Fri, May 29 02:05 PM
Washington, May 29 (ANI): Arizona State University (ASU) researchers and scientists have created a new feature for Google Earth 5.0, which would enable anyone, anywhere, to recommend places on Mars to photograph. Google Earth 5.0 is the popular online application that lets users tour Earth, the starry sky, and the Red Planet Mars. The ASU team has created two new features for the application, one of which lets anyone, anywhere, recommend places on Mars to photograph with ASU's THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging System) camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. The second new feature shows the most recent infrared images of Mars sent back to Earth from the THEMIS camera.HEMIS is the Thermal Emission Imaging System, a multiband infrared and visual camera designed at ASU by Dr. Philip Christensen. According to Dr. Christensen, "These two features, developed by our staff in cooperation with programmers at Google, will help everyone have a lot more fun exploring the Red Planet. It's public engagement at its best." "We wanted to give the general public a way to suggest places on Mars for THEMIS to photograph," he added. "Using the new feature, people can recommend sites, and these recommendations go to mission scientists who will decide what areas THEMIS images. If a public suggestion matches what the researchers choose, we'll notify the person who suggested the site and let them see the image as soon as we do," he further added. To suggest a place for THEMIS to photograph, viewers need two things: Google Earth 5.0 and a file that is updated each week giving the spacecraft's Mars orbital ground track. To get the orbital track, users should go to http://suggest.mars.asu.edu and follow the simple steps to register. With the orbital track file downloaded, viewers start Google Earth and switch the globe to Mars (via the Planets toolbar button, which resembles the planet Saturn). Then, viewers open the orbital track file from within Google Earth. Viewers can also just double-click on the orbital file once Google Earth has been set to Mars as its planet. The places where THEMIS can take images during the coming week appear as stripes wrapped onto the Martian globe. Viewers click on stripe segments to recommend places for THEMIS to photograph. "Each viewer can make up to 10 imaging suggestions per week," said Christian Yates, software engineer at the Mars Space Flight Facility. (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090529/981/tsc-now-you-can-recommend-places-to-clic.html
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
"Missing link" found
Yesterday, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, a revolutionary discovery -- one that will stand as a milestone for paleontologists and evolutionists everywhere -- was announced. Scientists based at the University of Oslo have discovered “Ida,” also known as Darwinius masillae, a 47-million-year-old fossil that has been proclaimed the “missing link” in connecting human skeletal structure to early mammals.
Scientists found Ida in Messel Pit, Germany and soon found out that she is about twenty times older than most fossils related to human evolution. What makes Ida so special is that despite her classification as an early prosimian (lemurs), she has certain undeniable human characteristics such as forward facing eyes and even an opposable thumb.
This is an exciting and validating day for scientists everywhere. Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough has said: “This little creature is going to show us our connection with all the rest of the mammals.”
Head on over to The Link for pictures, video and more information about Ida and the team of researchers behind her. Also don’t miss what’s up at the open source journal PLoS One to read about the scientists’ findings.
News link: http://blog.ted.com/2009/05/darwin_validate.php
Photo link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090519-missing-link-found.html
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Now, software that allows laptops to shout for help when stolen!
London Mar 2 (ANI): Scientists have developed a computer program that allows laptops to shout for help if they have been stolen.
The program, called Retriever, has been developed by a software company called Front Door Software Corporation, reports the Telegraph.
Retriever enables users to display alerts on the missing computer's screen and even to set a spoken message such as a shout or a warning.
Tracking software for stolen laptops has been on the market for some time, but this is understood to be the first that allows owners to activate recorded messages, according to The Times.
Owners must report their laptop missing by logging on to a website, which sends a message to the computer, triggering on-screen messages of warning to the thief and voice alerts.
The 21-pound software, designed by the Colorado-based firm, also collects information if the stolen laptop is being used to access the Internet so that the police can be alerted to its location. (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090302/862/ttc-now-software-that-allows-laptops-to.html
The program, called Retriever, has been developed by a software company called Front Door Software Corporation, reports the Telegraph.
