Tech Scrape

Toyota Applies the Brakes

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

The company hopes a “smart pedal” will help defuse criticism. In the wake of a massive public-relations nightmare involving brake problems in its cars, Toyota is investigating two more reports this week of unintended acceleration in its vehicles. Both cases involved Priuses: one in Harrison, NY, that resulted in a crash, and the other on an interstate east of San Diego.

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Toyota Applies the Brakes

Hunting Disease Origins with Whole-Genome Sequencing

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Two studies show that complete-genome sequencing can identify disease-causing genes. James Lupski , a physician-scientist who suffers from a neurological disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth, has been searching for the genetic cause of his disease for more than 25 years. Late last year, he finally found it–by sequencing his entire genome. While a number of human genome sequences have been published to date, Lupski’s research is the first to show how whole-genome sequencing can be used to identify the genetic cause of an individual’s disease.

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Hunting Disease Origins with Whole-Genome Sequencing

Gasifying Biomass with Sunlight

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

A solar-driven process could yield far more fuel than conventional biomass production. Sundrop Fuels , a startup based in Louisville, CO, says it has developed a cleaner and more efficient way to turn biomass into synthetic fuels by harnessing the intense heat of the sun to vaporize wood and crop waste. Its process can produce twice the amount of gasoline or diesel per ton of biomass compared to conventional biomass gasification systems, the company claims.

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Gasifying Biomass with Sunlight

Patching the Security Update Process

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Security firm aims to make installing updates as painless and invisible as possible. Recent research shows that the typical PC user needs to install a security update roughly every five days in order to safely use Microsoft Windows and all of the third-party programs that typically run on top of it. In response, a Danish computer security firm says it will soon debut a free new service that silently automates the installation of security updates for dozens of the most commonly used software products.

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Patching the Security Update Process

Catalysts for Plastic Recycling

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Chemical process can recycle PET bottles at lower temperatures. A plastic bottle tossed in the recycling bin may end up being shredded and reused to make a sweater or a carpet, but it won’t be turned into another water bottle. At least not so far. Catalysts being developed by researchers at IBM and Stanford could make it cost-effective to break down polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, plastics into their constituent chemicals for reuse as bottles. The company is working to test its PET-recycling catalyst at a large scale to eventually develop it for industrial use.

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Catalysts for Plastic Recycling

Mapping the Malicious Web

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Analyzing the connections between sites could help spot Web attacks. Over the past couple of years, cybercriminals have increasingly focused on finding ways to inject malicious code into legitimate websites. Typically they’ve done this by embedding code in an editable part of a page and using this code to serve up harmful content from another part of the Web. But this activity can be difficult to spot because websites also increasingly pull in legitimate content, such as ads, videos, or snippets of code, from outside sites.

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Mapping the Malicious Web

Ultra-Efficient Gas Engine Passes Test

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

A novel fuel-injection system achieves 64 miles per gallon. Transonic Combustion , a startup based in Camarillo, TX, has developed a fuel-injection system it says can improve the efficiency of gasoline engines by more than 50 percent. A test vehicle equipped with the technology gets 64 miles per gallon in highway driving, which is far better than more costly gas-electric hybrids , such as the Prius, which gets 48 miles per gallon on the highway.

Getting More from Location Data

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Companies are working to add value to geospatial information. Thanks to smart phones and other mobile devices, the number of applications that make use of geolocation data is exploding. But developers and device makers face new challenges that include determining physical location accurately, turning coordinates into meaningful information, and protecting users’ privacy.

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Getting More from Location Data

Blog – Reflect ‘n’ refract

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:10:00 +0000

The best of the rest from the Physics arXiv this week:

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Blog – Reflect ‘n’ refract

Magnetic Solder to Wire 3-D Chips

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

The lead-free material may make it easier and cheaper to make “stacked” chips with more computing power. A new type of solder can be melted and shaped in three dimensions under the force of a weak magnetic field. Using a magnet to pull the solder up through narrow holes makes it possible to create electrical connections between stacked silicon chips, for example. These three-dimensional chips pack more computing power in a given area, but making connections between them is expensive, a problem that the new solder might address. The solder also contains no lead, and it is stronger than other lead-free solders.