Its all about technology.

Scientist Shoots Himself Underwater For The Sake Of Science – This Is What Happened

2016-02-11T03:59:00.002-08:00

We recently saw a physicist putting his life literally on the line – Andreas Wahl – for the sake of physics and now he has done it again. This time, however, he decided not to hang to death but rather shoot himself using a loaded gun underwater to carry out an experiment to demonstrate the power of fluid resistance.

He stood in a swimming pool and fired at himself using an assault rifle that was placed a little under 3 meters away from him using a string that was attached to the trigger. He wore goggles, indeed safety first and last and foremost.

The video comes from a Norwegian science show that is aired on channel NRK Viten. In the YouTube description of the video, it is stated, “It’s harder to create movement in water than in air, because water molecules are closer together than air molecules. To show the difference in resistance, physicist Andreas Wahl puts himself in front of a weapon submerged in water and fires it – on himself.”

Slow motion cameras were employed for better filming the effects of the bullet’s force on the water. This is what happened:

Biski amphibious motorcycle can switch from land to water in just 5 seconds

2016-02-08T23:01:00.001-08:00

Riding your motorcycle into a lake is definitely not the brightest idea, unless of course, you’re talking about the Biski motorcycle. The amphibious vehicle converts from motorcycle into jet ski in less than 5 seconds.

The product is being produced by Gibbs, a company specialized in amphibious vehicles which is also developing the Triski and already produces the Quadski (as the name suggests, a tricycle and a four-wheeler, respectively, that work both on land and in the water), the latter can already be purchased for US$40,000.

Watch the video here :

According to Gibbs, the Biski can reach 60 km/h on water and up to 130 km/h on land with its 55-horsepower, twin cylinder engine. Powered by gasoline, the motorcycle weighs around 228 kilograms and takes around 5 seconds to convert to water mode retracting the wheels out of the way and switching to jet propulsion. Gibbs hasn’t yet revealed when exactly the Biski will be available for purchase or even how much it will cost.

Earthrace, worlds fastest biodiesel boat !

2016-02-06T03:50:00.003-08:00

Earthrace was an amazing powerboat that holds the record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe (60 days, 23 hours, 49 minutes). The new world record was completed in 27 June 2008 by skipper and founder of Earthrace, Pete Bethune, and his volunteer International crew. Throughout, the boat was run on 100% biofuel with a net carbon zero footprint in order to draw attention to the need for renewable fuels and sustainable living.

The Union Internationale Motonautique presented a certificate to the team in Italy on 24 October 2009 in official recognition of the world recrord.

Soon after that, it was announced that the Earthrace and its skipper, Pete Bethune, would accompany the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) in its 2009-10 operation (named 'Waltzing Matilda') against the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Sea Shepherd noted that the vessel would be the only one in the fleet fast enough to keep up with all the Japanes vessels.
The boat was painted black, refitted and strengthened with extra carbon and kevlar, and re-named The Ady Gil, after the benefactor, a Hollywood lighting-equipment magnate) who donated $1 million towards the purchase of the boat for SSCS.

On 6 January 2010, the Earthrace/Ady Gil was rammed by the Japanese whaling essel Shonan Maru #2. All the crew (with the exception of our mascot, 'Eartha' who was lost at sea) were rescued with only minor injuries. Sadly, the boat could not be saved You can read rest of the story, including Pete's detention in a Japanese prison.

Scientists Design Tires That Can Repair Themselves After Getting Punctured

2016-02-06T02:24:00.000-08:00

A flat tire can result into quite a tiresome experience and at times a very frustrating one. Thanks to new technology, you might not have to experience this ordeal anymore. A research is being carried out in Europe that is focused on how a damaged tire will be able to heal itself within a few minutes.
Right now, the manufacturing process for tires employs the use of vulcanization process. The process adds sulfur along with other compounds thus enhancing the durability of the finished product by creating cross-links between the polymer chains that are responsible for making up the material. The only downside being that once these links are broken they can’t be repaired.
A team comprised of scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research in Germany, the Tampere University of Technology in Finland and the Dresden University of Technology in Germany are working through this limitation by taking out the vulcanization process from the manufacturing process.

