It's official: Everybody loves the idea of roads that generate solar power | VentureBeat | Green | by Antony Ingram, GreenCarReports.com News In Your Inbox GreenCarReports Earlier this month, we asked whether solar roads could generate enough energy to serve some of the nation's power needs. With tens of thousands of miles of solar-power generating roads, parking lots, sidewalks and other open spaces--without needing to clear space in untouched, natural areas--it seems like an ideal, if expensive solution. It's one that's caught the public's imagination though. Now it's important to note: Widespread public support in no ways guarantees success. But the couple behind Solar Roadways, Scott and Julie Brusaw, have clearly struck a chord with their backers. They've also developed a product that, at the prototype stage, answers a whole lot of difficult questions that startup companies aren't always prepared to answer. Despite each panel being made of glass, for example, the Solar Roadways tiles meet traction, load testing and impact resistance testing without an issue. MORE: Solar Roads: Is The Future Of Energy Under Our Feet?
60 Excellent Free 3D Model Websites 3D printers have immensely revolutionized the art and manufacturing industry. With advancements in the 3D printer technology, it is now not very difficult to own one, even in your home or office. Moreover, you don’t have to be an AutoCAD engineer to design a 3D model for your needs, as this job is taken up by numerous 3D model websites. So, either you want to create 3D furniture, a mechanical component, or even human or animal figurines, here are 50 of the best free 3D model websites to cover up all your needs. 10 Cheap and Affordable 3D Printers to Buy 10 Cheap and Affordable 3D Printers to Buy There was a time when 3D printers were a novelty - but not anymore. Pikbest Pikbest offers thousands of 3D models that are presented under various categories like decoration, wedding, appliances, bathroom, kitchen, furniture. GrabCAD GrabCAD Community Library offers 2.8+ million designs and models including CADs, thanks to its largest community of designers, engineers, and students. CGTrader Clara.io
Shaun Renton @ShaunRenton#ukedchat I have a… How To Extract Sheet Music From YouTube Videos ⚙ Co.Labs ⚙ Code + Community Picking out the different parts of a song after it’s been recorded is like naming every ingredient of a cooked dessert: It's difficult. With its new algorithmic approach, Chordify is the latest to attempt the dissection. The service not only displays sheet music for locally uploaded songs, but for a wide selection of streaming music found online. Unlike other reverse engineering solutions, Chordify makes it as simple as pasting in a link from Deezer, SoundCloud, or YouTube, turning them into sheet music you can play along with. Instead of picking out every note in a piece of music, which is very difficult, Chordify looks at the big picture of songs. It’s obviously pretty complex under the hood, but boiled down, the service uses the VAMP plug-in to filter the audio and separate it into different parts. “HarmTrace uses a model of Western tonal harmony to aid in the chord selection,” says De Haas. Trying out a few different songs from different genres, all seemed to have similar results.
Des chercheurs américains mettent au point des panneaux solaires transparents Dans un article publié mardi 19 août sur le site de la Michigan State University, des chercheurs annonçaient avoir mis au point une solution novatrice en matière de production d’énergie solaire : un panneau transparent qui a l’allure d’un morceau de vitre. Si le prototype n’offre pas encore de rendements satisfaisants, à terme, les évolutions pourraient être considérables pour l’industrie photovoltaïque. Quel mode de fonctionnement ? Des chercheurs de la Michigan State University sont parvenus à convertir une surface transparente en accumulateur d’énergie électrique. Si, dans les grandes lignes, le principe demeure calqué sur celui des panneaux solaires traditionnels, quelques petits aspects rendent la solution novatrice. En effet, la panneau transparent est recouvert d’une couche de molécules organiques qui permettent de filtrer les rayons invisibles – comme les ultraviolets et les infrarouges – pour les rediriger vers des cellules photovoltaïques logées dans les bordures de sa surface.
AR week 3 Teaching Maya Angelou With New York Times Slide Show Maya Angelou in Pictures Updated: May 29 As people around the world react to the death of Maya Angelou, we offer a few teaching ideas and resources from The Times and elsewhere for appreciating the work of the writer, actress and activist many called the “people’s poet.” How do you teach her work? Teaching Ideas Ms. Find Your Voice and Tell Your Story As the many students who have read Maya Angelou’s often-taught “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” already know, for Ms. At age 3, she moved in with her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Ark., after her parents’ divorce. In a 2010 article about her desire to archive her personal papers and documents, she connected the need to tell her story with African-American history: Ms. What personal history, whether from your life or from the life of someone in your family, past or present, most defines who you are and how you came to be? Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press Understand the Jim Crow South and How it Shaped Ms. Fight Injustice Mr.
The 10 Smartest Cities In Europe | Co.Exist | World changing ideas and innovation When it comes to smart cities, Europe is the model for the rest of the world to learn from. European cities tend to be denser, have better public transit, larger commitment to cycling and walking, a stronger focus on sustainability and low-carbon solutions, and perhaps most important, a culture and citizenry more engaged in the journey towards more sustainable and smarter cities. Of course this is a generalization: this series of regional ranking reports has demonstrated leadership from cities across the globe. But, as I wrote in our rankings of North America's smartest cities, our urban centers "demand 21st-century solutions to accommodate their growing populations in ways that not only maintain the quality of life, but also improve it. Without further ado, here is the top 10 smart cities for Europe in 2013 (and here's more about how we ranked them). 1: Copenhagen 2: Amsterdam Like Copenhagen the cycling rates here are off the charts. But Amsterdam is much more than just bikes. 3: Vienna
Rawlemon’s Spherical Solar Energy-Generating Globes Can Even Harvest Energy from Moonlight Read more: Rawlemon’s Spherical Solar Energy-Generating Globes Can Even Harves... The solar energy designers at Rawlemon have created a spherical, sun-tracking glass globe that is able to concentrate sunlight (and moonlight) up to 10,000 times. The company claims that its ß.torics system is 35% more efficient than traditional dual-axis photovoltaic designs, and the fully rotational, weatherproof sphere is even capable of harvesting electricity from moonlight. The ß.torics system was invented by Barcelona-based German Architect André Broessel. He sought to create a solar system that could be embedded in the walls of buildings so that they may act as both windows and energy generators. The spheres are able to concentrate diffused moonlight into a steady source of energy. In 2012, Inhabitat featured an invention that promised to turn the world of solar power generation upside down. Read more: Rawlemon’s Spherical Solar Energy-Generating Globes Can Even Harves...