Author: kenmay

A new polymer that can boost capacitors

From hybrid and electric vehicles to underground exploration of fossil-fuels, our search for energy solutions has increasingly placed us in situations demanding electricity storage and delivery under extreme conditions. Though batteries are the reigning storage technology, capacitors are an alternative with several advantages: they’re lightweight, they can be charged and discharged relatively quickly, and they don’t lose their storage capacity over time. In order to function properly, capacitors require dielectric materials, which behave as insulators and are essential for charge storage. Polymeric dielectrics have enhanced performance over other materials, and they can operate under more intense electric fields without failing (termed higher breakdown strength) and greater reliability. They also have the added benefit of practicality, being scalable, lightweight, and easily manipulated. Right now, their major drawback as a material is their inability to work at high temperatures, like those required in many applications. But a composite polymer has finally been developed that seems to break down the traditional limitations of these materials, promising to open up a broader range of uses. Scientists made the new material by crosslinking a traditional polymer embedded with flakes of boron nitride nano sheets. Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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A new polymer that can boost capacitors

This 1,000 FPS Projector Perfectly Matches the Movements of Any Surface

Researchers at Ishikawa Watanabe Laboratory, the University of Tokyo, and Tokyo Electron Device have developed a high-speed projector system that can track and flawlessly match the complex movements of whatever surface it’s projecting on. Read more…

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This 1,000 FPS Projector Perfectly Matches the Movements of Any Surface

Spyware Demo Shows How Spooks Hack Mobile Phones

An anonymous reader writes: Joe Greenwood, of cybersecurity firm 4Armed, recently gave a live demonstration of some of Hacking Team’s leaked spyware to the BBC. Tracking Bitcoin payments, recording audio from the microphone of a locked device, and secretly gaining control of an infected phone’s camera are just a few of the software’s capabilities. The BBC reports: “Both Mr Greenwood and 4Armed’s technical director, Marc Wickenden, said they were surprised by the sleekness of the interface. Both point out, though, that customers could be paying upwards of £1m for the software and would expect it to be user-friendly, especially if it was intended for use by law enforcers on the beat. For the tracked user, though, there are very few ways of finding out that they are being watched. One red flag, according to Mr Greenwood, is a sudden spike in network data usage, indicating that information is being sent somewhere in the background. Experienced spies, however, would be careful to minimize this in order to remain incognito.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Spyware Demo Shows How Spooks Hack Mobile Phones

Where broadband is a utility, 100Mbps costs just $40 a month

There’s been a lot of debate over whether the United States should treat Internet service as a utility . But there’s no question that Internet service is already a utility in Sandy, Oregon, a city of about 10,000 residents, where the government has been offering broadband for more than a decade. “ SandyNet ” launched nearly 15 years ago with DSL and wireless service, and this summer it’s putting the final touches on a citywide upgrade to fiber. The upgrade was paid for with a $7.5 million revenue bond, which will be repaid by system revenues. Despite not being subsidized by taxpayer dollars, prices are still low: $40 a month for symmetrical 100Mbps service or $60 a month for 1Gbps. There are no contracts or data caps. “Part of the culture of SandyNet is we view our citizens as owners of the utility,” City IT Director and SandyNet GM Joe Knapp told Ars in a phone interview. “We’ve always run the utility on a break-even basis. Any profits we do have go back into capital improvements and equipment upgrades and things like that.” Read 34 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Where broadband is a utility, 100Mbps costs just $40 a month

Placentas are amazing organs, and we’re learning that they do so much more than simply manage the mo

Placentas are amazing organs, and we’re learning that they do so much more than simply manage the movement of nutrients and wastes between mother and fetus. In this month’s issue of The Scientist , placenta expert Christopher Coe explains its other roles, including hormonal regulation, iron storage, and immune system training. Read more…

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Placentas are amazing organs, and we’re learning that they do so much more than simply manage the mo