Retriever enables users to display alerts on the missing computer's screen and even to set a spoken message such as a shout or a warning.
Tracking software for stolen laptops has been on the market for some time, but this is understood to be the first that allows owners to activate recorded messages, according to The Times.
Owners must report their laptop missing by logging on to a website, which sends a message to the computer, triggering on-screen messages of warning to the thief and voice alerts.
The 21-pound software, designed by the Colorado-based firm, also collects information if the stolen laptop is being used to access the Internet so that the police can be alerted to its location. (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090302/862/ttc-now-software-that-allows-laptops-to.html
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
UAE is building network of driverless electric taxis
United Arab Emirates, land awash in petroleum, why are you so ahead of us with your gasoline-free Masdar City (near Abu Dhabi)? Well, the Emirates are awash in another key ingredient — petrodollars. But look at what they’ve done with all that cash: PRT (personal rapid transit), driverless electric taxis that take to the streets later this year. When the system’s fully built, planners say the podcars will be able to deliver riders within 100 meters of any location in the city. The whole network of tracks for the cars will be two stories beneath street level.
The cost? Its creators say the system will pay for itself by charging riders the same price they’d pay for an equivalent taxi ride. Similar podcars are in use at Heathrow Airport near London, but never have they been deployed on such a city-wide scale.
http://www.gadgetted.com/msn/?p=3998
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
NASA, Google launch Mars exploration
WASHINGTON: NASA and Google announced the release of a new Mars mode in Google Earth that brings to everyone's desktop a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of the red planet. Besides providing a rich, immersive three dimensional view of Mars that will aid public understanding of Mars science, the new mode, Google Mars 3D, also gives researchers a platform for sharing data similar to what Google Earth provides for Earth scientists. The mode enables users to fly virtually through enormous canyons and scale huge mountains on Mars that are much larger than any found on Earth. Users also can explore the planet through the eyes of the Mars rovers and other Mars missions, providing a unique perspective of the entire planet. Users can see some of the latest satellite imagery from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and other probes orbiting the planet. Viewers can learn about new discoveries and explore indexes of available Mars imagery. The new Mars mode also allows users to add their own 3D content to the Mars map to share with the world. The announcement is the latest benefit from a Space Act Agreement that NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, signed with Google in November 2006. Under its terms, NASA and Google agreed to collaborate to make NASA's data sets available to the world.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health__Science/Science/NASA_Google_launch_Mars_exploration_/articleshow/4068689.cms
Pregnant fossil shows how early whales evolved
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fossils from two early whales -- a male and a rare pregnant female -- shed light on how these ancestors to modern whales made the leap from walking on land to ruling the sea.
The fetal remains, found with the 47.5 million-year-old pregnant female, were positioned head down, suggesting these creatures gave birth on land, while spending much of the rest of their time in the water.
Initially, the tiny fetal teeth stumped University of Michigan paleontologist Philip Gingerich, whose team discovered the fossils in Pakistan in 2000 and 2004.
"When I first saw the small teeth in the field, I thought we were dealing with a small adult whale, but then we continued to expose the specimen and found ribs that seemed too large to go with those teeth," Gingerich, whose study appears in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.
The fetal skeleton is the first specimen of the extinct whale group known as Archaeoceti, and the find represents a new species named Maiacetus inuus, a hybrid of the words for "mother whale" and Inuus, the name of a Roman fertility god.
The fetus was positioned head down like other land animals, allowing it to begin breathing right away. This suggests the group had not yet made the leap to giving birth in the water like modern whales, which are born tail first to allow them to start swimming right after birth.
The 8.5-foot (2.59-meter) male, which was collected in the same fossil beds as the female, is about 12 percent bigger and had fangs that were 20 percent larger than those of the female. Gingerich said these well developed choppers suggest the creatures spent a large portion of their time catching and eating fish.