The team has learned that by imparting a nitrogen/carbon compound they are able to acquire the same effect with the added benefit of polymer links being able to form again after having being broken.
In a series of tests, the rubber created using this process exhibited its healing power by tackling cuts in them at room temperature. Heating the rubber to 100 ºC for the first ten minutes sped up the process. After 8 days, the healed pieces of rubber were capable of withstanding pressures of up to 52 bar. The team speculates that adding reinforcing agents such as carbon black or silica would enhance the self-healing rubber’s strength even more.

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Why You Should Never Point A Laser At Anyone’s Face

2016-02-06T02:22:00.000-08:00

Laser technology has seen an unprecedented number of uses after being perfected in recent times with cutting edge applications in low-cost sheet cutting, navigation and precise measurement being some of them. While it is being used in many industries around the world, the health and safety code in these setups ensure that the deadly laser doesn’t harm the workers. But, same cannot be said of these common laser devices that have been introduced in the market mostly used in toys and instruments. Many of these devices are handheld, and people get carried away and abuse them openly. A shocking stat shows that scores of aircraft pilots throughout the world suffer eye damage when targeted by lasers from the ground when flying at a low altitude. Some of them are left with serious consequences and even lose their jobs in the process as well.

Laser technology has seen an unprecedented number of uses after being perfected in recent times with cutting edge applications in low-cost sheet cutting, navigation and precise measurement being some of them. While it is being used in many industries around the world, the health and safety code in these setups ensure that the deadly laser doesn’t harm the workers. But, same cannot be said of these common laser devices that have been introduced in the market mostly used in toys and instruments. Many of these devices are handheld, and people get carried away and abuse them openly. A shocking stat shows that scores of aircraft pilots throughout the world suffer eye damage when targeted by lasers from the ground when flying at a low altitude. Some of them are left with serious consequences and even lose their jobs in the process as well.

There is also a growing misconception about the green lasers that is allowing people to misuse them. For some dubious reason, people have arrived at the fact that green lasers aren’t harmful to the human eye, only red lasers are, which is just nonsense. A recent study shows us that 90% of the green pointers used in the US don’t lie in the 1 or 2 safety levels. In fact, they are producing up to a hundred times more dangerous amplified light than the allowed levels. People need to understand that these green ones are just as bad as the red ones and stop pointing them at each other thinking they are harmless. The FDA and the EU are now working hard to remove these dangerous green lasers from the market, but nothing matches the right level of awareness in this issue that is quite serious. Especially in the case of airline pilots, the laser cannot only damage their eyes, but it can also result in a lapse of concentration that may cost us lives one day.
So, all in all, don’t go for the fancy headlamps, dazzling pointers and toys before researching about the kind of lasers they operate. It is a simple SOP that may save people’s eyes and even lives one day.

Chinese Company Unveils A New Supersized Drone That You Can Ride In

2016-02-06T02:10:00.000-08:00

Ehang has unveiled an amazing drone here at CES 2016. Ehang is a Chinese drone maker and has taken the veils off of a drone that weighs in at 500 pounds and is an autonomous transportation vehicle for a single person. Say hello to Ehang 184!

It is pretty big, however, has been designed quite elegantly. As per the company, it is capable of flying at 100km/hr on a 23-minute trip and can support a weight of about 100kg. User makes use of an app to plan the trip. All that you need to do is to select the destination and get in. The drone will take off and shall take you to your desired spot. It features a fail-safe system that works to protect the user and in case of any system failure; the drone goes into hover mode or attempts to find a safe landing spot.

This amazing all-electric drone features eight propellers, eight motors, four arms and two sets of sensors along with a redundancy to make sure that flight is safe even during bad weather. According to the website, although the vehicle is thunderstorm-proof, the command center will not allow takeoff during weather conditions that are best described as extreme.

The downside? It is not legalized in the US yet. Ehang’s co-founder and CFO, Shang Wen Hsiao said that the company is in talks with the FAA – it requires 28 hours of flight time to ascertain air worthiness. The vehicle is expected to take off and land vertically at targets that have been pre-set.

