The autonomous vehicle navigation technology may make life more convenient if it allows people to enjoy a good book or movie while their cars guide themselves through rush-hour traffic.
Wende Zhang of General Motors designed the vehicle that drives itself, which has an average speed of approximately 13 miles per hour.
The GM team drew upon existing technology already offered in some of their vehicles that can assist in parking or detect lane markers and trigger alarms if the drivers are coming too close to the shoulder of the road.
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
Europe’s Fastest Supercomputer Unveiled in Germany
A new supercomputer having the power of 50,000 home PCs, the third worldwide and the fastest in Europe, was unveiled on Tuesday in Germany.
The new supercomputer “Jugene,” capable of 1,000,000,000,000,000 (one quadrillion) calculations per second, ranks behind the “Roadrunner” and “Jaguar” computers in the US, said Kosta Schinarakis from the Juelich research centre.
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The new supercomputer “Jugene,” capable of 1,000,000,000,000,000 (one quadrillion) calculations per second, ranks behind the “Roadrunner” and “Jaguar” computers in the US, said Kosta Schinarakis from the Juelich research centre.
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U.S. company finds "safer" way to make stem-like cells
U.S. researchers said on Thursday they had come up with the safest way yet to make stem-like cells using a patient's ordinary skin cells, this time by using pure human proteins.
The team at Harvard University and Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology Inc said their technique involves soaking cells in human proteins that turn back the clock biologically, making the cells behave like powerful embryonic stem cells.
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The team at Harvard University and Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology Inc said their technique involves soaking cells in human proteins that turn back the clock biologically, making the cells behave like powerful embryonic stem cells.
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AT&T, Verizon Racing To Rollout 4G Wireless
AT&T's decision to accelerate its ramp up of Long Term Evolution (LTE) will likely prematurely place it in a head-to-head competition withVerizon Wireless.
Verizon Wireless, which is already racing to install the super-high-speed LTE wireless infrastructure, is a year ahead in the deployment race.
AT&T this week put a favorable spin on its move by saying that "most industry overseers expect 4G LTE networks and device availability to scale" in the 2011 to 2012 timeframe. Verizon Wireless, of course, has said it plans to begin LTE rollouts later this year with widespread commercial deployment to take place in 2010.
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Verizon Wireless, which is already racing to install the super-high-speed LTE wireless infrastructure, is a year ahead in the deployment race.
AT&T this week put a favorable spin on its move by saying that "most industry overseers expect 4G LTE networks and device availability to scale" in the 2011 to 2012 timeframe. Verizon Wireless, of course, has said it plans to begin LTE rollouts later this year with widespread commercial deployment to take place in 2010.
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Trilliant Acquires SkyPilot Networks to Streamline Smart Grid Communications
There are few battles fiercer in the cleantech business than the holy war currently being waged over which communications and networking technologies will prevail in smart grid deployments.
Wide area networking technologies are integral to the fabric of smart grids, and will be essential elements of any electric utility's smart grid program. Current utility communication systems are highly fragmented, purpose-built for specific applications, and often based on proprietary technologies. However, the prevailing winds are blowing in the direction of more unified architectures that utilize two-way, low-latency, standards-based networking technologies that are scalable and flexible to support a variety of applications using varying bit rates.
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Wide area networking technologies are integral to the fabric of smart grids, and will be essential elements of any electric utility's smart grid program. Current utility communication systems are highly fragmented, purpose-built for specific applications, and often based on proprietary technologies. However, the prevailing winds are blowing in the direction of more unified architectures that utilize two-way, low-latency, standards-based networking technologies that are scalable and flexible to support a variety of applications using varying bit rates.
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The New Great Race - Tesla versus Clarity
Listening to battery enthusiasts wax poetic about the Tesla recently - - and seeing a few of them appearing on the streets of west Los Angeles - - I began thinking about the old Tony Curtis film “The Great Race” (remember every time he smiled, there was a shiny sparkle of superiority that gleamed from his teeth?). The roads and Holiday Inns have improved dramatically since the period depicted in the movie, but the idea of testing the claims of exciting new technology at the dawn of a new transportation age is very much the same. So let’s have a 21st Century “Great Race” and pit the Tesla against the other electric car on the market today, the Honda Clarity.
