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Comment See also Zinc-Bromide flow batteries. (Score 1) 97

Redflow - https://redflow.com/

Thier ZBM3 module, used as base component to build larger modules, is a 'small doghouse' sized unit, which stores 10kWh. eg. Their QuadPod can store 40kWh up to 12 kW. Long term, standby power, with no need for a reserved amount of power for battery conditioning. 100% power drain is possible, and encouraged.
Windows

Microsoft Gives Windows Device Makers Their 2017 Marching Orders (zdnet.com) 171

Posted by msmash from the roadmap-2017 dept.
Microsoft officials have some fairly specific ideas about what they want their Windows-device-making partners to build in calendar 2017. From a report: Microsoft wants its OEMs and ODMs to make more Windows 10 detachables, convertibles, and ultraslims. They also are advising their partners to make devices and peripherals that highlight the "hero experiences" of Windows 10 involving Cortana, Windows Hello authentication, and Windows Ink. And another wish-list topper: Microsoft is looking for more Windows 10 PCs that can power mixed-reality peripherals and that are ready for gamers and "media fanatics."
Government

Should Journalists Ignore Some Leaked Emails? (backchannel.com) 361

Posted by EditorDavid from the In-Soviet-Union,-emails-ignore-you dept.
Tuesday Lawrence Lessig issued a comment about a leaked email which showed complaints about his smugness from a Clinton campaign staffer: "I'm a big believer in leaks for the public interest... But I can't for the life of me see the public good in a leak like this..." Now mirandakatz shares an article by tech journalist Steven Levy arguing that instead, "The press is mining the dirty work of Russian hackers for gossipy inside-beltway accounts." This is perfectly legal. As long as journalists don't do the stealing themselves, they are solidly allowed to publish what thieves expose, especially if, as in this case, the contents are available to all... [But] is the exploitation of stolen personal emails a moral act? By diving into this corpus to expose anything unseemly or embarrassing, reporters may be, however unwillingly, participating in a scheme by a foreign power to mess with our election...

As a 'good' journalist, I know that I'm supposed to cheer on the availability of information... But it's difficult to argue that these discoveries were unearthed by reporters for the sake of public good...
He's sympathetic to the idea that minutiae from campaigns lets journalists "examine the failings of 'business as usual'," but "it would be so much nicer if some disgruntled colleague of Podesta's was providing information to reporters, rather than Vladimir Putin using them as stooges to undermine our democracy." He ultimately asks, "is it moral to amplify anything that's already exposed on the internet, even if the exposers are lawbreakers with an agenda?"
Power

CO2 To Ethanol In One Step With Cheap Catalyst (sciencedaily.com) 228

Posted by msmash from the eureka-moments dept.
Reader networkBoy writes: Boffins at ORNL (Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory) have discovered a simple and cheap catalyst that can take CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) dissolved in solution with water and at room temperature convert it to ethanol with 60%+ yields. They envision it as a way to store surplus power from green energy plants and then burning it to fill in lulls in supply.From the report:The team used a catalyst made of carbon, copper and nitrogen and applied voltage to trigger a complicated chemical reaction that essentially reverses the combustion process. With the help of the nanotechnology-based catalyst which contains multiple reaction sites, the solution of carbon dioxide dissolved in water turned into ethanol with a yield of 63 percent. Typically, this type of electrochemical reaction results in a mix of several different products in small amounts. "We're taking carbon dioxide, a waste product of combustion, and we're pushing that combustion reaction backwards with very high selectivity to a useful fuel," Rondinone said. "Ethanol was a surprise -- it's extremely difficult to go straight from carbon dioxide to ethanol with a single catalyst."

Comment So how did it happen?.. a possible explaination (Score 1) 569

by paul.schulz (#50586405) Attached to: VW Fiasco Puts Ethics In Engineering Under the Spotlight, CEO Steps Down

"The path to hell is paved with good intensions" and this applies to Engineers almost more than other people as they are in a position to actually create hell.

