FW: Turning waste heat into power

Physicists have discovered a new way of harvesting waste heat and turning it into electrical power. Taking advantage of quantum effects, the technology holds great promise for making cars, power plants, factories and solar panels more efficient.

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/GeiqlNecZjM/100930154610.htm

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Matt Watson
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FW: Twitter's Weak Ties May Not Be So Weak

Jonah Lehrer weighs in on Malcolm Gladwell's assessment of Twitter's potential to impact social change.

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/ptgB2CDl_QI/

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Matt Watson
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FW: Climate change target 'not safe', researchers say

An analysis of geological records that preserve details of the last known period of global warming has revealed "startling" results which suggest current targets for limiting climate change are unsafe.

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/zF4XKiphjX4/101001144037.htm

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Matt Watson
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FW: 66% of All Windows Users Still Use Windows XP

An anonymous reader writes "Almost one year after the introduction of Windows 7 it appears that the hype surrounding the operating has faded. The overall market share of Windows has turned into a slight decline again. Windows 7 is gaining share, but cannot keep pace with the loss of Windows XP and Vista. Especially Windows XP users seem to be happy with what they have and appear to be rather resistant to Microsoft's pitches that it is time to upgrade to Windows 7."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/q8zHSGPBUdw/story01.htm

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Matt Watson
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FW: Clever Hack Uses Dropbox to Print From Smartphones

Digital Inspiration's Amit Agarwal has a clever Dropbox-based solution for printing documents from a smartphone or tablet, whether your printer is down the hall or thousands of miles away. The idea is so simple, you'll be amazed you haven't thought to try it yourself.



http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/qSecZn1q7ik/


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This article was sent using my Viigo.
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--------------------------
Matt Watson
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Masterpieces Online — High Culture At High Resolution

crimeandpunishment writes "You can now see the finest details of some of the finest Italian masterpieces with just one click of your mouse. High-resolution images of classic paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Botticelli are now online with that opportunity. You can zoom in to the smallest details, even ones you wouldn't see when viewing the paintings in person at a museum. The images have a resolution of up to 28 billion pixels, which is about 3,000 times more than a photo from an average digital camera."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/HRQvpx2jHcs/story01.htm

Researchers Test Space Beer

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 29, @07:05PM
from the rocket-of-suds dept.

With space tourism becoming a real possibility in the near future, brewers are trying to figure out how to provide a good beer in space. To this end, a non-profit space research corporation Astronauts4Hire will begin testing an Australian brew created to be enjoyed in microgravity. From the article: "In the past, NASA has also sponsored studies on space beer, and whether or not the popular beverage can be brewed in space. Under current policies, however, alcohol remains forbidden on the International Space Station."

Unseen Moon Landing Video Released

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday September 30, @10:41AM
from the nice-soundstage dept.

moon

space

science

bazzalunatic writes"Digitally remastered footage of the moon landing, including high-quality and brighter images of Neil Armstrong stepping off the ladder will be shown for the first time ever to the general public at an awards ceremony in Sydney, Australia. The magnetic data tapes seem to have all been lost — erased — by NASA, so all that's left are VHS recordings, which have been restored, giving the best-ever film of the whole moon landing. The publicity over this seems to be pushing NASA into releasing the whole 3-hour recording."

Levitating Graphene Is Fastest-Spinning Object

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday September 30, @11:25AM
from the onesies-twosies dept.

science

techbeat writes"A flake of exotic carbon a few atoms thick has claimed a record: the speck has been spun faster than any other object, at a clip of 60 million rotations per minute. Previously, micrometre-sized crystals have been spun at up to 30,000 rpm using an optical trap. It is thanks to graphene's amazing strength that the flakes are not pulled apart by the much higher spinning rate, says Bruce Kane at the University of Maryland in College Park. Spinning could be a way to probe the properties of graphene, or manipulate it in new ways."

