//pburgess.net http://pburgess.net perhaps making science education more interesting Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:38:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en 10 inch Motorola Android Gingerbread tablet slated for November View http://pburgess.net/?p=2513 http://pburgess.net/?p=2513#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:23:34 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2513

The Street has it that analyst Ashok Kumar talked to “people familiar with the project” who claim that Motorola’s planning to launch a 10 inch Android tablet this November.
The tablet won’t run Android 2.2 Froyo, but the next version of the OS, namely Gingerbread – which may or may not be Android 3.0.

10 inch Motorola Android Gingerbread tablet slated for November » Unwired View

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]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2513 India develops world’s cheapest laptop at $35 http://pburgess.net/?p=2507 http://pburgess.net/?p=2507#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:50:45 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2507

India has come up with the world’s cheapest “laptop,” a touch-screen computing device that costs $35.
India’s Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal this week unveiled the low-cost computing device that is designed for students, saying his department had started talks with global manufacturers to start mass production.
“We have reached a (developmental) stage that today, the motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything,” he told a news conference.
He said the touchscreen gadget was packed with Internet browsers, PDF reader and video conferencing facilities but its hardware was created with sufficient flexibility to incorporate new components according to user requirement.

India develops world’s cheapest laptop at $35 | Reuters

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]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2507 US Army’s next secret weapon: an Android phone? http://pburgess.net/?p=2505 http://pburgess.net/?p=2505#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:50:01 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2505

As smartphones get more versatile by the day, they’re getting attention from unexpected places. Case in point: a defense contractor is working with Google to develop a device for soldiers that would display real-time battlefield intel — powered by Android.
The same guys who brought you yesterday’s airplane-destroying laser, Raytheon, sought to create a compact gadget that would relay battlefield images from satellites and aircraft to soldiers on the ground, and allow them to easily zoom in on details like license plates or faces. Since smartphones already do things like that, it makes sense they hooked up with Google, who offered up its Android tech for the job.
The device would cost only about $500. Besides relaying intelligence, it would also let soldiers keep track of their comrades’ movements on the battlefield as well as — and I couldn’t make this up — “identify potential enemies in a way similar to social networking sites such as Facebook.” I can see it now: “Dude, that Pashtun villager just de-friended me — shoot him!”

US Army’s next secret weapon: an Android phone? | DVICE

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]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2505 US Congress proposes commission to NEO impact threat http://pburgess.net/?p=2501 http://pburgess.net/?p=2501#comments Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:51:57 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2501
Timelapse of Asteroid 2004 FH's flyby (NASA/JP...
Image via Wikipedia

Lawmakers are paying new attention to how best to shield Earth from a bad day — getting whacked by an asteroid or comet that has our planet in its cross-hairs.
A new bill introduced to Congress proposes establishing a government-sponsored commission to study the threat of a major space rock collision with Earth and how prepared we are — as a country and a planet — to face such a danger.
There is a growing choir of concern regarding Near Earth Objects, or NEOs – spotting them and dealing with any Earth-threatening gatecrashers.
While the annual probability of the Earth being struck by a huge asteroid or comet is small, the consequences of such a collision are so calamitous that it is prudent to appraise the nature of the threat and prepare to deal with it, experts say. [Gallery: Holes in the Earth]

SPACE.com — Congress Proposes Commission to Study Asteroid Impact Threat.

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]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2501 Scientists to present car for blind drivers next year http://pburgess.net/?p=2498 http://pburgess.net/?p=2498#comments Sat, 10 Jul 2010 13:44:44 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2498

US Scientists and the National Federation of the Blind are developing a car for the blind and will present a prototype next year.

The vehicle will be fitted with technology that allows a blind person to drive independently, the NFB and Virginia Tech University said.

Non-visual aids include sensors indicating turns in the road via vibrating gloves.

Puffs of compressed air on the face will alert the driver to obstacles.

Other aids to be fitted include a vibrating vest to give feedback on speed and a steering wheel with audio cues and spoken commands indicating the car’s direction.

BBC News - Scientists to present car for blind drivers next year

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]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2498 Android-based optometry http://pburgess.net/?p=2496 http://pburgess.net/?p=2496#comments Sat, 10 Jul 2010 13:03:49 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2496

YouTube - NETRA: Cellphone-based Optometry Solution using Inverse Shack Hartmann Technique, from MIT Media Lab

]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2496 Physics of bending balls http://pburgess.net/?p=2493 http://pburgess.net/?p=2493#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:47:42 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2493 After a ball leaves a soccer player’s foot, surface roughness and asymmetric air forces contribute to some jaw-dropping trajectories.
As a soccer ball moves through air, it feels a force due to pressure differences and to interactions between the viscous air and the ball’s surface. The viscous forces are important in the boundary layer, a concept introduced by Ludwig Prandtl at the turn of the 20th century. In that region, near the surface of the ball, the air speed relative to the ball’s surface rises from zero at the surface to nearly its free-stream value (see the article by John D. Anderson Jr in Physics Today, December 2005, page 42). The boundary layer is thinnest on the front of the ball, which faces the oncoming air, and thicker farther back. Eventually it separates from the ball altogether and leaves a complex flow pattern with swirling eddies in its wake. Much of the wonderment of soccer trajectories depends on where the boundary layer separates.

About Physics Today.

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]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2493 First-ever solar powered desalination plant will be in Cyprus http://pburgess.net/?p=2489 http://pburgess.net/?p=2489#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:03:49 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2489 The first-ever combined solar power and desalination plant will be constructed in Cyprus, following the success of a Cyprus Institute research project.
The aim of the research was to provide a feasible solution to the water shortage problem faced by Cyprus and other Mediterranean countries, while considering the need for a sustainable energy source to support a sustainable supply of water.
Among the important findings of the research is that solar energy, as opposed to wind or photovoltaic energy, can be stored. This adds to the efficiency of solar energy as a source for sustainable electrical power.

First-ever solar powered desalination plant will be in Cyprus - Cyprus Mail.

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]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2489 10,000 NHS patients ‘to have genes mapped’ http://pburgess.net/?p=2483 http://pburgess.net/?p=2483#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:12:59 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2483 An NHS hospital has begun decoding all the genes of individual patients, 10 years after the first human genome sequence was published.
London’s Royal Brompton Hospital said the project would give doctors a better understanding of the inherited factors that help trigger heart disease.
The research involves sequencing all 22,000 genes found in the human genome in 10,000 patients.
It heralds more personalised treatments for diseases.

BBC News - 10,000 NHS patients ‘to have genes mapped’

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]]> http://pburgess.net/?feed=rss2&p=2483 4TS Exam questions AND answers http://pburgess.net/?p=2478 http://pburgess.net/?p=2478#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:57:28 +0000 admin http://pburgess.net/?p=2478 B1a
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