A GenX Liberal Geek's Take on Science and Finance in the News: 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011

Quantifying Myself: A Month of Self-tracking - Technology Review

ironically the more or less toys that this article talks about is really the beginning of the way to save money in healthcare, and to improve care at the same time. Think of it. you go to your regular doctor. they set up some parameters for you; each person is different. you have these sensors monitoring you, and updating the doctor's "computer". if any of your numbers get outside some set parameters, the doc is alerted. then they can call you in for an appointment, or take other appropriate actions. healthcare as a continuous service as opposed to measured doses as we do now. catching things earlier... think of the possibilities; particularly for the old and infirm.

NASA spacecraft captures video of asteroid approach - Astronomy Magazine

it's amazing that we live in a time where we can see such things. just over 2 weeks ago, NASA captured these images. now we all can see them!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

BREAKING – major AAS solar announcement: Sun’s Fading Spots Signal Big Drop in Solar Activity | Watts Up With That?

Uh oh.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Maximum PC | 1Gbps Internet Access For $70 in America? Sonic Says Yes

Bring it to NYC!

Solar activity still driving in the slow lane | Watts Up With That?

Still very few sunspots...

The Chaos theoretic argument that undermines Climate Change modelling | Watts Up With That?

Chaos theory and climate change ... for the layman. well, techie, layman. good read.

Friday, June 10, 2011

MASTIO: Dead bodies demand organic food moratorium - Washington Times

interesting perspective... More people have died in Germany from eating ORGANIC bean sprouts than died in Japan's Nuclear meltdown and BP's oilspill in the Gulf!

A Practical Way to Make Invisibility Cloaks - Technology Review

Okay so the invisibility cloak thing sounds fantastic, but the fact is that we will have them to some degree. These guys found a cheap way to MAKE THEM at a university in Illinois.

Super-lenses are what have me really excited as they will instantly make it cheaper to make smaller computer chips. This is great stuff.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

One more reason to say asphalt affects local weather | Watts Up With That?

Translation, light colored roofs are a solution to this; as well as using other materials that hold less heat. Essentially, they are saying that the urban heat island effect weakens the shore breeze.

Clive Best » Blog Archive » 1990 IPCC predictions confront the data

20 years ago, the climate moddlers made some predictions. Guess what? They were wrong. Take a look at a graph of their predictions and reality.

Alarmists refuse to take on skeptical geologists | Watts Up With That?

Geologists think human caused global warming is bunk. How about that?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Titantic II Sinks on Its Maiden Voyage - FoxNews.com

too funny...

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

SkyDrive - Windows Live

Google Vs Microsoft in the world of Free Apps online

Most folks I know are aware of how much I like using the free online Apps (spreadsheet, document editor, drawings, presentations) from Google. Let me not forget my undying support of Gmail, and a few of you might even know that I use that site to upload and backup a few things worth having a backup copy of. Google offers you 1GB free, and charges $5 for 20GB per year. They charge more for more space. Microsoft now offers their Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and One Note and 25GB of space for free. That includes space for uploading your own files; this is that "Cloud Drive" thing you are hearing about.

Now I am NOT suggesting you put passwords, Tax Returns, or anything that you would be embarrassed to find on the front page of the newspaper; hackers have a better shot of getting stuff in a cloud drive than on your home pc. Actually, for stuff like that, I recommend a external hard drive or a small flash drive that you can put in a safe place.

Anyway, I do recommend using this thing for say wedding pictures, baby pictures, or anything like that which you want to not lose. This is just another safe offsite place to put them if your computer dies on you, or something else bad happens; say a flood or a tornado. Your boiler failing flooding a room counts, and that happens often enough.

For folks who like to use office applications, and don't want to pay the big buck for them, this is perfect. I would reccomend either google or microsoft's app to anyone. They both are great, but since microsoft has more free space, I suggest htem for now.

Me, I'll use both. I don't plan on giving up gmail, but I do like some of microsofts apps better than google's. Microsoft limits each file to being 50MB, but that should be fine for pictures and general documents.

I should point out that Microsoft even has a sync application which I have yet to play wiht that allows you to actually sync to it with up to 5GB of separate storage space, and this is without the 50MB limit. This is good, and I am sure they will give you more space for a fee. That would be a true media backup.

NJ court: No shield law for message boards posters - Yahoo! News

I agree with this. There is a difference here.

Sun Unleashes 'Spectacular' & Powerful Eruption | Solar Flares, Sun Eruption & Sun Storms | Space Weather & Solar Cycle 24 | Space.com

Good thing it's not aimed at us. If it was, it would have been annoying.

The Best Hard Science Fiction Books of all Time - Technology Review

my new reading list!

Using Wi-Fi for Navigating the Great Indoors - Technology Review

this is really cool, and would have a huge impact on people's lives. it;s one of those saves you a couple of minutes things, but those minutes will add up quite a bit!

Startup Thinks It Can Make Flow Batteries Cheaper - Technology Review

more hope on the renewable energy front- "flow batteries". basically, it's another battery device, only for large scale, that uses cheap abundant materials; unlike lithium in our cell phone batteries which, compared to iron, zinc, water, and salt, is neither cheap or abundant.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Edge of Solar System Filled with Bubbles, NASA Says | NASA & Voyager Spacecraft | The Solar System & Milky Way | Space.com

34 years ago NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Today they are still telling us new things about our solar system. Amazing!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Decoy swarm has the potential to protect attacking jets with hundreds of drones -- Engadget

hehehehe this is too cool

Thursday, June 2, 2011

USDA's MyPlate - Home page

This is an improvement over the old food pyramid, and I am glad this change has taken place. Good job Mr. President and First Lady for pushing this to happen.

Why do I like this, it's simpler. It's easier to understand. It's more accurate. It included the importance of activity.

Countdown to flatline: world carbon trading market falls for first time – World Bank reports rumblings of possible failure | Watts Up With That?

tee hee hee. i love it. it's a stupid idea. Who gets the money, traders and governments. neither will help solve the CO2 problem, which of course is not a problem in the first place. Still, even if it were, this isn't the way to do it. Invest in non carbon energy sources, which is good for a variety of non AGW reasons, and make it cheaper than fossil fuels. That's how fossil fuels got so popular in the first place, they were better than the alternatives.

Maximum PC | Micron's P320h Enterprise-class SSD Runs Circles Around the Competition

time for an upgrade? i think so, although i am still trying to wait until Ivy Bridge MoBos come out next spring.

