The clock is ticking as a full-fledged government shutdown looms on the horizon. House Republicans remain resolute in their mission to keep Obamacare from kicking in on October 1, the first day of the new fiscal year. The science and tech communities, meanwhile, are bracing for the worst—again
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The Ikea store in Southampton now offers solar panels.
(Credit: Ikea)
Today, Ikea customers in Southampton, England, can stroll into the big blue and yellow store and plunk down $9,200 for a solar panel array for their semi-detached home. Ikea, which has been installing industrial-size solar arrays on its store roofs for years, has just started to roll out home solar systems for consumers in the UK.
Ikea’s move to sell solar panels was anticipated years ago with the company formally committing to green technologies. Southampton is the first store to offer the panels, made by Hanergy Solar UK, but more stores in Britain will be jumping onboard.
Steve Howard, Ikea’s chief sustainability officer, told the Associated Press, “In the past few years the prices on solar panels have dropped, so it’s a really good price now. It’s the right time to go for the consumers.” Howard also says Ikea plans to eventually sell the panels in other countries.
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In the future, we may not need to go to museums and other repositories of art in order to admire paintings and sculptures. We may be able to print inch-perfect replicas of artworks that, to the untrained eyes, look exactly the same as the original. Engineer Tim Zaman showed that it’s possible to make high quality and full color scans of paintings using off the shelf devices. But for now, it takes a rare and proprietary 3D printer to turn those scans into accurate replicas.
For his master thesis at the Delft University of Technology, Tim built a custom 3D scanner composed of two Nikon D800E cameras with 80mm PC-E lenses and a polarization filter and a picoprojector that also has a polarization filter. Tim said his rig enabled him to combine two 3D scanning techniques – stereoscopic scanning and fringe projection – allowing for scans with a resolution of 50 micrometers (μm) and a depth precision of 9.2 μm. Skip to around 1:52 in the video below to see Tim talk to the BBC about his project:
In his reply to a commenter on YouTube, Tim said that it takes him one day to scan a 1 sq.m. (approx. 11 sq.ft.) surface. Printing the resulting file can take up to a day as well. Not that you’d be able to do so with just any 3D printer. The miraculous machine in the video below and the 3D printing process it uses were developed by Océ, a printing company owned by Canon. The painting that was replicated here is Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride.
That is one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in my life. No doubt visual artists and art critics will have to come to terms with the off-putting consequences of this technology. What is the value of a painting if it can have infinite perfect replicas? Should one’s appreciation of a painting or sculpture be informed by the knowledge of its authenticity if you can’t tell the difference between an original work and its replica? But as Tim stated in his thesis, the fruits of his labor can also be applied to study, conserve and restore works of art. Head to Tim’s website or YouTube channel if you want to find out more about his research.
[via Tim Zaman, Delft University of Technology & Océ via Walyou]
The world’s resources are not getting any more these days for sure, especially when you have more and more people on the earth than ever before. Thankfully, technology has helped mankind cut down on their wasteful ways even until today, including hybrid vehicles, a more efficient flushing system that gets rid of waste without using too much water, and of course, household items such as the $49.99 Log ‘N Roll Paper Towel Holder.
The cute looking Log ‘N Roll Paper Towel Holder is not meant to just spruce up your toilet, but it also has another objective – that is to reduce paper towel usage. After all, it sends a cute reminder as each time the paper is being used, the tree and the little squirrel will duck down into the log. I suppose that is a very visual reminder that animals run helter skelter whenever the loggers come into town. Not only that, you will know when is the time to refill the paper towels – when the squirrel remains fully hidden. To keep in step with the overall green theme, the Log ‘N Roll Paper Towel Holder sports a 100% recyclable packaging.
[ Log ‘N Roll Paper Towel Holder helps you reduce your paper towel usage copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Thousands of paper windmills seem to spin effortlessly in The Wind Portal, an installation by Lebanese artist Najla El Zein at London’s V&A Museum this month. However, the production process wasn’t exactly effortless. In fact, extreme accuracy was required to build this massive wall of wind, because it relies on air—and air is volatile.
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Amazon’s really laid off the pomp and circumstance this year. Between a new Paperwhite e-reader and a trio of tablets, the company’s hosted nary a press conference; just a couple of small-scale meetings. In the case of the Paperwhite, the reason seems clear. From the name on down, nothing about the device screams “major upgrade.” Both the hardware and software received some tweaks, sure, but, well, if this were an Apple product, it would almost certainly be called the Kindle Paperwhite S. Then again, we loved the Paperwhite the first time around, so why mess with near perfection?%Gallery-slideshow99545%
Filed under: Amazon
We’re glad that busy mother-slash-busineswoman-slash-Victoria’s Secret Angel Miranda Kerr can still squeeze in time for the catwalk.
Miranda made her first runway appearance of the season for Stella McCartney on Monday, modeling the British designer’s chic dresses in Paris. The 30-year-old stunner may be twice the age of some of her model peers, but it’s still easy to see how Miranda achieved supermodel status.
Joining Kerr on the catwalk: Cara Delevingne, the 21-year-old model of the moment and fellow Victoria’s Secret pal who’s been stomping her way through the European shows.
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Talk about a rah deal.
Cops gave cheerleaders from the University of Western Ontario a ticket for — get this — cheerleading on a fan-filled street before Saturday’s homecoming game against Queen’s University, Canadian news outlet QMI reported.
The squad was walking to its stadium in London, Ontario, when three male cheerleaders tossed a female cheerleader in the air in an impromptu celebration. A policeman stopped the routine and handed team captain Max Gow a $140 ticket for causing a nuisance.
WASHINGTON — House Republicans once again find themselves in disagreement, this time over how many of their GOP colleagues would actually support a bill to avert a government shutdown if it lacked provisions that delayed or defunded Obamacare.
A number of moderate and some not-so-moderate members from within the party suggested over the weekend that just such a measure could pass through the chamber, albeit with Democratic support. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) said he was prepared to vote for a clean continuing resolution to fund the government if it got to the floor. “It’s time to govern,” he said. “I don’t intend to support a fool’s errand.”
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a deputy majority whip of the House, suggested that leaders want to consider a clean CR but they are currently under too much pressure to present it as an option to the caucus.
NEW YORK — Sunday’s “Breaking Bad” turned out the lights on one of the darkest shows in television history.
Even as this drama cooked up storylines that celebrated evil and depravity, “Breaking Bad” gleamed with a bright side, too. There were plenty of positive messages for the viewer who acknowledged them during the series’ five-season run.
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