Wednesday, September 21, 2011

PM's Top 10 tablets (and two market-leading e-readers)


Decisions, decisions. Having just committed our hard-earned cash to a spanking-new tablet, we hear of yet another, apparently better model offering amazing functionality, an improved operating system, better storage and all manner of cool apps. Before we lose the plot, let’s take a step back and consider a recent letter from a PM reader on the subject of early adoption: his radical suggestion (for our readers, anyway) was that it might occasionally be a good idea to hold off until all the technical teething problems have been resolved.


Does this mean you should postpone buying a tablet? Nope. Obey your genes and go for it. To help speed you along your way, we showcase 10 of the hottest contenders: some are already here, others are on the way…
Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9

Looking for a tablet with great computing power and serious memory capacity? Then check out the 8-inch Archos 80 G9 and 10-inch Archos 101 G9, both powered by Android 3.1 Honeycomb: would you believe a 250 GB hard drive? They come with Google’s full suite of mobile applications as well as Android Market, giving you access to over 200 000 apps, and they’re loaded with a 1,5 GHz dual-core OMAP 4 processor from Texas Instruments.

The tablets are able to decode 1080p H264 High Profile videos, automatically organising them by title, actor, director, year, season and episode, providing a new way to experience HD entertainment.



Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Remember the 7-inch Galaxy Tab? Well, it’s just been joined by a bigger sibling. The Wi-Fi-enabled 10,1-inch tablet is just 8,6 mm thick, making it the slimmest in the world. What’s good is that the scaled-down case doesn’t compromise battery life: you get up to 9 hours of work between charges.

Powered by Android 3.1 (Honeycomb), Samsung’s latest tablet offers faster and smoother transitions between different applications, more intuitive navigation to and from home screens, and broader support of USB accessories, external keyboards, joysticks and gamepads. It’s powered by the nVidia Tegra 1 GHz dual core application processor, which delivers powerful gaming and multimedia performance.

A new version of Media Hub includes an HD Extender, which allows you to play back content on TV through an HDMI cable from a dock or adaptor. Other features include a 3-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera.


HTC Flyer

This 7-inch tablet features a single-core 1,5 GHz processor, a 5 MP rear-facing camera with autofocus, a 1,3 MP front camera for video chatting, a useful 16 GB eMMC memory plus microSD card slot, digital ink technology, and other goodies – all packed into an attractive case. Interestingly, HTC has opted for Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) rather than Android 3.0 (Honeycomb); the latter is reportedly on the way. The display offers multi-touch capability, and a digital pen enables you to take synchronised notes and annotate content. The Flyer also offers Flash 10.2 support, by the way, and its battery life is excellent. We’ve tried it, we like it.


Apple iPad 2

First of all, there’s not much wrong with the original iPad, so if you already own one, don’t get all hot and bothered because your best friend has an iPad 2. Okay, so it’s lighter and thinner than its predecessor, with a better (A5 dual-core) processor, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime and Photo Booth, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video… but that’s about it. The price of this must-have product remains very competitive, and the rapidly growing app library should keep you happy for years to come (yeah, we know a year is a long time in the consumer tech world, but still). Against that, still no Flash. Dammit.


BlackBerry PlayBook

For starters, it’s a 7-inch tablet: if you can live with this form factor, you’re already in line for conversion. The operating system is easy to understand and the tablet’s performance is downright amazing, especially for Web browsing (yes, it comes with Flash!) and multitasking (the touchscreen is really good). Having played with one for a couple of weeks, we admit to being mildly besotted.

You get dual HD cameras for video capture and video conferencing (they can record HD video at the same time) and an HDMI-out port for presenting your creations on an external display. If you own a BlackBerry smartphone, you can pair the tablet and phone using a secure Bluetooth connection, allowing you to use the larger tablet display to seamlessly and securely view e-mail, BBM, calendar, tasks, documents and other content that resides on the phone. But where are the cool apps?


HP TouchPad

Only just released in the United States, HP’s TouchPad tablet – powered by a dual-core 1,2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor – is available in 16 GB and 32 GB versions and comes with a beta version of Adobe’s Flash browser plug-in, a 9,7-inch multitouch screen and a 1,3 MP front-facing webcam. It’s the fi rst tablet to run WebOS, the operating system acquired by HP last year when it bought Palm, which means that this tablet uses the same cardstack system for organising its apps. This is good, by the way.