The company has also had meetings with officials in New Zealand, Los Angeles, California and China. New Zealand is interested in experimental tests while the Chinese government supports it but has to go through the application process. The company has successfully carried out more than 100 flights with a person onboard. The expected cost of Ehang 184 is supposed to be around $200,000-300,000.

Some day, you might fly inside this Ehang 184 Drone. Seriously. #CES2016 pic.twitter.com/5dY4ysmWqE
— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) January 6, 2016

Do You Know That USA Unintentionally Dropped 4 Atomic Bombs On Spain. Here’s The Story

2016-02-06T01:53:00.002-08:00

Bombs On Spain. Here’s The Story

It was in 1966 when a B-52 bomber of the United States Air Force with four Hydrogen bombs onboard was undergoing an air-to-air refuel from a huge KC-135 Stratotanker when both collided and came crashing down to the Earth in one of the worst nuclear disasters to have ever faced by the USA or its NATO allies. Each of those Hydrogen bombs had the destructive capability of about hundred bombs like those dropped on Hiroshima and thankfully, they weren’t armed or else that part of Spain would have been a nuclear holocaust unprecedented and deadlier than our wildest imaginations. Despite the efforts of the NATO forces to locate those bombs and bring them under nuclear regulation authorities, the crash still has ramification today, fifty years after the horrific accident.To the people of Palomares along the coast of Spain’s beautiful Andalusian region, the morning of January 17, 1966, exactly fifty years ago was routine. It wasn’t until men came in camouflage and started evacuating the entire area due to radiation leak that people got to know what was wrong. As a result, to this day, the area is closed for people due to fears of radiation leaks. Here is a sign warning people not to overstep this boundary.
Here is the location of the area on the map along with potential danger areas.

It all happened during the refuelling attempt made over the region. The B-52 was on a standard Cold War-era 24-hour mission. It was aimed to provide deterrence towards any potential attack made by the Soviets against the US allies from Eastern Europe. While the refuelling was done, the refuelling beacon overshot the bomber and struck the craft with such a force that its entire left wing was blown away. First to go was the poor refueller and its 30,000-gallon jet fuel was ignited and caused complete destruction.
The B-52 with its huge wingspan took some time to fall and eventually most of the crew members got out using parachutes while they haplessly watched the nuclear bombs plummeting towards the ground. It must have been a truly hopeless site. The crew knew what they had unleashed on the area. Not instant destruction like in Hiroshima or Nagasaki or even Chernobyl, but as slower, deadlier dirty bombs that could expose millions and millions of people directly to radiation. The nuclear bombs didn’t detonate, but what we need to realize is that they become dirty bombs instead and silently spew radiation to an even larger radius.
Here Spanish workers look at the wreckage of the aircraft. Remember they are looking for powerful dirty bombs with no protective layers on them.

One of the H-bombs is seen here recovered from the sea with its parachutes intact.

Over 50,000 cubic meters of Earth remained contaminated with radiation. It wasn’t until last year in 2015 that the US Secretary of State John Kerry signed an agreement with the Spanish government for successful disposition of the contaminated soil. Why did the US, the champion of Nuclear code and Nuclear non-proliferation take that amount of time to correct its own wrongdoing? I guess the successive governments didn’t give a damn until now.
Since the aircraft involved in the crash were huge, the residents also suffered from the incoming debris directly. Landing gear pieces, fuselage and other parts of the plane were thrown at a considerable area around the crash. 83-year-old Pedro Flores was one the ground when one of the bombs landed practically on his feet and exploded the conventional blast material inside that converted it into a dirty bomb. One of his mates even kicked it before they realized something was wrong and they hastily backed away from it. I cannot begin to apprehend the kind of damage their tissues would have faced from the radiation in such close quarters.

Eventually, all four bombs were recovered including one from the sea shown above. It was lucky that only a small amount of weapons-grade Plutonium was found to be blown around, so people were relatively safer owing to their stroke of luck. But, Palomeras itself, wasn’t and it was soon evacuated by the khakis.

Here you can see barrels and barrel of contaminated soil being dug up and stacked.

Thank God those days are finally over as countries like US have become more responsible with their nuclear weapons with the passage of time and have limited these crazy military doctrines with live bombs onboard. They now rely more on missile defense systems.

