Tokyo Police Launch Drone Designed To Take Down Other Drones
December 13th, 2015Via: NPR:
In Tokyo, police will soon deploy a drone designed to take out suspicious drones or drones that enter into restricted airspace.
Daimler Is Reusing Electric Vehicle Batteries to Store Renewable Energy
December 10th, 2015Via: Ars Technica:
When electric vehicle batteries get long in the tooth, they have to be replaced because they’ll start experiencing power loss—which will mean reduced vehicle performance. But what happens to those old batteries after they’re replaced is important if you’re judging a car on how environmentally friendly it is.
To this end, automaker Daimler recently announced that it plans to connect the old lithium-ion cells to the grid in Lünen, Germany, building the world’s largest stationary storage facility made out of re-used electric vehicle batteries. The system will allow renewable energy that’s generated in that area to be stored and given back to the grid to level out energy fluctuation that might occur if, say, those same generating sources went offline due to equipment failure, a cloudy day, or a drop in wind power. Generally, burning extra fossil fuel is required to stabilize the grid.
“Depending on the model, Daimler AG guarantees its electric vehicle customers a battery life of up to ten years, “ the company wrote in a press release. “However, the battery systems are still fully operational after this point, as the low levels of power loss are only of minor importance when used in stationary storage. It is estimated that the unit can operate efficiently in a stationary application for at least another ten years.”
Daimler’s first stationary storage unit will be able to provide 13MWh of electricity and is slated to come online in the beginning of 2016. A spokesperson for the company told Ars that “further projects are already being planned.”
Zombies Appear in U.S. Oilfields as Crude Plumbs New Lows
December 10th, 2015Via: Reuters:
Drained by a 17-month crude rout, some U.S. shale oil companies are merely hanging on for life as oil prices lurch further away from levels that allow them to profitably drill new wells and bring in enough cash to keep them in business.
The slump has created dozens of oil and gas “zombies,” a term lawyers and restructuring advisers use to describe companies that have just enough money to pay interest on mountains of debt, but not enough to drill enough new wells to replace older ones that are drying out.
Though there is no single definition of a zombie, most investors and analysts consulted by Reuters say they tend to have exceptionally high debt loads and face the prospect of shrinking oil reserves.
About two dozen oil and gas companies whose debt Moody’s rates toward the bottom of its junk bond scale broadly fit that description. Investors and analysts mentioned SandRidge Energy Inc., Comstock Resources, and Goodrich Petroleum Co as some of that group’s more prominent members.
To stay alive, zombie companies have curbed costly drilling and are using revenue from existing production to pay interest and other expenses in a process some describe as “slow-motion liquidation.”
Ford to Spend $4.5 Billion by 2020 on Electric Vehicles
December 10th, 2015Via: Detroit Free Press:
Ford announced its largest five-year investment ever in electrified vehicles, with a pledge to spend $4.5 billion and introduce 13 new models by 2020, CEO Mark Fields announced today.
Fields said 40% of nameplates globally will be electrified by the end of the decade, up from 13% now. They will be a mix of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full battery-powered electric vehicles.
It’s a move driven by customer demand as well as the need to meet fuel efficiency standards, Fields said.
Among the plans is an update to the Ford Focus electric vehicle coming at the end of 2016 for North America and Europe. It will have an improved range of 100 miles and can reach 80% of its charge in 30 minutes, considered the maximum length of time consumers will easily tolerate. The current Focus Electric has a range of 76 miles and can be fully charged in 3.5 hours with a 240-volt outlet. Getting to an 80% charge takes about 2.5 hours.
Even with a 100-mile range, it’s still a far cry from the Chevrolet Bolt electric car’s 200 mile range that General Motors plans to show next month at the 2016 CES electronics show. The Bolt is expected to go on sale in 2017. Tesla is working on its 200-mile Model 3 electric car, and Audi has an SUV in development for 2018 that aims to travel 300 miles between charges.
Witness Describes San Bernardino Shooters as Three Tall White Men
December 10th, 2015Via: CBS:
Sally Abdelmageed works at the Inland Regional Center and saw the attackers enter the building. Scott Pelley spoke with her by phone.
Will Your Driverless Car Kill You So Others May Live?