New research: Post-exercise recovery advantages of lowfat chocolate milk

the greatest news ever... chocolate milk, albeit low-fat, helps with your recovery from workout... no joke here ... this is real.

Too cool!

Evidence that cosmic rays seed clouds | JunkScience.com

this is a conservative blog post that is anti, as i am, the human caused global warming belief, and more importantly, it has links to the real science behind how nature is causing the climate change; which in and of itself is real, and is something we must adapt to; not try to control.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

US Economy: 150 Economists Back US Republicans in Debt Fight - CNBC

Good. I hate to say it but there are lot of good programs that are going to get cuts. I don't there are too many programs, that are totally worthless. Some may be unnecessary to some folks, and others to others, but at the end of the day I am sure most are good, and helping good people.

The sad things is that those statements are meaningless. The simple fact is that the government is not taking in enough money to cover its obligations. There are two options: raise taxes or cut spending. Raising taxes hurts our ability to come out of the recession that is technically over, but certainly it lowers growth. That means cuts. I don't care how we do it, but things need to be cut. Cut X % across the board, fine, selectively cut less important programs and possibly hurt fewer folks, fine. Either way, it must be done.

TDK starts mass production of transparent OLEDs, makes texting and walking safer -- Engadget

transparent OLEDs - transparent Displays

this is really cool, and then we are able to see something like minority report.

Home Price Index Update Shows Double Dip » My Money Blog

Housing seems to be running into a Double Dip... not good news!

Tapping Quantum Effects for Software that Learns - Technology Review

This is historic. The first Quantum computer HAS BEEN SOLD, and is now IN USE by Lockheed Martin. Apparently, Google is playing with it too for photo recognition.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

US 'to view major cyber attacks as acts of war'

It's about time. This is what they are; acts of war. It's an attack on infrastructure; no different than blowing up a bridge.

Thinking Of Switching To A Smaller Car To Save On Gas? » My Money Blog

This blog post is perfect for anyone thinking of buying a car this year based on fuel economy. What's the point? It boils down to a graph that shows you how much money you'll save per year by switching to a higher fuel economy car. Hybrids aren't economical yet; which is the point of the article. Sure, they do use the least gas, but their cost is more than savings. I still say a well tuned, (proper tire inflation, good spark plugs, etc...) Civic/Focus is your best bet overall right now. Also, if you've never been in a Prius as compared to the Civic/Focus, the former is a lot smaller.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

TSA Thug Grabs Crotch of Wounded Vet

Another case, no worse or less horrible than all the others, of the TSA going beyond their mandate. This is absolutely crazy.

Air France crash sparks pilot mystery | Reuters

i never thought they'd find this thing, and now i can't believe what it recorded.

Scientists discover the largest assembly of whale sharks ever recorded

this is really cool. let's hope they can be protected from Shark Finners

Friday, May 27, 2011

Green and lean: Secreting bacteria eliminate cost barriers for renewable biofuel production

more hope for bio fuels. a big problem may have been fixed in the lab settings. they are going full scale next, and we'll see if it works there.

Cities affect storms, but downwind areas can get the worst of it

Again we are seeing more details about how weather works that we didn't know before.

New explanation for Hawaiian hot spot

Another long held, and well supported theory falls. Ge, scientists changing theories based on evidence. How radical a thought. (note I am making fun of the Global Warming Religion.)

Simeis 147 in mapped color - Astronomy.com - Online Community, Forums, Media Galleries, Blogs

A beautiful picture of a galaxy taken by someone in Varna, Bulgaria.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

NASA abandons Mars rover Spirit, chooses to remember the good times -- Engadget

the 3 month mission that became 7 years finally ends. that's one hell of a bang for hte buck!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Multiverse = Many Worlds, Say Physicists - Technology Review

We might be getting closer to grand unification.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Nissho starts selling 52-inch, glasses-free 3D TV with Full HD resolution in Japan -- Engadget

apparently glasses-free 3D HDTVs were closer than I expected. They are hitting the HIGH end market now - $20k for a 52".

EPA chief called on to retract inflammatory falsehood made on Daily Show | JunkScience.com

It seems those on the LEFT are also willing to make "mistakes" and say things that are completely untrue, but nevertheless support their cause. Translation, everyone has an agenda, which is why we need at least two sides to an issue.

Mercury is dangerous, but in the amounts that come out of our powerplants, it's not a risk. It's not destroying anyone's brain. That being said, as I always say, getting our power in such a way as to enable us to not have to release anything like it would be a good thing. The real problem is that the hyperbole makes the reasonable conversation go out the window. Why not just say, "as the concentrations go up, it will eventually become a problem. I want us to focus on cheap power sources that don't have that waste product." Something like that would be wise, and would be inarguable from someone on the other side. Agreement out of the way, the next question is how to get there. Working together, even for different reasons, is better.

Microsoft Wants to Rule the White Spaces - Technology Review

This is really cool. This could drive real competition in the home delivery of internet access. With the range of these things, it would even compete with the cell phone companies wireless data plans. This is all good for the consumer.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

WikiLeaks bolsters argument for 'enhanced' interrogation tactics - Washington Times

this is perverse, and quite humerus.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling | Video on TED.com

everyone should smile more....

Creepy new Air Force camera can identify and track you from far, far away -- Engadget

Creepy new Air Force camera can identify and track you from

far, far away -- Engadget

now we are talking REAL big brother type stuff. the film Minority Report predicted this, but I guess I'm still surprised by it.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

E Ink shows concepts galore at SID 2011: snowboards, radios, thermostats, oh my! -- Engadget

Now we are talking, this is what i want to see all over the place!

Galaxy S II and Galaxy S screens compared at the subpixel level (video) -- Engadget

OMFG, I really WANT THE GALAXY S II!!! That will be my next phone. SPRINT RELEASE IT TODAY!!!!

Kindle books officially take over print sales at Amazon, pulp starts making retirement plans -- Engadget

now this is historic. i am an owner of a kindle 1.0, love it, and am part of this move.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Scientists at Aarhus University (AU) and the National Space Institute (DTU Space) show that particles from space create cloud cover

Danes show how cosmic rays do make aerosols in the air; aerosols already are proven to be seeds for clouds. The link between cosmic rays and superhero formation remains unconfirmed.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Exclusive: Inside Area 51, the Secret Birthplace of the U2 Spy Plane - FoxNews.com

this could be a fun read

LED bulb makers target 100-watt brightness | Green Tech - CNET News

these are true 75w and 100w equivalent light bulbs. the cost at roughly MSRP of $40 and $50 is not trivial, but remember, they do pay back several times over during their lifetime; especially for those of us in the North East with the expensive energy.

