Friday, February 29, 2008
Solar without the Panels
Investors and utilities intent on building solar power plants are increasingly turning to solar thermal power, a comparatively low-tech alternative to photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity. This month, in the latest in a string of recent deals, Spanish solar-plant developer Abengoa Solar and Phoenix-based utility Arizona Public Service announced a 280-megawatt solar thermal project in Arizona. By contrast, the world's largest installations of photovoltaics generate only 20 megawatts of power.
Strong, Light, and Stretchy Materials
A nanocomposite of aluminum oxide and a polymer is as tough as metals but lighter.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Photos: Wireless sensor-making is a snap | CNET News.com
This is really neat. It's Lego block type of sensors. Photos after the jump.
Photos: Wireless sensor-making is a snap | CNET News.com: "Wireless sensor-making is a snap
February 27, 2008 3:37 PM PDT
Add to your del.icio.usdel.icio.us Digg this storyDigg this
Here is a board for a wireless mote from the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland. It was made using a Lego-like sensor platform that was developed by Brendan O'Flynn, who works in Tyndall's Ambient Electronic Systems Integration group. Different boards can be snapped together to give a sensor different capabilities.
Caption text by CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos
Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com"
Photos: Wireless sensor-making is a snap | CNET News.com: "Wireless sensor-making is a snap
February 27, 2008 3:37 PM PDT
Add to your del.icio.usdel.icio.us Digg this storyDigg this
Here is a board for a wireless mote from the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland. It was made using a Lego-like sensor platform that was developed by Brendan O'Flynn, who works in Tyndall's Ambient Electronic Systems Integration group. Different boards can be snapped together to give a sensor different capabilities.
Caption text by CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos
Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com"
Sunday, February 24, 2008
CrunchGear » Archive » Windshield wipers replaced with nano coatings
CrunchGear » Archive » Windshield wipers replaced with nano coatings
This is an interesting application of nano tech. But it had better work 100% of the time in rain or it would render the car useless in a downpour. Maybe all windows except the front window.
This is an interesting application of nano tech. But it had better work 100% of the time in rain or it would render the car useless in a downpour. Maybe all windows except the front window.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
And the 14 Grand Engineering Challenges of the 21st Century Are... | Wired Science from Wired.com
And the 14 Grand Engineering Challenges of the 21st Century Are... | Wired Science from Wired.com
Before you can save the world, you'd better write a to-do list so nothing gets overlooked. Some of the world's brightest minds have done just that by laying out this century's greatest engineering challenges.
The panel of 18 engineers, technologists and futurists included Google
co-founder Larry Page and genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter. They spent more than a year pondering how best to improve life on Earth and came up with 14 Grand Engineering Challenges, a list the National Academy of Engineering deemed so momentous it should be capitalized.
"Phyllis! Get me one of those interoffice mail envelopes!"
Photo of the Lenovo ThinkPad x300 after the URL jump. The interesting thing about the computer is how tiny the motherboard really is. It looks like the solid-state drive is larger than the motherboard.
As an otaku, I've taken apart many of my notebook computers and even my Mac Mini just to look inside. This ThinkPad looks really simple as far as parts are concerned.
====
The Future of Tech February 14, 2008, 5:00PM EST text size: TT Building the Perfect Laptop The superslim ThinkPad X300 is Lenovo's bid for leadership in the high-stakes world of laptops
by Steve Hamm and Kenji Hall
"Phyllis! Get me one of those interoffice mail envelopes!"
It was just after lunchtime on Jan. 15, and Peter Hortensius was storming through the cubicles at Lenovo Group's offices in Morrisville, N.C., shouting for his secretary. Hortensius, senior vice-president in charge of laptops, had just heard that Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs had unveiled the supersvelte, aluminum-clad MacBook Air by declaring it the "world's thinnest notebook" and dramatically pulling it out of an interoffice envelope. Lenovo's ThinkPad X300 notebook was due out in February, after a year and a half in development, and Hortensius was alarmed that it could be upstaged before it even made its debut.
His secretary, Phyllis Arrington-McGee, ransacked filing cabinets until she found one of the envelopes. She handed it to Hortensius, who gingerly slipped the X300 inside. "It fits! It fits!" he shouted.
Perhaps no one was more relieved than David Hill, Lenovo's chief designer, who stopped by Hortensius' office right after the envelope experiment. It had been his idea to create the superthin X300, which was originally code-named Kodachi. Hill shared a laugh about the test with Hortensius and later couldn't resist a poke at Jobs' latest creation. "I'm a bit tired of looking at silver computers," said Hill.
"I'd never wear a silver business suit."
As an otaku, I've taken apart many of my notebook computers and even my Mac Mini just to look inside. This ThinkPad looks really simple as far as parts are concerned.
====
The Future of Tech February 14, 2008, 5:00PM EST text size: TT Building the Perfect Laptop The superslim ThinkPad X300 is Lenovo's bid for leadership in the high-stakes world of laptops
by Steve Hamm and Kenji Hall
"Phyllis! Get me one of those interoffice mail envelopes!"
