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Space

LCD "engine" for spacecraft attitude control!->

Submitted by
Bruce Perens
Bruce Perens writes "Japan's IKAROS satellite, which earlier performed the first successful demonstration of a solar sail, has broken more new territory. Liquid-crystal displays, yes — like in your video monitor — were fabricated into strips on the edges of the solar sail. By energizing some of the LCDs and changing the reflective characteristics of parts of the sail from specular to diffuse, JAXA scientists successfully generated attitude control torque in the sail, changing the spacecraft's orientation."
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Power

Unlimited fusion a step closer with ITER funding

Submitted by goG
goG writes "The European Union and six other states agreed on an updated plan to finance and establish a timetable for the ITER project, an experimental fusion reactor which could lead towards the development of unlimited and clean fusion energy. The parties hammered out a deal at the future site of the project in Cadarache, France at Wednesday.Together with the International Space Station and CERN, ITER is probably the most extensive and complex international project ever undertaken."
Privacy

FTC Wants Browsers to Block Online Tracking->

Submitted by storagedude
storagedude writes "The FTC wants a do-not-track mechanism that would allow Web users to opt out of online behavioral tracking, similar to the national do-not-call registry. The agency's preferred method for accomplishing this would be a browser-based tool that would give users the option of blocking data collection across the Web. The only problem is that the agency may not have the authority to require this, thanks to concerted lobbying efforts by the advertising industry. The first step may just be voluntary measures, to be released this fall.

From the article:

"It's really in the hands of the private sector," [FTC Chairman Jon] Leibowitz said. "If they want to do a better job of ... giving clear choices and have clearer notice, then I think it's in their hands to avoid legislation. I think if they don't, and if we don't see more progress, I think you're going to see probably in the next Congress a fair amount of interest in moving legislation forward to have more prescriptive rules."
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Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.