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Friday, March 13, 2009
Windows 7 Launched in April?
Ars Technica (via Engadget) reports that Windows 7 will be marketed to the public on 10 April 2009. But of course this rumor has not yet been confirmed. Ars Technica is also reporting that the team development schedule of Windows 7 still on time to date. Hopefully this happens correctly, already bored with Vista ...
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Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon Researchers Show Small Robots Can Prepare Lunar Surface for NASA Outpost
PITTSBURGH — (Feb. 25, 2009) — Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASA’s Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical assistance from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.
Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon researchers analyzed mission requirements and developed the design for an innovative new type of small lunar robot under contract from NASA’s Lunar Surface Systems group.
The results will be presented Friday in Washington, D.C., at a NASA Lunar Surface Systems conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Space Enterprise Council.
“NASA faces a challenge in planning the layout for its outpost, which is expected to begin operations in 2020,” said Dr. William “Red” Whittaker, chairman and chief technical officer of Astrobotic and a Carnegie Mellon professor of robotics. “For efficient cargo transfer, the landing site needs to be close to the outpost’s crew quarters and laboratories. Each rocket landing and takeoff, however, will accelerate lunar grit outwards from the pad. With no atmosphere to slow it down, the dry soil would sandblast the outpost.”
The research examined two potential solutions: 1) construction of a berm around the landing site, and 2) creation of a hard-surface landing pad using indigenous materials.
In the first solution, resea
rchers found that two rovers weighing 330 pounds each would take less than six months to build a berm around a landing site to block the sandblasting effect. A berm 8.5 feet tall in a 160-foot semi-circle would require moving 2.6 million pounds of lunar dirt. Robots this size can be sent to NASA’s planned polar outpost site in advance of human expeditions. Astrobotic Technology Inc. has proposed that landing site preparation be provided by commercial ventures.
In the second solution, researchers showed how small robots could comb the lunar soil for rocks, gathering them to pave a durable grit-free landing pad, said John Kohut, Astrobotic’s chief executive officer. “This might reduce the need to build protective berms. To discern the best approach, early robotic scouting missions need to gather on-site information about the soil’s cohesion levels and whether rocks and gravel of the right size can be found at the site.”
Also at Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Whittaker is directing the development of Astrobotic’s first lunar robot, which has been undergoing field trials for several months. The company’s first mission, to win the $20 million Google Lunar X prize by visiting the Apollo 11 landing site and transmitting high-definition video to Earth, is set for December 2010.
Read More..
Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon researchers analyzed mission requirements and developed the design for an innovative new type of small lunar robot under contract from NASA’s Lunar Surface Systems group.
The results will be presented Friday in Washington, D.C., at a NASA Lunar Surface Systems conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Space Enterprise Council.
“NASA faces a challenge in planning the layout for its outpost, which is expected to begin operations in 2020,” said Dr. William “Red” Whittaker, chairman and chief technical officer of Astrobotic and a Carnegie Mellon professor of robotics. “For efficient cargo transfer, the landing site needs to be close to the outpost’s crew quarters and laboratories. Each rocket landing and takeoff, however, will accelerate lunar grit outwards from the pad. With no atmosphere to slow it down, the dry soil would sandblast the outpost.”
The research examined two potential solutions: 1) construction of a berm around the landing site, and 2) creation of a hard-surface landing pad using indigenous materials.
In the first solution, resea
rchers found that two rovers weighing 330 pounds each would take less than six months to build a berm around a landing site to block the sandblasting effect. A berm 8.5 feet tall in a 160-foot semi-circle would require moving 2.6 million pounds of lunar dirt. Robots this size can be sent to NASA’s planned polar outpost site in advance of human expeditions. Astrobotic Technology Inc. has proposed that landing site preparation be provided by commercial ventures.In the second solution, researchers showed how small robots could comb the lunar soil for rocks, gathering them to pave a durable grit-free landing pad, said John Kohut, Astrobotic’s chief executive officer. “This might reduce the need to build protective berms. To discern the best approach, early robotic scouting missions need to gather on-site information about the soil’s cohesion levels and whether rocks and gravel of the right size can be found at the site.”
Also at Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Whittaker is directing the development of Astrobotic’s first lunar robot, which has been undergoing field trials for several months. The company’s first mission, to win the $20 million Google Lunar X prize by visiting the Apollo 11 landing site and transmitting high-definition video to Earth, is set for December 2010.
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MySpace: A Playbook for Beating Facebook
CEO Chris DeWolfe outlines his strategy for expanding profits, luring advertisers with "hyper-targeting," and keeping MySpace's U.S. edge over rival Facebook
Hunched over a small conference table, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe is in full spin mode. MySpace, which DeWolfe co-founded before selling it to News Corp. (NWS), has been getting a lot of bad press of late. Key executives are fleeing, the social network's chief rival, Facebook, is signing up millions more new users while MySpace is essentially flat, and rumors are flying that Google (GOOG) next year will pull out of—or dramatically cut—an advertising pact that provides nearly 40% of MySpace's revenues.
That's why DeWolfe, a resolutely earnest chap even in his trademark pointy-toed boots, is eager to talk about the new services being readied to help pump up MySpace's revenues. The year-old MySpace Music, he says, will soon allow its 18.1 million music customers to purchase concert tickets and band merchandise. MySpace is beefing up its game offerings, and will start selling "virtual" merchandise, including cupcakes people can send to friends and loved ones. "Too bad you're not here a month from now," says DeWolfe, 42.
Of late, DeWolfe and his team have been focusing more on making money than attracting millions of new users. As such, he says he "has been too focused on creating a profitable site" to worry about the recent spate of bad news. "I don't know Facebook's profitability," he adds. "But if I could have 300 million people using MySpace or be profitable, I would take profitability."
"A Huge Audience to Monetize"
DeWolfe says MySpace is making money. But News Corp. acknowledges that hefty spending on new features and an international expansion crimped earnings, which it doesn't break out. What's more, Wall Street has been largely unmoved by the MySpace story for the last year, when the company's revenues came up short and News Corp. failed to reach the $1 billion goal it had set for its Fox Interactive Media group, of which MySpace is by far the largest piece. Analysts figured FIM came in at closer to $900 million. And if Google pulls out of the advertising deal, MySpace could find it difficult to find another search engine willing to match the $250 million MySpace will receive this year from Google.
It's true that Facebook, with 236 million unique visitors worldwide in January, is now bigger than MySpace, which has 126 million globally. But MySpace maintains its edge on Facebook in the U.S., based on unique visitors and time spent on each site. As of January, each MySpace visitor spent an average 266 minutes on the site in a month, vs. 176 minutes on Facebook, according to the tracking firm ComScore Media Metrix. Marketers like that because it means people are hanging around long enough to see their ads. DeWolfe wants to keep visitors on MySpace even longer. His executives have been signing deals with TV producers to make more of the six-minute shows it needs to siphon off users from YouTube, and they are working on new video games to hike traffic on MySpace's game site.
Down the road, DeWolfe is planning advertisements for the mobile world where MySpace has more than 50 deals worldwide. Meanwhile, MySpace Music is experimenting "with five or six things," including an online radio service for its users, says its president, Courtney Holt. "Everything we do now is focused on generating revenue," he says. "We have this huge audience that we intend to monetize."
No Longer a Growth Story?
Keeping people on MySpace longer doesn't necessarily mean companies will buy more ads, of course. MySpace is acting more and more like a portal, a medium that tends to attract display ads—exactly the kind of online marketing that is taking a hit in these recessionary times. Sanford C. Bernstein senior analyst Michael Nathanson predicts that MySpace's ad sales will decline by 4% in the second half. "This is no longer the growth story that we were told," says Nathanson, who last year downgraded News Corp. to a hold partly because MySpace fell short of Rupert Murdoch's $1 billion revenue target.
To lure advertisers, DeWolfe & Co. are deploying the same bait many online media companies use: "hyper-targeted" ads. The company's president of sales and marketing, Jeff Berman, says local businesses can target MySpace users by Zip Code or by demographics—right down to "whether they are men [ages] 18 to 34 who like Nascar and live in a single county." Already, Berman says that about 70% of MySpace's orders include some form of hyper-targeting. And the company still gets huge traffic to its pages that have lured advertisers like Sony (SNE), State Farm, and McDonald's (MCD), including many that sponsor events. Toyota (TM), for instance, sponsors Toyota Tuesdays on MySpace Music, giving away free music downloads.
MySpace also offers advertisers one thing that Facebook doesn't: what it calls the "home-page takeover" when an advertiser pays to festoon MySpace's front door with promos. "When marketers have a big launch such as a movie," says Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst with the market research firm eMarketer, "a home-page takeover on MySpace is really popular."
The clock could be ticking for DeWolfe and co-founder Tom Anderson. Both men's contracts at News Corp. are up later this year, and speculation is rife in media and tech circles that they might not be renewed. DeWolfe says he has yet to start negotiating a new deal to replace a two-year contract said to be worth $15 million. He and Anderson, he says, would both like to keep running MySpace for Murdoch. On the other hand, DeWolfe acknowledges, "That's not my decision alone."
Read More..
Hunched over a small conference table, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe is in full spin mode. MySpace, which DeWolfe co-founded before selling it to News Corp. (NWS), has been getting a lot of bad press of late. Key executives are fleeing, the social network's chief rival, Facebook, is signing up millions more new users while MySpace is essentially flat, and rumors are flying that Google (GOOG) next year will pull out of—or dramatically cut—an advertising pact that provides nearly 40% of MySpace's revenues.That's why DeWolfe, a resolutely earnest chap even in his trademark pointy-toed boots, is eager to talk about the new services being readied to help pump up MySpace's revenues. The year-old MySpace Music, he says, will soon allow its 18.1 million music customers to purchase concert tickets and band merchandise. MySpace is beefing up its game offerings, and will start selling "virtual" merchandise, including cupcakes people can send to friends and loved ones. "Too bad you're not here a month from now," says DeWolfe, 42.
Of late, DeWolfe and his team have been focusing more on making money than attracting millions of new users. As such, he says he "has been too focused on creating a profitable site" to worry about the recent spate of bad news. "I don't know Facebook's profitability," he adds. "But if I could have 300 million people using MySpace or be profitable, I would take profitability."
"A Huge Audience to Monetize"
DeWolfe says MySpace is making money. But News Corp. acknowledges that hefty spending on new features and an international expansion crimped earnings, which it doesn't break out. What's more, Wall Street has been largely unmoved by the MySpace story for the last year, when the company's revenues came up short and News Corp. failed to reach the $1 billion goal it had set for its Fox Interactive Media group, of which MySpace is by far the largest piece. Analysts figured FIM came in at closer to $900 million. And if Google pulls out of the advertising deal, MySpace could find it difficult to find another search engine willing to match the $250 million MySpace will receive this year from Google.
It's true that Facebook, with 236 million unique visitors worldwide in January, is now bigger than MySpace, which has 126 million globally. But MySpace maintains its edge on Facebook in the U.S., based on unique visitors and time spent on each site. As of January, each MySpace visitor spent an average 266 minutes on the site in a month, vs. 176 minutes on Facebook, according to the tracking firm ComScore Media Metrix. Marketers like that because it means people are hanging around long enough to see their ads. DeWolfe wants to keep visitors on MySpace even longer. His executives have been signing deals with TV producers to make more of the six-minute shows it needs to siphon off users from YouTube, and they are working on new video games to hike traffic on MySpace's game site.
