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Maria Gurova

Tesla's New Battery Could Solve One of Solar Power's Biggest Problems - 0 views

  • What’s happening in Hawaii is actually indicative of what’s going to be an issue everywhere as many cities start to see an increase in large-scale solar implementation: There’s going to be too much energy generated, and nowhere to put it.
  • The absolute best idea is for homeowners to start installing batteries that can store the power for later use instead of giving the power back to the utilities, something called peak load shaving.
  • Right now, Tesla’s batteries are about about $300 per kWh, which is comparable to the market rate the industry expected for 2020.
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  • homeowners will now very easily be able to achieve complete energy independence. You could store your power for off-peak usage, and you might be able to sell your excess energy to a neighbor
Maria Gurova

This Self-Cleaning Cashmere Never Needs To Go To The Dry Cleaner | Co.Exist | ideas + i... - 1 views

  • If the fabric is placed in light for 24 hours, any dirt, bacteria, or stain--even coffee or red wine--automatically goes away, thanks to a chemical reaction triggered by the light.
  • So far, preliminary tests have shown that the material is safe. Tests have also shown that the coating is durable
  • We are currently working toward transfer of the technology to the industry." A self-cleaning sweater might only cost 1% more than usual.
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    the self-cleaning cashmere can significantly decrease CO2 immersions, produced by laundry and often toxic dry cleaning 
Maria Gurova

4 | These Sideways Skyscrapers Reimagine A City That's About Livability, Not Height Rec... - 0 views

  • what if there was a kinder kind of high-rise?
  • PinkCloud.dk entered renderings that showed horizontal neighborhoods flipped on their sides
  • FLIP/CITY, green space would connect workplaces, shops, and residences for people of various incomes on a vertical scale.
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  • . The architects argued that flipping a landscape vertically, so that public space connects homes, schools, and workplaces within one building, would create more mixed use communities than high-rises with hundreds of rooms simply stacked on top of one another.
  • developers are rarely enthused about building diverse communities--often, it's more profitable for them to build new, luxury towers that act like gated communities for the rich. A project like FLIP/CITY would likely require political will, too, and zoning laws would have to adapt to the new mixed-use shapes and needs created by them.
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    another idea for a eco conscious city planning
Maria Gurova

The first around-the-world flight in a solar airplane will launch this March | The Verge - 0 views

  • In around two months, the team behind the solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 will attempt the first ever around-the-world flight powered only by sunlight.
  • After taking off in Abu Dhabi, the Solar Impulse 2 will make stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, the US, and Southern Europe or North Africa before landing back in Abu Dhabi sometime in August.
  • The Solar Impulse 2's across-the-world flight should clock 500 hours total flight time and around 21,748 miles
Maria Gurova

BBC - Future - Is e-waste an untapped treasure? - 0 views

  • Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a rapidly growing global problem
  • Yet many are realising that the gadgets we chuck away can be ripped apart and transformed into something new – brand new technology, or even art.
  • In 2012, we discarded 48.9 million tonnes of electrical and electronic products. If current trends continue, by 2017, the annual amount of e-waste produced globally will reach 65.4 million tonnes – that’s roughly 20% of the weight of all the people living on Earth.
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  • Using parts and wires from old computers, scanners and photocopiers (some of it for free, but most bought), and an Arduino electronics card as the brain, they managed to put together a working prototype for a few hundred euros (see below).
  • “In Togo, there are many people who can’t have access to computers, because they don’t have money to buy a new computer,” says Allahare. “But we have many computers that are broken and not working. It’s sometimes just a little piece that is spoiled in it. W.Jies can help people get connected, get information, and help kids learn ICT from low-cost computers.”
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    in 2012 china alone produced 11.1 mlm tones of e-waste, what can be considered trash in one part of the world, can indeed become a treasure in the other part of the world
alexbelov

Reality Substitution Project is a Unique Approach to Virtual Reality | Virtual Reality ... - 0 views

  • Reality Substitution Project is a Unique Approach to Virtual Reality
  • The tech project, named RealiSM, has developed a user-friendly virtual world capture system that effectively shoots actual videos of real-world situations, and these videos are to be generated as virtual content on a supported head-mounted display (HMD).
  • Initially developed for the medical field, RealiSM aims to be utilized in the laboratory to facilitate research of the human memory and the peri-personal space (perceived space available to a person within his reach).
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  • This is how things get interesting for the RealiSM project: the prototype works as an integrated video recording, editing, and playback system – all working hand in hand to generate what they call reality substitution. A custom-built camera rig, consisting of 18 high-definition cameras which are pointed in all directions, seamlessly shoots a 360-degree spherical imagery that is stitched together in all three dimensions of space. These 18 high-def cameras are paired with 4 omnidirectional microphones, able to pick up sound from all directions relative to the prototype. The 3D spherical video capture is then processed and is rendered by a custom-built HMD that also features a front camera to orient the user’s presence in both the virtual and outside environments.
  • Aside from the usage focus of the prototype in the medical field, it is also seen as a potential tool for bringing immersive, real-time teleconferencing – bridging the gap caused by time zone issues between the two ends of the communication medium; and also to enhance entertainment experiences – particularly in games – by introducing extremely immersive and true-to-life visuals and audio experiences.
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    Reality substitution is a new approach to VR experience. The system  aptures videos of real world situations and generates VR content. The technology can be applied in medical research, therapy, gaming and teleconferencing.
Vladimir Antonov

