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Breakthrough In LED Construction Increases Efficiency By 57 Percent

Zothecula writes: With LEDs being the preferred long-lasting, low-energy method for replacing less efficient forms of lighting, their uptake has dramatically increased over the past few years. However, despite their luminous outputs having increased steadily over that time, they still fall behind more conventional forms of lighting in terms of brightness. Researchers at Princeton University claim to have come up with a way to change all that by using nanotechnology to increase the output of organic LEDs by 57 percent. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Breakthrough In LED Construction Increases Efficiency By 57 Percent

You Can Spot a Fake Stradivarius By the Tree Rings in the Wood

Of the many theories swirling around why legendary Stradivarius violins are so great (aside from, you know, it’s just all in our heads ), almost all have something to do with the wood . Maybe it was trees growing in a Little Ice Age or logs being stored in Venice lagoons or a special wood preservative. It makes sense, then, that one way to spot a fake is to go back to the wood—specifically, back to tree rings . Read more…

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You Can Spot a Fake Stradivarius By the Tree Rings in the Wood

Radinn’s Electric Powered Wakeboard Lets You Go Surfing Without the Waves

With the goal of “revolutionizing the watersport industry, ” Swedish company Radinn has released their first product: an electric powered wakeboard . The carbon fiber craft carries onboard lithium batteries and is controlled via a wireless handheld remote, allowing the rider to cruise at up to 30 miles per hour. The coolest thing about having a self-propelled board is that it frees the rider from the beach. With an EPW one could navigate rivers, lakes, public fountains in Stockholm… Want. The 64-pound board’s batteries can provide 30 minutes of runtime. Currently in its final testing stages, it’s expected to go on sale next year. And no, it won’t be cheap, but if you’ve got twenty grand to throw around, you could do a lot worse. (more…)

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Radinn’s Electric Powered Wakeboard Lets You Go Surfing Without the Waves

Nearly 2,000 Chicago Flights Canceled After Worker Sets Fire At Radar Center

SpzToid sends this news out of Illinois: Nearly 2, 000 flights in Chicago have been canceled so far today as federal aviation officials slowly resume operations at O’Hare and Midway airports following a fire that was deliberately set at an FAA radar center, apparently by a disgruntled worker. The center handles high-altitude traffic across parts of the Midwest. Controllers there direct planes through the airspace and either hand off the air traffic to other facilities handling high-altitude traffic or direct the planes to terminal radar facilities, including one in Elgin, which in turn direct planes to and from airport towers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Nearly 2,000 Chicago Flights Canceled After Worker Sets Fire At Radar Center

Comcast seeks to fix awful customer service, admits “it may take a few years”

Comcast executive Charlie Herrin is aiming to improve Comcast’s legendarily poor customer service. Comcast After months of getting bashed for treating customers poorly, Comcast today said it’s going to make improving customer service its “number one priority.” But the company admitted that “it may take a few years before we can honestly say that a great customer experience is something we’re known for.” Neil Smit, CEO of Comcast’s cable division,  wrote today  that Comcast’s customer service hasn’t kept up with Comcast’s focus on “product innovation,” technology, and content. “But this is only one half of the customer experience equation. The other half is operational excellence in how we deliver service,” he wrote. “The way we interact with our customers—on the phone, online, in their homes—is as important to our success as the technology we provide. Put simply, customer service should be our best product.” A longtime Comcast executive is being called upon to fulfill that goal. Smit announced the promotion of 15-year Comcast veteran Charlie Herrin to a new role as senior VP of customer experience. Herrin previously was senior VP of product development and led design of X1, Comcast’s new TV user interface. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Comcast seeks to fix awful customer service, admits “it may take a few years”

Using new Corvette’s valet-recording tech could be a felony in 12 states

© General Motors Over the past few months, General Motors and its Chevrolet dealerships have been selling the 2015 Corvette with an interesting feature called Valet Mode. Valet Mode records audio, video, and driving statistics of the person in the driver’s seat when the driver isn’t around, thus keeping low-life valets from being too loose with their filthy mitts while inside a Corvette owner’s fancy car. Trouble is that in at least 12 states, using Valet Mode might be considered a felony. Federal wiretapping laws generally require only one party to consent to a recording of an interaction. But in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington, all parties are required to consent before a recording happens. So if a Corvette owner turns on Valet Mode in California and turns the car over to the unknowing attendant, that Corvette owner could be committing a felony. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Using new Corvette’s valet-recording tech could be a felony in 12 states

Apple has released iOS 8.0.2, which addresses the issues caused by the previous update, among other

Apple has released iOS 8.0.2, which addresses the issues caused by the previous update, among other fixes. Read more on 9to5 Mac . Read more…

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Apple has released iOS 8.0.2, which addresses the issues caused by the previous update, among other

How An Octogenarian Preserved An Endangered Native American Language

It’s easy to take translations for granted when Google can swap between Albanian and Zulu with the click of a button, but even that tech has real world limitations. Marie Wilcox is the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni, one of 130 different endangered Native American languages in the United States that don’t have any kind of digital—or analog—legacy. Read more…

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How An Octogenarian Preserved An Endangered Native American Language

3D Bioprinter Creates "Living Bandage" Skin Grafts For Burn Victims

concertina226 writes Engineering students from the University of Toronto have developed a 3D bioprinter that can rapidly create artificial skin grafts from a patient’s cells to help treat burn victims. In severe burn injuries, both the epidermis (outer layer of the skin) and the dermis (inner layer) are severely damaged, and it usually takes at least two weeks for skin cells to be grown in a laboratory to be grafted onto a patient. As both layers of skin are made from completely different cells that have different structures, it is very difficult for the body to regenerate itself and burn victims can die if their wounds cannot be closed quickly enough. So instead of trying to replicate a real human skin graft, the PrintAlive Bioprinter creates a type of “living bandage” from hydrogel. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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3D Bioprinter Creates "Living Bandage" Skin Grafts For Burn Victims

Intel plots a mobile coup with $1.5 billion investment in Chinese chipmakers

While Intel is prominent in the mobile world, it’s often playing catch-up with the undisputed king of the market, ARM (and as a result, Qualcomm ). But that doesn’t mean it’s not willing to spend money to reverse that trend. The company has announced that it’s paid $1.5 billion for a 20 percent share in two of China’s biggest mobile chipmakers, Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics. The deal will see Spreadtrum jointly create and sell a range of Intel-based system-on-chips (SoCs), which Intel says will power devices from the middle of next year. It gives Intel the boost it needs to begin competing against its more established rivals, but also offers the chance of cracking the world’s biggest smartphone market (where Qualcomm is currently facing an antitrust probe). While Spreadtrum is known for low-cost chips that power Mozilla’s Firefox OS smartphones , there’s every chance this deal could see Intel make more of a splash in the booming Android market. Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Mobile , Intel Comments Via: Recode Source: Intel

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Intel plots a mobile coup with $1.5 billion investment in Chinese chipmakers