Researchers develop means to reliably read an electron's spin, take us one step closer to the quantum zone

By Tim Stevens posted Sep 30th 2010 1:41PM

Another day, another step bringing us closer to the next big revolution in the world of computing: replacing your transistory bits with qubits. Researchers at Australia's Universities of New South Wales and of Melbourne, along with Finland's Aalto University, have achieved the impossibly tiny goal of reliably reading the spin of a single electron. That may not sound like much, but let's just see you do it quickly without affecting said spin. This particular implementation relies on single atoms of phosphorus embedded in silicon. Yes, silicon, meaning this type of qubit is rather more conventional than others we've read about. Of course, proper quantum computers depend on reading and writingthe spin of individual electrons, so as of now we effectively have quantum ROM. When will that be quantum RAM? They're still working on that bit.

Painless Way to Achieve Huge Energy Savings: Stop Wasting Food

ScienceDaily (Oct. 2, 2010) — Scientists have identified a way that the United States could immediately save the energy equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil a year — without spending a penny or putting a ding in the quality of life: Just stop wasting food.

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Many More Android Apps Leaking User Data

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday September 30, @01:30PM
from the because-they-can dept.

cellphones

google

os

privacy

security

eldavojohn writes"After developing and using TaintDroid, several universities found that of 30 popular free Android apps, half were sharing GPS data and phone numbers with advertisers and remote servers. A few months ago, one app was sending phone numbers to a remote server in China but today the situation looks a lot more prevasive. In their paper (PDF), the researchers blasted Google saying 'Android's coarse grained access control provides insufficient protection against third-party applications seeking to collect sensitive data.' Google's response: 'Android has taken steps to inform users of this trust relationship and to limit the amount of trust a user must grant to any given application developer. We also provide developers with best practices about how to handle user data. We consistently advise users to only install apps they trust.'"

Research Lays Foundation for Building on the Moon -- Or Anywhere Else

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2010) — The key to the stability of any building is its foundation, but it is difficult to test some building sites in advance -- such as those on the moon. New research from North Carolina State University is helping resolve the problem by using computer models that can utilize a small sample of soil to answer fundamental questions about how soil at a building site will interact with foundations.

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Chinese High-Speed Train Sets New World Record

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 30, @05:03AM
from the speeding-bullet dept.

transportation

technology

shmG writes"A new high-speed train linking Chinese cities Shanghai and Hangzhou has set a fresh world record for train speed at 416.6 kilometers per hour on its trial run on Tuesday. The train is expected to cut the travel time by half, to 40 minutes for covering a distance of 202 kilometers between the two cities at an average speed of 350 kilometers per hour. 'The new record of 416.6 km per hour shows that China has achieved a new milestone in high-speed train technologies,' Zhang Shuguang, deputy chief engineer of the Ministry of Railways, was quoted as saying."

Kia Pop recharges in 6 hours with 87mph top speed and 100-mile range

By Thomas Ricker posted Sep 30th 2010 5:11AM

After an August tease the all-electric Kia Pop concept car is now getting a proper reveal at the Paris Motor Show. Pop is a three-meter long three seater featuring a number of futuristic touches like rear-view cameras in each door, a full length glass roof, and an otherwise transparent OLED panel that displays all your instrument readouts only when the car is running. A second touch panel to the right of the steering wheel controls the vehicle's other functions including audio, sat-nav, and climate. Under the hood you'll find a 60-ps, 190-Nm motor powered by lithium polymer gel batteries capable of charging in just six hours. Combined we're looking at an 87mph (140kph) top speed and 100-mile (160-km) max range. Of course, knowing the auto industry, by the time it hits the assembly lines it'll likely resemble an unimaginative shoebox using whatever off-the-shelf parts Kia can find. But a boy can dream can't he?

