Formula E, round 4, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday 10 January 2015 (video)

Qualifying (1:17:40)


Race (55:32)


Complete results, including the race & qualifying:
http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/results/buenos-aires-eprix.aspx / Formula E Buenos Aires Argentina fourth race all electric racing series fourth race Buenos Aires Argentina open wheeler ePrix stadium races F1 FIA electricity sport electric vehicles EV terrific acceleration pass passing possible tracks with tight corners technology range race organizers identical cars Spark-Renault SRT_01E built French company Spark Racing Technology carbon fiber aluminum chassis Dallara electric powertrain electronics McLaren Electronics Systems Williams Advanced Engineering building 200 kiloWatt battery pack batteries powertrain generate 270 horsepower five-speed paddle shift gearbox fixed gear ratios Michelin 18 inch tires wet dry conditions sound 80 decibel whine full grid 20 cars FIA Formula E strategy street courses dedicated circuits tire wear grip management battery life charge prematurely testing drivers learn knowledge teams construction constructors constructing FanBoost pit stop second fully charged car advances in battery technology battery swaps charging battery Renault Michelin DHL Qualcomm Richard Branson Virgin Racing team Leonardo DiCaprio Venturi team lithium ion LiIon battery charge recharge range battery management system BMS /

Reversible USB Type-C finally on its way, alongside USB 3.1’s 10Gbit performance

Credit: ExtremeTech

CES generates a lot of hype about new & interesting gadgets. This year, less spectacular, but more significant than most, is the new USB Type-C connector & associated USB 3.1 standard.

Important new features include:
● reversible connectors
● more power (up from 10W to 100W) means that almost all peripherals can be powered directly by the USB connection — no more power brick for an external drive or USB hub
● higher data rates — up to twice as fast

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/197145-reversible-usb-type-c-finally-on-its-way-alongside-usb-3-1s-10gbit-performance#disqus_thread / CES show practical products USB Type-C connector USB 3.1 standard frustration connect USB devices computers Intel USB Type-C solve this problem universal connector that’s also capable of twice theoretical throughput USB 3.0 provide far more power hybrid cabling USB 3.1 cables backwards compatible disc USB 3.0 ports, Type-C adapters conventional USB new connector signal overhead drop significantly 128-bit and 132-bit encoding scheme PCI-Express 3.0 Type-C USB 3.1 Type-C plug previous standards USB manufacturers adopt expensive 3.0 hardware mobile devices cause confusion mistake one type of port for the other deploy technology mobile phones tablets interfaces consume more power USB controller can be powered down active drawing power PC charging port heat dissipation higher bandwidth higher heat 3W 4W specifications Watt 100W power envelope USB 3.1 more practical value 10Gbps bandwidth capability SSD enclosures conventional mechanical drives SSDs USB 2.0 hard drive slow compared to SATA power bricks connect points sufficiently reinforced external peripheral powered by single cables USB hubs multiple devices higher bandwidth flippable connector power provisioning competition Intel’s Thunderbolt high-speed standard bandwidth RAID TRIM motherboard add-on cards late 2015 early 2016 Type-C connectors disk disc drive /

Formula E, round 4 tomorrow — Buenos Aires, Argentina (update)

Credit: Forza Motorsport

Update: video of the entire race, plus qualifying at:
http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/formula-e-round-4-buenos-aires.html

Buenos Aires, Argentina
Round 4 - Saturday 10 January 2015
Practice 1 - 08:15-09:00 Buenos Aires local time
Practice 2 - 10:30-11:00
Qualifying - 12:00-12:55
Race - 16:00

FIA, Formula E web site:
http://www.fiaformulae.com/en.aspx / Formula E all electric racing series fourth 4th race Buenos Aires, Argentina ePrix stadium races F1 FIA electricity sport electric vehicles EV terrific acceleration pass passing possible tracks with tight corners technology range race organizers identical cars Spark-Renault SRT_01E built French company Spark Racing Technology carbon fiber aluminum chassis Dallara electric powertrain electronics McLaren Electronics Systems Williams Advanced Engineering building 200 kiloWatt battery pack batteries powertrain generate 270 horsepower five-speed paddle shift gearbox fixed gear ratios Michelin 18 inch tires wet dry conditions sound 80 decibel whine full grid 20 cars FIA Formula E strategy street courses dedicated circuits tire wear grip management battery life charge prematurely testing drivers learn knowledge teams construction constructors constructing FanBoost pit stop second fully charged car advances in battery technology battery swaps charging battery Renault Michelin DHL Qualcomm Richard Branson Virgin Racing team Leonardo DiCaprio Venturi team lithium ion LiIon battery charge recharge range battery management system BMS /

Antibiotic drought may be over

Credit: BGLH

There are two problems with antibiotics:
1. lack of new antibiotics — since 1987, no new antibiotic has been approved for clinical practice
2. resistance — hence, “superbug” — e.g. antibiotic-resistant strains of tuberculosis

Together, these two problems have raised the spectre of a future without antibiotics.

Now, a new method of identifying new antibiotics has been developed. Twenty five antibiotics have so far been discovered, using this method, with the promise of more to come.

Teixobactin, most promising of the new antibiotics, works in a way not seen before: by attacking fats which are essential to building the cell wall of bacteria.

