jeroen8 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Using a Ground Source Heat Pump System in China (olino.org) 1

Submitted by MtHuurne on Saturday December 11, 2010 @03:31PM

MtHuurne writes: We regularly read about China's problems with pollution. You may have heard that China is also investing a lot in renewable energy such as hydro, solar and wind. However, there are also smaller scale initiatives like people installing a ground source heat pump in their home. The article documents the installation of such an efficient heating system with text, photos and diagrams and discusses the costs and expected savings.

Submission + - Australian Webhosts Shy Away from Wikileaks (zdnet.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @04:41AM

An anonymous reader writes: Its been dumped by Amazon and mirrored across the globe as it attempts to spread its whistleblowing message to the masses. But would any web hosting company in Australia consent to play host to WikiLeaks? The answer, so far, appears to be probably not.

There is one Australian organisation looking for Australian hosting to help keep Wikileaks alive — the Pirate Party. Presently hosting its mirror in Sweden at savetheinter.net Party leader Rodney Serkowski stated “this is about more than WikiLeaks, but leaking in general, and its legitimacy in a modern, open democracy. This is a fight for fundamental freedoms on the Internet. We will not accept governmental attempts to restrict access to free press and constrain freedom of speech” adding that it foresaw no legal issues hosting the content locally.

It remains to be seen whether they can find a provider.

Submission + - OS in ROM and IT security 1

Submitted by kubitus on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @04:12AM

kubitus writes: Maleware is abundant in the age of the WWW and E-Mail. The major vulnerability lies in the fact that the OS can be easily changed during the normal operation of the computer system, be it a PC or an iPhone.
My question is why are there no more efforts in securing the OS by freezing it into ROM beside a few attempts like Splashtop and I think Phoenix.

Submission + - Oriental hornets powered by 'solar energy' (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by beschra on Monday December 06, 2010 @12:58PM

beschra writes: From BBC News:The Oriental hornet has a unique ability to harvest solar energy, scientists have discovered. The large wasp species has a special structure in its abdomen that traps the sun's rays, and a special pigment that harvests the energy they contain.

Still a lot to understand, but how long until humans with brown and yellow hornet stripes?

Submission + - Amazon Web Services Launches DNS Service (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:15AM

wiredmikey writes: Amazon Web Services (AWS) today announced a highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS) service designed to give developers and businesses a reliable and cost effective way to route end users to Internet applications. The service, "Route 53," effectively connects user requests to infrastructure running in Amazon Web Services (AWS) — such as an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance, an Amazon Elastic Load Balancer, or an Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket — and can also be used to route users to infrastructure outside of AWS. The service also has an a self-service API...

Submission + - The Statistics of the Linux Kernel (h-online.com) 1

Submitted by eldavojohn on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:06AM

eldavojohn writes: The Linux Foundation has released a new report (PDF) titled "Linux Kernel Development – How Fast it is Going, Who is Doing It, What They are Doing, and Who is Sponsoring It." This is the third update to this report that gives us a statistical look at Linux development in the form of who, what and when. The report focuses on development since 2005 (about 5.5 years) and notes that we've had 6,100 programmers from over 600 different companies working on it yet 19% of changes are still from unaffiliated hobbyists (surpassing any single company). The report also says that on average there are "6,683 lines added, 3,774 lines removed, and 1,797 lines changed every day." And since 2.6.30, those numbers have really gone up: "6,683 lines added, 3,774 lines removed, and 1,797 lines changed every day." It's clear that Linux itself is growing, source activity is increasing and the number of participants is growing with the individual being the biggest contributor. Several news outlets are also reporting that a growing number of wireless companies are becoming more active — perhaps as a result of the Linux-based Android's success.

Submission + - The end of Electric Conversion Cars?