Down the road, DeWolfe is planning advertisements for the mobile world where MySpace has more than 50 deals worldwide. Meanwhile, MySpace Music is experimenting "with five or six things," including an online radio service for its users, says its president, Courtney Holt. "Everything we do now is focused on generating revenue," he says. "We have this huge audience that we intend to monetize."
No Longer a Growth Story?
Keeping people on MySpace longer doesn't necessarily mean companies will buy more ads, of course. MySpace is acting more and more like a portal, a medium that tends to attract display ads—exactly the kind of online marketing that is taking a hit in these recessionary times. Sanford C. Bernstein senior analyst Michael Nathanson predicts that MySpace's ad sales will decline by 4% in the second half. "This is no longer the growth story that we were told," says Nathanson, who last year downgraded News Corp. to a hold partly because MySpace fell short of Rupert Murdoch's $1 billion revenue target.
To lure advertisers, DeWolfe & Co. are deploying the same bait many online media companies use: "hyper-targeted" ads. The company's president of sales and marketing, Jeff Berman, says local businesses can target MySpace users by Zip Code or by demographics—right down to "whether they are men [ages] 18 to 34 who like Nascar and live in a single county." Already, Berman says that about 70% of MySpace's orders include some form of hyper-targeting. And the company still gets huge traffic to its pages that have lured advertisers like Sony (SNE), State Farm, and McDonald's (MCD), including many that sponsor events. Toyota (TM), for instance, sponsors Toyota Tuesdays on MySpace Music, giving away free music downloads.
MySpace also offers advertisers one thing that Facebook doesn't: what it calls the "home-page takeover" when an advertiser pays to festoon MySpace's front door with promos. "When marketers have a big launch such as a movie," says Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst with the market research firm eMarketer, "a home-page takeover on MySpace is really popular."
The clock could be ticking for DeWolfe and co-founder Tom Anderson. Both men's contracts at News Corp. are up later this year, and speculation is rife in media and tech circles that they might not be renewed. DeWolfe says he has yet to start negotiating a new deal to replace a two-year contract said to be worth $15 million. He and Anderson, he says, would both like to keep running MySpace for Murdoch. On the other hand, DeWolfe acknowledges, "That's not my decision alone."
Read More..
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
MetroPCS Beckons BlackBerry Fans With Curve
While writing about the growing popularity of prepaid phones, I encountered many cellphone customers, still bound under contracts with a major wireless carrier, who said they were willing to sacrifice the bragging rights of owning a fancier device in favor of cutting costs and living with the simpler phones that tend to accompany prepaid plans.
Now, they may not have to.
On Tuesday, MetroPCS, a carrier based in Dallas that only sells prepaid plans, announced the addition of the BlackBerry Curve 8330 to its slate of handsets.
Like all of MetroPCS’s offerings, the phone is available without a contract, and payment is due at the beginning of the month, rather than the end. The company also unveiled a new, flat-rate plan to support its first smartphone. For $50 per month, customers get unlimited talk time, Web browsing, e-mail and text messaging.
The price of the BlackBerry, made by Research in Motion, has not yet been released. But the cost of handsets tend to be higher at prepaid carriers because they typically don’t offer the same subsidies that come with a contract.
Tom Keys, the chief operating officer for MetroPCS, told me last month that one of challenges of competing with major wireless carriers for subscribers was being able to offer customers the same amenities.
To that end, he said the company is “working with top handset makers and will be introducing four to five new handsets over the next six months.” In addition to adding smartphones to its stable, Mr. Keys said the company plans to introduce sleek sliders and phones sporting QWERTY keyboards. In addition, MetroPCS, a regional carrier, recently added coverage in New York and Boston to increase its appeal.
So far, the company’s plans have been gaining traction: During its fourth quarter, the company had the biggest quarterly gain in its six-year history, with the addition of 520,000 subscribers. MetroPCS finished 2008 with more than five million subscribers, a 35 percent increase over 2007.
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Now, they may not have to.
On Tuesday, MetroPCS, a carrier based in Dallas that only sells prepaid plans, announced the addition of the BlackBerry Curve 8330 to its slate of handsets.
Like all of MetroPCS’s offerings, the phone is available without a contract, and payment is due at the beginning of the month, rather than the end. The company also unveiled a new, flat-rate plan to support its first smartphone. For $50 per month, customers get unlimited talk time, Web browsing, e-mail and text messaging.
The price of the BlackBerry, made by Research in Motion, has not yet been released. But the cost of handsets tend to be higher at prepaid carriers because they typically don’t offer the same subsidies that come with a contract.
Tom Keys, the chief operating officer for MetroPCS, told me last month that one of challenges of competing with major wireless carriers for subscribers was being able to offer customers the same amenities.
To that end, he said the company is “working with top handset makers and will be introducing four to five new handsets over the next six months.” In addition to adding smartphones to its stable, Mr. Keys said the company plans to introduce sleek sliders and phones sporting QWERTY keyboards. In addition, MetroPCS, a regional carrier, recently added coverage in New York and Boston to increase its appeal.
So far, the company’s plans have been gaining traction: During its fourth quarter, the company had the biggest quarterly gain in its six-year history, with the addition of 520,000 subscribers. MetroPCS finished 2008 with more than five million subscribers, a 35 percent increase over 2007.
Read More..
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Youtube can Translating Text Automatically
Watch video on Youtube now more comfortable and no longer limited by differences in language with the presence of features captions / subtitles (Captions for text in the same language with Subtitles for the video and text in a language different from that shown in the video). Sometimes we find some video on Youtube is really interesting, but because the language used does not understand us, it is very difficult for us to catch what is presented through video. Youtube parties understand the complaint and have some time and create a facility for users to add captions file / Subtitle berekstensi. TXT to in the video is downloaded before.
In fact it is not enough, because not a text that can be understood by everyone and will be making if we have to make a Subtitle for various languages. To more easily take advantage of Youtube likely one of fasiitas or services that have been owned by Google, namely Google Translate, YouTube allows to automatically translate the text in the captions / Subtitle into many other languages with a quality translation that is not much different as when you use Google Translate.
If you find the video that has been added to the captions / Subtitle through Youtube (CC marks a red icon), try to navigate the cursor to the icon in the corner of the triangle right under the video window ago directed the cursor to the arrow beside it to select the appropriate language by the owner diunggah video it. Select English in order to more easily translated into other languages, then you can click on the Translate option will appear and rendering a variety of languages, including English. Read More..
In fact it is not enough, because not a text that can be understood by everyone and will be making if we have to make a Subtitle for various languages. To more easily take advantage of Youtube likely one of fasiitas or services that have been owned by Google, namely Google Translate, YouTube allows to automatically translate the text in the captions / Subtitle into many other languages with a quality translation that is not much different as when you use Google Translate.
If you find the video that has been added to the captions / Subtitle through Youtube (CC marks a red icon), try to navigate the cursor to the icon in the corner of the triangle right under the video window ago directed the cursor to the arrow beside it to select the appropriate language by the owner diunggah video it. Select English in order to more easily translated into other languages, then you can click on the Translate option will appear and rendering a variety of languages, including English. Read More..
IBM eServer won the highest award in the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo
IBM announced that IBM eServer won the highest award in the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo held in San Francisco last week. While affirming the commitment to the IBM Linux.
IBM eServer iSeries reach title "Best of Show" in the annual competition that appreciate the extraordinary achievements. Competition was held by open source community. Previously, the IBM eServer z900, also won the highest award in the LinuxWorld, New York in February ago.
In addition, Dr. Daniel Frye, Director of IBM Linux Technology Center, won the "Golden Penguin." This award, shaped penguin made of glass and wind instrument
coated with gold. Awards given to teams that win in the Golden Penguin Bowl.
This is a quiz game that set the two teams consisting of a figure-figure open source and leading the audience to the event dites knowledge about their industry and the development of open software. Linux Technology Center is owned by IBM group of 200 people who work directly with the open source community to enhance the development of Linux.
The award is the latest findings in line with efforts to further strengthen the IBM commitment to Linux and open source community by giving support to Linux on all product lines eServernya.
"Reaching the award" Best of Show "is a kebanggan for IBM and our customers," said Kim Stevenson, Vice President Marketing, IBM Server Group. "This emphasizes the commitment to Linux and IBM's ability eServer products, we provide solutions for Linux that is integrated and classmates Mainframe to all our customers. (Endang K. saputra)
Source: Astaga
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IBM eServer iSeries reach title "Best of Show" in the annual competition that appreciate the extraordinary achievements. Competition was held by open source community. Previously, the IBM eServer z900, also won the highest award in the LinuxWorld, New York in February ago.
In addition, Dr. Daniel Frye, Director of IBM Linux Technology Center, won the "Golden Penguin." This award, shaped penguin made of glass and wind instrument
coated with gold. Awards given to teams that win in the Golden Penguin Bowl.
This is a quiz game that set the two teams consisting of a figure-figure open source and leading the audience to the event dites knowledge about their industry and the development of open software. Linux Technology Center is owned by IBM group of 200 people who work directly with the open source community to enhance the development of Linux.
The award is the latest findings in line with efforts to further strengthen the IBM commitment to Linux and open source community by giving support to Linux on all product lines eServernya.
"Reaching the award" Best of Show "is a kebanggan for IBM and our customers," said Kim Stevenson, Vice President Marketing, IBM Server Group. "This emphasizes the commitment to Linux and IBM's ability eServer products, we provide solutions for Linux that is integrated and classmates Mainframe to all our customers. (Endang K. saputra)
Source: Astaga
Read More..
Monday, March 9, 2009
Apple Gets Crushed, For No Good Reason
When it comes to Apple [AAPL 83.11 -2.19 (-2.57%) ], help me understand something: JP Morgan PC analyst Mark Moskowitz cuts his outlook for iPhone and Mac shipments microscopically, and it's good for a 5 percent drubbing of Apple shares.Even as the guy maintains his "overweight" rating on Apple shares.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Wall Street lunacy.
Moskowitz took down his earnings estimates for Apple by a penny — yes $0.01 — to $1.01 a share. His revenue estimate collapsed — kidding! — from $7.72 billion to $7.62 billion. The news gets even more dire — kidding again! — with his Mac estimate collapsing from 2.39 million to 2.19 million. And iPhone unit shipments will plunge — ok, this is getting ridiculous — from 3.8 million to 3.4 million units.
All of that will translate into a lower fiscal 2009 performance for Apple, the analyst argues, with earnings per share declining to $4.73 versus the original $4.82, and revenue now at $32.98 billion against the original $33.97 billion anticipated.
In an economy like this one, to suggest companies are not going to suffer some kind of shortfall is the height of ostrich-ness. Unless your head is buried in some hole somewhere, you recognize as an investor that times are slowing around us, and that no company will be immune from such a tsunamic economic collapse. But to suggest that today's new expectations from JP Morgan are anything less than exceptionally good news risks missing out on what continues to be a horribly oversold stock like Apple.
Apple caters to the higher end of the market, no question. Its Macs carry a premium that customers have been more than happy to pay for decades. And judging by the company's last quarterly report, continued pay. And judging by these new numbers from JP Morgan, will still continue to pay, to the tune of another quarter of well over 2 million Macs sold. Hello? Recession? Depression? You can get a new Dell [DELL 8.04 -0.33 (-3.94%) ] or Hewlett-Packard [HPQ 25.53 -1.45 (-5.37%) ] or Lenovo or some other OldsmoBuick computer for far cheaper. You'd expect massive revisions in Apple's numbers by Wall Street analysts so worried about the macro-economic climate. But that's not what's happening here. Revisions lower are tiny. Customers are trading up and buying new, at least so far as Apple is concerned.
