64117975
submission
pbahra writes:
The greatest emotional trigger at any auto-racing event is the noise. In Nascar, it is the earthshaking growl of V8 American muscle. In Formula One, it is the chest-rattling wail of 15,000 rpm. To some the sound is repellent. To others it is like an opera.
But what if there is no sound at all?
Welcome to the quiet world of Formula E, a global racing series for electric cars, which debuts this month in Beijing.
61531259
submission
pbahra writes:
World War I changed everything. From new countries to literature, from tanks to treaties and from flamethrowers to fashion, the conflict is still writ large on our lives 100 years on.
It gave birth to violent dictators and their ideologies but extended the electoral franchise to millions. It ushered in the era of mechanized warfare whilst laying the foundations for modern medicine.
Here are 100 things that still impact on us today 100 years after the start of the Great War.
52196829
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pbahra writes:
Let’s be honest, 3-D-printed food doesn’t exactly sound appetizing. You imagine pizza made out of some gray paste, or chickens printed to look like lobsters, or something. But a Barcelona startup is hoping to make 3-D food printers the machine of choice for the discerning foodie.
Natural Machines, based in the Barcelona Activa center in the west of the city, is working on a 3-D printer that will produce not just chocolates (there are plenty of companies that do that) but pasta (such as ravioli), breads—in fact, anything that starts life as a dough, paste or stiff liquid.
52030915
submission
pbahra writes:
Stephen Elop wasn’t Nokia Corp.'s first pick as chief executive three years ago, the man many credit with having fueled the company’s rise—only to later preside over its decline—says in a memoir.
Jorma Ollila, was Nokia chairman when Mr. Elop was snatched from Microsoft Corp.'s executive ranks to join the once-dominant handset maker.
In his book, Mr. Ollila—who as chairman in 2010 led the search for a new CEO—describes how he flew to the U.S. that year to interview five potential candidates with suitable backgrounds over the course of three days. After the interviews, Mr. Ollila’s primary choice “was the No. 2 man at a well-known American technology company.”
50164145
submission
pbahra writes:
It is, perhaps, the ultimate “selfie”—a self-portrait snapped with a digital camera. But why be content with taking a picture of yourself, what about a three-dimensional miniature model of yourself reproduced in unnerving accuracy? A German startup is offering just that.
Customers of Twinkind can get a 3-D figurine ranging in size from around 15cm (6) to 35cm and costing between €225 ($297) and €1,290.
The process starts with capturing your likeness in the company’s offices in Hamburg. According to Mr. Schaedel, over 100 images taken from all angles are shot in a fraction of a second using technology designed by Twinkind.
47668143
submission
pbahra writes:
Airline passengers in the U.S. irritated at having to turn off their devices could soon see some reprieve, with regulators set to allow wider use of gadgets in flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to relax the ban on using some types of personal-electronic devices at low altitudes, allowing passengers leeway during taxiing and even takeoffs and landings, according to industry officials and draft recommendations prepared by a high-level advisory panel to the agency.
For fliers, the new rules would likely mean an end to familiar admonitions to turn off and stow all electronic devices. Cellphone calls are expected to remain off limits, however.
47666105
submission
pbahra writes:
At the Paris Air Show this week, one of the biggest attractions wasn't an airliner from Airbus or Boeing Co., but a Russian fighter jet.
The new Sukhoi Su-35 streaked across the sky in flying displays, making its first appearance outside Russia and performing extreme maneuvers that few Western aircraft can achieve.
The plane carries new defense systems and missiles that—for the first time in years for a Russian aircraft—rival those made by Western suppliers.
Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's defense industry, like the Su-35, is roaring into global markets.
47624483
submission
pbahra writes:
In the not-too-distant future, airliner cockpit panels are likely to resemble giant iPads, as the current dizzying array of knobs and switches gives way to touch screens adapted from consumer devices.
If implemented quickly enough, new designs unveiled at the Paris International Air Show would mean that by the end of this decade airline pilots will issue basic airborne commands—from changing course to controlling engines—by tapping or dragging icons across screens, people in the industry said.
There are obvious issues though. What happens if there is severe turbulence and the engine fire-extinguisher function is deep in a menu?
46385169
submission
pbahra writes:
When friends of Jordan Casey’s parents lost their jobs in Waterford, a city that has been one of the worst hit by unemployment in Ireland, the then 12-year-old self-taught programmer decided he could do something to help. “Lots and lots of businesses are closing down,” said Mr. Casey, now 13. “Usually when you were in a big city in Ireland, you’d always see people in the city in the night, but it’s just really really lonely and quiet.” “People are losing their jobs and I wanted to help them.” Still at school Mr. Casey turned to the only thing he knew. He decided to try and make a difference by building a company out of his knack for designing computer games.
45181319
submission
pbahra writes:
A Helsinki investment agency is making a pitch for the Finnish capital to become a center of ‘neurogaming’ – using brainwaves to control computer games. The Helsinki Business Hub is hosting a series of meetings bringing together developers from Finland’s game industry and neuroscientists from the University of Helsinki. Neuroscientists have been interested in studying why certain games are so successful and have explored just why Angry Birds, the globally successful from Finnish company Rovio was so addictive. They looked at how the music and the color affected players, down to how you don’t get punished for failures. Although brainwave-measuring technoogy is not new it’s only lately that headsets capable of detecting brainwave patterns from the surface of the head have become cheap enough to be put to commercial applications.
38594519
submission
pbahra writes:
At first glance, there isn’t much that links a Web-based start-up with a rocket-powered car designed not merely to break the land speed record, but to smash it, by traveling at 1,000 miles per hour. Not many start-ups burn £300,000 a month, not many in turn get £25,000 a month in public donations. Not many—in fact none—are pushing the boundaries of engineering in the way that Bloodhound SSC, which aims to hit Mach 1.4 in a South African desert in 2014, is doing. But according to Richard Noble, the ebullient man behind the dream, the 1,000-mph car maybe the ultimate open-source project and has a management structure that start-ups would do well to emulate. How open is Bloodhound? “As open as we can possibly make it,” said Mr. Noble. “We are going to make absolutely everything available. There are no patents.”
38433927
submission
pbahra writes:
There is no shortage of talk about Big Data and the transformational impact it will have, but one sector of the economy that traditionally hasn’t been a heavy user of technology is hoping it can reap the benefits, too. Charities, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations — or the third sector — are hopeful that the ability not merely to handle vast datasets, which is one attribute of Big Data, but the combination of disparate datasets, will bring new insights to their work, resulting in greater efficiencies on the ground, and better value for money. For example, using satellite data, weather information, population density and other information allows teams to focus efforts on distributing things like malaria nets or doing indoor residual spraying, or even stepping up education programs in areas likely to be blighted.
