THE TECH-LICIOUS

Superfast external phone batteries recharge in 15 minutes

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="The Ultrapack Go (left) and Petalite Flux (not to scale) can suck in enough power for a fu..." height="298" src="http://images.gizmag.com/hero/ultrapack_go_petalite_flux-17.jpg" title="The Ultrapack Go (left) and Petalite Flux (not to scale) can suck in enough power for a fu..." width="529" /> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As our dependence on the smartphone has grown, there's been plenty said about the battery life of said devices. Thankfully, external charging
 solutions provide a way to keep powered up and now there are two that 
are laying claim to being the quickest of them all. Both the Unu 
Ultrapack Go and Petalite Flux are pocket-sized portable batteries 
promising power enough for a day's smartphone use from a 15 minute 
charge.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">First cab off the rank is the Ultrapack Go, which measures 3.95 x 
2.05 x 0.68 in (10 x 5.2 x 1.7 cm) and weighs 4.5 oz (127 g). Packing a 
3,000 mAh battery, it can be charged to full in 30 minutes, though its 
developers claim this is more than the typical user will need, with 15 
minutes of charging providing 2,000 mAh of power that should be enough 
juice for a day's use. It comes with a cord to connect to a smartphone 
or tablet via Micro USB, but is also compatible with other cords, such 
as an iPhone charge cable. It also features a small screen displaying 
power and time left to recharge.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The tubular Petalite Flux, on the other hand, weighs in at 3.35 oz 
(95 g) and measures 3.54 x 1.18 x 1.18 in (90 x 30 x 30 mm). While this 
smaller size will mean easier transport, it does concede a little ground
 in battery capacity to the Ultrapack Go. With a capacity of 2,600 mAh, 
the Petalite reaches a 100 percent charge in 15 minutes and also powers 
your smartphone or tablet through Micro USB or Apple's Lightning 
connector.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">

</span></span></div>
<div class="article_img" style="height: 528px; text-align: justify; width: 441px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.gizmag.com/petalite-ultrapack-external-phone-15-minutes/33227/pictures#4" target="_blank"><img alt="The Petalite also features four LED lights to gauge the level of charge" src="http://images.gizmag.com/inline/ultrapack_go_petalite_flux-2.png" width="441" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Instead of a screen, the Petalite also features four LED lights to 
indicate the level of charge. All four illuminated indicates a whole 
day's charge for 90 percent of phones on the market, while three lights,
 or a 75 percent charge, is claimed to be sufficient for a day with an 
iPhone 5s.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">While the Ultrapak uses a standard wall adapter, the Petalite comes 
with a specialized charging dock. Its developers say this was necessary,
 as "pushing this amount of amperage through a standard USB port would 
damage it within seconds."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">These lightning-quick external chargers won't be suitable for all, 
but they could prove handy for those whose busy lifestyles leave them 
with perpetually drained batteries and little time to charge.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Ultrapack is priced at US$60 and available for pre-order now via 
the product page below, with the company hoping to begin shipping on 
August 25. If the compact Petalite is more to your liking, then you will
 have to wait a little longer as the company is launching an Indiegogo 
campaign at the end of the month and is yet to detail pricing.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">SOURCE-<a href="http://www.gizmag.com/petalite-ultrapack-external-phone-15-minutes/33227/" target="_blank">GIZMAG</a> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>

Superfast external phone batteries recharge in 15 minutes

As our dependence on the smartphone has grown, there's been plenty said about the battery life of said devices. Thankfully, external charging solutions provide a way to keep powered up and now the…

