So What Exactly IS the Smart Grid?

We all hear about the smart grid and how it’s making our lives easier, but what exactly IS it? What does it look like? And what can it actually do for us?

Basically, the term “smart grid” refers to the digital technology used to transfer electricity from suppliers to consumers. It uses two-way communication to control appliances and help save energy, reduce cost, and increase reliability. According to the Department of Energy, when this was first developed, the electric industry was prepared to make a transformation from a centralized, producer-controlled network to a more consumer-interactive one.

Traditionally, electricity has been transmitted along high-voltage lines from the power plant to the substation, and then to the end user. The goal of a smart grid is to make this one-way street into two-way communication. Let’s say for example, you leave your house to go to work in the morning. You shut off all the lights and turn down the furnace, but you’re still wasting energy. With the smart grid, you could communicate with your water heater, via smart phone app, and tell it to shut down when you leave and turn back on a half hour before you arrive home. Most of our appliances are still operating even when we are not using them, so this concept is extremely useful in monitoring your electric usage and ultimately saving you money.

Read more at Demand Response News

by Sarah Battaglia

Galaxies Fed by Funnels of Fuel

Computer simulations of galaxies growing over billions of years have revealed a likely scenario for how they feed: a cosmic version of swirly straws.

The results show that cold gas — fuel for stars — spirals into the cores of galaxies along filaments, rapidly making its way to their “guts.” Once there, the gas is converted into new stars, and the galaxies bulk up in mass.

“Galaxy formation is really chaotic,” said Kyle Stewart, lead author of the new study appearing in the May 20th issue of the Astrophysical Journal. “It took us several hundred computer processors, over months of time, to simulate and learn more about how this process works.” Stewart, who is now at the California Baptist University in Riverside, Calif., completed the majority of this work while at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

In the early universe, galaxies formed out of clumps of matter, connected by filaments in a giant cosmic web. Within the galaxies, nuggets of gas cooled and condensed, becoming dense enough to trigger the birth of stars. Our Milky Way spiral galaxy and its billions of stars took shape in this way.

The previous, standard model of galaxy formation held that hot gas sank into the centers of burgeoning galaxies from all directions. Gas clouds were thought to collide into each other, sending out shock waves, which then heated up the gas. The process is similar to jets creating sonic booms, only in the case of galaxies, the in-falling gas travels faster than the speed of sound, piling up into waves. Eventually, the gas cools and sinks to the galactic center. This process was theorized to be slow, taking up to 8 billion years.

Read more at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Screenshots Reveal Revamped Gmail For Mobile And Web May Be On The Way

Gmail users could be seeing the service getting a redesign soon. Following reports by Android Police about leaked screenshots of the update during Google I/O, we’re also hearing that the email service will feature five tabs to categorize emails for better organization. These changes will be available for not only on the Web, but also for iOS and Android devices.

A source shared with us that the new Gmail will have a few default tabs as part of its new theme. Categories that will be listed are Main, Social, Offers, Notifications, and Forums.

We’re told that with Main, users will find it for emails from friends, family members, and for communication that can’t be sorted into another place. In Social, all messages relating to social media, including emails from Zynga, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and Google+, will be lumped into this category.

Read more at TheNextWeb

by Ken Yeung

A Snapshot of the Inside of an Atom

Talk about taking a tough shot. Physicists have, for the first time, been able to image the quantum workings of electrons in hydrogen atoms, an advance that could open the door to a deeper understanding of the quantum world.

Snapping a picture of the inside of an atom—the electrons, the protons, the neutrons—is no easy task. Quantum mechanics makes it virtually impossible to pin down these subatomic particles. Instead of having the ability to describe where a particle is, quantum theory provides a description of its whereabouts called a wave function. Wave functions work like sound waves, except that whereas the mathematical description of a sound wave defines the motion of molecules in air at a particular place, a wave function describes the probability of finding the particle.

Physicists can theoretically predict what a wave function is like, but measuring a wave function is very hard because they are exquisitely fragile. In another bit of quantum weirdness, most attempts to directly observe wave functions actually destroy them in a process called collapse. So to experimentally measure the properties of a wave function requires researchers to reconstruct it from many separate destructive measurements on identically prepared atoms or molecules.

Read more at ScienceNOW

by Nathan Collins

Viewpoint: Mars – what we’ve learnt in five years

On 25 May, it will be five years since Nasa’s robotic spacecraft Phoenix touched down in the Martian “arctic”. Here, Dr Tom Pike, one of the mission scientists on Phoenix, explains what we’ve learnt about the Red Planet in that time.

