Cideko Air Chatting Keyboard

Cideko announced the device Air keyboard chat, which is a combination of a compact wireless keyboard with gyro mouse, headphones and microphone. Size 142 mm x 88 mm x 29 mm, gadget allows you to chat with your friends without missing a beat, change channels on the TV or PC may not work in another room. Keyboard Light Air Chatting supports effective range of up to 30 meters and produces a 3D motion detection by simply waving in the air. Its lithium-ion battery offers up to 10 hours of operation. Chat Cideko Air Keyboard retails for $ 99.99 each.

                                                                                                     

Posted by:DEEPAK KUMAR

Google Announced SIM Card With A Nexus S In Spain

According to a Spanish site – Engadget Android, Google can be tested by giving some of the engineers of these cards and Nexus S, as shown in the picture below. It seems real, very well.
And here is another thing. If you look closely in below pictures, you’ll notice is a person showing – Google_Es. Now it is quite easy to change the brand carriers, but once again, are the SIM cards described above seem quite ok.
This should not be entirely true, it is taken with a pinch of salt. In addition, the source said that Google could become a virtual operator and the work, either with or Pepephone Simyo – telecom operators in Spain.
Hmm, sounds interesting. If Google is really looking to translate their voice service for the carrier, which may be large. Very, very large

Google Sim Card

Google Sim Card

                                                                                                                                                                                        


Posted my DEEPAK KUMAR

IBM announces the invention of new compounds for semiconductor manufacturing that offer improved environmental benefits

      The invention is a new type of photo-acid generator (PAG) for the production of semiconductors using 193nm lithography. The photo-acid generator is one of several components of a system of chemicals used in the photolithography process to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers. It helps to amplify and clarify the circuit image, which has become a critical and challenging step in semiconductor manufacturing as chip dimensions continue to shrink with each technology generation.

      This new suite of compounds is the industry's first fluorine-free PAG for 193nm lithography chip processing. The compounds used for this process in the industry today are typically flourine-based perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Research has showed that these compounds can persist in the environment and gradually increase in concentration over time. Since IBM's new compounds are fluorine-free, they can offer an environmentally preferable solution for the semiconductor photolithography process.
     IBM's solution is an example of "green chemistry" in action - applying molecular design to invent new more environmentally benign compounds. IBM researchers studied how the molecular structure of existing PFOS- and PFOA-based chemicals functioned as photo-acid generators. They designed an array of alternate chemical structures that would provide the desired performance without the use of fluorine, and then synthesized and tested the newly-formed compounds.
posted by Mirza Ahsan Baig
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/environment/news/fluorinefree_pag_2010.shtml
source

Mango" Arrives with a Wi-Fi Tethering Surprise

The device is specially design for helping in  business  activities.
When Windows Phone 7 was first launched, it received tepid reviews. It was missing key features like the capability to copy and paste text, and many of the core functions of the device like Wi-Fi, Outlook messaging, and general OS performance were lacking.

Now "Mango" is here. "Mango" is a major update with more than 500 changes and updates to the Windows Phone system. That is why Microsoft is now calling it Windows Phone 7.5 instead of Windows Phone 7.




Here is a brief rundown of some of the highlights in "Mango":

• Messaging Threads: Within a messaging exchange between you and another party, you can switch the messaging platform on the fly. You can start off instant messaging, switch to SMS texting, then jump over to Facebook messaging all within one message thread.

• Group Contacts: With "Mango" you can create groups of contacts like "Family", or "Softball Team". You can filter incoming messages in the People Hub using the groups, and you can use the Group as a contact for outbound messages if you want to send an email or text message to the whole group.

• Local Scout: The Maps app in "Mango" has a new tool called Local Scout that identifies places nearby to eat or drink, tourist sites and things to do, and places to shop. You can also use it to plan a trip by finding where you're going to travel on the Maps app ahead of time and then using Local Scout to discover what's near there.

• Multitasking: "Mango" brings multitasking to Windows Phone 7 beyond the core functions of the OS. It's not "true multitasking", but it is precisely the right kind of multitasking for a smartphone OS.

