Tech post for 4-July-2008

It's curtains for solar power - MIT researcher Sheila Kennedy suggests that curtains made of flexible solar cells could generate enough energy to power a laptop. The article discusses the larger issue of developing a culture in which household users become energy generators, what she refers to as energy-harvesting.

Using good bugs to make beef safe - University of Alberta researchers have found a way to introduce a strain of "good" bacteria into beef that will rid it of E.coli.

Hybrid light trucks being considered - US congress is pushing for government support for developing hybrid medium and large-sized trucks. It is estimated that a small parcel-delivery truck could save between 40% and 60% in fuel costs using technologies like regenerative breaking because the vehicles undergo frequent stops and starts. Long-haul trucks could save up to 10% of fuel costs.

Microwave audio guns on the horizon - A company claims that is it now ready to produce systems that use microwave energy to generate an auditory effect. The device was deemed effective by the US Navy and, because the sound is transmitted by the skull and not the ears, is exempt from the usual safety limits applied to loud noises. They plan to use the device as a crowd-dispersal tool, generating loud and annoying sounds in the people's to encourage them to disperse.

And for ms_danson, a short history of the tattoo.

Happy 4rth of July to our neighbours in the south

More tech stuff

Anaconda generates cheap energy from waves - The Anaconda, in this case, is a long sealed water-filled rubber tube that sits just below the surface of the water. When a wave hits, it compresses a portion of the tube and propagates to the end where it is turned into electricity. This technology is currently in the test phase, but a commercial-scale device would be 200 metres long and generate about 1 MegaWattt (enough for 2000 households).

Today the Earth slowed down - In fact, it reaches it's aphelion (most distant point from the sun) on July 4th so it has slowed down as much as it can before beginning to accelerate once again toward the sun.

A noisy brain is a healthy brain - Canadian researchers have shown that as the brain matures is becomes more, not less noisy, and that this correlates with increased cognitive performance.

World bank reports links biofuels to 75% world food price increase - The report has not yet been published, according to one source, to avoid contradicting the US's claims that food price increases due to biofuel demand is only 3%.

Bell offers an iPhone look-a-like to counter Roger's iPhone deal - Bell Canada is offering a $150(Cdn) package deal involving the new Samsung Instinct when you bundle it with a 3-year contract, as well as unlimited internet access for $10/month.

Building a better human - New Scientist presents a report on the state-of-the-art in bionics.

Canada Day marked the 20th anniversary of the progenitor of the Internet - A simple email sent 20 years ago on July 1 announced that the NSFNet backbone was ready to accept a wider range of traffic. Originally brought online in 1986, it was made available to academic, government and commercial traffic at a "blistering" 56 kilobits per second that frustrated users. Network traffic began to double every few weeks, prompting MERIT Networks (the consortium that maintained NSFNet) to upgrade to T1 (1.5 megabits per second). The T1 version of NSFNet went online on July 1, 1988 and usage promptly began to skyrocket. NSFNet was decommissioned in 1995.

Tech photos

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( 10 images below the cut )