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Power

Submission + - New Tram uses induction technology (olino.org) 3

Submitted by
jeroen8
jeroen8 writes: "Trams all over the world could soon be operating without the eyesore of overhead cables according to Bombardier, the world's leading supplier of trams. Primove, Bombardier's new tram system, uses induction technology for the transfer of electric power. This contact-less technology is five to six percent more efficient than other technologies in current use, says Bombardier. Amsterdam council (The Netherlands) has already shown serious interest. The Primove tram is also fitted with an integrated MITRAC energy saving system installed on its roof. This system consists of capacitors which store energy when the tram brakes and allows this energy to be used for acceleration. Tests conducted on a "light-rail" system in Mannheim since 2003 have shown that up to thirty percent less energy is required, greatly reducing costs and emission levels."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Duke Nukem Forever Reaches Development Milestone 1

Submitted by
mlauzon
mlauzon writes: "If you told your spouse that the two of you would be together until Duke Nukem Forever hit shelves in an attempt to be absolutely precious, it might be time to start sweating. According to a tweet by 3D Realms man George Broussard, Duke Nukem Forever's unending development cycle may soon be leaving the death-and-taxes consistency club.

"Closing out a milestone this week. 71 more tasks to do and we started with probably 800-900. Been a good push. Next one starts Monday," he tweeted.

After some rudimentary math, we've determined that — assuming development continues at a nice clip — Duke will be back in business sometime next year. Guess the Mayans were a little off with their apocalypse calculations.

Maximum PC"

Comment Re:levitation (Score 1) 72

by purpleque (#27561227) Attached to: Flying Micro-Robot Takes Off
I thought not as well. That is why i said technically it is flying. Well, because technically by definition it is flying.

But you don't hear people talk about maglevs that fly down the track (unless they are referring to its speed) or a railgun flying its projectile down the barrel. When you hear "fly" related to anything it is usually something with wings (living and non-living), jets, rockets, propellers, rotors, a ballistic arc, or a chemically induced euphoria. Not something being levitated or propelled by magnetism.

And why does rocket propulsion have to be crazy? It is quite a normal thing.
Robotics

Flying Micro-Robot Takes Off 72

Posted by samzenpus from the fly-on-the-wall dept.
AndreV writes "A University of Waterloo in Ontario engineering research team has developed the world's first flying micro-robot capable of manipulating objects for micro-scale applications, which include micro-assembly of mechanical components, handling of biological samples and even microsurgery. It moves around and manipulates objects with micro-grippers, remotely controlled by a laser-focusing beam (heating the pincers with a laser opens them; when the laser is turned off, they cool and close). Its magnetic drive mechanism controls the field using continuous feedback from positioning sensors in order to position the 'bot. 'It can enter virtually any space and can be operated in a sealed enclosure by a person outside,' the project leaders says, 'which makes it useful for handling bio-hazardous materials or working in vacuum chambers and clean rooms.' The video of the contraption shows it floating in mid-air."
Portables

Submission + - The New Crunchpad

Submitted by notarockstar1979
notarockstar1979 writes: Mike over at TechCrunch has been quietly putting together an inexpensive web tablet (which apparently isn't ready for consumption just yet). From the article:

A little background for those of you who haven't heard of the CrunchPad: This is the post that kicked off the project. I wanted something I couldn't buy, and found people who said it could be built for a lot less than I imagined. The goal — a very thin and light touch screen computer, sans physical keyboard, that has no hard drive and boots directly to a browser to surf the web. The operating system exists solely to handle the hardware drivers and run the browser and associated applications. That's it.

He wasn't ready to let the world know yet, but someone accidentally published some pictures to the web. You can see some pictures and see the full story here.

Earth

Submission + - Hemp-Lime Could Be Key To Zero-Carbon Houses

Submitted by
The Narrative Fallacy
The Narrative Fallacy writes: "Researchers at the University of Bath say hemp, a plant from the cannabis family, could be used to build carbon-neutral homes of the future to help combat climate change and boost the rural economy and a consortium has embarked on a unique housing project to develop the use of hemp-lime construction materials in the UK. Hemp-lime is a lightweight composite building material made of fibers from the fast growing plant, bound together using a lime-based adhesive. The hemp plant stores carbon during its growth and this, combined with the low carbon footprint of lime and its very efficient insulating properties, gives the material a 'better than zero carbon' "Using renewable crops to make building materials makes real sense — it only takes an area the size of a rugby pitch four months to grow enough hemp to build a typical three bedroom house," says Professor Pete Walker, Director of the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials. "Growing crops such as hemp can also provide economic and social benefits to rural economies through new agricultural markets for farmers and associated industries.""
Earth

Submission + - CFLs causing utility woes (edn.com)

Submitted by
dacut
dacut writes: "We've seen compact fluorescent lamps start to take over shelf space at the local hardware store. Replacing a 60 watt incandescent with a 13 watt CFL seems like a great savings, though many consumers are disappointed with the slow warm-up times, lower-than-advertised lifetimes, and hassles of disposing the mercury-containing bulbs. Now EDN reports they may use more energy than claimed due to their poor power factor. Mike Grather, of Lumenaire Testing Laboratory, "checked the power factor for the CFLs and found they ranged from .45 to .50. Their 'real' load was about twice that implied by their wattage."

The good news: you're only billed for the 13 watts of real power used. The bad news: the utilities have to generate the equivalent of 28 watts (that is, 28 VA of apparent power for you EEs out there) to light that bulb.

Until they fix these issues, I'll hold on to my incandescents and carbon arc lamps, thanks."
Games

Submission + - Apple and Nintendo Sitting in a Tree (gameplayer.com.au)

Submitted by
Parz
Parz writes: "From Gameplayer — Who came first, the chicken or the egg? We'll answer that question for you at the end of this article, but while pondering this age old conundrum we got to thinking about the ways Nintendo and Apple have bounced off each other in the last few years to become the powerhouse brands of the interactive entertainment medium. Nintendo and Apple just continue to find more and more people to buy into their products. They continue to burrow deeper into the global conscience and economy. But how?"
Security

Submission + - Is EDGE/3G network encrypted?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I started to use EDGE/3G network to check my web mail. Are they encrypted? When I setup home wireless network, I need to setup WEP, WPA, WPA2, that sort of encryption to protect my data, so that no one can sniff it off from mid-air. What about EDGE/3G??

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