VistaHoo! News About Technology, Science...

POSTED BY NJPJ ON 2008-10-24 08:01:23 | AUTOMOTIVE | POPULARITY: 104 | 0 COMMENTS

November is the month when BMW Group will show off it's latest innovative goodie, a lithium ion battery powered version of the Mini during the Los Angeles Auto Show!

This itty bitty Mini goes from 0-62 mph in 8.5 seconds and reaches a top speed of 95 mph, and get this, it hits a range of 150 miles on that battery.

The statistics on the technologies involved in this vehicle is only for the technically proficient. Let's take a look at what's under the hood.

According to the article the front wheel drive vehicle uses what's referred to as a regenerative braking system that's directly attached to the accelerator so when you let up on the pedal the electric motor functions as a generator sending the kinetic energy back into the mechanical infrastructure.

This is sort of like not riding the break to keep on keeping on.

Included is the standard EPS or Electrical Power Assisted Steering found in the MINIs.

Now the common lad or lassie is going to want to know how to keep this thing on the road and that comes from the lithium-ion storage possesses a maximum capacity of 35 kilowatt hours and sends energy to the motor as DC or direct current at 380 volts.

Now here's the one thing about these electric cars that's always had me giggling, the thing is recharged by just plugging it into the wall outlet and there's a high amperage wallbox that's supplied as a standard that is to speed up the recharging to only 2 1/2 hours wait time.

Now down to what it's got for your driving comfort and performance.

It seats 3, carries a payload of 430lbs/195kg.

Cargo space is a healthy 60 liters.

Battery weighs 260kg/573lbs.

This is a great leap for mankind by BMW and the technologies involved have been around for decades but now that the world has awakened to the petroleum barons and their hold on our lives, new innovative modifications to the motor vehicle industry will continue to emerge.

Now if someone could make a car that could survive a high speed crash we'd be in business.

Will Record Labels Control Digital-music Lockers?

POSTED BY NJPJ ON 2008-10-24 07:59:06 | INTERNET | POPULARITY: 89 | 0 COMMENTS

Leave it up to MP3 guru Michael Robertson of MP3tunes.com to land in the middle of the soup again.

This time it's about the use of web based MP3 devices and a new site Lala.com.

Robertson, the father of the MP3 who has often been in courtroom battles with music industry companies over rights to use music in the formats like MP3, still doesn't believe such technologies need licenses from the music companies.

Lala.com is a new site where users use lockers where they upload their tunes and then use web accomodating devices to access their favorite music they've stored away.

Lala.com's difference is they got permission from the four major recording companies to use their music in such a manner.

EMI still doesn't like Robertson and filed a lawsuit against him.

EMI's lawsuit has far reaching implications for the web if they win.

Robertson's argument is that if there's that much overseering then users would have to pay fees for every device or storage technology they use to store and play their music.

This issue just goes on and on and Robertson has his points and so do the recording companies.

These decisions will certainly affect whom we buy music from and how. the companies don't want to disenfranchise the customers but the customers aren't going to shell out money ever which way and turn the music companies want.

If you back up your MP3 collection does that mean you'll have to pay each time?

How about if you play the same song on your cell phone and then on your iPod.

Do you pay twice or thrice?

These are the issues at hand and it will be a major decision no matter which way the courts go.

Google Open-source Android Now Actually Open

POSTED BY NJPJ ON 2008-10-24 07:55:58 | INTERNET | POPULARITY: 75 | 0 COMMENTS

Gangway!

Google's Android Open Source Project is now open for business!

That's great news for developers, programmers, and the public alike.

Open source is software that can be used by anyone to build upon or modify in order to provide a variety of services.

Sort of like the stem cell of computing programming, open source allows for varying versions of software that can accommodate any number of needed services.

Think of it as like a basic brick or basic blueprint of one type of software like a search engine, but you get to alter it so it's a search engine with wings or search engine with email etc.

In this case it's search engine giant Google giving up it's Android open Source Project which features not just the source code, the dna of the software but also tips, help, a community to work with.

This means a wonderful array of products coming down the pike for we consumers.

The phones that will be using this software may exhibit all sorts of new features that only the future can tell what to expect.

