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Across the US on 25 gallons?
“San Francisco recently saw the unveiling of the world’s first algae fuel-powered vehicle, dubbed the Algaeus.
The plug-in hybrid car, which is a Prius tricked out with a nickel metal hydride battery and a plug, runs on green crude from Sapphire Energy — no modifications to the gasoline engine necessary.
The set-up is so effective, according to FUEL producer Rebecca Harrell, that the Algaeus can cross the US on approximately 25 gallons of fuel — a figure which is currently being tested on a coast-to-coast road trip.”
802.11n approved by IEEE as a standard
“The IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.
Bruce Kraemer, the long-time chairman of the 802.11n Task Group (part of the 802.11 Working Group, which oversees the WLAN standards), has sent out a notification to a listserv for task group members, which includes a wide range of Wi-Fi chip makers, software developers, and equipment vendors.
This process began in 2002.”
‘Your tweets belong to you’: Twitter
“Twitter has modified its terms of service to state unequivocally that messages posted belong to their authors and not to the company.
‘Twitter is allowed to “use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute” your tweets because that’s what we do. However, they are your tweets and they belong to you,’ wrote Twitter co-founder Biz Stone in a blog post Thursday announcing the modifications.
Twitter is still hammering out a set of guidelines for developers on the proper use of the company’s API.”
Panasonic’s full HD 3D looks impressive
“Engadget recently had a chance to try out Panasonic’s 3D demo rig, and, aside from the goofy glasses, report some impressive results.”
Details of Motorola’s Android platform on Cliq
“The Motorola Cliq is expected in a few weeks. T-Mobile is Motorola’s carrier partner in the US. A second Android phone will be marketed in other countries under the name Dext.
Dr. Sanjay K. Jha, Co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of the company’s Mobile Devices division, unveiled Motorola’s Android platform play.
Key to both of the phones, and key to Motorola’s overall Android strategy, is a new interface and application layer called MotoBlur.
It’s focused on ‘a single stream’ for social networking features, software updates, messages, syncing, e-mails, videos, photos etc.
The Cliq phone has a 5-megapixel camera, slide-out keyboard, 24 frame-per-second video capabilities, GPS, a headphone jack, an advanced browser from Google, integrated Exchange service, and Google roaming services including Google voice search, access to maps, Google calendar, and more. It also provides one-click access to Android Market and the thousands of Android applications there.”
A quantum superposition of living things
“Having created quantum superpositions of photons, atoms, and even molecules, scientists are currently preparing to do the same for larger objects — namely viruses.
The technique will involve storing a virus in a vacuum and then cooling it to its quantum-mechanical ground state in a microcavity. Zapping the virus with a laser then leaves it in a superposition of its ground state and an excited one.
That’s no easy task, however. The virus will have to survive the vacuum, behave like a dielectric, and appear transparent to the laser light, which would otherwise tear it apart.
Now a group of researchers has worked out that several viruses look capable of surviving the superposition process, including the common flu virus and the tobacco mosaic virus. They point out that after creating the superposition, scientists will be able to perform the Schrodinger’s Cat experiment for the first time, which should be fun (but less so for the virus).”
Spotify mobbed – retreats to ‘invite only’ in UK
“Music streaming service Spotify, which was approved for iPhone by Apple recently, has been forced to enact tight restrictions on new members in the UK, and revert back to an invite-only system.
The company has decided to take drastic action following the release of its iPhone and Android apps earlier this week, which have created ‘huge demand in the UK,’ according to Spotify.
People who don’t want to put their hand in their pocket and don’t have any friends can sign up to a waiting list instead.”
Random Access Quantum Optical Memory in development
“Researchers at the Australian National University have developed a new form of optical memory that allows random access to stored optical quantum information.
Pulses of light are stored on a kind of ‘optical conveyor-belt’ that is controlled with a magnetic field.
By manipulating the magnetic field, the conveyor-belt can be moved, allowing the recall of any part of the stored optical information.”
9/11 photographs – taken from space
“We’ve seen so many shocking and startling photos of 9/11 from the perspective of people on the ground but what did that terrible day look like from space?
As you will see from these photos, the action taking place in lower Manhattan was very visible from more than 250 miles above Earth inside the International Space Station.”
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