From Engadget: Open-mesh PC case keeps heat, dust bunnies at bay

open-mesh-pc-case-keeps-heat-dust-bunnies-at-bay

If you haven’t done it in a while, opening your PC case can be like a slasher flick — you know you’ll see something disgusting, but you’re never sure what. Taiwan’s YoungYear Electronics claims to stop the horror with its Green Mesh case, which has neither fans to suck dust, nor filters, and keeps your components cool with a “chimney effect” instead. It’s this same action that repels dust out the top, so that only one quarter the usual amount of filth is drawn in — according to the company. The only downside is that with poor heat dissipation, the maximum power supply unit size is 300 watts — which probably scratches it off the list for most modders or power-users. For the rest, if you don’t mind your computer’s innards blowing in the breeze, at least you’d have no nasty case-opening frights.

 

from Engadget

From Ars Technica: Lawmakers want FCC to bail out LightSquared with military spectrum

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants the Federal Communications Commission to salvage LightSquared’s seemingly doomed plan to build a 4G LTE network by letting the company trade its spectrum for more suitable airwaves controlled by the Department of Defense.

“We ask the FCC to conduct a thorough and thoughtful review of all available spectrum controlled by the Department of Defense (DoD) that could be repurposed or reallocated to meet increased demand,” the lawmakers said in a letter sent Tuesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, and reported by the IDG News Service last night. “We also request that the FCC move swiftly to identify other options, including the use of alternate spectrum, for LightSquared’s proposed nationwide 4G LTE wireless broadband network…. A spectrum swap is the most resourceful and efficient way to quickly expand broadband access nationwide.”

LightSquared filed for bankruptcy protection last month after the FCC halted its plan to build a nationwide cellular network on spectrum that is adjacent to airwaves used by GPS devices. The powerful signals from LightSquared towers would overwhelm the signals GPS devices must receive to provide location services, making the network infeasible, the FCC concluded.

 

from Ars Technica

From Morning Edition: ‘Car Talk’ Brothers To Close Up Shop

Sniff… I’m gonna miss my all-time favorite radio show…  🙁

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Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, the comedian mechanics who host NPR’s Car Talk, are retiring this fall. Their weekly call-in series will continue to be distributed by NPR, drawing on material from their 25 years of show archives.

 

from Morning Edition

From MAKE: Cool Superhydrophobic Surface Demos



Both these videos are from German web retailer Innovative Materials, who apparently used to sell something called “superhydrophobic aerogel” in powder or granule form. In these videos, surfaces coated with this powder react in interesting ways to water. They seem to be sold out of the stuff, but a bit of Googling confirms that superhydrophobic aerogels do exist and can be made in many ways. Exactly what type was used in these demonstrations is unclear. [via Boing Boing]

Innovative Materials Blog: Aerogel Powder

More:
How to make water bounce

from MAKE