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Panasonic’s 152-inch 4K-resolution 3D plasma ships this fall – “Say goodbye to the former king of Panasonic plasmas, the old 103-inch that toured the country and took center stage in presidential elections is old news, moved aside for a new family of commercial displays including the 152-inch 4K resolution 3DTV towered over all at this year’s CES…”
Springteq Unveils First Aftermarket HUD Navigation All-In-One Unit – “So you want that fancy integrated OEM heads-up display (HUD) GPS navigation system you saw in your friend’s brand-new BMW, but can’t afford to trade in your car just yet? Springteq has the solution: the WeGo all-in-one HUD navigation system…”
University Of New Haven Designs Vehicle That Gets 500 MPG – “University of New Haven student engineers have a long-range plan that began with the construction of a prototype one-person vehicle that gets 500 mpg and ends this week in Marshall, Mich., at the Society of Automotive Engineers Supermileage competition…”
The Most Fuel Efficient Cars Since 1984 – “The EPA listed the most fuel-efficient cars built since 1984. Of course the Prius is on there, but so are many cars that are some 20 years old. So why are the old cars so good at sipping fuel?”
Does the iPhone 4 Really Have a “Retina Display”? – “Steve Jobs claimed that the iPhone 4 has a resolution higher than the retina – that’s not right…”
‘Imaginary’ interface could replace real thing – “Researchers are experimenting with a new interface system for mobile devices that could replace the screen and even the keyboard with gestures supported by our visual memory…”
Walls falling faster for solid-state memory – ” After running a series of complex computer simulations, researchers have found that flaws in the structure of magnetic nanoscale wires play an important role in determining the operating speed of novel devices using such nanowires to store and process information. The finding, made by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the University of Maryland, and the University of Paris XI, will help to deepen the physical understanding and guide the interpretation of future experiments of these next-generation devices…”
As the Sun Awakens, NASA Keeps a Wary Eye on Space Weather – ” Earth and space are about to come into contact in a way that’s new to human history. To make preparations, authorities in Washington DC are holding a meeting: The Space Weather Enterprise Forum at the National Press Club on June 8th…”
Armadillo – 2000ft boosted hop, engine shutdown/restart, safe landing – “On Saturday, Armadillo Aerospace flew a boosted hop with a Mod vehicle to 2000 feet (610m), shut the engine down, deployed a small drogue parachute as it started to fall, restarted the engine, cutaway the drogue, and came down for a safe landing. See the video below… “
Analyst: iPhone 4, Samsung ‘Wave’ use same chip – “An analyst research note Tuesday shed more light on what makes Apple’s iPhone 4 tick, noting that the recently released Samsung Wave S8500 smartphone uses the same central processing unit, or CPU, as the iPhone 4…”
Researchers Discover Genetic Patterns of Autism
Infographic: Tallest Mountain to Deepest Ocean Trench
Surface area required to power the world with solar panels alone
‘Nanocoax’ solves solar cell ‘thick and thin’ dilemma – ” A nano-scale solar cell inspired by the coaxial cable offers greater efficiency than any previously designed nanotech thin film solar cell by resolving the “thick and thin” challenge inherent to capturing light and extracting current for solar power, Boston College researchers report in the current online edition of the journal Physica Status Solidi…”
Copyright: The Elephant in the Middle of the Glee Club – “The absence of any mention of copyright law in Glee illustrates a painful tension in American culture. While copyright holders assert that copyright violators are “stealing” their “property,” people everywhere are remixing and recreating artistic works for the very same reasons the Glee kids do — to learn about themselves, to become better musicians, to build relationships with friends, and to pay homage to the artists who came before them. Glee’s protagonists — and the writers who created them — see so little wrong with this behavior that the word ‘copyright’ is never even uttered…”
A Self-Appointed Teacher Runs a One-Man ‘Academy’ on YouTube – “The most popular educator on YouTube does not have a Ph.D. He has never taught at a college or university. And he delivers all of his lectures from a bedroom closet…”
Undiscovered Oil and Gas of the Nile Delta Basin, Eastern Mediterranean – “The U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 1.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, 223 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, and 6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids in the Nile Delta Basin Province using a geology-based assessment methodology…”
Our new search index: Caffeine – “Today, we’re announcing the completion of a new web indexing system called Caffeine. Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches than our last index, and it’s the largest collection of web content we’ve offered. Whether it’s a news story, a blog or a forum post, you can now find links to relevant content much sooner after it is published than was possible ever before…”
New Type of ‘Metalens’ Shatters Diffraction Limit – “An entirely new type of lens can capture details that are 1/80th the wavelength of light…”
12,000 endangered saiga antelope found dead in Kazakhstan – “Mysterious deaths are a devastating blow to the unique-looking animal, which has seen its population decline by 95% since 1995…”
A Last Line of Defense? National Parks at Sea – “a group of scientists are calling for world leaders to create more marine reserves like the Great Barrier Reef of Australia — national parks at sea, as they put it. In a statement issued Tuesday and signed by nearly 250 scientists from 35 countries, they asked lawmakers around the globe to consider designating vast reserves of the ocean as protected areas…”
Radiohead frontman: Music industry on verge of collapse – “Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is warning the music industry is on the brink of collapse, insisting young musicians should resist signing record deals because the major labels will “completely fold” within months…”
What happens when we blame our navigation devices for our car crashes. – “The GPS-assisted crash has become an occasional—and eyebrow-raising—staple of news coverage: Every few months, one hears about a driver faithfully obeying the “turn by turn” instructions of an in-car navigation system, only to find him- or herself in trouble when the actual traffic landscape fails to conform. In one high-profile case, a salesman in a rental car, instructed to make a turn, duly beached his car on a set of commuter train tracks, precipitating an expensive crash. In another episode, a stream of motorists in the United Kingdom—each relying on commands from GPS—were sent into a ford that had risen after heavy rains, noticing neither the water nor the signs warning that the road had been closed. (So much for swarm intelligence.) Drivers have been sent the wrong way on the German autobahn. In Westchester County, N.Y., a spate of trucks striking low-clearance bridges has been blamed on bad GPS information. (The devices failed to note that the roads in question were not truck routes.) And just last week, a teen driver who caused a four-car crash told police he had been “told to take a left” by his GPS. (Of course, he may simply have been trying to shift blame and attention away from his very spotty driving record.)”
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