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Submission + - Long-range electric car world speed record broken by Australian students (unsw.edu.au) 1

Submitted by is_this_gdog
is_this_gdog writes: Sunswift solar car team from UNSW Australia has broken* an international world speed record for the fastest long-range electric vehicle, averaging a speed of 107km/h (66mph) over 500km (310miles) from a single charge with their car, eVe. Solar panels were not used for this record (with solar, the car has a range of over 500 miles), the challenge was endurance speed with battery only. There are faster electric cars, and one or two with longer range if you go slow enough — Sunswift eVe is the first to officially do 500kms at highway speeds.

Pics: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmedia...
CNET Feature + video: http://www.cnet.com/au/news/au...

(*pending official FIA approval!)

Submission + - Comet to make close call with Mars (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: In mid-October, a comet sweeping through our inner solar system for the first time will pass near Mars—so close, in fact, that if it were buzzing Earth at the same distance it would fly by well inside our moon’s orbit. And while material spewing from the icy visitor probably won’t trigger the colossal meteor showers on the Red Planet that some scientists predicted, dust and water vapor may still slam into Mars, briefly heating up its atmosphere and threatening orbiting spacecraft. However it affects the planet, the comet should give scientists their closest view yet of a near-pristine visitor from the outer edges of our solar system.

Submission + - Will Your Next Car Be Covered In Morphing Dimples?

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Golfing and cars, not much in common there. But that's about to change thanks to a new technology from a research lab at MIT called Smorphs. The idea is simple: put a set of dynamic dimples on the exterior of a car to improve its surface aerodynamics and make it slipperier, and therefore faster. Pedro Reis is the mechanical engineering and research spearheading this project. A while ago Mythbusters proved the validity of the dimpled car form in a much more low-tech way. The concept uses a hollow core surrounded by a thick, deformable layer, and a smoother outer skin. When vacuum is applied, the outer layers suck in to form the dimples. The technology is only in its very earliest stages, but we could see this applied to future vehicles in an effort to make them faster and more fuel efficient.

Submission + - Two Cities Ask the FCC to Preempt State Laws Banning Municipal Fiber Internet 2

Submitted by Jason Koebler
Jason Koebler writes: Two cities—Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina—have officially asked the federal government to help them bypass state laws banning them from expanding their community owned, gigabit fiber internet connections.
In states throughout the country, major cable and telecom companies have battled attempts to create community broadband networks, which they claim put them at a competitive disadvantage. The FCC will decide if its able to circumvent state laws that have been put in place restricting the practice.

Submission + - Western U.S. states using up ground water at an alarming rate (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: A new study shows that ground water in the Colorado basin is being depleted six times faster than surface water. The groundwater losses, which take thousands of years to be recharged naturally, point to the unsustainability of exploding population centers and water-intensive agriculture in the basin, which includes most of Arizona and parts of Colorado, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Because ground water feeds many of the streams and rivers in the area, more of them will run dry.

Comment Evolution, no Ramen Required (Score 0) 492

by deliciousmonster (#27168447) Attached to: So Amazing, So Illegal
<technical>
This is just the video counterpart to girltalk [http://www.myspace.com/girltalk].
</technical>
<cultural>
With the disparate production values, skill levels, eras and even ethinicities, it's a pretty compelling statement about how music can unite us.
</cultural>
<emotional>
Absolutely amazing. Immediately added them all to my Muziic playlist.
</emotional>
<legal>
He's fucked.
</legal>

Comment Beatport.com (Score 0) 214

by deliciousmonster (#24947043) Attached to: Why Starting a Legal Online Music Vendor Is Tough
Started 3 years ago, working with smaller labels from the outset... No DRM, 2 minute previews, WAV and MP4 files in addition to MP3s (sorry, /.- no Ogg), and a revenue split that's less favorable for the artist than iTunes...

It doesn't have anything to do with past abuses. It has to do with the majors having their heads up their asses about DRM for the first 2 years, and their fear of losing face now...

Warnings and disclaimer: Yeah, it's all in Flash... get over yourselves. I didn't build it, but I am friends with the guy who did. www.beatport.com
Google

Google Apps Hacks 46

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
stoolpigeon writes "It seems that it wasn't long ago that Google was just a search company. The number of on-line products that fly under the Google moniker, today, is impressive. Google has moved well beyond its office-suite-like applications and excelled with everything from mapping to blogging to 3-D drawing. Google Apps Hacks is a new book from O'Reilly, published in conjunction with their Make magazine. This volume presents the reader with 141 hacks in an attempt to get the most out of a wide array of Google's on-line applications. The result is a quick ride that is rather fun — and while a bit shallow at times, it provides a great overview of just how much is available out there." Read below for the rest of JR's review.
Privacy

FBI's New Eye Scan Database Raising Eyebrows 229

Posted by timothy from the trust-us-we're-from-the-government dept.
mattnyc99 writes "The FBI has confirmed to Popular Mechanics that it's not only adding palm prints to its criminal records, but preparing to balloon its repository of photos, which an agency official says 'could be the basis for our facial recognition.' It's all part of a new biometric software system that could store millions of iris scans within 10 years and has privacy advocates crying foul. Quoting: 'The FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, which could cost as much as $1 billion over its 10-year life cycle, will create an unprecedented database of biometric markers, such as facial images and iris scans. For criminal investigators, NGI could be as useful as DNA some day — a distinctive scar or a lopsided jaw line could mean the difference between a cold case and closed one. And for privacy watchdogs, it's a dual threat — seen as a step toward a police state, and a gold mine of personal data waiting to be plundered by cybercriminals.'"

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