Category: Rumours

The Blade That Would Make Helicopters Almost Silent

Posted by Nexus – 26/02/2010

[via gizmodo.com]

Helicopters make a lot of noise because of a physical phenomenon called blade-vortex interaction. Eurocopter engineers have developed a new kind of rotor blade that attenuates this problem. It’s called Blue Edge, and—as you can hear—it works beautifully:

The new blade shape is combined with another technology called Blue Pulse, which adds three flaps to the edge of the rotor blades. These flaps move up and down at 15 to 40 times per second, using piezoelectric motors that also help to reduce the blade-vortex interaction.

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Was the Cyber Attack on Google an Inside Job?

Posted by Nexus – 18/01/2010

[via mashable.com]

A couple of days ago, Google announced a plan to stop censoring the Chinese version of their search engine, threatening to pull out from the Chinese market altogether. One of the main reason behind this decision was a sophisticated hacker attack on Google which came, Google claims, directly from China.

The attack, which used a flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and a trojan named Hydraq is considered sophisticated not only because of the attackers’ level of technical expertise, but also because the attackers knew exactly who to attack. Now, Reuters’ source claims that the hackers have had help from Google itself.

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Archos Phone Tablet Coming Soon

Posted by Nexus – 17/01/2010

[via pmptoday.com]

After the rumor has circulated that Archos is developing a smartphone with an Android OS, we pretty much have forgotten about it. But the ArchosPhone is real and it will most definitely come. Sure, Archos has no phone to show us at CES and sure enough this Android device will only be one in many such devices in the future but at least Archos will have tried and even if Archos fails to make a dent in the smartphone market, the French company will have the competitive experience to make it in a world where every portable device can make calls or every phone can do anything any portable device can. Convergence.

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‘Grey goo’ food laced with nanoparticles could swamp Britain

Posted by Nexus – 11/01/2010

[via dailymail.co.uk]

Prince Charles derided nanoparticles as 'grey goo' food

Britain is on the brink of a massive expansion in foods containing controversial ‘grey goo’ nanoparticles, according to the former head of the Food Standards Agency.

Low-calorie chocolate and beer that doesn’t go flat could be on sale within just five years, Lord Krebs said last night.

However, he and other peers believe there will be no requirement for the hi-tech products to be labelled as containing nanoparticles – microscopic compounds that can worm their way into the brain, liver and kidneys with unknown consequences.

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Google’s Nexus One Costs $174.15

Posted by Nexus – 09/01/2010

Google Nexus One Carries $174.15 Materials Cost, iSuppli Teardown Reveals El Segundo, Calif., January 8, 2010-With its new Nexus One, Google Inc. has taken many of the latest smart-phone innovations and combined them in a single product that manages to be both cutting edge and cost competitive, according to a teardown conducted by iSuppli Corp.The Nexus One, sold with the Google brand name but manufactured by HTC Corp., carries a Bill Of Materials (BOM) of $174.15, based on a preliminary estimate from iSuppli’s Teardown Analysis Team. This total comprises only hardware and component costs for the Nexus One itself and does not take into consideration other expenses such as manufacturing, software, box contents, accessories and royalties.

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The HP Slate

Posted by Nexus – 07/01/2010

[via engadget.com]

Here we go — press images of the HP Slate just hit the web, right as Ballmer showed it off during his CES keynote. The prototype device is said to be coming later this year, and it’s running Windows — Ballmer showed it running the PC Kindle app. It’s also multitouch, and can do some gaming — they showed it playing Frogger.

[slideshow]

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A Look Around

Posted by Nexus – 05/01/2010

[via futilitycloset.com]
i'm a ghost
In September 1893, London doctor Farquhar Matheson was sailing with his wife on Scotland’s Loch Alsh, between the isle of Skye and the mainland. “Our sail was up and we were going gaily along when suddenly I saw something rise out of the loch in front of us–a long, straight, necklike thing as tall as my mast.”

The thing was 200 yards away; it was not until it began to submerge that Matheson saw “it was a large sea-monster–of the saurian type, I should think.”

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Did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grow marijuana?

Posted by Nexus – 01/01/2010

[via The Straight Dope, originally by Cecil Adams]

Racial stereotypes in the 1700s? Ridiculous.

Dear Cecil:

I have heard Thomas Jefferson traded marijuana blends with George Washington and the other founding fathers. I find this hard to believe, but the rumor is ubiquitous. Can anyone verify if it is true or false? I e-mailed the famous Jefferson scholar Clay Jenkins but got no response. However, on his podcast, The Thomas Jefferson Hour, he did admit to donning his Thomas Jefferson impersonation gear and visiting Burning Man. Should I take this as a tacit admission of our third president’s smoking habits?

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