Here’s How You Can Boost Your Wi-Fi Signal Using An Aluminum Can

2016-01-22T20:49:00.001-08:00

Every now and then you find yourself in your home without the Wi-Fi signal. It sucks. You actually have to make changes to your room’s setting so that you get strong signals on your bed or your table. A little bit of knowledge about how the Wi-Fi router works can help you boost its signal though. What follows is a guide on how to enhance the Wi-Fi signal using a simple can (beer/soda).

Before we jump into the DIY guide, let’s talk about how a Wi-Fi signal works. In simplest of words, it makes use of radio waves similar to TV or smartphones. The Wi-Fi router receives the data via the broadband connection and then transmits it as a radio signal which is then picked up by wireless adapters of our devices. The signals are stronger closer to the router and drop as you move away from it. The signals are extended out using the antenna incorporated into the router, however, sometimes that antenna just doesn’t cut it and that’s where YouTube channel KipKay comes in!All that you required for this particular project are scissors or a knife along with an empty aluminum can (1 or 2 depending upon number of antennas on your router).

Once you have washed the empty can, make use of scissors or knife for cutting out the bottom. Now repeat the process at the top as well but don’t cut all the way, instead leave an inch or two of top (refer to picture).

Now place a straight cut from top to bottom opposite to the not-cut-top and fan the tin out into a U shape.

Make use of the opening at the bottom for placing your DIY booster over the antenna of the router.

What the video here...

Intel prepping a 10-core Core i7 for launch next year

2015-11-14T01:54:00.001-08:00

Feeling like the typical four or eight (Extreme Edition) cores in your current Core i7 processor are holding you back? Well, you’re in luck. Intel is going to offer up their very first Core i7 with ten processing cores before the end of next summer.

While it’ll be the first desktop-class CPU with that many cores, it won’t actually be Intel’s first 10-core processor. They’ve been making Xeon chips with at least 10 cores since 2011, and some with as many as 15. They’re aimed primarily at servers and enterprise-class workstations, though. Next year, however, they’ll finally offer up a deca-core processor for the consumer market.

That chip will be the Core i7-6950X , a 10-core beast with Hyper-threading support that allows it to handle 20 independent instructions at any given time. It’s based on Intel’s new 14nm process, down from 22nm on Ivy Bridge and Haswell. The 6950X should be clocked at 3GHz, but it’s not yet known where Turbo Boost will top out.

With 10 cores and a seat at the top of Intel’s consumer desktop processor line-up, it won’t be aimed at just any consumer. The i7-6950X will carry a price that reflects as much, likely somewhere around $1,000 like Intel’s previous top-end Core i7 chips. It will reportedly, however, be compatible with existing X99- based mainboards, so at least you won’t have to part with several hundred dollars on additional parts if you really just want the new CPU.

If, however, you want maximum performance out of your upgrade, you may want to replace your RAM, too. The new Broadwell chips can handle up to DDR4-2400, rather than topping out at DDR4-2133 like Haswell does.

HUDWAY Glass: keeps your eyes on the road while driving

2015-10-26T02:50:00.003-07:00

Head-up displays are becoming more common in high-end cars, but stand-alone units remain beyond the financial reach of many drivers. The crowdfunded Hudway Glass is a basic device that will take full advantage of your smartphone to give you a flexible HUD on a very modest budget.

When it comes to safe driving, HUD technology must walk a fine line to be useful rather than harmful. Drivers often avert their eyes to check their phones or look at the speedometer, so projecting that information on the windshield can prevent dangerous distractions. On the other hand, studies have suggested that displaying too much data on a HUD can reduce driver safety.
The simplicity of the Hudway Glass (particularly when compared to some of its feature-rich alternatives) could help it keep on the right side of that safety line. This device is a simple smartphone cradle that sticks on top of your dashboard while a transparent plastic lens reflects and optically enhances key pieces of data displayed by your phone.
Users can pick from a number of apps that use their phone's GPS and accelerometer to provide data like driving speed, location, and turn-by-turn directions. In keeping with the safety theme, Hudway's own app for Android and iOS doesn't visually overwhelm users, but instead focuses on displaying only a few bits of data at a time, making them large, easily readable, and (hopefully) not too distracting.

