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Posts Tagged “
National
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roadrunner
Roadrunner Military Supercomputer Sets Processing Record
Roadrunner, the IBM supercomputer at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, manages 1.026 quadrillion calculations per seconds, also known as a Petaflop. Twice as fast as IBM's Blue Gene/L, the previous World's Fastest, the Roadrunner—also from the House of IBM, will be used, once classified, to solve military problems—such as making sure our proud nation's nuclear weapons will continue to work correctly as they age. Until classification, however, it will be used for important scientific problems, such as
space
Be a Space Ambassador, Fly On Virgin Galactic for Free
Screw voluteering to lie down for 90 days for NASA: the National Space Society is offering a job as a Space Ambassador, with taking a ride into space as part of the duties. Yes— this is the kind of job you dreamed of when you were a kid, but you'd also have to "inspire the astronauts, space scientists and extraterrestrial entrepreneurs of the future." Made possible by a Virgin Galactic donation, the program's open to anyone, anywhere. What are you waiting for? Head on over to the website and fill in the form to register your interest, spaceman. I've already filled it in. [Wired Science]
shoes
Costume National, purveyors of sleek, minimal-yet-glam clothes for people like me, has the perfect argument for not mixing clothes and technology, if you get my drift. A pair of the fuckiest fuck-me booties does not need to come with a stair counter screwed onto the ankle—a smaller (obviously) version of those machines that, I believe, exist in the gym. You do not do stairs in these shoes. You do your man in these shoes—maybe on the stairs, but believe me, no climbing is involved. They'll be out in September. [Fashion and Runway and WWD]
Frack-Me Shoes Come With a Stair Counter, but No Stabilizers
Costume National, purveyors of sleek, minimal-yet-glam clothes for people like me, has the perfect argument for not mixing clothes and technology, if you get my drift. A pair of the fuckiest fuck-me booties does not need to come with a stair counter screwed onto the ankle—a smaller (obviously) version of those machines that, I believe, exist in the gym. You do not do stairs in these shoes. You do your man in these shoes—maybe on the stairs, but believe me, no climbing is involved. They'll be out in September. [Fashion and Runway and WWD]
robots
RoboCup Rescue: A Rubble Hellscape With Screaming, Wriggling Dolls
The RoboCup soccer tourney gets all the publicity, but the RoboCup Rescue competition kicking off this week in Germany is thrilling in a more macabre way: Each year the rubble-strewn maze gets more and more complicated, as robots use AI and all their mechanical faculties to locate (though not necessarily recover) dolls that scream, wriggle and emit carbon dioxide and heat. More »
pew pew
If you live in San Francisco's Bay Area and your name is Darth Vader, head to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the hottest laser action in the galaxy. Instead of destroying planets, however, the $3-billion National Ignition Facility will be used to fuse hydrogen atoms to create a small star and, in theory, get us closer to an endless power source. A PBS crew got into the facility to film it, and the only thing that comes to mind is "impressive. Very Impressive." The process is fascinating.
More »
Inside the Largest Laser and Fusion Chamber in the World
If you live in San Francisco's Bay Area and your name is Darth Vader, head to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the hottest laser action in the galaxy. Instead of destroying planets, however, the $3-billion National Ignition Facility will be used to fuse hydrogen atoms to create a small star and, in theory, get us closer to an endless power source. A PBS crew got into the facility to film it, and the only thing that comes to mind is "impressive. Very Impressive." The process is fascinating.
More »
11:40 AM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Jesus Diaz
34,115 views,
61 comments
Latest by n/a: Maybe it will appear near Grovers Mills, NJ where a tripod water tower was reportedly shot during the transmission of Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" one Halloween. They had a fusion experiment there nearby at Princeton, NJ. It was more »
war robots
Wiimote, iPhone are New Tools of War
David Bruemmer and Douglas Few, engineers at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Lab in Idaho Falls, have put together an unlikely use for the Wiimote—they've hacked the remote so it can control a bomb-disposing, landmine-detecting, machine gun-carrying robot. More »
white space coalition
Bill Gates Says White Space Is for Free Wi-Fi; Broadcasters Want License and Regulation
Referring to Microsoft's desire to use soon-to-be-opened broadcasting bandwidth for low-powered unlicensed wireless devices, Bill Gates argued that it will make for improved Wi-Fi, a term he appears to be using as simply non-regulated, subscription-free wireless. He said:"We're hopeful that that will be made available so that Wi-Fi can explode in terms of its usage, even out into some of these less dense areas where distance has been a big problem for Wi-Fi."Bill's opponents see this not as an opportunity for more Wi-Fi but as a chance to widen costlier, regulated wireless subscription services. More »
gong hei fatmodo
Not only are we smart, charming and pretty here at Gizmodo, we are also fantastically cultured. As the Chinese New Year is upon us, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all those celebrating it a smashing new year. As a Chinese restaurant placemat our research informs us, the Chinese calendar cycles every twelve years, with each year representing a different animal. Tonight rings in the Year of the Rat, and in tribute to our respected rodent, we've got a special rattus gadget roundup. Jump in for that priceless, Indiana-Jones-in-the-sewer feeling.