05 Aug 2014

Continental's Augmented Reality HUD puts information on the road

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="The Continental AR-HUD prototype brings augmented reality to the windshield" height="360" src="http://images.gizmag.com/hero/continentalarhud-0.jpg" title="The Continental AR-HUD prototype brings augmented reality to the windshield" width="640" /> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Displaying your speed on the windshield can be handy for keeping under 
the speed limit, but Continental is taking things to the next level with
 its Augmented Reality Head-up Display (AR-HUD) prototype. In addition 
to showing your current speed, the system can overlay information on the
 road specifically where it is most relevant to the driver, such as the 
distance to the car in front, when to make a turn, or even upcoming 
driving conditions.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="The Continental AR-HUD prototype brings augmented reality to the windshield" border="0" data-pic-id="282823" height="461" itemprop="contentURL" src="http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/continentalarhud-0.jpg" title="The Continental AR-HUD prototype brings augmented reality to the windshield" width="640" /> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The system draws data from the vehicle's camera and radar and 
combines it with the vehicle's dynamics data, digital maps and GPS 
positioning, which is used to create a model of the external view of the
 car as seen from the driver's perspective. This allows the system to 
project the augmented information onto the windscreen at the correct 
visual point for the driver.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The system overlays full-color graphics on the real road view in a 
130 cm (51 in) wide by 60 cm (23 in) high section of the driver's field 
of vision at an optical-equivalent distance of 7.5 m (24 ft). The 
Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) technology used in this system is 
claimed to be the same as that used for digital cinema devices, such as 
the Odin Handy Projector.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As part of this system, navigation symbols – such as turns – are 
directly incorporated in the forward field of view, so that the driver 
doses not have to look away to a GPS device located elsewhere in the 
vehicle. Similarly, when distance controls such as Adaptive Cruise 
Control (ACC) are enabled, a crescent-shaped icon displayed by the 
AR-HUD denotes which vehicle in the field of view is detected by the 
assistance system and the driver is kept alerted to any stray movements 
from their own vehicle line by an incorporated lane-monitoring alert.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"In a world that is becoming increasingly complex, the AR-HUD 
relieves the burden on the driver with a new quality of information," 
says Helmut Matschi, a member of the Executive Board at Continental. "In
 the augmentation, we are connecting what the driver's eyes see with 
explanatory information. The AR-HUD is an important step in the 
direction of holistic human machine interfaces in cars for a more 
comfortable, more economic, and safer driving experience. Drivers 
receive all important information before their eyes in an easily 
comprehensible way. This is a major step against driver distraction and 
sensory overload, both now and in the future."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Developed from previous HUD systems that are currently incorporated 
in many European cars, the new system is in an advanced stage of 
development and has already been integrated into a demonstration 
vehicle. However, unlike other systems that are being developed for 
racing vehicles – such as Jaguar's Virtual Windscreen
 – which require specific race-track telemetry to provide information on
 other vehicles, the Continental AR-HUD collects its data using standard
 on-board electronics systems.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">

</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Continental is planning to have a production-ready version of its 
AR-HUD available in 2017 for purchase by automakers for incorporation in
 their production model vehicles.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">SOURCE-<a href="http://www.gizmag.com/augmented-reality-hud-improves-driver-information/33223/" target="_blank">GIZMAG</a> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
</div>

Continental's Augmented Reality HUD puts information on the road

Displaying your speed on the windshield can be handy for keeping under the speed limit, but Continental is taking things to the next level with its Augmented Reality Head-up Display (AR-HUD) prot…

05 Aug 2014

Self-Driving Cars Will Soon Fill Up U.K. Roads!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With all of the talk circulating around about self-driving cars, did 
you really think you’d see the day when we really started using them? 
Indeed, even with all of the technology at our hands today, an 
autonomous vehicle seems like such a lofty concept. It’s so hard to 
imagine everything we’ve come used to associating with vehicles, such as
 steering wheels and rear view mirrors, possibly being replaced with a 
small button labeled “stop/go”. And I guess something else besides 
getting your driver’s license will have to become a rite of passage when
 kids (at least in the U.S.) turn 16 years-old – since the cars will be 
doing a heck of a lot more work than the “driver”. That does bring up an
 interesting point – will Driver’s Education classes remain the same? 
Will we still have to know every rule of the road before we get behind 
the wheel that no longer exists? Something tells me Driver’s Ed. might 
get a little bit easier.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All that to say that self-driving vehicles will take over the roads before you know it, and starting in January of 2015,<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28551069" target="_blank"> they will be allowed on the public roads of the U.K.</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Self-Driving Cars Will Soon Fill Up U.K. Roads!" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-17783 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://news.filehippo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/unnamed.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="359" src="http://news.filehippo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/unnamed.jpg" style="display: inline;" width="640" /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The U.K. Government recently announced that they’d like 3 different 
cities to host a self-driving vehicle contest of sorts, to help get this
 whole autonomous vehicle thing up and running.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In case you’re wondering how a car can drive itself, they take full 
advantage of LIDAR technology (light detection and ranging) to get an 
accurate depiction of their surroundings on the road. They also use 
existing cruise control and lane assistance as well as acceleration and 
braking assistance. However, it’s expected these “assistances” will move
 more to the forefront down the road, with human drivers doing less and 
less.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What do you think? Does this news about self-driving cars excite you 
at all? Let us know your thoughts regarding this story in the comments 
section below!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">SOURCE-<a href="http://news.filehippo.com/2014/08/self-driving-cars-will-soon-fill-u-k-roads/" target="_blank">TECH-BEAT </a></span></span></div>
</div>