These revisions by JP Morgan are noteworthy if only because they are so very slight. And yet action in Apple's shares is so very dramatic. For no reason other than downward momentum and reactionary traders once again selling first and then not even bothering anymore to ask questions later. Geez, get a clue.
Trends still favor Apple. Along with its cash, its innovation, and what apparently is the consumer's insatiable demand for anything with that little piece of fruit on it. Today's action is overdone.
Apple's oversold.
Again.
Questions? Comments? TechCheck@cnbc.com
© 2009 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Boat made of plastic bottles to make ocean voyage
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Imagine collecting thousands of empty plastic bottles, lashing them together to make a boat and sailing the thing from California to Australia, a journey of 11,000 miles through treacherous seas.
You'd have to be crazy, or trying to make a point. David de Rothschild is trying to make a point.
De Rothschild hopes his one-of-a-kind vessel, now being built on a San Francisco pier, will boost recycling of plastic bottles, which he says are a symbol of global waste. Except for the masts, which are metal, everything on the 60-foot catamaran is made from recycled plastic.
"It's all sail power," he said. "The idea is to put no kind of pollution back into the atmosphere, or into our oceans for that matter, so everything on the boat will be composted. Everything will be recycled. Even the vessel is going to end up being recycled when we finish."
De Rothschild's vessel, scheduled to set sail from San Francisco in April, is called the Plastiki. Its name is an homage of sorts to Thor Heyerdahl, the fabled Norwegian explorer who in 1947 sailed 4,300 miles across the Pacific on the Kon-Tiki, a raft made from balsa wood.
De Rothschild is something of an adventurer himself. The scion of a wealthy British banking family, he is one of only several dozen people to traverse both the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps. In 2005 he founded Adventure Ecology, an organization that uses field expeditions to call attention to environmental issues.
Joining him on the Plastiki will be a permanent crew of three sailors and scientists plus a handful of other crew members who will rotate through the voyage. The Plastiki is expected to stop in Hawaii, Tuvalu and Fiji on its way to Sydney, a trip estimated to take more than 100 days.
Don't Miss
In Depth: Edge of Discovery
The plastic sailboat is taking shape in an old pier building not far from this city's famous Fisherman's Wharf. Here, thousands of two-liter soda bottles are being stripped of their labels, washed, filled with dry-ice powder and then resealed. The dry ice sublimates into carbon dioxide gas and pressurizes the bottle, making it rigid.
The vessel's twin hulls will be filled with 12,000 to 16,000 bottles. Skin-like panels made from recycled PET, a woven plastic fabric, will cover the hulls and a watertight cabin, which sleeps four.
"This actually is the same material that is made out of bottles," said de Rothschild of the PET fabric. "We actually wrap the PET fabric over the PET foam and then basically put it under a vacuum, heat it, press it and create these long PET panels. So that means the boat is, technically, one giant bottle."
Two wind turbines and an array of solar panels will charge a bank of 12-volt batteries, which will power several onboard laptop computers, a GPS and SAT phone.
Only about 10 percent of the Plastiki will be made from new materials, de Rothschild said. He declined to reveal how much it's costing him to build the boat.
"We could potentially put together a boat that costs a fraction of what normal conventional boats are made of," he said. "The idea is to take the Plastiki, break it down [after the voyage], and put it back into the system. So, it may come out being a jacket, a bag, more bottles. It's infinitely recyclable."
The ultimate goal of the Plastiki voyage is not just to encourage people to embrace clean, renewable energy but also to see consumer waste as a potential resource.
That's what this is all about -- showcasing cradle-to-cradle products rather than cradle-to-grave," de Rothschild said.
Whether the Plastiki will successfully complete its unique journey remains to be seen. But to conservationists concerned about the amount of energy required to manufacture and distribute plastic bottles, its symbolic message is a welcome one.
"Anything that gets in the news and makes people stop and think about plastic can be very helpful," said Betty McLaughlin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute.
"But it strikes me as a long way to go. I flew from Los Angeles to Australia once, and it took forever. This trip strikes me as kind of dangerous."
Read More..
You'd have to be crazy, or trying to make a point. David de Rothschild is trying to make a point.De Rothschild hopes his one-of-a-kind vessel, now being built on a San Francisco pier, will boost recycling of plastic bottles, which he says are a symbol of global waste. Except for the masts, which are metal, everything on the 60-foot catamaran is made from recycled plastic.
"It's all sail power," he said. "The idea is to put no kind of pollution back into the atmosphere, or into our oceans for that matter, so everything on the boat will be composted. Everything will be recycled. Even the vessel is going to end up being recycled when we finish."
De Rothschild's vessel, scheduled to set sail from San Francisco in April, is called the Plastiki. Its name is an homage of sorts to Thor Heyerdahl, the fabled Norwegian explorer who in 1947 sailed 4,300 miles across the Pacific on the Kon-Tiki, a raft made from balsa wood.
De Rothschild is something of an adventurer himself. The scion of a wealthy British banking family, he is one of only several dozen people to traverse both the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps. In 2005 he founded Adventure Ecology, an organization that uses field expeditions to call attention to environmental issues.
Joining him on the Plastiki will be a permanent crew of three sailors and scientists plus a handful of other crew members who will rotate through the voyage. The Plastiki is expected to stop in Hawaii, Tuvalu and Fiji on its way to Sydney, a trip estimated to take more than 100 days.
Don't Miss
In Depth: Edge of Discovery
The plastic sailboat is taking shape in an old pier building not far from this city's famous Fisherman's Wharf. Here, thousands of two-liter soda bottles are being stripped of their labels, washed, filled with dry-ice powder and then resealed. The dry ice sublimates into carbon dioxide gas and pressurizes the bottle, making it rigid.
The vessel's twin hulls will be filled with 12,000 to 16,000 bottles. Skin-like panels made from recycled PET, a woven plastic fabric, will cover the hulls and a watertight cabin, which sleeps four.
"This actually is the same material that is made out of bottles," said de Rothschild of the PET fabric. "We actually wrap the PET fabric over the PET foam and then basically put it under a vacuum, heat it, press it and create these long PET panels. So that means the boat is, technically, one giant bottle."
Two wind turbines and an array of solar panels will charge a bank of 12-volt batteries, which will power several onboard laptop computers, a GPS and SAT phone.
Only about 10 percent of the Plastiki will be made from new materials, de Rothschild said. He declined to reveal how much it's costing him to build the boat.
"We could potentially put together a boat that costs a fraction of what normal conventional boats are made of," he said. "The idea is to take the Plastiki, break it down [after the voyage], and put it back into the system. So, it may come out being a jacket, a bag, more bottles. It's infinitely recyclable."
The ultimate goal of the Plastiki voyage is not just to encourage people to embrace clean, renewable energy but also to see consumer waste as a potential resource.
That's what this is all about -- showcasing cradle-to-cradle products rather than cradle-to-grave," de Rothschild said.
Whether the Plastiki will successfully complete its unique journey remains to be seen. But to conservationists concerned about the amount of energy required to manufacture and distribute plastic bottles, its symbolic message is a welcome one.
"Anything that gets in the news and makes people stop and think about plastic can be very helpful," said Betty McLaughlin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute.
"But it strikes me as a long way to go. I flew from Los Angeles to Australia once, and it took forever. This trip strikes me as kind of dangerous."
Read More..
Scientists discover new species in ocean's depths
(PopSci.com) -- Until last December, no one had ever seen the bottom of the Tasman Fracture, a trench that drops more than four kilometers below the surface of the ocean. A group of Australian and American researchers recently spent a month hundreds of kilometers southwest of the Tasmanian coast, exploring the fracture's depths.Jess Adkins, a professor at Caltech and one of the project's lead scientists, remembers sitting in his control room and watching the underwater life on his monitors with a sense of awe.
Once, he says, none of the scientists or pilots said a word for 10 minutes straight as their submersible glided over an undiscovered coral reef full of urchins and sponges and sea stars.
The researchers explored the fracture with Jason, a remotely-operated submersible the size of a small car. On loan from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, it carried a high-definition camera that weighed more than 500 pounds and beamed underwater video up to the ship through a long fiber-optic tether.
At 3,000 meters below sea level, the crew saw thousands of sea spiders. At 3,500, millions of specimens of a new, purple-spotted sea anemone. At 4,000 meters, a single never-before-seen carnivorous sea squirt with a funnel-shaped body that snapped shut like a Venus flytrap around any shrimp unfortunate enough to brush against it.
Back on land, the three new species (the anemone, the sea squirt, and a new kind of barnacle) have drawn the most attention, but it's the team's coral collection, some 10,000 pieces of it, that can tell us about the history of our climate and, perhaps, its future.
A coral skeleton acts as a tape recorder of its environment. As it grows, the coral's chemical structure (specifically the weight of its oxygen molecules) varies depending on the temperature of the water around it. And, because the coral's uranium decays into thorium over time, it is conveniently datable.
By charting different corals' ages and oxygen weights, researchers can map the ocean's changing temperature. During the coming months, expedition scientists will compare 40,000 years of oceanic and atmospheric records.
The ocean's temperature and carbon dioxide levels are important because of their impact on our atmosphere. The watery part of the world absorbs and stores sixty times more CO2 than the atmosphere.
Huge reservoirs of the ocean's CO2 lurk in its coldest, densest waters (found in the Tasman Fracture and off Greenland). Because cold water releases more CO2 into the air than warm water, the rate at which bottom water rises to the surface has a profound effect on the atmosphere above.
Until recently, we had assumed that our climate was relatively stable. After all, for the past 10,000 years -- during which we developed the alphabet, electrical wiring, and microchip necessary for this article -- little has changed.
But early-'90s research on Greenland's ice core proved that, over the past 100,000 years, climate stability has been the exception, not the norm. During the last glacial period, global temperatures fluttered up and down by as much as several degrees in as little as a decade. CO2 levels in the atmosphere changed along with the temperature, though more slowly.
The researchers' ultimate goal is to see if changes in the ocean followed or proceeded changes in the atmosphere. Adkins suspects that the ocean (and in particular the depths of the ocean) played a part in triggering the climate's sudden fluctuations.
He's sure, though, that we're adding more CO2 to the ocean now, in the form of burning fossil fuels, than it has ever held before. Given how little we know about how the ocean regulates the amount of CO2 in our air (we've mapped the surface of Mars, he points out, but not the ocean floor) he wonders if that's such a good idea.
We do know that increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the ocean makes it more acidic. And whether or not it sets off a climate shift of Pleistocenic proportions, acidification could kill the researchers' newly-discovered, awe-inspiring reef, along with others we haven't even found yet. There would be just as much ocean to study, but less to find.
Read More..
The Missisipi Distiller
March 9th, 2009 by Edwin in Drinking Gadgets, Home GadgetsThis looks like some sort of strange mad scientist design of a contraption which concocts a weird potion after putting in all sorts of exotic ingredients. Actually, it is known as the Missisipi Distiller that attempts to capture the original spirit (pun not intended) of the American south distilling heritage.