• Speech Recognition: There is little you can't do just using voice commands with "Mango". The speech recognition functions allow you to place calls, open apps, search the Web, or get directions to a restaurant without touching the smartphone. You can also speak text messages, and have incoming messages read out loud so you can text while driving without touching the phone or taking your eyes off the road.
• Visual Search: "Mango" can do neat things like scan Microsoft Tags and QR codes, automatically identify and find information on books, CDs, and DVDs just by "looking" at the cover, and translate text to and from just about any language.

This list just scratches the surface of the 500 changes and updates in "Mango". Microsoft also surprised us all with a few bonus features that it had been holding up its sleeve. Microsoft launched a Web Marketplace for apps, and added Wi-Fi tethering capabilities.
The ability to piggyback on the 3G (or 4G) wireless connection to get other devices online can come in handy on occasion. Whether or not the tethering is allowed, or what it will cost will vary with your wireless provider, though, and there are some reports that the Wi-Fi implementation in "Mango" may have some other limitations to consider.
If you have a Windows Phone 7 device, you will love the "Mango" update. If you looked at Windows Phone 7 before and didn't like it, you owe it to yourself to look again next time you're in the market for a new smartphone. If you have never looked at Windows Phone 7, go check it out.
It's not perfect, but with "Mango" Microsoft might actually have a mobile OS that can contend head to head with iOS and Android.
poted by Mirza Ahsan Baig 
source is http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/240735/mango_arrives_with_a_wifi_tethering_surprise.html

Fly the eco-friendly skies

MIT-led team designs airplanes that would use 70 percent less fuel than current models.

MIT’s D “double bubble” series design concept is based on a modified “tube-and-wing” structure that has a very wide fuselage to provide extra lift. The aircraft would be used for domestic flights to carry 180 passengers in a coach cabin roomier than that of a Boeing 737-800.
Image: MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences

In what could set the stage for a fundamental shift in commercial aviation, an MIT-led team has designed a green airplane that is estimated to use 70 percent less fuel than current planes while also reducing noise and emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx).

The design was one of two that the team, led by faculty from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, presented to NASA last month as part of a $2.1 million research contract to develop environmental and performance concepts that will help guide the agency’s aeronautics research over the next 25 years. Known as “N+3” to denote three generations beyond today’s commercial transport fleet, the research program is aimed at identifying key technologies, such as advanced airframe configurations and propulsion systems, that will enable greener airplanes to take flight around 2035. 

MIT was the only university to lead one of the six U.S. teams that won contracts from NASA in October 2008. Four teams — led by MIT, Boeing, GE Aviation and Northrop Grumman, respectively — studied concepts for subsonic (slower than the speed of sound) commercial planes, while teams led by Boeing and Lockheed-Martin studied concepts for supersonic (faster than the speed of sound) commercial aircraft. Led by AeroAstro faculty and students, including principal investigator Ed Greitzer, the H. Nelson Slater Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the MIT team members include Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation and Pratt & Whitney. 

Their objective was to develop concepts for, and evaluate the potential of, quieter subsonic commercial planes that would burn 70 percent less fuel and emit 75 percent less NOx than today’s commercial planes. NASA also wanted an aircraft that could take off from shorter runways. Designing an airplane that could meet NASA’s aggressive criteria while accounting for the changes in air travel in 2035 — when air traffic is expected to double — would require “a radical change,” according to Greitzer. Although automobiles have undergone extensive design changes over the last half-century, “aircraft silhouettes have basically remained the same over the past 50 years,” he said, describing the traditional, easily recognizable “tube-and-wing” structure of an aircraft’s wings and fuselage.

Two planes for two missions

The MIT team met NASA’s challenge by developing two designs: the 180-passenger D “double bubble” series to replace the Boeing 737 class aircraft, currently used for domestic flights, and the 350 passenger H “hybrid wing body” series to replace the 777 class aircraft now used for international flights. 

The engineers conceived of the D series by reconfiguring the tube-and-wing structure. Instead of using a single fuselage cylinder, they used two partial cylinders placed side by side to create a wider structure whose cross-section resembles two soap bubbles joined together. They also moved the engines from the usual wing-mounted locations to the rear of the fuselage. Unlike the engines on most transport aircraft that take in the high-speed, undisturbed air flow, the D-series engines take in slower moving air that is present in the wake of the fuselage. Known as the Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI), this technique allows the engines to use less fuel for the same amount of thrust, although the design has several practical drawbacks, such as creating more engine stress.

