In a wondrous feat of extracting the power of 160 ‘AA’ batteries and applying it to flight is a sign of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.

Evidently, the Tokyo Institute of Technology was challenged to carry a 119 lb student aloft using only 160 “AA” sized batteries.

While aloft for only 59 seconds, the flight only reached an altitude of 2 meters.  However this is a sign of things yet to come.  Alternative fuels are promising for ground-pounding vehicles, but aircraft face challenges with alternative fuels do the added constraint of weight.  Battery powered aircraft have been slow to develop due to the ability …

I found this video clip during a search through YouTube.com.

Something tells me independence of foreign oil is closer than we think…

Reading a post by David Houle has me thinking of the future of satellite radio.  Companies like XM and Sirius have made a business out of streaming audio into radio units, both in your car and your home.

Sirius has stuck to audio, however as far as I know, they still have plans for video capability in the future.  XM has branched out to providing not only radio, but also weather data to aircraft and GPS manufacturers.

The premise of David’s post was about …

My frustration with Comcast cable continues.  I’ve been having intermittent internet outages for the last week and a half.  Service comes and goes, seemingly at the time of highest demand: after work and through the evening.

After talking with customer service several times (and buying a brand new modem to replace my 8 year old box), it was decided that the problem may actually lie on Comcast’s side of the fence.  Imagine that!

The representative gave me a list of times that I could schedule a service technician.  To my surprise, most of the times were during the week, and required a block of about 5 hours …

Increases in energy costs are not isolated at the gas pump.  Electricity costs are rising as well, thanks in part to higher natural gas prices and scalding hot temperatures across the nation.  As demand for energy rises, power companies switch on additional power plants which use natural gas rather than coal.

So it was no surprise yesterday when my flat black mail box not only looked hot, but heavy as well.  Reaching inside revealed an electric bill for $138 for last month.

Actually, the numbers were a bit better than I had expected, since the sky high temperatures throughout the Midwest have kept my air conditioner working …

Back in June I posted a video on a new “liquid armor” technology that could protect our soldiers better than Kevlar, causing bullets to bounce off the protected clothing, and even protecting against puncture wounds from knives bomb fragments.

Well, it appears that the technology wasted no time in cyberspace, as the rights to use it were acquired by Armor Holdings (AH: chart, web) back in February.

The composite goo solidifies on impact, but then returns to a semi-fluid state once the kinetic energy is dissipated.  Coating a Kevlar with the material leaves the resulting …

No matter how great you think your 4th of July demonstration will be tonight, you won’t be able to beat NASA.
Today, NASA sent Space Shuttle Discovery back into space to meet up with the International Space Station for the first time in over a year, marking the first ever launch on the 4th of July.

God Speed STS-121, and happy Independence Day!
 NASA STS-121 Launch Blog
Watch the lanuch below…
 

Recently my wife discovered Picasa.  Picasa is a piece of software from Google that allows you to organize your digital pictures, modify them, print them, save them, email them…

Her favorite feature: Uploading them to Walgreens.

We haven’t printed pictures in years. Rather than creating traditional photo albums, I’ve set up a digital photo album on the internet that anyone in our family can view from their home computers. People can view the pictures whenever they want, not just when we get together for holiday parties.

The Picasa system is very simple to use, and …

Evidently a University of Delaware chemical engineer has developed a liquid matrix to impregnate a single layer of Kevlar so that it’s flexible yet can still stop bullets. Currently, our soldiers wear Kevlar vests that only cover a small portion of the body and are very heavy.

Check out the video to see how it works:

Just think how this will revolutionize the way our war (and crime) fighters will protect themselves in the future.

It also drives home the effect and influence higher education can have on different aspects of everyday life.

I came across an interesting post from a BusinessWeek blogger on how the internet will effectively level the playing field between larger, big name universities and smaller schools.

It’s an interesting subject, and I think it falls in line with a major topic on David Houle’s site concerning “disintermediation“.

While I don’t think the internet will eliminate the professor all together, I do think it will revolutionize the link between professor and student.  Thinking back to my last years (~’00 - ‘02) in college, my department brought in a young, tech savvy associate …