Bugatti 100P

Ettore Bugatti is best known for his cars designed during the 1930s. Perhaps best known of all, is the 1931 Bugatti Type 51 grand prix car.


Credit: http://hdwpics.com/

1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic.


Credit: TheCoolist

Almost no-one is aware of the sole Bugatti aircraft — the most beautiful aircraft never to fly — the Bugatti 100P — "... an antique that seems like it somehow came from the future." — Preston Lerner


Note the forward-swept wings & the gearbox (seen through the canopy, in front of the cockpit), which delivers power from the twin engines to the contra-rotating propellers.
Credit: Reve Bleu/Kickstarter

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/Aviations-Sexiest-Racer-180952406/?no-ist


Bugatti 100P — showing more clearly, the contra-rotating propellers
Credit: Wikipedia

Kickstarter project to complete the replica
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/525000827/reve-bleu-bugattis-blue-dream-will-finally-fly?ref=nav_search

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/8/9118119/bugatti-100p-reve-blue-kickstarter-first-flight

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3192289/The-Blue-Dream-finally-fly-Beautiful-Bugatti-plane-designed-75-years-ago-just-weeks-maiden-flight.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Model_100 / Bugatti Reve Bleu Blue Dream fly global volunteer group recreates Bugatti'sBlue Dream unfinished plane hidden behind enemy lines Bugatti's only aeroplane Ettore Bugatti master fusing art and technology built eight-thousand exquisite automobiles built only one aeroplane Bugatti 100P designed by Belgian engineer Louis de Monge art-deco classic most technologically-advanced airplane of its time elegant solution to flying very fast innovative Bugatti 100P giant leap forward late 1930s featuring advanced systems cutting-edge aerodynamics record-setting 100P saved Bugatti's manufacturing empire restored de Monge's reputation world-class aeronautical engineer dream dreamed setting a new world air speed record plane Rue de Débarcadèr Paris 1940 under construction for three years Bugatti 100P nearly complete the war reached Paris German forces troops Nazi save plane secrets rapidly-approaching enemy Bugatti colleague Louis de Monge smuggled the plane out of Paris under cover of darkness hid it in a barn plane survived the war intact restored plane on display displayed EAA AirVenture Museum Oshkosh Wisconsin most popular exhibit plane never flew flyable compelling story wartime intrigue Bugatti's Blue Dream Tulsa 2013 build and fly reproduction Bugatti 100P very expensive no known structural drawings reverse-engineer 100P under construction Bugatti 100P nearly complete plane's timeless beauty advanced features Bugatti's and de Monge's vision creative genius crowd-powered global volunteer team project's volunteers contributing time materials technical expertise bring Bugatti's dream to life airframe propellers designed in Sweden made in Great Britain complex propeller gearbox aerodynamic studies underway in Brazil engineering consultants France Germany de Monge family Namur Belgium construction first flight Bugatti's only aeroplane complex expensive labor-intensive tasks completely self-funded debt-free corporate sponsors accelerate construction complete tests plane's airworthiness certification build transportation dolly first flight 40-hour flight test program project's selected ground tests high speed taxi runs test flights early engineering drawing Avion de Course drawing engineering drawing de Monge drawing final configuration swept-forward wings engine placement internal radiator plane de Monge single-purpose airplane designed set a world speed record Phil West original art war Bugatti 100P development first flight famed WWI fighter ace Maurice Arnoux Ettoré Bugatti Louis de Monge Bugatti 100P first flight Étampes Airfield noted aviation artist Phil West Bugatti team members EAA AirVenture Museum disassembled test flight stage project high-performance complex state-of-the-art aeroplane /