Self-Driving Cars Will Soon Fill Up U.K. Roads!

With all of the talk circulating around about self-driving cars, did you really think you’d see the day when we really started using them? Indeed, even with all of the technology at our hands today…

04 Aug 2014

Drones Are Now Being Used To Smuggle Drugs Into Prison

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There are all kinds of good uses for drones. Just think about some of
 them for a moment – they can be used to capture great aerial 
photography and/or video, they can (eventually) be used to deliver 
packages, and they provide a great recreational use as well. They also 
offer all kinds of uses for the military. But, as with most technology, 
drones can be used for good as well as not-so-good activities, such as 
helping to smuggle drugs and other items into prisons. As technology 
increases, so do the ways in which criminals can commit crimes.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/tech/drone-carrying-weed-and-cellphones-crashes-outside-93508706339.html" target="_blank">Drone wreckage was found earlier this year outside the walls of Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina</a>.
 Among the wreckage was found marijuana, cell phones, and tobacco. One 
man has been arrested in conjunction with this crime, but police are 
still searching for his accomplice.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Drones Are Now Being Used To Smuggle Drugs Into Prison" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-17803 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://news.filehippo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/helicopter-drones-being-flown-over-prisons-deliver-drugs.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="426" src="http://news.filehippo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/helicopter-drones-being-flown-over-prisons-deliver-drugs.jpg" style="display: inline;" width="640" /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Although smuggling via drones isn’t all that common of an occurrence 
yet, trying to smuggle cell phones and drugs into prison is pretty 
common. Stephanie Givens, the spokesperson for the Department of 
Corrections in South Carolina, had this to say regarding the story: “The
 technology is getting better, and we have to figure out different ways 
to fight back.”</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One can only wonder what kind of “technology” this will turn out to 
be. Will prisons now have to install some sort of anti-drone weaponry 
atop their walls, or will guards constantly have to be on the lookout 
for them? Something tells me it might turn out to be a mixture of the 
two.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What do you think? Did you ever imagine people using drones to 
smuggle items into prisons? Let us know your thoughts regarding this 
story in the comments section below!</span></span></div>
</div>

Drones Are Now Being Used To Smuggle Drugs Into Prison

There are all kinds of good uses for drones. Just think about some of them for a moment – they can be used to capture great aerial photography and/or video, they can (eventually) be used to deliver…

