Charleston County in South Carolina will be the first local government in the U.S. to replace all its paperwork with the iPad 2. The county expects a total savings of 50% off its normal paper and personnel costs of $27,000 each year.

The plan will involve buying 15 iPad 2's for its council members at a cost of $900 each.

I applaud their innovation, but why exactly are they buying iPad 2's at an 80% mark up? Then again, this fits the government stereotype of somehow always managing to spend more money than necessary.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Ame's Laboratory have announced they've managed to increase engine efficiency by 25% by using rare earth materials Cerium and Ytterbium. The development promises to greatly increase motor efficiency in vehicles of all kinds, including military ones. They may even find an application in large power generators eventually.  

Regarding Cerium and Ytterbium, most everyday people don't run across those words very often, but they are part of a group of 15 lanthanides key to the functioning of our modern civilization. These materials are mandatory ingredients in pretty much every new electronic device invented. Some of the bewildering array of applications include civilian uses such as smartphones, tablets, hybrid car components and fiber-optic cables running under the ocean connecting the global Internet. Military applications include lasers, night vision goggles, navy warship engine propulsion, superconductors...you name it.

The reason I mention all ...

read more

The practice of dictators rushing out the door with all the money might be coming to an end. Switzerland has frozen the assets of now former Egyptian strongman Mubarak, as well as those belonging to Tunisia's former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Switzerland has been trying to distance itself from its long-earned reputation being a haven for ill-gotten wealth. And of course, the billion dollar question is...what's going to happen to all that money? 

Remind me never to buy vacation property in New York. A New York court has ruled that a Connecticut couple must pay an extra $1.06 million in taxes because they own a summer home on Long Island only used a few days out of the year. In effect, the city is redefining what a "permanent residence" is retroactively against the expectations of vacation home purchasers.

"Mr. Pinto ruled that the couple's Long Island vacation home qualifies under the law as a permanent abode because it was suitable for living year-round—whether or not the couple actually stayed in the home wasn't relevant. Under the ruling, if an owner doesn't spend a single day in a home it could still count toward a permanent residence (emphasis added)."

I'm sure this ruling will do wonders for New York's real estate market.

(h/t Instapundit)

Life is full of competing priorities. If it isn't one thing, it's another. This New York Times article summarizes nicely what's going with wind energy in Texas. My home state is probably the best positioned in the U.S. to exploit wind. However, the Texas panhandle and West Texas have insufficient power transmission lines to transport the energy generated. They need a $5 billion infusion for that construction. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy complains that Texas coastal wind turbines can interfere with their radar. Environmentalists don't like the wind turbines because they kill lots of birds. As fate would have it, birds use strong wind paths as migratory routes. And finally, wind turbine builders worry about the corrosive salt fogs of the coast and the frequent hurricanes.

In the past, Texas has been referred to as the Saudi Arabia of wind power in terms of potential ...

read more

I always knew the acceleration problems reported on Toyotas were all just hype. I've owned two Toyotas so far. Over the years, I've suffered absolutely zero issues. My only car expenses are oil changes and standard maintenance. As always, while drummed up hysteria spreads like wildfire, the truth limps after it quietly.  Reuters also covers the topic here. 

The U.S. military's research arm DARPA has requested hackers help keep the Internet secure. The agency hopes to crowdsource security issues by enlisting hackers, hobbyists and startup companies in a program called "Cyber Fast Track" which will reward security research done in a short time for a small price. Participants and awardees will retain the rights to their work.

Corporations and organizations are finally awakening to the great creative resources that a dedicated community can bring to any topic. Microsoft's Kinect is a classic case in point for the benefits of crowdsourcing.

Photo by d70focus/Flickr

NASA and GM will reveal their new humanoid "Robonaut 2" on television during a GM commercial spot. Robonaut 2 will work alongside both astronauts and car assembly line workers. The new robot works 4 times as fast as its predecessor and boasts fully-functional hands. Robonaut 2 will be responsible for all the most dangerous "poor sucker" jobs out in NASA and the car industry.

Don't these guys know that by positioning robots all over the manufacturing industry, they're just making it easier for Skynet to take over? 

It's funny how these humanoid robots often evoke an emotional response. Just look at this guy below. The instant I saw this picture, my automatic thought was, "Seems like a cool guy."

I stumbled across this interesting article on DoDBuzz and Wall Street Journal about how the Egyptian government (and other authoritarian regimes) hijack the networks of communication companies in order to rally government supporters against freedom protesters. Internet shutdowns are selective, not total. The governments in question allow supporters to organize while forcing communication companies to serve as their messengers and rallying points. Like a weapon, technology is a source for good depending on who is wielding it.

This linked article represents a follow-up to Logic-Cool's entry on January 27. Several major news outlets including Time and CNN reported that China intends to unify 9 cities into one giant super-city of 42 million residents.  

On Thursday, a senior consultant on the project Ma Xiangming clarified that China will not actually unify the governments of the 9 cities. Instead, they simply intend to integrate the public services and transportation.

I haven't been covering the Egyptian protests because I feel so many others are doing it better than I could. I prefer exploring peripheral questions around it.

For example, how do you keep in touch after the government takes down the Internet? PC Magazine asked exactly that question recently. As it turns out, getting access to the Internet might be fairly simple. You just go back to basics.

"In the land of no Internet connection, the man with dial-up is king."

Dial-up modems using basic land lines were the original method for connecting to the Internet. And it's harder to shut down the entire phone system than the Internet. More than a few of you probably have old computers lying around with dial-ups or you could buy an external USB dial-up modem for ~$20-30. 

Protestors have been able to get online through various creative methods including fax and ...

read more

Good. "Presuming Consent" of any person is Orwellian no matter the topic, though in terms of organ transplants it wouldn't be the end of free civilization as we know it, were it to occur in the U.S.

With Obamacare still acting as a massive public distraction, organ donor legislation was one of the health topics flying under the radar last year. Most European countries currently use some form of "presumed consent" of their citizens to be organ donors.

Hopefully, advances in Biology will make the entire discussion moot in the near future. Researchers are already growing cloned organs from stem cells, which would be far superior to a transplanted organ anyway.

In an attempt to stem horrendous levels of animal abuse, China has outlawed all live animal performances thoughout the country. The laundry list of animal malpractices in the Telegraph article make for a bit of grim reading. I would imagine though that black market animal deathmatches will continue under the radar, just as they do here in the U.S.

Make sure to watch the NASA guy kick the cat into the ceiling.

NASA just released an article discussing the future of commercial airliners 25 years from now. I'm just linking it for all the cool futuristic airplane images. Man, if only a concept artist could design the look of our entire world. If you want to skip all the "this is the future blah blah" and go right to the aircraft porn, you can do so here.  

Each concept art comes with an article explaining which company is designing that particular aircraft and for what purpose. Even better, all the photos are downloadable up to 1600x1200 and are in public domain because the government is publishing them (cha-ching!).

All these planes reflect NASA goals for 2030 era aircraft to:

1) Lower engine noise by 71 decibels

2) 75% reduction in pollution emissions

3) 70% reduction in fuel consumption

4) Under 5000 ft of required runway space during landing and take-off

If ...

read more

Irony at its best...but not that hard for government to achieve...over and over again.