Both fossils had four flipper-like legs that could have supported their weight on land, but only for short distances, suggesting these whales likely came on shore to mate, rest and give birth, Gingerich said.
"They clearly were tied to shore," Gingerich said. "They were living at the land-sea interface and going back and forth."
He said the Maiacetus fossils appear to represent an intermediate whale form, showing the evolution from land-dwelling to aquatic creatures.
The fetal remains, found with the 47.5 million-year-old pregnant female, were positioned head down, suggesting these creatures gave birth on land, while spending much of the rest of their time in the water.
Initially, the tiny fetal teeth stumped University of Michigan paleontologist Philip Gingerich, whose team discovered the fossils in Pakistan in 2000 and 2004.
"When I first saw the small teeth in the field, I thought we were dealing with a small adult whale, but then we continued to expose the specimen and found ribs that seemed too large to go with those teeth," Gingerich, whose study appears in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.
The fetal skeleton is the first specimen of the extinct whale group known as Archaeoceti, and the find represents a new species named Maiacetus inuus, a hybrid of the words for "mother whale" and Inuus, the name of a Roman fertility god.
The fetus was positioned head down like other land animals, allowing it to begin breathing right away. This suggests the group had not yet made the leap to giving birth in the water like modern whales, which are born tail first to allow them to start swimming right after birth.
The 8.5-foot (2.59-meter) male, which was collected in the same fossil beds as the female, is about 12 percent bigger and had fangs that were 20 percent larger than those of the female. Gingerich said these well developed choppers suggest the creatures spent a large portion of their time catching and eating fish.
Both fossils had four flipper-like legs that could have supported their weight on land, but only for short distances, suggesting these whales likely came on shore to mate, rest and give birth, Gingerich said.
"They clearly were tied to shore," Gingerich said. "They were living at the land-sea interface and going back and forth."
He said the Maiacetus fossils appear to represent an intermediate whale form, showing the evolution from land-dwelling to aquatic creatures.
Microsoft Launches Windows 7 in Hindi
Microsoft, as a part of its efforts to overcome the language barrier to computing, has showcased a variety of custom made products directed specifically at the vernacular language market - a market that has been largely left untapped till now.The new initiatives include Language Interface Packs (LIPs) in 12 Indian languages - Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu - for MS Office and Windows. The company has also announced a total of 45 additional virtual keyboards for these languages. Even Windows Live has not been spared the treatment with it being made available in as many as seven Indian languages. These languages are Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.There's more in store for developers as well. Directed at vernacular language developers, it has launched the Captions Language Interface Pack (or CLIP) in Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya, and Tamil. CLIP uses a tool tip caption to display translations for user interface items in Visual Studio 2008 making it the first ever instance of Microsoft releasing a tool specifically to help students and beginner developers in India use the product in their own language. The most talked about part of the sneak peek was a rather cool beta version of Windows 7 in Hindi, one of the eight global languages the Operating System (Beta) was released in recently. We would love to have a go at this one!
10p pencil as good as 100 pounds Nintendo brain-trainer
London, January 26 (ANI): A survey of 10-year-old children suggests that a 10p pencil is as good as a much expensive Nintendo brain-trainer at stimulating the memory.
The study's finding dismisses the claim in Nintendo's advertising campaign, featuring Nicole Kidman, that users can test and rejuvenate their grey cells.
"The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine. But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test," Times Online quoted Alain Lieury, professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Rennes, Brittany, who conducted the survey, as saying.
Nintendo claims to have developed certain "edutainment" programmes-like Big Brain Academy and Brain Training-which improve "practical intelligence by improving blood flow to the brain.
The company claims that its programmes can make users "two to three times better in tests of memory." It even claims to assess capacity by measuring "brain age", and insists that older people can keep their minds young by using the console.
"The more you use the brain in a challenging way, the better it can work. We know that the mental processes of our brain start to weaken if we only use it in our routine daily life," the Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima, who developed Brain Training, says on the Nintendo website.
