EcoMotors is working on a futuristic diesel engine that's similar in concept to something Charles Lindbergh may have once used.
The company, which came out of stealth mode over the weekend, wants to bring what is called an opposed piston/opposed cylinder diesel engine to market. In ordinary engines, pistons pop up and down (or back and forth if laying down) inside an individual cylinder capped by a cylinder head. Gas is injected into the chamber and gets combusted by the action of the piston, among other factors.
In EcoMotors' engine, there is a double-length cylinder with a piston at each end. (There are no cylinder heads in-between.) A single-engine module consists of four pistons and two cylinders, said COO John Coletti. The pistons and cylinders are horizontal too, so car and engine manufacturers can stack them.
The unusual configuration results in several advantages. Mileage can be boosted by 40 percent to 50 percent, when a two-module engine is compared with a standard diesel. The engine also can be made 30 percent lighter. Because the engine modules are horizontal, cars can be more aerodynamic.
Coletti predicted that a 2.5-liter engine from his company will provide the same power as one of the 6.5-liter engines used by truck manufacturers today, but weigh 300 pounds less.
he U.S. Department of Justice won't say when it believes an American citizen should be forced to divulge his or her PGP passphrase.
We've been trying for the last two days to get the DOJ to answer this question, which became an important one after last week's news about a judge ruling a criminal defendant can't be forced to divulge his passphrase on Fifth Amendment grounds.
The Fifth Amendment, of course, protects the right to avoid self-incrimination.
In the case of U.S. v. Sebastien Boucher, federal prosecutors think that the defendant has child pornography encrypted with PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) on his Alienware laptop. They sent him a grand jury subpoena demanding the passphrase--which is what a judge rejected on Fifth Amendment grounds.
"I won't be able to provide anyone for an interview," said DOJ spokesman Jaclyn Lesch. "The point you raise is one that we would want to address in court. I hope you understand."
We had asked the DOJ this: "In the DOJ's view, under what circumstances can a person be legally compelled to turn over an encryption passphrase?"
In one view, which prosecutors tend to share, a passphrase is like a document or key that must be forcibly turned over. The civil libertarian view treats a passphrase as the contents of someone's mind, which a defendant cannot be compelled to divulge.
The distinctions between these views are important to Americans' privacy rights and law enforcement needs. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for future legal filings to find out what our public servants actually think.
Perhaps Nintendo has a point when it refused Lucas Arts' permission to develop a bat-like lightsaber attachment for the Wiimote. After all, when you place the controller inside stuff like the 10 insane Wii weapons or a sword and a shield or a billiard cue or a boxing glove, it makes it hard to attach the safety strap to your wrist. And when you have no safety strap, you have what we see above.null
Steve Jobs: "People Don't Read Anymore," Android Is Going Down
Topic: Technology
10:59 pm EST, Jan 16, 2008
I love Steve Jobs. Why? Because when he speaks, he doesn't deal with details or nuance—everything is a sweeping proclamation. I like that. His take on Amazon Kindle, for instance, makes it pretty clear Apple won't be making the actual "iPod of reading":
"It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore... The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore."
Of course, if it's anything like his past declarations that Apple wasn't making a phone, they're totally cooking up a Kindle-killer in the lab at this very moment. It'll be the thinnest one ever and have AT&T 3G, but not a built-in antenna.
Also on his "give up now, fools" list: Android."Having created a phone, it's a lot harder than it looks. We'll see how good their software is and we'll see how consumers like it and how quickly it is adopted." Besides,
"I actually think Google has achieved their goal without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them. It's just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners."
Is that a thinly veiled threat? I mean, Google and Apple are pretty tight right now. Like, partners even. Oh shits, it's on.
But he did have something nice to say to our man Bill Gates, though John Markoff doesn't know whether his eye was twitching as he spoke. "Bill's retiring from Microsoft is a big deal," he said. "It's a significant event, and I think he should be honored for the contributions he's made." Implied dig: I'm still gonna be running Apple, bitches—my "contributions" are far from over.null
Zipit Wireless has updated its Linux-based, WiFi-connected instant messaging client for kids and other frequent IM users. The new $150 Zipit Wireless Messenger 2 (Z2) adds a color screen, a faster processor, and expansion interfaces likely to prove popular among both kids and Linux hardware hackers.
For its price, the Z2 is surprisingly powerful. It is based on a 300MHz Marvell (formerly Intel) PXA270 (Bulverde) processor -- a stronger CPU than that found in many smartphones costing twice as much. There's 32MB of RAM. Flash is limited to 8MB on-board, but expandable to 8GB via a mini-SD slot. There's a full-color QVGA (320x240) backlit screen, and the keyboard is also backlit -- no more need for misbehaving children to bring a flashlight with them under the covers. I/O has been upgraded from 802.11b in the original Zipit to 802.11b/g, for speeds up to 54Mbps.
On the software side, there's an ultra-modern 2.6.21 Linux kernel, featuring a WiFi subsystem supporting WPA2, PSK, and other modern security standards. Along with playback of local, network, and Internet-based MP3 streams, there are photo viewing capabilities for the first time.
