Totally Techie

Electric Cars and Hybrid Cars

2009-04-16T05:28:00.001-07:00

Everybody might have already heard about greenhouse effect. This signifies the warming that results when the earth's atmosphere traps the sun's heat. It is created by carbon dioxide, methane, and other atmospheric gases, which allow sunlight to reach the earth but prevent heat from bouncing off to the atmosphere. These heat-trapping gases are called “greenhouse gases.”

Burning fuel leads the major increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Such an increase is intensifying the greenhouse effect and inflating the temperatures worldwide. This is now called global warming, that could effect the melting of glaciers and polar icecaps that will eventually flood coastal areas. Global warming also shifts rainfall patterns, creating more droughts and severe tropical storms affecting more areas around the world.

All the conditions mentioned above accuses the foremost reliance of people to petroleum and gasoline-fed machines as tools to ease their everyday life. Thus, it is now of concern to find alternative sources of fuel that is environment-friendly. The most recently significant improvement may be the electric and hybrid powered cars. An electric vehicle uses batteries to “fuel” an electric motor to move. Electric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions. Battery electric vehicles involves low speed, neighborhood electric vehicles, other major industrial equipments and even city buses. The electric motor presents some noticeable pros and cons over the conventional combustion engine. Because it never uses petroleum to supply power to the engine, it runs clean, devoid of any emissions. The electricity generally come from many external sources that run on coal, nuclear, or hydroelectric power. Scientists have the same opinion that pollution at these plants could be better controlled and the local smog produced by cars would disappear. Particularly appealing to countries like China, which has few natural oil reserves, the electric car called EV1 can be recharged at stations equipped with a charging device or even at the comforts of your home. It is also far quieter than a conventional engine because an electric car has fewer movable parts and thus needs less service.

At the moment, the major downside of an electric vehicle befall on the batteries that store its source of energy. The storage is sufficient only to limited driving range. The EV1 can go approximately fifty to seventy miles per charge, less if the air conditioner is used or in cold climates. With this problem, coupled with the inconvenience caused by the limited availability of charging stations, makes the car unacceptable for long trips. For many reasons, the hybrid engine has emerged as the more practical power source in our near future. Combining the powers both an electric motor and an internal combustion gas-driven engine, hybrid cars has the benefit of both types of power sources without the problems of the ultra-clean but limited range electric cars. These cars produce significantly lower emissions and get outstanding gas mileage.

Continuously recharged by the gasoline engine and through regenerative braking, the hybrid’s batteries never requires recharging. Sophisticated hybrids like the Honda VV and the Toyota Prius are run by computer that automatically alternates between gas engine and electric motor depending on the driving situation. The Prius utilizes the electric motor in early acceleration when in conventional cars—this is when a lot of fuel consumption occurs. Faster acceleration may require both engines. However, in stop-and-go city traffic, speed isn’t a big factor, the hybrid cars could easily switch to electric power. Eventually there is little reason why hybrid technology can’t be applied to other larger types of vehicles, including public buses, sedans, trucks, vans and SUVs.

Hybrid engines are quite a necessary step for our society to retain our current mobile lives while conserving gasoline and reducing air pollution. First of all, gasoline will not be perpetually available. Oil, which is required to make gasoline, is a non-renewable resource that would soon be used up. Several people don’t believe will run out of oil because they argue that there is so much that is undiscovered or just difficult and expensive to reach.

Although it is factual, it is unclear how much oil is still not discovered, the amount used vastly outnumbers the amount found in new sources. That is a good indication that oil production is slowing down and its prices are skyrocketing, not because of choice, but because it now difficult to find. There is less of it now, literally. However, the depletion of oil may be slowed All of these innovations in the automobile industry represent an early step in the transformation to modernize it.

These automobiles are just but a preview of the first generation in the re-evaluation of the modernizing our cars in the future. Some of these cars are in production, some will be soon and some are prototypes that may never come to the market in their present form. The ideal car of the future is likely to incorporate and synthesize certain elements from each one, a major factor would be the minimizing of the usage of gasoline and petroleum-based products.

The problems that arise from these modern automobiles and their users have exacerbated, may it be pollution, overcrowding and the precariousness of oil reserves, optimism on the exceptional technology that will be available shortly is assurance that a step is being taken. These modern cars offer very real and bright solutions. They are produced by major manufacturers and should be available at reasonable prices.

An innovation that is too expensive for widespread application would defeat its purpose. With the circumstances we have in hand, one can be hopeful that human ingenuity will meet the challenges necessary to permit the continued use and proliferation of the private automobile. Of course, with a vital concern on its impacts to the world we are all living in.

