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Power

Bussard Gets Navy Funding For Fusion Research 146

Posted by kdawson from the only-2-mil-but-hey dept.
UnreasonableMan writes to let us know that Robert Bussard, the fusion researcher whose talk at Google was discussed here a few months back, has won continued funding from the Navy. The word on this spread from Kent Brewster at the Speculations blog, who reportedly had the word from Bussard himself. (The link is to another blog that reproduces Brewster's post, because Speculations has no permalink.)
United States

Submission + - Feds sue web hosting co for damages

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Web sites hosted by RegisterFly have been disappearing in dribs and drabs over the past year, and this has affected customers in a few countries, not just North America. According to US attorney Clarke Dummit, 75,000 customers had already lost their domains, and funds ranging from $10 to $100,000. From the story: "We're pursuing an injunction to shut the Web site down and are also suing for damages," Dummit said. So far there are 700 plaintiffs. Dummit expects to have a trial date within a year. RegisterFly's website says it's an ICANN accredited registrar.
Space

Submission + - Solar wind electric sail propulsion

Submitted by
Tjeerd
Tjeerd writes: "The goal of sending probes anywhere in the Solar System in reasonable time has remained elusive. Finnish scientists have invented a new propulsion method which utilises the solar wind, promises high speed for small payloads and may be technically possible to build in the near future. The solar wind is a very tenuous but high speed (300-800 km/s) plasma stream blowing radially outward from the Sun. The solar wind powers the aurora and governs space weather. The average dynamic pressure (force per unit area) of the solar wind is 2 nanopascal, corresponding to 0.2 grams weight per square kilometre. Read the press release or visit the electric sailing site."
Power

Submission + - "Sliver Cell" - the better, flexible solar

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: By slicing one silicone disc into thin "slivers" produces a cheaper, more efficient solar cell.

I can't believe a search of Slashdot.org doesn't reveal more on this.

I just watched a report on Australia's ABC science show "Catalyst" reporting http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1865651.ht m on a new method for making cheaper, more efficient pure silicone-based Solar Cells by slicing "slivers" of silicone (as opposed to the current method of using a whole sheet of silicone) to produce a cheaper, flexible and more efficient solar panel.

Co-developed between Australian National University and Australian electricity supplier "Origin" they believe that they can make solar panels with a payback of 5-7 years against the current 25 years.

With funding they have a small production plan running now with a view to expand it.

http://www.originenergy.com.au/SLIVER/
Link includes Plant Photos and Fact Sheets.

This seems so amazingly simple that I can't believe it hasn't been thought of before.
Music

Submission + - Songbird -Impressive Media Player For Linux , Win

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Songbird is a media player which allows playing of Popular Music files , Video files and Internet radio stations , it is one of the best looking media player available on Linux windows and Mac OS , besides being feature rich it's features can be extended by installing different extensions, Being based on same platform on which Mozilla Firefox is built the XUL platform , It has potential of doing what Firefox Did in browser market to media players . Article looks at features of Songbird with lots of ScreenShot . Read Review here :- http://linuxondesktop.blogspot.com/2007/03/softwar e-review-songbird-impressive.html"
The Media

Submission + - Assignment Zero: journalism by way of open source

Submitted by
Jay Rosen
Jay Rosen writes: "Assignment Zero is a pro-am, open-platform reporting project. The investigation: crowd sourcing and peer production are a social trend growing well beyond tech. Why is this happening? Partners: NewAssignment.Net and Wired.com, with Newsvine From the essay: 'We're trying to figure something out here. Can large groups of widely scattered people, working together voluntarily on the net, report on something happening in their world right now, and by dividing the work wisely tell the story more completely, while hitting high standards in truth, accuracy and free expression?' Wired.com: 'We want out readers and our sources to be one and the same. We think it will make for better journalism.'"

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