Submitted by jeroen8 on Thursday June 25, 2009 @07:21PM

jeroen8 writes: More and more electric cars are coming to the market. We currently see two major trends: Converting existing cars into electric cars by replacing their combustion engine and fuel tank. And newly designed cars to be fully electric from the start. The advantage for conversion is time to marked and cost, you do not need to design and test the car from the ground-up. The dis-advantage for conversion cars is their relative lower energy efficiency. A good example is the small converted Citroen EV'ie, with a top speed of 60 mph and a range of 69 miles. This car has an average energy usage of 232 Wh/mile. Compare that with the Tesla Roadster, this car has a top speed of 125 mph, a range of 220 miles using only 176 Wh/mile or the Mitsubishi i-MiEV with only 160 Wh/mile. Does it make sense to invest in electric conversion cars? Or will they all be outclassed soon by new designed electrical cars?

Submission + - N-American Energy Plan for 2030: Hydro-electricity (olino.org)

Submitted by jeroen8 on Tuesday June 16, 2009 @04:36PM

jeroen8 writes: While their are no shortages of plans for the US to reduce its reliance on oil imported from overseas or replace fossil fuels with renewable resources, their is little consideration of a continental plan for future economic growth in a fossil fuel constrained world. Hydro electricity is presently the largest renewable electricity source in North America, with 94 GWa (35 GW in US, 50 GW in Canada and 9 GW in Mexico) generated in North America out of the 556 GWa electricity production (18%). In the US, only 35 GWa hydro production (85 GW capacity) of the estimated 300 GWa hydro potential has been developed according to a DOE study.

Submission + - USA passed Germany in Wind Power, EU still leading (olino.org)

Submitted by jeroen8 on Monday June 01, 2009 @11:21AM

jeroen8 writes: Wind energy, together with water and solar power is regarded as one of the most important renewable energy source for the near future. The USA is investing heavily in the new Wind Power. One example is the San Gorgonio Pass wind farm, which is one of the windiest places in Southern California, and is one of three major wind farms in California, along with the Altamont Pass Wind Farm and the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm. As of January 2008 the farm consists of 3,218 units with 615 MW (megawatt) of installed wind power capacity. It is the seventh largest wind farm in the USA. The USA passed Germany to become the number one market in wind power with a capacity of 25,170 MW. But when looking at the European Union as one market, the EU is by far the world leader in terms of installed wind power with a capacity of 65,085 MW. Asia is expected to be the fastest growing region in the world as of this year, driven mainly by China, which has been doubling its installed capacity every year for the past four years. Asia's cumulative wind capacity is expected to be up to 117.4 GW by 2013, on a par with the expected capacity of Europe by that time.

Submission + - 50% of Electricity Generated by Wind Scenario (olino.org)

Submitted by jeroen8 on Monday May 18, 2009 @05:19PM

jeroen8 writes: Would a "50% of electricity generated by wind scenario" work in North America by 2030? In the article A North American Wind Energy Scenario of Neil Howes, who has recently retired from his position as an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, a rough cut estimate of what might be required to make such a transition in about 20 years time can be found. Most proposals that are being made rely on a very big increase in carbon free energy, both to charge electric vehicles (EV's) and to replace oil and natural gas (NG) presently used for hot water and space heating. In this article, he lays out a path by which 50% of North American energy might come from wind by 2030, including replacement of a large share of oil and natural gas use by electricity.

Submission + - Biofuels are not climate neutral (olino.org)

Submitted by jeroen8 on Thursday May 07, 2009 @04:46PM

jeroen8 writes: Proponents of biofuels often call them 'climate neutral'. The idea behind climate neutrality is this: if one burns biofuels, CO2 is released that was recently sequestered by plants. The net result thereof on the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is therefore: zero. A substantial amount of research has been done about the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels. The research shows that such emissions are substantially at variance with climate neutrality. The reasons are explained in the article Biofuels, climate and natural resources by Prof.dr. Lucas Reijnders. Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Amsterdam.

