16600466
submission
necro81 writes:
Jimi Heselden, the British multi-millionaire defense contractor and philanthropist, who bought the Segway company last December from inventor Dean Kamen, died yesterday after an accident while riding one of the machines. While using a ruggedized X2 version of the two-wheeled balancing scooter at his estate in North Yorkshire, he apparently drove over the edge of a precipice and into the River Wharfe. He was found later by a passerby and declared dead on the scene.
15011332
submission
necro81 writes:
The NY Times is reporting that former Senator Ted Stevens was aboard a small plane with eight others that crashed in remote southwest Alaska Monday night. Reuters is reporting that he died, along with at least four others. Meanwhile, the North American CEOof aerospace firm EADS and former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was was also reported in the crash. Rescue crews from the Alaska Air National Guard reached the site about ten hours after the initial crash.
13914720
submission
necro81 writes:
Researchers at MIT's Media Lab have developed a smartphone app that allows users to measure how poor their vision is (myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism) and receive a corrective prescription. The user peers through a $2 optical adapter at the screen of a smartphone. The app displays lighted bars, and prompts the user to adjust the display until the bars line up. Repeating this with bars in different locations and orientations allows the vision distortion to be determined to within about 0.4 diopters (using a Nexus One). The iPhone 4, with its higher-resolution display, should be able to improve that to 0.28 diopters. This could have broad application in the developing world, where experienced opticians and diagnostic equipment are hard to come by.
13538850
submission
necro81 writes:
The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has announced that it has developed a new method for air conditioning that reduces energy use by 50-90%. The DEVap system cools air using evaporative cooling, which is not new, but combines the process with a liquid dessicant for pulling the water vapor out of the cooled air stream. The liquid dessicant, a very strong aqueous solution of lithium chloride or sodium chloride, is separated from the air stream by a permeable hydrophobic membrane. Heat is later used to evaporate water vapor back out — heat that can come from a variety of sources such as solar or natural gas. The dessicants are, compared to typical refrigerants like HCFCs, relatively safe for the environment.
12629934
submission
necro81 writes:
In the latest longevity milestone for the little-rovers-that-could, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has become the longest operating Mars lander ever, passing the mark set by the Viking 1 lander back in the 1970s. Considering that Viking was an immobile, nuclear-powered science station, the 2246-sols (six Earth years) that the solar-powered roving Opportunity has racked up is even more impressive. Opportunity does not seem to be slowing down, either, it is still driving its way slowly towards Endeavor crater, which it hopes to reach in another two years. Its twin, Spirit , has fared less well of late, but may yet be heard from again.
11897944
submission
necro81 writes:
Palm, Inc., which has struggled in recent months after making a splash with its Pre smartphone, will be bought by HP, the world's largest computer maker. The deal has been approved by both companies' boards, and should be wrapped up this summer. HP will get Palm for about $5.70/share (about 20% above today's closing price), or about $1.2 billion. That's a pretty good deal, considering that in the months following the launch of the Pre on Sprint's network, Palm's share price topped $16. But marketing blunders hindered the Pre's more widespread adoption on other carriers, and the company's very existence has recently seemed in doubt.
11891234
submission
necro81 writes:
, the 130-turbine offshort wind project sited off Nantucket Island in Massachusetts, has been given regulatory approval by the US Dept of the Interior. It is the first offshore wind farm in the US to clear this hurdle, which makes it the front runner to become the first operating offshore windfarm in the US, wholags far behind Europe and China. The start of construction is not yet assured, however: the project has been met with fierce and tenacious resistance from (some) locals, (some) politicians, and even (some) Native Americans, who could still delay the project for years in court
11789546
submission
necro81 writes:
A $1.5 billion gamma ray experiment, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, that was to have launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavor to the International Space Station in July, has undergone a last minute design change that will change the launch date, pushing back the end of the shuttle program by at least several months. The change replaces the original liquid helium-cooled superconducting magnet with a more conventional one, which will reduce the risks involved (superconducting magnets can be problematic — just ask CERN) and will greatly extend the useful life of the spectrometer (the liquid helium coolant would have boiled away within a few years of launch). Although the conventional electromagnet is only 1/5th as strong, its increased lifespan should allow for substantially more science to be conducted, especially considering the ISS's extended mission life. As the change is still underway, the impact to the final shuttle schedule is not fully known.
