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Transportation

Submission + - 'Cash for Clunkers' Program Runs Out of Gas 1

Submitted by
Ponca City, We love you
Ponca City, We love you writes: "The Washington Post reports that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood chas alled members of Congress to inform them that the "cash for clunkers" program will be suspended because the program has run out of money and congressmen say they intend to ask the Obama administration to divert some funding from the existing economic stimulus package to maintain a scheme that they see as genuinely stimulative. "Clearly, this has been a very stimulative program that's got consumers back into the car market. It's our hope that possibly more funds can be made available," says Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association. The $1 billion program was set up by the US government in June to entice consumers to trade in their gas-guzzling cars for more fuel-efficient models, both to boost auto sales and improve the nation's fuel efficiency. Under the program, trade-in vehicles, 1984 models or newer, must have average fuel economy of no more than 18 miles per gallon and the new car or truck must get better gas mileage than the one that was scrapped and the payoff grows depending on the difference in the fuel efficiencies of the old and new cars. The $1 billion program, which can finance about 225,000 clunker trade-ins, may receive another $2 billion in government funding. "I don't think anybody expected the program to be this popular," said Greg Martin, a spokesman for General Motors. "There's no doubt it has jump-started sales.""
Space

Submission + - Experts Puzzled by Bright Spot on Venus 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "BBC reports that astronomers are puzzled by a strange bright spot which has appeared in the clouds of Venus first identified by US amateur astronomer Frank Melillo on 19 July and was later confirmed by the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft. "I have seen bright spots before but this one is an exceptional bright and quite intense area," says Melillo. The bright spot has started to expand since its first appearance, being spread by winds in Venus' thick atmosphere and scientists are unsure as to what is causing the bright spot tens of kilometers up although a volcanic eruption is a possibility. "A volcanic eruption would be nice, but let's wait and find out!" says Venus specialist Dr Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin. "An eruption would have to be quite energetic to get a cloud this high." Furthermore, at a latitude of 50 degrees south, the spot lies outside the region of known volcanoes on Venus. Another potential source for the bright spot are charged particles from the Sun interacting with Venus' atmosphere or alternatively, atmospheric turbulence may have caused bright material to become concentrated in one area. "Right now, I think it's anybody's guess," add Limaye."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - APPLE KEYBOARDS infected with keylogger firmware (semiaccurate.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymouse
Anonymouse writes: APPLE KEYBOARDS are vulnerable to a hack that puts keyloggers and malware directly into the keyboard's firmware. This could be a serious problem, and now that the presentation and code is out there, the bad guys will surely be exploiting it.

The vulnerability was discovered by K. Chen, and he gave a talk on it at Blackhat this year ( http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-usa-09/bh-usa-09-archives.html#Chen ). The concept is simple, a modern Apple keyboard has about 8K of flash memory, and 256 bytes of working ram. For the intelligent, this is more than enough space to have a field day. It is completely remotely exploitable, and almost impossible to remove, especially if you don't know it is there.

PDF: http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-09/CHEN/BHUSA09-Chen-RevAppleFirm-PAPER.pdf
Slides(pdf): http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-09/CHEN/BHUSA09-Chen-RevAppleFirm-SLIDES.pdf
Power

Submission + - Electric Company Wants Monthly Fee For Solar Users

Submitted by 7-Vodka
7-Vodka writes: Xcel Energy customers who have their own solar panels are worried about a new fee being proposed by the company. The monthly fee to pay for transmission and distribution of energy would be charged to customers who have solar panels irrespective of their energy use for the month.

An Xcel Energy spokesman said that the fee is to ensure that regular customers don't subsidize the "connectivity fees" for the solar panel customers who don't pay their fees when they use no electricity. Unfortunately, when pressed the spokesman admitted that nobody actually pays a "connectivity fee" yet however they wanted to prevent the mooching from occurring in the future (presumably when they hit everyone with such a fee) and also called the absence of a connectivity fee for solar customers a "double subsidy" because many solar customers receive rebates to install the panels.
Businesses

The "Dangers" of Free 242

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the poor-execution-kills-even-good-business-models dept.
With today's Free Summit broaching the subject of the "dangers" of free, TechDirt has an interesting perusal of why free often can't work without a good business model and why it often gets such a bad reputation. "I tend to wonder if this is really a case of free gone wrong or free done wrong. First, I'm always a bit skeptical of 'free' business models that rely on a 'free' scarcity (such as physical newspapers). While it can work in some cases, it's much more difficult. You're not leveraging an infinite good -- you're putting yourself in a big hole that you have to be able to climb out of. Second, in some ways the model that was set up was a static one where everyone focused on the 'free' part, and no one looked at leapfrogging the others by providing additional value where money could be made. The trick with free is you need to leverage the free part to increase the value of something that is scarce and that you control, which is not easily copied. [...] Still, it's an important point that bears repeating. Free, by itself, is meaningless. Free, with a bad business model, isn't helpful either. The real trick is figuring out how to properly combine free with a good business model, and then you can succeed."
Wireless Networking

