Tag: smallest

Boeing offers a $2 million prize for a working jetpack

It’s 2017, and as the refrain goes, where are the flying cars? Boeing is more interested in “personal flying devices” — aka, jetpacks — and is partnering with new organization GoFly to post a $2 million bounty for working designs. Kind of like an X Prize competition, the partners are giving teams two years to develop their tech before whomever impresses the judges at a “final fly-off” takes home money from the GoFly Prize pool. Boeing and other big names in aviation (along with DARPA) will lend their mentorship and technical expertise to the teams over the course of the contest. Winning is simple: The jetpack must carry a person 20 miles without refueling or recharging with vertical (or nearly vertical) take-off and landing. Teams will get technical guidelines — the competition is seeking a solution anyone can use that is ultra-compact, quiet and “urban-compatible” — but how they design or engineer their “personal flying device” is up to them. Competition prize money will be doled out in three phases: Ten teams with interesting written concepts will be given $20, 000 prizes, then four $50, 000 will be handed out for the best prototypes and revised technical specifications, before a winner at the “final fly-off” takes home $1 million. Even if they don’t win, teams may qualify for supplementary prizes at the last event, including $100, 000 for “disruptive advancement” of state-of-the-art aviation tech, $250, 000 for quietest entry and $250, 000 for the smallest. Teams can register for the first phase of competition now on the GoFly Prize site until April 4th, 2018. After that, teams must register for Phase II by December 8th, 2018. Source: GoFly Prize

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Boeing offers a $2 million prize for a working jetpack

Apple announces the water-resistant iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

Apple accidentally introduced the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, the latest iterations of its premium smartphone, via Twitter, before deleting the tweets. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus look remarkably similar to the phones they replace — this is the smallest generational design shift in the iPhone’s history — but that’s not to say nothing has changed. The antenna bands on the back of the previous models have been made more discreet; they now hug the edges of the device. This repositioning has allowed Apple to squeeze in larger camera bumps on the back. They’re now “water-resistant, ” and have stereo speakers. And although they haven’t said so yet, there’s no headphone port to be seen As hinted at by the larger bumps, the cameras for both models are new. The iPhone 7 Plus — which is sporting that rumored “piano black” look in the render — has a dual-camera setup that we’ll learn more about soon. The iPhone 7 has a 12-megapixel “low-light loving” camera with optical image stabilization. The new phones will be available on September 16th, with pre-orders set to open today. This story is developing, please refresh your page for more information… Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple’s “See You” event.

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Apple announces the water-resistant iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

20 minute Uber ride cost $1,114.71 on New Year’s Eve

After Matt Lindsay celebrated New Year’s Eve in Southwood Community Centre near Edmonton, he hailed an Uber to take him and his friends home. The driver who picked up Matt warned him that the “surge rate” was 8.9 times the regular fare. Lindsay accepted the surge and took the ride, which lasted 20 minutes. From CBC : Lindsay said he was using his previous trips with Uber as a base understanding of what the trip would cost. “Generally Uber is very affordable. I can get from northside to downtown for under $20.” He has taken a couple of rides at a surge rate of two times the regular amount, which he said tallied $77. “With the amount of people in the vehicle and a similar distance, I figured it would be a similar fare.” Lindsay said people are vulnerable after they’ve been drinking and surge rates can be confusing. Lindsay said Uber had offered to reduce his fare by half. Image: Prathan Chorruangsak / Shutterstock.com

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20 minute Uber ride cost $1,114.71 on New Year’s Eve

Scientists make a transistor from a single molecule

You’re looking at what could be not just one of the smallest semiconductor parts ever, but one of the smallest semiconductor parts possible . A worldwide research team has built a transistor that consists of a single copper phthalocyanine molecule, a dozen indium atoms and an indium arsenide backing material. The trick was to abandon the usual mechanics of a transistor, which normally controls current by modulating the gate voltage, in favor of a field effect. Here, you only need to vary the distance of the gate (in this case, the atoms) to modulate electricity. Don’t start preparing for a world full of tiny-but-complex gadgets just yet. The scientists created their transistor in a near-total vacuum, at a temperature barely above absolute zero. That’s a far cry from real-world conditions, and it’ll take much more research before transistors this small are in devices you can actually buy. Nonetheless, the breakthrough is promising — it shows that there’s still a long, long way to go before we hit the physical limits of electronics . [Image credit: US Naval Research Laboratory] Filed under: Science Comments Via: IEEE Spectrum Source: NRL , Nature

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Scientists make a transistor from a single molecule

Extreme closeup! IBM makes ‘world’s smallest movie’ using atoms (video)

After taking a few shadowy pictures for the scientific world’s paparazzi, the atom is now ready for its closeup. Today, a team of IBM scientists are bypassing the big screen to unveil what they call the “world’s smallest movie.” This atomic motion picture was created with the help of a two-ton IBM-made microscope that operates at a bone-chilling negative 268 degrees Celsius. This hardware was used to control a probe that pulled and arranged atoms for stop-motion shots used in the 242-frame film. A playful spin on microcomputing, the short was made by the same team of IBM eggheads who recently developed the world’s smallest magnetic bit . Now that the atom’s gone Hollywood, what’s next, a molecular entourage? Filed under: Storage , Science , Alt Comments

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Extreme closeup! IBM makes ‘world’s smallest movie’ using atoms (video)