Mizzou Professor says nantenna solar sheet soaks up 90 percent of the sun's rays, puts sunscreen to shame -- Engadget

interesting idea. light is just another form of electro-magnetic radiation. why don't we use advances in antenna's to capture the energy?

Monday, May 16, 2011

Marvell chip designed to improve LED light quality | Green Tech - CNET News

This will help LEDs get more traction; better color quality for no increase in price. Forgive me if I think $0.01 increase in price on a $20-50 item is negligible.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Push-and-Pull of Rocket Science - Technology Review

3 years to possibly new PRIVATE manned missions to space via SpaceX. We'll see, I certainly hope they can do it.

Road Repair via Crowdsourcing - Technology Review

This is truly awesome. This is the kind of "who'd think of that" kind of thing that will have a huge world impact.

X-Prize reveals plans for tricorder competition, suspiciously lacking Nimoy endorsement -- Engadget

Another example of Star Trek's positive impact on humanity! Gene was truly a visionary! Long live his dream!

Update on the CERN CLOUD experiment | Watts Up With That?

Hmm, you mean we don't know everything about cloud formation and the potential link between Cosmic Rays and "aerosol seeds." Hmm, you mean we are still experimenting with that, and that this could be a significant, and here to fore unaccounted for in the computer models, lever in climate change. Amazing, I mean people are SO convinced that the science is settled.

I will say this again. Efficiency makes sense. LED light bulbs are actually cost effective today. Burning fossil fuels does put a lot of crap in the air, soot, etc, that does cause breathing problems. So stopping their use is a good thing. On the other side, cheap energy is the key to living well and lighter on the environment. So the plan should be, keep energy cheap, and find ways to make clean energy CHEAPER than dirty energy. Taxing "dirty" energy only raises it's price and hurts everyone; but the poor most of all. Better to simply help research cleaner energy, and at worst subsidize it.

Samsung's foldable AMOLED display: no creases, even after 100,000 tries -- Engadget

Since this works, I expect we'll see one in the not so distant future!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Astronomers Solve the Mystery of the Ridge around Iapetus - Technology Review

this is why science is cool

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Lighting Science demos Android @ Home bulbs, promises dead-simple home automation (hands-on) -- Engadget

home automation via your google device. i think home automation is about to start working bigtime.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Neanderthals died out earlier than originally believed

very interesting adjustment to the old information

Monday, May 9, 2011

How Three-Dimensional Transistors Went from Lab to Fab - Technology Review

history behind the new awesome 3d transistors

Researchers find green roof is a cost-effective way to keep water out of sewers

cost effective, are they nuts? did they look at their own numbers quoted in the article. they say themselves that it costs about 2 cents per gallon. they also said that 10 billion gallons of water fall on NYC roofs in 1 year. okay, let's do the math here. 10 billion times 0.02 dollars = 200 million dollars PER YEAR! we could do a lot better than that to stop runoff. even if we only use their 30% number that Con Ed's building captured, then 30% of 10 billion gallons at a rate of $0.02 per gallon for maintenance, is still 66 Million Dollars!

Um no!

Now, mind you, white roofs, which would also cool the city in the summer, would make sense. still, then, i ask this, is it better to be cooler in the summer saving power then, and cooler in the winter meaning extra heating costs. My though is yes. There are many more hours of sun in the summer than in the winter, so the amount of solar heating you'd get, by heating your roof and the surrounding area thereby making your A/C work that much harder, should be much less than what you'd spend on any potential heating obtained in the winter with the fewer hours of sun anyway. Especially since the lower angle of the sun in the winter should allow more light/heat to come in through the windows.

so, i say, white roofs, yes, green roof, only if you happen to like it.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Facebook Could Be Planning a Visual Dashboard of Your Life - Technology Review

while i like the idea of this; seeing the numbers that represent my life, the idea of advertisers having those numbers, as most certainly they would, is rather invasive and unpleasant to me.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Antihydrogen Trapped For 1000 Seconds - Technology Review

This never occurred to me. for all i have been following antimatter developments since i first heard "they" made some in 1996, i never thought about the implication of having a bunch of anti-matter lying around. Anti-matter "should" have anti-gravity; it seems so obvious when you think about it. Damn that would be cool if it works. Still, having large hunks of anti-matter lying around would not be a good thing. anti-matter + matter = BIG BOOM!

Thermoelectric generator powered by sun's heat | Green Tech - CNET News

another interesting approach that has potential

Star Wars Blu-ray set ships Sept. 12th/16th (world/NA), has 40 hours of special features -- Engadget

finally a reason for me to buy a blue ray player

Six Planets Now Aligned in the Dawn Sky - Yahoo! News

i got to get to CT this weekend with my binocs and my stand! i hope the weather holds!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Bin Laden's Death Might Not Pose a New Threat: Scientific American

this is a very interesting perspective.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Why all HDMI cables are the same | Crave - CNET

just a reminder folks, the $5 one at Amazon is just as good as the $50 one at Best Buy. Guess which one I buy?

Friday, April 29, 2011

Voyager set to enter interstellar space

what's going on with our great space probes from the 70s. here's a hint, they're still working, and giving us data!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Space Engine – Free Universe Simulator | Apples for Geeks

this is AWESOME!!! if you're a geek like me.

My Way News - Number of 100-year-olds is booming in US

There are 72,000 100+ year old people in the USA. That number, already the largest in any country in the WORLD, is expected to double by 2020; it already doubled in the last 20 years. Say what you will about the healthcare system here, it's obviously working on some level.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Japan tsunami and earthquake: Road repaired SIX days after it was destroyed | Mail Online

this is damn impressive

NY case underscores Wi-Fi privacy dangers

to sum up. PASSWORD PROTECT YOUR INTERNET ROUTER. If you can't do it, then find a geek. It's easy, and it is necessary.

Holy $#!! Swearing can actually help you, study says

so remember, the next time you curse, it's a pain killer; you're not being rude!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

SpaceX aims to put man on Mars in 10-20 years

Sounds like pure bravado. I like that. Go SpaceX! Just try not to kill anyone in the process!

