Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Solar Panel Breaks ‘Third of a Sun’ Efficiency Barrier
November 6th, 2012Via: Gizmag: Embattled photovoltaic solar power manufacturer Amonix announced on Tuesday that it has broken the solar module efficiency record, becoming the first manufacturer to convert more than a third of incoming light energy into electricity – a goal once branded “one third of a sun” in a Department of Energy initiative. The Amonix module […]
Megaupload and the Government’s Attack on Cloud Computing
November 3rd, 2012Via: EFF: Yesterday, EFF, on behalf of its client Kyle Goodwin, filed a brief proposing a process for the Court in the Megaupload case to hold the government accountable for the actions it took (and failed to take) when it shut down Megaupload’s service and denied third parties like Mr. Goodwin access to their property. […]
First Vertical Farm Opens in Singapore
November 2nd, 2012Via: Wired: The first commercial-scale vertical farm has opened in the tiny, densely-populated city of Singapore, with the aim of decreasing dependence on food imports Singapore, which lies at the end of the Malay Peninsula, is just 710 square kilometres, almost all of which is city. That leaves little space to grow vegetables. As a […]
‘Given Tablets but No Teachers, Ethiopian Children Teach Themselves’
November 2nd, 2012“For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” —Sun Tzu, The Art o War Update: Nicholas Negroponte Is the Brother of John Negroponte Reader DW tipped me off to something pretty remarkable that I hadn’t noticed […]
Efficiency Breakthrough Promises Smartphones that Use Half the Power
November 2nd, 2012Via: MIT Technology Review: Powering cellular base stations around the world will cost $36 billion this year—chewing through nearly 1 percent of all global electricity production. Much of this is wasted by a grossly inefficient piece of hardware: the power amplifier, a gadget that turns electricity into radio signals. The versions of amplifiers within smartphones […]
Tokelau: 100 Percent Solar-Powered
November 2nd, 2012Via: Wired: Tokelau, a tiny collection of atolls in the South Pacific, is now completely able to support itself with solar energy — the first nation in the world to do so. A one-megawatt solar panel array has been erected across the three atolls to provide its more than 1,400 residents with 150 percent of […]
IBM’s Watson Goes to Medical School
November 1st, 2012Via: New York Times: Next up for Watson, I.B.M.’s clever question-answering computer? A stint as a medical student at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. The collaboration, announced on Tuesday, includes a bit of controlled crowdsourcing, with the Cleveland clinicians and medical school students answering Watson’s questions and correcting […]
Court OKs Warrantless Use of Hidden Surveillance Cameras
November 1st, 2012Via: Cnet: Police are allowed in some circumstances to install hidden surveillance cameras on private property without obtaining a search warrant, a federal judge said yesterday. CNET has learned that U.S. District Judge William Griesbach ruled that it was reasonable for Drug Enforcement Administration agents to enter rural property without permission — and without a […]
Temporal Analytics: Turning Protest Noise Into Intelligence
October 31st, 2012Sign wavers should read this. Via: AOL: While it’s true, it’s hard to predict what people will do, it’s also increasingly true that people worldwide do emit and discuss their behavior through online social media and that can be monitored and analyzed in nearly real-time. Companies such as intelligence analysis contractor Recorded Future, which is […]
Hurricane Sandy Takes Data Centers Offline with Flooding, Power Outages
October 31st, 2012Via: Ars Technica: Flooding and power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy have forced several New York data centers to switch to generator power. But those generators are quickly running out of fuel, so data center companies are telling their customers to shut down their servers and move workloads elsewhere. One of the worst situations is […]