Baby Monitors Killing Urban Wi-Fi 348

Posted by CmdrTaco from the along-with-my-full-night's-sleep dept.
Barence writes "Baby monitors and wireless TV transmitters are responsible for slowing down Wi-Fi connections in built-up areas, according to a report commissioned by British telecoms regulator Ofcom. The research smashes the myth that overlapping Wi-Fi networks in heavily congested towns and cities are to blame for faltering connection speeds. Instead it claims that unlicensed devices operating in the 2.4GHz band are dragging down signals. 'It only requires a single device, such as an analogue video sender, to severely affect Wi-Fi services within a short range, such that a single large building or cluster of houses can experience difficulties with using a single Wi-Fi channel,' the report claims."
Security

Submission + - Mac is fun to hack... Windows less so

Submitted by DevStar
DevStar writes: Charlie Miller generated some buzz from CanSecWest when he said, "Safari on the Mac is easier to exploit. The things that Windows do to make it harder (for an exploit to work), Macs don't do. Hacking into Macs is so much easier." Of course the pushback was that there was a guy there who hit the trifecta, by exploiting IE, Safari, and Firefox — he would probably have a much more balanced view of the world. His take on this whole Mac vs Windows hacking... well it was surprisingly similar, "Dino [Dai Zovi] had a great quote during his talk: "Exploit writing on the Mac is fun. Exploit writing on Windows Vista is hard work." I totally agree with that."
Editorial

Submission + - iPhone SDK 3. iPhone as accessory to other devices (markj.net)

Submitted by
Mark Johnson
Mark Johnson writes: "Apple's iPhone 3.0 software announcement is huge and exciting for iPhone users and developers. One area that really caught my attention is iPhone and iPod touch talking to 'accessories' by bluetooth and the dock connector. In the press conference Apple talked about a couple of possibilities such as a docked iPhone controlling your stereo or an add on blood pressure measurement device where the iPhone is the UI and tracks your blood pressure over time. Apple said that 3.0 apps will have full access to the dock connector and bluetooth, and developers can even create their own communications protocols. What are the possibilities for integrating an iPhone or iPod touch with any consumer or industrial device? Rather than thinking about adding accessories to the iPhone, what about thinking of the iPhone as an accessory to another device?

As an accessory to another device, iPhone & iPod touch with 3.0 will add:
  • Beautiful color multi-touch screen that can playback video & surf the web.
  • Easy to use Cocoa Touch or web user interface.
  • Speaker, microphone, accelerometer (motion sensing), GPS,
  • Display of info from any additional sensors on the device it's integrated with.
  • Interface and content can be updated over the net.
  • Embedded micro transaction platform (that doesn't pass on chargeback fees?)
  • It can send messages over the net, and you can send it messages.

What machines and devices can be made easier and more fun to use, cheaper to manufacture, more powerful, and more connected by adding and off-the-shelf or from-your-pocket iPhone or iPod touch?

Interactive Toys: Clip an iPod touch onto a toy robot and a $20 plastic toy is transformed into a $200 toy that can talk, knows where it is and whether its standing up or flying around, can exchange information with 'base control,' and keeps score of how many times my robot battled your robot. The toys can have an online life ala Webkinz, but with iPod, the online content jumps off the desktop and comes right to the toy itself.

Toys with Add-on Content: Clip an iPod touch into the belly of a teddy bear (think Telitubbies or iPulse Bear), and it can read stories to you, showing illustrations and cartoons on its belly. When you want a new story you can buy it right in the 'bear belly app' using the in-app purchase micro transactions.

Intelligent Gym Equipment and Work Outs: At the gym every machine can talk to your iPhone. The iPhone tells the machine what resistance settings or workout program to use, it can listen in to your heart rate monitor, and every work out is recorded. If you don't show up to the gym, push notifications will nag you to go work out. This idea is already a reality in the first 'iPod is the accessory' application: Nike+iPod and compatible gym equipment.

Tracking, Inventory, Point of Sale: That ugly handheld that the UPS guy gets you to sign on stick an iPhone in a rugged case with a bar code scanner and signature pad and you have the same device. Similarly when you buy something in the Apple store without going to the register — just add a credit card reader to an iPhone and you have an Apple replacement for the handheld they currently use. 'Would you like to receive your receipt by bluetooth sir?' Right now iPhone and iPods are consumer devices with a consumer device level of failures, which is probably a barrier to using iPods in industrial applications, but hey they are cheap, carry a spare.