Sale Prices for California Homes with Solar Arrays Soar to the Top of the Market | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

This is interesting, and makes sense to me. The costs of installation are non-trivial. Having them, though, is a good thing. They do save you money if you don't have to pay for the installation! As you see in the article, though, the numbers don't make sense. They quote a cost of $5,000 for installation raising the value $17,000.

Friday, April 22, 2011

The Struggle to Spread the Minority Report Interface - Technology Review

Did you know the interface used in Minority Report was real? I didn't cool to know it is. It's still being made and improved upon, and it is still in use by rich clients; military, oil and gas companies, and of course financial companies.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Introducing the Honeywell Wind Turbine from WindTronics

This is quite interesting. I've been following it for quite a while. Honeywell, the big name behind it, and parent company, I know from their avionics. That's interesting. They recommend 12mph average wind speed. See that link for a map of the USA; a lot of the USA has that speed. Lots more maps here.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Death of Open Data? - Technology Review

Well, the goverment, as the article says, makes the data available. Perhaps, we concerning citizens, I fault myself here, should be willing to pay for a service to have a company process that data into reports. Currently, and to some degree, the government does in the form of the site Data.gov. That's likely to be mostly cut in the new budgets. I understand that; it's something that can and should be cut. Still, having that out there would be a good thing. Perhaps a line item could be added to our taxes to add a few bucks to support it; like they do for the "Presidental ReElection Fund?" I'd throw a few bucks at it. Perhaps some rich fiscal conservatives, regardless of political affiliation, could do it.

Another Dimension to Touch Screens - Technology Review

original touch screens, like the ones still used on ATMs, were resistive. This is good because they use less power than the more accurate and multi-touch capable capacitive ones used in all the cool mobile devices today. In this article, two different approaches to bring the best of both worlds is detailed. Both are ready for production; one already is appearing in simple devices.

What will you get:

- better battery life

- more durable screens

Friday, April 15, 2011

Yankees reward fans with free ticket offer | yankees.com: Official Info

Classy Yanks, Classy. Pop and I took advantage of this at least once, as I recall, when I was a kid.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Solar power without solar cells: A hidden magnetic effect of light could make it possible

Okay this one is pretty friggen cool. It turns out, that under the right conditions, you can get a powerful magnetic field from light. It was thought that you could ignore the magnetic field from light in all cases because it is so weak compared to light's electric field. Putting light in glass at a very high intensity makes the right conditions.

To make this work, they can get 10% efficiency using a glass lens and a glass fiber optic cable. Now the trick is to make this effect work at lower light intensities so that you can use sunlight as a source. Glass is a lot cheaper than silicon, so hopefully, they can get this all to work.

Solar Junction claims cell efficiency record | Green Tech - CNET News

They are planning to sell this to utility scale installations; mainly in the dessert, where it makes sense. They are getting 43.5% efficiency, and the thing can work with concentrators from 400 to 1000 suns. That means, they can concentrate 1 sq foot, roughly, of sunlight with a lens onto a solar cell one centimeter square. The sun puts about 100 Watts of power on the surface of the Earth at any given moment; again rough average assuming no cloud cover. Doing the math here, that means we can get 43.5 Watt hours of power for every foot of lens we have using only a centimeter of silicon. Total USA energy usage, that's oil, coal, nuke, etc, is 29 x 10^15 watt hours a year.

Assuming that we could get 6 hours a day with these solar cells on average every day in some place like part of the Arizona - New Mexico deserts, how much land would we need to power the USA; assuming we could store this power to use it when we wanted. That's another problem, but let's avoid that for now.

Our 1 sq ft gets us 261 W-h of power a day on average assuming that 6 hours a day, or 95MW-h a year. I know that sounds like a lot, but a standard 1,000 MW base load power plant does 6.5 times that in a month; 648,000 MW-h in an average 30-day month; most of those plants are running 90% of the 24 hours in a day. Anyway, back to our numbers. 29 x 10^15 divided by 95 x 10^6 equals 305 million or so square feet. Now that's just for the concentrator, realistically, we'll need probably 2x that amount of space to build a real solar facility. But, how big is 305 million square feet. 1 square mile is just under 28 million square feet, so if we double the 305 million we need, and divide that by our 28 million, we get 21 square miles. That's not too bad an area to cover a desert with to get all the power the USA used with in the last year. now all we need to do is to figure out a way to store it, converting that to gas/diesal/hydrogen and or transmission losses would probably mean we'd need to double this area again, but still even doubling plus a bit more to 50 square miles is still not that much. That's 10 miles by 5 miles. 43,480 square miles of the lower 48 of the USA is already built-up with roads, houses, etc, so 50 or even 100 or even 200 more is not a lot.

43,480 square miles of the USA is already built up with roads, building, etc

(http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?id=24956

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Darpa’s Hologram Goggles Will Unleash Drone Hell | Danger Room | Wired.com

this is teh coolest technology in teh world... not the attack drone, but the 3D sunglasses!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

'Solar fuel' research mimics photosynthesis | Green Tech - CNET News

Artificial leafs: sunlight plus air equals drop in replacement liquid fuels. That's what this article is about, and what these folks are trying to do.

GE to build massive thin-film U.S. solar plant | Green Tech - CNET News

more good news for everyone. more companies making them; more competition, lower prices for all.

Google invests in giant BrightSource solar project | Green Tech - CNET News

solar thermal is a potential helper in deserts for their energy budget. America's deserts certainly are big and good for that. I'd like to see this one work. The big difference here is the fact that this one cools it's energy transfer material with air instead of water. this is a requirement for ones in the deserts for obvious reasons.

My Way News - Japan ups nuke crisis severity to match Chernobyl

Yikes!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Whoa, windfarms in UK operate well below advertised efficiency | Watts Up With That?

research in the UK finds that wind generation was below 20% capacity more than 1/2 of the time, and below 10% capacity over 1/3 of the time!

Cheap electrical storage would help here, ultra-capacitors or something, but at the end of the day, I think wind is not the answer. Solar, by contrast, could be, we still need massive energy storage, though.

U.S., Colombia Seal Free Trade Agreement - FoxNews.com

Free trade helps everyone. This is great news!

A Browser that Speaks Your Language - Technology Review

okay this is too cool, and could be fun. text to speech in using your browser via Google's server farm.

More Star Trek Technology ...

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Redesigning Banking with Behavioral Economics in Mind - Technology Review

this sounds really interesting.