Technology and Pollution - What's the Correlation?

2009-04-16T05:14:00.001-07:00

As the clock ticks, environmental pollution is getting worse faster than ever before. With the onslaught of a lot of industries and modern technologies, pollution has seem to be its unwanted drawback leading us to find more alternatives that would lessen the threat they posed to our environment.

The most terrible type of pollution nowadays is air pollution. This is the contamination of our air by substances as fuel exhaust and smoke, mostly from petroleum-based machines. Air pollution occurs when industries and vehicles release such large amounts of gas and particulates into the air that natural processes can no longer keep the atmosphere in balance. Proof to its alarming condition, according to the World Health Organization, approximately one-fifth of the world's people are exposed to hazardous levels of air pollutants.

Each year, more than a hundred million tons of gases and particulates pour into the atmosphere. Just to give you a picture, many dry cleaning plants remove dirt from clothing with a chemical, perchloroethylene, a harmful air pollutant. The garbage disposal through burning may discharge smoke and heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, to be released in the atmosphere. These heavy metals are exceedingly poisonous.

Also, something emerges when certain gases released by combustion of gasoline and petroleum byproducts react with sunlight in the atmosphere. This reaction generate hundreds of harmful chemicals that make up smog.

More problems arise, when rain and other precipitation is polluted mainly by sulfuric acid and nitric acid in the atmosphere. These acids form when gases called sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water vapor in the air—and it is called acid rain. The acids in acid rain travel through air and water to harm the environment over vast areas. Acid rain has killed entire fish populations in a number of lakes, damaged buildings, bridges and statues. Sites already affected by acid rain include a substantial part of eastern North America, Central Europe and Scandinavia.

Technology often comes with a compromise that we can enjoy it as long as it does not harm other people and the environment. Governments should make ways to meet these so that we can have a sustainable future to look forward to.

Nintendo Uncovers Wii Motion Plus Release Date

2009-04-14T06:19:00.001-07:00

Every cannot seem hide their excitement over Wii Motion Plus, which is said to be an accessory that would increase the fun and enjoyment in playing Nintendo Wii. Nintendo described that Wii Motion Plus contain "the motion-sensing controls of Wii to new levels of precision and performance". By improving its sensors, Wii Motion Plus can track player motion to "a finer detail and greater accuracy".

Wii Motion Plus has the ability to sense "the slightest twist of the wrist or turn of the body" and replicate it "wxactly on the TV screen, allowing users to become even more immersed in Wii game play". With user-friendly design for no-frills attachment to the Wii Remote controller, this surely will make Wii addicts even more crazier! Together with Wii Sports Resort game, Wii Motion Plus is set to hit the shelves on july 24 2009! Watch out for it, guys!

Technorati Tags: Nintendo Wii Motion Plus,Nintendo Wii Sports Resort

Conficker Eyechart - Easiest Way to Know If You're Infected With Conficker

2009-04-09T07:49:00.001-07:00

Too much publicity of the Conficker virus has still left a lot of people hanging about the true nature of this computer/Internet virus. While some had already installed/updated/patched their anti-virus softwares, we're still not sure if this Conficker scare would still haunt our computers. Well, a website has released a new way to know if you're under threat of Conficker infection

Here's what you need to do, you just only log on to http://www.talkbiz.com/confickertest and determine if one of the characters in the picture above will not display. Chances are, according to them, you are infected with a Conficker (C variant or greater)or infected by Conficker B variant. That's just it. Now, go figure out if you're in danger. It's free and it's easy. Good luck!

Smart Fortwo – Smaller Car, Bigger Savings!

2009-04-06T10:42:00.001-07:00

Smart fortwo is recently gaining raves for its sleek-yet-convenient design that makes people foresee what future cars should look like, given the cramp cityscapes and gargantuan parking fees that would be an eventuality then. The Smart fortwo model measures 8.8 feet long, 5.1 feet tall and 5.1 feet wide -- just enough space for two people to lounge around in it while it saves you half the parking space fee. Designed to be an everyday car, Smart fortwo is not only space-saving but it is also environment-friendly because it is am "Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) due to its extremely low exhaust emissions".

Parking spaces in Manhattan like the Meyers Parking, Icon Parking Systems and AviStar Airport Parking have already agreed to cut back half the price for Smart fortwo owners. Lately, the Central Parking System followed suit so as to save Smart fortwo owners from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and New Jersey some money from parking fees. Smart fortwo cars are manufactured in France and the company is a vital member of the Mercedes-Benz Cars, a Daimler AG Company. In the US, smart USA serves as a division of Penske Automotive Group. Each Smart fortwo car costs around $11,990 to $16,990 depending on the model. You can visit their site for more details at http://www.smartusa.com.