Designed in Barcelona, Spain, this finely crafted home distiller illustrates the nuances of English that are often lost in translation. The still’s copper frame is engraved with Missisipi Destil Co.–an honest, if poorly translated, attempt to pay homage to the distilling heritage of the American south. Destined to elicit questions from guests and encourage conversation, the distiller is reminiscent of those used to make brandy or extract essential oils from plants for use in perfumes. The alcohol burner, cucurbit, condensing pot, and collection cup are made from heat-resistant borosilicate glass–the same glass used in laboratory beakers. The distiller is mounted on a walnut base and its frame is made from five copper plates secured in place with copper rivets.
How much does it cost to bring this piece of memorabilia home? $199.95. Read More..
Renasys Go negative pressure wound therapy device
March 9th, 2009 by Edwin in Medical GadgetsSmith & Nephew has just rolled out a brand new negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) device that was specifically designed for people who want/need to ambulate. Known as the Renasys Go, it comes in a much smaller form factor that can be worn around your neck just like a fashionable MP3 player, although it doesn’t play back any music (could be a feature the manufacturer includes the next time round) but sucks at your gross wound instead. Hey, if somebody asks, you can either tell them the truth or pull their leg that you’re using a pair of prototype Bluetooth earphones which are located right inside your ear canals, hence having no wires running out from the Renasys Go.
The Renasys Go is intuitive, lightweight, portable and quiet, and can be used with the RENASYS-F foam and RENASYS-G gauze wound interfaces, the broadest selection of interfaces available from a single supplier. This enables clinicians to tailor NPWT to meet their patients’ unique needs and the specific requirements of their wounds, with clear improvements in patient comfort, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness. Southern Ontario-based Nursing Practice Solutions Inc. conducted a study in Canada comparing average total costs required to treat patients with conventional dressings to the same costs required to treat patients with gauze- and foam-based NPWT, in cases for which NPWT was appropriate. The study found that the cost-per-patient treated with NPWT was 55% less than the cost-per-patient treated with conventional dressings, and that wounds treated with NPWT healed more quickly than wounds treated with conventional dressings. Among patients treated with NPWT, there was no difference in healing times between wounds dressed with foam and those dressed with gauze.
Some of the features include :-
Discrete carrying case
Weighs less than 3 pounds
Frosted 300cc canister minimizes the visibility of exudate
Multiple alarms and patient lock-out feature
Extended, 20-hour battery life
User-friendly digital settings
Source: Medgadget
Read More..
Facebook gets yet another facelift
It's one that will have the site looking and feeling a lot more like Twitter
NEW YORK - A bit of a facelift for Facebook.
And it's one that will have the site looking and feeling a lot more like Twitter. The online hangout is shifting around its home page so Facebook users can more easily choose the types of information they see.
The site will let users follow public figures like President Barack Obama or swimmer Michael Phelps or their favorite bands or sports teams.
Starting next week, Facebook will also launch a new home page that lets users get continuous updates from their friends, rather than getting them every 10 or 15 minutes.
And for those of us who have those friends who are always sending updates that we aren't all that interested in? Facebook will let you add a filter that will keep those updates at a minimum without "de-friending" them.
Read More..
NEW YORK - A bit of a facelift for Facebook.
And it's one that will have the site looking and feeling a lot more like Twitter. The online hangout is shifting around its home page so Facebook users can more easily choose the types of information they see.
The site will let users follow public figures like President Barack Obama or swimmer Michael Phelps or their favorite bands or sports teams.
Starting next week, Facebook will also launch a new home page that lets users get continuous updates from their friends, rather than getting them every 10 or 15 minutes.
And for those of us who have those friends who are always sending updates that we aren't all that interested in? Facebook will let you add a filter that will keep those updates at a minimum without "de-friending" them.
Read More..
Alien world conditions explored — on Earth
New national lab can compress hydrogen down to the density of copper
The target chamber of the National Ignition Facility. The facility debuts this year and will have the power to compress hydrogen down to the density of copper.
In its hunt for Earth-like worlds, NASA's Kepler telescope, which launched March 6, should tell us something about the planets that occupy sibling solar systems. Some scientists, however, are crossing that frontier without leaving their laboratories.
They have uncovered worlds where helium, normally a transparent gas that can't hold an electric charge, becomes fluid metal that can conduct electricity. They have probed the melting point of diamonds to understand the building blocks of icy planets like Neptune.
The experiments have been largely based on millions of computations, though that is about to change with the debut this year of a new national laboratory that has the power to compress hydrogen down to the density of copper.
"It's an extraordinary time for this type of science," said Gilbert Collins, a physicist with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, host to the new National Ignition Facility, which will use the power of 192 infrared lasers to demonstrate nuclear fusion.
Scientists plan to use the laser beams to hit a tiny target, creating conditions momentarily similar to what exists in the cores of stars and giant planets and inside nuclear weapons.
"Most of the planets we know about are outside our own solar system. They're large, they're in planetary systems that are bizarre — except, well actually, it's perhaps our planetary system that stands out as being a little bit bizarre," said planetary scientist Raymond Jeanloz, with the University of California at Berkeley.
Scientists' first look at Mother Nature's planetary toolkit began with Earth, where interior pressures are about 3.5 million times higher than on the surface. They then moved on to Jupiter, the solar system's largest world, with an interior pressure 70 million times stronger than Earth's.
Prodded by discoveries of extra-solar planets up to 10 times larger than Jupiter, physicists are beginning to explore how matter behaves at pressures that are millions or even a billion times greater than on Earth.
"We've had a real breakthrough experimentally in being able to begin to reproduce these kinds of enormous pressures in the laboratory so we can actually study the properties of matter in these conditions," Jeanloz said.
The transformation of helium into liquid metal occurs at 1 million atmospheres, such as what exists in Earth's core, Jeanloz added.
At that pressure, "The chemical bonding between atoms is dramatically altered," he said. "Materials have totally new properties at these conditions."
By Irene Klotz
updated 8:23 p.m. ET March 6, 2009
Read More..
The target chamber of the National Ignition Facility. The facility debuts this year and will have the power to compress hydrogen down to the density of copper.In its hunt for Earth-like worlds, NASA's Kepler telescope, which launched March 6, should tell us something about the planets that occupy sibling solar systems. Some scientists, however, are crossing that frontier without leaving their laboratories.
They have uncovered worlds where helium, normally a transparent gas that can't hold an electric charge, becomes fluid metal that can conduct electricity. They have probed the melting point of diamonds to understand the building blocks of icy planets like Neptune.
The experiments have been largely based on millions of computations, though that is about to change with the debut this year of a new national laboratory that has the power to compress hydrogen down to the density of copper.
"It's an extraordinary time for this type of science," said Gilbert Collins, a physicist with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, host to the new National Ignition Facility, which will use the power of 192 infrared lasers to demonstrate nuclear fusion.
Scientists plan to use the laser beams to hit a tiny target, creating conditions momentarily similar to what exists in the cores of stars and giant planets and inside nuclear weapons.
"Most of the planets we know about are outside our own solar system. They're large, they're in planetary systems that are bizarre — except, well actually, it's perhaps our planetary system that stands out as being a little bit bizarre," said planetary scientist Raymond Jeanloz, with the University of California at Berkeley.
Scientists' first look at Mother Nature's planetary toolkit began with Earth, where interior pressures are about 3.5 million times higher than on the surface. They then moved on to Jupiter, the solar system's largest world, with an interior pressure 70 million times stronger than Earth's.
Prodded by discoveries of extra-solar planets up to 10 times larger than Jupiter, physicists are beginning to explore how matter behaves at pressures that are millions or even a billion times greater than on Earth.
"We've had a real breakthrough experimentally in being able to begin to reproduce these kinds of enormous pressures in the laboratory so we can actually study the properties of matter in these conditions," Jeanloz said.
The transformation of helium into liquid metal occurs at 1 million atmospheres, such as what exists in Earth's core, Jeanloz added.
At that pressure, "The chemical bonding between atoms is dramatically altered," he said. "Materials have totally new properties at these conditions."
By Irene Klotz
updated 8:23 p.m. ET March 6, 2009
Read More..
Sunday, March 8, 2009
micro robot that can work inside human body
Scientists in Korea have created a robot small enough to be able to explore the human body and is driven by the heart muscle.Sukho Park of Chonnam National University, Korea, and colleagues have designed a micro-robot driven by the cell. Park to create a robot team is a network with the heart muscle from a rat in the framework of small-robot framework that is made from polidimetilsiloksana (PDMS). PDMS is a polymer biokompatibel thus making the robot suitable in practice biomedik.
A special on the robot, said Park, is they do not require an external energy supply. But the cells of heart muscle berelaksasi and berkontraksi that provide energy. Cells-heart muscle cells themselves get energy from a glucose culture medium. Cells pulse itself allows this robot is the sixth foot.
This robot has three legs before the short (length of 400 micrometer) and three feet behind the longer (1200 micrometer long), all mounted on a square body. At the heart cells berkontraksi, the back foot a longer bend to the inside. This difference in friction between the front foot and back foot, pressing the robot move forward. The researchers measure the average speed of robot is about 100 micrometer per second.
Park the robot-crab-like robot that can be used in the body cavity, or to clean the choke tube, with a release agent solvent to clean the stoppage of their skip.
Disadur from: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/
Read More..
CAN a smartphone make you a smart driver?
Most BlackBerry owners, for example, know they can improve their Interstate I.Q. by using the navigation function of their smartphones, and people with a Web browser on their phone can check out World Traffic Cams to see if there is congestion at the Lincoln Tunnel before heading into Manhattan.
Indeed, our love affair with cellphones is increasingly being coupled with our love affair with the automobile, spawning applications — some silly, some sublime — that drivers can download to their mobile handsets for little or no money.
On the practical side, there are programs that help with the more mundane aspects of automobile ownership. One free application for the iPhone, for example, tries to demystify repair bills. Tap in the make and model of your vehicle along with what ails it (for instance, worn brake pads and rotors) and RepairPal spits out estimated parts and labor costs ($417 to $516 in New York City). It does not include diagnostic fees and taxes, but it does offer a list of nearby repair shops with customer ratings, should you want to comparison shop.
Conversely, on the pure fun side, there’s Dynolicious. Using the same kind of technology that enables a Nintendo Wii game controller to follow your gestures, this $12.99 application uses an iPhone’s built-in accelerometer to gauge 0-to-60 times (to within 0.08 of a second) and other performance characteristics, including lateral G-forces. Like competing programs such as g-tac pro ($19.99), Dynolicious will also let you assess your vehicle’s top speed, but to get precise results you’ll need to secure the phone in a cradle.
These programs are designed to be used on closed road courses, of course, but for those who can’t resist the temptation to test posted speed limits on public roadways, there are programs like the Njection speed trap alert application for the iPhone. The program, which costs $2.99, compiles reports from other drivers to pinpoint speed traps along your route, but the information is only as good as what your fellow speeders provide.
For those looking to decrease rather than increase their carbon footprint, there are several car-related applications that can help. Ecorio is a free program written for Google Android-based smartphones, the first of which is the G1 from T-Mobile. The application will trace your travels and, depending on your mode of transport (Hummer or subway?), keep a running tally of your carbon footprint. By tapping into Google Transit, the program can also suggest the most efficient commuting routes (less time in traffic translates into fewer carbon emissions) and in some locales like San Francisco it offers carpooling information.
For iPhone owners, another eco-friendly but less ambitious program is greenMeter ($5.99). It can estimate the number of barrels of oil your car is consuming and produce graphs illustrating fuel economy at different speeds and rates of acceleration. (As you might expect, a lighter foot will produce better fuel efficiency.) For 99 cents there’s also AccuFuel for iPhone hypermilers who mainly just want to track fuel efficiency.
