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Cause of Super Bowl blackout was installed to prevent Super Bowl blackout

Entergy New Orleans, the utility that provides power to the Mercedes SuperDome in New Orleans, announced today that its technicians had determined the cause of the partial blackout during the Super Bowl last Sunday: an electrical relay the company had installed to prevent blackouts. The relay was supposed to trip switches to redirect power in the event of a line fault over one of the cables connecting Entergy’s switching gear to the stadium. In a statement , the company said that “the relay functioned without issue during a number of high-profile events—including the New Orleans Bowl, the New Orleans Saints-Carolina Panthers game, and the Sugar Bowl.” But on Super Bowl Sunday, the device instead triggered when there was no fault, signaling a switch to open shortly after the second half began. The relay has now been pulled, and Entergy is evaluating other equipment. “While some further analysis remains,” said Entergy New Orleans President and CEO Charles Rice in the prepared statement, “we believe we have identified and remedied the cause of the power outage and regret the interruption that occurred during what was a showcase event for the city and state.” Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Cause of Super Bowl blackout was installed to prevent Super Bowl blackout

Hydrophobic, dirt-shedding spray is indistinguishable from magic

“Ultra Ever Dry” is a nanomaterial spray-coating that is (apparently) insanely hydrophobic, shedding dirt, water and oil. The jaw-dropping product video suggests many possibilities, from extreme hydroplaning sports to odd molecular gastronomy possibilities (though it’s not rated food-safe, so caveat sprayer). If you’re impatient, just zip the video to 2:00 or so and marvel. What is it? The company says it’s a “coating” that will repel almost any liquid by creating a barrier of air on the surface. They don’t say what’s in the coating. Whatever it is, the How to Apply This Product video suggests you don goggles, gloves and protective gear when you spray. They claim it will protect in temperatures ranging from -30 degrees Fahrenheit to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, but durability is a question. In the video, they say abrasion might affect performance (which makes me wonder how long a pair of sprayed boots would stay dry if you were on a wet, slippery, rocky hiking trail). It’s expensive. The base coat is $57.95 and the top coat is $100.95 a quart. On the other hand, if you dare to spray it on your car windows, you wouldn’t need window wipers. Or would the windows get too cloudy? If you sprayed it on a car surface, would it affect the gloss? Probably. Next Time Your Mom Says Don’t Go Out in The Rain, Spray Yourself With This [Robert Krulwich/NPR] ( Thanks, Fipi Lele! )

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Hydrophobic, dirt-shedding spray is indistinguishable from magic

At long last, TI releases graphing calculator for the iPad

A TI-Nspire’s functionality, replicated on an iPad. TI/TechPoweredMath Texas Instruments has brought its graphing calculator functionality to a more modern platform, according to TechPoweredMath . TI-Nspire for iPad mimics the functionality of the color TI-Nspire calculator and has cloud integration for teachers to share files with students. TI’s graphing calculators have been stuck staunchly in the past as much as possible.  Color screens were  a recent development for its most popular line of devices, and developers have had to build games with only a handful of kilobytes of code . As smartphones and tablets rise in popularity, it makes increasing sense to fold the graphing calculator functionality into devices that students are likely carrying around with them anyway. This is not to say graphing calculator apps haven’t existed for some time—they have, for both smartphones and tablets, and many are free. But until now, TI has refused to cross over. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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At long last, TI releases graphing calculator for the iPad

SkyDrive now hosting over a billion Office files, adds editing without Microsoft login

Microsoft’s cloud storage service SkyDrive has hit a significant numerical landmark: over a billion Office documents are now hosted on it . To celebrate, Redmond has made is a little easier to edit files using Office Web Apps — you no longer need to sign in using a Microsoft account (unless the sharing party wants you to), so if you’ve got the right link, you can start tweaking with minimal fuss. A billion Office files sounds like a big number, but we’d really like the details of how many users that’s spread over. As many as DropBox ? Who knows. Filed under: Internet , Software , Microsoft Comments Source: Microsoft

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SkyDrive now hosting over a billion Office files, adds editing without Microsoft login

Sony: PS4’s main selling point will be ‘new playing options, not improved hardware specs’

As Sony Computer Entertainment warms up its blue lighting and double-checks its playlist for February 20th , one unnamed SCE official says that the PlayStation 4 will act as more of a home entertainment hub than what we’ve seen in the past. They added, according to the Nikkei , that the main selling point won’t be the rumored eight-core AMD64 CPU or other hardware specs, but how it opens up new styles of play — something Nintendo is also focusing on . Sony is going to push the new console as a home entertainment “nerve center,” with a focus on the hardware’s ability to connect and share to mobile devices — the rival that’s pulling gamers away from traditional consoles. Edge had previously mentioned the possibility of a dedicated share button on the next-gen controller, though that remains a product of the rumor mill at the moment. No discussion on any Gaikai-powered cloud gaming just yet, but following its unveiling later this month, the report states that the new PlayStation should launch before the end of the year. A bit of a shame, then, that it’s still only February. Filed under: Gaming , Sony Comments Source: Nikkei (requires subscription) , Edge-online

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Sony: PS4’s main selling point will be ‘new playing options, not improved hardware specs’

Ants Use Sound To Communicate

sciencehabit writes “A new study shows that ant pupae—a stage between larvae and adult—can communicate via sound, and that this communication can be crucial to their survival. The young insects have a specialized spike along their abdomen that they stroke with one of their hind legs, similar to dragging the teeth of a comb along the edge of a table. This noise serves primarily as an emergency beacon, allowing the ants to shout for help when being threatened by a predator.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ants Use Sound To Communicate

And Now, a Tiny Japanese Roomba… for Your iDevice Screen

Although it seems that we’ve been soliciting your opinions with a simple “Yea or Nay” quite a bit lately—regarding this and this , for starters—we just as often herald instances of “hell in a handbasket” to connote examples of design or specific products that confound us. And while I’d surmise that a new product called the Automee S is an example of chindōgu , the fact that it will reportedly available for 1575 Yen (about $17) next month seems to be at odds with the spirit of ‘unuseless design.’ Unfortunately, the product page is in Japanese, so we’re relying on New Launches’ translation regarding details and specs. They write that “the little one has three tires for maneuvering and two made of paper which do the cleaning. The onboard sensors prevent the Automee S from falling off the edges and also lets it clean the entire surface evenly.” New Launches also notes that it takes four minutes to clean a phone and eight to clean a tablet, which makes it good for 45 and 22 complete cleans on a single AA battery. (more…)

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And Now, a Tiny Japanese Roomba… for Your iDevice Screen