Monday, April 4, 2011

SpaceX teases 'something big,' suggests we check back April 5th (video) -- Engadget

perhaps there is a good reason for the retirement of the shuttles and the cancellation of the Constellation program. SpaceX, the only private space launch company IN THE WORLD, could be announcing (spoiler alert, do not follow this link if you want to be surprised tomorrow) this.

Hmm, how do I do this, I want to talk about why this is cool, but if I do I end up ruining the surprise. Who am I kidding, anyone reading my comments here, clearly doesn't care about the surprise. So, with that in mind, let me say that this does make sense, IF they can do it. This rocket, the Falcon 9, is being designed to launch people to the space station. This is what the shuttle did, and what the smaller of the Constellation rockets would have done. Mind you that the bigger Constellation rocket would have been for the new Lunar and Mars missions, but, oh well. Maybe SpaceX can do that in a few years too.

Increase in Housing Quality and its effect on Home Values: 1940-2010 — VisualizingEconomics

Here's a link to a few graphs that are quite interesting.

Cruisin’ with The Nation: Why red isn’t the new green | JunkScience.com

So these big-shot greenies, whom also are Communists (failed idea in its own right), are taking a cruise on arguably the least green cruise ship currently afloat. Cruise ships aren't all that green to begin with.

Now while I have no problem with either cruises, or green ideas in general, I do have a problem with stupidity and hypocrisy. They talk about car pooling, flying during the day instead of the night, or driving a prius to the cruise ship, as opposed to taking a regular trip. The ship, which only holds about 2300 guests, puts out as much CO2 in a week as about 37,000 SUVs. So, I ask you, what is the difference if 2300 people drive a Prius to get to the ship? That makes no sense for an eco nut!

Quantum Dots as Solar Cells - Technology Review

Why is this worth being aware of? These Israeli scientists have done something no one else has. They have come up with a way, well proven in theory but not in a lab until them, to make thin film solar cells as efficient as the silicon ones.

Silicon ones, in general use are about 20% efficient; the new ones coming off the line anyway. Thin film ones top out in the 8-10% range. Thin film ones, though, are WAY cheaper than the heavier silicon alternatives. Traditional solar cells are made almost like computer chips, and thus quite a bit more expensive than thin film ones which are made in a way quite similar to newspaper printing.

One thing that I found particularly interesting is that they can, using their new technique, tune the solar cell to the spectrum of light coming from the sun. That, too, will make them even more efficient. Sunlight is mostly green, which is why humans see that color the best, and that's why the first computer monitors were all green and black. (Most folks don't know that tidbit, but it's true.)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Spring is fireball season

This is odd. For the last 30 years or so scientists have noticed that right around the start of spring, we get 10-30% more meteors hitting the Earth.

Rotten meat doesn't stand a chance

Basically some folks figured out a way to make cheap sensors to tell when meat or fish has gone bad. Yes, I want to see this on the market!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

U of M researchers close in on technology for making renewable "petroleum" using bacteria, sunlight and carbon dioxide : UMNews : University of Minnesota

Looks like we are one step closer to solving our imported oil problem.

U.S. develops panic button for democracy activists | Reuters

Way to go State Department!

Using Heat to Cool Buildings - Technology Review

This one's really cool. Right now there are these things called adsorption chillers. They are powered by waste heat, and are able to use that waste heat to do the same job as the compressor in a Fridge or in your home A/C unit. In NYC, there are many powered by the steam waste heat from the power plants.

This article is about the work done by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to make the things potentially cost competitive with home A/C units. Okay that's great, but how do you "power" the thing at home; since no one has a steam connection from the local power plant? Solar water heaters are already cost effective over most of the continental USA; they can make hot water even on cold cloudy days. Even then, a simple electric heating element could be used in place of the solar water heater.

Still, though, in the times when the heat is the worst, this solar setup would work great; taking load off the grid, and removing your decadency on it for cooling if the grid goes down. This is great for self sufficient areas, places where power costs are high, military uses, and so on.

Amazon Beats Apple to Music Streaming - Technology Review

The article is very pro on it, and offers quite a few details. It being Amazon's new Cloud Drive service. What is it, a place on the Net to put your music to be able to stream it down to whatever device you want when you want. Free for up to 5gb of space, and it costs money to use more space than that.

I like the idea, although I'm not sure I'll use it.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

NASA Spacecraft Snaps 1st Photo of Mercury from Orbit | NASA's Messenger Mercury Mission | Mercury Photos, Solar System & Planets | Space.com

This is just too cool not to see. It's nearly haunting to see something like this.

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Leonardo Bonanni Talks About Sourcemap.org | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

The carbon footprint stuff aside, this is an interesting website that helps you track where all the parts of the products we buy come from. Perhaps you don't want to buy a product made, even in part, in a country that you don't like. At the very least, though, you'll find it interesting all the places that many things come from.

Are you America's Next Top Energy Innovator? | The Digital Home - CNET News

this is such a good idea. who cares if the National Labs lose money up front if they get equity in the start-up in trade. The potential gain, if even one or a few of these patents turn into a company, far out weighs any short term loss. What am i talking about, they are offering the patents for $1,000 instead of $10,000 to $50,000.

Maximum PC | How the New AT&T-Mobile Is Probably Going to Screw You Hardcore

Unfortunately, i think this is true for the exact same reasons as the author.

Visualized: Google charts the rise and fall of United States revenues -- Engadget

Scary to look at for those of us who live in NY; of course California might just be worse.

Fission Products in Seattle Reveal Clues about Japan Nuclear Disaster - Technology Review

Very interesting, and for the moment positive, information gathered by Seattle physicists about the reactor disaster in Japan.

In short, they found that it seems that only contaminated steam is being released, since the only radioactive elements that have made it to Seattle are water soluble. This is good news. Chernobyl, in contrast, spread lots of different radioactive elements as the fuel itself was exposed to the atmosphere. So, for now, things are not Chernobyl bad. I hope they stay that way.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Bombshell conclusion – new peer reviewed analysis: “worldwide-temperature increase has not produced acceleration of global sea level over the past 100 years” | Watts Up With That?

I don't need to add to this... It's just too wonderful.

New 'ray gun' can put out fires | TG Daily

This is actually really cool. About 200 years ago, people noticed that electrical fields can interact with fire. This makes sense, many compounds are electrically charged; water is negatively charged. (Fun experiment: Run a plastic comb through your hair a few times, and then allow a small stream of water to run out of your faucet. Bring the comb close to, but not touching the stream. The negative charge your hair gave to the comb will move the water without touching it.) Anyway, this due at Harvard figured out how to take that to the extreme. This is a new way to fight fires; by interrupting the chemical reaction by moving the chemicals apart.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

AFRL turns 1700 PS3s into a top 40 Supercomputer

AFRL has turned 1700 PS3s into one of the most powerful (top 40) super computers in the world. This is too funny, and may I add a wonderful use of commodity technology.

