Dark Side of the Sun

Soon we may get the first ever glimpse of the dark side of the sun.

Well, no, there’s no actual dark side of a luminous ball of burning gas, but there is an effective dark side, as in, the side of the sun we can’t see at any given time.

Scientists aren’t content to get just half of the picture, so they’ve launched the STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories) mission, a pair of NASA spacecraft that will orbit the sun simultaneously to provide a complete view of all sides of the star at once.

“Then there will be no place to hide and we can see the entire sun for the first time,” STEREO project scientist Michael Kaiser of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center told Wired.com.

The perfect spherical view will come on Feb. 6, 2011. Right now the satellites, which were launched in October 2006, are about 90 degrees apart, which allows a picture of about 270 degrees of the sun — the fullest view yet.

Fun with coin

This post is to show how creative Russian person can be while spending time at job. He makes those things without any glue to amuse coleagues and other local office workers – they don’t fall down placed like this on the edge of the table.

For some photos at the preparation process.

Save Old Film to SD card Digitally

Film to SD is yet another gadget that helps you transfer negatives from your old photo collection to an SD memory card directly, featuring an integrated LCD display for you to view a preview. In addition, it has the capability of mirroring, flip or rotate your images for direct transfer onto your computer (or SD card if you choose) through a USB connection. Each £119.95 purchase comes with a 1GB SD memory card to get you started, which is enough to store approximately 700 5 megapixel resolution images. Not only that, it also plays nice with microSD/SDHC memory cards. Time to bust out those rolls of negatives and store them digitally for posterity.

Powerful Solar Cell Inspired by Butterfly Wings

It’s not unusual for people to turn to nature to better technologies and devices that humans could benefit from in the long run. Harnessing the energy of the sun for human consumption was already inspired by photosynthesis, but this new solar cell technology looks at another idea straight from Mother Nature. Butterflies have been discovered to have microscopic solar collectors in their wings. And so, some scientists from Japan and China thought creating a mimicry of these collectors would yield a more efficient solar cell, particularly of the dye-sensitized kind.

The scientists, under the leadership of Di Zhang, have long been looking for a way for dye-sensitized cells to go over the technology’s 10 percent average efficiency. Upon coming across this discovery about butterfly wings, they decided to try it out. They used real butterfly wings as mold and made copies of the natural collectors that are employed onto the dye-sensitized cells. The result? Aside from achieving a higher efficiency, the new type of solar cell is even easier to fabricate and is a viable technology for commercial use. Unfortunately, details are scarce, but I reckon we’ll be hearing more about it in the near future.

Eye Mouse

Two students from a technical high school in Argentina built a mouse that can be controlled by eye movements, thus allowing people with total paralysis to use the computer.

The invention is named the “Eye Mouse.” This idea is not new but what makes it different is that it is a DIY mouse that almost anyone can build with cheap and easy-to-find components.

How does it work? The free software that they provide, divides the monitor surface in squares and asks the user what he wants to do – focus on an area, right click, left click, etc – with yes and no answers. If the eye looks at the camera, that is translated as a “yes”.

With just a webcam,  an infrared LED, a small, flexible metal tube and the headband of a welding helmet, anyone can build the mouse at a fraction of the cost of similar devices.

Internet History

Watch the journey of modern internet started in 1957

Windows Mobile 7 coming on 2010

Motorola’s CEO let one slip by letting people know that Windows Mobile 7 will be out in 2010, which makes us wonder whether Microsoft is serious about stemming the tide of its shrinking market share where smartphones are concerned, with Windows Mobile 6.5 still not out yet until April this year.

Apparently word on the street has it that the first Windows Mobile 6.5 devices will be out this September onwards, while testers of Windows Mobile 7 can get their hands on a handset in November with a tentative release date of April 2010 for Windows Mobile 7 phones to reach the hands of the mass market. How crucial do you think it is for Microsoft to release their latest iteration of a mobile operating system in order to keep up with the pack?

Explore The Ocean with Google Earth 5.0

Earlier this week Google released Google Earth 5.0 with a new ocean-centric upgrade. With Ocean in Google Earth you can dive beneath the surface and visit the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench.

Explore the ocean with top marine experts including National Geographic and BBC. Learn about ocean observations, climate change, and endangered species. Discover new places including surf, dive, and travel hot spots and shipwrecks. You can download Google Earth 5.0 from Here

LED lights may suitable for Enery Saving!!

LED lights can help to save billions of kilowatt hours of electrical demand and also help lower electricity bills

       

A team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has found a production method that could lead to cheaper LEDs within a few years.

LED lights are a technology that most EcoGeeks are hoping to see in widespread distribution. LED lights can be even more efficient than compact fluorescent lights, and they don’t contain mercury like CFLs do. LEDs also have a much longer lifespan, and can operate for 10 times longer than fluorescents and 100 times longer than incandescents. They’re just still a little expensive, up to $100 / bulb.

Ehou maki on Setsubun no hi

Today is once again Setsubun no hi. In Japan, Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of each season. This year’s ehou (lucky direction) is a bit to the right of East-North-East.This year, I’m able  to taste ehou maki. Really …… a good one While I’m at it, here are the ehou for the next four years:

• 2009 – East-North-East
• 2010 – West-South-West
• 2011 – South-South-East
• 2012 – North-North-West

This year, setsubun no hi (節分の日)　falls on the 3rd of February (some years it’s on the 4th). It marks the start of the spring season or risshun (立春) in Japan according to the old lunar calendar. It’s not an official national holiday, but it is celebrated in ways all meant to drive away bad luck and bring in new, good luck. Most of the traditional rituals revolve around beans, because beans are considered to be very lucky. But there is another way of celebrating setsubun no hi, and that’s with a big, long, uncut sushi roll called ehou-maki.