Xbox 720 - Are We This Close to Having Microsoft Xbox 720?

2009-03-30T03:44:00.001-07:00

Xbox 720 seems still too far-fetched for all gaming addicts out there! Although Xbox 720 gaming console is still scheduled to be unleashed in early 2010, giant game developing firm Blizzard has given its nod in tying up with Microsoft on its Xbox 360 successor. In the article by Gamingindustry.biz, Blizzard executive Rob Pardo revealed that "development process of new console hardware is under way". Unfortunately, other gaming development firms have not yet paved their way to unlock their possibility of instigating Xbox 720 compatibility to their games.

One important feature of the Xbox 720 would be its support to hold THX 7.1 and this device can let everyone " watch movies, television and play games and music" superb heights that no one can imagine. I just don't know how much would it cost to upgrade from Xbox 360 to Xbox 720. With the global crisis in tow for coming year, Microsoft should rethink first the feasibility of this new game console or else they might find themselves in the losing end. Below is the video of the Xbox 720 features or should i say graphics of Xbox 720:

Jabra BT135 Bluetooth Headset - Sleek Design Concurs with Superb Functionality

2009-03-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

Jabra BT135 Bluetooth Headset essentially complies with what music aficionados would be looking for in a bluetooth headset. Aside from its almost neglible compact weight and its futuristic design, nothing beats the convenience of Jabra BT135 Bluetooth Headset as it bears an adjustable hook that custom fits any human ear. Not just it adjusts to your ear contours, but the users of Jabra BT135 Bluetooth Headset would feel no encumbrance but just enjoy the all-too-crisp music it delivers right where it should be.

Aside from its neo-futuristic look and special features, the Jabra BT135 Bluetooth Headset also bears a backlit multifunction button that snaps your attention whenever its battery is running low or when it has finished charging. This headset can also divert music to an incoming call within a heartbeat -- just tap it and it transfers you to the caller without any fuss.

Here is a video of the Jabra BT135 Bluetooth Headset used for PS3:

Live Shuttle Launch Tonight - Space Shuttle STS-119 Finally Flies

2009-03-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Live shuttle launch will finally have a go signal after more than a month of being delayed due to some technical problems. Viewers who would want to take a glimpse of it should take note about its launch time, which is about 7:40 PM Eastern Time or 4:40 Pacific Time. The location of the space shuttle launch will be from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The original schedule of the shuttle launched ws first pegged last February 12. However, a hydrogen flow glitch was spotted by rocket technicians. This is why they had to delay the flight many times to assure the safety of the hydrogen vent lines that might cause the space shuttle to ignite in mid air if it is left unstabilized. However, the NASA technicians are now confident that the glitch has already been eliminated. This is why a go signal was already released for Space Shuttle STS-119.

The mission for this shuttle launch is to attach a final set of solar arrays for the International Space Station. Also, this flight also intends to replace outgoing flight engineer Sandra Magnus with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Plus the food and water supplies will be replenished, while the waste products will also be removed from the space station. A recycling system is also slated to be installed.

Privacy Policy

2009-03-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

This is the web site of Amazing Writer. We can be reached via e-mail at amazingwriter (at) gmail.com. For each visitor to our Web page, our Web server automatically recognizes the consumer's domain name and e-mail address (where possible).

We collect no information on consumers who browse our Web page. With respect to cookies: We do not set any cookies. If you do not want to receive e-mail from us in the future, please let us know by sending us e-mail at the above address. From time to time, we make the e-mail addresses of those who access our site available to other reputable organizations whose products or services we think you might find interesting. If you do not want us to share your e-mail address with other companies or organizations, please let us know by calling us at the number provided above.

With respect to Ad Servers: To try and bring you offers that are of interest to you, we have relationships with other companies that we allow to place ads on our Web pages. As a result of your visit to our site, ad server companies may collect information such as your domain type, your IP address and clickstream information. For further information, consult the privacy policies of:
Google Adsense
Infolinks
Kontera
Chitika

From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future we will contact you before we use your data for these new purposes to notify you of the policy change and to provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses.
Customers may prevent their information from being used for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected by e-mailing us at the above address.
With respect to security: We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site.

If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact The DMA's Committee on Ethical Business Practices at mgoldberger@the-dma.org.

Good Hacker or Bad Hacker: Which One Are You?

