Expanding waistlines may be caused by more than bad diets and sedentary habits. Antibiotics could be disrupting our gut bacteria, helping people pack on fat like farm animals.
from Wired Top Stories
From Droid Life: Analysts: Google’s Nexus 7 Sales Could Reach 8 Million By the End of 2012
Taken from the number of sales of the displays used in the device, it looks like Google will be looking at a grand total of 8 million Nexus 7 tablets sold by the end of 2012. According to what Google had previously expected to sell since the July launch, that’s more than double the previous estimates. Google spokespeople have yet to confirm these projections, but once the sales numbers are posted, folks are likely to be happily surprised at the popularity of the Jelly Bean-powered device.
I know I could speak for most readers here that it’s easily been one of the most popular Android devices ever launched. With fantastic build quality, Jelly Bean, and that unbeatable $200-$250 price tag, it can’t be beat.
Via: Computer World
Cheers Sameer!
from Droid Life
From Ars Technica: City of Oakland, FCC identify source of police radio interference: AT&T
Since its installation in July 2011, the City of Oakland has had massive problems with its radio system.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that local officials, in collaboration with investigators from the Federal Communications Commission, have now found the culprit to the Oakland Police Department’s ongoing public safety radio woes: AT&T.
Last week, FCC and the City of Oakland notified the mobile network that its towers were interfering with the radios, but the problem got significantly worse when a police car found itself within a quarter-mile of a tower. (That is, according to David Cruise, the city’s newly-hired public safety systems adviser, as reported by the Chronicle).
“If the officer is in an area close to one of their cell sites, essentially the cell site overpowers their radios,” he told the paper.
from Ars Technica
From Autoblog: Study: Feds launch largest-ever road test of connected vehicles
Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Technology, Ford, GM
Vehicle-To-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-To-Infrastructure (V2I) communications are going to play a big role in future automobiles when it comes to autonomous vehicles, but in the near term, these technologies are being looked at as a way to make the roadways safer by reducing crashes and congestion. As part of its Safety Pilot program, the Department of Transportation has announced plans for the largest-ever real-world test of V2V and V2I technologies consisting of almost 3,000 cars, trucks and buses in Ann Arbor, Mich.
V2V and V2I allow vehicles to connect and communicate with one another along with roadways and intersections using a wifi signal with the intention of reducing vehicle collisions in the instances such as rear-end collisions, blind intersections, vehicles running a red light or vehicles changing lanes when another vehicle is in its blind spot. Automakers, including General Motors and Ford Motor Company have already been testing intelligent vehicles, but the benefit of a government-sponsored program like this is that it could create a universal language for vehicles to communicate with each other rather than each automaker coming up with its system independently.
Both GM and Ford are supplying vehicles for this program, but there will also be extensive feedback received from drivers. Ahead of its real-world tests, the DOT conducted a study that found 90-percent of drivers who experienced V2V and V2I had a “highly favorable opinion” of the technologies. Safety Pilot will last for a year, and the data collected will help the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determine how the technology can be used in the future, along with what, if any, laws need to be made regarding V2V and V2I.
GM says that it can start offering this technology in its cars by the end of this decade and Ford says it has already started developing Intelligent Vehicles.
Scroll downfor V2V videos from GM and Ford as well as a press release from the U.S. DOT.
from Autoblog
From Autoblog: Video: Consumer Reports cuts loose, compares Scion FR-S against Subaru BRZ
Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Videos, Scion, Subaru
The folks at Consumer Reports are a lot like the Ben Steins of the automotive world. At first glance, they are the dry-as-saltines, facts-only crew that can’t be bothered by anything but the empirical data with which they distill to arrive at their coveted “Recommended” accolades. It isn’t always this way with CR, though, as we found out when they hopped behind the wheel of the Toyobaru coupes of our collective dreams, the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ.
Automotive engineer Jake Fisher hosts this test and speaks for the CR team explaining that, though both coupes are very much the same animal, they have subtle differences. The BRZ comes with a bit more available kit, like a rear spoiler, HID headlights and navigation, while the FR-S carries a lower price. All seems like what we’ve heard before, right? Well, CR ends up favoring the FR-S, claiming it has a more balanced ride and handles better.
This decision stands in contrast to a recent Motor Trend comparison test, in which the print publication favored the driving characteristics of the Subaru over the Scion.
More than anything, this highlights just how close the two cars are, and as CR‘s Fisher put it, “You’re not gonna go wrong with either one of these.” We agree, but click belowto see the video and find out exactly what made CR err on the side of the Scion, then weigh in with your thoughts in Comments.
from Autoblog
From Gizmodo: They Finally Made a Flying Star Wars Speeder Bike!
This is insane. I keep watching this video again and again, and my stupid grin doesn’t go away: a live demonstration of a real flying bike! Now we just need light sabers, golden robots with English accent, and hyperspace engines. More »
from Gizmodo
From Geeks are Sexy Technology News: How Your Pee Can Help Save the Environment
The challenge to reduce carbon emissions rages on (despite those who “don’t believe†in global warming). According to Manuel Jiménez Aguilar, an answer may lie in our urine.
In a study he published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, Aguilar explains that urea results in the production of ammonium bicarbonate and also ammonia, which can absorb atmospheric CO2. So why the olive waste? Well urine decays and it seems that the liquid waste that results from the olive paste-making process is a basic preservative that will keep urine fresh.
This mixture of urine and olive waste, according to the study, could reduce CO2 emissions by one percent. Sure, it’s not really doing anything for the carbon monoxide or host of other gases, but CO2 is a big problem in global warming and that would make quite a significant difference. He’s proposing that such a mixture would be placed in places such as chimneys so that gas is sort of filtered past it before heading out into our atmosphere. There would obviously also need to be a system to refresh the paste once it was saturated with carbon dioxide.
It would be a pretty cool environmental development: recycling of olive waste water and our own personal body waste, while also reducing CO2 emissions. Win-win, if you ask me.
What do you think? Viable option for reducing carbon emissions or waste (oooh see what I did there?) of time?
[Via Geekosystem | Photo Credit]