tRaVeLlEr

emergentfutures: Solar cells must emit light to attain...

Thu, 03 May 2012 07:07:33 +0530

Solar cells must emit light to attain perfection, research suggests

Researchers at the University of California-Berkeley claim to have hit upon a counterintuitive means of boosting the efficiency of flatplate solar cells by making them emit light. “What we demonstrated is that the better a solar cell is at emitting photons, the higher its voltage and the greater the efficiency it can produce,” said principal researcher, UC Berkeley Professor of Electrical Engineering Eli Yablonovitch.

Full Story: Ars Technica

"When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. For the sun every..."

Thu, 03 May 2012 07:06:33 +0530

“When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.”

- John Lennon (via david)

I really needed this today.

smarterplanet: Universal Real-Time Translator AT&T is...

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:37:00 +0530

smarterplanet:

Universal Real-Time Translator

AT&T is bringing the universal translator to an app store near you. Well, Granted, it isn’t quite universal yet. For now, the AT&T Translator is capable of seven languages. So far the app supports English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. It seems reasonable to assume that if the app catches on that more languages will eventually be added.

via futurescope:

The app was developed at AT&T Research Labs, using both AT&T Watson and AT&T Natural Voices speech technologies. Usage is simple. Speak a phrase into your device and the Translator converts what you’ve said into the language of your choice before broadcasting it to listeners. […]

Video:

[via] [AT&T Labs]

smarterplanet: TED-Ed’s New Video Tool Allows Anyone To Create...

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:36:36 +0530

smarterplanet:

TED-Ed’s New Video Tool Allows Anyone To Create Video Lessons Online

TED-Ed’s new free platform allows anyone to “flip” any video on YouTube by adding custom content to play alongside it, making it possible to turn any piece of video content into a teachable moment.

Read more->

explore-blog: How your eye works, part of a gorgeous vintage...

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:33:47 +0530

explore-blog:

How your eye works, part of a gorgeous vintage illustrated guide to the human body.

Horseshoe vortices. freshphotons:

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:31:34 +0530

Horseshoe vortices.

freshphotons:

soupsoup: Al-Jazeera’s The Stream takes a closer look at the...

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:29:44 +0530

soupsoup:

Al-Jazeera’s The Stream takes a closer look at the drone program currently being run by the United States

smarterplanet: MIT Engineers Design Fog-Free, Water-Repellent,...

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:27:33 +0530

smarterplanet:

MIT Engineers Design Fog-Free, Water-Repellent, Anti-Glare Glass

A new type of nano-structured glass can bounce water and dirt off its surface, cleaning itself and preventing fogging, according to MIT researchers. It eliminates glare, too, allowing light to penetrate with pure clarity. It could be used for anything from solar panels to future car windshields to new gadget screens. […]

[read more] [paper]

"They say the world is a crowded place, it doesn’t feel like it when you’re alone."

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:25:34 +0530

“They say the world is a crowded place, it doesn’t feel like it when you’re alone.”

- Michael Daaboul

Who Can Solve London's Great Challenges? | Planetizen

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:49:27 +0530

Who Can Solve London's Great Challenges? | Planetizen:

smartercities:

Against the backdrop of a made-for-tv mayoral election, Richard Florida looks at the litany of issues afflicting London as the city struggles with the deepest challenges it has faced since the Great Depression and post-war years.

As Ken Livingstone, the former mayor and “fiery socialist with a penchant for dropping explosive sound bites”, faces off against Boris Johnson, “the tousled-haired, bike-riding conservative incumbent”, in an election run-up resembling “a reality TV show,” the reality of the pressing challenges facing the city could make for some rather dramatic television themselves.

“The city has been buffeted by the financial crisis, suffering more severe blows than most cities, from which it is still suffering.” With the city’s economic, media, and entertainment power weakening, and forecasted to decline further, “the next mayor will have to spearhead a plan to stave off growing competition from a host of global cities.”

Florida describes a laundry list of additional challenges that the city’s next mayor will have to address: from bolstering its high-tech economy to better connecting its educational institutions to the private sector and bridging the growing class divide.

“Whether Boris or Ken, London’s next mayor is going to have to thread this needle — to make the city even more attractive to global talent and business while at the same time improving its livability and affordability for ordinary people. It’s a daunting challenge — one that the city’s future prosperity turns on.”

Full Story: London’s Next Top Mayor

futuristgerd: (via The Fiction to Reality Timeline)

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:47:26 +0530

futuristgerd:

(via The Fiction to Reality Timeline)

kateoplis: A Glass House in the Countryside

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:46:49 +0530

kateoplis:

A Glass House in the Countryside

Vintage Soviet Circus Poster f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s:

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:45:46 +0530

Vintage Soviet Circus Poster

f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s:

Photo

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:45:15 +0530

emergentfutures: Global Clean Energy Investment a Record $263...

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:03:13 +0530

emergentfutures:

Global Clean Energy Investment a Record $263 Billion in 2011

“Clean energy investment, excluding research and development, has grown by 600 percent since 2004, on the basis of effective national policies that create market certainty,” saidPhyllis Cuttino, director of Pew’s Clean Energy Program. “This increase was due in part to the number of countries that have implemented effective national policies to support the clean energy market. In the United States, which attracted $48 billion last year, investors took advantage of the country’s stimulus programs before they expired at the end of 2011, as well as the production tax credit for electricity from renewable energy, which is to end this December.”

Full Story: Pew

"The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the world."

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:26:27 +0530

““The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the world.””

- Charles Malik, Lebanese philosopher and diplomat (via halftheskymovement)

"The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the world."

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:26:10 +0530

““The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the world.””

- Charles Malik, Lebanese philosopher and diplomat (via halftheskymovement)

kateoplis: Rare vintage Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 lens, world’s most...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:24:04 +0530

kateoplis:

Rare vintage Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 lens, world’s most extreme wide-angle, for sale

kateoplis: British team make first ascent of Amazon peak |...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:23:21 +0530

kateoplis:

British team make first ascent of Amazon peak | Guardian

Cerro Autana in western Venezuela is one of the most remote mountains in the Amazon, revered by local Indians as sacred. On a truly epic expedition, British adventurer Leo Houlding and his team of climbers spent eight days of boat rides and hacking through virgin jungle to get to its base, and a further six scaling the east face of the 1,400m peak.

kateoplis: Guadalajara, Mexico

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:21:23 +0530

kateoplis:

Guadalajara, Mexico