Comment Re:Standardize battery pack (Score 1) 369

by jeroen8 on Wednesday April 22, 2009 @04:18PM (#27678531) Attached to: Developing Battery Replacement Infrastructure For Electric Cars

Which is why it probably won't happen. The auto companies have to protect their 500% markup on OEM parts, after all.

Why is that? The current (single) battery in any car is already standardized (form factor and voltage) and can be switched easily, why not introduce these standards for full battery packs?

Comment Re:Easier said than done (Score 1) 369

by jeroen8 on Wednesday April 22, 2009 @03:12PM (#27677663) Attached to: Developing Battery Replacement Infrastructure For Electric Cars

One could imagine a standard battery pack standard for small, medium and large cars. Another option would be that smal cars needs a single battery pack, and larger cars need more. Similar to small batteries like AAA, AA, D, etc...Some devices only need one battery, some need 8 batteries.

Submission + - Google Labs Adds News Timeline (oreilly.com)

Submitted by

blackbearnh

on Wednesday April 22, 2009 @12:04PM

blackbearnh writes: "Google Labs has released a new way to do news searches, by viewing them on a timeline. Just put in a date, or a topic and date, and you can see the news stories for that time period, laid out on a horizontal timeline with the stories under the day, month, year or decade. O'Reilly has an interview with Andy Hertzfeld, the Googler (and one of the fathers of the Mac) who created the News Timeline, talking about how it works and what you can do with it."

Submission + - SPAM: Job Search

Submitted by

boydeadhungry

on Wednesday April 22, 2009 @11:56AM

boydeadhungry writes: "How To Survive Interview Day Be early Make a winning impression by showing you are reliable and organized. Get directions in advance and take a test drive if you are unfamiliar with the area. Also, check out the parking situation or public transportation schedules. Allow enough time for traffic and unexpected delays. It's all about you Review your resume thoroughly, but don't memorize it word for word. When talking, focus on your skills and accomplishments and how they correlate to the position you want. Hone in on how your experience has prepared you for this job and what you can bring to the table. Dress to impress Follow this simple rule of thumb: "It's better to be over-dressed than under-dressed." Even if the work environment is casual, your appearance still must be neat, clean and professional. Unless the interviewer specifically tells you to dress casually, a classic suit is always your best bet. Also, limit your use of jewelry, makeup and cologne or perfume. The name game Make sure you know the correct name and pronunciation of the interviewer. Listen carefully when the interviewer states his or her name and repeat it back when you say hello. Before you leave, ask for a business card from each person you met. This gives you the necessary information to write thank-you letters. Hand it over A firm handshake is a sign of confidence, but avoid the bone crushing vice grip. Weak and clammy handshakes typically make a bad impression. Don't forget to look the interviewer directly in the eye when initiating contact. Body language Appear confident by sitting up straight and maintaining good eye contact throughout the interview. Poor posture may translate to low self-esteem. Refrain from fidgeting or chewing gum or candy. Be nice You never know who you'll meet in the parking lot, elevator or lobby, so be polite to everyone from the receptionist to the CEO. After all, they could have an influence in the hiring process. Short and sweet Avoid long-winded answers. Practice in advance and you will sound more focused and polished. The sounds of silence While it may be golden, silence can be uncomfortable. However, jumping in with irrelevant comments just to fill up airtime will only make you look nervous. If you are experiencing trouble forming an answer to a question, wait a few seconds before responding. The use of "um, uh, like, well, err ..." sounds well, um ... stupid. Take your time and think before you speak. Cold hard cash Although salary is an important factor in your job search, don't let it be the driving force behind your choice. In interviews, it's more important to talk about why you're the right person for the job. Do not bring up salary unless the interviewer asks. Practice makes perfect Rehearsing is not just for actors. Take time to review what you want to say by asking a friend to play "the interviewer." By practicing your responses to typical interviewing questions, you will significantly reduce your stress level and improve your chances of making a winning impression on the interviewer."
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