The core of the fuel cell itself works noiseless.
However some components of the current high
power cells emit a high, whining noise.
I think future cells will get rid of this, though.
If you like construktion games and aren't allowed to bring the Legos to your cubicle, try the Sodaconstructor.
It is a lovely toy that let's you build walkers etc. out of springs.
It is possible to use last, burnt out stage of the rocket as a counterweight. You tether the stage and the landing module together and give the components a spin.
Calculations suggest that this is indeed possible. I think the idea is explained in more detail in
"The Case for Mars", a highly recommended, factional book.
As Robert Zubrin describes in his book
"The Case for Mars", rocket fuel can be generated with a simple, proven reaction from the martian atmosphere.
And no - the book is NOT a fictional work. Robert Zubrin is the guy convinced the NASA to change the plans for manned mars mission to the "long trip model".
In 1968 Douglas C. Engelbart presented not only hypertext and the mouse. He also used a keyboard consisting of 5 keys only. It looked like a very short piano keyboard. By pressing the keys in combination, he was able to type with one hand, blindly, at high speed.
I think it was more or less his only invention at the presentation that didn't make it into a mainstream product.
Two years ago, I modified the design by integrating microswitches into a joystick-formed object, and wrote a small driver for BeOS. I also thought about integrating a pointer device like the one in IBM notebooks, but never did so.
The microswitches were suboptimal, and I never really learned to write fast with it. But other people reported that they could write on a 5 button keyboard much faster than on a conventional one.
I think the modified design of the 5 button keyboard might be an ideal input device for PDAs and wearables. They're compact. Plus you can use them to point and type blindly, and do so fast.
From the website:
> Select the banner you like best and upload it to your website...
> Please no porn/hate/other terrible thing- sites. You won't be accepted.
Even modem-users want to access porn/hate/other terrible thing- sites!
Zeppelin NT:
The Zeppelin NT is a relatively small Zeppelin with only 12 passenger seats. What sets it apart from simple blimps is that a carbon tube over the whole length makes the hull more rigid. Together with three propellers with a swivel angel of up to 120 degrees, that makes for excellent manoeuvrability
(specs
). They're close to production.
CargoLifter 160:
In contrast, the CargoLifter will be gigantic (specs).
It'll have a length of 260m and will be able to lift up to 160 tons of cargo. So far they've built a balloon for testing purposes and a hangar that is big enough to host fourteen 747s. Both the hangar and the ballon break a number of records. There are a couple of nice webcams.
I think a really good way to measure the importance of a game is to count the number of clones created. I think there are not only dozens but HUNDREDS of clones of titles like Artillery Duel, Asteroids, and BoulderDash.
Of course it's hard to decide what has still to be considered a clone.
Well - forget about other stars for a moment. The same problem occurs when you want to travel sunwards in our own solar system. Can you use a sail to do that?
Yes you can. Solar sails can provide lateral thrust. This enables you to do swingby maneuvers and decelerate.
Personally I think that magnetic sails are far more promising than mechanical ones. Recent research shows that a small amount of plasma can extend a magnetic field tremendously.
Years ago, we converted a fire extinguisher ourselves. It was a model that worked with foam and we only had to exchange the pistol.
The cool thing was that it had a valve like the ones on car tires. So we could pressurize it with a normal pump.
It could only should 8 to 10 meters. But it totally drenched anybody within seconds!
I looks like the article doesn't tell you much about the tech part. AFAIK BMW is only working on combustion engines modified for hydrogen. In other words you don't really get a boost in efficiency and you're car is likely to break down as your old one.
A real alternative concept are cars that draw the energy from fuel cells and use electric motors. This gives you higher efficiency, nearly no moving parts and you can can build the cars somewhat lighter.
An interesting sidenote is that Iceland, which produces energy by making use of geothermal activity, plans to ship lots of hydrogen to the europen market. It's kind of a national effort.
Der Spiegel is a general magzine and not specialized on computing. Apart from that, der Spiegel is certainly one of the more credible german magazines.
I'm working on networked arcade-style games myself.
An interesting point is that those games can only work with a minimal lag. When you're playing around the world, you get close to the physical limits. Imagine two gamers on opposite points of the earth. A signal would travel 21k kilometers. Double that - you want a response. That alone gives you a minimum lag of 42k/330k = ~0.13 seconds. Speed of light.
Of course the real problem for me are modem dialups. They usually give you a lag of 0.5 s.
I'm eagerly waiting for electronic paper
to hit the market. But at the moment there
is no variant that offers a contrast better
than 10:1.
Normal monitors offer contrast > 200:1.
I've been studying CS for quite a while now and I have to say it's extremely frustrating sometimes. I've written some of my best code for college courses and no matter how good it is, it always gets thrown away.
Also the tests mainly ask for knowledge, but not for understanding. That way you learn hard for a test, maybe get a good mark and half a year later everything is forgotten.
Personally I am very frustrated as a student. Doing work for a startup is far more challenging and gets you good money.
Just my personal feelings.
Slashdot Mirror
The core of the fuel cell itself works noiseless.
However some components of the current high
power cells emit a high, whining noise.
I think future cells will get rid of this, though.
If you like construktion games and aren't allowed to bring the Legos to your cubicle, try the Sodaconstructor.
It is a lovely toy that let's you build walkers etc. out of springs.
It is possible to use last, burnt out stage of the rocket as a counterweight. You tether the stage and the landing module together and give the components a spin.
Calculations suggest that this is indeed possible. I think the idea is explained in more detail in
"The Case for Mars", a highly recommended, factional book.
As Robert Zubrin describes in his book "The Case for Mars", rocket fuel can be generated with a simple, proven reaction from the martian atmosphere.