Zwift launch new online multiplayer turbo training game - Cycling Weekly - 0 views

  • Startup tech company Zwift have launched a new online cycling that looks to change the way we train indoors
  • online multiplayer cycling game that looks to revolutionise indoor training
  • The game allows cyclists from all over the world to meet and ride together in virtual reality, possibly putting an end to tedious and lonely turbo training sessions
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  • Zwift’s software can then convert the signal into power data, which is calculated by considering rider weight, the virtual terrain and even drafting into account to convert the power to speed within the game.
  • the virtual environment is impressive as it gives off sound effects from your surroundings and from the other riders that pass or are around you, making it a supremely immersive training session
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    It's not new development, but it confirms that VR (kind of, just a game for now) is not somewhere there, it's here and I can use it for a reasonable price Next steps could be VR treadmill (for bad weather), VR swimming-pool (to be placed inside a garage or basement) etc, literally all kinds of sports that could be replicated indoor with VR 
alexbelov

China's Great GREEN Wall to stop climate change - 1 views

  • Will China's Great GREEN Wall save the country from dust storms? 100 billion tree project could halt advancing Gobi Desert
  • advancing
  • China is planting huge strips of trees to stop the Gobi DesertFor decades the desert has been advancing and causing serious dust storms in key cities such as BeijingSince 1978 the government has been planting trees to reverse the widespread deforestation that took place in ChinaNow a recent study suggests the project has been a successThey found increased vegetation and lower levels of dust storm intensityBy 2050 100 billion trees will be planted across a tenth of the country 
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  • ‘From this result, we infer that the implementation of the GGW programme has effectively decreased DSI by improving the vegetation conditions,’ they write.
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    Since 1978 China has been planting huge strips of trees to stop the Gobi Desert which is advancing to the key cities such as Beijing.The interim project results are positive. They will plant 100 billion trees across the country by 2050 to cover 1/10 of the country. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2874368/Will-China-s-Great-GREEN-Wall-save-country-dust-storms-100-billion-tree-project-halt-advancing-Gobi-Desert.html#ixzz3rMg1Prmb  Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Vladimir Antonov

Boeing Says It's Made the Lightest Metal Material in the World | Motherboard - 1 views

  • Its structure is similar to that of a bone, in which the outside is rigid but the inside is mostly hollow
  • to save weight
  • efficient
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    A new material developed by Boeing is made of metal, but it's so light it can balance delicately on top of a dandelion. The product, called microlattice, is 100 times lighter than styrofoam, according to Boeing, and is made with interconnected hollow tubes.
Vladimir Antonov

Refugee camps are the "cities of tomorrow", says aid expert - 0 views

  • Governments should stop thinking about refugee camps as temporary places
  • "These are the cities of tomorrow,"
  • The average stay today in a camp is 17 years. That's a generation."
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  • lack of willingness to recognise that camps had become a permanent fixture around the world
  • "We're doing humanitarian aid as we did 70 years ago after the second world war. Nothing has changed."
  • He believes that migrants coming into Europe could help repopulate parts of Spain and Italy that have been abandoned as people gravitate increasingly towards major cities
  • "Many places in Europe are totally deserted because the people have moved to other places," he said. "You could put in a new population, set up opportunities to develop and trade and work. You could see them as special development zones which are actually used as a trigger for an otherwise impoverished neglected area."
  • "It creates tons of jobs, even for those who are coming in now. Germany will come out of this crisis."
  • that aid organisations and governments needed to accept that new technologies like 3D printing could enable refugees and migrants to become more self-sufficient.
  • With a Fab Lab people could produce anything they need – a house, a car, a bicycle, generating their own energy, whatever
  • my god, these are just refugees, so why should they be able to do 3D-printing
  • We have to get away from the concept that, because you have that status – migrant, refugee, martian, alien, whatever – you're not allowed to be like everybody else.
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    Refugee camps are the "cities of tomorrow", says humanitarian-aid expert. The main idea is those people could be relocated to the abandoned areas in Europe and start a better life with their communities, but governments should provide them with these opportunities and stop thinking about those cities as permanent relocation places.
al_semenchenko