Professor Lieury said that helping children with their homework, reading, playing Scrabble or Su Doku or watching documentaries, rather than soap operas, matched or beat the console.
The researchers conducted an study on 67 ten-year-olds with a view to testing whether Nintendo's claims were true.
"That's the age where you have the best chance of improvement. If it doesn't work on children, it won't work on adults," Professor Lieury said.
The researchers divided the children into four groups-the first two did a seven-week memory course on a Nintendo DS, the third did puzzles with pencils and paper, and the fourth just went to school as normal.
Before and after the programmes, the children undertook a variety of tasks-logic tests, memorising words on a map, doing sums and interpreting symbols.
The researchers said that the children who used the Nintendo DS system failed to show any significant improvement in memory tests.
They agreed that the children using the Nintendo DS did do 19 per cent better in mathematics, but so did the pencil-and-paper group, while the fourth group did 18 per cent better.
The researchers also observed that the pencil-and-paper group recorded a 33 per cent improvement in memorising, while the Nintendo children were 17 per cent worse.
In logic tests the Nintendo children registered a 10 per cent improvement, as did the pencil-and-paper group.
According to the researchers, the children who had no specific training improved 20 per cent.
In a book titled Stimulate Your Neurones, due out this month, Professor Lieury says: "There were few positive effects and they were weak. Dr Kawashima is one of a long list of dream merchants." (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090126/393/ttc-10p-pencil-as-good-as-100-pounds-nin.html
The study's finding dismisses the claim in Nintendo's advertising campaign, featuring Nicole Kidman, that users can test and rejuvenate their grey cells.
"The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine. But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test," Times Online quoted Alain Lieury, professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Rennes, Brittany, who conducted the survey, as saying.
Nintendo claims to have developed certain "edutainment" programmes-like Big Brain Academy and Brain Training-which improve "practical intelligence by improving blood flow to the brain.
The company claims that its programmes can make users "two to three times better in tests of memory." It even claims to assess capacity by measuring "brain age", and insists that older people can keep their minds young by using the console.
"The more you use the brain in a challenging way, the better it can work. We know that the mental processes of our brain start to weaken if we only use it in our routine daily life," the Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima, who developed Brain Training, says on the Nintendo website.
Professor Lieury said that helping children with their homework, reading, playing Scrabble or Su Doku or watching documentaries, rather than soap operas, matched or beat the console.
The researchers conducted an study on 67 ten-year-olds with a view to testing whether Nintendo's claims were true.
"That's the age where you have the best chance of improvement. If it doesn't work on children, it won't work on adults," Professor Lieury said.
The researchers divided the children into four groups-the first two did a seven-week memory course on a Nintendo DS, the third did puzzles with pencils and paper, and the fourth just went to school as normal.
Before and after the programmes, the children undertook a variety of tasks-logic tests, memorising words on a map, doing sums and interpreting symbols.
The researchers said that the children who used the Nintendo DS system failed to show any significant improvement in memory tests.
They agreed that the children using the Nintendo DS did do 19 per cent better in mathematics, but so did the pencil-and-paper group, while the fourth group did 18 per cent better.
The researchers also observed that the pencil-and-paper group recorded a 33 per cent improvement in memorising, while the Nintendo children were 17 per cent worse.
In logic tests the Nintendo children registered a 10 per cent improvement, as did the pencil-and-paper group.
According to the researchers, the children who had no specific training improved 20 per cent.
In a book titled Stimulate Your Neurones, due out this month, Professor Lieury says: "There were few positive effects and they were weak. Dr Kawashima is one of a long list of dream merchants." (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090126/393/ttc-10p-pencil-as-good-as-100-pounds-nin.html
Google Ocean makes waves around the world
Brussels/San Francisco, Feb 3 (DPA) Academics and armchair explorers were as of Monday offered a unique insight into the world's seas through a new release of Google Earth, which now also features satellite imagery, photos and videos of the planet's oceans.
