We've heard plenty of promises about low(er) cost solar panels, but it looks like the heavily-funded upstart Nanosolar is actually getting around to churning out what it says is the "world's lowest-cost solar panel." As The New York Times reports, that feat was achieved by taking a different approach to lowering the cost than most -- namely, by reducing the manufacturing cost instead of trying to increase the efficiency. As a result, by using a new process that effectively "prints" photovoltaic material onto an aluminum backing, the company says they can profitably sell the solar panels for "less than $1 a watt" or, as The Times points out, the price at which solar energy becomes less expensive than coal. What's more, while Nanosolar itself is hanging onto one of the first panels for exhibit, and one is being donated to the Tech Museum in San Jose, Nanosolar is auctioning off one of the first three panels to be produced on eBay, where the bidding currently stands around $1,000. Anyone looking to actually put it to use may want to think twice, however, as the panel is being sold "as-is."
If this is not the most absurdly amazing toy I have ever seen, I don't know what is. Really. And it's only $3 in Japan. Too bad they are probably made of materials that induce hallucinations when licked.
Someone import these, pronto. [Louloku via Gizmodo Japan]
You don't have to turn them on: the Rayzer's lights are wirelessly synchronized with the car's high-beams. For you of those thinking about those idiots who travel all the time with their high-beams and anti-fog lamps on, you will be glad to learn that it has a traffic detection function that will automatically turn the light off if it detects cars in the distance.
The Rayzer will start distribution in 2008, so if you travel through roads with no or little illumination, these may be perfect for you.The ZCam is the first low-cost, consumer videocamera that can capture video with depth information and probably the first real challenger to Nintendo's Wiimote: with its 3D capture abilities it will allow you to play Wii-style without using any controls whatsoever. In fact, it is so precise that it will even recognize your finger gestures to fire a weapon or manipulate your computer like in Minority Report, but without gloves or any other external device:
According to manufacturer 3DV Systems, the depth resolution is quite good: it can detect 3D motion and volume down to 0.4 inches, capturing at the same time full color, 1.3 megapixel video at 60 frames per second. While there have been professional cameras with depth capture in the past, this is the first time that a device of such characteristics is cheap enough to be built into any game system or computer.
As you can see in the video, the ZCam is completely different from the EyeToy or any other normal 2D webcam. Even while it's not as precise and flexible as a real full 3D motion tracking system, the videos show that it can indeed provide with a new level of interactivity in video games and any application—like computer user interface manipulation.
Its virtues could be even easier to apply in computer applications. The demonstration in the video, with the guy manipulating Vista with hand gestures, gives you a very good idea. As I use my iMac 24 to type this, I wish I can just wave my hand in the air quickly to consult a PDF, like Minority Report's Tom Cruise but without jumping in the sofa and scaring Oprah. Or touching, moving and clicking the mouse.
Since the ZCam is a piece of circuitry that can be integrated anywhere, and without taxing the CPU, I don't see why companies like Apple or Dell wouldn't adopt them for future desktop and portables. However, the technology has just been officially announced this week and it's too soon too tell. Whatever happens, it's good to see such a device coming to the market. Hopefully, we will see it in action with real world applications soon. In the meantime:
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from Seth's Blog by
In a new study released in today's Times, it turns out that the typical NY police officer only hits 34% of the time she fires a gun. Even from a distance of six feet or less, it's 43%. Obviously, Bruce Willis is the exception.
I wonder how it changes your decision making when you discover that you're only going to be successful one out of three times. Never mind blasting a weapon out of an assailant's hand, we're talking about hitting the target at all... How does a cop have the guts to even pull a weapon knowing that most of the time, it's not going to have its desired effect (my guess is that the threat and the noise and chaos is as positive an outcome as an actual hit...). I know I would never have the guts to do that job.
Salespeople have a harder time with this than marketers. Marketers have lots of 'bullets' and they don't notice the ones they miss (I usually miss 99.5% of the time online, and more than 99.999% of the time selling books). We just reload and blithely continue on. But salespeople have to deal both with personal rejection and the expectation of the boss.
The poor hit rate of selling explains call resistance. Non-professional salespeople almost aways wash out because they can't keep at it, day after day, once they realize that most of the time, they fail. I guess my point is that if a policeman can risk his life doing it, we can probably find the nerve to go on one more sales call.
Forget about YouTube debates.
The future of politics looks just like what Cory did to the Canadian DMCA the last few weeks.
One person, with just a few hard-working people in the field, managed to derail a bill that lobbyists spent millions of dollars on.
Sure, it helps that it was a lousy bill, that Cory co-writes the most popular blog in the world and that the bill was about something that blog readers care about. Doesn't matter. Because as readership grows and issues start attracting loyal readers, what this proves is that Tip O'Neill was wrong. All politics isn't local. All politics is about permission. The permission to share your views with people who want to hear them, people who take action, people who tell their friends.
Nice work, Cory. Who's next?
[Right issue, wrong guy, I'm told! Cory was the one I noticed, but Michael was the point man.]
Gallery: Hands-on with BetaBlue, JetBlue's WiFi-equipped Airbus
Continue reading Hands-on with BetaBlue, JetBlue's WiFi-equipped Airbus
DisplayLink's certainly no stranger to wireless monitors, but it now looks set to push the technology even further along, with it and Alereon trotting out a new reference design for a wireless USB video card (and corresponding monitor adapter). That'll apparently let you use a monitor at a distance of up to three meters, with a throughput of 120-150mbps and lossless compression ensuring that "the image users see is the same that they'd get with a wired monitor," according to Wi-Fi Planet. What's more, you should also be able to use up to six displays at the same time, "theoretically," although DisplayLink admits that gamers likely won't be satisfied. While this is just a reference design, DisplayLink says the final adapter set should run between $150 and $250 when its released in the spring, while monitors with the technology built-in will apparently demand $150 "or more" than a comparable non-wireless model (those are expected in mid-2008).
[Via DailyWireless]
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