1. Creating an parameter map for the engine management system is a good thing. It allows the performance of the engine to be tuned, where all of the possible values are stored in one place where they can easily be changed and also tweeked during production.
2. Allowing several parameter maps which are linked to environmental conditions also makes sense. Vehicle speed, temperature, pressure are all possible inputs, and it wouldn't make much sense to limit this list. The more environmental inputs the better, right?
3. There would also be some testing to see how green the engine could be made to run, and a suitable parameter map produced. Why wouldn't you? It might be great and give you a great competative advantage.
4. You want to sell in different markets that have different environmental requirements. Best leave all of the maps in the software so that it doesnt need to be changed.
5. We need to have the car tested by the USA EPA for emissions before we can sell it there, but there is still some more work on the software that needs to be done.. thats ok. Load the car up with the software so that when it is tested it gets the 'right' map and passes. We don't want to delay the launch of our new model with new diesal engine.
6. Work done.. software complete. Lets not remove the EPA code, its too risky and we might break something else... and by the way, the guy that new that bit of the code has moved onto another project.

I'm not saying that this is what happened, but may be how some small steps led to this situation.
Software

Is Open Source Software a Race To Zero? 729

Posted by Soulskill from the at-least-i'll-beat-zeno dept.
gozunda writes "My company is an open source software vendor/developer. We maintain a popular open source project and keep ourselves afloat by producing commercial products derived from or extending the value of the core project. Over time we've seen our business model eroding as other open source projects produce free versions of the same extensions and utilities that are our bread and butter. Something that was worth $5K last year is suddenly worth $0 because the free version is just as good as the paid. This same cycle is obviously having an impact on pure-play commercial software vendors. Is open source ultimately a race to zero? In ten years will there be any cost associated with commodity (non-custom) software? If not, will there still be a 'software industry' as it exists today, or will software simply be a by-product of the operation of other industries? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? As a professional developer, do I need to fear this or feed it?"
Microsoft

Microsoft Releases First Open XML SDK 120

Posted by Soulskill from the appeals-what-appeals dept.
Kurtz'sKompund tips us to news that Microsoft has released a finished version of the Open XML software development kit. Microsoft has made additional resources available with the download. Quoting Techworld: "The SDK includes an application programming interface (API) simplifying the creation of code for searching documents, creating documents, validating document parts, modifying data and other tasks, Microsoft said. The API can be used in any language supported by the Microsoft .Net Framework, the company said. The current SDK supports the version of Open XML supported by Office 2007, which is not the same as that ratified as a standard by the ISO, due to changes effected during the ratification process."
Microsoft

Microsoft Acknowledges Open Source As a Bigger Threat Than Google 376

Posted by Soulskill from the i've-been-waiting-for-you-obi-wan dept.
ruphus13 takes us to ZDNet for an analysis of comments by Microsoft's Chief Software Architect, Ray Ozzie, about how open source is "much more potentially disruptive" to Microsoft's business strategy than Google. Ozzie also spoke about the future of Microsoft's search technology, which will develop with or without Yahoo. There is a related interview at OStatic with several Microsoft employees about how they view and interact with the open source community. The head of Microsoft's global open source and Linux team is quoted saying: "The other thing I think is missing is implementation of a basic principle of economic fairness. Thousands of developers have put very hard work into building software used by millions of people and companies, yet only a fraction of these developers are rewarded financially. Currently there are perfectly good projects that have been abandoned by their developers despite being used by large corporations. Subsequently the projects fall out of use. This is unnecessary waste that would often be prevented by making it easy for companies to pay the developers directly. I think it's important to solve this so that the sustainability of open source projects is improved."
Microsoft

Groklaw Examines Microsoft's Promises 125

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the tired-of-shoveling-it-yet dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Groklaw has examined that 'new leaf' Microsoft turned the other day. PJ has a lengthy analysis of Microsoft's latest promises. To make a long story short, the promises are more of the same stuff and don't help anyone but Microsoft. They only protect 'noncommercial' development and are set up to create a patented standards toll road so that Microsoft can charge competitors to compete. As PJ puts it, 'This is a promise to remain incompatible with the GPL, as far as I can make out.'"

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