A new technology that uses ambient light and pigments used in commercial printing promises to make thin electronic displays that are as bright and vibrant as the pages of a glossy magazine, according to research reported this week in Nature Photonics.
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati’s Novel Devices Laboratory have developed what they call electrofluidic display technology over the past two years in collaboration with color experts from ink and pigments manufacturer Sun Chemical Corp. Sun Chemical also funded the work and has applied for a patent on the technology with the university.
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Friday, May 1, 2009
Microsoft Offers Secure Windows … But Only to the Government
It’s the most secure distribution version of Windows XP ever produced by Microsoft: More than 600 settings are locked down tight, and critical security patches can be installed in an average of 72 hours instead of 57 days. The only problem is, you have to join the Air Force to get it.
The Air Force persuaded Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to provide it with a secure Windows configuration that saved the service about $100 million in contract costs and countless hours of maintenance. At a congressional hearing this week on cybersecurity, Alan Paller, research director of the Sans Institute, shared the story as a template for how the government could use its massive purchasing power to get companies to produce more secure products. And those could eventually be available to the rest of us.
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The Air Force persuaded Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to provide it with a secure Windows configuration that saved the service about $100 million in contract costs and countless hours of maintenance. At a congressional hearing this week on cybersecurity, Alan Paller, research director of the Sans Institute, shared the story as a template for how the government could use its massive purchasing power to get companies to produce more secure products. And those could eventually be available to the rest of us.
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SpectraFluidics to develop detector tech
California-based SpectraFluidics has received a contract to work on a hand-held explosive detection development project.
SpectraFluidics announced its team that includes the University of California Santa Barbara's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies and the U.S. Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center has received a three-year development contract.
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SpectraFluidics announced its team that includes the University of California Santa Barbara's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies and the U.S. Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center has received a three-year development contract.
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How a "smart charger" could ease transition to electric cars
Imagine all the folks on the waiting list for the Chevy Volt or a plug-in Toyota Prius plugged in their cars at once. The result? Blackout, as the world's largest machine (otherwise known as the electric grid) is overloaded.
What's needed is a device that can sense when there's sufficient capacity to juice up an electric car and when there's not—a so-called "smart charger" (which would, of course, be a key component of a "smart" grid).
And that's exactly what engineers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. have created. "If a million owners plug in their vehicles to recharge after work, it could cause a major strain on the grid," said PNNL engineer Michael Kintner-Meyer in a statement. "The Smart Charger Controller could prevent those peaks in demand from plug-in vehicles and enable our existing grid to be used more evenly."
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What's needed is a device that can sense when there's sufficient capacity to juice up an electric car and when there's not—a so-called "smart charger" (which would, of course, be a key component of a "smart" grid).
And that's exactly what engineers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. have created. "If a million owners plug in their vehicles to recharge after work, it could cause a major strain on the grid," said PNNL engineer Michael Kintner-Meyer in a statement. "The Smart Charger Controller could prevent those peaks in demand from plug-in vehicles and enable our existing grid to be used more evenly."
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7 Military Tech Winners and Losers Under Gates's Proposed Defense Budget
Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed a budget that would be the first Defense Department overhaul by the Obama administration. The plan has winners and losers as Gates tries to streamline defense procurement, focus on asymmetric and guerrilla threats around the globe and cut costs wherever possible. Here are some of the winners and losers under Gates's proposed budget.
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UAV Helicopter Brings Finesse to Airstrikes
In modern warfare, the advantage often goes to guerrillas who can attack, then quickly hide among the population or disappear into the hills. To counter those tactics, the Pentagon since 2001 has been arming unmanned aerial vehicles to identify and destroy targets with missiles.
The Defense Department is seeking weapons for UAVs that can strike enemies but limit collateral damage, especially in cities. The Army’s solution is the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS), a small, unmanned helicopter equipped with a powerful .338-caliber rifle. An autopilot system handles the tricky business of flying while the operator lines up the kill shot on a remote monitor.
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The Defense Department is seeking weapons for UAVs that can strike enemies but limit collateral damage, especially in cities. The Army’s solution is the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS), a small, unmanned helicopter equipped with a powerful .338-caliber rifle. An autopilot system handles the tricky business of flying while the operator lines up the kill shot on a remote monitor.
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DARPA’s ISIS Project Seeks Slow, Soaring Surveillance Superiority (updated)
DARPA’s ISIS program is developing a stratospheric airship with sensor antennas that will include a radar nearly as large as the airship. This would create a battlefield surveillance platform with extreme endurance, and equally extreme resolution for its air and battlefield scans via radar and other carried sensors. This project is associated with Lockheed’s High Altitude Airship program, which is intended to soar at over 65,000 feet for over a month at a time, and could also play a significant role in ballistic missile and cruise missile defense.
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Raytheon Restarts Production of Laser Maverick Missiles
Raytheon is restarting its production line for AGM-65E laser-guided Maverick missiles, and will also upgrade existing stocks, in response to demand from the front lines.
The AGM-65 Maverick was the first general purpose fire-and-forget tactical air-to-ground missile in service with the U.S. Air Force. The Joint Common Missile proposes to replace it, but until then, it remains the default option for jet fighters that need to make precision-guided missile strikes. The AGM-65 rose to its greatest prominence during Desert Storm, when many of TV’s missile-eye views of air strikes came from Mavericks. In truth, it was produced in 3 versions: TV-guided, Imaging Infared (IIR) guided, and laser-guided. Production continues for the TV and IIR variants, but the Marines’ AGM-65E laser-guided version had gone put of production.
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The AGM-65 Maverick was the first general purpose fire-and-forget tactical air-to-ground missile in service with the U.S. Air Force. The Joint Common Missile proposes to replace it, but until then, it remains the default option for jet fighters that need to make precision-guided missile strikes. The AGM-65 rose to its greatest prominence during Desert Storm, when many of TV’s missile-eye views of air strikes came from Mavericks. In truth, it was produced in 3 versions: TV-guided, Imaging Infared (IIR) guided, and laser-guided. Production continues for the TV and IIR variants, but the Marines’ AGM-65E laser-guided version had gone put of production.
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