Their main selling point from the publication (highlighting mine):

Condor continues an AFRL Information Directorate tradition of
pushing the state-of-the-art in high performance computing (HPC).
It builds upon earlier innovations in real-time supercomputing,
embedded processing, and low cost HPC. The new Condor machine
achieves a 10X price-performance advantage, and a 15X powerperformance advantage over other large HPSs by combining
Playstation 3 gaming consoles and commercial graphics cards with
high performance servers. It is lean and green! It is also made freely
available to DoD research and development organizations and
their contractors.”

The Earth’s biosphere is booming, data suggests that CO2 is the cause, part 2 | Watts Up With That?

Chinese scientists show that GW plus more CO2 in the air is increasing the amount of plants in the biosphere.

Steve McIntyre uncovers another trick – where are the academic cops? | Watts Up With That?

More lying in the GW record.

Tata, MIT Collaborate to Create Energy From Water, Bring Power to 3 Billion People | Fast Company

Solar power from water via Hydrogen. This is particularly interesting. basically they have a material that brakes water into hydrogen and oxygen when sun light hits it. ARPA-E is behind the funding.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The French battleground - Israel Opinion, Ynetnews

Oh, vey! The daughter of a true fascist versus a Jewish socialist stereotype. I can just see the Neo-Nazi's around the world drooling for that one.

Libya: US fighter jet crash lands in field near Benghazi - Telegraph

Well that sucks. At least the damn thing nosed in and burned up most if not all of the electronics. The good stuff on it should be useless to folks. That's one good thing.

The damn things are over 30 years old on average. Perhaps it's time for a replacement; even if we "just" buy more of them.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Kilimanjaro regaining its snow cap | Watts Up With That?

Uh oh, Al Gore, Mt. Kilimanjaro is regaining it's ice cap. The loss thereof, and it's current build back, is due to man. The thing is what man's doing is deforestation. Combine that with a recent drought, and you get less snow. As the rains are returning, the problem is going away.

The climate is changing, but humans are not doing that. Nevertheless, we can, and do, change the local climate.

"Red" rocker Sammy Hagar says abducted by aliens - Yahoo! News

Sammy Hagar had multiple alien contacts? Hmm, real or just attempt to get in the papers to help sell the book he is currently hawking?

I'm betting on the book.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Shock wave engines could triple fuel efficiency in hybrid cars | DVICE

This is interesting. Basically, it's an alternative style of rotary engine. Check this quote:

According to Michigan State University, the wave disk engine is about 20% lighter than a conventional engine and significantly cheaper to manufacture – a $500 OEM price for a wave disk generator that could power a car. But like all turbine-type engines, the wave disk engine is probably only able to provide high levels of efficiency when it’s at its optimal speed, meaning that it will likely be most useful to apply the technology to charge the batteries of an electric vehicle, rather than to drive the car alone.

They go on to say that, thanks to a DOE grant, they will have a 25kw version by the end of the year. Lighter is better when it comes to vehicles, particularly when it comes the engine and not something like the car's frame. Anyway, my real point is that one of these could replace the electricity generating engines like the type used in the Chevy Volt.

SCTech | Technical Bulletin - Permanent Anti-Fog Coating for Clear Optics on Your Fog-Free Products

I found this on Engadget, and it took more than a few jumps to get to the real article behind this whole thing.

Apparently the coating could be removed pretty easily with an abrasive. That being said, it would work awesomely in a ton of places.

Anti-Fog Performance - Plastic surfaces coated with AF-100 Anti-Fog resist fogging under a variety of conditions. The performance of the coating has been evaluated using the following exposure tests:

Breath Fog Test - No fog formation after direct breathing on the coated surface.
Shower Test - No fog formation after 45 minutes exposure to the warm moist air of a hot shower.
Hot Water Test - No fog formation after exposure to the vapor from a vessel containing 175 F water.
Freezer Test - No fog formation after transfer from a freezer to a humid environment.
Immersion Test - No loss of anti-fog properties after a 24-hour water soak (sample allowed to air dry).

From the article, it seems that tape wont damage it, but washing it with paper towels will. Hmm, that's odd. well, still i wouldn't complain about using this stuff. Hell, I love rainX.

Brazil is in a Class By Itself - FoxNews.com

Great commentary as to why we need to focus more on our relationship with Brazil. In short, it's booming, free, and big. A lot of the best things you can say about the USA, you can say about Brazil. Having traveled there two years ago, I have to say it was fantastic place to visit as well.

Obama Continues Latin American Trip in Brazil as Libyan Conflict Escalates - FoxNews.com

Obama was smart not to blow Brazil off for Libya. We need that free trade agreement with them, as their economy is starting to kick up. It will help both sides.

Egypt Votes Freely for First Time in Half-Century - FoxNews.com

With the Lybian War, Japan's troubles, and everything else, let's not miss this milestone!

NASA milestone: MESSENGER spacecraft enters orbit around Mercury - CSMonitor.com

This is a big deal. Never before has any man-made object been put into orbit around Mercury; why, because it was too damn hard. NASA has now done it!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Toshiba and Hitachi LCD plants damaged, will shut down for a month -- Engadget

this means if you plan on buying a LCD in the next few months, it might be better to buy one sooner rather than later. i would watch this closely. Depending on how long they are down for, there could end up being a temporary shortage that would raise prices for a few months.

Power line connected to help cool Japanese reactor | Deep Tech - CNET News

1 of the 6 reactors has power; my read is it's the worst one. they are working on the others, and trying to get the pumps working again. I have my fingers crossed, perhaps the 'Luck of the Irish' will help our friends in Japan today.

The Associated Press: New York Times to start charging for website

The Associated Press: New York Times to start charging for website This is the way forward. it makes sense. i have no problem with it. i think the Wall Street Journal's approach; headlines and a paragraph for free; along with some articles; is the right way to go. The NYT seems to want to give you 20 free a month, and then charge you after that. This, too, seems quite fair to me. It will be interesting to see what happens next, as a plan sorts this all out.

the only real question is for people like me who are used to, and often do, read from many of these news sources, how much will I pay for how many newspapers? I can't say yet.