I’m tightly sandwiched between missions to Mars. I’m still analysing data from Phoenix, while building hardware for the seismometers launching on InSight.

In my spare time, I like to keep an eye on the data coming down from Curiosity. Although workdays and weekends are rather blurred, there are some dates I take great care to remember.

Five years ago today, the Phoenix Lander started its descent towards the northern plains of Mars. I was following the live feed from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the Phoenix Science Operations Center in Arizona.

The elation I felt when Phoenix had touched down safely was intense and immediate, but it is only now possible to judge what the mission really achieved.

To make any assessment, I first have to look back from the mission, to see what Phoenix added to our growing knowledge of the Red Planet.

Read more at BBC News

by Tom Pike

Google Offers Chromebooks & WiFi to Oklahoma Tornado Victims

In wake of the Oklahoma tornado tragedy, Google has shared that it is working with both Verizon Wireless and Acer to set up Chromebook stations with free Internet around the area.

According to Google, three locations have been set up, including two Red Cross stations — located at St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church and the Moore Community Center — as well as Walmart #277.

With such wide-scale damage affecting the city of Moore, these stands should play a role in helping victims better communicate with their loved ones.

In addition to these stations, Google also released a crisis map for Oklahoma today, which includes Red Cross shelters, traffic alerts and storm reports.

Read more at TheNextWeb

by Harrison Weber

Motion Design Presentation for Ubuntu Mobile

This is a presentation of our ‘Paper’ Motion theme which has been applied to some of the core movements on Ubuntu Mobile.

In developing this motion style we have sought to accentuate the theme of paper wherever possible. Rather than using more overt effects like page curling and folding, we have hinted at the theme by using multiple layers, stacking and suggestive effects. Multiple layers of sliding paper can be observed during the animation of the switch button, stacking can be seen occurring on the icons in the launcher and an example of a suggestive effect – hinting at a page-turning motion – can be seen in the ‘App Stacking’ options.

 

Humans With Amplified Intelligence Could Be More Powerful Than AI

With much of our attention focused the rise of advanced artificial intelligence, few consider the potential for radically amplified human intelligence (IA). It’s an open question as to which will come first, but a technologically boosted brain could be just as powerful — and just as dangerous – as AI.

As a species, we’ve been amplifying our brains for millennia. Or at least we’ve tried to. Looking to overcome our cognitive limitations, humans have employed everything from writing, language, and meditative techniques straight through to today’s nootropics. But none of these compare to what’s in store.

Unlike efforts to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), or even an artificial superintelligence (SAI), the human brain already presents us with a pre-existing intelligence to work with. Radically extending the abilities of a pre-existing human mind — whether it be through genetics, cybernetics or the integration of external devices — could result in something quite similar to how we envision advanced AI.

Looking to learn more about this, I contacted futurist Michael Anissimov, a blogger at Accelerating Future and a co-organizer of the Singularity Summit. He’s given this subject considerable thought — and warns that we need to be just as wary of IA as we are AI.

Read more at io9.com

by George Dvorsky

Considering a Linux career? Four tips for new college grads

‘Tis the season for college graduations, and that means there are countless fresh grads out there looking for their first real, professional jobs.

Those in IT would be hard-pressed to come up with a better area to focus on than Linux, which is consistently shown to offer higher salaries and more opportunities than do other parts of IT. There’s tremendous demand for Linux skills today, so those who possess them are in a nice position as they enter the job market.

But how to begin? I had a chance recently to speak with Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation, for some suggestions. Zemlin recently gave a talk at TEDx (embedded below) focused on lessons he thinks the tech industry has learned from Linux and its creator Linus Torvalds, and he thinks those lessons can be applied equally well to college grads starting out in a Linux career.

Read more at PCWorld

by Katherine Noyes

B go beyond by B

B is a revolutionary new remote controlled hybrid car-helicopter with a patent pending design. It is capable of driving across difficult terrain using its large rear drive wheels and when the obstacles become too big, simply take-off and fly over them.

B is a toy that provides an extraordinary experience. B is virtually unstoppable, capable of transitioning between ground and air allowing the development of tricks otherwise impossible to achieve.

Due to its large wheel diameter of 220 mm it achieves outstanding performance in difficult terrain. On flat surfaces B reaches high speeds.

