MIT is in a twisted, propeller-capped knot this morning heralding a new discovery it says will unleash a solar revolution. However, the "revolutionary leap" inspired by photosynthesis is not on the glamorous front-end of energy collection, rather, it's related to a simple, highly efficient and inexpensive way to store that energy when the sun doesn't shine. "This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," says Daniel Nocera, MIT neomaxizoomdweebie who with Matthew Kanan developed the unprecedented approach to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases using the sun's energy. The gases can then be recombined later inside a fuel cell. The key components to the process are a pair of catalysts (one consists of cobalt metal, phosphate, and an electrode; the other, platinum) which produce the O and H gases at room temperature and in neutral pH water (i.e., tap water). While similar solutions exist for industrial use (primarily), these are very expensive and require specialized environments.

"This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind," said James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis at Imperial College in London. "The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem." Nocera concedes that further engineering is required to commercialize the approach but hopes to see it implemented in household fuel cell systems within the next 10 years. Click through for the video breakdown.

Continue reading Video: MIT develops solar storage "nirvana": energy crisis solved?

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MIT is in a twisted, propeller-capped knot this morning heralding a new discovery it says will unleash a solar revolution. However, the "revolutionary leap" inspired by photosynthesis is not on the glamorous front-end of energy collection, rather, it's related to a simple, highly efficient and inexpensive way to store that energy when the sun doesn't shine. "This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," says Daniel Nocera, MIT neomaxizoomdweebie who with Matthew Kanan developed the unprecedented approach to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases using the sun's energy. The gases can then be recombined later inside a fuel cell. The key components to the process are a pair of catalysts (one consists of cobalt metal, phosphate, and an electrode; the other, platinum) which produce the O and H gases at room temperature and in neutral pH water (i.e., tap water). While similar solutions exist for industrial use primarily, these are very expensive and require specialized environments.

"This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind," said James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis at Imperial College in London. "The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem." Nocera concedes that further engineering is required to commercialize the approach but hopes to see it implemented in household fuel cell systems within the next 10 years. Click through for the video breakdown.

Continue reading Video: MIT develops solar storage "nirvana": energy crisis solved?

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Car designers are like musicians, and the best cars, like the best music, stir the soul. Here are some that flip our switch. Tell us who flips yours, and submit pics of their work.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

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Eclipse fanatics from Kazakhstan to London to Hyderabad captured images of this morning's solar eclipse. Here we present a curated selection of their photos.

Bugatti gives the Veyron a drop-top that makes an already gorgeous car even more so. 215 mph in a roadster? Yes, please.

By a narrow 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that Comcast violated net-neutrality rules when it blocked BitTorrent traffic. The FCC said Comcast lied about its traffic management practices, which it said were anti-competitive in nature, and ordered a halt to them.

1949: A secretary at the Federal Communications Commission sends a letter to cable pioneer Ed Parsons in Astoria, Oregon, asking him to explain his community-antenna television system. It's the first-known FCC involvement in cable TV.

Parsons was a radio engineer and station owner who'd worked in Alaska, Washington and Oregon. He and his wife saw television demonstrated at a broadcasters' convention in Chicago in 1947. Mrs. Parsons wanted one of the new-fangled gizmos, and Ed bought one when Seattle's KRSC-TV, Channel 5, announced plans in the spring of 1948 to go on the air.

Parsons had to figure out a way to receive the TV signals from Seattle 120 miles away to Astoria, near the mouth of the Columbia River. He rigged a large antenna atop the Astoria Hotel and ran a coaxial cable across the street to his apartment. He got it working November 25. Problem solved.

Problem created: The apartment was the only place in town that could pick up the signal from Seattle, and soon friends, neighbors and total strangers were crowding into the Parsons' living room to watch the modern marvel.

Parsons was nearly driven out of house and home: "People would drive for hundreds of miles to see television. We had gotten considerable publicity …. And when people drove down from Portland or came from The Dalles or from Klamath Falls to see television, you couldn't tell them no."

He ran another cable from the hotel roof down to a TV set in the hotel lobby. So many people clogged the lobby that they got in the way of the hotel's paying guests. Parsons began running cable to other people's homes. Problem solved, industry born.

The Cable Center says Parsons charged the people he hooked up only for his materials and labor, never exacting a subscription fee. But MSNBC reports that Parsons charged $125 ($1,150 in today's money) for installation, plus $3 ($27.50 today) a month for service.

The Cable Center credits Parsons with inventing cable TV, because his system, completed in February 1949, was the first in the United States to use "coaxial cable, amplifiers and a community antenna to deliver television signals to an area that otherwise would not have been able to receive broadcast television signals." Nonetheless, the center notes that Jim Davidson beat Parsons to the punch with the first cable program: the Tennessee vs. Mississippi college football game on November 13, 1948.

In any event, FCC secretary T.J. Slowie wrote to Parsons on August 1, 1949, requesting "full information with respect to the nature of the system you may have developed and may be operating." Parsons complied, and an FCC attorney eventually concluded that CATV was a common carrier, subject to FCC jurisdiction. The commission, however, didn't adopt his recommendation, and it would be 1965 before the FCC decided to regulate cable TV.