Samsung Sliding PC 7

It looks like a regular 10,1-inch tablet, but the slide-out keyboard turns it into something completely different, and strangely appealing. We have many friends and colleagues who’ve spent a few hundred bucks on Bluetooth keyboards for their tablets; is this a better solution? Anyway, this device comes with a 1 366×768 screen, a solid-state drive of up to 64 GB, 2 GB of RAM, and built-in 3G and WiMAX chips. That’s all good, but the price is less appealing. Photo by Jiho Jiho


Motorola Xoom

This Android 3.1-powered tablet could just give the mighty iPad 2 a run for its money (although when you look at the sales figures, this may be hard to believe). It comes with impressive specs and desirable built-in apps such as Gmail, Google Maps and Google Calendar; the downside is a sparsely populated library of other apps. It features the nVidia Tegra 2 Processor, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, Flash 10.2, and 32 GB of onboard storage. Other features include a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera capable of recording 720p video, a 2 MP forwardfacing camera, and HDMI output. We reckon the Xoom’s browser (think Chrome) is better than the iPad’s Safari.


ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

It may be significant that when this device became available for online purchase in the US, it sold out within a day. In essence, it’s a 10-inch tablet (powered by a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU running Android 3.0) that features an optional keyboard dock. That alone sets it apart from the herd, but what makes it more interesting is that the dock provides an extended battery life of up to 16 hours. (We featured this tablet in our March issue).


Panasonic Toughbook

If you’re an outdoors type, you’ll enjoy Panasonic’s “ruggedised” Toughbook 10,1-inch tablet, which will run an Android operating system (we’re not being told which one) and is due for release later this year. Aimed primarily at enterprise users, it comes with GPS connectivity, a non-glare screen that can apparently be read easily in sunlight, and an optional 3G/4G embedded modem. We understand its security system will be embedded at the hardware level.


Amazon Kindle 3G

Amazon’s e-reader, with its 6-inch monochrome display and clear E Ink Pearl technology, has been the best-selling item in Amazon’s vast product line-up for two years running; this must be significant. The Kindle stores up to 3 500 books, downloading your choice (we paid an average of about R70 each for bestsellers, or less than half of the regular paperback price in bookstores) via “Whispernet” in a matter of seconds.

The process is seamless, allowing you to carry on reading while your latest selection is downloaded via Wi-Fi or 3G (which is free, by the way; Amazon pays for it). Your credit card, linked to Amazon, is billed automatically. You can read your e-books in bright sunlight (we know, because we tried it) but unlike the backlit Nook, you’ll need a bedside light – or a folder with a built-in light – once the daylight has faded.

It gets better. Click on the “Experimental” menu item and you’ll discover a basic browser, an MP3 player (listen to podcasts or music) and a text-to-speech function that reads text to you in a Stephen Hawking sort of voice. If you’ve never tried an e-reader, you’re in for a thoroughly satisfying experience – and all for R1 300 (Wi-Fi and 3G model). If you have a wireless setup at home, you can buy the Wi-Fi-only version for about R955.

Did we mention free books? Well, Kindle (and Barnes & Noble, come to think of it) has a vast storehouse of out-of-copyright classics that can be had for nothing, zilch. We’ve already downloaded the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and a couple of PG Wodehouse books we remember from our dad’s collection. In short, we love it.


Barnes & Noble Nook Color

Devotees believe this device deserves its own category in a space somewhere between e-readers and tablets, especially since its upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo and the launch of a dedicated app store. The most significant differences between the Nook Color and Amazon’s market-leading Kindle 3G are the display and battery life: the Nook has a fullcolour touchscreen and delivers around 8 hours of work/play, whereas the monochromatic Kindle has a physical QWERTY keypad and provides up to two months between charges (with Wi-Fi deactivated).

Aside from its seamless delivery of digital books, interactive magazines, newspapers and other stuff from Barnes & Noble’s vast database (over 2 million titles), you get popular apps, e-mail and enhanced Web browsing – and all in immersive, gorgeous colour. It’s a neatly designed device, with a graphite finish and a soft-touch back that makes holding it strangely pleasurable. Featuring a 7-inch display, it measures just 206 mm by 127 mm, and weighs 448 grams.

The Nook provides you with a perfectly adequate Web experience, whereas the Kindle’s “experimental” browser – though undoubtedly useful – is somewhat clunky. You also get an 8 GB memory (extendable via microSD card) that’s capable of storing up to 6 000 titles. Neat, sexy and capable… and according to converts, well worth the $249 (about R1 700) price tag.

However – and this is a rather significant “however” for potential buyers from South Africa – Barnes & Noble say that in terms of their agreement with publishers, they may not deliver e-books outside the United States. So why have we bothered to feature the Nook? Two reasons: first, we understand they are trying to negotiate a deal whereby they can make their titles available to the rest of the world; and second, although B&N’s system will recognise your non-American IP address and probably reject your approach, there are ways to circumvent this (check it out via Google; it’s a slightly grey legal area).

You can view personal files by transferring PDF, ePub, PNG, GIF and BMP files to the device, and Quickoffi ce software allows you to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. (For the record, one PM staffer has bought a Nook Color; others are tempted.)

The smaller (monochrome) Nook touch reader sells in the US for just under R1 000.



Friday, July 22, 2011

New Porsche bikes: make a bold statement.