The "glass" at the core of the device is a sturdy and lightweight plastic lens shaped to enlarge a smartphone's image by 20 percent, while minimizing aberrations that would distort the view of the road. A coating on the lens also cancels the double image effect you would experience if you were to simply stick your phone on top of the dashboard and let the windshield take care of the reflection.
As the device is not powered, there are some limits to the brightness, contrast and general quality of the reflected image. In particular, the creators warn that some small details might become illegible when drivers are directly facing the sun, which is yet another reason to stick to apps that don't overload the screen with information.
The Hudway Glass will come with two mounts – a compact one that should fit most cars, and a tiltable one that lets users better adjust the angle at which the phone is held. Both stick to the dashboard using industrial strength adhesive, hold the phone in place using magnets, and support smartphones as large as the iPhone 6.
Less than two weeks into its Kickstarter campaign, the Glass has already doubled its crowdfunding goal of US$100,000. Interested parties can pledge $49 plus shipping for the device and, if everything goes to plan, Hudway expects to start shipping the budget-yet-futuristic HUD by March next year.

Jaguar 'MindSense' Technology Reads Driver's Brainwaves

2015-06-17T02:41:00.000-07:00

The premium car maker from UK is working on new 'MindSense' technology that promises to read the driver's brainwaves to see if they're concentrating enough on the road. Soon the JLR cars will be able to read your mind and make you aware of your own state through innovative feedback mechanisms. Jaguar believes that this approach will make the roads safer from stressed and distracted drivers which is one of the major causes of road accidents.

This research project at JLR is officially called 'MindSense' and it's based on the mind reading technology developed by NASA to train astronauts. It relies on medical-grade sensors that continuously scan the driver's heart rate, sweating along with brain activity to quickly identify whether the driver is in good condition to drive or not able to concentrate on driving task. It'll also check whether the driver is looking at the road or constantly taking eyes off the road.

Brainwave measurements typically involve attaching the sensors to a headband to be worn by the driver. In a car, this would be impractical. JLR therefore decided to mount the sensors on the steering wheel. JLR spokesperson said that because the sensors are away from driver's head, a special software has been developed to amplify the signals and filter out noise from pure brainwaves.

Dr. Wolfgang Epple, the director of research at JLR said that even if the driver is looking at the road he or she might be daydreaming. They may miss a warning or a sound alert from the car's system. To handle such scenario, the JRL team is including a vibration system in car's steering wheel and pedals. If the brain waves indicate that the driver is not concentrating on driving, the feedback mechanism will quickly vibrate the steering and pedals to get driver's attention.

JRL engineers are also developing a 'mid-air-touch' technology that will guess what buttons is the driver wants to press and then offer successful button selection without touching the touch-screen. A haptic feedback would inform the driver that the button selection was successful. These sensations can be of various types like 'tap' on your finger or 'tingling' on the tip.

Check the video: youtu.be/HW_44KcAn4o

What are Portable Applications?

2011-08-31T01:22:00.001-07:00

Portable Windows applications have gained much popularity lately (which is kind of ironic, since originally all programs where pretty much portable). But what is a portable application? In this simple guide I will try to examine what a portable application is, show advantages and disadvantages, and point you towards how to find them.

Defining features

There is no exact specification of what a portable application is, but the following list contain the properties that are usually assumed when talking about portable software:

No installation. The program is delivered in a zip archive that you only need to extract into a folder of your choice (the “program folder” below) to “install” the program.

This program folder contains everything needed to run the application. No files need to be installed on the host computer first. The exception to this are common runtime files, such as .Net, Java and Visual Basic runtimes, that are usually already installed and in a sense can be seen as part of the runtime environment that everyone already have.

All application settings are saved inside the program folder. Thus if the program folder is moved, settings come along too.

The application does not save or change anything on the host computer outside its program folder. This includes the Windows registry.

Advantages

A portable software can easily be moved between different computers by just copying the program folder, since no installation is required and all settings are contained within this folder. Basically you can keep all your software (and data) on a USB stick and this is all you need to bring along you complete computing environment! This is the origin of the name “portable” itself.

