still won't be cost-competitive with CFLs when it is released--it will cost just under , compared to for some CFL bulbs (though it will still pay itself off eventually through electricity savings). But Philips will get plenty of promotional help from the DOE; it was the only manufacturer to even attempt to meet the L Prize requirements. And now that it has been declared a winner, the DOE and a network of 31 utilities and energy-efficiency organizations will go to work trying to lower the cost of the bulb with everything from national retailer partnerships to product incentives paid directly to consumers. This will, according to the DOE, "drive sales volumes up and prices down far more quickly than would otherwise be possible."

And once LEDs do reach cost-per-lumen parity with CFLs--probably around 2015--Philips will have a head start in the sector.

[Images: Top, Flickr user JSmith Photo; Bottom, Philips]

Reach Ariel Schwartz via Twitter or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

According to a new Harvard University survey that was partially funded by the State Department, 7% of Arab bloggers have been arrested or detained over the past year while 30% have been threatened.

Seven percent of Middle Eastern bloggers were arrested and detained in the past year--and nearly 30% were personally threatened, according to a new Harvard University survey of 98 bloggers throughout the Middle East and North Africa. 

The survey, which was released this week, was conducted by Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in collaboration with world news aggregator Global Voices Online (GVO). Some financial support for the survey was offered through the State Department, via a subgrant from the United Kingdom-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting. The State Department has been vocal about their desire to conduct pro-democracy outreach through social media and emerging technologies.

While the blogs and bloggers who participated in the survey were not named, they were drawn from the pool of Middle Eastern bloggers whose posts were reprinted by Global Voices. Eighty-one percent of correspondents blogged in English, with the remainder being divided between Arabic- and French-language bloggers--indicating that respondents were primarily drawn from the Arabic-speaking Middle East and the Maghreb, with minimal contributions from Iran, Turkey, and Israel.

These bloggers were also politically active. According to the study:

Seven percent of respondents claimed to have been arrested or detained in the past year, while 30% were personally threatened and 18% had their website or personal accounts either hacked or attacked. These bloggers mainly used Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail for their own online activities. According to the survey, many were also not up to date on personal security online--in their words, “only a small number reported that they understand or implement best practices related to online security.” Only a small number (9% and 8% respectively) of respondents chose their email or social networking services primarily based on the provider's refusal to share information with their country's government.

Unfortunately, times are not the best for bloggers and journalists in the Middle East or Central Asia. Shaimaa Khalil, a journalist for the BBC, was recently arrested in Cairo, while an amazing data map was recently released of violence against journalists in Afghanistan.

[Image: Mike Licht]

For more stories like this, follow @fastcompany on Twitter. Email Neal Ungerleider, the author of this article, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or find him on Twitter.