Source: Cable Center, MSNBC

<!-- pageType= magazinewide slug= pl_screen section= entertainment subsection= hollywood headline= Meet the Next Rocky Horrors— Tarantino's Hell Rideand Four Other Freaky Flicks authorName= Jennifer Hillner creditType= illustration credit= L-Dopa -->

Think "midnight movie," and John Waters' Pink Flamingos or David Lynch's Eraserhead likely springs to mind. These '70s experimental flicks — deemed too raw and weird for mainstream audiences — flopped on initial theatrical release only to creep back as late-night fare. Now there's a new crop of films taking the express route to cultdom. Rather than banking on big box-office draw, these movies are playing up their fringe appeal with witching-hour screenings. Among them is the Quentin Tarantino-produced biker bloodbath homage Hell Ride, starring Larry Bishop, Dennis Hopper, and Michael Madsen (out August 8). "The thing you don't want," says writer-director Bishop, "is people walking out of the theater and going, 'That was nice.' This movie is not nice." Here's the next wave of outlandish night-frights invading a theater near you.

1: Hell Ride
High-octane bikes, buckets of beer, and a whole lot of booty — it's no surprise that Tarantino, the heir apparent of midnight movies, is behind this. QT tapped Larry Bishop, a B-movie legend, five years ago to make Hell Ride, telling him it was his destiny to produce the greatest motorcycle movie ever. "The earlier films always hinted at wildness," Bishop says. "We delivered." (He's not joking: According to Bishop, the first eight minutes depicts a full-on orgy.)

2: Sukiyaki Western Django
Japanese auteur Takashi Miike, best known for cult classics like Audition, Ichi the Killer, and The City of Lost Souls, pits a lone gunman against two feuding clans in this Asian-infused spaghetti (er, udon) western, out August 29. A classic '60s spurs, guns, and glory soundtrack rolls while Japanese actors sound out cowboyisms like "I reckon." A serape-wearing Tarantino even pops up as a gunslinger called Ringo.

3: The Midnight Meat Train
Adapted from Clive Barker's 1984 debut Books of Blood collection, Ryuhei Kitamura's deliciously horrifying slasher flick lives up to its inspiration. The gore fiesta stars Bradley Cooper (Alias) as a photographer investigating a serial killer lurking in the underground railways. What he finds is a singularly demented butcher with a very effective meat tenderizer.

4: Big Man
Japan Asian superstar comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto hits the US with this ludicrous mockumentary chronicling the life of a down-and-out superhero. A film fest hit — night owls will relish its over-the-top monster sequences and Ultraman references.

5: Speed Racer
Hey, Warner Bros. Why not pull a Showgirls and recast the Wachowskis' box-office bomb as late-night snack? It's got bad dialog, car chases, physics-defying stunts, and logic-defying plot points. Bonus: Audiences can throw bananas each time Chim Chim the chimp gets time.

I miss you already.

Leaving Sex Drive is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Over the past five years, this column has become such a core part of me that I don't quite know how to let go.

And yet, after much soul-searching and many discussions with trusted advisers, I know the time has come to plunge with my whole heart into a few other pursuits. These demand a focus and an energy I cannot muster without compromising Sex Drive.

I have much sympathy for the proverbial cobbler and his unshod children – relationships deserve time too, along with exciting projects.

But I think I've done what I set out to do here: Discuss sex in an intelligent way, from a perspective that -- as recently as two years ago -- was so offbeat, even other sex writers had to ask me what I meant by "sex and tech." Wired News took a big chance in adding a sex column to its lineup and, if I may be immodest for a moment, I think it worked out pretty damn well. (Thanks, Kourosh.)

I hope I've been able to serve as a gateway between us regular folks and people on the forefront of modern sexuality. I hope I've helped plant the seeds of a more positive and relaxed approach to sex, particularly as our most intimate lives become more entwined with our technologies.

As I accidentally told one reporter, I'm a tech-positive columnist who writes about sex. He liked the sound bite and I cringed, but I have to admit, it's true.

I am proud of what we've done together over the years -- yes, we, for Sex Drive would not be what it is without your comments, e-mails, interviews, conversations, flames and blogs -- to show that sex tech is not all about fear and politics.

I've tried to emphasize how sex tech touches each of us personally: It's not just a social movement, it's an everyday experience for us, individually and as lovers, spouses, partners. This sex tech stuff is serious! I hope I have provided you with a laugh now and then.

I don't know where I'll pop up next, although I assure (or threaten) you that you've not read the last of me. I don't consider myself a true blogger -- I don't think fast enough on my feet, for one thing -- but I do blog a few times a week at reginalynn.com. I've become braver about sharing my fiction. I'm still reporting on sex (and sex tech) in the news on Tuesdays at Playboy Radio. And, of course, you can always find me in my books.

Thank you for sharing your Fridays with me.

I'll be seeing you,

Regina Lynn

- - -

Regina Lynn will always love you. It's not you, it's her. You'll meet a new sex-tech columnist who makes you happy, and then you'll realize that this is for the best, despite the mutual heartbreak and shattered expectations. Really.