Because of this unique method of operation, it is hoped that resistance won’t be a problem. While there are reasons to hope that this may be true, similar claims have been made for many, if not all new antibiotics & antiseptics.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30657486

More on antibiotic-resistance:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/antibiotics/superbugs.htm / decades long drought antibiotic discovery breakthrough US scientists novel method growing bacteria yielded 25 new antibiotics very promising new class antibiotics clinic discovered nearly three decades ago study Nature game changer game-changer experts antibiotic heyday antibiotic discovery 1950s and 1960s into doctor's hands microbes incredibly resistant extensiveley drug resistant tuburculosis medicine soil researchers researcher research Northeastern University Boston Massachusetts source nearly all antibiotics soil teeming with microbes grow grown laboratory lab team created subterranean hotel bacteria bacterium room device buried in soil unique chemistry of soil permeate room study scientists grow nearly half of all soil bacteria chemicals produced microbes dug up researcher's back yard tested for antimicrobial properties lead scientist Prof Kim Lewis 25 new antibiotics discovered method teixobactin latest most promising study shows uncultured cultured bacteria harbour novel chemistry not seen before promising source new antimicrobials revive field antibiotic discovery tests teixobactin toxic to bacteria not mammalian tissues clear deadly dose of MRSA tests on mice human tests needed researchers develop resistance teixobactin targets fats essential building bacterial cell wall difficult to evolve resistance antibiotic evolvedfree of resistance Professor Lewis several independent different tricks minimise resistance development /

Crude oil production costs up — petrol prices down — what's happening?

Credit: Eco News

Supply & demand tells us that rising costs of production lead to higher prices.

Crude oil is getting harder, & more expensive, to extract. Witness investment in tar sands & fracking.

Apparently in contradiction of the preceding 2 paragraphs, crude, petrol (gasolene) & other petroleum fuel prices are at long term lows.

Not surprisingly, those who have invested in the most expensive means of crude production are experiencing cost pressures, leading one commentator to claim that 97% of fracking operations are experiencing a loss at current oil prices:
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/06/1355814/-97-of-fracking-now-operating-at-a-loss-at-current-oil-prices#?detail=facebook

Gail Tverberg, an acturary interested in depletion of oil, natural gas, & water & climate change explains that decreasing quality of oil reserves accounts for falling prices:
http://ourfiniteworld.com/2014/12/29/how-increased-inefficiency-explains-falling-oil-prices/ / If the Saudis crush America America’s shale oil industry West Texas Intermediate 2014 peak $107.73 June dropping as low as $49.77 today New York Mercantile Exchange grade settled at $50.04 a barrel below break even break-even price 38 U.S. shale oilfields Bloomberg New Energy Finance shale oil fracking Canadian tar sand most expensive dirty oil production planet conventional Persian Gulf oil cheapest to produce Warren Henry spokesman Continental frackers spending money faster than they can make current oil prices not a sustainable long term trend Bob Tippeee editor Oil & Gas Journal Saudi Arabia Saudis no incentive lower supply defend price of crude oil not going to rescue the market other major producers Russia Iraq boosted oil production highest levels in decades seems certain low oil prices are here to stay at least for now oil patches red states Texas North Dakota projecting 100,000 layoffs energy sector slump painful regional recession Michael Feroli chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. New York report Texas pumps 37 percent of U.S. oil output IEA International Energy Agency data show oil and gas industry effects housing other businesses majority of Texas energy production conventional means relies heavily on fracking oil rigs shut down U.S. rig count at risk R.T. Dukes an upstream analyst Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Houston tough year for operators employment support services oil and gas operations oil and gas extraction most job creation fracking industry comes up-front job losses before production falls most labor-intensive labor labour intensive oil-field industry construction and completion process new wells bulk of investment provides most income local economy ramifications oil slide companies will complete works in progress according to contract price began crashing layoffs notices Dallas Federal Reserve projects Texas slowdown state budgets Texas Wyoming Louisiana Oklahoma North Dakota Alaska oil sales production sold months years ahead of time temporary drop steep immediate effect when oil futures agreed geology traditional oil drilling shale oil taps out very quickly average decline world's conventional oil fields booming Bakken shale oil field production declines of 70 percent or more in the first year shale gas wells swift depletion rateso drillers plumbing new wells shortfall 2,500 new wells into production every year just to sustain production increasingly become more expensive to drill supplies require a higher breakeven price current price of oil frackers sinking new wells out of business high-yield high yield debt cheap credit shut out of the bond market Gary C. Evans chief executive officer Magnum Hunter Resources Corp funding squeeze increased inefficiency reducd efficiency crowding out effect more resources are required for the increasingly inefficient sectors of the economy, fewer resources are available to the rest of the economy. As a result, wages stagnate or decline. Central banks find it necessary lower interest rates, to keep the economy going /

Samsung phone drop testing

Credit: Samsung/MobileSyrup

You’ve seen endless drop test videos on YouTube. This is how Samsung does it.



http://mobilesyrup.com/2014/10/08/galaxy-note-4-gets-drop-tested-on-camera/ / Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Android OS operating system screen impact crack Galaxy Note 4 is Samsung’s second smartphone metal frame durable device but butt test bend deform sit phablet back pocket robot bum test resilience gravity damage resistant most common cause smartphone deaths fall falling from unsafe height onto hard floor playful animations butt test video real-world footage Samsung’s quality assurance procedures dropping phone smart phone smartphone various angles various heights withstand tumbles consumers Note 4 survives drop in-house testing users damage waterproof /

The Pilgrim's Progress — Kickstarter in 2014

Massoud Hassani’s wind-powered land mine sweeper, funded on Kickstarter, makes it to the Museum of Modern Art
Credit: Rene van der Hulst/Massoud Hassani/Museum of Modern Art, New York

22,252 projects were successfully funded by 3.3 million people with $529 million on Kickstarter last year. Backers were from almost every country on the planet, plus over $10,000 from 36 backers in Antarctica.

And it’s not just technology: other project areas include art, comics, dance, design, fashion, food, games, music, photography, publishing & theatre.

https://www.kickstarter.com/year/2014?ref=yir2014_email / project pledge reward design back backer successfully funded fund /