toofast - Slashdot User

NASA Tests Flying Airbag 118

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 09, 2009 @03:10PM from the drop-the-cloud-anchor dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA is looking to reduce the deadly impact of helicopter crashes on their pilots and passengers with what the agency calls a high-tech honeycomb airbag known as a deployable energy absorber. So in order to test out its technology NASA dropped a small helicopter from a height of 35 feet to see whether its deployable energy absorber, made up of an expandable honeycomb cushion, could handle the stress. The test crash hit the ground at about 54MPH at a 33 degree angle, what NASA called a relatively severe helicopter crash."

Comment Re:N00b thing? (Score 3, Funny) 396

by toofast on Monday October 26, 2009 @02:32PM (#29875301) Attached to: Geocities Shutting Down Today

Is that you, uncle Clint?

Comment Re:That's not ironic! (Score 4, Funny) 113

by toofast on Friday September 11, 2009 @11:07AM (#29389519) Attached to: Facebook Releases Open Source Web Server

ThankÃ(TM)s, now IÃ(TM)ll go learn the usageÃ(TM)s of the Ã(TM)apostropheÃ(TM) correctly.

Comment Re:Not sure why (Score 1) 284

by toofast on Friday July 31, 2009 @12:47PM (#28897919) Attached to: Amazon US Refunds Windows License Fee, Too

That's a good point. I was just about to counter with something like 'but the WRX, as a product, includes a shifter' but you are right -- they are selling this as a Laptop+Windows product.

Google Apps Leave Beta 116

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday July 07, 2009 @12:27PM from the why-so-soon dept.

Today Google announced that they're removing the "beta" label from Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk. They said, "We've come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase." Quoting the NYTimes: "'Obviously we haven't had a consistent set of policies or definitions around beta,' said Matt Glotzbach, a director of product management at Google. Mr. Glotzbach said that different teams at Google had different criteria for what beta meant, and that Google felt a need to standardize those. ... Practically speaking, the change will mean precious little to Gmail's millions of users. But it could help Google's efforts to get the paid version of its package of applications, which includes Gmail, Calendar, Docs and other products, adopted inside big companies."

Incandescent Bulbs Return To the Cutting Edge 569

Posted by timothy on Tuesday July 07, 2009 @05:09AM from the abstract-standards-mean-more-flexibility dept.

lee1 writes "A law in the US that is due to take effect in 2012 mandates such tough efficiency standards for lightbulbs that it has been assumed, until recently, that it would kill off the incandescent bulb. Instead, the law has become a case study of the way government regulation can inspire technical innovation. For example, new incandescent technology from Philips that seals the traditional filament inside a small capsule (which itself is contained within the familiar bulb). The capsule has a coating that reflects heat back to the filament, where it is partially converted to light. The sophisticated ($5.00) bulbs are about 30% more efficient than the old-fashioned ($0.25) kind, and should last about three times as long. So they are less economical than compact fluorescents, but should emit a more pleasing spectrum, not contain mercury, and, one supposes, present the utility company with a more desirable power factor."

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