Vending Machines: How much do companies that operate vending machines spend on handling all the coins and in credit card fees and chargebacks? Why not bluetooth to iPhones and let Apple process the payment? Oh, and make the vending machines WiFi hotspots too.

Car Diagnostics: Want to know what that check engine light means? Connect your iPhone to your car's diagnostics connector with a dock port adapter and it will tell you. It never needs to be out of date because the car diagnostics app it can update all the diagnostic codes over the net, tell you about the latest service bulletins, and book you in for service with a local dealer.

Photo Studio Control: Lighting systems for professional photographers are available with remote controls for adjusting the brightness of the lights. Use your iPhone instead- the UI will be slicker, you can customize it, and it can remember setups between shoots.

Programming Your VCR: OK, so no-one is buying VCRs any more and DVRs solved this problem by having a nice big UI on your TV, but programming the VCR is the classic case of some piece of digital equipment that has a user interface thats cheap to manufacture but is horrible to use. Keep the cheap user interface and augment it with bluetooth and a cheap to make iPhone app. Program your coffee maker using your iPhone, use your iPhone as universal remote for your stereo, set your car stereo's FM stations and change the clock using your iPhone....

Of course, all of these ideas require an iPhone app, and Apple has the final word about what gets into the app store. The app review process and the 'iPod compatible' licensing process will have to come together for these kind of ideas to work, and the economics of that confluence will dictate what is possible and what isn't. iPod compatible coffee makers — maybe not, but iPod interactive toys — I think so for sure. What machine would you like to accessorize with your iPhone?"
Image

Powering Restaurants WIth Deep Fried Fuel 148

Posted by samzenpus from the the-power-of-grease dept.
Mike writes "Here's a brilliant idea for biofuels: rather than filtering used fry oil for use in vehicles, why not simplify matters and use it to heat and power the restaurant itself? The VegaWatt turns used vegetable oil into clean heat and energy for restaurants, eliminating the dirty and costly mess of oil disposal while producing 10-25% of the electricity needed to run a small restaurant. It also produces fuel free of chemicals or fossil fuels, unlike standard biodiesel."

AMD RV790 Architecture To Change GPGPU Landscape? 102

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the continuing-the-leapfrog-process dept.
Vigile writes "To many observers, the success of the GPGPU landscape has really been pushed by NVIDIA and its line of Tesla and Quadro GPUs. While ATI was the first to offer support for consumer applications like Folding@Home, NVIDIA has since taken command of the market with its CUDA architecture and programs like Badaboom and others for the HPC world. PC Perspective has speculation that points to ATI addressing the shortcomings of its lineup with a revised GPU known as RV790 that would both dramatically increase gaming performance as well as more than triple the compute power on double precision floating point operations — one of the keys to HPC acceptance."
Idle

VCR Hacks 13

Posted by samzenpus from the no-relation-to-pillow-pants dept.
The batteries are filled with liquid gold.

Feed Engadget: Playing both sides: Nokia says its 4G position 'has not changed' (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Coupled with the discontinuation of the N810 WiMAX, Nokia's intention to get LTE devices into the marketplace by next year had many folks thinking that the company was starting to sour on WiMAX altogether, but -- at least officially -- it turns out that's not the case. Nokia has contacted us today to let us know that its positions on the battling 4G technologies have not changed, emphasizing that the N810 WiMAX's departure "does not apply to other WiMAX business development efforts that Nokia is involved in." Considering the growing belief that both of these technologies are here to stay -- that is, it's not looking like an HD DVD vs. Blu-ray-style battle of attrition -- it's a shrewd attitude for Nokia to take.

It gets juicier, though: Nokia is also refuting claims that it has entered into an exclusive agreement to develop a touchscreen LTE device with Verizon: "While we have not entered into any exclusive agreement for 4G touch screen device development as is being reported, we will continue to follow and pursue developments as a normal course of business." In other words, "we're not opposed to the idea, but we haven't yet." Sorry to leave you hanging, Verizon subscribers, but the good news is that we're pretty confident these two giants are in bed together for the long haul in one capacity or another.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Wireless

Playing both sides: Nokia says its 4G position 'has not changed' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Image

Robot Love Goes Bad 101

Posted by samzenpus from the become-my-robot-bride dept.
hundredrabh writes "Ever had a super needy girlfriend that demanded all your love and attention and would freak whenever you would leave her alone? Irritating, right? Now imagine the same situation, only with an asexual third-generation humanoid robot with 100kg arms. Such was the torture subjected upon Japanese researchers recently when their most advanced robot, capable of simulating human emotions, ditched its puppy love programming and switched over into stalker mode. Eventually the researchers had to decommission the robot, with a hope of bringing it back to life again."

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