Kyocera launches 70-megawatt solar plant, largest in Japan

        Kagoshima in southern Japan is known for its puffing volcano Sakurajima, green tea, and rocket launchpads. Now it has a new superlative -- the country's largest solar plant. Smartphone maker Kyocera recently launched the Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant, a 70-megawatt facility that can generate enough electricity to power about 22,000 homes. The move comes as Japan struggles with energy sources as nuclear power plants were shut down after meltdowns hit Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima plant in 2011. Set on Kagoshima Bay, the sprawling Nanatsujima plant commands sweeping views of Sakurajima, an active stratovolcano that soars to 3,665 feet.

          It has 290,000 solar panels and takes up about 314 acres, roughly three times the total area of Vatican City. Kyocera established the facility with six other firms as well as a company to run the plant. It will sell electricity generated to the local utility, Kyushu Electric Power Co. A Japanese government program that began in 2012 compels utilities to buy 100 percent of electricity from certain renewable energy power plants. To spread its solar philosophy, the Kagoshima plant hopes to attract tourists, students, and other visitors to an observation room overlooking the installation, which joins other photovoltaic attractions in Japan such as the Sanyo Solar Ark.

Cheap Ink-Jet Printed Circuitry

  Researchers at Georgia Tech have created a new technique that’ll allow nearly anyone to create circuitry using a desktop printer. The project, which was initially a in the hands of the University of Tokyo and with Microsoft Research, uses a desktop printer to laydown conductive circuit wiring on resin coated paper, PET films and photo papers. According to Georgia Tech the new printing technique can use silver nanoparticle ink to create circuits in as little as 60 seconds.

              “We believe there is an opportunity to introduce a new approach to the rapid prototyping of fully custom-printed circuits,” said Gregory Abowd, Regents’ Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech and an investigator in the study. “Unlike existing methods for printing conductive patterns, conductivity in our technique emerges within a few seconds and without the need for special equipment.”

             What’s more everything used in the development of the project is available to consumers. For about $300 you can build your own circuit printing machine. That development alone has excited researchers, “Using this technology in the classroom, it would be possible to introduce students to basic electronics principles very cheaply, and they could use a range of electronic components to augment the experience,” said Steve Hodges, a team member from Microsoft Research.”

Yoshihiro Kawahara, Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo echoed Steve’s excitement, “[This]method can be used to print circuit boards, sensors and antennas with little cost, and it opens up many new opportunities.”

In a demonstration of the versatility and responsiveness of their new circuit printing technique Georgia Tech researchers attached a capacitive ribbon to an inkjet printed circuit and placed it into a glass of water. The circuit immediately adhered to the glass’s wall and, when connected to a smartphone, was able to measure the amount of water in the glass.

As this technology continues to mature I imagine it’ll find its way into corporate R&D departments and DIYers’ garages everywhere. With cheap, quickly prototyped circuits right at their fingertip I would n’t be surprised if circuit designers make major advances in electronic technology in the coming decades.

Flexible Mobile Devices Get a Flexible Battery Made From Nanotubes

After years of promises that mobile phones were going to become flexible, Samsung announced plans last month to release its flexible phone.

While the Samsung Galaxy Round is not flexible to the extent you can bend it to your heart’s content, it does offer a display that is flexible enough for the manufacturer to curve it. The move has also spurred other mobile device manufacturers to announce their intentions to market similar devices.

With the age of flexible devices seemingly upon us, one of the primary challenges for their development has been the power source. Samsung’s new phone is more or less powered by a standard rigid battery. But both LG and Samsung acknowledged that they are on a quest to develop a flexible battery that will enable a truly flexible phone.

Researchers, who anticipated that the launch of flexible mobile devices would require a flexible power source, have steadily pursued the flexible battery. There have been a few commercial efforts using printed electronics, and some thin-film technologies that have made a splash.

Now researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed a flexible battery made from carbon nanotubes that is aimed at powering flexible devices. 

Over four years ago, researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles reported details of their efforts to use carbon nanotubes to produce flexible batteries through printed electronic techniques. The NJIT researchers avoided printed electronics and simply created a flexible material through standard electrochemical architectures, consisting of an electrode and an electrolyte. The carbon nanotubes and other microparticles used in the flexible material serve as active components of the battery such as the positive and negative material as well as the electrolyte.

“This battery can be made as small as a pinhead or as large as a carpet in your living room,” says Somenath Mitra, a professor of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT whose research group invented the battery. “So its applications are endless. You can place a rolled-up battery in the trunk of your electric car and have it power the vehicle.”

One of the distinguishing features of this technology, according to Mitra, is that consumers can fabricate it at home. Presumably one would buy a kit consisting of electrode paste and a laminating machine. To make the battery, you would coat two pieces of plastic with the electrode paste and then place a third plastic sheet between the two coated sheets. Then the assembly would be laminated together.

That feature is not likely to win the favor of companies like LG and Samsung as they seek out their solutions to the flexible battery issue. But it could make DIYers pretty pleased.

Simplest construction of DC motor

How is it ?   :)

FLASH FILE TRANSFER Android SWIPE & SHARE

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it transfers files via wifi lightining fast speed.

Android 4.4 KitKat Features Detailed by Google

With Android 4.4 KitKat officially unveiled, fans of Google's mobile platform and developers are now waiting for the operating system to actually make its debut on the market. Although LG Nexus 5, the first handset to ship with Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box has been recently put on sale on Google Play Store, it will take a couple of days before the device reaches customers. Until then, Google published some of the most important features of the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. Keep in mind that some of these features will only be available on Nexus 5, while others will be included on other devices powered by Android 4.4 KitKat as well. The first thing worth mentioning is the fact that Android 4.4 has been especially optimized to work smoothly on entry-level smartphones that come with only 512MB of RAM.

Another interesting new feature has already been successfully implemented in Motorola Moto X and allows users to control the smartphone only by voice. Simply say “Okay Google” to start a voice search, get directions, or play a song. Other apps, such as the Caller ID app, have been improved to search for local business that match a number that you call, which is not included in Contacts. As expected, the Hangouts application has been enhanced and now allows users to send and receive SMS and MMS, but for the time being it is not integrated within the Google Voice text and voice messages. There's also faster multitasking: “Android 4.4 takes system performance to an all-time high by optimizing memory and improving your touchscreen so that it responds faster and more accurately than ever before. This means that you can listen to music while browsing the web, or race down the highway with the latest hit game, all without a hitch.” With Android 4.4 KitKat users will be able to print photos, documents, and web pages from their phone or tablet while on the go. According to Google, you will be able to print to any printer connected to Google Cloud Print, to HP ePrint printers, and to other printers that have apps in the Google Play Store. Other new features added in Android 4.4 KitKat include: Bluetooth MAP and Chromecast support, Chrome web view, Device management built-in, Infrared blasting, Low-power audio playback, and touchscreen improvements.

Hacking Facebook Passwords like changing your own Password

Hacker found a way to hack and change your password like, just he used to change his own password. Confused ? Recently Facebook fix a very critical vulnerability on the tip of 'Sow Ching Shiong', an independent vulnerability researcher. Flaw allows anyone to reset the password of any Facebook user without knowing his last password.

At Facebook, there is an option for compromised accounts at "https://www.facebook.com/hacked" , where Facebook ask one to change his password for further protection. This compromised account recovery page, will redirect you to another page at "https://www.facebook.com/checkpoint/checkpointme?f=[userid]&r=web_hacked" .

Researcher notice that the URL of the page having a parameter called "f" which represents your user ID and replacing the user ID with victim's user ID allow him to get into next page where attacker can reset the password of victim without knowing his last password.