Porsche's new Bike RS features a carbon fibre frame.
From September, Porsche will be expanding its Driver’s Selection bicycle range with the addition of two innovative machines, the Bike RS and the Bike S. The RS model features 29-inch wheels, a carbon fibre frame, modular monocoque construction, and a 20-speed Shimano XTR gearshift. Serious stopping power comes courtesy of latest-generation hydraulic Magura disc brakes. Price in Europe: around R60 000.

Then again, the Bike S model is hardly a slouch, It features a rigid, high-performance aluminium 7005 frame, a toothed belt drive system and 11-speed Shimano Alfine IGH gearshift.

Waste not, want not. Meet the Muncher!

Okay, so its aesthetic appeal is limited - but hey, it does the job.
Ecologico-Logic is a Nevada based company specialising in simple, environmentally friendly solutions to pressing waste disposal, agricultural and environmental problems. So far, so good. Now meet the Muncher, a large and slightly scary machine that employs aerobic digestion to reduce waste and transform the residue into saleable by-products such as liquid effluent, solid cake (no, not that kind) and carbon dioxide.

The company plans to market a variety of products and processes in its bid to transform the waste disposal industry, significantly improve agricultural productivity, and “remediate environmental pollution”. As they tell it, both the effluent and the cake are extremely effective organic fertilisers, with none of the liabilities presented by commercial chemical products. And here’s the clincher: the Muncher can also be used to perform environmental clean-ups of toxic chemicals such as PCBs, dioxins and nitrates – all without producing nasty emissions of its own.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Huawei’s MediaPad is world’s first 7-inch Android 3.2 Honeycomb dual-core tablet.

Say hello to the Huawei MediaPad, an entertainment powerhouse driven by Qualcomm’s dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, supported by Huawei Device's Hi-Space cloud solution and Google Android Market. If looks and specs are anything to go by, the MediaPad should provide an excellent user experience in a stylish package.

Billed as Huawei’s smartest, slimmest and lightest tablet yet, it measures just 10,5 mm deep and weighs about 390 g. It supports 1080P full HD video playback and features a 1,3 megapixel front-facing camera and 5 megapixel autofocus rear-facing camera with HD video recording capabilities. With HSPA+ 14,4 Mbps and high-speed WiFi 802.11n Internet connectivity, this device really keeps you connected.

It supports HSPA+ data services and Flash 10.3 videos, and comes pre-installed with applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Let’s Golf and Documents to Go. The MediaPad is scheduled for release in overseas markets sometime in the third quarter. When will it be available in South Africa? Anyone’s guess…

Super-quick business jet concept unveiled in Paris.

HyperMach's concept business jet will really move the goalposts.
Having just completed a long-haul flight in Cattle Class, we are acutely aware of the need for some form of air transport that reduces the travel time between continents – and HyperMach’s ZEHST concept plane would seem to fit the bill. Just unveiled at the Paris Air Show, this slim and sexy business jet (dubbed SonicStar) will theoretically cruise at Mach 3.5 at an altitude of around 19 000 metres. This would enable it to go from Paris to New York in under two hours.

Of course, to achieve all this requires something rather special in the way of aircraft design, not to mention propulsion systems. HyperMach say they intend to fundamentally change the way aero gas-turbine engines operate in order to significantly improve the performance of aircraft systems, using hybrid engine technology and highly efficient, supersonic, variable bypass fan ratio engine design. We await developments with great interest.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Gyrocopter is a stylish commuter.


Image: AutoGyro GmbH
German company AutoGyro GmbH produces a variety of amazing flying machines, and this one ranks among the coolest. It’s the two-seater Cavalon, a Rotax-powered gyro with a cruising speed of 145 km/h and a surprisingly long range (no, they haven't provided details). It costs around R650 000 in Europe, where the company is in the final stages of securing certification.
Image: AutoGyro GmbH
* According to their Web site, the South African agent is Roboclean Import & Export (contact Theuns Eloff in Pretoria on 012 809 2310). If you manage to scrape up the cash and buy one, please invite us for a spin.

Electric Grand prix. Vroom? Whine?


Here’s some good news for the legions of environmentally aware motorsport enthusiasts across South Africa – an all-electric Grand Prix. Next year will see the launch of the inaugural Formulec World Series, a Formula 3-based 10-race season that will take competitors to five continents, including Africa. Local events company Eco Promotions has secured the rights to host the South African leg and is reportedly evaluating various cities and sites for a street race in October 2012. Says company spokesman Paul Bisogno: “Formulec represents the cutting edge of future motor racing technology, highlighting radical new trends in motorsport. The event will… be used as a showcase for other eco motorsport events and technologies, showing South Africa's capabilities and commitment to these new technologies.”


Formulec’s single-seater car, the EF01, is said to have a top speed of over 250 km/h, and will zip from 0 – 100 km/h in just 3 seconds. Says Eco Promotions: “It has been tested on the Bugatti track in Le Mans by Alexandre Premat and has proved that, for racing, the ‘renewable energy’ label no longer refers to a theoretical, scientific dream. The EF01… is the fastest electric single-seater race car in the world.”

