67291317
submission
LuxuryYacht writes:
Open Lunchbox is an Open Hardware and Software Laptop Project. Some of the problems with other open laptop projects in the past have been either not being x86, not being open or not being an actual laptop.
Open Lunchbox will have all the design and fabrication files open and free. Uses a 4-core AMD64 CPU with HD8400 series graphics. Is an actual laptop mainboard and laptop. It's powerful enough for everyday use and a low cost design without sacrificing quality and reliability. The design is flexible enough to be used in several laptops with different sets of features or as an open development platform. The coreboot source will be hosted at coreboot.org GIT repo. Open Lunchbox will also provide complete assembled mainboards and laptops.
66000177
submission
LuxuryYacht writes:
A new study shows that the way your brain responds to photos of of maggots, mutilated carcasses, and gunk in the kitchen sink gives a pretty good indication of whether you're liberal or conservative.
"Remarkably, we found that the brain's response to a single disgusting image was enough to predict an individual's political ideology," Read Montague, a Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute psychology professor who led the study, said in a written statement.
83 men and women viewed a series of images while having their brains scanned in a functional MRI (fMRI) machine. The images included the disgusting photos described above, along with photos of babies and pleasant landscapes.
Afterward, the participants were asked to rate how grossed out they were by each photo. They also completed a survey about their political beliefs, which included questions about their attitudes toward school prayer, gun control, immigration, and gay marriage.
There was no significant difference in how liberals and conservatives rated the photos. But the researchers noted differences between the two groups in the activity of brain regions associated with disgust recognition, emotion regulation, attention and even memory. The differences were so pronounced that the researchers could analyze a scan and predict the person's political leaning with 95 percent accuracy.
23642370
submission
LuxuryYacht writes:
John Fleming of SilverEagles Energy and Tim Maxwell from Texas Tech University, say they have developed a way to make ammonia that is cheap enough so that it could be used as fuel for cars. The Texas Tech effort seems either based or improved from an electrolyzer Fleming devised for potential use in gas fireplaces. The Fleming designed NH3 processor offers huge cost savings in the production of hydrogen using electricity. The processor is suggested to cost $200 US and is predicted to produce fuel for about 27 a liter, about $1.00 a gallon.
4881501
submission
LuxuryYacht writes:
A research team led by a chemist at the University of California, Riverside has fabricated microscopic polymer beads that change color instantly and reversibly when external magnetic fields acting upon the microspheres change orientation.
The beads or "magnetochromatic microspheres" have excellent structural stability. They also are highly compatible with various types of dispersion media such as water, alcohol, hexane and even polymer solutions, allowing them to retain magnetically tunable colors in a variety of chemical environments.
Applications of the new material include display type units such as rewritable or reusable signage, posters, papers and labels, and other magnetically activated security features. The new material also can be used to make environmentally friendly pigments for paints and cosmetics, as well as ink materials for color printing. Video of rotating microspheres
450918
submission
LuxuryYacht writes:
The HydroPak fuel cell is a portable power generator that can provide up to 14 hours of power with a single disposable cartridge. The $20 cartridges are water-activated, and have a shelf life of several years. The HydroPak stems from a collaboration between Horizon's fuel cells and Millennium Cell's "Hydrogen-on-Demand" storage technology. The companies hope to attract consumers and professionals who currently use generators and batteries for their remote power supply needs. The HydroPak could have applications for camping, construction, emergency, and other uses.
The device, which is still in beta, is relatively inexpensive for a fuel cell product, costing around $400 in addition to the disposable cartridges. The HydroPak also has zero emissions, is lightweight, and operates with minimal noise. A water-activated cartridge can crank out 400 Watts through an AC outlet and two USB ports for 14 continuous hours.
349519
submission
LuxuryYacht writes:
LinuxBIOS now fully supports booting Windows. The project was accepted for the Google Summer Of Code 2007 and its main goal was to figure out how to boot Windows Vista/XP/2003. LinuxBIOS now boots Windows 2000 and XP with support for Vista soon.
Details and video may be found here: http://linuxbios.org/Booting_Windows_using_LinuxBIOS
149511
submission
LuxuryYacht writes:
The PLAICE is an open source hardware and software project that is developing a powerful in-circuit development tool that combines the features of a FLASH Programmer, Memory Emulator and High Speed Multi-Channel Logic Analyzer into one device. The project wiki is at: http://flash-plaice.wikispaces.com/ . It runs uClinux. The logic analyzer features up to 200MHz sampling rates and up to 32 input channels. The logic analyzer Java client features support for up to 200MHz sampling rates, user controlled filtering operations, time line in diagrams, transfer rates, user configurable drawing modes. The Java client supports access via almost any PC with a serial port. The Java client uses the RXTX serial library with support for 34 platforms including Linux, Windows, and Solaris. Java client plugins include an SPI and I2C bus protocol analyzer, timing analysis to state analysis conversion, and post-processing functions.
147149
submission
LuxuryYacht writes:
The FLASH-PLAICE is a powerful in-circuit development tool that combines the features of a flash programmer, an emulator, and a high speed multi-channel logic analyzer into one device. The project is fully open source for both the software and hardware. The project wiki is at http://flash-plaice.wikispaces.com/ and also found at http://freshmeat.net/projects/flash-plaice . The PLAICE runs uClinux. The logic analyzer features up to 200MHz sampling rates and up to 32 input channels. The logic analyzer Java client features support for up to 200MHz sampling rates, user controlled filtering operations, time line in diagram, metadata (size, rate, and trigger position) stored in files, an ID command for device identification, configurable serial port transfer rate, user configurable drawing modes (logic level, hex value, and scope), and Java client access via almost any PC with a serial port. The Java client uses the RXTX serial library with support for 34 platforms including Linux, Windows, and Solaris. Java client plugins include an SPI and I2C bus protocol analyzer, timing analysis to state analysis conversion, and post-processing functions.