The Tesla is an electric sports car powered by batteries, while the Clarity is an electric sedan powered by hydrogen (a fuel cell converts the hydrogen to electricity). The range of each is rated by USEPA-approved testing at about 230 miles. The similarities end there however - - the Tesla is the fastest production car ever built at zero to 60 mph, giving the little hot rod a distinct advantage that would seem to make a race with a Clarity anything but “great”. Or would it?
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The Tesla is an electric sports car powered by batteries, while the Clarity is an electric sedan powered by hydrogen (a fuel cell converts the hydrogen to electricity). The range of each is rated by USEPA-approved testing at about 230 miles. The similarities end there however - - the Tesla is the fastest production car ever built at zero to 60 mph, giving the little hot rod a distinct advantage that would seem to make a race with a Clarity anything but “great”. Or would it?
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Metal Storm Completes MAUL Weapon Demonstration
Weapons developer Metal Storm Limited today announced that Metal Storm Inc. has successfully completed a Live Fire Demonstration under a contract with the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The demonstration was conducted at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in front of United States military and key defence industry figures.
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Barnacle busters
North Carolina State University engineers have created a non-toxic coating for use on ship hulls that resisted build-up of troublesome barnacles during 18 months of seawater tests - a finding that could ultimately save boat owners millions of dollars in cleaning and fuel costs.
he research, conducted by Dr Kirill Efimenko, a research assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Dr Jan Genzer, a professor in the same department, showed for the first time that surface coatings containing nests of different-sized 'wrinkles' are effective in preventing barnacles from firmly latching on to the coatings.
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he research, conducted by Dr Kirill Efimenko, a research assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Dr Jan Genzer, a professor in the same department, showed for the first time that surface coatings containing nests of different-sized 'wrinkles' are effective in preventing barnacles from firmly latching on to the coatings.
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WaterMill Gathers Drinking Water from Moisture in the Air
British Columbia–based Element Four helps ease water shortages by pulling moisture straight out of the air. Engineered for muggy outdoor environments or humid indoor rooms, the wall-mountable WaterMill constantly adjusts to the ambient dew point. As with most dehumidifiers, fans pull in air, then the water vapor within condenses as it flows across metal coils.
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A Look Inside NASA's Custom Hubble Repair Toolkit
The mission was intensive, especially considering almost all of the repairs that were performed during a series of TK spacewalks were on parts that were never intended to be serviced by astronauts in space. Equally intense (and beautiful) are the 180 tools NASA employed for the job--with 116 of them created specifically for this mission.
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"World's highest resolution production video projector" to debut next month
Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. (Salt Lake City, UT) says it will demonstrate its new laser projection system, boasting "fidelity that exceeds the limits of the human eye," at InfoComm 2009 (June 17-19, Orlando, FL). The system, called E&S Laser Projector (ESLP 8K), will begin shipping later this year. According to the company it is the world's highest resolution production video projector.
The ESLP 8K laser projector system displays content the equivalent to 16 times HD 1080p resolution--or the difference between 2 million and 32 million pixels. It is powered by a set of laser light sources that offer multiple benefits, including low cost of operation. E&S claims that the lasers' hue does not degrade or shift over time, and that they yield a much wider useable color spectrum (200% of NTSC/HDTV) than is available in conventional LCoS, DLP, LCD, or other lamp-illuminated projectors.
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The ESLP 8K laser projector system displays content the equivalent to 16 times HD 1080p resolution--or the difference between 2 million and 32 million pixels. It is powered by a set of laser light sources that offer multiple benefits, including low cost of operation. E&S claims that the lasers' hue does not degrade or shift over time, and that they yield a much wider useable color spectrum (200% of NTSC/HDTV) than is available in conventional LCoS, DLP, LCD, or other lamp-illuminated projectors.
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