Tesla Model S hacked

Credit: Car and Driver

First it was a Fiat Chrysler vehicles fitted with the uConnect system, then GM OnStar vehicles, now hackers have gained control of a Tesla Model S & brought it to a halt.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099460_tesla-model-s-hacked-in-low-speed-driving-patch-issued-details-tomorrow / Fiat Chrysler Automobiles intense public scrutiny hackers took control Jeep Cherokee remotely Uconnect infotainment system disabled brakes transmission publicity vulnerability recall 1.4 million vehicles fix strong pressure National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA Tesla's Britain's Financial Times hackers DefCon conference Las Vegas took control of a Tesla Model S electric car EV electric vehicle switched it off was running at low speeds white-hat researchers Kevin Mahaffey chief technology officer Lookout Marc Rogers, principal security researcher Cloudflare six security flaws hack hacker hacked target Tesla software-centric company software less vulnerable legacy automakers Tesla's Silicon Valley origins entirely secure vehicle control software white-hat hackers security flaws push companies fix focus preventing flaws black-hat hackers goals malicious destructive criminal Mahaffey Rogers gain physical access Tesla hack requiring a physical connection via Ethernet cable allowed access Model S remotely FT manipulate speedometer show display wrong speed lower raise windows lock unlock turn car on or off low speeds 5 mph shut car down turned all instruments displays black engaged emergency brake stop higher speeds screens went blank electric drive disengaged power steering driver steer safely to the roadside Tesla issued a patch update cars researchers update its control software so quickly unique over-the-air software update capability built into all Model S cars conventional carmakers change their software exception for non-critical updates infotainment systems owners can install via USB drive security team security research community protect our systems vulnerabilities stress-testing validating updating our safeguards Lookout's research test for vulnerabilities developed an update vulnerabilities available to all Model S customers over-the-air update deployed to all vehicles /

Best Pebble apps

Credit: TechRadar

Pebble smartwatch — runaway Kickstarter success twice — first with the original Pebble & more recently with Pebble Time — has thousands of watch faces available, & almost as many apps. Here are some of the best of them:

http://www.wareable.com/apps/the-best-apps-for-pebble-and-pebble-steel

http://www.techradar.com/au/news/wearables/10-best-pebble-apps-2015-1286303/1

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2430329,00.asp

https://recombu.com/mobile/article/best-pebble-time-apps-and-how-to-download-apps / Eventbrite Pebble Time Timeline user interface UI CEO Eric Migicovsky Pebble Classic Jawbone's Up range of fitness bands TripAdvisor Evernote PayPal Battey+ Cards for Pebble Domino's Pizza tracker Misfit fitness tracker step counter Twebble Twitter feed tracker Morpheuz smart alarm accelerometer track your sleep patterns beam results to your phone sync with Apple's HealthKit platform wake Music Boss control music Pebble Locker Huebble Hue light bulbs globes Movable pedometer, calorie counter personal trainer Pixel Miner game Pebble Nav navigation navigate gps Huebble smart home Huebble Internet of things Philips Hue lights Kronos music Sonos system Kronos remote change tracks adjust volume queue next tune Aerotracker Pro fitness tracker PebbleAuth 2 two step authentication privacy security Dashboard quick settings panel Android direct access WiFi Bluetooth volume mute phone meeting remaining battery life Find Phone sound ping device shrill beep CatchOneBus public transport timetable free FitCat game fitness tracker move full color Pebble Time Glance notification apps time, weather missed messages calendar entries reply to text messages Pebble store is heavily featuring JavaPay official Starbucks app scannable third-party data loyalty cards boarding passes unofficial Starbucks card app Maptastic scroll zoom maps Pebble Transport Uber taxi Pinywings RunKeeper athletes sync synchronizes runs walks hikes cloud database Strike Force full colour full-color Pebble shooter watch accelerometer arcade game wiggling your wrist around Toggles mute phone toggle Wi-Fi turn on flashlight find lost device Weather Radar Wunderground.com animated weather radar images Yelp Flights TripIt Pebtris smartwatch Tetris! Mr Runner Up game Tiny Bird Flappy Bird Nav Me Leaf navigation /

Crowd funding — some successes — some failures — some fraud

Credit: Smarty Ring/IndieGoGo

Crowd funding has had some spectacular sucesses, but it has a darker side too.

A device called Smarty Ring, for which funding ended in December 2013, was still attracting vitriolic comments from unhappy backers on IndieGoGo, just days ago:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smarty-ring--3/x/9010251#/story

Reddit too:
https://www.reddit.com/r/smartyscam/comments/3fu76v/the_smarty_ring_scam/

Well, if you had the good fortune to miss out on throwing your money away on that thing, you may also have missed out again on an essentially identical campaign which ended in March 2014. Nothing appears to have changed, including the promises, & the IndieGoGo page address differs by only one character. Only good news: less than half as much funding raised the second time:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smarty-ring--4/x/9010251#/story

What can we learn from this?

1. When you back a crowd-funded project on Kickstarter, IndieGoGo or anywhere else, you are not purchasing a product. Typically, you are funding its development &/or production. This is why you are referred to as a "backer", or "supporter", & anything you receive for your "support" is called a "perk", or a "reward", rather than a "purchase".