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Soapbox stars to shine in Knysna next week.


Aaaah... those were the days.
Adrenaline pumping, hearts beating like jackhammers, concentration sky-high, eyes focused on the track below, white-knuckled fingers gripping the steering rope... it’s the inaugural Soap Box Derby, a highlight of the upcoming Knysna Speed Festival and arguably the coolest thing to happen in the local primary school community for many years.

It happens on Friday 20 May at Simola Hill, on part of the track that will be used for the hillclimb event taking place that weekend, but in this case, the winner will be determined by gravity, skill and nerves of steel and skill rather than automotive engineering excellence.

The event has attracted teams from local schools in the Knysna, Sedgefield and Plettenberg Bay areas, and the objective, according to the organisers, is to “build a spirit of fair and honest competition among the youth”, and to encourage engineering skills and handicraft. To this end, they have provided the schools with 16 soapbox car kits, various sponsors having donated construction materials, wheels, axles and safety equipment.

The teams will build and decorate their cars – designed by a local engineer – on Saturday 14 May at Pennypinchers in the Knysna Industrial Area. Now for a harmless plug: the organisers are still looking for additional sponsors for prizes and equipment. If you or your company would like to get involved (and it would need to happen pretty soon!), please get in touch with Anton Heymann on 082 074 6352.
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So you're in the mood for more grown-up racing action? Then check out this press release from Mike Monk Motoring Media:


Battle of the Brat Pack

Six of South Africa’s drivers from the notorious days of national touring car racing in the 1990s – Mike Briggs, Geoff Goddard, Deon Joubert, Grant McCleery, Robbi Smith and Duncan Vos – who were collectively known as the Brat Pack, have been invited to revive old rivalries and compete against each other in the Renault Knysna Hillclimb on May 21 and 22. The event forms part of the Knysna Speed Festival that is being held in the Garden Route town from 13 to 22 May.

The original Brat Pack was a group of eight young actors that took Hollywood by storm in the glitzy ’80s with their performances on the silver screen in two movies, namely The Breakfast Club and St Elmo’s Fire. They did not like the title but it carried on for a while into other movies but not always with the same group of actors. The core members were Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, some of whom went on to follow illustrious careers, some still in cinema, others not...

Just a decade later there was another Brat Pack, this one consisting of a dashing group of South African drivers that became famous (some would say infamous!) on the national circuits in the Roaring ’90s. Their ‘do or die’ approach to racing thrilled local crowds and most have gone on to live illustrious careers, some still in motoring, and others not...

So, as a special treat for racing fans, Renault South Africa has invited six of the old adversaries to compete against each other up the demanding Simola Hill in Renault Mégane RS Cup cars, a challenge that will doubtless bring down the red mist and rekindle old battle flames in a thrilling race against the clock and each other – a comeback of the Brat Pack that should not be missed! It is time to see who still ‘has it’ – and who has not...

Mike Briggs was one of the big characters of the scene and raced for Opel, winning the SA Touring Car Championship twice and was runner-up once. Mike also competed in eight rounds of the British Touring Car Championship.

Geoff Goddard was a BMW team-mate of Robbi Smith and the pairing won the 1993 Castrol 9-Hour at Killarney, going on to dominate the event for the next few years. Geoff gave the E46 its world first victory when he won in a 328i in Port Elizabeth.

Deon Joubert initially drove BMWs before switching to Opel. He once held the second-highest win rate in local touring cars. Deon raced at a WTCC round at Monza and has even driven in NASCAR. He has been awarded Springbok colours.

Grant McCleery drove for Opel. 1995 was his best season when he raced the Vectra and recorded two wins, 15 podiums and three fastest laps in 22 races, finishing third in the championship.

Robbi Smith drove for BMW and in 1987 helped introduce the Firestone Firehawk tyre to the local racing scene. Robbi won the SA Group N Class A championship in 1993 and was particularly adept in endurance racing, particularly when paired with Geoff Goddard.

Duncan Vos drove for Nissan and helped the manufacturer become the most successful in the SA Touring Car Championship, registering more than 50 wins and 50 pole positions during the period.

The Battle of the Brat Pack will take place over both days, with the winner announced on the Sunday. In addition to the Brat Pack, former 125 and 250 FIM World MotoX and AMA triple-title champion rider Jean-Michel Bayle will also be competing in a Mégane RS. Further information about the Knysna Speed Festival can be found on its Web site.

* For media enquiries, ’phone 021 558 4157 or 083 652 1386 or e-mail mike4m@telkomsa.net

Friday, April 8, 2011

Range Rover Evoque: prepare to be blown away.