The 5.0 version of the popular downloadable software was launched in San Francisco. The project was also presented in a number of European cities, including Brussels, where the European Commission is contributing by providing its own marine data.
'Google Ocean ... will further encourage the protection of the marine environment, which is such a vital and rich natural resource,' said the European Union's maritime affairs commissioner, Joe Borg.
Launched in 2005, Google Earth is a free internet application that combines satellite images and users' content about the planet.
Its latest version also offers users a virtual dive beneath the waves, allowing them to explore ocean beds, marine life and even shipwrecks, through 20 'layers' of information.
By clicking on 'placemarks' scattered around the seas, users can access additional photos and videos provided by, among others, the British Broadcasting Corporation, National Geographic and legendary French ocean researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
Google officials admit that the parts of the ocean that currently offer any level of detail are limited, but hope that conservationists, institutions and individual users will update it with more content after its launch.
And while they would not disclose the costs involved in the two- year project, they acknowledged that Google Earth is designed to help 'drive web usage'. Google makes most of its money by receiving a share of the money paid by advertisers to publicize their products over the internet.
Other novelties included in the latest release of Google Earth include sea temperatures, a three-dimensional image of Mars and a 'virtual time travel' feature allowing users to track the progress of major building sites or the melting of glaciers.
Google Earth 5.0 can be downloaded at http://earth.google.com.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090203/860/ttc-google-ocean-makes-waves-around-the.html
New Google Earth features host of educational tools
by Christopher Dawson
Google Earth 5 was just released and includes a host of new tools that educators can tap in the classroom. Google Ocean is being touted in particular, allowing users to interact with 3D maps of the ocean floor, courtesy largely of US Navy data. However, I found the databases and interactive features associated with the ocean views to be a lot more useful educationally than floating around the ocean floor.
Google has partnered with National Geographic, the BBC, Cousteau’s Ocean World, and several others to provide a wealth of information about everything from the global fishing crisis to footage of shipwrecks. Marine life census data, scientific expeditions, and countless links to information outside Google Earth make this a free treasure trove for science, social studies, geography, and even math teachers (how better to learn about coordinate systems?).
While the feature set of Google Earth 5 (still in beta, of course) is too vast to explore in a morning, this is really a must-download for teachers and students. Best of all, it works on Windows, OS X, and Linux, and I have it working solidly on our Windows terminal servers. I just had to turn off my Santa Tracker since it kept pulling me from Bermuda ship wrecks to the North Pole.
http://education.zdnet.com/?p=2119
Google Earth 5 was just released and includes a host of new tools that educators can tap in the classroom. Google Ocean is being touted in particular, allowing users to interact with 3D maps of the ocean floor, courtesy largely of US Navy data. However, I found the databases and interactive features associated with the ocean views to be a lot more useful educationally than floating around the ocean floor.
Google has partnered with National Geographic, the BBC, Cousteau’s Ocean World, and several others to provide a wealth of information about everything from the global fishing crisis to footage of shipwrecks. Marine life census data, scientific expeditions, and countless links to information outside Google Earth make this a free treasure trove for science, social studies, geography, and even math teachers (how better to learn about coordinate systems?).
While the feature set of Google Earth 5 (still in beta, of course) is too vast to explore in a morning, this is really a must-download for teachers and students. Best of all, it works on Windows, OS X, and Linux, and I have it working solidly on our Windows terminal servers. I just had to turn off my Santa Tracker since it kept pulling me from Bermuda ship wrecks to the North Pole.
http://education.zdnet.com/?p=2119
Ideas worth Millions
BURLINGAME, Calif.--Tough times don't last--but tough companies do. Even with venture funding falling off a cliff, a handful of companies with great ideas, money-saving products or ideas just too great (or cheap) not to fund can attract enough loot to keep their doors open and their servers warm.