And no - the book is NOT a fictional work. Robert Zubrin is the guy convinced the NASA to change the plans for manned mars mission to the "long trip model".
In 1968 Douglas C. Engelbart presented not only hypertext and the mouse. He also used a keyboard consisting of 5 keys only. It looked like a very short piano keyboard. By pressing the keys in combination, he was able to type with one hand, blindly, at high speed.
I think it was more or less his only invention at the presentation that didn't make it into a mainstream product.
Two years ago, I modified the design by integrating microswitches into a joystick-formed object, and wrote a small driver for BeOS. I also thought about integrating a pointer device like the one in IBM notebooks, but never did so.
The microswitches were suboptimal, and I never really learned to write fast with it. But other people reported that they could write on a 5 button keyboard much faster than on a conventional one.
I think the modified design of the 5 button keyboard might be an ideal input device for PDAs and wearables. They're compact. Plus you can use them to point and type blindly, and do so fast.
From the website:
> Select the banner you like best and upload it to your website...
> Please no porn/hate/other terrible thing- sites. You won't be accepted.
Even modem-users want to access porn/hate/other terrible thing- sites!
> So what we get is the dictatorship of the majority
Theoretically you live in a democratic republic.
The republic-part should prevent exactly this.
A republic exists to grant the maximum protection
of the rights of individuals. Even if they belong
to a minority.
How ironic.
A blimp is basically a sack full of gas. The Zeppelin NT is semi-rigid and has high manoeuvrability.
If your looking for size, check the CargoLifter.
Zeppelin NT:
The Zeppelin NT is a relatively small Zeppelin with only 12 passenger seats. What sets it apart from simple blimps is that a carbon tube over the whole length makes the hull more rigid. Together with three propellers with a swivel angel of up to 120 degrees, that makes for excellent manoeuvrability (specs ). They're close to production.
CargoLifter 160:
In contrast, the CargoLifter will be gigantic (specs). It'll have a length of 260m and will be able to lift up to 160 tons of cargo. So far they've built a balloon for testing purposes and a hangar that is big enough to host fourteen 747s. Both the hangar and the ballon break a number of records. There are a couple of nice webcams.
Yes. The NT is pretty small.
But have a look at the specs of the Cagolifter 160. It's HUGE.
Flight mechanics of Lufthansa use wearables.
Guards at the mexican border use wearables.
Soldiers in Kosovo use wearables.
Maybe you're looking the wrong way?
I think a really good way to measure the importance of a game is to count the number of clones created. I think there are not only dozens but HUNDREDS of clones of titles like Artillery Duel, Asteroids, and BoulderDash.
Of course it's hard to decide what has still to be considered a clone.
Well - forget about other stars for a moment. The same problem occurs when you want to travel sunwards in our own solar system. Can you use a sail to do that?
Yes you can. Solar sails can provide lateral thrust. This enables you to do swingby maneuvers and decelerate.
Personally I think that magnetic sails are far more promising than mechanical ones.
Recent research shows that a small amount of plasma can extend a magnetic field tremendously.
Illustrator is vector based and not rester based.
A Konqi that runs without KDE?
One that even runs on QTembedded?
Since QT is also implemented for
Windows, and now this version is
free for noncommercial use - can
we hope to see a port to Windows?
I would sure like it.
Years ago, we converted a fire extinguisher ourselves. It was a model that worked with foam and we only had to exchange the pistol.
The cool thing was that it had a valve like the ones on car tires. So we could pressurize it with a normal pump.
It could only should 8 to 10 meters. But it totally drenched anybody within seconds!
Isn't that _exactly_ what FX32 did?
AFAIK it dynamically translated binary
code for Pentium to Alpha processors
with runtime optimazation.
I think it was released in or before 1997.
I looks like the article doesn't tell you much about the tech part. AFAIK BMW is only working on combustion engines modified for hydrogen. In other words you don't really get a boost in efficiency and you're car is likely to break down as your old one.
A real alternative concept are cars that draw the energy from fuel cells and use electric motors. This gives you higher efficiency, nearly no moving parts and you can can build the cars somewhat lighter.
An interesting sidenote is that Iceland, which produces energy by making use of geothermal activity, plans to ship lots of hydrogen to the europen market. It's kind of a national effort.
Der Spiegel is a general magzine and not specialized on computing. Apart from that, der Spiegel is certainly one of the more credible german magazines.
Hello!
I'm working on networked arcade-style games myself.
An interesting point is that those games can only work with a minimal lag. When you're playing around the world, you get close to the physical limits. Imagine two gamers on opposite points of the earth. A signal would travel 21k kilometers. Double that - you want a response. That alone gives you a minimum lag of 42k/330k = ~0.13 seconds. Speed of light.
Of course the real problem for me are modem dialups. They usually give you a lag of 0.5 s.
I'm eagerly waiting for electronic paper
to hit the market. But at the moment there
is no variant that offers a contrast better
than 10:1.
Normal monitors offer contrast > 200:1.
Picture this system growing. It's either an expanding sphere or an expanding circle on a surface. So you get quadratic or linear growth, dont't you?
AFAIK some of the troops in Bosnia were
equipped with similar translators.
I've been studying CS for quite a while now and I have to say it's extremely frustrating sometimes. I've written some of my best code for college courses and no matter how good it is, it always gets thrown away.
Also the tests mainly ask for knowledge, but not for understanding. That way you learn hard for a test, maybe get a good mark and half a year later everything is forgotten.
Personally I am very frustrated as a student. Doing work for a startup is far more challenging and gets you good money.
Just my personal feelings.