Early Life Experience Modifies Gene Vital to Normal Brain Function

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2010) — Early life stress, such as an extreme lack of parental affection, has lasting effects on a gene important to normal brain processes and also tied to mental disorders, according to a new animal study in the Sept. 29 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.
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Chinese 'Apple Peel' Turns iPods Into iPhones

Posted by timothy on Wednesday September 29, @04:00AM
from the cheap-data-is-the-key dept.

cellphones

handheld

iphone

applemedia

apple

angry tapir writes"The Apple Peel 520, a Chinese-developed product that drew the media's attention for being able to turn an iPod Touch into an iPhone-like device, is coming to America. The add-on device, which just went on sale in China, has been billed as a more affordable option for users wanting to get their hands on an iPhone, but lack the budget."

Destroy Entire Websites With Asteroids Bookmarklet

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 29, @02:50AM
from the take-that,-ads-with-sound dept.

internet

games

technology

An anonymous reader writes"Have you ever visited a website and been so frustrated by the content, layout, or adverts that you'd love to destroy it? Well, now you can. If you head on over to the erkie GitHub page there's a JavaScript bookmarklet you can drag and add to your bookmarks toolbar. Then just visit any website and click the bookmarklet. An Asteroids-style ship should appear that you can move around with the arrow keys. Press space and it will start firing bullets which destroy page content."

Browser-Based Deep Space Nine MMO Coming In 2011

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 29, @06:24AM
from the to-boldly-stay-home dept.

scifi

games

A publisher based in Germany has announced Star Trek: Infinite Space, a browser MMO based on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The game will be free-to-play, and it's planned for sometime in 2011. "Gameforge also contracted Michael Okuda, who served as scenic art supervisor for every live-action Star Trek series except for the original program, as a consultant. His wife Denise Okuda, who was a video supervisor and scenic artist for several of the sci-fi series' films and shows, will serve as a consultant, too."

ATMs That Dispense Gold Bars Coming To America

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday September 28, @09:48AM
from the leprechaun-industries dept.

tetrahedrassface writes"As the U.S. economic woes continue unabated, a German company is bringing gold bearing ATMs to Mainstreet America. The machines accept credit cards, and will dispense 1 gram, 5 gram, 10 gram and 1 ounce units, as well as various gold coins. The company hopes to install 35 bullion machines in the United States this year, hopefully have several hundred up and running by next year. The machines will be decorated like giant gold ingots and be over two meters tall. Physical gold has both pros and cons, but mainly from a safety standpoint would it be safe to have a couple of ounces in your pocket while walking around the mall? The giant gold dispensing ATMs will monitor the market conditions for gold every 10 minutes in order to reflect spot price changes as they occur."We already covered similar machines installed in travel hubs across Germany.

Selling Incandescent Light Bulbs As Heating Device

Posted by samzenpus on Monday September 27, @10:35AM
from the a-bulb-by-any-othe-name dept.

Csiko writes"The European union has banned by law trading of incandescent light bulbs due to their bad efficiency/ecology reasons (most of the energy is transformed into heat). A company is now trying to bypass this by offering their incandescent light bulb products as a heating device (article in German) instead of a light device. Still, their 'heat balls' give light as well as heating. So - every law can be bypassed if you have some creativity!"

Look what Michael did for his English Class:)

Nice Job Michael!

Could Brain Abnormalities Cause Antisocial Behavior and Drug Abuse in Boys?

ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2010) — Antisocial boys who abuse drugs, break laws, and act recklessly are not just "bad" kids. Many of these boys may have malfunctioning brains, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

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New Zealand Scientists Make Atom-Trapping Breakthrough

Posted by timothy on Sunday September 26, @11:12PM
from the gotta-keep-'em-separated dept.

science

Mogster writes with this news from New Zealand:"'University of Otago scientists have made a 'major physics breakthrough' with the development of a technique to consistently isolate and capture a fast-moving single atom. A team of four researchers from the university's physics department are believed to be the first to isolate and photograph the Rubidium 85 atom.' Good to see Kiwis following inRutherford's footsteps."

Vitamin C Rapidly Improves Emotional State of Acutely Hospitalized Patients, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (Sep. 23, 2010) — Treatment with vitamin C rapidly improves the emotional state of acutely hospitalized patients, according to a study carried out by researchers at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital (JGH) and the affiliated Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI).

Read More