The under water car Rinspeed sQuba

THE FIRST UNDER WATER         CAR THE sQuba

The sQuba, developed by Swiss company Rinspeed, is the world's first car that can be driven both on land and under water. The original idea by Rinspeed founder and CEO Frank M. Rinderknecht was inspired by the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. The chassis from the Lotus Elise is used as the base for this vehicle.

The sQuba is a zero-emission, all electric vehicle which uses three electric motors, one for land travel, two for water. It drives on land powered by its electric rear-wheel drive powertrain, utilizing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Upon entering water, it floats on the surface until the operator floods the interior to submerge it. It can be submerged to a depth of 10 metres (33 ft), powered by twin electric-powered propellers supplemented by two Seabob water jets.  It "flies" when underwater, like a submarine, as it is not designed to drive along the surface at the bottom of the water. The car's top land speed is 120 km/h (75 mph). On the surface of water, the top speed is 6 km/h (3.2 kn; 3.7 mph) and underwater it is 3 km/h (1.6 kn; 1.9 mph).

The vehicle can transport a driver and passenger in its open cockpit. The open cockpit design is intended to allow the occupants to escape easily in case of emergency. When underwater, the occupants breathe air carried in the vehicle through scuba-style diving regulators. Without occupants, the sQuba will surface automatically. The twin water jets mounted on rotating louvers at the front of the vehicle provide steering and lift while it is underwater and the propellers at the rear provide forward movement.



The vehicle's interior is water and salt resistant so that it can be driven in the ocean..........

The sQuba also comes equipped with a laser sensor system made by autonomous cruise control system manufacturer Ibeo to allow autonomous operation

This new solar-powered device can pull water straight from the desert air

The new solar-powered device

You can’t squeeze blood from a stone, but wringing water from the desert sky is now possible, thanks to a new spongelike device that uses sunlight to suck water vapor from air, even in low humidity. The device can produce nearly 3 liters of water per day, and researchers say future versions will be even better. That means homes in the driest parts of the world could soon have a solar-powered appliance 

capable of delivering all the water they need, offering relief to billions of people.  

There are an estimated 13 trillion liters of water floating in the atmosphere at any one time, equivalent to 10% of all of the freshwater in our planet’s lakes and rivers. Over the years, researchers have developed ways to grab a few trickles, such as using fine nets to wick water from fog banks, or power-hungry dehumidifiers to condense it out of the air. But both approaches require either very humid air or far too much electricity to be broadly useful.

To find an all-purpose solution, researchers led by Omar Yaghi, a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, turned to a family of crystalline powders called metal organic frameworks, or MOFs. Yaghi developed the first MOFs—porous crystals that form continuous 3D networks—more than 20 years ago. The networks assemble in a Tinkertoy-like fashion from metal atoms that act as the hubs and sticklike organic compounds that link the hubs together. By choosing different metals and organics, chemists can dial in the properties of each MOF, controlling what gases bind to them, and how strongly they hold on

US military may use lightsabers and laser weapons by 2025

The lightsabers and laser wepons for us military....

WASHINGTON: A sci-fi staple for decades, laser weapons are finally becoming reality in the US military, albeit with capabilities a little less dramatic than at the movies.

Lightsabers — the favoured weapon of the Jedi in Star Wars films — will remain in the fictional realm for now, but after decades of development, laser weapons are now here and are being deployed on military vehicles and planes.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon — all the big defence players — are developing prototypes for the Pentagon. The Navy has since 2014 been testing a 30-kilowatt laser on one of its warships, the USS Ponce.

Lockheed Martin has just announced a 60-kilowatt laser weapon that soon will be installed on an army truck for operational testing against mortars and small drones.

The weapon can take out a drone from a distance of about 500 yards by keeping its beam locked onto the target for a few seconds, Jim Murdoch, an international business development director at Lockheed apprised reporters.

But unlike in the movies, the laser beam is invisible to the naked eye.

By focusing the beam onto a target, the technology rapidly heats the inside of an incoming mortar round, causing it to explode mid-air. An impressive feat considering the round is moving at hundreds of miles per hour

UK Digital, robotics underscore lagging U.S. development caused by patent ineligibility of software....

