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The Lead
Planes, trains, and automobiles: Faster, stronger, lighter
May 20, 2013 12:00 am | by Massachusetts Institute of Technology | News | Comments
These days, aerospace engineering is all about the light stuff: building airplanes with lighter wings, fuselage and landing gear in an effort to reduce fuel costs. Advanced carbon-fiber composites have been used in recent years to lighten planes’ loads. These materials can match aluminum and titanium in strength but at a fraction of the weight, and can be found in aircraft like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380, reducing such jets’ weigh...
What are the biggest LED challenges, according to engineers
May 17, 2013 10:06 am | by Editor | Blogs | Comments
With Lightfair in the rearview mirror and being dominated by LEDs, lighting has become an...
Welcoming grandma into our virtual future
May 16, 2013 1:27 pm | by Joel Hans, Managing Editor, Manufacturing.net | Blogs | Comments
A virtual reality (VR) headset by the name of Oculus Rift made a big splash on Kickstarter,...
Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths
May 16, 2013 9:26 am | by Dina Cappiello, Associated Press | News | Comments
It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America's green-energy...
PD&D webcast: Exploring Unmanned Vehicles
May 20, 2013 12:01 pm | WebinarsIn this presentation, Dr. (Col. Ret.) Jerry LeMieux, President of Unmanned Vehicle University, will discuss innovations in the field of unmanned systems. Specifically, he will review the commercialization of unmanned air, ground, sea, and space vehicles and their increased use in civil applications in comparison to their heavy military use and origins.
Bacteria use hydrogen, carbon dioxide to produce electricity
May 20, 2013 11:56 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsResearchers have engineered a strain of electricity-producing bacteria that can grow using hydrogen gas as its sole electron donor and carbon dioxide as its sole source of carbon. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst report their findings at the 113th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
Computational tool translates complex data into simplified 2-dimensional images
May 20, 2013 11:52 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsResearchers at Columbia University and Stanford University have developed a computational method that enables scientists to visualize and interpret "high-dimensional" data produced by single-cell measurement technologies such as mass cytometry.
Kinks and curves at the nanoscale
May 20, 2013 11:46 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsEliminating the defects at the interface separating two crystals, or grains, has been shown by nanotechnology experts to be a powerful strategy for making materials stronger, more easily molded, and less electrically resistant—or a host of other qualities sought by designers and manufacturers.
Disney researchers develop fast, economical method for high-definition video compositing
May 20, 2013 11:35 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsVideo compositing to create special effects, replace backgrounds or combine multiple takes of an actor's performance is an integral, but highly labor-intensive, part of modern film making. Researchers at Disney Research, Zürich, however, have found an innovative way to create these composite videos that is simple, fast, and easy to use.
Yahoo takes big leap with $1.1B deal for Tumblr
May 20, 2013 11:33 am | by MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsYahoo is buying online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to rejuvenate an Internet icon that had fallen behind the times. The deal announced Monday represents Mayer's boldest move yet since she left Google 10 months ago to lead Yahoo's latest comeback attempt.
Robots learn to take a proper handoff by following digitized human examples
May 20, 2013 11:32 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsRecognizing that a person is handing something and predicting where the human plans to make the handoff is difficult for a robot, but the researchers from Disney and KIT solved the problem by using motion capture data with two people to create a database of human motion.
Review: Toshiba brings high-res screen to Windows
May 20, 2013 11:04 am | by PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsLast year, Apple added a visually stunning option to its MacBooks: screens with ultra-high resolution. These "Retina" displays reveal four times as much detail as any Windows laptop screen ... until now. Toshiba just released a new laptop line with a Retina-level display.
Fanless mini PC ideal for space-challenged applications
May 20, 2013 11:01 am | Stealth Computer Corporation | Product Releases | CommentsStealth.com has released a new powerful fanless small form factor PC model LPC-480FS. The LPC-480FS is a highly reliable, fanless, energy efficient, rugged mini PC designed for a large variety of demanding applications. Stealth's LPC-480FS is a powerful diminutive computer that operates without noisy cooling fans which could draw in dirt and dust potentially causing catastrophic failures.
Congress gets mixed advice on regulating drones
May 20, 2013 10:58 am | by HENRY C. JACKSON, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe growing use of unmanned surveillance "eyes in the sky" aircraft raises a thicket of privacy concerns, but the U.S. Congress is getting mixed advice on what, if anything, to do about it. A future with domestic drones may be inevitable. While civilian drone use is currently limited to government agencies and some public universities...
SKorea analyzing NKorea's 4 projectile launches
May 20, 2013 10:48 am | by HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press | News | CommentsSouth Korea is analyzing whether projectiles North Korea fired into its eastern waters over the weekend are short-range missiles or a new type of artillery the country may be developing, officials said Monday. North Korea fired what Seoul officials called a short-range projectile Sunday, a day after conducting three similar launches.
Smartphone sector sees vibrant performance in Southeast Asia
May 20, 2013 10:47 am | by GFK | News | CommentsConsumers in Southeast Asian markets continue to snap up mobile handsets at a rapid pace, propelling the region’s overall mobile phone market to expand further in the latest 12 months by 14 percent in value and 8 percent in units. Declining demand for basic feature phones are met by the corresponding spike in smartphone sales...
Fire human resources
May 20, 2013 10:31 am | by M. Simon, Technical Contributor | Blogs | CommentsManagement Consultant Dave Logan at CBS Moneywatch is warning companies to avoid falling in love with company policy. He talks about a company that wanted to hire a very disruptive genius. But HR said it wasn't possible because they had no job description for the function envisioned. And besides the guy was obviously a poor fit and a possible cause for resentment by the rest of the employees.
This is what a 1950s robot looks like
May 20, 2013 10:11 am | by Kasey Panetta, Managing Editor | Blogs | CommentsIt’s pretty crazy when you think about how far technology has come in the past five years, let alone the past 50 years. Recently, we talked about different humanoid robots, including DARPA’s PETMAN and the Alphadog Proto, a humanoid robot used to test protective clothing and a 4-legged battlefield companion, respectively.
My 90 year old grandmother tries the Oculus Rift
May 20, 2013 9:11 am | Videos | CommentsFrom the author's YouTube description: "My 90 year old grandmother tries the Oculus Rift. We were using the Tuscany demo." A virtual reality (VR) headset by the name of Oculus Rift made a big splash on Kickstarter, raising a stellar $2.43 million to get development kits into the hands and on the noggins of game developers.
