Urban Gondola Transit as Minivan? Post by Steven Dale Advancements in 3S and MDG technology have largely eliminated the need for Funitel and BDG technologies. If you’re considering a Funitel, you might as well go with a 3S. The 3S is faster, with higher potential capacity and reasonably similar capital costs. A 3S also doesn’t incur the high energy consumption cost that’s typical of the Funitel technology. Similarly, the BDG’s only real advantage over the MDG is a moderately higher maximum speed (27 km/hr versus 22 km/hr), without any real capacity or wind stability improvements.
Not surprisingly, however, the BDG has a higher capital and O&M cost than the MDG. If you’re considering the BDG, you’re therefore likely to opt for the MDG in the end. That leaves us with a low-end market technology (the MDG) and a high-end market technology (the 3S). However when you look at the capacity, speed and cost factors in both those situations, an MDG would suffice fine. Let’s be clear, cost is a major impediment to implementation. Giveaway: An iPad 2 #TechCrunch. Today’s the big day. We know you want one. It seems like everyone wants one.
MG Siegler wrote a review on it and Greg Kumparak went to the unveiling of it. So without further ado, for today’s giveaway we are giving away an iPad 2. If you want a chance at winning it, just follow the steps below to enter. 1) Become a fan of our TechCrunch Facebook Page: 2) Then do one of the following: - Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TechCrunch hashtag) - Leave us a comment below The contest starts now and ends tomorrow, March 12th at 7:30pm PST.
Please only tweet the message once or you will be disqualified. Good luck :) Update: The giveaway is now over. Update: Congrats to Jeremy Brown for winning the iPad 2! Giveaway: Two Logitech Harmony One Remotes #TechCrunch. If you’re like us, you may have a hard time remembering where you placed one of those remotes of yours that keeps secretively slipping away. You may have even given up after searching for it for hours. As a surprise, for this week’s giveaway, we were lucky enough to have Logitech offer to help us give away two, yes two, Harmony Ones. A Logitech Harmony One is basically the only remote you will ever need. Whether you want to watch a DVD, TV show, or listen to music, the Harmony One makes it incredibly simple to do so. The guys over at CrunchGear named it one of their favorite things, and Michael Arrington said it was “probably the single best gadget” he’s ever bought. If you want a chance at winning one of the two Harmony Ones we’re giving away, just follow these steps to enter: “Like” us on our TechCrunch Facebook Page: Then do one of the following: The contest starts right now and ends tomorrow, February 26th at 7:30pm PST.
Like previous giveaways, please only tweet the message once. Giveaway: A Boxee Box #TechCrunch. We have given away an Apple iPad, Google Chrome Cr-48 Notebooks, a Dell Vostro V130 laptop, a Google Nexus S, and many other prizes over the last few months. We didn’t want to disappoint this time around either, so we are offering a Boxee Box for today’s giveaway. The Boxee Box is a device that finds all of your favorite shows and movies available on the Internet and puts them onto your TV. Not only that, but just this past Valentine’s Day, it was announced that you can browse the Netflix streaming catalog right from the box. Just for fun, here is a demo of the Boxee Box. Want one? Just follow these steps to enter. “Like” us on our TechCrunch Facebook Page: Then do one of the following: - Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TechCrunch hashtag) - Or leave us a comment below explaining why you want to win The contest starts right now and ends tomorrow, February 19th at 7:30pm PST.
Like previous giveaways, please only tweet the message once. Update: This giveaway is now over. Giveaway: A Google Chrome Cr-48 Notebook #TechCrunch. Normally we would write a little bit about what we are giving away, but this shouldn’t need any introduction. So, we are going to keep this pretty simple. We have 1 Google Chrome Cr-48 Notebook to give away! You can read our extensive review on it here. If you would like to win a Cr-48 Notebook, just follow these steps to enter. 1) Become a fan of our TechCrunch Facebook Page: 2) Then do one of the following: - Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TechCrunch hashtag) - Or leave us a comment below explaining why you want one The contest starts now and ends tomorrow, February 12th at 7:30pm PST. Please only tweet the message once or you will be disqualified.