UK Digital Strategy initiatives in AI, robotics underscore lagging U.S. development caused bypatent ineligibility of software

Before there was President Donald J. Trump, there was Brexit. It was the first in a growing series of moves towards political nationalism which, despite being widely scoffed at early on, has won enough favor to become today’s political reality. The UK’s planned secession from the European Union (EU) as a result of the country’s referendum vote last June has major economic implications for the country as it releases Britain from a list of regulatory obligations enforced by the EU and allows the country to negotiate bilateral trade agreements, the first time the UK government will have engaged in such negotiations since 1973.

                                                                           

Even as it moves towards leaving the EU, the UK is looking ahead to see where its economic fortunes might lie in the years to come. In late February, the country’s plans came into a bit more focus with the UK’s Department for Culture, Media & Sport announcing a new Digital Strategy tech development policy initiative. The UK cites an artificial intelligence (AI) market research report published last year by Accenture, which notes that intelligent automation, augmentation and total factor productivity innovations could provide £654 billion ($814 billion USD) worth of economic growth by the year 2035. The growth of AI in the UK could be particularly valuable to the country’s strong pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors, according to the Accenture report.

The robots take over comunication ....

Will robots take over communications?

Are all our jobs going to be taken over by robots? Will any skill or profession be safe? What are the implications for how we are schooled, governed and treated in hospitals? And what on earth are we going to do in our cars once they are driverless and don’t require any human intervention? The brave new world of artificial intelligence holds the answer.

In some quarters, it is being called the Fourth Revolution, following those previously brought about by agriculture, industry and the Internet but it is not that new. As a phrase, artificial intelligence (AI) dates back to 1956 and a conference at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, USA.

As an idea, the notion of trying to build a machine to perform useful reasoning may have begun with the Blessed Ramon Llull, a 13th Century philosopher and logician from Majorca. In fiction, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein of 1818 envisaged the creation of a human-made grotesque but sapient monster; Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World of 1931 anticipates the development of reproductive techniques that obviate the need for human parenting.

Govt makes new formula to finish the load-shedding

 Govt makes new formula to finish the load-shedding

Government has made a new strategy, plan to finish the load-shedding as advanced metering and infrastructure would be used.

In first phase, 1 million AMI metres would be set up, which is a technology which would eradicate the electricity theft and also the load-shedding. This technology would lessen the load of electricity at the place.

Apart of new metres, there would be a device to deliver the messages if there will be less electricity. If someone would not submit the bill on time, control room would finish their connection.

The work on advance metering and infrastructure would start from 15 December and it would take years to complete. 17 billion dollars would be spent on the project and funds would be provided by Asian Development Ban

Novartis backs off from 2016 date for testing Google autofocus lens.....

Novartis backs off from 2016 date for testing Google autofocus lens

"It is too early to say when exactly human clinical trials for these lenses will begin," a spokeswoman for the Basel-based drugmaker said in an email on Friday.

"This is a very technically complex process and both sides are learning as we go along. We will provide updates at the appropriate time," she said.

Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez said last year his company’s Alcon eye care unit was on track to begin testing in 2016.
In 2014, Jimenez said he hoped the lens would be on the market in about five years.

Novartis and Google joined forces two years ago to develop two kinds of "smart" contact lenses: An autofocusing lens for people with presbyopia, or far-sightedness, and another for measuring blood glucose levels in diabetes patients.

The lenses are now being developed with Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences unit Verily, which was carved out from Google in 2015.
Measuring blood sugar via the eye could allow diabetics to stop having to prick their fingers, while an autofocus contact lens would help people whose ability to focus is impaired when their eyes age.

It is unclear when testing for the diabetes lens will start.  

Since the partnership with Google was launched in 2014, Alcon’s sales have slid and its leadership team has been replaced.
New division head Mike Ball has been tasked with halting the revenue decline in advance of a possible sale of the unit.

But Novartis said that did not bar investment in innovative projects such as the lens effort with Google.

"Advancing innovation such as the smart lens technology, is a key part of Alcon’s growth strategy," the spokeswoman said.
"The ‘smart lens’ technology has the potential to transform eye care and further enhance our pipeline ... in the contact lens and intraocular lens space."