Last but not least, there's a mysterious expansion interface on the back (shown above). Zipit's creator, Ralph Heredia, would not divulge exactly what signals are routed to the expansion port, other than battery charging lines. However, he hinted that in time, the port would enable Zipit Wireless (the company) to bring out a range of accessories, while also enabling Linux hackers -- with the company's blessing -- to do more with the Z2 than was possible with the earlier Z1.
300MHz Marvell (formerly Intel) PXA270 (Bulverde) processor -- a stronger CPU than that found in many smartphones costing twice as much.
The Zipit Instant Messenger is an Open-Source embedded Linux platform designed to be a wifi enabled multi client device. The original Zipit Z1 was opened up and examined by Linux hackers alike, and more functions were added as time went on. Typical teenage IM chatter wasnt all the little device could do anymore. E-Mail, IRC, ICQ, MSN, AIM, Y!, Secure Shell, Wifi scanning, and much more. Look at http://www.openzipit.org/Development/... for more information on the potential of the Z1.
The new Z2 IM client is the next generation of Zipit. With full color screen, native SD card, and Linux 2.6 kernel, and the helpful open-source support from the ZipIt developers, only time can tell what new features the new Z2 will have.
Natively the ZipIt Z2 will allow homebrew and future applications to natively run from its SD card. With a color screen, more CPU power, more RAM, and much improved keyboard, this is a device well worth keeping an eye on. Weather its just for simple movies, music, IM and e-mail or for a embedded linux platform, the ZipIt 1 and 2 are quite fun and innovative toys for both teens and techs.
When the price drops I think that this will be a great platform for just about anything...
I have an idea for remote control of stuff already...
I am pleased to announce that we have the new Micro-trak 8000 FA (frequency agile ) unit ready for order! Byon has them up on his web page and you can download the manual and config software as of today: http://byonics.com/microtrak/mt8000fa.php Its nice to finally be able to meet the multi-channel requirements of North American SAR teams, clubs, and high altitude experimenters! This unit should also be of interest to European, Australian, Japanese and even Swedish DOD users!
Allen VHS KG6HXO
Cool device... and the price tag is still less than a new mobile and a tiny track.... good for city folk...
When you browse the web, there is a great deal of important content that becomes inaccessible as soon as you walk away from your personal computer. Whether it's the driving directions that you looked up or your favorite sports teams' latest scores, you lose access to that information as soon as you turn off your computer.
Mobile browsing is intended to solve this problem: just use the browser on your phone to access the content you need. However, as we all know, this isn’t the greatest experience; there is too much data to download, the data is hard to reach, the content isn’t formatted for the phone. Quickly retrieving specific pieces of information using a mobile device needs to be easier.
Project Joey brings the Web content you need most to your mobile phone by allowing you to easily send it to your device. You can quickly mark content that is important to you and have that content always available while using your mobile phone.
The premise is this: you can use Firefox to send text clippings, pictures, videos, RSS content, and Live Bookmarks to your phone through the Joey Server. The Joey Server transcodes and keeps all of the content up-to-date. You can then use your phone's browser or the Joey application on your phone to view and manage what you have uploaded.
The goal is to investigate the mobile space using a desktop-centric model. Like many other Mozilla projects, there are no plans to productize Joey. We will work with the community to build a compelling and usable tool that people will enjoy using.
Although we are in the early stages of development, much of Joey is usable today. Feel free to go to http://joey.labs.mozilla.com using Firefox, create an account, and give Joey a try.
I like this idea... There is a wiki to set it up on your own server... This would be interesting to extend meme streams to your phone....
Joseph Gellings, WB9WOL, a longtime electrical engineer for Bell Laboratories who helped develop microwave communications and lay the first transatlantic telephone cable to Europe, passed away November 29 due to heart complications; he was 89. According to relatives, Gellings acquired a ham radio in his early teens. "His parents needed to coerce him into going to bed, because he'd stay up all night communicating with people from around the world," daughter Ginny Cooney recalled. It was his passion for ham radio that later sparked an interest in electronics, she said. Gellings attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. He later received a master's degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University in Columbus. In 1944, Gellings began working for Bell Labs in Summit, New Jersey, where he initially helped develop microwave communication systems for use during World War II. "That technology aided both land-to-land and air-to-land communications within the military," said his son, Joe, also an electrical engineer. In 1955, Gellings was assigned by Bell Labs to oversee the laying of the first underwater transatlantic telephone cable, from Newfoundland to Scotland. That cable, nearly 3 inches wide at various points with about seven layers of insulation, was in use for 22 years, before being retired in 1978, Cooney said. In 1966, Gellings moved with his family to Oswego, Illinois after being transferred by Bell Labs to its Naperville offices. There, he participated in the development of solid-state digital switching for telephone calls, before retiring in 1976. Gellings is survived by two children, Joseph of Shawano, Wisconsin and Ginny Cooney of Wheaton, Illinois; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