2. Any rights you would normally have as a consumer purchasing a product online are probably not applicable.

3. Even if consumer rights, or other means of legal recourse, are applicable where you live, they may not be applicable, or practical to enforce, if the project creator lives in another country.

4. Projects which have gone bad have caused crowd funding sites to recognise that they are not able to guarantee the safety of supporter's funds & any undertakings they may have given in the past have been removed from their websites.

5. When you back a crowd funded project you are taking a gamble on the honesty & competence of the project creator. Although there have been some spectacular successes, such as the Pebble smart watches, there have also been a range off lesser successes down to non-delivery of product.

How can you protect yourself?

1. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

2. If you are interested in a project, check for:
● similar products on group funding sites — sometimes a failed project will re-appear on a different crowd-funder, or even the same one, with, or without, a name change — plus some projects have many competitors, some of which may suit you better — just check the number of wallets & watches
● other projects by the same project creator — were they successful?
● projects which are identical down to name, branding, & project description as in the Smarty Ring projects
● reviews of a prototype on recognized tech websites

3. Don't allow yourself be influenced by, "it will be $x more expensive after the project ends". Much better to pay 10% more for a product after all of the bugs have been worked out & it enters conventional production, than to lose 100% of a contribution as a backer. / crowdfunding finance crowd funding crowdfunding research development design designer develop engineer engineering fraud scam con lie lies scamming funding campaign Kobe Red Japanese beer fed jerky creator creator’s names sloppy sideshow generic stock images photos footage project founders didn’t sound right sounded weird fraud scam criminal /

Tesla’s robotic metal snake charger

Tesla has been looking at automating the charging process.



This has been in devlopment for some time. Ultimate aim is to have the Model S drop the driver at the door, park itself in the garage & then be plugged in & charged automatically.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/31/7474057/elon-musk-says-tesla-automatic-car-charger-solid-metal-snake

Others are looking at standard industrial robots.

http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/faster-charging-for-electric-vehicles.html

Which one would fit in your garage? / charge recharge LiIon lithium ion range performance Tesla Model S Elon Musk Tesla automatic charger moves like a solid metal snake Elon Musk is from the future possibly not from this planet tweeted Tesla working on automatic charging system extend from the wall connect plug in Model S like a solid metal snake work with all existing Model S vehicles designed Supercharging Supercharger station home use P85D Model S automatic electrically actuated charger port door drop its driver off automatically park itself garage automatic door part of a self-charging systemsolid metal snake automatic doors battery swaps launch /

Going off the grid — a case study

Solar collection includes 4kW of ground mounted panels, optimised for winter sun, at a slope of 45 degrees
Credit: Dr Gordon Weiss, Principal Consultant with Energetics/One Step Off The Grid

Recently on these pages I discussed some of the issues to be considered when contemplating reduced dependence on the grid, or, (a little tongue-in-cheek) going off-grid altogether.

When Dr Gordon Weiss was considering utility connection for his weekender, with grid connection priced around $270,000-$300,000, going off grid became very attractive. “That’s a lot of solar panels & batteries!” As suggested in my previous article, a fossil fueled generator (5 kVa diesel) was required to cope with extended cloudy weather.

