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Interesting Reading #317

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Transparent aluminium is ‘new state of matter’ – “Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. ‘Transparent aluminium’ previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion…”

Exemplary Mom Builds 98-Inch Screen Inside Kid’s Bedroom Ceiling – “This is what great parents do when they want to take good care of their son, giving him all he needs to grow into a cultured, social, healthy young man: A 98-inch TV mounted flush inside his bedroom’s ceiling…”

Blue M&Ms ‘mend spinal injuries’ – “The food dye that gives blue M&Ms their colour can help mend spinal injuries, researchers have claimed after tests on rats…”

Tenant’s tweet about mold prompts libel suit by landlord – “This latest example of ordinary people courting trouble on Twitter isn’t the usual cautionary tale about remembering that what’s written on the Internet stays on the Internet. Nope, it’s more about why people hate landlords…”

CryEngine 2 vs. CryEngine 3: “This video compares the graphics produced by CryEngine 3 running console hardware and CryEngine 2 running on my PC in two flavours: Medium and Very-High. This video wasn’t made to knock the power of the consoles, but rather to express the differences in the engines. People think that CE3 running on console will look better than CE2 on PC. Completely untrue, just watch the video and decide for yourself.”

Super Secretive Supercapacitor CEO Tells All in Leaked Phone Call – “We have been losing hope that the eeStor ultracap would ever arrive, but it appears that a car that charges in minutes and runs for hours, a wind turbine that stores its own energy, notebook computers and cellphones that charge in seconds and run for days could be months, not years, away…”

Israeli Start-Up Creates Turbine-Powered Hybrid From a Toyota Prius – “From the Chevrolet Volt to the Chrysler ENVI vehicles to the Fisker Karma, many automakers seem to agree that extended-range hybrids are the way of the near future. While they all rely on traditional piston engines to provide power to their electric motors, Israeli company ETV Motors thinks a tiny jet turbine is a better way to go…”

Nissan’s Electric Car Prototype: Rough Draft of the Car of the Future? – “Nissan Expects to Produce 150,000 Electric Cars by 2012 On August 2nd, Nissan will unveil its new electric car in Japan, but in the meantime, we can have a look at the prototype that Nissan has been using to test their electric drivetrain…”

Solar Blimp to Fly from NYC to Paris, Rests on Land or Water – “A Spanish company called Turtle Airships is working on plans to build a luxurious solar-powered blimp which can take passengers from New York to Paris…”

10 Ways to Save Money on Home Improvement – “Secrets to help you save when you’re planning that big remodeling project…”

Should you go with your head or your heart? – “If life is just a series of decisions, then making smart ones is paramount, especially now. But unless you’re in bankruptcy law, box-wine production, or the sadly recession-proof business of cold storage, chances are you’ve also met the workplace demon: brute, base fear. Fear has a way of leading to dubious decisions, sloppy mistakes, and serious brain fog when it comes to figuring out a master plan for your career and all the major things it’s connected with, from finances to relationships…”

Mystery of Mars Missing Magnetic Field -Was It Destroyed by Asteroid Impact? – “Planetary magnetic fields are created by massive molten metal currents within the planet’s core. A flowing current creates a magnetic field, even when the current is massive volumes of charged liquid metal moving under the influence of temperature gradients (convection) – in fact, especially then. But magnetic analysis of Martian sites by Berkeley researchers show that the red planet’s protective field was switched off half a billion years ago, and now some scientists say they know why…”

10 ways to earn some extra cash – “Getting some part-time work is one way to make some extra cash, but there are other ways, too. Here are 10 to start with…”

Perils of the professional lab rat – “OLIVER is feeling tired on the day I call. I assume it’s because he’s been sleeping on a narrow bunk in a room with five other men, or because he has to get up at 7 am to give blood samples. Or that he hasn’t been outdoors in two weeks. He doubts it – that’s all just an ordinary part of his working life…”

How Amsterdam Works:

Creative debuts Android-powered Zii EGG for developers and OEMs – “The hardware itself is rather impressive, with front and rear facing cameras, HD playback, 1080p video output, OpenGL ES support, X-Fi audio processing, 32GB of built-in memory and a full SD slot…”

CSI Myths: The Shaky Science Behind Forensics – “Forensic science was not developed by scientists. It was mostly created by cops, who were guided by little more than common sense. And as hundreds of criminal cases begin to unravel, many established forensic practices are coming under fire. PM takes an in-depth look at the shaky science that has put innocent people behind bars…”

A Biofuel Process to Replace All Fossil Fuels – “A startup unveils a high-yield process for making fuel from carbon dioxide and sunlight…”

Apple Is Growing Rotten To The Core: Official Google Voice App Blocked From App Store – “Earlier today we learned that Apple had begun to pull all Google Voice-enabled applications from the App Store, citing the fact that they “duplicate features that come with the iPhone”. Now comes even worse news: we’ve learned that Apple has blocked Google’s official Google Voice application itself from the App Store. In other words, Google Voice — one of the best things to happen to telephony services in a very long time — will have no presence at all on the App Store. If there’s ever been a time to be furious with Apple, now is it…”

New Taser stun gun can shock 3 at a time – “Stun gun maker Taser International has unveiled its first new stun gun since 2003, a device that can shock three people without reloading…”

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