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Politics

Submission + - Admin tries to hard to help LightSquared (thedailybeast.com)

Submitted by stevew
stevew writes: "The Pentagon has worried for months that a project backed by a prominent Democratic donor might interfere with military GPS. Now Congress wants to know if the White House pressured a general to change his testimony." LightSquared is trying to deploy a radio-based Broadband Internet access technology with ground-based radio systems that overlap the GPS band. Now it looks like the administration, in it's attempt to stimulate Broadband deployment, might have interfered with a Congressional witness from the DOD.
Power

Submission + - Car Steam Turbine May Make The Alternator Obsolete (allcartech.com)

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: In an internal combustion engine, fuel is burned to power the engine, but as a result a lot of heat is also produced. Most of that heat in ordinary vehicles is wasted; but what if you could catch the energy from the heat, turn it into electricity, and use it to increase your fuel efficiency?

If German exhaust system supplier Eberspaecher has its way, some of that currently-wasted heat may go back into powering a steam turbine, that may some day replace the alternator. The concept is simple: water is piped into a housing that surrounds part of the exhaust system. Residual heat from the exhaust vaporizes the water, producing steam that drives a miniature turbine blade. The turbine can then spin a generator, which can either supplement or replace a conventional alternator.
Android

Submission + - Brew Vs Android : Qualcomm's Tough Dilemma (itproportal.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Qualcomm is the Intel of the ARM-ecosystem, a technology giant with a market capitalization of just under $90 billion, more than chip rivals Texas Instruments, Broadcom and Nvidia put together. The US-based company is set to face a dilemna over the next 12 months as Google's mobile platform, Android, permeates to the lower levels of the market and start to compete with Qualcomm's own proprietary but quietly successful platform, BrewMP. Unbeknown to many, the BREW platform, which stands for Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, has been around for more than a decade, is present on more than 1400 handsets, 250 million addressable BREW devices, generated more than $3 billion in developer earnings and pulls in 50 million transactions per month.
Crime

Submission + - Two People Killed For Social Media Use in Mexico (cnn.com)

Submitted by nonprofiteer
nonprofiteer writes: A man and a woman in Mexico were tortured — the man's arm nearly severed, the woman disemboweled — and hung from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo. From CNN: "Signs left near the bodies declared the pair, both apparently in their early 20s, were killed for posting denouncements of drug cartel activities on a social network.

"This is going to happen to all of those posting funny things on the Internet," one sign said. "You better (expletive) pay attention. I'm about to get you.""

Awful. And preceded by a story of two Mexicans being threatened with 30-year-sentences for tweeting a rumor about an attack on a school: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/05/world/la-fg-mexico-tweeters-20110906

Submission + - Bloggers in mexico killed by gang warfare (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apparently the drug cartels don't like bloggers reporting on the actions taken by them. 2 people who the sign says were bloggers in Mexico have been tortured and killed and then hung from a bridge. One was disemboweled. Be careful out there people.
Power

Submission + - Electric Roads To Power Cars (discovery.com)

Submitted by RedEaredSlider
RedEaredSlider writes: If you are old enough to remember slot car racing, this might look familiar: an electric car powered by the roadway itself, rather than carrying its power supply along.

Some electric trolleys, subways and trains operate this way, because the vehicle is on a track, and the circuit is completed through a contact overhead. Bumper cars operate similarly, as they are always in contact with a metal floor, which completes the circuit through a pole in the back that touches the ceiling. But road cars can't do this — you'd need something more akin to a third rail system.

That's what Masahiro Hanazawa at Toyota Central R&D Labs in Japan, working with Takashi Ohira at the Toyohashi University of Technology, say they have. Using steel belts in the tires and a metal plate in the road, they can get a similar effect as in slot cars or third-rail powered trains. The energy, running through the plate, is transmitted to the car through the wheels, powering the motor and eliminating the need for batteries.

Comment Troll? (Score 1) 3

by thebiss (#37379286) Attached to: Best Use For A New SuperComputer (HPC)

So, you're receiving between $10M and $50M in hardware, plus ongoing funding for leased floorspace, power, cooling, and operations support. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE USING IT FOR?

You're either a troll, or you're fired.

Comment Why isn't tin-foil better than paint? (Score 1) 722

by thebiss (#36817592) Attached to: Bill Clinton Says 'Paint Your Roofs White'

Lots of debate here about emissivity and reflectivity. Can someone explain this better?

* Wikipedia on Reflectivity shows Aluminum has great reflectivity across the spectrum. But we all know that aluminum is shiny and reflective.
* This list of emissivity shows Aluminum is really really low, way lower than White paint. http://www.infrared-thermography.com/material.htm

Wouldn't we want a few cheap rolls of aluminum foil to reflect the heat, instead? The emissivity discussion above seems to state otherwise....

Submission + - TiVo to brick all remaining UK PVRs on June 1 3

Submitted by handelaar
handelaar writes: Perhaps in order to 'encourage' existing users of UK Tivo units to change their TV service to Virgin Media, pay £149 for a new "Virgin Tivo" that they won't actually own, plus £34.50 per month in service charges, Tivo is to cancel all EPG data service to all the Tivos still in use in the country — and existing units will become basically nonfunctional at that time. The faithful aren't amused", having stuck by the company for several years, and mostly paying £120 per annum for service until now. 50% of UK residents aren't able to avail of this generous upgrade offer even if they want to — the cable company in question only covers about half the country.
Science

Submission + - MESSENGER Mission Set to Arrive at Mercury (agu.org)

Submitted by Flash Modin
Flash Modin writes: In one month, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft will become the first to orbit the planet Mercury. After it's seven year journey across the solar system, the spacecraft will park in orbit and begin a one year mission to study the innermost planet. Until MESSENGER, nearly half of the planet had never been imaged and large blank spots still exist on its maps. Sean Solomon, the mission's head, says NASA hopes to solve long-standing mysteries about Mercury's formation, composition and its dynamic atmosphere.
Technology

Submission + - Look Out LCDs – AMOLEDs are Coming (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by kkleiner
kkleiner writes: Look out LCD's because flexible, paper thin, AMOLED screens with super crisp resolution are about to become mainstream. Samsung recently unveiled a slew of new AMOLED products at CES 2011, and they did not disappoint. By layering thin sheets of an electroluminescent organic material, Samsung has managed to conceive of an entire line of products that take LED displays to an entirely new level – these videos you have to see to believe. From transparent displays to paper-thin deformable screens, Samsung has definitely set the AMOLED bar pretty high.
Security

Submission + - Anonymous Releases Version of Stuxnet (foxnews.com)

Submitted by KhabaLox
KhabaLox writes: As reported here Sunday, Anonymous obtained a version of the Stuxnet worm from an infiltration into US security firm HBGary's network. They have now released the code on the internet. From the article:

"There is the real potential that others will build on what is being released," Michael Gregg, chief operating officer of cybersecurity firm Superior Solutions, told FoxNews.com. Gregg was quick to clarify that the group hasn't released the Stuxnet worm itself, but rather a decrypted version of it HBGary had been studying — which could act almost like a building block for cybercrooks." The Stuxnet binaries can be found at The Pirate Bay.
Transportation

Submission + - Nanotech Paint Makes Airplanes More Efficient (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A high-tech coating used on military aircraft could make commercial planes more aerodynamic and allow them to fly more efficiently through the air. Budget airline EasyJet has applied the coating, invented by TripleO, to eight of its aircraft and will compare their fuel consumption to the rest of the fleet over the course of the year. If successful, all 194 of EasyJet’s aircraft will be coated. Experts say the coating could cut fuel costs by 2 percent, which would save EasyJet £20 million each year.

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