In 2008, venture capitalists poured $28.3 billion into more than 3,800 companies. That was lower than in years past--about 8% less in dollars and 4% fewer deals, according to the National Venture Capital Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Thomson Reuters. Money got much tighter at the end of the year too, with investments down to a mere $5.4 billion, a 26% decline from the third quarter.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/240/20090203/1318/ttc-5983448.html
In 2008, venture capitalists poured $28.3 billion into more than 3,800 companies. That was lower than in years past--about 8% less in dollars and 4% fewer deals, according to the National Venture Capital Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Thomson Reuters. Money got much tighter at the end of the year too, with investments down to a mere $5.4 billion, a 26% decline from the third quarter.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/240/20090203/1318/ttc-5983448.html
India showcases low-cost laptop to bridge digital divide
Bangalore, Feb 3 (IANS) A novel version of the laptop, built by India's premier science and technology institutes and to be priced between Rs.500-1,000 (approx. $10-20), was showcased Tuesday in Tirupati town.
The low-cost device, developed jointly by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, for the human resource development (HRD) ministry, is aimed at bridging the digital divide and making access to computer literacy affordable to the masses.
Demonstrating the laptop in presence of HRD Minister Arjun Singh and experts in the Venkateshwara University campus, Education Joint Secretary S.K. Sinha said the low-power consuming gadget would hit the market in the next six months.
'The device, which is smaller than the normal laptop in size and weight, still needs fine-tuning. With 2GB (gigabit) memory and wireless internet connection, the laptop will be priced between Rs.500-1,000 to make it affordable to everyone,' Sinha said.
To popularise and make extensive use of the laptop, the ministry plans to distribute the device in hundreds to higher secondary schools and colleges across the country on a pilot basis under the national mission on education through ICT (information and communication technology).
'We intend to provide high-speed internet access to schools and colleges to download e-books, e-journals and relevant educative material through the state-run Sakshat portal,' Sinha said.
'The goal of the national mission is to increase enrollment in higher education by five percent by 2014. The government will subsidise 25 percent of broadband connectivity costs for private and public colleges,' Singh announced.
The mission is part of the ministry's initiatives to help the common man in his quest for education. The central government has earmarked Rs.46.12 billion (Rs.4,612 crore) for the mission in the 11th Five-Year Plan.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and state HRD Minister D. Purandeshwari were also present on the occasion.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090203/864/ttc-india-showcases-low-cost-laptop-to-b.html
The low-cost device, developed jointly by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, for the human resource development (HRD) ministry, is aimed at bridging the digital divide and making access to computer literacy affordable to the masses.
Demonstrating the laptop in presence of HRD Minister Arjun Singh and experts in the Venkateshwara University campus, Education Joint Secretary S.K. Sinha said the low-power consuming gadget would hit the market in the next six months.
'The device, which is smaller than the normal laptop in size and weight, still needs fine-tuning. With 2GB (gigabit) memory and wireless internet connection, the laptop will be priced between Rs.500-1,000 to make it affordable to everyone,' Sinha said.
To popularise and make extensive use of the laptop, the ministry plans to distribute the device in hundreds to higher secondary schools and colleges across the country on a pilot basis under the national mission on education through ICT (information and communication technology).
'We intend to provide high-speed internet access to schools and colleges to download e-books, e-journals and relevant educative material through the state-run Sakshat portal,' Sinha said.
'The goal of the national mission is to increase enrollment in higher education by five percent by 2014. The government will subsidise 25 percent of broadband connectivity costs for private and public colleges,' Singh announced.