http://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/despite-the-tesla-hype-going-off-grid-is-not-that-simple/ / Dr Gordon Weiss Principal Consultant Energetics carbon and energy management large energy users manage carbon emissions energy costs designed built off-grid system home beautiful Blue Mountains techs technology specs specifications his system Tesla PowerWall energy storage low cost batteries advantage householders widespread defection from the electricity grid building a weekender home Megalong Valley Blue Mountains, NSW property sub-divided farmland no grid connection water phone sewerage connection construct modern house utilities supply power occupied local network service provider 2 km HV power line local 25 kVa substation cost of around $300,000 solar panels batteries designing off-grid solar power supply off-grid solar PV supply photovoltaic photo voltaic typical daily electricity consumption typical consumption overnight size of both the solar panels battery capacity peak power demand of the house inverters batteries sufficiently large instantaneous peak demand expected weather patterns cloudiness trade-off between battery size likely use backup generator top up batteries graph average daily solar exposure sunlight sun light insolation Little Hartley closest weather station periods cloud cover reduced the solar exposure several days much lower solar exposure winter compared to summer placing the solar panels horizontal angle to the latitude maximise the power generated over the course of a year system design solar PV system 3kW panels roof slope of 11 degrees 4kW ground mounted panels slope of 45 degrees orientated due north purpose ground mounted panels catch maximum winter sun modelling demand house average demand during the year 15 kWh average Australian house design included extensive LED lighting no air conditioning no electrically powered space heating LEDs additional hours of darkness in winter average power demand time of year 20% greater than the summer demand performance of the system in winter inverters batteries diesel generator other elements our system Kaco Powador grid invertors Selectronic SP PRO inverter-charger 32 kWh battery storage batteries are gel-acid depth of discharge battery service life effective storage capacity 20 kWh extended cloudy days backup 5 kVa diesel generator size solar panel array capacity batteries was determined using HOMER free former US Department of Energy program optimising off-grid systems design likely hourly power demand hourly solar exposure cost system including cost of fuel perform four month period maximum instantaneous power demand 12 kW in-rush current of an electric motor other household appliances electric kettles highlight importance correctly sizing the system undersized system shut-down power demand was too high graph operation of the solar PV system several important features system design batteries fully charged state of charge equals 100% output solar panels constrained just meets the load evening peak partially discharge the batteries overnight load refrigerators aerator waste treatment system morning peak before there is any output from the solar panels significant daytime load solar panels fully recharge batteries mid-afternoon challenge of cloudy days data challenges off-grid when Sun is not shining household load greater overnight batteries just over 40% charged morning load rose system inverter-charger shut down the load protect the batteries diesel generator raise the state of charge batteries external supply graph generator tested test-run generator cloudiness recharge the batteries night time impact of cloudy days occupied unoccupied reduced power demand solar panels fully recharge batteries very cloudy days solar panels some output total generation cloudy days instantaneous outputs recharging sunny days batteries charged cloudy period 2 kW spikes small hot water heater maintain water temperature panels recharge batteries cloudy days more panels installed better the system can deal morning power demand reduces probability generator will be required trade-off size panels storage capacity experience going off-grid conclusions understand daily seasonal power demand properly size the system smaller demand solar array batteries capacity average daily demand house adequate except very cloudy days solar panels run house recharge batteries larger array morning power demand alternative spending $270,000 grid connection watching the system in action comes out on paper go off-grid install as many batteries as they can afford minimise use back-up generator /

Best Android camera apps — 2015

Credit: Android Central

In most cases, the camera app supplied with your phone will be completely adequate for your photographic needs. On the other hand, there are many other camera apps available which add a range of features, including panorama, a range of filters & effects, the ability to set ISO, & exposure compensation.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Best-Android-camera-apps-camera-replacement-2015-edition_id41120#6rKlRoLMZuOqI7wr.99

http://www.androidcentral.com/best-photography-apps-android

http://www.androidauthority.com/best-camera-apps-for-android-188148/ / Camu Google Camera Camera Zoom FX IgCameraPro Camera FV-5 Perfectly Clear ProCapture Camera Awesome Vignette Google Photos Instagram VSCO Cam Camera 2 Snapseed Pixlr Camera MX Camera360 Ultimate Camera Fun Pro Camera JB+ Cymera DSLR Camera Pro GIF Camera HD Camera Ultra Line Camera Open Camera Otaku Camera Paper Camera Snap Camera HD amateur photography taking photos iPhone camera stock camera apps access to exclusive features phone HTC Zoe Samsung’s Drama Shot little different unique take a look at the best camera apps Android our list of best camera apps Android Camera MX feature set professional hobbyist sharing pictures via Google+ Instagram Camera MX best camera apps Android Camera Zoom FX filters effects applying pre-made filters effects choose multiple effects create their own filter pre-made highly functional popular. in app purchases among the most popular camera apps Android one of the best go-to camera replacement app Camera360 Ultimate packed full of features updated it recently more settings better camera experience all the standard features filters and effects niche market filters available fun theme more serious artistic filters effects taking the picture adding the effects got the shot take the picture professional filters fun pictures popular camera AOSP Jelly Bean camera three camera modes regular shot video capture panorama mode lightweight image editor built in minor adjustments images stock Android camera recommend KitKat Camera KK app free in app purchases camera apps for Android popular downloads Cymera most popular camera apps camera apps focuses faces standard features filters effects editing face shots set of features and filters camera application software DSLR camera change ISO exposure compensation white balance grids gama contrast HDR high dynamic range color effects geotagging features hardware app supports features device camera Internet GIF open source software /