04 Aug 2014

NASA tests ‘impossible’ no-fuel quantum space engine – and it actually works

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="emdrive head" height="353" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/emdrive-head-640x353.jpg" width="640" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A study conducted last year by NASA scientists has become the latest, and by far the highest profile, piece of evidence in favor of a seemingly impossible space thruster design that’s been evoking worldwide skepticism for some time now. Apparently annoyed by the persistent boosters of several similar but distinct designs, the space agency finally agreed to test an American-made variant called the Cannae Drive. “Alright!” they said. “We’ll test your stupid drive that won’t work.” Except it did work. Seemingly in contravention of the law of conservation of momentum, the team confirmed that the device produces thrust by using electricity, and nothing else. Supporters call them microwave thrusters or quantum vacuum plasma thrusters (QVPT), while most others use the phrase “anomalous thrust device.”</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">First, the results of NASA’s experiment, since that’s all the team itself wants you to be talking about. Seemingly wanting to avoid unproductive controversy about the nature of existence, they’ve totally ignored the question of <em>how</em> the drive works in favour of simply reporting the data. With controls in place to avoid any confounding forces or variables, the NASA team recorded a reliable thrust between 30 and 50 micro-Newtons, less than a thousandth of the output of some relatively low-powered ion thrusters in use today. Still, the ion thrusters require fuel to operate, and the original QVPT inventor claims the version NASA tested is flawed, leading them to collect far lower thrust readings than his original can provide.</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_187360" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; width: 650px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/emdrive-21.jpg" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="This is an older version of the concept than the one NASA tested, though it may still produce more thrust." class="size-large wp-image-187360" height="411" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/emdrive-21-640x411.jpg" style="border-style: none;" width="640" /></span></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="color: #666666; line-height: 15px; padding: 10px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is an older version of the QVPT than the one NASA tested, though it may still produce more thrust</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">If confirmed, the practical upshot of this technology would be amazing. Solar panels could provide the electricity needed to keep the thruster working, meaning that propulsion would be low-thrust and long-term with virtually no associated cost. That would not only drastically reduce the cost of keeping satellites running and in orbit, but it could make interstellar travel much easier; Harold White, of warp drive fame, predicted that a beefed up version of the QVPT could reach Proxima Centauri in about <a href="http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140000851.pdf" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;">30 years</a> (assuming the concept actually works at all).</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_187358" style="color: #333333; float: right; line-height: 22px; padding-left: 10px; width: 310px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/emdrive-3.jpg" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt=""Warp" drive isn't such a hare-brained concept any more, so why should quantum drives be?" class="size-medium wp-image-187358" height="200" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/emdrive-3-300x200.jpg" style="border-style: none;" width="300" /></span></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="color: #666666; line-height: 15px; padding: 10px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Warp drives aren’t such a harebrained concept any more, so why should quantum drives be?</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">While NASA might not want to talk about it, though, for us it’s worth discussing just how this drive’s creators hypothesize the thruster works. By now, most people are aware that the laws of classical physics tend to break down at the quantum scale, and exploiting that fact can give you interesting little physical impossibilities like infinitely accelerating negative-mass photons. However, the effects of these quantum-scale impossibilities have always stayed at the quantum scale; sure one atom could theoretically phase-shift through another, but we still can’t run through walls.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The central insight here (assuming this isn’t all a big mistake) is that something called quantum vacuum fluctuations will occasionally spontaneously create particles all throughout the vacuum of space, and that these short-lived particles can be put to useful work. Thus, this thruster actually <em>does</em> use fuel — it just finds and uses that fuel as it goes. The thruster essentially turns these virtual particles into a plasma and expels them out the back of the ship, much like a conventional fuel source. The quantum fuel, though, spontaneously appears inside the thruster’s reaction area without even the need for collection or injection hardware. All things considered, that’s more than a little exciting.</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_187383" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; width: 650px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/t6.jpg" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="NASA ion thruster" class="size-large wp-image-187383" height="480" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/t6-640x480.jpg" style="border-style: none;" width="640" /></span></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="color: #666666; line-height: 15px; padding: 10px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ion thrusters are another low-powered solution, applying weak but constant acceleration</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The original design, called <a href="http://emdrive.com/" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;">the emDrive</a> by creator Roger Shawyer, should get significantly more attention in the coming months, which ought to feel good given the long struggles he’s had with professional apathy and skepticism. As mentioned, the version tested by NASA is distinct from the emDrive, but still (they think) makes use of the quantum vacuum particles as the propellant. There are very preliminary plans to test a version of the drive in space, but such orbital work is expensive; now it might finally have the juice to warrant such a plan.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">SOURCE-<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/187346-nasa-tests-impossible-no-fuel-quantum-space-engine-and-it-actually-works" target="_blank">EXTREAM TECH</a></span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>