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Gizmodo Salutes the Rat: Happy Chinese New Year!
Not only are we smart, charming and pretty here at Gizmodo, we are also fantastically cultured. As the Chinese New Year is upon us, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all those celebrating it a smashing new year. As
12:30 PM on Wed Feb 6 2008
By Haroon Malik
6,616 views,
55 comments
Latest by soundengineer: @whiteknight89: snakes ftw! And hey guys, as long as we understand that, it's fine. I find that it's much easier for those more attuned to the western tongues to get their lips around the phonics of "gong hei fat choy" rather more »
solar energy
Researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory have designed a lightweight, foldable solar panel design which they predict will function at 80% efficiency (the best solar panel prototypes operate at about 40%). The researchers' secret is the implementation of nanoantennas, which have the ability to absorb not only light, but heat from the sun as well.
More »
Foldable Solar Panels Could Be Up To 80% Efficient
Researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory have designed a lightweight, foldable solar panel design which they predict will function at 80% efficiency (the best solar panel prototypes operate at about 40%). The researchers' secret is the implementation of nanoantennas, which have the ability to absorb not only light, but heat from the sun as well.
More »
spy game
A anonymous government official warned that a US intelligence satellite has lost power and could crash to earth sometime in February or March. When pushed on the matter, a National Security Council spokesman said this:
Dead US Spy Satellite Hurtling Towards Earth; Where's Your Car Parked?
A anonymous government official warned that a US intelligence satellite has lost power and could crash to earth sometime in February or March. When pushed on the matter, a National Security Council spokesman said this: "Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation. Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause."While this is all true and should feel like a relief, I just get a chill through my spine when I hear that the government is looking at "potential options." [Reuters]
smartphones
Kurzweil Develops First Seeing-Eye Cellphone
One of the pet projects of Ray Kurzweil, genius inventor and futurist, is camera-based reading for blind and learning-disabled people. His original designs were chunky by our standards, a Canon Digital Elph literally strapped to a PDA. Now, working with the National Federation of the Blind, Kurzweil's group has shrunk the knfbREADER Mobile system down into something more convenient: the small Symbian-based 5-megapixel Nokia N82 smartphone. More »
9:26 AM on Mon Jan 28 2008
By Wilson Rothman
3,568 views,
12 comments
nanotechnology
Rough Nano-Wires Hold the Secret to Efficient Heat to Electricity Conversion
The latest edition of Nature magazine details a new method scientists have derived for converting heat energy into electricity, using silicon to instigate the conversion. Researchers have more investigations to carry out, but if preliminary findings are indicative of what is to come, appliances that charge using your own body heat may be on the horizon.More »
photography
The Gadget: National Geographic is launching a night vision scope that has the ability to take still pictures. The NV20/20 will have a user variable frame rate, three infrared intelligence modes and it will be able to amplify ambient light by a factor of 650. The scope will ship in April and retail at $520.
The Catch: You're probably going to get a restraining order, again. [iGEN]
National Geographic's iGEN NV20/20 Scope Takes Night Time Pictures
The Gadget: National Geographic is launching a night vision scope that has the ability to take still pictures. The NV20/20 will have a user variable frame rate, three infrared intelligence modes and it will be able to amplify ambient light by a factor of 650. The scope will ship in April and retail at $520. The Catch: You're probably going to get a restraining order, again. [iGEN]
broadband
Congress Tells Off FCC, Expects Full Count of Broadband Households
Turns out, the FCC defines an entire zip code as served by broadband when one single household receives one single 200-kilobit trickle. The US House of Representatives voted to change that. It seems, in order to see exactly how badly we're doing compared to the other post-industrial nations—do we rank 11th? or 15th? or 24th?—there needs to be a more accurate "broadband census." More »
national crisis
Porn-Induced Malware Attacks Leopard
Apparently at least some of the Leopard security vulnerabilities have already been exploited, but only through the aid of stupid hornball Mac users. Was that childish of us to call porn-craved Mac users "hornballs" and imply that some of them are stupid? Maybe. And the image of of Justin Long doing the dirty certainly won't fit nicely in our next Mac fantasy, but we're just doing our job here. More »
medical
Scientists Develop Artery Scurrying Micro Robot
The boffins at Chonnam National University have created a microscopic robot to be used in medical procedures to clear blocked arteries. The minuscule robot has six legs and walks in the same manner as a crab. The researchers have discovered the robot is capable of traveling a whopping 55 yards in three weeks. More »
gorgeous photos