December 10th, 2015Via: Los Angeles Times:
It’s 2025. You and your daughter are riding in a driverless car along the Pacific Coast Highway. The autonomous vehicle rounds a corner and detects a crosswalk full of children. It brakes, but your lane is unexpectedly full of sand from a recent rock slide. It can’t get traction. Your car does some calculations: If it continues braking, there’s a 90 percent chance that it will kill at least three children. Should it save them by steering you and your daughter off the cliff?
This isn’t an idle thought experiment. Driverless cars will be programmed to avoid collisions with pedestrians and other vehicles. They will also be programmed to protect the safety of their passengers. What happens in an emergency when these two aims come into conflict?
ISIS Armed with U.S. Weapons
December 9th, 2015Via: CNN:
A new report from a prominent human rights group has found that ISIS has built a substantial arsenal, including U.S.-made weapons obtained from the Iraqi army and Syrian opposition groups.
Amnesty International’s 44-page report, released late Monday, found that much of ISIS’ equipment and munitions comes from stockpiles captured from the U.S.-allied Iraqi military and Syrian rebels.
Australian Police Raid Sydney Home of Reported Bitcoin Creator
December 9th, 2015Via: Reuters:
Australian police raided the Sydney home and office on Wednesday of a man named by Wired magazine as the probable creator of bitcoin and holder of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency, Reuters witnesses said.
More than a dozen federal police officers entered a house registered on the electoral roll to Craig Steven Wright, whom Wired outed as the likely real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous figure that first released bitcoin’s code in 2009.
Related: Bitcoin’s Creator Satoshi Nakamoto Is Probably This Unknown Australian Genius
Bank Records Show $28,500 Deposit to Syed Farook’s Account Two Weeks Before the Shooting
December 8th, 2015Via: Fox:
A $28,500 deposit was made to Syed Farook’s bank account from WebBank.com on or about Nov.18, some two weeks before he and his wife Tashfeen Malik carried out the San Bernardino massacre, a source close to the investigation told Fox News Monday.
Investigators are exploring whether the transaction was a loan taken out by Farook, who with his wife killed 14 and wounded 21 when they opened fire at a holiday lunch. He earned $53,000 a year with the county as an environmental health inspector. Investigators are also exploring the possibility that a subsequent cash withdrawal was used to reimburse Enrique Marquez, the man who bought the two AR-15 semiautomatic rifles used in the San Bernardino shootings. Marquez, who could be charged, especially if it is determined that he illegally modified the weapons, is now reportedly answering investigators’ questions.
“Right now our major concern at the FBI, the ATF, and the JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force) is determining how those firearms, the rifles in particular, got from Marquez to Farook and to Malik,” assistant special agent in charge with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, John D’Angelo, told reporters in California Monday.
The deposit came via Utah-based WebBank.com, which describes itself as “a leading provider of national consumer and commercial private-label and bank card financing programs” on a nationwide basis. On or about Nov.20, Fox News is told Farook converted $10,000 to cash, and withdrew the money at a Union Bank branch in San Bernardino. Afterwards, in the days before the shooting, there were at least three transfers of $5,000 that appear to be to Farook’s mother.
The loan and large cash withdrawal were described to Fox News by the source as “significant evidence of pre-meditation,” and further undercut the premise that an argument at the Christmas party on Dec. 2 led to the shooting.
American Satellite Started Transmitting 46 Years After Being Abandoned in 1967
December 8th, 2015Via: The Vintage News:
An American satellite, abandoned in 1967 as a piece of Space Junk has begun transmitting again after 46 years.
An Amateur Radio Astronomer in North Cornwall accidentally picked up the signal in 2013 and after cross checking with various lists, has identified it as LES1 built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and launched in 1965. The satellite failed to reach its intended orbit owing to a wiring error and has been drifting out of control ever since.
Phil Williams G3YPQ from near Bude noticed its peculiar signal drift caused by its tumbling end over end every 4 seconds as the solar panels become shadowed by the engine. ‘This gives the signal a particularly ghostly sound as the voltage from the solar panels fluctuates’ Phil says.
It is likely that the on board batteries have now disintegrated and some other component failure has caused the transmitter on 237Mhz, to start up when its in sunlight.
…
Phil says its remarkable to think that electronics built nearly 50 years ago, 12 years before Voyager 1, and long before microprocessors and integrated circuits, is still capable of working in the hostile environs of space.