NASA tests ‘impossible’ no-fuel quantum space engine – and it actually works

A study conducted last year by NASA scientists has become the latest, and by far the highest profile, piece of evidence in favor of a seemingly impossible space thruster design that’s been evoking wo…

03 Aug 2014

High-efficiency spray-on solar power tech can turn any surface into a cheap solar cell

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Solar Cells" height="353" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Solar-Cells-640x353.jpg" width="640" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Solar panels suffer from two fundamental problems that have continued to persists even after decades of research: they’re not very efficient, and they cost a lot to produce. At least one of these problems has to be solved beforesolar power can overtake cheap energy sources like fossil fuels, and some scientists have had their hopes pinned on a common mineral called perovskite. This is an organometal with peculiar light-absorbing properties, and a team of researchers from the University of Sheffield say they’ve figured out how to create high-efficiency perovskite solar cells with a spray painting process. Yes, spray-on solar panels might actually happen.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Perovskite is a crystalline organometal made mostly of calcium titanate, and is found in deposits all over the world. It was first discovered over 150 years ago, but only recently have scientists started investigating its use as a solar panel semiconductor replacement for silicon. It certainly makes sense if we can work out the kinks. Perovskite is considerably cheaper to obtain and process than silicon, and the light absorbing layer can be incredibly thin — about 1 micrometer at minimum versus at least 180 micrometers for silicon. That’s why the spray-on solar panel tech demonstrated by the University of Sheffield is plausible as a real-world solution.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1406910807662_wps_3_Spray_Coater_Nozzle_jpg.jpg" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Nozzle" class="size-full wp-image-187419" height="356" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1406910807662_wps_3_Spray_Coater_Nozzle_jpg.jpg" style="border-style: none;" width="634" /></span></a></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That raises the question, how efficient is this spray-on solar cell? Right now the researchers have managed to eke out 11% efficiency from a thin layer of perovskite. Traditionally manufactured solar cells based on the mineral have reached as high as 19%, and the spray-on variety is expected to reach similar levels eventually. That might not sound very impressive, but nearly 20% efficiency is rather good for an experimental solar panel. The average efficiency of <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/tag/silicon" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;">silicon</a> cells is only 25% after all. Other materials claim higher numbers, but they aren’t nearly ready for use.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2013-02-25-eetimes-jh-scheffield.jpg" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Spray-on" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-187418" height="300" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2013-02-25-eetimes-jh-scheffield-192x300.jpg" style="border-style: none; float: right; padding-left: 10px;" width="192" /></a>The breakthrough here is in the process of applying perovskite in a thin uniform layer so it can efficiently absorb light on almost any surface. A layer of this material could be used as the basis for solar panels on cars or mobile devices that don’t have completely flat surfaces for mounting standard solar panels — the structure and properties of crystalline silicon simply don’t allow for very much flexibility. A solar panel on your phone? Sure, why not? However, the University of Sheffield team cautions the efficiency of spray-on perovskite will decrease a bit on curved surfaces. [DOI: 10.1039/C4EE01546K - "Efficient planar heterojunction mixed-halide perovskite solar cells deposited via spray-deposition"]</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The spray-on process has several key benefits in addition to the obvious non-flat solar cells. Most importantly, it should be incredibly easy to scale up — or down for that matter. The same nozzle can be used to manufacture a small solar panel for personal electronics and a large one for a car. It’s just about the number of passes it takes to coat the surface. The perovskite solution used can also be mass produced cheaply and is easier to handle than silicon. This all combines to lower the potential cost of solar power considerably.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Perovskite is nearing the point that it could actually supplant silicon as the standard for solar panel tech. In just a few years these panels have gone from low single digit efficiencies to nearly matching silicon. This might finally be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for to move renewable energy forward.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/187416-high-efficiency-spray-on-solar-power-tech-can-turn-any-surface-into-a-cheap-solar-cell" target="_blank">SOURCE-EXTREAM TECH</a></span></div>
</div>

High-efficiency spray-on solar power tech can turn any surface into a cheap solar cell

Solar panels suffer from two fundamental problems that have continued to persists even after decades of research: they’re not very efficient, and they cost a lot to produce. At least one of these pro…

03 Aug 2014

Load more posts