Comments

AlBme

Technology

Video: The View From the Highest Man-Made Point on Earth

By Posted on 11.13.2009 17 Comments
There aren't too many YouTube videos capable of inducing measurable feelings of vertigo while you watch comfortable at your desk, but this is one of them. It was filmed by a brave, brave Scotsman standing on top of the world.

11.16.2009 at 05:21pm - Comment by AlBme

I can see Sarah Palin's house!
Technology

National Security Agency's Surveillance Data Could Fill Two States by 2015

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 11.13.2009 12 Comments
We always knew that the National Security Agency collects a lot of surveillance data from satellites and by other means, but we never quite imagined it was this much: the NSA estimates it will have enough data by 2015 to fill a million datacenters spread across the equivalent combined area of Delaware and Rhode Island. The NSA wants to store yottabytes of data, and one yottabyte comes to 1,000,000,000,000,000 GB.

11.16.2009 at 04:52pm - Comment by AlBme

Maybe they can retrieve the email address of that Nigerian lawyer who says I have "a hundred thousand million dollars" waiting for me -- which is only a small share of the total amount, BTW. I accidentally deleted it. (Google laughs at the NSA.)
Technology

Three Extreme High-Speed Rail Concepts for Las Vegas

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 10.23.2009 8 Comments
Slot machine junkies and poker sharks could soon ride one of three futuristic high speed trains from Los Angeles to casino mecca Las Vegas. But that's assuming developers get on board with a tubular rail, a maglev transporter for cars, or an air-cushioned train.

10.27.2009 at 07:19pm - Comment by AlBme

Far-out is absolutely right! Look, there already is proven technology being used in Japan and Europe with trains that travel upwards of 260 MPH. Why reinvent the wheel? The Tubular Rail will take far too long to develop -- that's if it's even a viable concept! The rings would have to be much much closer than the painting shows. What if you have to stop the train, or a malfunction causes it to stop in the middle of nowhere? Will it sag? How do you then start it up again? AVT SolaTrek does not solve the main motivation behind building the high speed rail -- energy efficiency and conservation. Why not just drive to the damned depot and load your car while the train is -- you know -- stopped? Use a special shuttle, which you have to drive to anyway, to accelerate and catch up with a moving train? Why bother? That idea is DOA. The third idea actually is the only quasi-sensible one in the bunch. Most of the technology has already been developed. However, it may be a bit too ambitious.
Gadgets

The Future of Laundry: No More Water

By Posted on 10.22.2009 19 Comments
Clean your clothes without putting them—or your utility bills—through the wringer. Xeros’s prototype washing machine uses 90 percent less water than ordinary models, which also eliminates energy-intensive spin cycles and dryer blasts.

10.27.2009 at 06:46pm - Comment by AlBme

If you want to do laundry using one tenth the water, wear your clothes ten times between washes. (But, never your underwear and socks! Geesh!!)
Technology

LHC Reawakens, Sending Proton Beams Running at the Speed of Light

By Amina Elahi Posted on 10.26.2009 12 Comments
Over the weekend, Cern ran particle beams through the Large Hadron Collider for the first time since it was shut down last September. After a helium leak caused magnets to overheat, operations at the LHC were suspended for cleanup and repairs. After tests on October 23 and 25, scientists hope to have the LHC running again in full by November.

10.27.2009 at 06:37pm - Comment by AlBme

You are both right. E=mc². Einstein showed that matter and energy are different aspects of the same thing. Mass is a measure of energy content. It has been shown through countless experiments in the past 100 years that Special Relativity's predictions pretty much hold out. Special Relativity states that particles of any mass, no matter how small, cannot be accelerated to the speed of light. As the velocity increases, relativity states that its relative mass will increase -- requiring much more energy to accelerate it any faster. Eventually, to reach the speed of light, it will require an infinite amount of energy since its mass will be infinite. That's shown by the Lorentz Equation: M_relative = M_rest / √( 1 - v² / c² ) As v approaches c, the denominator approaches zero. So, M_relative approaches infinity. Whatever gaffs got by the PopSci editors, the fact that the worlds largest experiment is slowly building up to full capacity -- finally! -- is really the point.
Technology

Fastest Supercomputer in the World Models Dark Matter, HIV Family Tree Simultaneously

By Stuart Fox Posted on 10.30.2009 20 Comments
In November of last year, scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory switched on Roadrunner, the world's fastest computer. IBM and the Department of Energy built the machine to model nuclear explosions, but two new studies, both released today, are proof that the computer's massive power has been at least as devoted to peaceful science as to simulating thermonuclear weapons.

10.27.2009 at 05:13pm - Comment by AlBme

How about a game of Minesweeper where the mine explosions are simulated, 100-Megaton, Thermo-Nuclear blasts? Now THAT'S an Easter Egg!
Technology

Disney Sees Future of Media as Format-Independent

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 10.21.2009 3 Comments
A digital revolution in past years has gradually unlocked movies and television shows from their traditional formats. Now Disney wants to take things a step further and update the idea of media ownership. Their plan would give owners an access code that allows them to view their entertainment on any number of platforms and gadgets.

10.25.2009 at 09:06pm - Comment by AlBme

Pay once. View, read or listen where-ever, whenever, however, on whatever, forever? Sounds like someone is finally getting it. As for the why-evers? We'll just leave that to taste.
Cars

Next-Wave Mexico City Taxi Concept May See Daylight

By Posted on 10.20.2009 7 Comments
Industrial designer Alberto Villareal had an idea for a zero-emissions taxicab to replace the copious cabs of his home domicile: smog-choked Mexico City. He named the fuel-cell-powered taxi, which maximizes space while reducing weight and uses solar power to supplement its electrical system, MX-Libris. Officials at Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany thought MX-Libris was such a novel solution to the city's car-for-hire ills that they gave Villareal their coveted Red Dot design award in 2008. Now, Villareal says two Mexico-based companies -- a taxi distribution and management firm and a car body maker -- could be ready to build a prototype of MX-Libris, and maybe even put it into production.

10.21.2009 at 04:51pm - Comment by AlBme

Weebles wobble. But, they don't fall down.
Science

NASA Scientist to Distraught Dupes: The World Won't End in 2012

By Clay Dillow Posted on 10.20.2009 31 Comments
As it turns out, the end is not near after all. While you can't keep a good doomsday rumor down, NASA Senior Scientist David Morrison is trying to dispel widely circulated rumors that cosmic events will lead to the end of life on Earth, if not outright destroy the planet, on Dec. 21, 2012.

10.21.2009 at 04:46pm - Comment by AlBme

Who said I was distraught?
Science

Physicists Calculate Exact Number of Alternate Universes

By Stuart Fox Posted on 10.16.2009 32 Comments
For some time, physicists have theorized about the existence of alternate universes. In fact, some models of physics require multiple universes, to explain some rarely observed phenomena. But, other than obvious ones like The Man In The High Castle Universe where the Nazis won WWII, the Earth-295 Age of Apocalypse Universe, and the Terran Empire "Mirror Mirror" Universe, just how many alternate universes are there? Well, some Stanford University physicists have answered that question, and the magic number is: 10^10^16 other realities.

10.16.2009 at 07:02pm - Comment by AlBme

I hate this crap! First they come up with some insanely large number "about 10^10^10^7" -- (They use the modifier 'about' as if that mattered! Numbers this large have no business associating with the word 'about'!) Then they make an idiotic claim that "no individual could perceive more than 10^10^16 realities different from our own!" Find me one experiment -- (Just one!!!) -- where an individual has perceived even ONE reality other than our own!! (Acid trips don't count!) I bet whole nations to donuts that they are String Theorists.