2009-03-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

Is there such a thing as a “good hacker”? With all that media stereotype of what hackers are like, hackers are often represented as computer geeks who are ignored by society and they take revenge by stealing other people’s data and get profit from it. However, we might not be aware that there are people capable of peeking through security loopholes of computers and programs. These are the people that big companies hire to protect them from future attacks of malicious hackers. Thus, big business like Microsoft, AT&T and Citibank hire the expertise of the “good hackers” or otherwise known as the “white hats”.

Bad hackers, on the contrary, have malicious intentions written all over their face. One goal for bad hackers could just simply to sow chaos. They will try to shut down your Web service, alter data on the Web server, and perform other malicious deeds simply for the satisfaction that they can be done. Another goal for “black hats” in hacking is to become an information thief by gaining unauthorized access to your company or customer information. This information can be used for many purposes ranging from credit card theft to corporate blackmail or espionage. If you are doing hacking armed with these two goals, you can be classified as a “black hat” or a “bad hacker”.

Indeed, hacking and hackers had become an integral consideration to multi-million dollar businesses. This is because companies are very careful now because they have learned from the past experience of the gargantuan amounts of money lost because of hacking. At the same time, in popular view, hacking gained its overwhelmingly negative association with malicious computer intrusion. The media’s interpretation of the word “hacker” became that of someone who illicitly, even maliciously, took over someone else’s computer. Hacking is now synonymous with the notion of someone who used their technical skills to commit computer crime. This is why we need more “white hats” to counteract the activities of the bad hackers from prying into computer systems.

We are living in a much different world than just a few years ago. Just as national security continues to be of primary importance to countries around the world, the security of our personal computers is also gaining importance to virtually all aspects of our lives. However, we still need to instill ethics regarding the appropriate use of computers, programs and systems. If you know that what you’re doing is wrong, like taking vital information without permission, you should be the one taking a step back. There will come a time that law enforcers will have “white hats” working for them and they might just catch your fraudulent and unethical activities. In the end, it will be too late for you to realize that crime does not pay.

Mixers Technology: Its Roots and Advancement

2009-03-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

Mixers are three port devices that are used to translate one frequency higher or lower for the purpose of transmitting or processing the signal more effectively. Mixers definitely had a pivotal role in the history of beyond the radio receiver development. With the advent of TV and radio broadcasting, the demand for radio technology grew beyond the ranks of the military and the hobbyists to the all-powerful consumer. As the 21st century is churning, mixer technology is constantly improving to jive with the wireless technologies that are booming. The changes it had undergone with time coincide with manufacturing efficiencies to reduce the cost and improve the performance of various electron devices. In essence, mixer technology will always be essential because it is a crucial tool in the transmission or processing of information.

The history of mixers has been identified to date back in the late 1800s. French physicist Edouard Branly (1846– 1940) had introduced a coherer. It was based on the properties of small metal particles between two electrodes in an evacuated glass tube. This invention of vacuum tubes was a great step forward toward better transmitters and receivers. In 1904, the British physicist John Ambrose Fleming (1849– 1945) invented the rectifying vacuum tube, the diode. In 1906 the American inventor Lee De Forest (1873– 1961) added a third electrode, called a grid, and thereby invented the triode. The grid controlled the current and made amplification possible. The efficiency of the electron tubes was greatly improved by using concentric cylinders as electrodes. Later, De Forest and the American engineer and inventor Edwin Armstrong (1890– 1954) independently discovered regenerative feedback in 1912. This phenomenon was used to produce a continuous carrier wave, which could be modulated by a voice signal. Armstrong invented also the superheterodyne receiver. These techniques made broadcasting possible. AM stations began broadcasting in 1919 and 1920. Regular TV transmissions started in Germany in 1935. Armstrong’s third great broadcasting invention was FM radio, but FM broadcasting was accepted not until after World War II.

Moreover, the history of mixer technology in use today was mathematically known several hundred years ago and reduced to practice by 1935 when the Double Pole, Double Throw (DPDT) vibrator modulator was used in low frequency amplifiers. Mixers were quickly adapted at that time to receivers as well as transmitters for their efficient frequency translation properties. In 1949, this function was performed by the 7360 vacuum tube in radio circuits and six vacuum tubes in rocket telemetry circuits. In 1963, Jones of Burroughs Corp. patented a common mode feedback addition to the transistor version of the circuit to mitigate the poor performance. This circuit in integrated circuit form was market by Sylvania in 1964 as an Engineering Case Library (ECL) exclusive or gate. People today who get their history from journalists instead of reality call this topology the “Gilbert Cell Mixer”.