Cool and capable: Range Rover's new Evoque 5-door. The
smallest-ever Range Rover will also be available as a coupe.
(Picture: Land Rover)
Forget everything you thought you knew about Range Rover’s upcoming Evoque, the smallest and arguably most attractive vehicle in the brand’s line-up. If you were picturing a radical departure from the attention-grabbing show car, or a sad compromise between good looks and practicality, think again: this SUV fulfils all the promise of the original, and then some. In fact, it will blow you away.

Having just returned from a technical briefing at Land Rover’s Warwickshire (UK) facility, we’re happy to confirm that the new Evoque is not only a spacious, comfortable and capable bundu-basher, but also an on-road performer of note. In fact, you can drive it like a hooligan and rest assured that the integrated technology will save you from yourself. An example: during a test drive, we passed over a bump in the road at a speed well in excess of the legal limit. In an “ordinary” car, our heads would probably have been squashed to shoulder level. In the extraordinary Evoque, equipped with damping technologies that appear to defy physical laws, our heads emerged unscathed.

Range Rover's Evoque takes to deep sand during hot-weather testing.
Note that the rather startling livery is designed to foil spy shots!
(Picture: Land Rover)
If you were concerned that the sloping roof would compromise rear-passenger space, you can relax: there's more than enough headroom at the back for normal-sized South Africans. Oh, and if you suspected that the smaller, more fuel-efficient diesel and petrol engines spelt lacklustre performance, you couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, they deliver enough grunt to bring tears to the eyes of red-blooded drivers everywhere.

* Read a full report on the Evoque in the June issue of Popular Mechanics.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

New device harnesses the Sun's power to produce clean water.

Jonathan Liow with his invention.
Harnessing the power of the sun, an Australian university graduate has designed a simple, sustainable and affordable water-purification device with the potential to help eradicate disease and save lives.

The Solarball, developed as Jonathan Liow’s final-year project during his Bachelor of Industrial Design course at Monash University in Australia, can produce up to three litres of clean water every day. The spherical unit absorbs sunlight and causes dirty water contained inside to evaporate. As evaporation occurs, contaminants are separated from the water, generating drinkable condensation. The condensation is collected and stored, ready for drinking.

Liow says his design was driven by a need to help the 900 million people around the world who lack access to safe drinking water. Over two million children die each year from preventable causes, triggered largely by contaminated water. It is an increasing problem in developing nations due to rapid urbanisation and population growth.

The Solarball could change lives.
“After visiting Cambodia in 2008, and seeing the immense lack of everyday products we take for granted, I was inspired to use my design skills to help others,” Liow explains. His simple but effective design is user-friendly and durable, with a weather-resistant construction, making it well suited to people in hot, wet, tropical climates with limited access to resources.

“The challenge was coming up with a way to make the device more efficient than other products available, without making it too complicated, expensive, or technical,” Liow says.

Source: Monash University

Thursday, March 3, 2011

PM whisky tasting, courtesy of Bunnahabhain



Aaaah... now that's a whisky! The occasion was a Popular Mechanics whisky tasting event for readers at a rather appealing bar-restaurant in Bree Street, Cape Town, called French Toast. Our host was  larger-than-life Pierre Meintjes - regional director (Africa) for CL World Brands, South Africa's only Keeper of the Quaich (pronounced "quake"), and a raconteur of note.

The man in our picture is Louis van der Berg, who walked off with a bottle of Bunnahabhain 18-year-old worth R750 (when we say walked off, we don't mean he pinched it... he actually won the bottle in a lucky draw). If the image looks a little dodgy, it's partly because the lighting was bad, but also because it was captured on the cellphone of PM editor Alan Duggan during a particularly emotional moment (someone had just offered to top up his glass). Thanks to the wonders of modern communications technology, it was live on this site within 90 seconds.
Pierre Meintjes, South Africa's sole Keeper of the Quaich.
Thanking Pierre for his illuminating presentation, Alan said some people might be inclined to question the connection between a science and technology brand and a single-malt whisky. "That's a no-brainer... our audience wants to know how and why things work, and that's exactly what we had here tonight. What's the point? Another silly question... that's like asking 'what's the point of Shakira's hips?' You don't question miracles of Nature."

For the record, Bunnahabhain (pronounced Boona-Har-Vin) is a delicious single-malt from Islay (pronounced eye-la). If you'd like to know more about it, check out their Web site. Or better still, invest in a bottle.

* Please visit our Facebook page soon for images from this function.

Music to drink by? Hey, whatever it takes...

Image courtesy of Colleen Coppenhall
Sound designer and composer Shaun Michau created something phenomenal in its deceptive simplicity for Grolsch at Design Indaba 2011, which recently wrapped up at Cape Town’s CTICC (if you weren’t there, where the hell were you?). To create his unique melody, the man experimented with 200 bottles filled with water at different levels. This led to the discovery of seven distinctive notes in each Grolsch bottle which were ingeniously used to create a melody specially composed for the brand. The feature was built into Grolsch’s innovative 360-degree bar, where visitors were treated to a musical performance while sipping on an ice-cold Swingtop.