8453914
submission
necro81 writes:
Google consumes massive amounts of electrical energy to power its data centers across the country and world. Now it has created a subsidiary, Google Energy LLC, and applied (pdf) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to become a utility-scale energy trader. Google's stated aim is to be able to purchase renewable energy directly from producers at bulk rates, pursuing its goal of becoming carbon neutral. It is likely that Google Energy would also permit Google's own renewable energy projects to sell their energy at more favorable rates. Google reportedly does not have plans to actively become an energy broker, a la Enron.
7408342
submission
necro81 writes:
The NY Times is reporting that a new report from Osram, a major lighting manufacturer, has calculated the total lifecycle energy costs of LED lightbulbs and found that they are approximately 20% that of incandescents. While it is well known that LED bulbs use a fraction of the energy of incandescents to produce the same amount of light, it has been unproven if the higher manufacturing energy costs made the technology a net gain. The study found that manufacturing and distribution energy costs of all lightbulb technologies is only about 2% of their total lifetime energy cost — a tiny fraction of the energy used to produce light.
7219234
submission
necro81 writes:
The NY Times is reporting that there may be an upcoming shortage of helium-3, and the effect that has on nuclear weapons detection. The gas is exceptionally rare on Earth; the primary source is from the decay of tritium. The end of the Cold War left humanity with a sizable stockpile of tritium but, with a half-life of just twelve years, a great deal of that tritium has since decayed.. As a result, the cost of helium-3 has shot up from $100/L to more than $2000/L in the last few years. Producing more requires a specially outfit nuclear reactor and extraction and purification facilities, which cannot be done overnight. Aside from the interest in helium-3 from the nuclear fusion community, it is used for several medical diagnostic tests as an MRI contrast. Because of its neutron-sensitivity, it is a critical component in a network of nuclear material detectors that are being rolled out at American ports.
6836018
submission
necro81 writes:
Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of HP, has announced that she will run as a Republican to unseat California senator Barbara Boxer in next year's mid-term elections. A political newcomer, she plans to run on a platform of lowering taxes, reigning-in government spending, and touting her business experience. As HP's boss, she had a mix of successes (such as a merger with Compaq and spinoff of Agilent) and failures (such as a stock price that fell by half) before being ousted unanimously in 2005. Although her $21 million golden parachute provides her with an early edge in fundraising, she will face a strong primary challenge from assemblyman Chuck DeVore, a staunch social conservative.
5737353
submission
necro81 writes:
India has lost radio contact with its lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1. After nearly a year in space and thousands of orbits of the moon, the orbiter abruptly lost contact early Saturday morning. Ground controllers haven't been able to re-establish contact or control the craft. Chandrayaan's launch and successful orbiting of the Moon vaulted India into an elite club of space-faring nations. The orbiter had already accomplished most scientific objectives of its two-year mission to map the surface and survey for minerals in preparation for future lunar missions.
5514883
submission
necro81 writes:
General Motors, emerging from bankruptcy, today announced that its upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Volt, will have an EPA-rated 230 mpg for city driving (approx 1L / 100km). The unprecedented rating is the result of a new (draft) methodology for calculating the "gas" mileage for vehicles that operate primarily or extensively on electricity. The Volt, due out late this year, can drive approximately 40 miles on its Li-Ion battery pack, after which a gasoline engine kicks in to provide additional electricity to turn the wheels. Running off the gasoline engine yields approximately 50 mpg. Of course, the devil's in the details, because the conversion of grid-based electricity to gasoline-mileage is imprecise.
5118131
submission
necro81 writes:
It has almost become an internet joke how Google leaves many of its projects in the beta stage indefinitely, never officially releasing them. No longer: Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and Talk have finally left beta. Gmail has hung around in beta since April 2004 and is currently used by over 100 million people. Google Apps has 1.75 million users. Removing the beta label should allow Google to push for greater adoption in enterprise settings, where greater surety of support and a predictable product life cycle are necessary. The move brings with it a push towards making Apps a paid-only service.