[FPD China] Samsung Unveils 55-inch Naked-eye 3D LCD TV -- Tech-On!

Glasses free 3d HDTVs are even closer. This prototype, 3 years or so from hitting the shelves, can do 2D or 3D tuned to 9 different viewing locations.

Keep waiting on 3D.

Super full moon

Biggest full moon in 20 years will happen Friday Mar 19. Why is this special, because the moon's orbit is not a circle, but somewhat elliptical.

Middle East Unrest: US Mulls Air Strikes, Gaddafi Forces Push On - CNBC

This may be too little too late, but Air Strikes are necessary if we want the rebels to win. Artillery, jets, and tanks, 1970s vintage in most cases, is still well above what the rebels can field.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Unique Japan tsunami footage boon to scientists

It seems this event was one of the best documented on film ever. Some good will come of this tragedy, since that film will help scientists make better tsunami forecasts in the future.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

NASA Studies Laser For Removing Space Junk - Technology Review

interesting idea... laser to remove space junk.

Cellular Technology That Told Japan An Earthquake Was Coming - Technology Review

This is technology that should be mandated on all cell towers. Cell phones are even more ubiquitious than tvs are, since we don't take our tvs with us. Having an emergency alert system that can send news and instructions via the cell towers is essential safety technology. Even if the things get knocked out by the event (hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, etc) then putting these things on a blimp/uav, would do the job.

The Missing Link Between Air Density And Wind Power Production - Technology Review

Turns out, quite obviously in hind sight, that wind power is also highly dependent on the density of the air. Air density changes with the weather, temperature, etc. Most wind turbines offer their power generation numbers assuming constant air density. It turns out, that it's not, and when you account for it, you get their output much more clearly.

Sadly, this is another knock for wind power as the variability only goes up. If we can get significant cheap electrical energy storage, then the problem goes away.

Reactors not going to Explode and Newer Nuclear Reactors May Not Have Failed in Japan - Technology Review

Newer Nuclear Reactors May Not Have Failed in Japan - Technology Review

I consider these folks, MIT, an authority of all things technical. If they say not to worry about the reactors melting down, and the do, then don't worry. We're good. Mind you these reactors are not going to be used again, but at least they won't go Chernobyl.

Interestingly, they think the newer designs wouldn't have failed. Certainly, a Thorium Liquid Fuel Reactor (LFTR) would not have failed. In one of those, the pumps supply the pressure that makes the critical mass to generate the heat. If the pumps fail, the pressure drops and the thing automatically shuts down. The critical mass is removed, and there is no threat. Also, since you can't make a bomb out of Thorium, and the reaction doesn't use explosive uranium nor does it create plutonium, it's not a proliferation threat. Beyond that, Thorium is cheap.

IF these LFTR reactors are so great, then why don't we use them; a little digging will show that the technology has been around just as long as the uranium ones, and Thorium is easier to find and more abundant in the Earth. Well, you see the people behind making the reactors was the Military. We needed them to make enough explosive plutonium for the Cold War. It made sense at the time, but the time is now past. It's now time for LFTR reactors.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Atlantis found? - UPDATE - Nat Geo program tonight

A followup on the Atlantic found has a National Geographic Program airing tonight that will explain the case being made by the researchers. Apparently, the place they found is 80 miles in land. This should be interesting.

Follow the Japanese Reactor Situation live

here is the live link

Amazing Japanese Tsunami Video

check out this video!

Japanese Chernobyl

Japanese Chernobyl

This is an interesting article filed yesterday (Mar 13, 2011) about what is going on there from a reporter on the ground

Libyan War Update

Libyan War Update
Much is going on but it seems Gadhafi's forces are short on troops. It sounds like taking out his Air arm would be helpful to the rebels we so greatly want to win. Perhaps a few CAP missions are in order. I'm not eager to commit more American troops to another fight, but perhaps NATO can do it, with the USA supplying Air Refueling (NATO doesn't have that ability without us), and a carrier of ours there to back them up if they get into trouble.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

atlantis found?

Black Hole found in the "Eye of Sauron Nebula"

Black Hole found in the "Eye of Sauron Nebula"
Okay finding another black hole is not that big a deal, but as a Tolkien fan, discovering that fellow geeks named a nebula after that, is quite entertaining.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Another small step to better solar cells

Another small step to better solar cells

Just a link to a cool picture about some laser tech that will help make solar cells more efficient by making better wires to capture the electrons that the sun knocks loose in the silicon. Translation, some researcher at Purdue university is about to get a big check from the solar panel manufacturers.

Microsoft's OneVision Video Recognizer

Microsoft's OneVision Video Recognizer

This is very significant. This software, which I am assuming was running on a standard desktop, can capture your face and identify you on live video. This is 1984 Big Brother type technology. First, advertisers will love it, and use it to identify where you shop, and target ads at you personally. You saw this in Back to the Future 2, Minority Report, and tons of other SciFi movies. Second, and in all likelihood the order will be the reverse, Police/FBI/CIA organizations will deploy it to try to catch the bad guys. The problem is that you lose your privacy. This is a serious question, and as the commentator on the link suggests, is not one to be taken lightly. Still, I figure at airports, and places like that, I don't mind. After all, we already are telling them who we are, let alone see us naked. Don't get me started on the latter, and how much that makes me angry.

Anyway, the problem with the technology is that they can do it, and do it easily. I guarantee that cell phones, or other such devices will be doing it in 5-10 years. They are already extraordinarily powerful.

Oh Brave New World, here we come...

No Japanese Buildings failed in Quake

No Japanese Buildings failed in Quake

That's just great news!

Death Star Cookie Jar

DeathStar Cookie Jar
Okay, this isn't really news, but you have to admit, part of you wants this useless thing.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Ever want to see the Space Station from the Ground?

NASA Space Station Viewing Opportunities - New York City

General Siting Opportunities for the World

What was lost to most people, including me, was that the Space Station construction, after 15 years, is now officially complete. It won't stay up there forever, and with the literally acres of solar panels, the sunlight they reflect makes it easily visible from with the eye.

Maximum PC - 63 Facebook Tips and Tricks for Security

Maximum PC - 63 Facebook Tips and Tricks for security

just thought I'd share this one...

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Solar Powered Transparent 42inch Display from Samsung

Solar Powered Transparent 42inch Display this is so cool I am drooling my brains out for it. This is minority report tech now. This is the future of advertising windows. This is interative art. This is windows for tall building viewing areas. ( I invision this on the EPSB's 82 floor enabling people to discover the names of our landmarks simply by pointing at them.) This is windshields for cars, planes, vehicles in general. This is new goggles for skiing, motorcycles. This is everywhere!