See more details at Kickstarter

Students design storm chasing UAVs

In the wake of the tornado that tore through central Oklahoma, a team of students have ramped up the design of UAVs to track them.

Students from Oklahoma State University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering took on the task to design and build an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that could not only cope with the severe and powerful nature of tornadoes, but could penetrate thunderstorms and obtain meteorological data vital for weather forecasting.

The “storm penetrating air vehicles” collect data which can be used immediate forecasts of the storm’s strength and intended path, as well as predictive models. The team says that information collected can also be “used in numerical simulations to aid meteorologists in their understanding of tornado genesis.”

Read more at SmartPlanet

by Charlie Osborne

Doctors save baby’s life with 3D-printed tracheal implant

Doctors save baby’s life with 3D-printed tracheal implant | Ars Technica

In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine today, two doctors from the University of Michigan described how they saved an infant with a life-threatening respiratory disorder using a custom-designed 3D-printed device. Printed with bio-absorbable plastic, the device is holding the child’s airway open and allowing him to breathe normally.

The child, Kaiba Gionfriddo, suffered from tracheobronchomalacia—a collapse of the airway to one of his lungs. The condition prevented him from breathing out carbon dioxide and getting sufficient oxygen. At six weeks old, he was out with his family at a restaurant when he started to turn blue. By the time he was two months old, he had to have a breathing tube inserted into his trachea to keep him alive.

Dr. Glenn Green, MD, the associate professor of pediatric otolarygololgy at the University of Michigan, was called in by Kaiba’s doctors to consult on the case. He and Dr. Scott Hollister, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan, worked together to design a tracheal splint for Kaiba, using a CT scan of his respiratory tract to create a model of the device. They obtained emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to surgically implant their creation and installed the splint on the bronchus of Kaiba’s left lung on February 9, 2012.

Read more at Ars Technica

by Sean Gallagher

For Wind Energy’s Future, Researchers Look High in the Sky

The next major innovation in wind power might not involve big, white turbines dotting the countryside. KQED QUEST reports on research being done on “tethered airfoils” that could capture wind energy more efficiently that earthbound turbines. This report is part of the NewsHour’s Connect series of quality public media reporting.

 

Star Trek’s Tricorder Becomes Reality With Scanadu’s Scout

If you’ve been longing for the day you can just scan your body at home to find out what’s wrong when you’re sick rather than head to the ER — your day is here.

Meet Scout, a device that can monitor and track your vital signs, temperature, ECG, heart rate, oximetry and stress by just holding the it up to your forehead for 10 seconds.

As simple as it sounds, to use the device you simply hold it against your forehead and wait. Results are synched from Scout to your smartphone, where you can track your health over time. On a basic level, you can see that your temperature or heart rate is elevated from the norm at any given time. On a larger level, you can also see potential problems headed your way by noticing abnormalities before they become physical issues.

Read more at Mashable.com.

by Emily Price

Samsung Talks About Its Aggressive Linux Talent Recruitment Strategy

I recently spoke to Samsung’s Ibrahim Haddad who is the head of the company’s Open Source Group in Silicon Valley. He is leading efforts to find the best Linux and open source sofware talent to help Samsung maintain its market position and shares with us why this is a priority for the company, how they’re finding this talent and what they’re doing to attract and retain open source developers.

Samsung is investing resources in setting up a Silicon Valley presence to attract  leading open source developer talent. Why is this a priority for the company?

Haddad: It is not a secret to anyone how important open source and its ecosystem are to Samsung. During his keynote at The Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit on April 15, 2013, Sang-bum Suh (VP, Software Platform in the Software R&D Center) emphasized the role and importance of open source at Samsung. I’d also like to stress that this goes beyond just communities such as Android and Tizen. As Dr. Suh alluded to, there are open source components in use across several Samsung product lines.  As a company, we realize that we need to move beyond just being good consumers of open source, and being a contributor to a few select projects, to being very active and strong contributors and thought leaders in the component communities that are the foundation for our software platform and used in many products.

Why are Linux and open source developers in such high demand by Samsung?

Haddad: Samsung uses Linux and open source software in a wide range of products: mobile phones, tablets, TVs, home appliances, cameras, etc. Software is a key differentiator and having great software talent is a significant added benefit that compliments the great hardware design talent that Samsung is famous for. Across Samsung, including at the Open Source Group, we are looking to hire Linux and Open Source developers to help drive innovation and collaboration within the company.

Read more at Linux.com

by Jennifer Cloer