According to Mark Drela, the Terry L. Kohler Professor of Fluid Dynamics and lead designer of the D series, the design mitigates some of the drawbacks of the BLI technique by traveling about 10 percent slower than a 737. To further reduce the drag and amount of fuel that the plane burns, the D series features longer, skinnier wings and a smaller tail. Independently, each tweak might not amount to much, but the “little 5-percent changes add up to one big change,” Drela said. Although the plane would travel slightly slower than a 737, he said that some of this time could be recovered because the plane’s wider size should allow for quicker loading and unloading.

Not only does the D series meet NASA’s long-term fuel burn, emissions reduction and runway length objectives, but it could also offer large benefits in the near future because the MIT team designed two versions: a higher technology version with 70 percent fuel-burn reduction, and a version that could be built with conventional aluminum and current jet technology that would burn 50 percent less fuel and might be more attractive as a lower risk, near-term alternative.

Carl Burleson, the director of the Federal Aviation Agency’s Office of Environment and Energy, said that in addition to its “really good environmental performance,” the D series is impressive because its bubble design is similar enough to the tube-and-wing structure of current planes that it should be easier to integrate into airport infrastructure than more radical designs. “You have to think about how an airport structure can support it,” he said. “ For some other designs, you could have to fundamentally reshape the gates at airports because the planes are configured so differently.”

Although the H series utilizes much of the same technology as the D series, including BLI, a larger design is needed for this plane to carry more passengers over longer distances. The MIT team designed a triangular-shaped hybrid wing body aircraft that blends a wider fuselage with the wings for improved aerodyamics.  The large center body creates a forward lift that eliminates the need for a tail to balance the aircraft. 

The large structure also allows engineers to explore different propulsion architectures for the plane, such as a distributed system of multiple smaller engines. Although the H series meets NASA’s emissions-reduction and runway-length goals, the researchers said they will continue to improve the design to meet more of NASA’s objectives.

The MIT team expects to hear from NASA within the next several months about whether it has been selected for the second phase of the program, which will provide additional funds to one or two of the subsonic teams in 2011 to research and develop the technologies identified during the first phase. The researchers acknowledge that some propulsion system technology still needs to be explored. They have proposed evaluating the interactions between the propulsion system and the new aircraft using a large-scale NASA wind tunnel. Even if the MIT designs are not chosen for the second phase, the researchers hope to continue to develop them, including testing smaller models at MIT’s Wright Brothers’ Wind Tunnel and collaborating with manufacturers to explore how to make the concepts a reality. 

posted by : Mirza Hassan Baig

source: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/nplus3-0517.html

Toshiba 8GB Thrive 10.1" tablet computerss

PDA01U-00201F 8GB (Black)

Toshiba's powerful 10.1" 8GB Thrive tablet computer is the perfect portable companion for getting an incredible video, music, game, e-reader, GPS, web browser, camera, photo display, and. . . well, everything device. . . that's as easy to use as it is versatile. An ultra-fast dual core processor and video card make sure things run smoothly, while front and rear cameras, built-in Wi-Fi, Mobile Hotspot compatibility, Bluetooth, dual USB, and an HDMI output make connecting easy. With so much packed into a thin body, it's easy to see why they call it Thrive.

Watch, listen, browse, read, play, navigate…

What is a tablet for? With the Toshiba Thrive 10.1" 8GB tablet it would be easier to list what it's not for. The 10.1" 1280 x 800p LED multi-touch screen is perfect for watching your favorite movies, viewing and showing off photos, browsing the web through the built-in Wi-Fi connection or a Mobile Hotspot, playing games, viewing Adobe Flash content online, planning and navigating on your next trip, reading your favorite books, and doing any of a thousand other things with apps and games available not only through the Android Market, but also Toshiba's complementary Marketplace just for Thrive users. Oh, and did we mention all this is easy to do? With the Android Honeycomb OS, built especially for tablets, you can tap, swipe, type, and even talk your way through your favorite tasks.