* Source: Grolsch

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Quasar’s belch solves longstanding mystery.

Artist’s concept of the environment around the supermassive
black hole at the center of Mrk 231. The broad outflow seen
in the Gemini data is shown as the fan-shaped wedge at the
top of the accretion disk around the black hole.
Picture:Gemini Observatory/AURA, artwork by Lynette Cook

When two galaxies merge to form a giant, the central supermassive black hole in the new galaxy develops an insatiable appetite. However, this ferocious appetite is unsustainable. Now, for the first time, observations with the Gemini Observatory clearly reveal an extreme, large-scale galactic outflow that brings the cosmic dinner to a halt.

The outflow is effectively blowing the galaxy apart in a negative feedback loop, depriving the galaxy’s monstrous black hole of the gas and dust it needs to sustain its frenetic growth. It also limits the material available for the galaxy to make new generations of stars. The groundbreaking work is a collaboration between David Rupke of Rhodes College in Tennessee and the University of Maryland’s Sylvain Veilleux. The results are to be published in the March 10 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters and were completed with support from the US National Science Foundation.

According to Veilleux, Markarian 231 (Mrk 231), the galaxy observed with Gemini, is an ideal laboratory for studying outflows caused by feedback from supermassive black holes. “This object is arguably the closest and best example that we know of a big galaxy in the final stages of a violent merger and in the process of shedding its cocoon and revealing a very energetic central quasar. This is really a last gasp of this galaxy; the black hole is belching its next meals into oblivion!”

As extreme as Mrk 231’s eating habits appear, Veilleux adds that they are probably not unique: “When we look deep into space and back in time, quasars like this one are seen in large numbers and all of them may have gone through shedding events like the one we are witnessing in Mrk 231.”

The environment around such a black hole is commonly known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN), and the extreme influx of material into these black holes is the power source for quasi-stellar objects or quasars. Merging galaxies help to feed the central black hole and also shroud it in gas. Mrk 231 is in transition, now clearing its surroundings.

Eventually, running out of fuel, the AGN will become extinct. Without gas to form new stars, the host galaxy also starves to death, turning into a collection of old aging stars with few young stars to regenerate the stellar population. Ultimately, these old stars will make the galaxy appear redder giving these galaxies the moniker “red and dead”.

Source: Gemini Observatory

Nanoparticles take on HIV and malaria.

 
Immune cells, tagged with green fluorescent protein,
are surrounded by nanoparticles (red) after the
nanoparticles are injected into the skin of a mouse.
Picture: Peter DeMuth and James Moon
MIT engineers have designed a new type of nanoparticle that could safely and effectively deliver vaccines for diseases such as HIV and malaria. The new particles, described in a recent issue of Nature Materials, consist of concentric fatty spheres that can carry synthetic versions of proteins normally produced by viruses. These synthetic particles elicit a strong immune response – comparable to that produced by live virus vaccines – but should be much safer, says Darrell Irvine, author of the paper and an associate professor of materials science and engineering and biological engineering.

Such particles could help scientists develop vaccines against cancer as well as infectious diseases. In collaboration with scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the US, Irvine and his students are now testing the nanoparticles’ ability to deliver an experimental malaria vaccine in mice.

Vaccines protect the body by exposing it to an infectious agent that primes the immune system to respond quickly when it encounters the pathogen again. In many cases, such as with the polio and smallpox vaccines, a dead or disabled form of the virus is used. Other vaccines, such as the diphtheria vaccine, consist of a synthetic version of a protein or other molecule normally made by the pathogen.

When designing a vaccine, scientists try to provoke at least one of the human body’s two major players in the immune response: T cells, which attack body cells that have been infected with a pathogen; or B cells, which secrete antibodies that target viruses or bacteria present in the blood and other body fluids.

For diseases in which the pathogen tends to stay inside cells, such as HIV, a strong response from a type of T cell known as “killer” T cell is required. The best way to provoke these cells into action is to use a killed or disabled virus, but that cannot be done with HIV because it’s difficult to render the virus harmless.

Source: MIT news office.

Hot stuff... our Sun today.

Nasa/SOHO Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
It took about eight minutes for the light making up this image to travel from our very own star (also known as the Sun) to Nasa’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). See the bright twisted clouds of hot gas, revealing storminess, and the dark, calm regions called “coronal holes”. These images, obtained with invisible ultraviolet light, give scientists their routine weather maps of the Sun.

Occasionally a solar flare appears as a small, intensely bright flash. Different colours denote various ultraviolet wavelengths, each emanating from gas at a particular temperature: orange – 80 000 degrees; blue – 1 000 000 degrees; green – 1 500 000 degrees; and yellow – 2 500 000 degrees. Just in case the question comes up in a quiz...

Bahrain’s artificial island paradise – from space.

