Can hot air be the free fuel of the future? An Australian company says it can produce enough electricity for 100,000 homes by using the movement of hot air. Hot air will drive turbines to create electricity, then flow out through a tall chimneyThe tower will be the second tallest structure in the worldEnviroMission, an Australian company, wants to build it in the Arizona desert (CNN) -- You don't have to be a science major to know that heat rises: Just step into an attic on a hot summer day. For centuries, architects have taken advantage of rising heat to help cool some structures. Today, Australian entrepreneur Roger Davey wants to take advantage of that phenomenon -- with a twist. He wants to create, capture and control hot air to help power cities. His company, EnviroMission, says such a tower can create up to 200 megawatts of power, enough to power 100,000 homes. That sets it apart from solar (not available at night) and wind energy (not available on a calm day), which he referred to as "spasmodic." On the drawing board
Lateline - 06/10/2011: Jobs more showman than geek: Daisey Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 06/10/2011 Reporter: Tony Jones Mike Daisey is author of The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs and says the Apple co-founder was not a classic geek but was intimately involved in everything Apple did. TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Back to our top story, the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and we're joined from New York by writer and performer Mike Daisey who's been touring the world, including Australia, performing his one man show The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. Thanks for being there. MIKE DAISEY: Thanks so much for having me. TONY JONES: Let's start with the ecstasy of Steve Jobs. MIKE DAISEY, WRITER AND PERFORMER: I think it is heartbreaking today, I think we'll never actually know how much we have lost. Steve was devoted to work in a way that few people are. There is no one else with that kind of vision, that kind of leadership. TONY JONES: Did he really change the world as a lot of people are saying today? MIKE DAISEY: Oh yes.
Japanese breakthrough will make wind power cheaper than nuclear NOTE: Some major wind projects like the proposed TWE Carbon Valley project in Wyoming are already pricing in significantly lower than coal power -- $80 per MWh for wind versus $90 per MWh for coal -- and that is without government subsidies using today's wind turbine technology. The International Clean Energy Analysis (ICEA) gateway estimates that the U.S. possesses 2.2 million km2 of high wind potential (Class 3-7 winds) — about 850,000 square miles of land that could yield high levels of wind energy. This makes the U.S. something of a Saudi Arabia for wind energy, ranked third in the world for total wind energy potential. The United States uses about 26.6 billion MWh's, so at the above rate we could satisfy a full one-third of our total annual energy needs. Now what if a breakthrough came along that potentially tripled the energy output of those turbines? Well, such a breakthrough has been made, and it's called the "wind lens." Editor's note: Want more info?
The Untold Story of How My Dad Helped Invent the First Mac | Co. Design Jef Raskin, my father, (below) helped develop the Macintosh, and I was recently looking at some of his old documents and came across his February 16, 1981 memo detailing the genesis of the Macintosh. It was written in reaction to Steve Jobs taking over managing hardware development. Reading through it, I was struck by a number of the core principals Apple now holds that were set in play three years before the Macintosh was released. Even better, I found some sometimes snarky comments Jef had made to the memo as part of the Stanford Computer History project. Apple Learns to Own the Entire Experience Reading the memo, we see that Apple was struggling with an explosion of fragmentation with the Apple II: It is impossible to write a program on the Apple II or III that will draw a high-resolution circle since the aspect ratio and linearity of the customer's TV or monitor is unknown. This is the exact problem that Google Android now faces. To combat fragmentation, for the Macintosh: Introduction
BAE invisibility cloak hides vehicles as scenery, cars and cows British defence company BAE Systems has developed an "invisibility cloak" that can effectively hide vehicles from view in the infra-red spectrum. The patented system -- called Adaptiv -- uses a matrix of hexagonal "pixels" that can change their temperature very rapidly. On-board cameras sweep the area to pick up the background scenery and display that infra-red signature on the vehicle. This allows even moving tanks to be effectively invisible in the infra-red spectrum, or mimic other objects. The current system works in the infra-red spectrum, which could hide vehicles from heat-seeking missiles, drones and heat-sensitive goggles. "Earlier attempts at similar cloaking devices have hit problems because of cost, excessive power requirements or because they were insufficiently robust," explained project manager Peder Sjölund. The pixel panels can also be made at different sizes to achieve practical invisibility at greater ranges.
Message from Rui-Qiang & Jing-Chuan The letter below was written by Guo Rui-Qiang and Jia Jing-Chuan, and translated from Chinese for SumOfUs.org members. They worked in an Apple factory in Suzhou, China cleaning iPhone touch screens until their nerves were permanently damaged by chemicals used during cleaning. Dear SumOfUs.org members and friends -You don’t know us but you have seen our work. Until recently, we worked long hours assembling Apple’s iPhone touch screens in Suzhou, China.In early 2010, it was independently confirmed that 137 workers, including us, were poisoned by a chemical called n-hexane which was used to clean iPhone screens. N-hexane is known to cause eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation, and leads to persistant nerve damage.