All computer users should backup their data. Unfortunately this is often overlooked or performed irregular. With portable software you can essentially store all your programs (as well as your other data) in a single folder. This makes it very easy to backup (and recover if needed).

Buying a new computer is often a bittersweet experience. The joy of the new computer is soiled by the large amount of configuration required to get everything up and running again. Portable software makes this faster since you at least do not have to worry about your applications; just copy your software folder and perhaps create a few shortcuts and you are ready to go!

Cloud computing is the future. All your settings are stored online and eventually all programs run inside the web browser! While this is a nice idea in theory, there are many potential problems and privacy issues attached.
Who owns your files? Where in the world (i.e. under what legal jurisdiction) are the servers located? What happens if the hosting company goes under or decides to stop providing their service? Will you even be able to export you data before they shut down? What if you don’t have online connectivity? What if the servers are hacked or an employee snoops around on the servers? What if an automated system wrongly accuses you of contraband and shuts down access to your account? What if the servers crash and it turns out the backup system was not very reliable or correctly configured?

All of these scenarios have happened before and will happen again! As you can see, “the cloud” is not as idealistic as it is often portrayed. With portable applications you are in control of your data, applications and settings (but also responsible for it!).

Windows is knows for getting slower and slower the longer you use it. A contributing factor is what is sometimes called “Windows Rot”. Over time, as programs are installed and used, they tend to “pollute” the system in various way. Since portable software do not alter the system they can help keeping your computer fresh for a longer time!

Privacy concerned individuals will appreciate the ability to use their programs on a computer without any traces left behind.

Protected systems that prohibit installation of software might still allow you to run portable applications(!).

Disadvantages

Not all programs are available as portable packages. This is especially true for larger “commercial” software (as opposed to software by smaller independent developers).

Some features may not be available or different compared to a normal installation. This is typically due to the need of registering files in the system or making other changes on the host system in order for the feature to work.

Some programs make changes or save files on the host system that are reverted/remove upon exit. In my opinion this is not true portability, but since it may be required for the program to work or even be meaningful it may be the best alternative available.

Some programs may leave traces, such as files in the temp folder. This is usually not a big deal, but if you are concerned with privacy it may be best to trace what the application is doing first. Also, built in automatic Windows features might record data about applications, for example to keep a “recent applications” list.

You should not use Windows’ built in solutions to backup your portable software. By design it decides on its own what files to backup, and will not backup “all files” even if you tell it to(!). Program files are not considered being user data and thus excluded.

How to find portable software

Many software developers already provide portable versions of their software (including me). The installer version is usually the default download, but look for alternative downloads and you’ll often find portable zip distributions too!

Two very good site for finding portable software are The Portable Freeware Collectionand Portable Apps. In addition Lupo PenSuite and PendriveApps might also be worth checking out, although I have no personal experience of these sites.

Many smaller and/or open source programs are actually already portable, even though they do not explicitly say so. Program that are delivered zip files where settings are saved in a file in the program folder are likely more or less portable already! Even if a program is only available with an installer, using Universal Extractor can often extract the program files so you don’t have to install it normally!

Some programs contain more or less hidden settings that make it portable. Search the documentation, online forums and command line options to find such settings. For example by creating a file called setting.dat in the same folder as uTorrent.exe, this program will save its settings there instead of the default location somewhere deep in the system.

Create portable installations of program you already have. This can be achieved withsoftware that can analyze and capture application data and “wrap” a program in a portable shell. This is called Application Virtualization

Some people go about and re-package popular commercial software as portable versions and make them available on blogs, download site and BitTorrent networks. Unfortunately many of these contains malware of various kinds, so be careful and read comments and scan for malware before running!

I’ll end with a little tip: If you are only interested in not polluting your system with program installations, but still want to download and try new software, you can useSandboxie to create a sealed sandbox environment to run your programs in, preventing them from harming or modifying your system. This gives you no “portability” though, but I find it to be a great way to try new software, when running suspicios software or if I know I will only use a program one or two times. Combine with Universal Extractor and you often don’t even have to run the installer!