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To help alleviate long lines at Atlanta’s airport, Delta spent more than a million dollars to install a pair of new high-tech security lanes that can handle more passengers simultaneously. When even the airlines, who are happy to charge passengers extra to sit next to their family members
, thinks the TSA
is doing a bad job, you know there’s a problem.
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Sorry, University of New South Wales: Your efforts at shattering the efficiency record for solar cells earlier this month have been, ahem, eclipsed. A group of researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a way to possibly break the maximum efficiency of a solar cell, the Shockley-Queisser Limit. The Shockley-Queisser tops off at around 32 percent, but that’s taking standard solar cell setups into account. The MIT scientists switched it up and converted incoming sunlight to heat prior to having it generate electricity, a trick that could possibly double the power produced by a given panel.
These solar thermophotovoltaics (above) take light and pass it through an intermediary part comprised of nanophotonic crystals that outputs thermal radiation — something that’s otherwise wasted using typical means. From there, the radiation is converted to the best-possible light wavelengths, via an optical filter, that a normal solar cell can use.
The school says this method means that in the future, passing clouds or even total darkness (if a thermal storage system is in place) wouldn’t affect the system’s ability to gather and produce solar energy, respectively. And this is all with what the team refers to as "unoptimized geometry." Meaning, efficiency could go even higher than what was achieved during this experiment. Your day in the sun is over, UNSW.
Via: MIT News
Source: Nature Energy
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Netflix is about to get a whole lot more magical. There’s a whole cadre of additional Disney films coming to the streaming service this September as Netflix becomes the exclusive streaming service for movies from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar.
This announcement comes in the form of Netflix’s latest blog detailing the year’s coming releases. There isn’t any concrete information on which titles are being added later this fall just yet, but it will be comprised of major theatrical releases and more. There’s already a smattering of movies like Hercules, The Emperor’s New Groove and Mulan already available to view, but September should see that expanded considerably.
This announcement is the fruit of an agreement signed into life back in 2012, which made Netflix the exclusive U.S. subscription service for first-run live-action and animated features from Walt Disney. It’s finally time for Netflix subscribers to reap the benefits with a wide breadth of content from the Walt Disney umbrella. Does that mean we could see The Force Awakens coming to Netflix in the near future? We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled just in case.
Source: Netflix
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ISRO’s RLV-TD notched its first successful test launch Monday. (Credit: ISRO)
The Indian Space Research Organisation is entering the next generation of space travel.
The ISRO on Monday successfully launched its pint-sized Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV-TD) prototype from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, according to an announcement from the space organization. The first test flight marks a milestone for ISRO, which started developing its concept for a reusable launch vehicle  nearly a decade ago.
The RLV-TD is just 23 feet tall, and weighs about 1.75 tons. For comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle stands 224 feet upright, and weighs over 600 tons. But the RLV-TD was a deal: it cost ISRO just $14 million to develop.
During Monday’s roughly 12-minute test flight, the RLV-TD flew 45 miles above earth — first getting a boost from a 9-ton solid booster — before re-entering the atmosphere at nearly five times the speed of sound. The craft’s automatic guidance systems steered the vehicle to a splashdown landing in the Bay of Bengal.
A closer look at the RLV-TD. (Credit: ISRO)
The launch was the first of four experimental flights that will incrementally test the RLV’s capabilities and allow ISRO engineers to gather plenty of data. The RLV-TD prototype launched Monday is six times smaller than the final version, which is expected to launch within a decade.
Some 600 ISRO scientists have poured sweat and blood into the RLV-TD mission, and the first test was long overdue. Monday’s flight was originally planned for 2009, but the date continued to slip as testing facilities came online, and officials changed ISRO’s mission priorities.
India now joins the growing list of companies and nations working to reduce the cost of space travel and shipping by phasing out single-use spacecraft. With its first RLV-TD test, ISRO hopes to someday rub shoulders with the likes of SpaceX and Blue Origins — both companies have launched and landed their versions of reusable launch vehicles.
Agencies in Europe, Japan and Russia are also developing reusable spacecraft, and the technology is expected to yield a tenfold reduction in the cost of sending things, and people, into space.
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The European Union is looking to impose new quota on services like Netflix (NFLX, Tech30), iTunes and Amazon (AMZN, Tech30), forcing them to dedicate at least 20% of their catalogs to European content.
Under the new rules, announced Wednesday, on-demand and streaming video services would be required to invest more money into production in Europe.
The European Commission, EU’s top regulator, is arguing that while European TV broadcasters invest around 20% of their revenues in original content, the figure is just 1% for on-demand providers.
Netflix is not very happy about the EU’s vision. “We appreciate the Commission’s objective to have European production flourish, however the proposed measures won’t actually achieve that,” the company said in a statement.
The company said it already invests hundreds of millions of euros in European production. Its first original European series, Marseille, premiered earlier this month, and the company is launching a second show, The Crown, later this year.
It also has partnerships with several European broadcasters, including the BBC, to license their content.
The commission said Netflix and iTunes are both currently meeting the 20% threshold it proposes.
Related: What’s wrong with Netflix?
The content quota are part of the update of laws that govern audiovisual media services across the 28 nations bloc.
The new rules will also force YouTube and other video sharing sites to take more steps to protect kids from violent or pornographic content.
“The way we watch TV or videos may have changed, but our values don’t…with these new rules, we will uphold media pluralism, the independence of audiovisual regulators and will make sure incitement to hatred will have no room on video-sharing platforms,” said Guenther Oettinger, the EU commissioner for the digital economy.
Similar content rules already apply to traditional broadcasters and the commission is trying to expand them to streaming services. Some content quota already exist in several EU Member States.
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Insurance,Safety,Performance
Car enthusiasts don’t buy sports cars to stay in the slow lane. But given that the allure of higher speeds and bolder performance might lead to faster and more aggressive driving, they might think manufacturers have outfitted these cars with stringent safety protections.
Continue reading Iconic sports cars fail to meet top IIHS crash-test standards
Iconic sports cars fail to meet top IIHS crash-test standards originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2016 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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After analyzing the data, the ZERO-System Sustainable Land Association and Portuguese Renewable Energy Association have determined that between 6:45 am on May 7 and and 5:45 pm on May 11, Portugal’s total energy use was all covered by renewable energy sources.
The World Economic Forum reports that Portugal has been building up its renewable energy sources for the past few years. In 2013, the country reportedly generated 7.5 percent of its electricity with wind power, increasing to 22 percent last year. In addition, WEF says, Portugal got about half of its energy from renewable sources (including solar and hydro power) in 2015.
While four days doesn’t seem like much, it’s an encouraging prospect that an entire country can meet its energy demands through renewables. Perhaps it will inspire those who are particularly driven by friendly competition.
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