More than just a pretty face

The Thrive tablet is more than just a good looking, easy-to-use tablet. It's sporting some serious hardware to back everything up. NVIDIA's 2.1GHz Tegra 2 dual-core processor for tablets is at the heart of this ultra-fast device, enabling you to multi-task like a pro without running into lag or slowdown. An NVIDIA GeForce graphics processor makes sure your videos and games look good and run smoothly. A front 2-megapixel camera and rear 5-megapixel camera let you video chat with friends and family in high-definition, grab photos, and even record 720p video. A variety of motion sensors help make sure your favorite apps always know what's going on: a built-in GPS receiver and compass make sure you can always find where you are (and where you're going) with Google Maps, and an accelerometer and 360° tilt rotation let you get the most out of games, while letting you position your screen in portrait or landscape mode.

It's got connections

Getting the Thrive connected to other devices doesn't require a lot of extra accessories or expensive data plans. USB 2.0, and mini-USB ports let you connect with any computer to transfer files on or off your tablet, and a built-in HDMI port lets you easily connect your Thrive to pretty much any HD television. With built-in Wi-Fi and Mobile Hotspot capabilities, getting online is as simple, and Bluetooth capabilities let you connect to other enabled devices — from computers, laptops, smart phones, and more to accessories like keyboards, wireless headphones, and more. An SD card slot gives you the ability to get more storage for those times when 8GB just isn't quite enough, and an easily replaceable (and rechargeable) Lithium-ion battery lets you easily extend the Thrive's operating life.

Posted by : Mirza Hassan Baig

source: http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/563928994/toshiba-pda01u-00201f-8gb?srccode=cii_5784816&cpncode=28-93599877-2&v_c=PriceGrabber

Given the drastic changes in windows 8

Can not wait to try Windows 8? You can immediately try it, because Microsoft will upload a special version for developers. Microsoft's Windows 8 will upload the Developer Preview, to be tried by the users is limited. But be warned if the operating system is still in beta form so it is probable there are still many bugs.

Microsoft announced a Windows 8 in the event Build conference in Anaheim, California. The giant technology company explained that the latest generation of OS is the solution of the tablet, laptop and desktop, and built for the touch screen or keyboard. Some new features of Windows 8 already include the user interface, faster boot times less than eight seconds, Windows Store for such applications, support for ARM and Intel hardware, and much more. Build a conference visitors already tried Windows Developer Preview 8, but Microsoft will not restrict access, because they will also be uploading them to be tried by all users.

Microsoft will post a link to download the raw version of the OS. Developer Preview Windows 8 will be available in configurations 32 and 64-bit. Even so, users will be celebrated, because Windows Developer Preview 8 is not a finished product. There are still many bugs and things that have not been compatible on the OS. Microsoft's party was also not offer technical support to the OS.

Posted by:Vikash Kumar

NASA Plans to Build the Biggest Rocket

NASA plans to show the world's largest rocket, designed for the flight to the Moon and Mars. NASA has shown an animation of a Space Launch System (SLS) as high as 320 feet, which may be the biggest after the Saturn V rocket that has a height 363 feet. According to NASA, the new rocket designed to carry out flights in low Earth orbit, and then to the Moon, asteroids and even to Mars.

According to NASA, the initial version of the rocket will be able to lift 77 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit, using the technology development results from the Apollo era rockets. "This is what makes the project becomes less expensive, and most importantly, the Congress of the United States has budgeted a 9 percent from the summer of NASA's budget for this project.

Two rocket thrusters on the side of the main rocket was still using the same technology as the space shuttle, only slightly higher. Besides the five-fueled engines 'hydrogen / oxygen' rocket engines are also the same as that used by the shuttle. It also used the J-2X engine, the engine is also used by the rockets that flew in 1960 and 1970 era.

Although there is no special mission planned for this new rocket, but the NASA said that they will pilot rocket in 2017, and started to launch officially in 2021.  One purpose of this is rocket flight to an asteroid in 2025. However, for a period of time is certainly much happens in the financial sector. Then there will also be strong competition from the private sector.

Currently NASA wants to continue to develop the capability of the rockets that have not named them. Perhaps also the U.S. space agency will hold a competition for designers and engineers to develop the giant rocket, weighing 130 tonnes.