Keeping up with maintenance can also help extend efficiency — and the life of your vehicle. Gas Cubby ($4.99 for the iPhone) is a maintenance and mileage program that offers service reminders and can store vehicle records that can be exported to Excel spreadsheets. Identically priced Car Care also lets you track oil changes and service expenses.
Trying to track business expenses? Trip Cubby ($9.99) and MileBug ($3.99) help iPhone owners log miles, tolls and parking for expense reports and tax purposes. You can even e-mail reports to the boss from the phone. BlackBerry users can try MileageTracker Pro. An annual subscription costs $29.90.
There’s also hand-held help for those of us who are bedeviled by senior moments, especially when it comes to parking the car. Much like a feature now available on many portable navigation devices, there are free programs like ParkMark for G1 owners that remember where you parked. Press a button to note the precise location of your car using the device’s GPS, then later, using Google Maps it will lead you back to the appropriate spot.
And for those who are reminded of the looking-for-a-bathroom Seinfeld episode, the answer is, yes. There’s a smartphone application for that, too. SitOrSquat is a free program for iPhones and BlackBerrys that locates public restrooms. It even includes user reviews and connects to Google Maps to offer directions.
If you still have trouble finding your wheels, it may indicate that you’re in no shape to drive. To track how much you’ve had to drink —and how it may be affecting your judgment—there’s .08? Blood Alcohol Content Calc, a simple but free application for the G1 that estimates your blood-alcohol level based on your weight, sex and the number and types of drinks you’ve consumed. Similar programs warn in advance that they are “for entertainment purposes only,” but Mark Britton, chief executive for the legal site Avvo, emphasizes that his company’s free iPhone application isn’t a game. Called Last Call, “it’s about helping consumers not step over that line,” he said.
Last Call calculates your blood alcohol and flashes red if you exceed the legal limit. The program will then find nearby taxi services that you can dial directly. Should you still fail to heed its advice and get pulled over by the authorities, Last Call will put you in touch with a local lawyer who handles drunken-driving cases.
Finally, should you have an accident, there’s iWrecked. This $1.99 iPhone program helps you gather all the information you’ll need should the unthinkable happen, including the location, time, names and insurance information of other drivers. You can also then use your phone to take photos of the damage and the position of the cars. Assuming, that is, that after all your travails your phone is still working.
Read More..
Indeed, our love affair with cellphones is increasingly being coupled with our love affair with the automobile, spawning applications — some silly, some sublime — that drivers can download to their mobile handsets for little or no money.
On the practical side, there are programs that help with the more mundane aspects of automobile ownership. One free application for the iPhone, for example, tries to demystify repair bills. Tap in the make and model of your vehicle along with what ails it (for instance, worn brake pads and rotors) and RepairPal spits out estimated parts and labor costs ($417 to $516 in New York City). It does not include diagnostic fees and taxes, but it does offer a list of nearby repair shops with customer ratings, should you want to comparison shop.
Conversely, on the pure fun side, there’s Dynolicious. Using the same kind of technology that enables a Nintendo Wii game controller to follow your gestures, this $12.99 application uses an iPhone’s built-in accelerometer to gauge 0-to-60 times (to within 0.08 of a second) and other performance characteristics, including lateral G-forces. Like competing programs such as g-tac pro ($19.99), Dynolicious will also let you assess your vehicle’s top speed, but to get precise results you’ll need to secure the phone in a cradle.
These programs are designed to be used on closed road courses, of course, but for those who can’t resist the temptation to test posted speed limits on public roadways, there are programs like the Njection speed trap alert application for the iPhone. The program, which costs $2.99, compiles reports from other drivers to pinpoint speed traps along your route, but the information is only as good as what your fellow speeders provide.
For those looking to decrease rather than increase their carbon footprint, there are several car-related applications that can help. Ecorio is a free program written for Google Android-based smartphones, the first of which is the G1 from T-Mobile. The application will trace your travels and, depending on your mode of transport (Hummer or subway?), keep a running tally of your carbon footprint. By tapping into Google Transit, the program can also suggest the most efficient commuting routes (less time in traffic translates into fewer carbon emissions) and in some locales like San Francisco it offers carpooling information.
For iPhone owners, another eco-friendly but less ambitious program is greenMeter ($5.99). It can estimate the number of barrels of oil your car is consuming and produce graphs illustrating fuel economy at different speeds and rates of acceleration. (As you might expect, a lighter foot will produce better fuel efficiency.) For 99 cents there’s also AccuFuel for iPhone hypermilers who mainly just want to track fuel efficiency.
Keeping up with maintenance can also help extend efficiency — and the life of your vehicle. Gas Cubby ($4.99 for the iPhone) is a maintenance and mileage program that offers service reminders and can store vehicle records that can be exported to Excel spreadsheets. Identically priced Car Care also lets you track oil changes and service expenses.
Trying to track business expenses? Trip Cubby ($9.99) and MileBug ($3.99) help iPhone owners log miles, tolls and parking for expense reports and tax purposes. You can even e-mail reports to the boss from the phone. BlackBerry users can try MileageTracker Pro. An annual subscription costs $29.90.
There’s also hand-held help for those of us who are bedeviled by senior moments, especially when it comes to parking the car. Much like a feature now available on many portable navigation devices, there are free programs like ParkMark for G1 owners that remember where you parked. Press a button to note the precise location of your car using the device’s GPS, then later, using Google Maps it will lead you back to the appropriate spot.
And for those who are reminded of the looking-for-a-bathroom Seinfeld episode, the answer is, yes. There’s a smartphone application for that, too. SitOrSquat is a free program for iPhones and BlackBerrys that locates public restrooms. It even includes user reviews and connects to Google Maps to offer directions.
If you still have trouble finding your wheels, it may indicate that you’re in no shape to drive. To track how much you’ve had to drink —and how it may be affecting your judgment—there’s .08? Blood Alcohol Content Calc, a simple but free application for the G1 that estimates your blood-alcohol level based on your weight, sex and the number and types of drinks you’ve consumed. Similar programs warn in advance that they are “for entertainment purposes only,” but Mark Britton, chief executive for the legal site Avvo, emphasizes that his company’s free iPhone application isn’t a game. Called Last Call, “it’s about helping consumers not step over that line,” he said.
Last Call calculates your blood alcohol and flashes red if you exceed the legal limit. The program will then find nearby taxi services that you can dial directly. Should you still fail to heed its advice and get pulled over by the authorities, Last Call will put you in touch with a local lawyer who handles drunken-driving cases.
Finally, should you have an accident, there’s iWrecked. This $1.99 iPhone program helps you gather all the information you’ll need should the unthinkable happen, including the location, time, names and insurance information of other drivers. You can also then use your phone to take photos of the damage and the position of the cars. Assuming, that is, that after all your travails your phone is still working.
Read More..
Saturday, March 7, 2009
low energy house
The idea has a home with the sun as a source of energy is really interesting.
Unfortunately, the design of solar heating system that is now less
interesting taste of the market. But you can try beautiful energy efficient home
OM Solar made. Want to try?
OM Solar, a company from Japan, is trying penetrated market
launched with a solar heating system that can be combined
with any design house. This company has successfully sold 20 thousand
units of their products in Japan. Recently, they build stores in
Sausalito, California. According to Peter Miles from the OM Solar, in this year
have at least six homes in the U.S. will use the product.
How does it work? During the summer, the system heat
home interior, floor, and water. Panel-panel glass roof allows the sun
warm air in the air channels under the
surface of the roof. The temperature is warm air rises and then some
flowed a floatation tank for heating hot water.
Then the flow of hot air is channeled to a space made of
concrete below the ground floor. Concrete is part of the air to absorb heat
during the day and remove it in the evening. Warm air is removed
penetrate to the floor and warm the room above.
In the summer, this system is to expel warm air outside after
warm air is used to heat water. This system also
air to absorb heat in the room and their opposite directions
with the flow that occurred in the winter.
Then at night, this system warm air stream to the space in the concrete
under the floor and the air is cooled before entering the space above
floor. You also have the option to add panel-panel photovoltaic
that generate electricity.
To install this system at home, you only need to spend
extra of 8 to 15% of that should be. However, according to Miles,
This system allows you to save the cost of energy expenditure
of 40 to 75%.
Would like to know more? Please click: www.omsolar.com. "(Wardi Syamsul)
Source: Astaga
Read More..
Unfortunately, the design of solar heating system that is now less
interesting taste of the market. But you can try beautiful energy efficient home
OM Solar made. Want to try?
OM Solar, a company from Japan, is trying penetrated market
launched with a solar heating system that can be combined
with any design house. This company has successfully sold 20 thousand
units of their products in Japan. Recently, they build stores in
Sausalito, California. According to Peter Miles from the OM Solar, in this year
have at least six homes in the U.S. will use the product.
How does it work? During the summer, the system heat
home interior, floor, and water. Panel-panel glass roof allows the sun
warm air in the air channels under the
surface of the roof. The temperature is warm air rises and then some
flowed a floatation tank for heating hot water.
Then the flow of hot air is channeled to a space made of
concrete below the ground floor. Concrete is part of the air to absorb heat
during the day and remove it in the evening. Warm air is removed
penetrate to the floor and warm the room above.
In the summer, this system is to expel warm air outside after
warm air is used to heat water. This system also
air to absorb heat in the room and their opposite directions
with the flow that occurred in the winter.
Then at night, this system warm air stream to the space in the concrete
under the floor and the air is cooled before entering the space above
floor. You also have the option to add panel-panel photovoltaic
that generate electricity.
To install this system at home, you only need to spend
extra of 8 to 15% of that should be. However, according to Miles,
This system allows you to save the cost of energy expenditure
of 40 to 75%.
Would like to know more? Please click: www.omsolar.com. "(Wardi Syamsul)
Source: Astaga
Read More..
Start to Keep the phone from the pocket trousers Men?
In the latest experiment by researchers from scientific institutions in the U.S. Clinic Celeveland results indicate that the invention of the mobile device can be mounted on a lower quality of sperm directly when both men berletakkan close together within a period long enough.
Ashok Agarwal, Director of the research institution Center for Reproductive Medicine in Celeveland estimate, that the impact of shelf electronic signals, "radio-frequency electromagnetic" from the device when the mobile phone while berposisi be quite close to the male sex gland suspected gonads may affect up to a decline in sperm quality of men . The decline in the quality of the sperm found in the case of the "mortility" and "viability", which is also the impact of frequent occurrence of infection in the urine or the channel conditions in the men's day-to-day activities are often exposed to environmental conditions berpolusi high. So the people who day-to-day in beraktivitas to mengantongi mobile phone in the pocket celananya in light conditions, "on talk mode" deserves attention this warning.
In experiments conducted during the phone near the range within 1 hour with human sperm fluid samples taken over 32 respondents. Research divide 32 respondents in 2 groups: group "Test" and "control" experiment. Each individual respondent requested the sperm sample in glass tubes for a small lab to lab researchers brought together to dikondisikan in lab conditions, just to test the sperm sample is placed 2.5cm from a mobile device berspesifikasi signal 850 MHz in light conditions held up for observation after the test for 1 hour.
In addition tejadinya negative impact on mortilitas and viabilitas human sperm, the research also observed that the sperm test experimental group there were 85% increase in the occurrence of free radicals compared to sperm from the control group, commonly occurs in conditions "evidence of oxidative stress."