It was just after lunchtime on Jan. 15, and Peter Hortensius was storming through the cubicles at Lenovo Group's offices in Morrisville, N.C., shouting for his secretary. Hortensius, senior vice-president in charge of laptops, had just heard that Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs had unveiled the supersvelte, aluminum-clad MacBook Air by declaring it the "world's thinnest notebook" and dramatically pulling it out of an interoffice envelope. Lenovo's ThinkPad X300 notebook was due out in February, after a year and a half in development, and Hortensius was alarmed that it could be upstaged before it even made its debut.
His secretary, Phyllis Arrington-McGee, ransacked filing cabinets until she found one of the envelopes. She handed it to Hortensius, who gingerly slipped the X300 inside. "It fits! It fits!" he shouted.
Perhaps no one was more relieved than David Hill, Lenovo's chief designer, who stopped by Hortensius' office right after the envelope experiment. It had been his idea to create the superthin X300, which was originally code-named Kodachi. Hill shared a laugh about the test with Hortensius and later couldn't resist a poke at Jobs' latest creation. "I'm a bit tired of looking at silver computers," said Hill.
"I'd never wear a silver business suit."
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Nokia N810 - the first 10 days
Howzit. I was looking for something to use while sitting on the couch or in bed...so, i was looking for something with the following requirements:
1. Small and lightweight so I can hold in my hands (versus burn my lap or stomach with a laptop)
2. Slideout qwerty keyboard so i could double thumb type
3. Fast booting so i could get going quickly when i have an idea.
4. Wifi and web support so I can use Google Documents, Gmail, etc...
The N810 does all of the above. It's actually smaller than I expected. It's about the size of a Ninetendo DS. weights about 1.5lbs (?). But the small size has been nice. Also the battery life is really good. It will last 6 to 8 hours of constant use. When it goes to sleep, the battery can last days. Yes, it's fast booting. About 35 seconds to boot up. Wifi and web support is great. I can even use my verizon smartphone as a modem via bluetooth. The screen is very clear and it will display the entire width of a website for younger eyes but a few clicks of a button and i can blow up the screen to 150% and i am rocking. My big disappointment is the keyboard. It's stiff and the keys a little too flat so feedback is subtle. my Motorola Q has a better feel and i can type faster on that than the N810...applications are a little limited but i'm doing most things via web-based apps, so this is not a limitation for me. But one cool app I downloaded was a GPS camera that is integrated with Flickr and the N810's GPS. However, the internal GPS is slow to connect with satellites but it works with another free app i downloaded called Maemo Map. I've setup my Gmail via the built in email imap client (a bit slow when opening up an email) and i've setp several RSS feeds that are scrolling across the screen. The screen is a touchscreen which is essential because the navigation is a bit hard with the navigation button (again stiff but also small)...It's a great internet tablet...i can watch youtube, use twitter, iGoogle, you can load in most movies and mp3s...anything i can do on the web and i can pretty much do on the N810...i still can't get the N810 to stream video in a broadcast mode via ustream.tv without crashing the browser but hopefull this will be fixed. Pocketcaster.com is developing a client for the N180 so they might beat ustream.t to the punch. Skype will work once i get the installer to work. Overall, a great thin client web device.
1. Small and lightweight so I can hold in my hands (versus burn my lap or stomach with a laptop)
2. Slideout qwerty keyboard so i could double thumb type
3. Fast booting so i could get going quickly when i have an idea.
4. Wifi and web support so I can use Google Documents, Gmail, etc...
The N810 does all of the above. It's actually smaller than I expected. It's about the size of a Ninetendo DS. weights about 1.5lbs (?). But the small size has been nice. Also the battery life is really good. It will last 6 to 8 hours of constant use. When it goes to sleep, the battery can last days. Yes, it's fast booting. About 35 seconds to boot up. Wifi and web support is great. I can even use my verizon smartphone as a modem via bluetooth. The screen is very clear and it will display the entire width of a website for younger eyes but a few clicks of a button and i can blow up the screen to 150% and i am rocking. My big disappointment is the keyboard. It's stiff and the keys a little too flat so feedback is subtle. my Motorola Q has a better feel and i can type faster on that than the N810...applications are a little limited but i'm doing most things via web-based apps, so this is not a limitation for me. But one cool app I downloaded was a GPS camera that is integrated with Flickr and the N810's GPS. However, the internal GPS is slow to connect with satellites but it works with another free app i downloaded called Maemo Map. I've setup my Gmail via the built in email imap client (a bit slow when opening up an email) and i've setp several RSS feeds that are scrolling across the screen. The screen is a touchscreen which is essential because the navigation is a bit hard with the navigation button (again stiff but also small)...It's a great internet tablet...i can watch youtube, use twitter, iGoogle, you can load in most movies and mp3s...anything i can do on the web and i can pretty much do on the N810...i still can't get the N810 to stream video in a broadcast mode via ustream.tv without crashing the browser but hopefull this will be fixed. Pocketcaster.com is developing a client for the N180 so they might beat ustream.t to the punch. Skype will work once i get the installer to work. Overall, a great thin client web device.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
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