Bulb will debut at $50; nobody said “perfection” was cheap
From Ars Technica: Feature: Gigabit Internet for $70: the unlikely success of California’s Sonic.net
SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA—Two things set a one-block stretch of Florence Avenue apart from other American streets. One is the quirky metal sculptures planted in front of most homes; the other is the Internet traffic coursing through recently-strung fiber-optic cables on the block’s utility poles. They offer each house up to one gigabit per second in bandwidth, making this one of the fastest streets in America.
While some other cities can also brag about gigabit access, in this Sonoma County town it costs only $69.95 a month.
The service comes courtesy of Sonic.net, the18-year-old Internet provider based in the neighboring city of Santa Rosa. And Sonic even throws in two phone lines with unlimited long-distance calling when you sign up.
from Ars Technica
From Engadget: NuForce Air DAC wireless audio streamer on sale: $199 for iDevices, $179 for everything else
We may live in a digital world, but analog still rules the roost when it comes to audio, and a dedicated DAC can improve the quality of your tunes considerably. Back at CES, we teased you with NuForce’s Air DACthat wirelessly streams music from mobile to your home stereo on the 2.4GHz band at a range of 30-65 feet (10-20 meters). Well, it’s been priced and is now officially available. For those with Apple devices, the 30-pin iTX dongle will set you back $79, and those keeping their music elswhere can grab the uTX USB transmitter for $59. On its own, the DAC receiver costs $149, though the whole iOS-compatible kit can be had for $199, while the USB version’s yours for $179. PR’s after the break.
from Engadget
From Geeks are Sexy Technology News: Stop Motion LEGO Millennium Falcon Assembly Video
Assembly of the Lego set 10179 from Star Wars Ultimate collector series in stop motion in 3d. Created using 3ds max and V-ray. A very long work over 3 years, modelling all the pieces by myself. and rendered frame by frame.
From Gizmodo: Breakthrough Quadcopter Does Previously Impossible Acrobatics
Looking at their latest invention, Mark Cutler and Jonathan P. Howe will get an awesome job at some military aerospace company. They have created a quadrotor drone with variable-pitch, something that didn’t exist before in these kind of machines. Not they can do some crazy acrobatics. More »
from Gizmodo
From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: Thermoelectric “Power Felt” Fabric Lets You Sit on Your Phone to Power It
Power Felt Wake Forest University
A team from Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials has created a new thermoelectric fabric they call Power Felt. It’s constructed of “tiny carbon nanotubes locked up in flexible plastic fibers,” though the final product looks and feels like fabric, and creates and electrical charge from changes in temperature–like, say, touching it with your hot finger, or sitting on it with your hot butt (hot in this case referring to temperature and thus wholly inoffensive science).
Thermoelectrics isn’t a new field, but it’s mostly been hampered by expensive materials that can cost up to $1,000 per kilogram. But Corey Hewitt, a graduate student at Wake Forest and member of the Power Felt team, says the new design could drastically bring down the price. For something small, like a cellphone case, the addition of Power Felt could cost as little as a dollar extra. And there are all kinds of possible applications, from apparel to car seats.
from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now
From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: The Yamaha Moegi Demonstrates The Future of Fuel Efficiency
Yamaha Y125 Moegi Concept Courtesy Yamaha
Since the days of $4 gas began, the single-cylinder motorcycles and scooters that dominate international megacities have become increasingly common on American streets. Engineers at Yamaha created the Y125 Moegi concept to capitalize on that trend. They based it on the company’s first motorcycle, the 1955 125-cc YA-1, but they also included some modern touches, in particular an ultralight frame and a new cylinder design that could help make the Moegi one of the lightest and most fuel-efficient motorcycles ever.
The Y125 Moegi, which is 90 percent aluminum, weighs just 176 pounds (50 pounds less than an entry-level Vespa). Engineers molded the aluminum frame using Yamaha’s proprietary “controlled-filling” die-casting process. Controlled filling reduces air bubbles in the finished parts by 20 percent, making it possible to build strong, thin components that are 30 percent lighter.
Like the original YA-1, the Moegi runs on an air-cooled, 125-cc engine, which connects to the bike’s 20-inch rear wheel with a simple belt drive. But engineers replaced the YA-1’s lawnmower-like two-stroke with a low-friction four-stroke. They also incorporated another Yamaha invention: the DiASil cylinder, the world’s first mass-produced all-aluminum, die-cast motorcycle cylinder. The DiASil’s abrasion-resistant aluminum alloy dissipates heat at three times the rate of steel. When the engine isn’t being adequately cooled by the wind (for example, when riding uphill or stuck in traffic), there’s less power loss resulting from increased engine heat.
Yamaha hasn’t announced a horse-power rating for the Moegi engine, but 10 to 15 horsepower would be enough to propel a bike this light to 50 mph. Yamaha engineers have said, however, that the Moegi could achieve 188 mpg, which would make it nearly four times as efficient as a typical motorcycle.
Mileage: Up to 188 mpg
Weight: 176 pounds
from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now