Nasa/Earth Observatory
At the southern end of Bahrain Island, at the furthest point from the cities of the kingdom, a new complex of 14 artificial islands has risen out of the sea. Designed for residential living and tourism, and aimed at a cosmopolitan clientele, the Durrat Al Bahrain includes 21 square kilometres of new surface area for more than 1 000 residences, luxury hotels and shopping malls.

The complex has been designed to include: The Islands (six “atolls” leading off five fish-shaped “petals”), The Crescent, Hotel Island, and Durrat Marina in the north. The spectacular outline of this development, and other developments such as the Palm Jumeira and World Islands in the Persian Gulf, are best appreciated from above. In fact, views from jetliners at high altitude and from orbital platforms such as the International Space Station are the only way in which you can fully appreciate these man-made wonders.

This astronaut photograph, courtesy of Nasa, shows that construction on the surface of the two southern atolls and petals has yet to begin. Artificial beaches have been created on the inner shorelines of the Crescent and petals, with smaller beaches on the inner ends of the atolls and Hotel Island. The angular outline of the golf course, where many more residences are planned, can be seen between The Crescent and the marina. What may be a second marina is being carved out at the south end of the complex (mirroring the one on the north), although no such marina appears in earlier published plans for Durrat Al Bahrain.

Source: Nasa’s Earth Observatory

Bonding over bubblegum.


US Air Force photo by Staff Sgt Brian Ferguson (DoD) 
In keeping with PMs brief to bring you odd and interesting images on every subject imaginable, we offer this picture of US Air Force Captain Ryan Weld spending quality time with villagers  one old, one somewhat newer, as evidenced by absent beard and pink bubblegum  during a wroowali (brotherhood) mission to Bakorzai village in Afghanistan. Weld, an intelligence officer with the US military, is assigned to Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Ski, anyone? Lockheed's big bruiser takes to ice.


Picture: DoD/US Air Force
In the picture above, taken earlier this month, a ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules aircraft from the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing takes off during an Operation Deep Freeze mission in Antarctica. In the fish-eye picture below, an equally formidable aircraft, the C-17 Globemaster III, carries personnel from the US National Science Foundation to McMurdo Station.

Picture: DoD/US Air Force
The US Air Force, Navy, Army and Coast Guard are lending operational and logistical support to the NSF’s research and exploration efforts in this seriously chilled part of the world through an outfit called Joint Task Force Support Forces Antarctica. Check out some more pictures here.

Many years ago, PM’s editor boarded a different version of the legendary Hercules for a flight from his military camp in Pretoria to the Cape, where he and his SA Air Force platoon were deployed to guard a roadblock and prevent the spread of Newcastle disease, which affects chickens and other birds. This experience was memorable primarily for his introduction to every chicken-based dish imaginable (confiscated birds and eggs were happily consumed by the platoon), but also because of an altercation between a leopard and a baboon just outside his tent. As far as he can recall, the leopard won.

If you’d like to know more about Lockheed’s big bruiser, check out this Wikipedia entry.

Go green... with biodegradable sneakers.

Picture: OAT Shoes
An innovative Dutch team has come up with a startlingly different fashion concept: you buy a pair of cheerful-looking sneakers, bury them in the garden at the end of their useful life, apply water, and watch as flowers bloom from your old footwear.
Meet the Virgin Collection from OAT Shoes, a range of biodegradable sneakers resulting from almost two years of research and development. Say the two guys behind the idea, Christiaan Maats and Dirk-Jan Oudshoorn: “The future of fashion lies in a reconciliation between nature and industry. OAT Shoes strives to lead the way to that future.”

Fine so far, but then it gets a little Earth Motherish. “We have to close the loop, come full circle and realise we’re an integral part of the whole thing. We are nature, we were born from it, live in it and we’ve been playing around with it for a while now, building cities and roads and running around, not minding too much about keeping the place clean. And now, up to our knees in waste and with mother earth losing her temper, it’s time for some spring cleaning. And that starts with making greener choices.”
Plant a sneaker today. Bikini optional.
Anyway, we say good luck to them. The idea of planting a pair of old shoes in the ground after use (these contain seeds, by the way) and watching them sprout flowers is such an off-the-wall concept that it deserves attention. Judging by the state of some old sneakers we’re encountered over the years, no additional compost will be necessary.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Transcendent Man... and Popular Mechanics

Futurist Ray Kurzweil. Picture: Transcendent Man.com
If all goes according to plan, Popular Mechanics will host a series of intimate screenings of Ray Kurzweil’s Transcendent Man, the much-anticipated documentary film that portrays a future very different from one we might have imagined. Filmmaker Barry Ptolemy follows Kurzweil around the globe as the renowned inventor and futurist shares his incredible vision of a world in which humans merge with machines, vastly extending our longevity and our intelligence... all within the next 30 years.

Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading futurists, with a 25-year track record of accurate predictions. He was called the “restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes magazine, and selected as one of the top entrepreneurs by Inc. magazine, which described him as “the rightful heir to Thomas Edison”. Inventor of the first CCD flatbed scanner and many other technology firsts, Kurzweil was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and has received the National Medal of Technology, the Lemelson-MIT Prize (the world’s largest for innovation), 19 honorary doctorates, and awards from three US presidents.

In other words, the man knows his stuff - which explains why we believe his ideas will resonate with Popular Mechanics readers everywhere. We’ll keep you informed about dates, places and times for the screenings of Transcendent Man, a documentary that will leave you breathless.

Watch the Transcendent Man film trailer...

 * Extracted from Transcendentman.com

Yeah, but will it grow hair on a billiard ball?

Row C shows the mice four weeks after treatment.
Stress can turn your hair grey and even cause it to fall out; that’s a scientifically documented fact. The bad news is that of the zillions of “hair-restoration” remedies that have emerged to treat this unfortunate condition, very few have been shown to have any effect whatsoever – and even the best of them won’t turn a bald pate into a forest.

Until now. A team led by researchers from UCLA and the (US) Veterans Administration investigating how stress affects gastrointestinal function appears to have identified a chemical compound that induces hair growth by blocking a stress-related hormone associated with hair loss – and they did it entirely by accident. Okay, their experiment was conducted on mice, but still...

For their experiments, the researchers used mice that had been genetically altered to over-produce a stress hormone called corticotrophin-releasing factor, or CRF. As these mice age, they lose hair and eventually become bald on their backs, making them visually distinct from their unaltered counterparts. Says team spokesman Million Mulugeta: “This could open new venues to treat hair loss in humans through the modulation of the stress hormone receptors; particularly hair loss related to chronic stress and ageing.”
* Source: UCLA

Bio Robot Refrigerator

Four times smaller than the conventional fridge (700 mm wide, 200 mm high and 230 mm deep), the Bio Robot Refrigerator, designed by Yuriy Dmitriev of Russia, was one of the eight finalists in the 2010 edition of the Electrolux Design Lab competition.

Rather than shelves, the non-sticky, odourless biopolymer gel morphs around products to create a separate pod that suspends items for easy access. The fridge doesn't require the expenditure of energy for cooling products.

The fridge can change shape depending on the intensity of its use. The fridge is adaptable – it can be hung vertically, horizontally, and even on the ceiling.

We want one!

Think you can do better? The deadline for the Electrolux Design Lab 2011 competition is 1 May 2011 23:59 CET. The brief: Intelligent Mobility.

Harness the Energy of the Universe!

Picture: NASA
ADVERTISEMENT*
Many people use the word “quantum” without fully understanding its meaning. The highly respected team of scientists working with Bio-Force Feedback Inc are different: they have explored the depths of this sub-microscopic energy resource and come up with a product that is quite literally set to change the world.

Meet the Quantum Energy Bracelet, a stylish and extraordinarily effective wristband that is already improving the performance of sportsmen and women across the world. Endorsed by a host of celebrities, including Area 54 star Todd Halkett and superhero Black Rider from Saving the World, this wristband has rapidly become a must-have fashion accessory as well as an essential health enhancer. The good news is that it’s now available in South Africa – at a price that sounds too good to be true!

Are you listless? Have you lost interest in life and love? Do your muscles lack tone? Does your brain feel fuzzy when it should be alert? Worry no longer – this amazing bracelet, which exploits the well-documented scientific phenomenon known as quantum tunnelling, is about to change your life. What makes our product better than those “holographic” and “bio-antenna” bracelets? Simple – it’s a question of real science versus pseudoscience.

How does our bracelet work? Here’s an easy scientific explanation. As we all know, the subatomic world is filled with an invisible “quantum foam” of virtual particles that continually pop in and out of existence. One of the field interactions associated with virtual particles is the Coulomb force (static electric force) between electric charges, caused by the exchange of virtual photons. In symmetric three-dimensional space, this exchange results in the inverse square law for electric force. Since the photon has no mass, the Coulomb potential has an infinite range. The key is to contain and redirect that valuable energy.

This is where the Quantum Energy Bracelet comes in. Employing a unique amalgam of rare metals with zero-rated gravitational effects (worldwide patent pending) combined with two graphene-impregnated spheres, it effectively channels the virtual photons throughout the wearer’s body. Since the amalgam is zero-rated, there is minimal loss through electromagnetic leakage, allowing the skin to contain and maximise the beneficial effects throughout the body and brain.
Picture: Bio-Force Feedback Inc.
We’re proud to announce that our bracelet is being tested by leading science and technology journal Popular Mechanics, which has undertaken to pass on expressions of interest from potential customers. If you’d be interested in purchasing a Quantum Energy Bracelet for the low introductory price of R299,95, please send an e-mail to our retail consultants at Popularmechanics@ramsaymedia.co.za with the words “Quantum Energy Bracelet” in the subject line.

Go on – change your life!

(* Not really. Credulity is a dangerous thing.)