Despite recognizing that the scope of the research experiment is performed is still very limited progress in terms of the sample respondents or the condition of the experiment the stored sperm in the lab conditions that would be regarded very different conditions from the real human body, but the initial research for this very important Agarwal as material for research information to a wider and deeper. Agarwal et al have any previous research with the method of collecting data with the "self-reported data" on some 361 volunteers of the adult male in the day-to-day activities have a high intensity in the use of mobile communication, and the findings reveal that among the mobile phone users to beraktivitas phone 4 hours more in fact observed a significant decrease in the visible on sperm quality compared to the use of mobile phones in the day-to-day time period is less than 4jam.
Source: cnn Up-dates | com. / AK Rizal.
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Ashok Agarwal, Director of the research institution Center for Reproductive Medicine in Celeveland estimate, that the impact of shelf electronic signals, "radio-frequency electromagnetic" from the device when the mobile phone while berposisi be quite close to the male sex gland suspected gonads may affect up to a decline in sperm quality of men . The decline in the quality of the sperm found in the case of the "mortility" and "viability", which is also the impact of frequent occurrence of infection in the urine or the channel conditions in the men's day-to-day activities are often exposed to environmental conditions berpolusi high. So the people who day-to-day in beraktivitas to mengantongi mobile phone in the pocket celananya in light conditions, "on talk mode" deserves attention this warning.
In experiments conducted during the phone near the range within 1 hour with human sperm fluid samples taken over 32 respondents. Research divide 32 respondents in 2 groups: group "Test" and "control" experiment. Each individual respondent requested the sperm sample in glass tubes for a small lab to lab researchers brought together to dikondisikan in lab conditions, just to test the sperm sample is placed 2.5cm from a mobile device berspesifikasi signal 850 MHz in light conditions held up for observation after the test for 1 hour.
In addition tejadinya negative impact on mortilitas and viabilitas human sperm, the research also observed that the sperm test experimental group there were 85% increase in the occurrence of free radicals compared to sperm from the control group, commonly occurs in conditions "evidence of oxidative stress."
Despite recognizing that the scope of the research experiment is performed is still very limited progress in terms of the sample respondents or the condition of the experiment the stored sperm in the lab conditions that would be regarded very different conditions from the real human body, but the initial research for this very important Agarwal as material for research information to a wider and deeper. Agarwal et al have any previous research with the method of collecting data with the "self-reported data" on some 361 volunteers of the adult male in the day-to-day activities have a high intensity in the use of mobile communication, and the findings reveal that among the mobile phone users to beraktivitas phone 4 hours more in fact observed a significant decrease in the visible on sperm quality compared to the use of mobile phones in the day-to-day time period is less than 4jam.
Source: cnn Up-dates | com. / AK Rizal.
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Issues & Newest Gadget Gossip in the Year 2009
New gadgets the new year. There may be some Netter who have this motto. But stop first to buy, a lot of gossip new gadget that will be outstanding this year.Nah gadget-whether a new gadget that may be circulating this year, we see some more of them:
1. 2-Sony PSP (PSP-4000)
After success with the Sony PSP (Playstation Portable), Sony will likely issue a gadget newest Sony PSP-2. This new form of gossip and has not been confirmed by Sony, but it may be correct considering the competition with Nintendo who has issued the latest model of its DS. Other gossip, Xbox will also be issued a portable Xbox.
2. Newest Model With iPhone 32GB HD
Apple is a company full of innovation. After the release of iPhone is one gadget teranyar in 2007, it seems this year will be slightly modifying the Apple iPhone that may be upgraded with software and additional capacity. Apple innovation will be seen in this MacWorld in January.
3. Google Android With New Software Upgrade
Google is also one of the company, which is always innovate. After Google launched its Android software for mobile HTC, Android will be more used by other phone companies. Nah possible new Google Android mobile phone is no longer using the physical keyboard, but will be replaced with a touch screen keyboard.
4. MP3 & MP4 Using the Power of Light (solar)
That this is not gossip anymore, but have already released the MP3 at the end of the year where this MP3 using a light or sun light for its mencharge Battery.
5. Mobile phone-shaped hour
This is still a prototype, but LG has been exhibited at CES 2008, and will be sold this in 2009.
6. Graphic Booster For Laptops
This tool can speed up the display gradik on your laptop. Fujitsu made in this tool is installed on the outside (perhaps with a special connector), which he said could speed up to 4x the performance graph of the fold inserted in the laptop. Suitable for those who like to play games.
In fact there are many more gadgets, new gadgets that will appear this year in 2009. Therefore, we hold only the development ...
Indonesian
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Tips Browsing di Internet Lebih Cepat Dengan Windows XP
Saat kita sedang menggunakan komputer dan kebetulan kita internetan, kita pasti tahu istilah browsing. Nah ada sebuah tip agar kita browsing lebih cepat, dalam komputer yang menggunakan OS windons XP Prof atau Windows Home Edition.
Dalam windows terdapat yang namanya QoS yang bernama lengkap Quality of Servis disediakan dengan tujuan untuk memastikan jaringan Anda bekerja dengan baik. Tapi kenyataannya itu tidak begitu berguna tetapi yang pasti dapat memakan sampai 20% dari bandwidth Anda. Anda dapat mencoba dan melihat perbedaannya ketika QoS dimatikan.
Langkah langkah untuk mematikan QoS yaitu sebagi berikut:
Untuk Windows XP Professional
1. Klik Start, kemudian Run.
2. Ketik “gpedit.msc” di dalam kotak isian, kemudian tekan enter.
3. Dalam Local Computer Policy, klik tanda plus pada Computer Configuration, kemudian klik lagi di Administrative Templates.
4. Klik tanda plus pada Network dan pilih QoS Packet Scheduler.
5. Pada bagian kanan kotak, double-click pada Limit Reservable Bandwidth.
6. Pada Settings, pilih Enabled.
7. Pada kotak Bandwidth Limit %, gantikan isinya jadi 0%. (Jangan biarkan kosong isinya)
8. Klik OK.
Untuk Windows Home Edition
1. Klik Start dan kemudian pilih Settings.
2. Pilih Control Panel, dan buka Network Connections
3. Klik kanan pada Local Area Connection dan pilih Properties.
4.Pada tab General, hilang tanda centang pada QoS.
Sumber: jawararadio
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Pengguna MSN & YM Berhati-hatilah Terhadap Situs Phising
Mau tahu 'ular berbisa' versi Messenger yang sedang marak beredar di internet ? Salah satu teknik yang paling mudah untuk menjerat korban phishing adalah menggunakan rekayasa sosial yang tepat, dan kalau hal ini dilakukan oleh orang yang mgnerti hukum, maka hal ini akan mengakibatkan banjir phishing di internet. Kali ini yang menjadi korban adalah para pengguna Messenger, baik Yahoo Messenger maupun MSN Messenger.Jika Anda pernah menerima pesan di Yahoo Messenger seperti dibawah ini
Hey chck my yahoo flicker account… uploaded some pics J http://www.***-picz.com
Hi there…. Come check my pictures… different kind of pics of me WILD and CRAZY J http://www.***-picz.com
Dan jika Anda klik link tersebut maka Anda akan diarahkan pada website phishing yang telah disiapkan.
Jangan sekali-kali Anda masukkan Yahoo Email dan Password Anda karena rekening YM Anda akan langsung diketahui. Sekali Account Yahoo Anda diketahui, secara teknis banyak sekali hal-hal berbahaya yang dapat dilakukan tanpa sepengetahuan Anda. Seperti mengirimkan Phishing, SPAM, email fitnah sampai mengubah data pemilik Account. Terlebih jika Anda memiliki akses berharga pada Account YM Anda seperti administrator mailinglist dengan jumlah anggota yang besar, account produk-produk Yahoo dan lainnya.
Mengapa orang bisa tertipu?
Jika Anda “merasa” belum pernah tertipu dan bertanya-tanya, kok keterlaluan banget yah, orang bisa tertipu begitu mudah? Jawabannya selain karena “kurang teliti” karena mengira situs yang dikunjungi adalah situs milik Yahoo tetapi sebab lain yang utama adalah karena yang mengirimkan pesan tersebut adalah kontak Anda yang ada di Yahoo Messenger.
Tentunya Anda percaya bahwa teman Anda tidak mungkin mencelakakan Anda dengan menjebak Anda ke situs phishing (kalau benar ada rasanya keterlaluan banget deh L). Jadi, kalau Anda menerima pesan seperti di atas, jangan mengamuk dulu sama teman Anda. Masalahnya, pesan YM tersebut rupanya tidak dikirimkan oleh teman Anda, melainkan karena Account Yahoonya telah diketahui dan digunakan untuk mengirimkan pesan yang menggiring semua kontak untuk mengklik link yang membuka halaman web yang meminta Yahoo Mail dan password.
Segera minta teman Anda untuk mengganti Password YM dan memeriksa dengan teliti apakah data pendukung rekening Yahoonya masih sesuai dengan dirinya. Kalau masih sesuai, 'mungkin' rekening Yahoo tersebut masih bisa digunakan. Tetapi kalau Anda was-was dan ingin menerapkan paranoid mode, ganti rekening Yahoo Anda dengan yang baru dan jangan lupa lengkapi login Yahoo Anda dengan 'Sign in Seal' dan selalu perhatikan alamat situs Yahoo setiap kali memasukkan username dan password.
Siapa yang baca Term and Conditions ?
Jika ditanya, apakah Anda membaca dengan seksama Terms and Conditions setiap kali Anda menginstal software atau menggunakan satu layanan di internet ? Dapat dikatakan 99 % akan menjawab Tidak. Nah, kelemahan inilah yang dimanfaatkan oleh T P Ltd, perusahaan yang menjadi dalang dari semua ini.
T P Ltd adalah satu perusahaan yang menggunakan domisili hukum Panama. Dan perusahaan ini sudah melindungi dirinya dengan perangkat hukum yang baik karena dia sudah mencantumkan bahwa Anda setuju account Yahoo Anda digunakan untuk tujuan promosi dalam Term and Conditions yang tercantum linknya di halaman depan situs forgery tersebut. (yang kami yakin Anda yang pernah masuk situs tersebutpun belum tentu ingat ada kalimat '- By logging in you accept Terms and Conditions-', apalagi mengklik dan membaca linknya.
Berikut ini kutipan salah satu point dalam 'Terms and Conditions': By using our service/website you hereby fully authorize T P Ltd to send messages of a commercial nature via Instant Messages and E-Mails on behalf of third parties via the information you provide us.
Firefox – Internet Explorer – Safari
Satu hal yang menarik dan Vaksincom alami dalam mengakses situs forgery ini menggunakan beberapa browser yang berbeda seperti Firefox, Internet Explorer dan Safari adalah : Secara default (tanpa setting khusus) browser Firefox versi 3.0.6 relatif lebih aman dari browser Internet Explorer versi 7.0.6001.18000 dan Safari versi 3.2.1.
Mengapa? Firefox memberikan peringatan berulang-ulang setiap kali mengakses situs forgery yang rasanya agak 'keterlaluan' kalau sampai pengguna firefox sampai bisa tertipu oleh situs ini.