Not to overwhelm you with the super particulars the bottom line is that phone users can expect some amazing things to come in their future.

Who knows what dazzling new goodies that will come along with the next versions of phones you'll buy.

Games, video, texting, and other popular uses may improve to a point that we might not recognize however the basic development program for Android is to the point you the user won't be burdened with too much in the tech head area and Google is going to add a profiling feature so you will have software for your particular device and function for your model.

So keep an eye out for the upcoming Android.

Looks like it's going to be real surprise for the phone market.

Germans Get Stylish Hosptial Rides

POSTED BY NJPJ ON 2008-10-24 07:13:12 | OFFBEAT | POPULARITY: 87 | 0 COMMENTS

Some German citizens will soon be riding to the hospital in the lap of luxury.

The city of Stuttgart's fire brigade has purchased two custom-made Porsche Cayenne SUVs, worth about 70,000 euros each, to use for emergency medical transportation.

The interior of the cars were completely revamped and had to be equipped with a siren and medical equipment, including an oxygen suppy, defibrillator, and ECG.

The only other city to use Porsches as emergency vehicles is Moscow, and the company has no plans to expand in the medical field.

Many other German cities use Volkswagen and Mercedes vehicles in their emergency fleets.

San Antonio Harvests Energy From Human Waste

POSTED BY NJPJ ON 2008-10-24 07:10:07 | OFFBEAT | POPULARITY: 83 | 0 COMMENTS

The city of San Antonio, TX has approved a plan to turn 140,000 tons of human waste into energy every year, making it the first city in the country to do so.

The methane gas from the city's "biosolids" will be converted into natural gas by Ameresco Inc, and will then be used to fuel their power plants.

San Antonio already recycles much of the contents from sinks and toilets by using bathroom liquids for irrigation and making compost out of some of the solids.

After the plan is implemented and they begin to recycle the methane gas as a power source, they will be recycling more than 90% of what is flushed each year.

YouTube Used To Offer Reward; Demand Random For Stolen Gorilla

POSTED BY NJPJ ON 2008-10-24 07:06:49 | OFFBEAT | POPULARITY: 89 | 0 COMMENTS

After Seemore, an 8-foot-tall mechanical gorilla, was stolen from outside a Maine store over Labor Day weekend, his creator, Ken Booth from the Gorilla Robot Factory in Akron, Ohio, posted a video on YouTube offering a reward for his return.

Not long afterwards, the thief posted his own video on YouTube, apologizing for the fuss and demanding a million ransom!

Now Seemore has shown up more than 300 miles from home in a cornfield in Vermont.

Store owners Lowell and Sandy Miller, who have no idea how the heavy gorilla could have been taking without someone noticing, say that they intend to press charges.

Spilled Beer Caused Bad Driving, Claims Man

POSTED BY NJPJ ON 2008-10-24 07:02:23 | OFFBEAT | POPULARITY: 96 | 0 COMMENTS

Albuquerque police heard an original excuse from a drunk driver on Saturday night - he claimed was weaving heavily in traffic because his passenger spilled his beer!

At first, police thought the man was joking, but they found four open beer bottles in the car.

He was arrested on aggravated drunken driving charges after he failed his field sobriety tests.

This is the sixth time the 31-year old man has been arrested for driving while intoxicated.

He was convicted on four previous DWI charges, found not guilty on one previous DWI charge, and has paid more than 00 in fines.

Noisy Cockatoo Gets Police Called

POSTED BY NJPJ ON 2008-10-24 06:57:34 | OFFBEAT | POPULARITY: 95 | 0 COMMENTS

Police officers in Trenton, New Jersey were called when neighbors thought they heard a woman crying, "Help me! Help me!" from inside her house.

When they got no response at the door, they kicked it down to rescue the woman.

But the cries weren't coming from a woman, they were coming from a bird!

Evelyn DeLeon's cockatoo, Luna, has caused trouble with her noises before.

State child welfare workers visited the house seven years ago after getting reports of an abandoned baby.

But, of course, there was no child in trouble - just Luna, who was practicing some newly discovered sounds by spending several hours crying like a baby.