New Xbox dashboard and backwards compatibility come in November

At E3, Microsoft unveiled a revamped dashboard for the Xbox One that put an emphasis on speed and community. It’s now here at Gamescom when the company has revealed when exactly this revamped user interface will be filtering down onto your console: this November. The biggest additional feature is backwards compatibility , which means that around 100 Xbox 360 titles will be available to play on the hardware. Of course, if you’ve already paid for these games for the older console, you won’t be charged again for the privilege. In addition, the company’s Mike Ybarra has revealed that all future Games with Gold that are available on the Xbox 360 will also be accessible on the Xbox One. At the same time, he also announced that DVR functionality — which is also free — will come to the console in time for the holidays. The rest of the dashboard’s features were outlined at E3, the most notable being the integration of Cortana, Microsoft’s digital voice assistant. She can be used to perform minor tasks — like recording and sharing in-game footage — without you having to stop your epic career mode run on Fifa 16 . The revamped UI also offers a new quick-launch menu that pops up when you double-tap the Xbox button on your controller. We’re live all week from Cologne, Germany for Gamescom 2015. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show. Filed under: Gaming , Microsoft Comments Source: Xbox Tags: BackwardsCompatibility, Dashboard, FallUpdate, Gamescom2015, GamesWithGold, Microsoft, Xbox, XboxOne

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New Xbox dashboard and backwards compatibility come in November

Epson Is Trying To Kill the Printer Ink Cartridge

An anonymous reader writes: Inkjet printer cartridges have been the bane of many small businesses and home offices for decades. It’s interesting, then, that Epson is trying something new: next month, they’re launching a new line of printers that come with small tanks of ink, instead of cartridges. The tanks will be refilled using bottles of ink. They’re reversing the economics, here: the printer itself will be more expensive, but the refills will be much cheaper. Early reports claim you’ll be spending a tenth as much on ink as you were before, but we’ll see how that shakes out. The Bloomberg article makes a good point: it’s never been easier to not print things. The printer industry needs to innovate if it wants us to keep churning out printed documents, and this may be the first big step. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Epson Is Trying To Kill the Printer Ink Cartridge

Giving Up Alternating Current

An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday we discussed Soylent, the artificial food substitute created by Rob Rhinehart and his team. As it turns out, this isn’t Rhinehart’s only unusual sustainability project. In a new post, he explains how he gave up on alternating current — a tough proposition for anyone living in the U.S. and still interested in using all sorts of modern technology. Rhinehart says, “Most power in the US is generated by burning coal, immediately squandering 67% of its energy, then run through a steam turbine, losing another 50%, then sent across transmission lines, losing another 5%, then to charge a DC device like a cell phone another 50% is lost in conversion. This means for 100 watts of coal or oil burned my phone gets a mere 16.” The biggest hindrance was the kitchen. As you might expect for the creator of Soylent, he doesn’t cook, and was able to get rid of almost all kitchen appliances because of that. He uses a butane stove for hot beverages. He powers a small computer off batteries, which get their energy from solar panels. For intensive tasks, he remotes to more powerful machines. He re-wired his apartment’s LED lighting to run off direct current. Have any of you made similar changes? How much of an effect does this really have? Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Giving Up Alternating Current

Soylent 2.0 Comes Bottled and Ready To Drink

An anonymous reader writes: Soylent has announced today their latest product, Soylent 2.0. It comes premixed and ready to drink in recyclable bottles. Each bottle is one fifth of a scientifically balanced daily meal plan, will last up to a year unrefrigerated, and will cost you $2.42. A Soylent blog post reads in part: “Not only are its ingredients vegan, Soylent 2.0 reaches an unprecedented level of environmental sustainability with half of its fat energy coming from farm-free, algae sources. This next generation agricultural technology has the potential to reduce the ecological impact of food production by orders of magnitude, signifying a major step towards a future of abundance, a world where optimal nutrition is the new normal.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Soylent 2.0 Comes Bottled and Ready To Drink