Nanodot-Based Smartphone Battery Recharges In 30 Seconds

Zothecula (1870348) writes “At Microsoft’s Think Next symposium in Tel Aviv, Israeli startup StoreDot has demonstrated the prototype of a nanodot-based smartphone battery it claims can fully charge in just under 30 seconds. With the company having plans for mass production, this technology could change the way we interact with portable electronics, and perhaps even help realize the dream of a fast-charging electric car.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Nanodot-Based Smartphone Battery Recharges In 30 Seconds

Mazda Says Its Upcoming Gas-Powered Cars Will Emit Less CO2 Than Electric Cars

cartechboy writes: “One of the arguments for electric cars is that we are reducing greenhouse gases and emitting less CO2 than vehicles with an internal combustion engine. But Mazda says its next-generation SkyActiv engines will be so efficient, they’ll emit less CO2 than an electric car. In fact, the automaker goes so far as to say these new engines will be cleaner to run than electric cars. Is it possible? Yes, but it’s all about the details. It’ll depend on the test cycles for each region. Vehicles are tested differently in Europe than in the U.S., and that variation could make all the difference when it comes to these types of claims. At the end of the day whether future Mazdas with gasoline-powered engines are cleaner than electric cars or not, every little bit in the effort to reduce our carbon emissions per mile is a step in the right direction, right?” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Mazda Says Its Upcoming Gas-Powered Cars Will Emit Less CO2 Than Electric Cars

Job Automation and the Minimum Wage Debate

An anonymous reader writes “An article at FiveThirtyEight looks at the likelihood of various occupations being replaced by automation. It mentions President Obama’s proposed increase to the federal minimum wage, saying big leaps in automation could reshape that debate. ‘[The wage increase] from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour could make it worthwhile for employers to adopt emerging technologies to do the work of their low-wage workers. But can a robot really do a janitor’s job? Can software fully replace a fast-food worker? Economists have long considered these low-skilled, non-routine jobs as less vulnerable to technological replacement, but until now, quantitative estimates of a job’s vulnerability have been missing from the debate.’ Many minimum-wage jobs are reportedly at high risk, including restaurant workers, cashiers, and telemarketers. A study rated the probability of computerization within 20 years (PDF): 92% for retail salespeople, 97% for cashiers, and 94% for waitstaff. There are other jobs with a high likelihood, but they employ fewer people and generally have a higher pay rate: tax preparers (99%), freight workers (99%), and legal secretaries (98%).” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Job Automation and the Minimum Wage Debate

Top U.S. Scientific Misconduct Official Quits In Frustration With Bureaucracy

sandbagger writes “The director of the U.S. government office that monitors scientific misconduct in biomedical research has resigned after 2 years out of frustration with the ‘remarkably dysfunctional’ federal bureaucracy. Officials at the Office of Scientific Integrity spent ‘exorbitant amounts of time’ in meetings and generating data and reports to make their divisions look productive, David Wright writes. He huge amount of time he spent trying to get things done made much of his time at ORI ‘the very worst job I have ever had.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Top U.S. Scientific Misconduct Official Quits In Frustration With Bureaucracy

An Ultra-Flat Air Conditioner That Could Be Mistaken For Artwork

Those living in apartments or homes without central air have to come to terms with ugly, boxy air conditioners hanging out their windows. It’s either that, or be roasted alive in the summer. But it doesn’t have to be that way, not when LG is somehow packing air conditioners into these ultra-slim housings that hang on your wall like artwork. Read more…        

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An Ultra-Flat Air Conditioner That Could Be Mistaken For Artwork

Environmentalists Propose $50 Billion Buyout of Coal Industry – To Shut It Down

cartechboy writes “What’s $50 billion among friends, right? At least Felix Kramer and Gil Friend are thinking big, so there is that. The pair have published an somewhat audacious proposal to spend $50 billion dollars to buy up and then shut down every single private and public coal company operating in the United States. The scientific benefits: eliminating acid rain, airborne emissions, etc). The shutdown proposal includes the costs of retraining for the approximately 87, 000 coal-industry workers who would lose their jobs over the proposed 10-year phaseout of coal. Since Kramer and Friend don’t have $50 billion, they suggest the concept could be funded as a public service and if governments can’t do it maybe some rich guys can — and the names Gates, Buffett and Bloomberg come up. Any takers?” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Environmentalists Propose $50 Billion Buyout of Coal Industry – To Shut It Down

You’ll Never Trip Over This In-Ground Solar Light

They’re the perfect accent to a well-manicured backyard, but the solar-powered lights dotting your gardens and walkways are just one misstep away from being accidentally destroyed. So Ikea’s come up with the perfect solution , LED lights that you press into your lawn so that they’re flush to the ground while still providing plenty of light. Read more…        

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You’ll Never Trip Over This In-Ground Solar Light

This Woman Secretly Dubbed American Movies During the Cold War

In the 1980s Irina Margareta Nistor worked as a translator of TV programs in Romania under the Communist regime. But in her spare time she secretly dubbed over 3, 000 banned movie titles, all VHS tapes smuggled in from the West. These tapes quickly spread throughout Romania. Nobody knew Nistor’s name. But everybody knew her voice. Read more…        

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This Woman Secretly Dubbed American Movies During the Cold War

Nvidia’s First Maxwell Card Is a Power-Sipping Screamer

Nvidia’s Tegra K1 is damned pretty for mobile tech, but the desktop team hasn’t just been sitting around waiting for Tegra to catch up. Say hello to Maxwell—the new architecture on the desktop side—and the GTX 750Ti. It’s a tiny little sucker that’s worth its weight in watts. Read more…        

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Nvidia’s First Maxwell Card Is a Power-Sipping Screamer

L.A. Building’s Lights Interfere With Cellular Network, FCC Says

alphadogg writes “When a certain Los Angeles office building lights up, it’s a dark day for nearby cellphone users, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Fluorescent lights at Ernst & Young Plaza, a 41-story tower near the heart of downtown, emit frequencies that interfere with the Verizon Wireless 700MHz network, the agency said in a citation issued against the building owner. The FCC’s message comes through loud and clear in the filing: the building owner could be fined up to $16, 000 a day if it keeps using the interfering lights, up to a total of $112, 500. The alleged violation could also lead to ‘criminal sanctions, including imprisonment, ‘ the citation says.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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L.A. Building’s Lights Interfere With Cellular Network, FCC Says