Posted by:Vikash Kumar

L.E.D(LIGHT EMITTING DIODES)

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component in 1962,visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness.The LED consists of a chip of semiconducting material dopedp-n junction. As in other diodes, current flows easily from the p-side, or anode, to the n-side, or cathode, but not in the reverse direction. Charge-carriers—electrons and holes—flow into the junction from electrodes with different voltages. When an electron meets a hole, it falls into a lower energy level, and releases energy in the form of a photon.

Types:

Miniature:

These are mostly single-die LEDs used as indicators, and they come in various-sizes from 2 mm to 8 mm, through-hole and surface mount packages. They are usually simple in design, not requiring any separate cooling body. Typical current ratings ranges from around 1 mA to above 20 mA. The small scale sets a natural upper boundary on power consumption due to heat caused by the high current density and need for heat sinking.

Mid-range:

 Medium power LEDs are often through-hole mounted and used when an output of a few lumen is needed. They sometimes have the diode mounted to four leads (two cathode leads, two anode leads) for better heat conduction and carry an integrated lens. An example of this is the Superflux package, from Philips Lumileds. These LEDs are most commonly used in light panels, emergency lighting and automotive tail-lights. Due to the larger amount of metal in the LED, they are able to handle higher currents (around 100 mA). The higher current allows for the higher light output required for tail-lights and emergency lighting

High power:

High power LEDs (HPLED) can be driven at currents from hundreds of mA to more than an ampere, compared with the tens of mA for other LEDs. Some can emit over a thousand lumens. Since overheating is destructive, the HPLEDs must be mounted on a heat sink to allow for heat dissipation. If the heat from a HPLED is not removed, the device will fail in seconds. One HPLED can often replace an incandescent bulb in a torch, or be set in an array to form a powerful LED lamp.

Some well-known HPLEDs in this category are the Lumileds Rebel Led, Osram Opto Semiconductors Golden Dragon and Cree X-lamp. As of September 2009 some HPLEDs manufactured by Cree Inc. now exceed 105 lm/W (e.g. the XLamp XP-G LED chip emitting Cool White light) and are being sold in lamps intended to replace incandescent, halogen, and even fluorescent lights, as LEDs grow more cost competitive.

Advantages:

 

• Efficiency: LEDs emit more light per watt than incandescent light bulbs. Their efficiency is not affected by shape and size, unlike fluorescent light bulbs or tubes.
• Color: LEDs can emit light of an intended color without using any color filters as traditional lighting methods need. This is more efficient and can lower initial costs.
• Size: LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm) and are easily populated onto printed circuit boards.
• On/Off time: LEDs light up very quickly. A typical red indicator LED will achieve full brightness in under a microsecond. LEDs used in communications devices can have even faster response times.
• Cycling: LEDs are ideal for uses subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that fail faster when cycled often, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.
• Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by pulse-width modulation or lowering the forward current.
• Cool light: In contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in the form of IR that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics. Wasted energy is dispersed as heat through the base of the LED.
• Slow failure: LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than the abrupt failure of incandescent bulbs.
• Lifetime: LEDs can have a relatively long useful life. One report estimates 35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may be longer.Fluorescent tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 to 15,000 hours, depending partly on the conditions of use, and incandescent light bulbs at 1,000–2,000 hours.
• Shock resistance: LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs which are fragile.
• Focus: The solid package of the LED can be designed to focus its light. Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable manner.

Disadvantages:

• High initial price: LEDs are currently more expensive, price per lumen, on an initial capital cost basis, than most conventional lighting technologies. The additional expense partially stems from the relatively low lumen output and the drive circuitry and power supplies needed.
• Temperature dependence: LED performance largely depends on the ambient temperature of the operating environment. Over-driving an LED in high ambient temperatures may result in overheating the LED package, eventually leading to device failure. Adequate heat sinking is needed to maintain long life. This is especially important in automotive, medical, and military uses where devices must operate over a wide range of temperatures, and need low failure rates.
• Voltage sensitivity: LEDs must be supplied with the voltage above the threshold and a current below the rating. This can involve series resistors or current-regulated power supplies.
• Light quality: Most cool-white LEDs have spectra that differ significantly from a black body radiator like the sun or an incandescent light. The spike at 460 nm and dip at 500 nm can cause the color of objects to be perceived differently under cool-white LED illumination than sunlight or incandescent sources, due to metamerism, red surfaces being rendered particularly badly by typical phosphor based cool-white LEDs. However, the color rendering properties of common fluorescent lamps are often inferior to what is now available in state-of-art white LEDs^{[citation needed]}.
• Area light source: LEDs do not approximate a “point source” of light, but rather a lambertian distribution. So LEDs are difficult to apply to uses needing a spherical light field. LEDs cannot provide divergence below a few degrees. In contrast, lasers can emit beams with divergences of 0.2 degrees or less.
• Blue hazard: There is a concern that blue LEDs and cool-white LEDs are now capable of exceeding safe limits of the so-called blue-light hazard as defined in eye safety specifications such as ANSI/IESNA RP-27.1–05: Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamp and Lamp Systems.

• Electrical Polarity: Unlike incandescent light bulbs, which illuminate regardless of the electrical polarity, LEDs will only light with correct electrical polarity.

• Blue pollution: Because cool-white LEDs (i.e., LEDs with high color temperature) emit proportionally more blue light than conventional outdoor light sources such as high-pressure sodium vapor lamps, the strong wavelength dependence of Rayleigh scattering means that cool-white LEDs can cause more light pollution than other light sources. The International Dark-Sky Association discourages using white light sources with correlated color temperature above 3,000 K.^{[not in citation given]}
• Droop: The efficiency of LEDs tends to decrease as one increases current. 
•  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.E.D.
•  
• POSTED BY: ABDUL ZAHIR JAN MAGSI

Laser fusion trio team up to develop clean power

There's a big new kid on the nuclear energy block. Last week British firmAWE (formerly the Atomic Weapons Establishment), based in Aldermaston, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, UK, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California said they would team up to develop laser fusion as a clean energy source.

Laser fusion is an alternative to magnetically induced nuclear fusion, which is used in the Joint European Torus (JET) now operating in Culham, UK, and the test reactor ITER, under construction in Cadarache, France.

Historically, laser fusion has been used focused mostly for weapons testing, while power generation research has concentrated on magnetic fusion. Is that about to change? New Scientist has the answers.

What is laser fusion?
At high temperatures and pressures, the nuclei of the heavy hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium form a plasma and can be fused to form helium, releasing energy and a neutron. Firing a synchronised barrage of laser pulses can vaporise the surface of a pellet filled with these isotopes, forcing the pellet to implode and so producing fusion conditions inside the pellet for a few billionths of a second.

The physics resembles the detonation of a thermonuclear (or hydrogen) bomb – although on a much smaller scale – and so the US has used laser fusion to simulate these explosions.

What advantages does it have over magnetic fusion?
Magnetic fusion reactors zap heavy hydrogen gas with a powerful electrical pulse to produce a plasma. A strong magnetic field is then required to confine the plasma before fusion can take place. That's hard, because plasmas can quickly leak or become unstable. By contrast, laser fusion produces much higher temperature and pressures, so fusion occurs faster, and the plasma must be confined for only billionths of a second.

Fusion of either kind is attractive as a power source because the fuel is more abundant than uranium, and the process does not produce the highly radioactive isotopes generated by splitting uranium atoms.

What stage is the tech at, and who is working on it?
Laser fusion has been studied since the 1960s, with most US funding coming from the nuclear weapons programme. Today's biggest fusion laser is theNational Ignition Facility (NIF) at Livermore. By the end of next year, Livermore hopes to reach "ignition" by producing more energy from fusion than is needed to generate the laser pulse.

Smaller lasers are used in fusion programmes at Rutherford Appleton, the University of Rochester in New York and Osaka University, Japan; France is building a NIF-sized system called Megajoule Laser. ITER, meanwhile, is a decade from igniting magnetic fusion.

When will laser fusion come to the power grid?
Livermore's Mike Dunne says that if all goes well, a plant delivering about 440 megawatts of electricity could be up and running in a decade; full-scale versions that follow would deliver about 1000 megawatts.

But don't hold your breath. "So far this is at the border of science fiction," says Hans Kristensen, director of the nuclear information project of the Federation of American Scientists. "The technological hurdles are not nearly explored yet."