Continuance – Rechargeable Battery with USB Interface by Haimo Bao, Hailong Piao, Yuancheng Liu & Xiameng Hu The Power Play Continues This is so simple. Continuance is a set of batteries with a USB interface on the side. The batteries are rechargeable plus dole out some juice to stranded gadgets that are starved of power. Designers: Haimo Bao, Hailong Piao, Yuancheng Liu & Xiameng Hu
Apple pulled bait-and-switch, forced company into bankruptcy, says GTAT exec GT Advanced Technologies was formerly known for its role in the once-burgeoning 'sapphire glass' industry, which brought promises of extremely strong, scratch-resistant glass made of synthetic sapphires for consumer goods. Apple expressed significant interest in the technology, even striking a deal with GT Advanced for tentative use in its iPhone 6 line - but that changed when GT Advanced went belly-up and filed for bankruptcy early last month. Now a senior executive of GT Advanced, in an unsealed court affidavit, has detailed the circumstances leading to the company's bankruptcy - including some shady tactics by Apple which he says caused the company to go under. David Squiller, Chief Operating Officer of GT Advanced, told the court in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that while Apple had initially offered a quality deal to GT Advanced - the purchase of 2,600 of its furnaces used to grow sapphires for sapphire glass displays - the deal quickly changed. Source: Reuters
6 Creepy New Weapons the Police and Military Use To Subdue Unarmed People August 1, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. This article has been updated. The US is at the forefront of an international arms development effort that includes a remarkable assortment of technologies, which look and sound like they belong in a Hollywood science fiction thriller. The Pentagon's approved term for these weapons is "non-lethal" or "less-lethal" and they are intended for use against the unarmed . The demand for non-lethal weapons (NLW) is rooted in the rise of television. Today’s rapid advancements in media and telecommunications technologies allow people to record and publicize images and video of undue force more than ever before. "A further consideration that affects how the military and law enforcement apply force is the greater presence of members of the media or other civilians who are observing, if not recording, the situation. 1. Source: Pasadena Star News It sounds like a weapon out of Star Wars.
11 cheap gifts guaranteed to impress science geeks Science comes up with a lot of awesome stuff, and you don't need a Ph.D, a secret lab, or government funding to get your hands on some of the coolest discoveries. We've got a list of 11 mostly affordable gifts that are guaranteed to blow your mind, whether or not you're a science geek. Click on any image to see it enlarged. 1. Aerogel Also known as frozen smoke, Aerogel is the world's lowest density solid, clocking in at 96% air. Aerogel isn't just neat, it's useful. Price: $35 2. Inside these sealed glass balls live shrimp, algae, and bacteria, all swimming around in filtered seawater. EcoSpheres came out of research looking at ways to develop self-contained ecosystems for long duration space travel. Price: $80 3. NASA has been trying to figure out how to get a sample of rock back from Mars for a while now. Every once in a while, a meteorite smashes into Mars hard enough to eject some rocks out into orbit around the sun. Price: $70+ 4. Price: $150 5. Price: $110 6. Price: $80 7. Price: $15 8.
Theta Wave Brain Synchronization This is a replication of a Theta wave entrainment rhythm first created by scientists in the 1960s to lull patients into a deep, colorful, creative dream state. Listen to it for 10 minutes, longer if you can. The longer it plays, the deeper you’ll go. So go. How It Works The human brain produces different levels of electrical activity depending on the amount of information it is processing. Throughout the day, the brain lingers between four different types of brainwave patterns: Beta (12 -30 Hz): the normal, awake consciousness associated with busy tasksAlpha (8 – 12 Hz): the relaxed and reflective state, like those induced by closing the eyes during waking hoursTheta (4 – 7 Hz): a very relaxed state associated with meditation and some sleep statesDelta (3 and under Hz): deep, dreamless sleep Theta waves (at around 4 to 7 Hz) are the sweet spot for many brain functions.
Bees Solve Complex Problems Faster Than Supercomputers In a new study, researchers report that bumblebees were able to figure out the most efficient routes among several computer-controlled "flowers," quickly solving a complex problem that even stumps supercomputers. We already know bees are pretty good at facial recognition, and researchers have shown they can also be effective air-quality monitors. Bumblebees can solve the classic "traveling salesman" problem, which keeps supercomputers busy for days. They learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they find the flowers in a different order, according to a new British study. The traveling salesman problem is a problem in computer science; it involves finding the shortest possible route between cities, visiting each city only once. Bees need lots of energy to fly, so they seek the most efficient route among networks of hundreds of flowers using angles of sunlight, which helps them find their way home, researchers say.
anthropomorphic-futuristic-fantastic-floating-homes/ Futuristic, yet, but not the far-fetched science-fiction fantasy industrial design you might think – the Oculus by Schoepfer Yachts may not be for sale yet but it is already in pre-production mode with naval architects on board, so to speak. Hardly your typical houseboat, it is a virtual cruise ship for the rich and famous who can afford to buy it when it is fully planned and built. The anthropomorphism of this luxury floating home is of course intentional – the front deck like the gaping mouth of a gigantic sea creature and the sleek curves mimicking streamlined oceanic animals. Complete with a swimming pool on top and a futuristic interior design this is far more like a permanent mobile home than a cruising yacht. The smaller and simpler (both adjectives applied relative to its bigger brother of course) version of this spectacular design is the Infinitas, with a more sleek and streamlined profile and a semi-enclosed on-board swimming pool in the center but underneath the shell.