[13 May 2009 | No Comment | ]
Technology.am (May 13, 2009) — Wolfram Research plans to launch its Wolfram Alpha technology on five different locations, including the world’s 44th largest supercomputer. The Wolfram Alpha site goes live on May 18.
Wolfram Alpha is a hybrid of a search engine and an encyclopedia, designed to generate the answer to a search query, rather than the most relevant information.
The company wrote in a blog post, “It will be the ability to handle 175 million queries (yielding maybe a billion results per day)—over 5 billion queries (encompassing around 30 …
[12 May 2009 | No Comment | ]
Technology.am (May 12, 2009) —Oxford University engineers have designed a lightweight electric motor to power a new four-seat coupé, with track tests scheduled for the end of 2009.
Engineering firm Delta Motorpsort aims to install the motor in their coupe for track tests later this year.
Dr Malcolm McCulloch of the Electrical Power Group at Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science said: ‘The motor can achieve high torque for its weight, which ultimately means a smaller and cheaper motor. Torque is the twisting force that accelerates the car, and …
[12 May 2009 | No Comment | ]
Technology.am (May 12, 2009) — Stanford researchers have discovered a hydrogen-rich compound that may help to overcome the hurdles to using hydrogen for fuel.
The new material is a high-pressure form of ammonia borane, a solid material which itself is already imbued with ample hydrogen.
By working with the parent material at high pressure in an atmosphere artificially enriched with hydrogen, the scientists were able to ratchet up the hydrogen content of the material by roughly 50 percent.
“Including the hydrogen already stored in ammonia borane, this new material …
[12 May 2009 | No Comment | ]
Technology.am (May 12, 2009) —The UK government has unveiled a plan to every household must be fitted with a “smart meter” by 2020 to reduce energy use.
Studies have demonstrated smart meters encourage homeowners to cut energy use by 3% to 15%. Smart meters will play a key role in helping the government meet its greenhouse gas reduction target of at least 34% by 2020.
The smart meters will send information on real-time electricity and gas use in households and small businesses direct to utility companies, and eliminates the need …
[11 May 2009 | No Comment | ]
Technology.am (may 11, 2009) — The EU researchers have successfully tested technology to verify ¬identities for security checks, so distinctive brain patterns could become the latest subject of biometric scanning.
The US government’s secretive Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity is seeking development proposals to enhance such technologies. Researchers are eager to produce ‘non-contact’ biometric systems that can check any individual’s identity at a distance.
Among security experts there is a preference for developing biometric security devices that do not rely on measuring solely one physiological trait: offering choice makes …
[11 May 2009 | No Comment | ]
Technology.am (May 11, 2009) — Space shuttle Atlantis is poised to take off on NASA’s final trip to the Hubble Space Telescope.
To reach the Hubble Space Telescope, Atlantis will be launched on an easterly trajectory that will carry it between 28.5 degrees north and south latitude. The launch is scheduled for Monday afternoon. The weather at Cape Canaveral, Fla., was expected to be good today.
On Saturday, the shuttle’s fuel cell system was loaded with liquid oxygen and hydrogen to power the ship’s electrical generators and early Sunday, the main …
[11 May 2009 | No Comment | ]
Technology.am (May 11, 2009) — Now scientists have created a nanocrystal that constantly emits light. It could be less expensive and more versatile lasers, brighter LED lighting, and biological markers that track how a drug interact with a cell at a level never before possible.
University of Rochester scientists along with researchers at the Eastman Kodak Company have discovered continuously emitting light sources from individual molecules.
They said, many molecules, as well as crystals just a billionth of a meter in size, can absorb or radiate photons. But they also experience …
[10 May 2009 | One Comment | ]
Technology.am (May 10, 2009) —Microsoft has released a Facebook application that allows Windows Mobile 6 users create wall posts, share photos, send messages, update profile pictures and even upload videos.
Windows Mobile’s social networking app the free software and is the first to let users to upload videos directly from their smartphones to Facebook.
The mobile application, draped in the familiar blue and white color scheme, lets users send and receive Facebook messages or wall posts, poke other users, and add new friends.
Microsoft said a version of its …
[10 May 2009 | No Comment | ]
Technology.am (May 10, 2009) —AT&T is going to offer a prepaid cellular plan form next week; this facility gives users unlimited voice service for $3 a day.
The plan, which is part of AT&T’s pay-as-you-go GoPhone program, lets users pay $3 up front for every day they make or receive calls on their cell phones.
Once they have paid the $3 they can get unlimited voice service for the entire day. If users do not make or receive any calls during the day, they will be charged nothing for …
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