Is there anything I need to worry about?
Laser fusion reactors will not have a large volume of hot material that might melt down if power failed, as occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan earlier this year. But fusion neutrons are hazardous and will make other materials in the reactor radioactive. The tritium in the fuel is also radioactive: it emits beta particles so is dangerous if inhaled and has a half-life of 12.5 years.

pOSTed by:Deepak pirwani

ABS-(ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SYSTEM)

THE ABS SYSTEMS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED IN 1929 FOR AN AIRCRAFT BY A FRENCH PIONEER GABREIL VOISIN.
There are four main components to an ABS system: Stopping a car in a hurry on a slippery road can be very challenging. Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) take a lot of the challenge out of this sometimes nerve-wracking event. In fact, on slippery surfaces, even professional drivers can't stop as quickly without ABS as an average driver can with ABS.
In this article, the last in a six-part series on brakes, we'll learn all about anti-lock braking systems -- why you need them, what's in them, how they work, some of the common types and some associated problems.

• There are four main components to an ABS system:                  
• Speed sensors
• Pump
• Valves
• Controller

Speed Sensors
The anti-lock braking system needs some way of knowing when a wheel is about to lock up. The speed sensors, which are located at each wheel, or in some cases in the differential, provide this information.Valves
There is a valve in the brake line of each brake controlled by the ABS. On some systems, the valve has three positions:

• In position one, the valve is open; pressure from the master cylinder is passed right through to the brake.
• In position two, the valve blocks the line, isolating that brake from the master cylinder. This prevents the pressure from rising further should the driver push the brake pedal harder.

Pump
Since the valve is able to release pressure from the brakes, there has to be some way to put that pressure back. That is what the pump does; when a valve reduces the pressure in a line, the pump is there to get the pressure back up.

Controller
The controller is a computer in the car. It watches the speed sensors and controls the valves.
ABS at Work
There are many different variations and control algorithms for ABS systems. We will discuss how one of the simpler systems works.
The controller monitors the speed sensors at all times. It is looking for decelerations in the wheel that are out of the ordinary. Right before a wheel locks up, it will experience a rapid deceleration. If left unchecked, the wheel would stop much more quickly than any car could. It might take a car five seconds to stop from 60 mph (96.6 kph) under ideal conditions, but a wheel that locks up could stop spinning in less than a second.
The ABS controller knows that such a rapid deceleration is impossible, so it reduces the pressure to that brake until it sees an acceleration, then it increases the pressure until it sees the deceleration again. It can do this very quickly, before the tire can actually significantly change speed. The result is that the tire slows down at the same rate as the car, with the brakes keeping the tires very near the point at which they will start to lock up. This gives the system maximum braking power.
Pump
Since the valve is able to release pressure from the brakes, there has to be some way to put that pressure back. That is what the pump does; when a valve reduces the pressure in a line, the pump is there to get the pressure back up.

Controller
The controller is a computer in the car. It watches the speed sensors and controls the valves.
ABS at Work
There are many different variations and control algorithms for ABS systems. We will discuss how one of the simpler systems works.
The controller monitors the speed sensors at all times. It is looking for decelerations in the wheel that are out of the ordinary. Right before a wheel locks up, it will experience a rapid deceleration. If left unchecked, the wheel would stop much more quickly than any car could. It might take a car five seconds to stop from 60 mph (96.6 kph) under ideal conditions, but a wheel that locks up could stop spinning in less than a second.
The ABS controller knows that such a rapid deceleration is impossible, so it reduces the pressure to that brake until it sees an acceleration, then it increases the pressure until it sees the deceleration again. It can do this very quickly, before the tire can actually significantly change speed. The result is that the tire slows down at the same rate as the car, with the brakes keeping the tires very near the point at which they will start to lock up. This gives the system maximum braking power.

When the ABS system is in operation you will feel a pulsing in the brake pedal; this comes from the rapid opening and closing of the valves. Some ABS systems can cycle up to 15 times per second.

POSTED BY:ABDUL ZAHIR JAN MAGSI(1112168)BSCS-C
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/brake-types/anti-lock-brake1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-lock_braking_system