Posts Tagged ‘hybrid cars’
Week in review: The top 10 video games of the year
Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
— Game publishers aren’t thrilled that video game sales are down 5 percent year to date. But for gamers, it’s been an awesome year because 2010 saw the debut of some of the best games ever made.
— The Android Market on Google’s Android operating system has been broken for some time. This week, Google said it will fix some of the longstanding problems with an update.
— Just when you thought you’ve seen everything mobile apps have to offer, along comes an entry like Word Lens that makes you feel like you’re in the future. The app instantly translates Spanish into English (and vice versa) whenever you point your iPhone’s camera on text.
— Former WikiLeaks members say they plan to start rival Openleaks as part of an effort to compete for official leaks with WikiLeaks.
— World of Warcraft Cataclysm broke all PC game records, selling more than 3.3 million copies on its first day of sales on Dec. 7.
And here are five more stories we think are important, thought-provoking, fun, or all of the above:
— The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act suggests that electric cars and hybrids might be a little too quiet.
— It seems Google is willing to wait a little longer to fulfill CEO Eric Schmidt’s dream of cars that drive themselves.
— I’ve seen a ton of TV check-in apps in the last few months, so I asked founder and chief executive Alex Iskold how GetGlue will stand out.
— Google is taking a cue from desktop speech recognition software, like the popular Dragon Naturally Speaking program, by bringing personalized voice profiles to Android’s mobile Voice Search app.
— Zynga’s CityVille has become the fastest-growing game in history. And based on an interview with a key Zynga executive, that isn’t an accident.
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Finland’s All-Electric Race Car Charges in Just 10 Minutes
The RaceAbout is slated to compete for the $10 million Progressive Automotive X-Prize starting in April
The four-wheel drive RaceAbout features a 124-mile (200-km) range and can fully charge in just 10 minutes. Its chassis also weighs half as much as similar-sized cars, in part because the direct-drive electric motor eliminates heavy gearboxes. The vehicle also incorporated other lightweight materials and technologies.
RaceAbout came out of the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, but also received help from many Finnish companies. It's just one of 44 teams scheduled to compete in a "shakedown stage" of the X-Prize at the Michigan International Speedway this April.
A final winner will emerge in September for having developed the best production-capable electric vehicle that exceeds 100 MPG. But anyone tired of just being a spectator can already place orders for that get to 60 MPH in five seconds.
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Shortage of Rare Earth Minerals May Cripple U.S. High-Tech, Scientists Warn Congress
On the sunnier side, rare earths could power a future generation of clean tech
China has supplied 91 percent of U.S. consumption of rare earths between 2005 and 2008, and continues to represent the world's largest rare earth exporter. But the Chinese have warned that their own domestic industry appetite for rare earths may eventually force them to stop exporting -- an action that would leave the U.S. high-tech industries crippled without other readily available supplies.
"The United States, not so long ago, was the world leader in producing and exporting rare earths," said Brad Miller, the Democratic Representative from North Carolina and chairman of the subcommittee. "Today, China is the world's leader."
Experts testified that China's state-owned mines had set artificially low prices for the rare earth market, and that Chinese manufacturers had also forced most U.S. rare earth and permanent magnet manufacturers out of business. Rare earth magnets represent a in Toyota's Prius hybrid and other clean tech.
Companies such as IBM have also begun investing in and other technologies that don't require rare earths, partly because of the dangers of relying too much upon foreign suppliers.
But there's also opportunity from investing in rare earths, besides avoiding a supply chain problem. Karl Gschneidner Jr., a senior metallurgist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory in Iowa, called for the creation of a National Research Center on Rare Earths and Energy as well as a National Research Center for Magnetic Cooling.
Magnetic refrigeration is a hot new area for energy-efficient, green technology that can handle cooling and climate control. Cooling below room temperature currently takes up 15 percent of all the energy consumed in the U.S., but the rise of magnetic refrigeration could slash that by 5 percent.
Given all the energy problems with in the Information Age, we also imagine that Google and other companies might welcome magnetic refrigeration with open arms. That is, as long as the U.S. can secure its own domestic rare earth supply or find new overseas suppliers.