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Submission + - BMW Created The Most Efficient Electric Car In the U.S.

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: You think of efficient electric car and you probably think of the Tesla Model S, right? Well, you'd be wrong as the Model S is only rated at 89 MPGe. As of today, BMW now has the most efficient electric car sold in the U.S., the 2014 i3. The ratings were just posted to the Internet via a window sticker, and at 124 MPGe combined (138 MPGe city, 111 MPGe highway), the i3 is currently king of the efficiency race. The nearest competitor? The 2013 Scion iQ-EV with a 38 mile range and 121 MPGe rating, but it's not even available to the general public. Other competitors are mostly compliance cars such as the Chevrolet Spark EV and Fiat 500e. So where does that leave us? Well, BMW just won the race, for now. But how long until a competitor takes away that top spot?

Submission + - XP Systems Getting Emergency IE Zero Day Patch (threatpost.com)

Submitted by msm1267
msm1267 writes: Microsoft announced it will release an out-of-band security update today to patch a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer, and that the patch will also be made available for Windows XP machines through Automatic Update. At the same time, researchers said they are now seeing attacks specifically targeting XP users.

Microsoft no longer supports XP as of April 8, and that includes the development and availability of security updates. But the about-face today speaks to the seriousness of the vulnerability, which is being exploited in limited targeted attacks, Microsoft said.

Researchers at FireEye, meanwhile, said multiple attackers are now using the exploit against XP machines, prompting the inclusion of XP systems in the patch.

Submission + - Astronomers catch meteorite striking moon on video (orlandosentinel.com)

Submitted by spineas
spineas writes: A 4.5-foot-wide meteorite struck the moon in September 2013, and astronomers were lucky enough to catch the impact flash on video, now confirmed as the brightest ever witnessed from Earth.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the meteorite likely weighed nearly 900 pounds, and exploded on impact with the moon with the force of 15 tons of TNT.

Submission + - Up-front seats for tonight's near-Earth Asteroid (orlandosentinel.com)

Submitted by spineas
spineas writes: In case you're not in a prime viewing position for tonight's fly-by of Asteroid 2000 EM26, never fear, for the event will be webcast live for all around the world to see.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the Slooh Space Camera will be broadcasting the 3-football-field-long asteroid as it zips by us at nearly 27,000 miles per hour. Astronomer Bob Berman will be answering questions during the broadcast, submitted via Twitter with the hashtag #Asteroid.

Comment Re:So they should be working 24/7? (Score 1) 4

by spineas (#46057175) Attached to: NASA extends ISS missions to 2024, but is the science worth it?
I did do the math. They have 1008 man-hours total, of which (presumably) a third goes to sleeping, a third to generalities (such as eating, relaxation, and mandated exercise), and a third to working. As you stated, they have ~240 working hours (probably more, seeing as there isn't much in the way of entertainment up there (except for Internet access). 50 hours out of the ~240 they have for work means that still, only a little more than 20% of their WORK time is going to scientific research, the primary purpose of the station. If I tried to tell my boss that he could only get 20% efficiency out of my work situation, that situation wouldn't continue very long. I'd either receive new equipment, be switched over to another job, or, if it was a personnel problem (which, in the case of the ISS, it obviously isn't,) I'd be let go. Also, please refrain from name-calling. We're all people, we all have feelings.

Comment Re:Keeping a multinational spacestation in orbit (Score 1) 4

by spineas (#46055667) Attached to: NASA extends ISS missions to 2024, but is the science worth it?
Agreed. The main problem seems to be, though, that very little of the resource is being used for scientific endeavors. Only 5% of their time is used on scientific research and exploration, and at some point, a cost-benefit analysis will need to be done to see if we are doing work that is worthy of the huge costs.

Submission + - International Space Station life extended (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Times reports "Instead of splashing into the Pacific Ocean in 2020 as planned, the International Space Station will continue circling Earth for at least an additional four years, NASA announced on Wednesday. The cost of operating the station, about $3 billion a year, could then be devoted to the moon program.

However, it always seemed unlikely that the station, which was built at a cost of $100 billion and completed just three years ago, would be discarded that soon, and when the Obama administration announced it wanted to cancel the moon program, it gave the first extension, stretching the life of the station to 2020."

Submission + - Ford Builds Solar-Powered Car (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Ford plans to demonstrate its first solar-powered hybrid vehicle at CES next week. The Ford CMAX Solar Energi Concept car will have 1.5 square meters of solar photovoltaic cells on its roof to generate power to charge its battery. By themselves, the PV solar panels generate only 300W of power — not enough to charge the vehicle's battery in one day. Ford, however, said the car will be coupled with a carport that has solar concentrating lens atop it. The magnifying lens, called a Fresnel lens, will concentrate about 10 times the solar energy so the vehicle can be recharged in a single day — the same speed with which is standard hybrid charges using a plug.

Submission + - China: The Next Space Superpower (ieee.org)

Submitted by the_newsbeagle
the_newsbeagle writes: "As 2014 dawns, China has the most active and ambitious space program in the world," says this article. While it's true that the Chinese space agency is just now reaching milestones that the U.S. and Russia reached 40 years ago (its first lunar rover landed in December), the Chinese government's strong support for space exploration means that it's catching up fast. On the agenda for the next decade: A space station to rival the ISS, a new spaceport, new heavy-lift rockets, a global satellite navigation system to rival GPS, and China's first space science satellites.

Submission + - Western Australian Sharks Send Tweets to Swimmers (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: More shark attacks occur in Western Australia than almost anyplace else on Earth. In order to help protect swimmers and surfers, the state government relies largely on helicopter-based spotters, plus members of the public who report their own sightings. Now, however, the Department of Fisheries has introduced a new system, in which the toothy fishes announce their own presence via Twitter.

Submission + - First Hard Evidence for the Process of Cat Domestication (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Cats have been part of human society for nearly 10,000 years, but they weren’t always string-chasers and lap-sitters. Ancient felines hunted crop-destroying rats and mice for early farmers, and in return we provided food and protection. At least that’s what scientists have long speculated. Now, they can back it up. Cat bones unearthed in a 5000-year-old Chinese farming village indicate that the animals consumed rodents and that some may have been cared for by humans. The findings provide the earliest hard evidence of this mutually beneficial relationship between man and cat.

Submission + - JetBlue launches satellite-based inflight Wi-Fi (orlandosentinel.com)

Submitted by spineas
spineas writes: JetBlue is rolling out a new form of inflight Wi-Fi operating from satellites instead of ground-based cell towers. Up to eight times faster than traditional inflight Wi-Fi, it will enable users to stream video whilst in the air, something that is nearly impossible to do with current dial-up speed access in aircraft.

Submission + - Google Nexus Gets Wireless Charger (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by judgecorp
judgecorp writes: Wireless charging has had little success so far (except for toothbrushes) but Google is giving it a good try, with a Nexus Wireless Charger that works with LG's Nexus 4 and 5 as well as the latest version of Google's tablet, the second generation Nexus 7. The charger operates using the Qi standard, which seems to be ahead of rival Powermat.

Submission + - Bionic Eye Implant Available In U.S. Next Month (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by kkleiner
kkleiner writes: Starting next month, Americans suffering from degenerative eye diseases can get excited about the launch of the Argus II, a bionic eye implant to partially restore vision. Designed for those suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, the Argus II is a headset that looks akin to Google Glass but is actually hard wired into the optic nerve to transmit visual information from a 60 electrode array. The device opens the door for similar "humanitarian" implants that both reduce the difficulty in getting government approval and increase the adoption of brain implants.

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