Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: energy – Page 367

The jury may still be out on the usefulness of the Internet of Things, but payments giant Visa is 100 percent sure that it doesn’t want to miss out. Today, it announced plans to push Visa payments into numerous fields. We’re talking “wearables, automobiles, appliances, public transportation services, clothing, and almost any other connected device” — basically anything that can or will soon connect to the internet.

Visa imagines a future where you’ll be able to pay for parking from your car dashboard or order a grocery delivery from your fridge. It makes sense, then, that Samsung is one of the first companies to sign up to the Visa Ready Program, alongside Accenture, universal payment card company Coin and Fit Pay. Chronos and Pebble are also working to integrate secure payments inside their devices.

To show off the technology, which works with any credit card, Visa or otherwise, the company has teamed up with Honda to develop an in-car app that helps automate payments. Right now they have two demos, the first of which concerns refueling. It warns the driver when their fuel level is low and directs them to the nearest gas station. Once the car arrives at the pump, the app calculates the expected cost and allows the driver to pay for the fuel without having to leave the vehicle.

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Electric Hybrid Train Powers Up

HYPSTAIR Project Reaches Significant Milestone.

A major step towards electric powered air travel was achieved on 9th February 2016 with the power-up of the world’s most powerful hybrid electric powertrain for aviation in a project led by Pipistrel. Hybrid-electric powertrains are a new breed of aviation propulsion, which extend the range of all-electric aircraft while being environmentally friendly and quiet. The 200 kW propulsor developed during the project HYPSTAIR delivers the power equivalent to a typical general aviation piston engine and can run in three modalities: electric-only mode using batteries, generator-only mode or hybrid mode combining both power sources.

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Wireless Power Transmission Market reach $13.11 Billion by 2020. This is an area that I plan to keep a closer eye on especially since IEEE’s recent approved standards on sensors. I have a feeling that we could start seeing some major progress in this space.

DUBLIN, Jan. 27, 2016 /PR Newswire UK/ — Wireless Power Transmission Market (2015−2020) — Valued at $0.72 Billion in 2014 & Is Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 51.5%.

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This is a good baseline around common known issues — the real problem is cyber terrorists (as I call them) learns from each attack they instigate and like an artist, they constantly are fine tuning their own skill. So, the attacker’s approach and execution may be done one way, and by the next attack they can easily have changed their whole attack model completely which makes it very cumbersome for experts to trace at times. If we believe this is bad now; wait until AI is more widely available and adopted. Or, Quantum ends up in the hands of these guys.

Cybercrimes in today’s technologically advanced society have become much more sophisticated and progressive. We can thank mobility for the ease of extended access to our personal data, as with every use of our mobile phones, laptops or tablets in public areas we further increase our risk and vulnerability. As business owners, online shoppers, students, employees and even house wives, we remain at high risk for intrusion of our virtual systems. In this digital day in age, our personal data is used everywhere from when we make an online banking transaction to buying a new shirt at the mall, and even working on a project at the local coffee shop. It is hardly responsible to think that your information is safe anywhere.

Protecting Yourself

Lucky for us, there are many effective and efficient opportunities for protecting ourselves virtually. When it comes to building a good defense against malicious cyber attackers the best mode of attack is a good offense. This means, educating yourself and setting up parameters that protect your system and therefore your personal data from all angles. In the grand scheme of things, knowledge is power and the more power you have, the more you can leverage such as a way to build a good defense against cybercrime. Here are five facts about cybercrimes that you might not be aware of:

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Experts from MIT are hosting an event next week to explore the potential blockchain technology could in making electricity markets cleaner and more efficient.

Cambridge chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum will bring together experts including Joi Ito of the MIT Media Lab and Paul Brody of Ernst and Young for the blockchain transitioning energy industry event on Monday 22 February. They will be joined by a distinguished panel of emerging technology, blockchain, and energy industry leaders to discuss the intersection of energy grid transformation and distributed ledger technology.

Scott Clavenna of Greentech Media will moderate a panel consisting of Joi Ito, Paul Brody, Ed Hesse of Grid Singularity, and Lawrence Orsini of LO3 Energy. The event will tackle questions such as “How can cleantech enterprise and industry leverage the blockchain for innovation?” and “What are the new models for growth?”.

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Researchers in Japan have found a way to make the ‘wonder material’ graphene superconductive — which means electricity can flow through it with zero resistance. The new property adds to graphene’s already impressive list of attributes, like the fact that it’s stronger than steel, harder than diamond, and incredibly flexible.

But superconductivity is a big deal, even for graphene, because when electricity can flow without resistance, it can lead to significantly more efficient electronic devices, not to mention power lines. Right now, energy companies are losing about 7 percent of their energy as heat as a result of resistance in the grid.

Before you get too excited, this demonstration of superconductivity in graphene occurred at a super cold −269 degrees Celsius, so we’re not going to be making power lines out of graphene any time soon.

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