Jadi, saat pertama kali Vaksincom masuk ke situs www.holiday-picz.com langsung mendapatkan peringatan berwarna Merah dengan gambar icon polisi memegang rambu lalulintas 'dilarang masuk' (coba kurang jelas bagaimana pesan yang diberikan?) bahwa situs ini dilaporkan Berbahaya dan dipalsukan dan hanya dua tombol yang mudah di klik:
Get me out of here ! Yang kalau diklik akan membawa Anda keluar dari situs berbahaya tersebut.
Why was this site blocked ? Yang kalau diklik akan memberikan informasi lebih jauh mengenai web forgery dan phishing
Hanya saja kalau Anda tetap keukeuh dan ingin mengakses situs tersebut, Anda dapat mengklik kalimat kecil di pojok kanan 'Ignore this warning', kemudian Anda baru bisa mengakses situs tersebut. Itupun masih tetap dengan adanya pita berwarna merah berisi peringatan dari Firefox 'Reported Web Forgery !'.
Kemungkinan pengguna Firefox tetap bisa terjebak memasukkan Alamat email dan password adalah karena 'gatal' ingin mengklik dan memasukkan segala sesuatu tanpa membaca atau karena pengguna tersebut kurang mengerti Bahasa Inggris. (Tapi harusnya kan mengerti yah, kalau merah itu berarti bahaya, mana ada gambar polisi galak bawa rambu verboden kok masih diterabas. Kaya naik motor aja).
Menurut perkiraan Vaksincom, secara tidak langsung karena Yahoo Messenger secara default akan membuka setiap link menggunakan Internet Explorer sehingga menyebabkan tingginya korban dari web forgery ini.
Celakanya, Vaksincom mendapatkan laporan bahwa TP Ltd ini sangat kreatif dan selalu memperbaharui situs forgery-nya dengan pesan yang makin hari makin canggih. Selain itu, bukan hanya Yahoo Messenger saja yang menjadi korbannya, tetapi juga MSN Messenger.
Dalam artikel berikutnya, Vaksincom akan memberikan hasil pengetesan Lab menggunakan Account Yahoo messenger dan bagaimana mendeteksi Account Yahoo Anda sedang dipakai. Dan terakhir yang tidak kalah menarik, ada perusahaan game online internet yang populer di Indonesia dengan anggota 188.701 orang yang ternyata menggunakan jasa TP Ltd dalam menyebarkan iklan gamenya. (vaksincom/detik)
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Sejarah Logo & Maskot Firefox
Mungkin banyak di antara Anda pembaca udaramaya yang mengagumi Firefox. Browser besutan Mozilla ini sangat powerful dalam membantu setiap kegiatan dan aktifitas yang berhubungan dengan dunia maya. Fungsionalitasnya bisa diperluas dengan penambahan berbagai macam add-on, tema, plugin dan skrip. Sepertinya sudah banyak yang Anda ketahui tentang browser ini, tetapi tunggu dulu. Tahukah Anda kalau Firefox mempunyai beberapa maskot?
Di bawah ini akan dijelaskan satu persatu tentang maskot-maskot Firefox saat ini mulai dari nama, tanggal dibuatnya, orang yang mendesain, maksud dan tujuan pembuatan dan lain-lain. Maskot resmi saat ini hanya empat, tetapi ke depannya kemungkinan akan terus bertambah. Dan suatu saat nanti bukan tidak mungkin akan ada maskot Firefox dari Indonesia. ^^
Apakah maskot penting? Jangan remehkan kehadirannya, karena pembuatan maskot ini membawa misi tertentu yang cukup penting, salah satunya seperti menjadi duta untuk memasarkan dan mensosialisasikan penggunaan Firefox di suatu negara. Penampilannya yang imut dan menggemaskan tidak hanya disukai anak-anak tetapi juga orang dewasa sehingga demam Firefox dapat terus menyebar ke seluruh dunia.
Kit
Maskot bertampang memelas ini didesain Sean Martell berdasarkan ide dari Chris Beard pada tahun 2006 dan diperkenalkan pertama kali kepada khalayak dengan nama Renardo di konferensi para pengembang Firefox yang bertempat di Mountain View, California. Kemunculannya menjadi sangat populer pada konferensi SXSW Interactive (festival industri kreatif di kota Texas) di tahun 2007 dan ditayangkan ke DL.TV. Karena maskot tersebut terlihat seperti rubah yang masih sangat kecil, maka diberi nama Kit (bayi rubah).Pembuatan maskot ini adalah keinginan atau ajakan dari para pengembang di Mozilla Developer Center agar membangun web menggunakan standar terbuka dan teknologi open source. Dengan begitu kebebasan untuk menyebarkan ilmu pengetahuan/ kekayaan intelektual dapat terus dilakukan, dan juga ide dan kreatifitas tidak dikekang oleh para pemilik standard tertutup.
Wajah Kit didesain sedemikian rupa sehingga membuat banyak orang yang melihatnya merasa kasihan terhadap maskot tersebut dan sepertinya pembuat ingin agar kampanye ini tidak dipandang sebagai sesuatu hal yang memaksa atau menyerang tapi lebih kepada ajakan yang tulus dan menyentuh hati banyak orang dengan lembut sehingga tergerak untuk mau mendukung kampanye tersebut. Untuk membantu menyebarluaskan kampanye tersebut, Kit telah dibuat dalam berbagai bentuk, seperti wallpaper, stiker, poster, animasi, banner situs, dan lain-lain.
Foxkeh
Maskot ini lahir di bulan September 2006 dari tangan tim Mozilla Jepang dan seperti yang kita tahu Jepang terkenal dengan desain karakter kartunnya lucu dan unik, begitupun dengan Foxkeh. Maskot Firefox yang satu ini tampil sangat menggemaskan dan kehadirannya cukup dikenal di kalangan pengguna browser Firefox tidak terbatas di Jepang saja. Nama Foxkeh (fokusuke) merupakan hasil sumbangan ide lebih dari 7000 member komunitas pengguna Firefox di Jepang. Nama Foxkeh (dibaca Fokusuke) berasal dari gabungan kata FIREFOX dan SUKE (nama akhiran umum untuk anak laki-laki di Jepang).
Sejak pertama kali muncul Foxkeh sudah membantu penyebaran Firefox, dengan kemunculannya di Vox Banner Contest, sebuah poster yang menjelaskan sejarah Firefox, wallpaper bulanan lengkap dengan tanggal dan gambar Foxkeh dalam berbagai aksi, seri video promosi Firefox dan masih banyak lagi.
Pada awalnya semua pernak-pernik Foxkeh tampil dalam tulisan Jepang dan ditampilkan di situs http://foxkeh.jp/, tapi dengan banyaknya permintaan yang dari luar Jepang akhirnya dibuatlah sebuah blog yang beralamat di http://www.foxkeh.com/ yang berbahasa Inggris.
Wujud Foxkeh bisa Anda dapatkan dalam bentuk tema (Foxkeh Theme) untuk Firefox. Tampilannya akan terlihat seperti gambar yang ada di bawah ini. Tema dengan warna dominan oranye dan kuning ini sangat cantik dan menarik, Anda bisa melihat animasi Foxkeh sedang berlari setiap kali di pojok kanan atas dan kepala Foxkeh yang imut itu berputar-putar di tab setiap kali mengunjungi situs. Menurut saya ini adalah salah satu tema terbaik yang pantas untuk Anda koleksi.
Ingin melihat Foxkeh berjoget ria? Di sini tempatnya: http://foxkehdance.com/
Halaman yang berisi banyak emoticon Foxkeh sedang menari itu dibuat oleh Alex Polvi. Mozillian yang satu ini sebelumnya terkenal dengan pembuatan lambang Firefox di padang jagung dan gambar robot di Firefox 3. Sekarang dia sudah tidak bekerja lagi di Mozilla dan sebagai kontribusi terakhirnya dibuatlah Foxkeh Dance.
G-Fox
Pada bulan Juni 2008 Mou-Zhi Network (kantor cabang Mozilla di China) melalui CEO-nya, Gong-Li memperkenalkan maskot Firefox yang diberi nama G-Fox. Dan seperti halnya saudara-saudaranya dari Amerika dan Jepang, Kit dan Foxkeh, kehadirannya bertujuan untuk membuat kampanye penggunaan Firefox menjadi lebih menyenangkan dan bisa lebih diterima terutama untuk para penduduk China. Bagi komunitas pengguna Firefox huruf G dari nama maskot G-fox memiliki banyak arti positif, seperti "good, great, guide, gateway, gravity, grace, gorgeous," dan ungkapan lainnya yang bisa Anda persepsikan sendiri.G-Fox memiliki bola mata yang besar, menandakan bahwa maskot ini sangat cermat, seperti halnya browser Firefox sebagai mata dari komputer untuk melakukan pencarian dan kegiatan lainnya untuk membantu manusia mengenal dunia dengan lebih jelas lagi. Lalu bentuk kupingnya yang panjang dan berdiri tegak memungkinkannya untuk menangkap suara-suara yang berfrekuensi kecil, dan sesuai dengan browser Firefox sebagai sebuah aplikasi open source sehingga banyak orang yang dapat memberikan kontribusinya. Karakteristik bangsa China didapat dari bentuk lengkungan (Choi Wan) pada ekor, yang menjadi penghias sekaligus penyempurna bentuknya.
Melalui situs resminya Anda bisa mendapatkan berbagai pernak-pernik G-Fox yang bisa langsung Anda unduh, seperti 4 buah wallpaper dalam berbagai ukuran, gambar G-Fox dengan tema cabang olah raga, banner dan yang terakhir adalah tema G-Fox yang sudah kompatibel dengan Firefox versi 3.
Foxmosa
Dari komunitas Mozilla di Taiwan lahirlah maskot Firefox keempat yang diberi nama Foxmosa. Sudah beberapa tahun yang lalu maskot lucu ini membantu berbagai kegiatan promosi Firefox, seperti mempromosikan Firefox versi 2, Download Day dan pesta Firefox 3 untuk penggguna di Taiwan. Tapi baru kali ini beritanya dipublikasikan di situs resmi Mozilla setelah menerima detil informasi tentang Foxmosa dari salah satu anggota komunitas Mozilla Taiwan, yaitu Handsome Puppy. Sehingga sekarang ini Foxmosa sudah keluar dari kandangnya dan mulai bergabung dengan saudara-saudaranya yang lain. Yang membuat tampilan Foxmosa seperti yang kita lihat sekarang ini adalah Tatit. Seorang ilustrator asal Taiwan yang sangat menyukai Firefox. Nama Foxmosa berasal dari tulisan China, Formosa (dibaca Fu Er Mo Sha).
Di bawah ini adalah salah satu foto dari kegiatan Foxmosa Tour in Taiwan, kegiatan yang unik ini masih bagian dari pesta Firefox 3 dimana para sukarelawan berkeliling pulau Taiwan, kemudian mengambil beberapa foto lingkungan, bangunan dan objek wisata dengan membawa balon berbentuk bintang dan tentunya terdapat gambar Foxmosa di sana. Detil kegiatan serta rute tur dan foto-fotonya bisa dilihat di sini.
Sejarah Logo Firefox
Keempat maskot di atas dan juga logo Firefox yang sering Anda lihat memiliki kesamaan, yaitu pembuatannya sama-sama terinspirasi dari bentuk salah satu hewan karnivora. Lalu bagaimana cerita awalnya sehingga logo berbentuk seekor rubah merah dengan ekor berapi sedang memeluk planet bumi ini bisa tercipta?