Team wants to sell lab grown meat in five years - BBC News - 1 views

  • The Dutch team who have grown the world's first burger in a lab say they hope to have a product on sale in five years.Researchers are to set up a company to look at making the burger tastier and cheaper
  • The burger is made from stem-cells: the templates from which specialised tissue such as nerve or skin cells develop.
  • The motivation for the research is to find ways of keeping up with the growing demand for meat. Traditional farming methods will need to use more energy, water and land - and the consequent increase in greenhouse gas emission will be substantial.
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  • One food expert said it was "close to meat, but not that juicy" and another said it tasted like a real burger.
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    Looks like we wont need to grow livestock for food in the near future. Artificial meat going to be mass produced.
al_semenchenko

Visual Perceptive Media - BBC R&D - 1 views

  • Imagine a world where the narrative, background music, colour grading and general feel of a drama is shaped in real time to suit your personality.
  • Visual Perceptive Media is a film which changes based on the person who is watching the video. Rather than drawing on sensor data to profile the environment, it focuses on the user themselves. It uses profiled data from a phone application to build a profile of the user and their preferences via their music collection and some personality questions.
al_semenchenko

British scientists create a 'tractor beam' of ultrasonic sound - 1 views

  • A team of researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Sussex have developed the world's first functioning sonic tractor beam able to operate outside of a lab environment.
  • These waves create an "acoustic hologram" (read: force field) capable of moving pea-sized objects without physically touching them. Adjusting the output of individual speakers allows the researchers to move, rotate and hold items at will.
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    A new way of manipulation without direct phisical contact may lead to creation of stractures that were impossible and innovate production methods in veriety of industries.
Maria Gurova

The Personal Blog of Zack Kanter - How Uber's Autonomous Cars Will Destroy 10 Million J... - 1 views

  • . Autonomous cars will be commonplace by 2025 and have a near monopoly by 2030
  • They will cause unprecedented job loss and a fundamental restructuring of our economy, solve large portions of our environmental problems, prevent tens of thousands of deaths per year, save millions of hours with increased productivity, and create entire new industries that we cannot even imagine from our current vantage point.
  • Morgan Stanley’s research shows that cars are driven just 4% of the time,5 which is an astonishing waste considering that the average cost of car ownership is nearly $9,000 per year.6
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  • The car purchasers of the future will not be you and me – cars will be purchased and operated by ride sharing and car sharing companies.
  • , it is unlikely that major automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Toyota will survive the leap.
  • while startup automakers like Tesla will thrive on a smaller number of fleet sales to operators like Uber by offering standardized models with fewer options.
  • 884,000 people are employed in motor vehicles and parts manufacturing, and an additional 3.02 million in the dealer and maintenance network.22 Truck, bus, delivery, and taxi drivers account for nearly 6 million professional driving jobs. Virtually all of these 10 million jobs will be eliminated within 10-15 years
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    an article about autonomous transportation and how disruptive they might be not only for the car and transport industry but for entire economy
alexbelov

CableRobot Simulator Brings Real Movement to Virtual Reality | Virtual Reality Times - 0 views

  • Called the CableRobot simulator, it comprises of a platform that is safely tucked inside a fiber roll cage, which is made of very lightweight carbon. The platform can seat a single person with or without a VR headset.
  • ts initial target use is mainly for industries, but VR enthusiasts are hopeful that the CableRobot simulator will be developed to adopt video games such as racing games which demands physical movements in order to provide a realistic gaming experience in VR.
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    A robot that simulates motion for VR environment and can create acceleration up to 1.5g in response to VR experience. Potentially useful for research training, research and gaming.
Vladimir Antonov

Self-driving cars: Honda aims for highway-capable model by 2020- Nikkei Asian Review - 0 views

  • - Honda Motor plans to offer cars that can drive themselves on highways by around 2020
  • With Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor having announced their plans, the three largest domestic carmakers now have timelines for self-driving vehicles.
  • Honda this year started adopting what it calls Sensing technologies
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  • automatic braking, help avoid hitting pedestrians and perform other functions
  • Autonomous cars are expected to reduce traffic congestion and accidents, in addition to easing the burden of long-distance driving for the elderly and others
  • speeding up development of related technologies such as mapping features and sensors.
  • Western automakers and technology giants like Google are also developing self-driving vehicles
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    Honda Motor plans to offer cars that can drive themselves on highways by around 2020, part of an attempt by Japanese automakers to move ahead of foreign rivals in this new high-tech field.
anna_nelidova

Apple's New Solar Projects To Slash Over 20 Million Tons Of Emissions - 0 views

  • Apple announced Wednesday it will build 200 megawatts of solar energy projects in China and work with local suppliers to source more renewable energy
  • the tech giant said it will launch an initiative to "drive its manufacturing partners to become more energy efficient and to use clean energy for their manufacturing operations."
  • Apple said the 200 megawatts projects will produce the equivalent of the energy used by more by than 265,000 Chinese homes in a year.
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