Menu

Blog

Page 8203

Dec 14, 2019

Focus: New Spaceship Sail Self-Centers

Posted by in category: space

A technology for propelling spacecraft using a “sail” pushed by light has passed an initial test, with the prototype device staying centered in a laser beam.

To snap close-up photos of planets outside our Solar System (exoplanets), some researchers are proposing the use of a fleet of “light sails” propelled by powerful Earth-bound lasers. A new experiment has demonstrated a possible sail design that uses diffraction gratings, rather than the reflective mirrors that have been used in previous sail designs. The gratings deflect an incoming laser beam at an angle, creating a sideways force that keeps the sail aligned with the beam’s center. Further testing is needed, but the team developing the sail is hopeful that their “beam-rider” technology could guide probes to faraway stars or to closer targets in our own Solar System.

Dec 14, 2019

Amazon is delivering half its own packages as it becomes a serious rival to FedEx and UPS

Posted by in category: transportation

Amazon has been steadily growing its logistics operation over the last decade, and it now delivers more than half of all Amazon packages in the US, according to an estimate from Morgan Stanley published on Thursday and reported by CNBC. That’s a staggering increase over the course of the last few years. It means Amazon, which now operates its own freighters and cargo planes, is accelerating its push to own the entire logistics chain and end its relationship with companies like FedEx and UPS.

At the current rate, Amazon is set to pass both FedEx and UPS in US package volume, with the company currently delivering 2.5 billion packages per year compared to FedEx’s 3 billion and UPS’s 4.7 billion, Morgan Stanley says. Amazon’s number doubled in just the last year alone, from delivering about 20 percent of all of its own packages to now about half. A substantial contributing factor here is Amazon’s new one-day Prime shipping initiative, which it kicked off earlier this year and promises to bring to more markets and more products as time goes on.

“Customers love the transition of Prime from two days to one day — they’ve already ordered billions of items with free one-day delivery this year. It’s a big investment, and it’s the right long-term decision for customers,” CEO Jeff Bezos said of one-day Prime shipping on an earnings call in October. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding its package volume.

Dec 14, 2019

Physicists Use Bubbling Quantum Vacuum to Hopscotch Heat Across Empty Space

Posted by in category: quantum physics

Heat isn’t supposed to be able to cross a vacuum without radiation. But in a new experiment, it did.

Dec 14, 2019

Google Maps satellite images cover 98 percent of the world’s population

Posted by in category: mapping

Google says it has photographed 10 million miles of Street View imagery in a post detailing how it uses images for mapping.

Dec 14, 2019

Camera aboard NASA spacecraft confirms asteroid phenomenon

Posted by in category: space

WASHINGTON – A U.S. Naval Research Laboratory-built camera mounted on the NASA Parker Solar Probe revealed an asteroid dust trail that has eluded astronomers for decades.

Karl Battams, a computational scientist in NRL’s Space Science Division, discussed the results from the camera called Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) on Dec. 11 during a NASA press conference.

WISPR enabled researchers to identify the dust cloud trailing the orbit of the asteroid 3200 Phaethon.

Dec 14, 2019

Scientists Found the Deepest Land on Earth Hiding Beneath Antarctica’s Ice

Posted by in category: futurism

Mountains, valleys and other landforms are revealed in a new effort to map the land hiding under Antarctica’s ice.

Dec 14, 2019

The Battle Is For The Customer Interface

Posted by in categories: internet, mobile phones

The power shift continues.


Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the world has developed complex supply chains, from designers to manufacturers, from distributors to importers, wholesalers and retailers, it’s what allowed billions of products to be made, shipped, bought and enjoyed in all corners of the world. In recent times the power of the Internet, especially the mobile phone, has unleashed a movement that’s rapidly destroying these layers and moving power to new places.

Continue reading “The Battle Is For The Customer Interface” »

Dec 14, 2019

Can humans live forever?

Posted by in category: life extension

Can we live forever?

Dec 14, 2019

The Rise Of Open-Source Software

Posted by in categories: business, entertainment

Open-source software powers nearly all the world’s major companies. This software is freely available, and is developed collaboratively, maintained by a broad network that includes everyone from unpaid volunteers to employees at competing tech companies. Here’s how giving away software for free has proven to be a viable business model.

» Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC
» Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision
» Subscribe to CNBC Classic: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCclassic

Continue reading “The Rise Of Open-Source Software” »

Dec 13, 2019

Black Hole Discovery Challenges the Laws of Physics

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Astronomers discover a black hole that shouldn’t exist.