Air Cars and Webcrawlers

Source: Gizmag India's largest car manufacturer has signed a deal to create a production version of the MiniC.A.T. air-powered (sort of) car. The vehicle is small, light, cheap to build and cheap to run, and the engine uses compressed to drive each of the cylinders. A reserve tank is used to store the compressed air to drive the engine, giving you an effective range of between 200 and 300km. The tank is either refilled in about 3 minutes at a service station equipped with a high-pressure air pump, or the tank can be refilled in less than 4 hours by plugging it into an outlet. The top speed is only 68-km/hr so it is only useful for in-city driving. You can find out more about it at http://www.theaircar.com/ which is being marketed as a pollution-free alternative to standard automobiles.

Source: PC World A German company is offering a unique solution to the fire risk of hot server rooms: reduced oxygen atmosphere. Normally the air we breath at near sea level contains approximately 21 percent oxygen, but wood fires cannot burn when the oxygen content falls below 17%, and plastic cease burning at 16%. Meanwhile, humans can function in as little as 15% oxygen so one trick that is being employed is to replace enough oxygen with nitrogen to keep the (sealed) server room at at around 15% oxygen. One way to do this is to use a fuel cell to remove excess oxygen from the air and generate electricity as a side benefit.

Source: SlashDot Some non-profit and government groups are looking for a new type of donation: unused patents. The idea is that patents that have been sitting idle in a company's holdings can be given to entrepreneurs who attempt to create new businesses out of them. Apparently, 90 to 95% of all US patents are currently sitting idle. In some cases, the donating company receives a share of any profits that the new company earns, while in others they receive grants and other incentives that immediately benefit the donating company.

Source: Information Week A case is currently in the courts between a Colorado resident and the web crawler Archie to determine if the webcrawler's inclusion of her public data in its search constituted a breach of contract, even through the automated system is incapable of comprehending the legal notice she placed on her website. If the case goes in her favour, search engines like Google will need to obtain permission before obtaining any information from a site in which a person places a contract agreement notification. The key question in the case is whether posting the notice constituted a "meaningful opportunity to review the terms" of the agreement.

Source: ABC Science News Australian researches have developed a dress made from fermented wine. Normally when wine turns to vinegar, a rubbery layer of cellulose is produced. The scientists removed the material as it formed and layered it over an inflated human doll. When complete, the doll is deflated and the dress is ready for use. One catch: they have to be kept wet, otherwise they tear like tissue paper. They hope to find a way to polymerize the short chains produced in the vat to long chains that will withstand daily wear.