Tag: north

800,000 low-income UK homes to benefit from free solar panels

One of the biggest ever green energy schemes in the UK is set to provide clean energy for as many as 800, 000 low-income homes over the next five years, renewable energy provider Solarplicity has revealed. As part of a £160 million investment from Netherlands-based Maas Capital (part of the ABN AMRO Bank), the company will provide 100, 000 households with free solar panels over the next 18 months and hopes to reach its target within five years. The aim of the £1 billion project is to help individuals and families living in social housing by saving them an average of £240 a year. The harvested energy won’t be free, but offered at a significantly reduced rate. If it meets its potential, the scheme could save tenants up to £192 million in total. Already, 40 “social landlords” — including many local authorities — are on board, with the majority of them located in the North West. Over 290, 000 homes in towns like Oldham and Bradford will benefit from the project, followed by the North East and the Midlands. The deal is set to create over 1, 000 new jobs for people who will be tasked with installing and maintaining the panels. Solarplicity says that many of the positions will be offered to military veterans, who will be retrained for new maintenance careers. The companies involved will profit from the scheme by way of the government’s feed-in tariff , which pays households that generate their own electricity via renewable methods. Tenants will also contribute towards the cost, but they’ll also be given low-energy LED bulbs and smart meter in order to better manage their energy consumption. Via: HuffPo UK Source: Solarplicity

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800,000 low-income UK homes to benefit from free solar panels

Waymo trials free self-driving taxi service in Phoenix

Enlarge / One of the earliest self-driving trial families pose with Waymo’s minivan. (credit: Waymo) Waymo—Alphabet’s self-driving car division—is launching a “trial” of a self-driving taxi service in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. The Google spinoff’s fleet of self-driving cars is descending on Phoenix and offering free rides to anyone in its “early rider program,” which is currently accepting new members . The taxi service is not totally “self-driving.” Waymo notes that “as part of this early trial, there will be a test driver in each vehicle monitoring the rides at all times.” While the car will handle most of the driving duties, a driver will ensure nothing goes wrong if the car runs into a situation it can’t handle. While the trial will offer free rides to Phoenix residents, it will also serve as a research program for Waymo. The company’s blog post say it wants to “learn things like where people want to go in a self-driving car, how they communicate with our vehicles, and what information and controls they want to see inside.” To handle the load of a city-wide taxi service, Waymo is building 500 more of its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans , bring the total minivan fleet to 600. The minivans represent the latest in Waymo’s technology. In a recent talk at the North American International Auto Show, Waymo CEO John Krafcik said the vehicles would be the launch platform for Waymo’s “full-stack approach,” which combined Waymo’s software with a ” fully integrated hardware suite ” that is “all designed and built, from the ground up, by Waymo.” Most self-driving car programs stick to developing software using Velodyne’s LiDAR hardware . Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Waymo trials free self-driving taxi service in Phoenix

US hopes cyberattacks will stall North Korea’s missile program

The US might not have had much success with cyberattacks against North Korea’s nuclear program , but that apparently hasn’t stopped officials from further efforts… not that they’re having much success. The New York Times has learned that then-President Obama ordered escalated cyberwarfare against North Korea in 2014 a bid to thwart its plans for intercontinental ballistic missiles. However, it’s not clear that this strategy has worked — and there may be problems if it does. The newspaper understands that Obama pushed both intelligence agencies and the military to “pull out all the stops” on cyberwarfare efforts to wreck missiles either before they launch or in the first seconds afterward. While evidence shows that North Korean missiles started floundering at a very high rate (the mid-range Musudan missile has an 88 percent failure rate) soon after, it’s not certain how much of that was due to American efforts versus the inherent riskiness of the missile designs. The US effort “accented the failures, ” according to the Times , but the launch rate has improved lately — and proper intercontinental missile tests might not be far off, if you believe North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. A large part of this comes from the natures of both the country and its missile efforts. North Korea is notoriously isolated from the internet (not to mention computing technology as a whole), and its missile systems are both mobile and shuffled around to confuse enemies. It’s not so simple as slipping malware into the computers at a fixed location, like with the Stuxnet attack against Iran — you need to find out where and when a launch will take place. President Trump hasn’t signaled if or how his administration might change this approach. Everything is still on the table, according to the Times . However, it might not want to press much harder. If a digital campaign is successful, it might give China, Russia and other nuclear-armed nations tacit permission to attack American nuclear launch systems. A belligerent country might be more tempted to launch a nuke if it knows that the US can’t respond in kind. Source: New York Times

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US hopes cyberattacks will stall North Korea’s missile program

Samsung EV battery offers 500km range with 20 minutes of charge

By the time 2021 rolls around, a number of major car makers will have a varied selection of electric cars available . Developments in battery technology will dictate the range and features that these cars can offer, but Samsung wants to give consumers a brief insight into what will be available at the start of the next decade. Samsung SDI, the Korean conglomerate’s lithium ion and renewable division that provides power for auto giant BMW, today announced a “next generation” battery that offers 600 kilometers (373 miles) of driving and can be “fast charged” in just 20 minutes. The high density battery is designed to provide 500 kilometers (310 miles) of range or 80 percent of capacity in the time it takes for a quick roadside coffee break. For reference, that’s more than what the average fully-charged Tesla Model S currently offers. Instead of fitting cars with more battery cells, which in turn adds weight, Samsung hopes that by delivering smartphone-like fast charging, consumers won’t suffer from range anxiety and will be able to drive longer distances without lengthy top-ups. That wasn’t the only announcement Samsung SDI made today at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) 2017. The company also confirmed an improved “21700” cylindrical battery, a large shotgun shell-shaped cell with “improved energy density, power and performance.” Major EV makers, like Tesla, are focusing on the 21700 — named after its 21mm diameter and 70mm length — which confirmed recently that its Gigfactory had begun full production of its own lithium-ion battery cells developed in partnership with Panasonic. Source: Samsung SDI

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Samsung EV battery offers 500km range with 20 minutes of charge

North Korea’s Internet Is Totally Screwed Right Now 

Following several days of continuous connectivity problems , an internet researcher is reporting that North Korea’s internet has gone dark . Whether it’s a cyber attack or a routine outage remains unclear. Read more…

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North Korea’s Internet Is Totally Screwed Right Now 

Report: North Korea May Be Behind Sony Pictures Hack After All

Despite the FBI saying just a few days ago that there was “no attribution to North Korea at this point, ” ABC News is reporting that federal cyber-security sources “close to the investigation” have indeed confirmed that the FBI does have reason to believe that North Korea may be involved in some capacity after all. Read more…

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Report: North Korea May Be Behind Sony Pictures Hack After All

North Korea’s Brand New Ballistic Sub Discontinued by Soviets in 1990

Looks like North Korea’s engineers have been hard at work brushing up on their obsolete Soviet-era technology. Because after acquiring 10 discontinued Soviet subs, everyone’s favorite little warmongering-dictatorship-that-could has finally rendered the outdated ballistic vessels seaworthy—and it only took them 21 years. Read more…

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North Korea’s Brand New Ballistic Sub Discontinued by Soviets in 1990

Kim Jong-un Confirms Design For a $200 Million International Airport

First Instagram , now this: An architecture and planning firm in Hong Kong has reportedly been chosen to turn a military airstrip in North Korea into an international airport. The plans show two donut-shaped terminals that could contribute to what some are describing as a tiny-but-not-imperceptible North Korean economic boom. Read more…        

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Kim Jong-un Confirms Design For a $200 Million International Airport