Semua itu bermula dari keinginan dari yayasan Mozilla untuk merancang sebuah masa depan bagi merk Mozilla dan identitas visualnya. Karena luasnya cakupan proyek yang dilakukan Mozilla sehingga menimbulkan kebingungan tentang penggunaan nama/merk Mozilla yang dideskripsikan oleh para pengguna sebagai aplikasi web browser, paket aplikasi, platform dan keseluruhan koleksi dari proyek aplikasi tanpa batasan yang jelas. Untuk itu pada tahun 2003 dimulai dari Mozilla Suite version 2.0, yaitu sebuah paket aplikasi yang terdiri dari 4 aplikasi desktop, masing-masing telah diberi nama dan logo. Salah satunya adalah web browser yang bernama Mozilla Firebird. Namun nama tersebut tidak bertahan lama dan akhirnya oleh Ben Goodger diganti menjadi Mozilla Firefox.
Kemudian di tahun 2004 terbentuklah Mozilla Visual Identity Team yang dipimpin oleh Steven Garrity. Tim ini bertugas untuk meningkatkan kualitas dan konsistensi elemen visual (ikon/ logo, tema dasar, dll) dari produk-produk Mozilla. Jon Hicks yang bertugas membuat ilustrasi logo Firefox awalnya sedikit kesulitan dengan konsep Firefox. Akhirnya karena terinspirasi dengan lukisan dari Jepang tentang seekor rubah, akhirnya muncul gambar yang malah lebih terlihat seperti panda merah yang lucu.
Pada akhirnya desain yang dipilih adalah hasil konsep dari Daniel Burka dan sketsanya oleh Stephen Desroches. Dan didesain ulang oleh Hicks menggunakan aplikasi Fireworks MX dan Photoshop untuk pembuatan ikonnya. Dan digunakan pertama kali untuk browser Firefox versi 0,8.
Konsep logo Firefox ini akhirnya menjadi konsep dasar untuk Mozilla Thunderbird Camino, dan banyak produk Mozilla lainnya.
Terimakasih atas informasinya: Pepoluan, Louchyper, dan Renchin Wang
Sumber:
http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/branding-firefox
http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/09/meet-g-fox-mozilla-onlines-mascot/
http://blog.mozilla.com/chinacommunity/archives/32
https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2007/03/22/his-name-is-kit-developer-kit/
http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2007/03/dont-hurt-the-web-remixed/
http://www.mozillaonline.com/products/gfox/
http://mozillalinks.org/wp/category/foxkeh/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxkeh#Foxkeh
http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2009/02/meet-foxmosa-firefox-taiwanese-mascot/
http://www.moztw.org/events/foxmosa-tour/
http://www.actsofvolition.com/archive/2004/february/brandingmozilla
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Jepang Akan Kirim Robot ke Bulan
TOKYO - Seolah tak mau kalah dengan dua negara Asia, China dan India dalam pengembangan misi luar angkasa, Jepang berencana mengirimkan robot buatannya ke bulan.Rencananya, negeri matahari itu akan memberangkatkan robotnya ke bulan pada tahun 2020. Tak hanya itu, Jepang juga menyatakan akan mengirimkan astronotnya ke bulan sepuluh tahun setelahnya, 2030.Reuters, Sabtu (7/3/2009) melaporkan, robot dan astronot yang akan dikirimkan itu akan menjalankan misi untuk menyelediki bulan dan mencari tahu tentang materi-materi yang dapat bermanfaat dan digunakan manusia di bulan.
Ambisi Jepang itu, mengikuti India yang telah berhasil mengirimkan misi luar angkasa tanpa awak ke Bulan tahun lalu. Selain itu, China juga berencana mengirimkan astronotnya ke bulan. Tapi China belum mengungkapkan kepastian misi luar angkasa ke bulan tersebut."Sejumlah ahli memang prihatin dengan program luar angkasa Jepang yang sangat sedikit, sehingga bisa membuat Jepang menjadi ketinggalan dengan negara lain," ujar seorang pejabat Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy (SHSP).Saat ini pengembangan misi luar angkasa lebih di dominasi tiga negara, AS, Rusia, dan China. Ketiga negara tersebut, merupakan negara yang telah berhasil mengirimkan manusia ke luar angkasa dengan roket buatan sendiri.
Ambisi Jepang itu, mengikuti India yang telah berhasil mengirimkan misi luar angkasa tanpa awak ke Bulan tahun lalu. Selain itu, China juga berencana mengirimkan astronotnya ke bulan. Tapi China belum mengungkapkan kepastian misi luar angkasa ke bulan tersebut."Sejumlah ahli memang prihatin dengan program luar angkasa Jepang yang sangat sedikit, sehingga bisa membuat Jepang menjadi ketinggalan dengan negara lain," ujar seorang pejabat Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy (SHSP).Saat ini pengembangan misi luar angkasa lebih di dominasi tiga negara, AS, Rusia, dan China. Ketiga negara tersebut, merupakan negara yang telah berhasil mengirimkan manusia ke luar angkasa dengan roket buatan sendiri.
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2025, Dunia Hadapi Krisis Air bersih
ISTANBUL - Ahli konservasi dunia memperkirakan dua dari tiga penduduk dunia akan kesulitan mendapatkan akses bersih pada tahun 2025. sebab itu, sebanyak 25.000 ahli konservasi akan berkumpul di Istanbul, Turki untuk membicarakan masalah kelangkaan air bersih tersebut dalam waktu dekat.Pertemuan yang digagas International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) tersebut mencoba untuk menyumbangkan pikiran dan gagasan untuk mendorong pemerintah disemua negara menerapkan kebijakkan yang tepat tentang permasalahan air."Perubahan iklim dan permasalahan krisis air jelas menjadi pembahasan utama dalam pertemuan mendatang, selain bencana seperti badai," kata kepala IUCN, Mark Smith seperti dilansir RedOrbit, Sabtu (7/3/2009).
Sebelumnya,? seorang professor National University, Singapura, Wong Poh Poh telah mengungkapkan jika pada tahun 2050 setengah dari jumlah penduduk dunia diprediksi akan kesulitan mengakses ketersediaan air bersih pada 2050. Hal itu disebabkan Pengaruh perubahan iklim menjadi faktor utama berkurangnya stok air di muka bumi.Menurutnya di Asia bencana itu akan sangat mengerikan. Distribusi air menjadi tidak merata dan beberapa wilayah akan sangat sulit mengakses air bersih, terutama India dan China. Tingginya jumlah penduduk juga mendorong kedua negara itu kesulitan sumber air bersih.
Sebelumnya,? seorang professor National University, Singapura, Wong Poh Poh telah mengungkapkan jika pada tahun 2050 setengah dari jumlah penduduk dunia diprediksi akan kesulitan mengakses ketersediaan air bersih pada 2050. Hal itu disebabkan Pengaruh perubahan iklim menjadi faktor utama berkurangnya stok air di muka bumi.Menurutnya di Asia bencana itu akan sangat mengerikan. Distribusi air menjadi tidak merata dan beberapa wilayah akan sangat sulit mengakses air bersih, terutama India dan China. Tingginya jumlah penduduk juga mendorong kedua negara itu kesulitan sumber air bersih.
Sumber :http://www.okezone.com/
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Scanner Untuk Negative Film Anda
Jika anda memiliki kamera yang masih menggunakan Film atau anda memiliki koleksi negative film yang sangat banyak. Anda bisa menyimpan koleksi anda tersebut ke dalam format yang lebih aman, menggunakan alat ini.
Yashica F5-500 adalah sebuah Scanner film USB yang memiliki resolusi 3600dpi dan bisa digunakan dengan bermacam - macam sofware untuk mengedit foto. Alat ini akan menyimpan foto dari negative film anda ke dalam komputer atau laptop anda.
Sumber: Disitu
Yashica F5-500 adalah sebuah Scanner film USB yang memiliki resolusi 3600dpi dan bisa digunakan dengan bermacam - macam sofware untuk mengedit foto. Alat ini akan menyimpan foto dari negative film anda ke dalam komputer atau laptop anda.
Sumber: Disitu
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Aptera, Mobil Dengan Bahan Bakar Seirit Motor...
Inovasi terus dikerjakan oleh para ilmuwan untuk menemukan hal-hal baru demi kemudahan hidup manusia. Di bidang otomotif, penemuan yang terus menjadi mimpi para inovator itu adalah penciptaan kendaraan paling cepat, aman, irit, dan murah.Insinyur Steve Fambro dan Chris Anthony mengklaim telah menemukan kendaraan impian itu melalui Aptera. Lima tahun lalu, Steve Fambro yang bekerja di sebuah perusahaan bioteknologi menghabiskan akhir pekannya untuk melakukan percobaan berulang-ulang untuk meningkatkan efisiensi BBM kendaraan pikapnya. “Saya terus berpikir akan sebuah sebuah dalil bahwa pemakaian BBM semakin sedikit jika hambatan berkurang,” katanya. “Kendaraan apa yang tidak mempunyai hambatan seperti itu?” lanjutnya.
Interior Aptera
Setelah ratusan kali bereksperimen, Aptera yang diperkenalkan di pabriknya di Vista, California, awal pekan lalu adalah jawaban dari mimpi Fambro. Terinspirasi kendaraan luar angkasa tokoh film kartun 1960-an The Jetsons, Fambro dan timnya membuat mobil berbentuk separo telur, dengan tiga roda, serta dua tempat duduk.
Bentuk Pintu Aptera
Mobil berdesain futuristik itu diklaim Fambro sebagai mobil revolusioner. “Aptera membuka sebuah kategori otomotif baru berupa mobil superringan dengan kemampuan tempuh bermil-mil yang dirancang untuk dapat dikemudikan di jalan-jalan umum dengan harga USD 30.000 (sekitar Rp 360 juta),” ujarnya.
Interior Aptera
Dengan berat hanya sekitar 680 kg, Aptera dibuat dari komposisi ultra ringan. Chris Anthony, partner Fambro, mengungkapkan, Aptera menggunakan material fiber ringan yang biasa dipergunakan di perahu-perahu cepat. Bobot di bawah rata-rata mobil normal itu membuat Aptera mampu menempuh jarak 42 km dengan hanya satu liter bensin. Ini sama dengan rata-rata konsumsi BBM untuk sepeda motor
Aptera, Mobil Masa Depan? Mungkin!
Tahun ini Aptera direncanakan dikembangkan menjadi sebuah kendaraan yang lebih besar dengan empat tempat duduk. “Aku berpikir waktu akan terus bergerak dan mobil-mobil akan bergeser dalam penampilannya,” kata Fambro. “Dua puluh tahun dari sekarang, kita akan melihat mobil-mobil menggunakan energi dengan bahan yang dikenal sebagai sampah di masa sekarang. Mereka akan membuat kita merasa aneh,” kata Fambro.
Tampak Depan
Ambisi besar dan hasil kerja keras Fambro ternyata juga mengundang Google.org, bagian dari grup Google, untuk menyumbangkan USD 2,75 juta pada proyek Aptera.
Aptera, keren abis, deh!
Bagaimana tanggapan konsumen? Chief Executive Aptera Paul Wilbur mengaku daftar calon pembeli Aptera telah mencapai 4.000 orang sampai pertengahan tahun ini. Sebagian besar dari penginden itu adalah pencinta teknologi, eksekutif perusahaan IT, orang kaya yang menjadikan Aptera sebagai mobil kedua atau ketiganya.
Salah Satu Tipe Emblem Aptera
Sumber : http://www.jawapos.com/
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