Tag: power

How Japan Lost Track of 640kg of Plutonium

Lasrick sends this quote from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Most people would agree that keeping track of dangerous material is generally a good idea. So it may come as a surprise to some that the arrangements that are supposed to account for weapon-grade fissile materials—plutonium and highly enriched uranium—are sketchy at best. The most recent example involves several hundreds kilograms of plutonium that appear to have fallen through the cracks in various reporting arrangements. … [A Japanese researcher discovered] that the public record of Japan’s plutonium holdings failed to account for about 640 kilograms of the material. The error made its way to the annual plutonium management report that Japan voluntarily submits to the International Atomic Energy Agency … This episode may have been a simple clerical error, but it was yet another reminder of the troubling fact that we know very little about the amounts of fissile material that are circulating around the globe. The only reason the discrepancy was discovered in this case was the fact that Japan has been unusually transparent about its plutonium stocks. … No other country does this. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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How Japan Lost Track of 640kg of Plutonium

Foxconn Beings Replacing Workers With Robots

redletterdave (2493036) writes The largest private employer in all of China and one of the biggest supply chain manufacturers in the world, Foxconn announced it will soon start using robots to help assemble devices at its several sprawling factories across China. Apple, one of Foxconn’s biggest partners to help assemble its iPhones, iPads, will be the first company to use the new service. Foxconn said its new “Foxbots” will cost roughly $20, 000 to $25, 000 to make, but individually be able to build an average of 30, 000 devices. According to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou, the company will deploy 10, 000 robots to its factories before expanding the rollout any further. He said the robots are currently in their “final testing phase.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Foxconn Beings Replacing Workers With Robots

India Launches Five Foreign Satellites

vasanth writes: “India has put into orbit five foreign satellites, including one built by France two from Canada and one each from Singapore and Germany. The PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) has so far successfully launched 67 satellites, including 40 foreign ones, into space. The PSLV costs about 17 million USD and the cost is seen as a major advantage India has over other countries in terms of commercial launches. When talking about the cost of the project, the Prime Minister of India noted that the launch was cheaper than Hollywood film Gravity. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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India Launches Five Foreign Satellites

Bug In Fire TV Screensaver Tears Through 250 GB Data Cap

jfruh (300774) writes Tech writer Tyler Hayes had never come close to hitting the 250 GB monthly bandwidth cap imposed by Cox Cable — until suddenly he was blowing right through it, eating up almost 80 GB a day. Using the Mac network utility little snitch, he eventually tracked down the culprit: a screensaver on his new Kindle Fire TV. A bug in the mosaic screensaver caused downloaded images to remain uncached. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bug In Fire TV Screensaver Tears Through 250 GB Data Cap

Citronella Ink Helps This Clever Newspaper Keep Mosquitoes At Bay

In some parts of the world a mosquito bite is a minor inconvenience that might result in a few days of uncomfortable itching. In other parts, though, the pests spread deadly diseases like malaria and dengue fever. So for the 2014 World Health Day, ad agency Leo Burnett created the world’s first mosquito-repelling newspaper in Sri Lanka. Read more…

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Citronella Ink Helps This Clever Newspaper Keep Mosquitoes At Bay

Half of Germany’s Power Supplied By Solar, Briefly

assertation (1255714) writes with this interesting tidbit from Reuters about the state of solar power in Germany: German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour — equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity — through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said. The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and shutting down the remaining nine by 2022. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Half of Germany’s Power Supplied By Solar, Briefly

Will 7nm and 5nm CPU Process Tech Really Happen?

An anonymous reader writes “This article provides a technical look at the challenges in scaling chip production ever downward in the semiconductor industry. Chips based on a 22nm process are running in consumer devices around the world, and 14nm development is well underway. But as we approach 10nm, 7nm, and 5nm, the low-hanging fruit disappears, and several fundamental components need huge technological advancement to be built. Quoting: “In the near term, the leading-edge chip roadmap looks clear. Chips based on today’s finFETs and planar FDSOI technologies will scale to 10nm. Then, the gate starts losing control over the channel at 7nm, prompting the need for a new transistor architecture. … The industry faces some manufacturing challenges beyond 10nm. The biggest hurdle is lithography. To reduce patterning costs, Imec’s CMOS partners hope to insert extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography by 7nm. But EUV has missed several market windows and remains delayed, due to issues with the power source. … By 7nm, the industry may require both EUV and multiple patterning. ‘At 7nm, we need layers down to a pitch of about 21nm, ‘ said Adam Brand, senior director of the Transistor Technology Group at Applied Materials. ‘That’s already below the pitch of EUV by itself. To do a layer like the fin at 21nm, it’s going to take EUV plus double patterning to round out of the gate. So clearly, the future of the industry is a combination of these technologies.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Will 7nm and 5nm CPU Process Tech Really Happen?

Chinese Vendor Could Pay $34.9M FCC Fine In Signal-Jammer Sting

alphadogg writes A Chinese electronics vendor accused of selling signal jammers to U.S. consumers could end up leading the market in one dubious measure: the largest fine ever imposed by the Federal Communications Commission. The agency wants to fine CTS Technology $34, 912, 500 for allegedly marketing 285 models of jammers over more than two years. CTS boldly—and falsely—claimed that some of its jammers were approved by the FCC, according to the agency’s enforcement action released Thursday. Conveniently, CTS’ product detail pages also include a button to “report suspicious activity.” The proposed fine, which would be bigger than any the FCC has levied for anti-competitive behavior, or a wardrobe malfunction, comes from adding up the maximum fines for each model of jammer the company allegedly sold in the U.S. The agency also ordered CTS, based in Shenzhen, China, to stop marketing illegal jammers to U.S. consumers and identify the buyer of each jammer it sold in the U.S. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chinese Vendor Could Pay $34.9M FCC Fine In Signal-Jammer Sting

Elon Musk vows for 2026 manned Mars mission—wants self-sustaining city

Elon Musk just said that his SpaceX spaceships will get humans to Mars by 2026, with or without NASA. It may seem cocky, but coming from a man who has built this entire company so he can die on Mars —and to “help ensure the survival of humanity”—those words are not to be taken lightly. Read more…

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Elon Musk vows for 2026 manned Mars mission—wants self-sustaining city

Unisys Phasing Out Decades-Old Mainframe Processor For x86

angry tapir writes: Unisys is phasing out its decades-old mainframe processor. The chip is used in some of Unisys’ ClearPath flagship mainframes, but the company is moving to Intel’s x86 chips in Libra and Dorado servers in the ClearPath line. The aging CMOS chip will be “sunsetted” in Libra servers by the end of August and in the Dorado line by the end of 2015. Dorado 880E and 890E mainframes will use the CMOS chip until the servers are phased out, which is set to happen by the end of 2015. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Unisys Phasing Out Decades-Old Mainframe Processor For x86