Walmart Bans a Fire Retardant

The FEDs have only asked for a voluntary phase-out, but Walmart jumped the gun. While I have no particular reason to say whether or not this particular chemical is bad, or not, I like the idea of businesses taking the lead on things like this.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Cheaper LED lights to come

Cheaper LED Lights to come Company Bridgelux thinks they can cut the costs of LED lighting by 75% with a new process to use Silicon for the substrate, rather than other substrates. This sounds like a good idea to me considering how many chip makers there are out there. Just have them do it, and you get massive economies of scale.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Taxes and the Economy

I am watching a business news channel in my home of NYC. I just saw a commercial for doing business in Ontario CA, and the sole message of the commercial was that they have good (low) tax rates on business. Hmm, advertising in a high tax area (NYC) about lover taxes in the region across the border. Seems pretty obvious to me.

Avatar may soon be keeping your safe in the skies

is profiling okay if a machine does it instead of a machine

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Sharks get protection in Marshall Islands

This is good, but we need a lot more of this!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Beating cancer with immune cells

now this is some interesting stuff!

Increasing processor efficiency by 'shutting off the lights'

What does this very technical article mean? Well it boils down to one thing. By adding about 10% to the cost of a processor, it should save you about 20% in power costs by sullying only the power the chip actually needs.

This process is less wasteful, thus mobile chips will last longer. Desktop processors can be pushed harder, higher clock speeds, because there is less wasted energy and less waste heat. Cool stuff.

Hollywood’s eco hypocrisy | Watts Up With That?

This one points to a short film on Youtube correctly calling Robert Redford a eco-hypocrite.

I am all about alternative energy, in spite of my belief that humans are not causing Global Warming. For 7 years now, I have purchased my electric power (I live in NYC and have no need for a car) from Wind and Hydro sources only at a 15-30% premium over standard local power company(Consolidate Edison) rates; the price varying over time. I only replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs and now have a couple of LEDs; a 40w and 20w equivalent used for reading. I can afford the higher costs of this electricity and these bulbs (the bulbs are actually cheaper when you consider the energy and replacement costs over the life of the LED vs CFL or incandescent bulb). The point is that I practice what I preach. For the record, I perfer the idea of getting power without buring something. While CO2 is not a threat in my evaluation, certainly soot, and the other products of combustion are not good. Why not stop getting our energy that way if we can. Since I, and now my wife and I, can afford it, why not? My big thing is that CO2 regulations will force people to do it, particularly those who can least afford it. This is why people like Redford piss me off so much. They can afford it, even more than I can, but choose not to. At the same time they want to force others to. Do as I say, not as I do? Screw them! After all, in all of the USA except Alaska and parts of our northern states, solar thermal IS cost effective, and has been for many years. It will save you money, without government incentives in less than 5 years. Look it up. It's true. There's a reason the military is going nuts for all of this stuff.

Weather Channel and Weather.com: the survey says….. | Watts Up With That?

Consensus on Global Warming; caused by humans? I think not.

In point of fact, i think the very idea of a consensus being the end of the debate is foolish. Take something as non-controversial as "What killed the dinosaurs?" There's been consensus many times in my 34 years on this Earth. The problem is the consensus keeps changing after some renegade unearth's some new evidence supporting a changing conclusion.

With regards to Earth's climate, it's foolish to say that it has not always been changing. In NYC's Central Park, you can see evidence of the last glaciation. It's clear climate has changed. The only question is whether or not humans are are impacting that change. To some degree, I am sure we are. With all of our farming, roads, towns and cities, we have certainly changed the face of the Earth. The question is whether or not our changes are impacting the Earth's climate in a strong enough way to change the rate and possibly the direction of the current change. Of that, I am not convinced. There are very powerful forces, the Sun greatest of all, at work here, and we are only beginning to understand them.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

How National Security Depends on Better Lithium Batteries: Scientific American

Key stats from the article: current lithium-ion batteries store roughly 400 watt-hours per kilogram

We need roughly 700 - 800 (w-h)/kg for electric cars to work, and we need it cheap so that we can deploy these things everywhere.

The article quotes a new tech that could get us 1300, and that's exactly why ARPA-e is funding it. Let's hope this works out.

The Curious Properties Of Ripples On Icicles - Technology Review

Just a fun little thing about icicles. It's nice to see that even something as mundane and common as icicles still has some mysteries for us to explore.

Squeezing More Energy Out of Batteries - Technology Review

It really does seem like we're almost there. quoting the article:

The biggest challenge for electric vehicles remains bringing down the size and cost of their batteries. For them to compete with conventional vehicles, some experts estimate, battery costs must come down by about 75 percent

The emphasis is mine in the quote, but the point is that 75%, while sounding like a lot, really isn't. This article quotes a new cheap method that should enable us to get 10% to 30% of it. There are many start-ups that I have heard about, admittedly some more likely to pan out than others, that with a variety of different approaches could easily close that 75% gap. This is the part that I am excited about. The dream would be something like EEStor's technology which is promoted to be cheap, energy dense, have a low loss rate, and extraordinary high cycle counts. One can only hope that one of these technologies pans out. with proper batteries, then Solar and and Wind, let alone electric cars, become viable technologies.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Advertisers Will Pay for Your Next Power Up - Technology Review

This is really an interesting idea, and one I don't mind at all.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Last living US WWI vet dies in W. Va. at age 110 - FoxNews.com

This is sad; but he did hang in there, didn't he.

FT.com / Companies / Industrial Goods - 3M chief warns Obama over business regulation

Worry America, worry. Business is conservative; by nature it has to be. Like taxing millionares at an absurd rate in you state, they can move. Revenue will drop. So shall business go.

Flying Off into the Sunset - Technology Review

This just really makes me sad. The end of the American Manned space program just doesn't need to happen. This is unnecessary, wasteful, and bad for our economy in general. We need heros and these are some of the last wholesome ones we have left. We need out of the box thinkers, and this is one of the last places for them to go. We need dreamers, and this is one of the last, best inspirations left.

I really hope the private program does what we need it to do.

How To Turn A Laser Into A Tractor Beam - Technology Review

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Inexpensive Power Outlet Supports SuperSpeed USB 3.0 | Maximum PC

this is actually a great and useful idea. i may need one of these