The mission is part of the ministry's initiatives to help the common man in his quest for education. The central government has earmarked Rs.46.12 billion (Rs.4,612 crore) for the mission in the 11th Five-Year Plan.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and state HRD Minister D. Purandeshwari were also present on the occasion.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090203/864/ttc-india-showcases-low-cost-laptop-to-b.html
FLYING CARS COMING TO THE TOWN
Flying cars may become soon available for customers. Two projects in this field have recently drawn the attention of the world. First one is the SkyCar Expedition. The team behind this expedition claims they have built the world’s first bio fuelled flying car. Their intention is to use the SkyCar to travel from London to Tombouctou, across the Sahara desert. They set off for the journey in mid January. The car was designed by Giles Cardozo in 18 months and cost £50,000 ($73.800). It was the rapid development in flexible wing technology that made this project possible. The car has a parachute in its boot that can be easily unfolded. It also has a large fan mounted upon its rear. The vehicle needs a runway over 200m long to take-off. Once airborne it can climb to a maximum altitude of 4.572 m (15,000 ft). Top air speed is 110 km per hour (68 mi/hr) and range is 300 km (186 mi). The team estimates it will fly for about 40 per cent of the journey. When on the ground the vehicle top speed is 180 km per hour (112 mi/hr). The car is piloted by an ex Special Air Serviceman, Neil Laughton and Giles Cardozo is the co-pilot.
Another flying car project comes from the USA and a Boston-area company called Terrafugia. The company, founded by a group of MIT students in 2006, already has 40 orders for their flying car “Transition” which they prefer to call a "roadable aircraft". It is a two-seater airplane that looks like a car – it just has wings that can be folded up. The company is going to sell the machine for $194,000 (£130.000).
As with the SkyCar, Transition was constructed thanks to the fast development of new materials but also the changes in the U.S. flying regulations. In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration formed a new category of aircraft and license for sport aviation. It is easier now to get a sport pilot license than the private and commercial pilot licenses. They hope these changes will bring more people to flying so that there are enough pilots to fly airliners in the future. What they could not expect is that such license will make possible the success of commercial flying cars.
http://www.tourism-review.com/top_weekly_full.php?id=1374
Another flying car project comes from the USA and a Boston-area company called Terrafugia. The company, founded by a group of MIT students in 2006, already has 40 orders for their flying car “Transition” which they prefer to call a "roadable aircraft". It is a two-seater airplane that looks like a car – it just has wings that can be folded up. The company is going to sell the machine for $194,000 (£130.000).
As with the SkyCar, Transition was constructed thanks to the fast development of new materials but also the changes in the U.S. flying regulations. In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration formed a new category of aircraft and license for sport aviation. It is easier now to get a sport pilot license than the private and commercial pilot licenses. They hope these changes will bring more people to flying so that there are enough pilots to fly airliners in the future. What they could not expect is that such license will make possible the success of commercial flying cars.
http://www.tourism-review.com/top_weekly_full.php?id=1374
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Train details via SMS
Posted By editor On December 23, 2008 @ 6:34 pm In Featured, Kerala Today, Latest News, News Thiruvananthapuram, Tuesday 23December 2008: The Railways have introduced SMS facility in collaboration with Google to know the reservation status of the train ticket and details of trains. The commuter has to just write down the 10-digit PNR number of the train ticket and send that text message to 9773300000. All this comes just at the cost of an SMS.Along with this, details of trains to aparticular destination will be available bysending SMS ‘Trains to…’ to the same 10-digit mobile number. Once ‘Trains toThiruvananthapuram’ is typed the entire list of trains to the State capital will be provided.Article printed from Kerala Online: http://keralaonline.comURL to article: http://keralaonline.com/news/train-details-sms_14013.htmlCopyright © 2008 Kerala Online. All rights reserved.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The Fast track contest and trivia
Do you have the courage, the heart, the strength and most importantly, the style?There are armies and then there is the Fastrack army. Fastrack with the help of MTV is on the lookout to recruit rookies. Prove your mettle to get recruited! Impress the MTV VJ’s and get a chance to win loads of Fastrack army gear and one grand prize.
Contest link: http://www.fastrack.in/contest.aspx
Army trivia (Umm nteresting...): http://www.fastrack.in/trivia.aspx
this looks cool for me and wanted to let you all know....
Cheers
Anu
Contest link: http://www.fastrack.in/contest.aspx
Army trivia (Umm nteresting...): http://www.fastrack.in/trivia.aspx
this looks cool for me and wanted to let you all know....
Cheers
Anu
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