Update: The contest is over. Update: Congratulations to Chavon Riggins for winning! Giveaway: A Dell Vostro V130 Laptop #TechCrunch. There was a certain ad on TechCrunch last week you may have heard about. You may have even noticed it yourself and you may have gotten a little annoyed by it. The interstitial ad was advertising a Dell Vostro V130 laptop.
These laptops normally cost around $429, have an award-winning design, and weigh a very light 3.5 pounds. We wanted to say we were sorry to Dell for calling out their ad, so today we are giving one of these laptops away to one lucky reader! If you want this Dell Vostro V130 laptop, just follow these steps to enter. 1) Become a fan of our TechCrunch Facebook Page: 2) Then do one of the following: - Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TechCrunch hashtag) - Or leave us a comment below explaining why this laptop should be yours The contest starts now and ends tomorrow, February 4th at 7:30pm PST. Please only tweet the message once or you will be disqualified. Update: The giveaway is now over. Update: Congratulations to Brent Colby! Flash Memory May Be 10,000 Times Faster In Just Three Years.
Google Has A Secret Fleet Of Automated Toyota Priuses; 140,000 Miles Logged So Far. It all makes sense now. At our TechCrunch Disrupt event a couple weeks ago in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt took the stage to give an impressive speech across a wide range of topics. But the most interesting thing he had to say what about automobiles. “It’s a bug that cars were invented before computers,” he said. “Your car should drive itself. It just makes sense.” Well guess what? As they’ve revealed on their blog today, Google has developed a technology for cars to drive themselves. Further, The New York Times, which has a bit more, says a total of seven cars have driven 1,000 miles without any human intervention (the 140,000 mile number includes occasional human control, apparently). So how does this work? This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain.
So has it worked? I want this yesterday. But don’t get too excited just yet. More: [image via NYT] Nano-Gyroscopes Will Let Cell Phones Navigate Indoors, Underground. Electrified DeLorean Heads Back to the Future. Technology. By the mid 20th century, humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the atmosphere of the Earth for the first time and explore space. Technology (from Greek τέχνη, techne, "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and -λογία, -logia[1]) is the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, and methods of organization, in order to solve a problem, improve a pre-existing solution to a problem, achieve a goal, handle an applied input/output relation or perform a specific function.
It can also refer to the collection of such tools, including machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures. Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include construction technology, medical technology, and information technology. Definition and usage Science, engineering and technology History. Sustainable energy. Sustainable energy is the sustainable provision of sustainable energy development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Technologies that promote sustainable energy include renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal energy, bioenergy, tidal power and also technologies designed to improve energy efficiency. Costs have fallen dramatically in recent years, and continue to fall. Most of these technologies are either economically competitive or close to being so. Increasingly, effective government policies support investor confidence and these markets are expanding. Considerable progress is being made in the energy transition from fossil fuels to ecologically sustainable systems, to the point where many studies support 100% renewable energy.
Definitions[edit] Renewable energy technologies[edit] First-generation technologies[edit] Hydroelectric dam in cross section. This Piece Of Paper Is a Solar Panel - Solar Cells - Gizmodo. Jellyfish Wind Appliance: Plug-In Wind Power. Inductrack. Inductrack is a passive, fail-safe electrodynamic magnetic levitation system, using only unpowered loops of wire in the track and permanent magnets (arranged into Halbach arrays) on the vehicle to achieve magnetic levitation. The track can be in one of two configurations, a "ladder track" and a "laminated track". The ladder track is made of unpowered Litz wire cables, and the laminated track is made out of stacked copper or aluminium sheets.
There are three designs: Inductrack I, which is optimized for high speed operation, Inductrack II, which is more efficient at lower speeds, and Inductrack III, which is intended for heavy loads at low speed. Description[edit] The name inductrack comes from the word inductance or inductor; an electrical device made from loops of wire. However, at speed, the impedance of the coils increases, proportionate to speed, and dominates the composite impedance of the coil assemblies. Several maglev railroad proposals are based upon Inductrack technology. Inductrak. Key Words: Halbach arrays, Inductrack, magnetically levitated (maglev) trains.