Over the years several companies have tried to market the Gilbert mixer with little success. This circuit only came into its own when the cellular systems were put in place and the handsets had severe restrictions on size and battery performance. The limitations of this circuit are mitigated by using Field Effect Transistors (FET) which has less Intermodulation Distortion (IMD) that bipolar transistors.

Mixer definitely had a pivotal role in the history of radio receiver development. For as the number of permanent transmitting stations grew exponentially, from a scant 100 stations in the U. S. in 1905 to over 1100 stations only ten years later, the scarcity of spectrum and the accompanying drive to higher and higher frequencies (a drive that continues to this day) stimulated the development of radio receiver architectures that were increasingly sensitive and selective. With the advent of TV and radio broadcasting in the 1920s and 30s, the demand for radio technology grew beyond the ranks of the military and the hobbyists to the all-powerful consumer. The economic incentives for satisfying this demand added fuel to the fire, as evidenced by the rapid pace of technological progress, a renewed interest in “short-wave” radio, and a marked increase in patent litigation. The technologies developed along the way in part to meet the increasing demands of radio reception – such as the vacuum tube (or Audion, as it was
originally called), the piezoelectric resonator, and later on the transistor and the integrated circuit – tell the story of electronics in general, not just of radio.

What To Do When Hackers Attack

2009-03-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

So there's no denying that you have been hacked. So you realized you gave away your credit card number in a suspicious-looking website. So, do you know what to do next? You should not waste time in sending a warning to your bank right away. You should inform them to block all incoming purchases that could be traced back from your credit card number. Indeed, any person should at least have one byte of computer security knowledge. Computer security awareness is a very vital issue we should not take for granted because we need to protect our assets from unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction.

In case of hacker attacks, one helpful tip would be to keep your cool and do not panic. You should develop an effective reaction to the malicious action that the hacker has done. Earlier detection should be the better than late ones. You should formulate a countermeasure plan that could come in handy during a computer security crisis. In this case, you should know how not to allow the hacker to further damage your system or how to prevent the hacker from exploiting more information from your system.

We should always remember that hackers cannot just wreak havoc directly into your computers. There are potential dangers lurking in e-mail attachments that have already been much-publicized and are already familiar to the general population. E-mail attachments provide a convenient way to send nontext information over a text-only system. Attachments can contain word-processing files, spreadsheets, databases, images, or virtually any other information you can imagine. Although these files are harmless, they may contain macro viruses inside the loaded files that can damage computers and reveal confidential information when those files are opened. A great example of this is the ILOVEYOU virus, which searched for other users' passwords and forwarded that information to the original perpetrator. Within days, the virus spread to 40 million computers in more than 20 countries and caused an estimated $9 billion in damages. Most of the monetary losses is lost worker productivity because the infection damaged all the data in those computers.
Indeed, communication channels, in general, and the Internet, in particular, are especially vulnerable to attacks. The Internet is a vast network and because no control exists over the nodes through which Internet traffic passes. Thus, the information sent through the Internet is vulnerable to unauthorized disclosure. This can lead to disclosure of private information, alteration of critical business documents and theft or loss of important business messages. Putting the security of our interest is a foremost priority and we need educate ourselves and people around us about the essentials of computer security so that no one in our league would compromise the safety of your computers.

How to Prevent Hackers from Prying into Your Computer

2009-03-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

What if someone could actually have a free access into your computer? Is there any real harm that hackers could inflict to you with all the information found in your computer? Definitely, there's more harm than you can imagine. The imminent threats to yourself and your money will have several repercussions you will absolutely regret in the end. In 2000 alone, businesses have expressed their concern over increased attacks of their computer systems by outsiders, it cost their businesses and governments more than $10 billion. You cannot just lose millions of money because even your reputation is at stake when the hacker will exploit your name for identity theft. There are wide prospects that the hacker will pretend to be you and will make illegal transactions under your name.

Although the Internet is revolutionizing all facets of business life, we have to be careful about the damage that can be done through hacking. Gone are the days when companies typically conducts business mainly on paper, locking up sensitive documents and using security precautions when transporting important files.
In the digital age, we should know how hackers sweat their way inside our computers for us to protect the vital data in our computers. Most often, hackers monitor e-mail, web server access, or file transfers to extract passwords or steal network files, or to plant data that will cause your computer to virtually hang a “welcome” sign for intruders.

Remote services can also be exploited by hackers because these allow one computer on a network to execute programs on another computer to gain privileged access within a network. Any unscrupulous user of your computer can even jeopardize your system by visiting fake websites, opening suspicious emails and by not protecting your passwords from anyone who could be a potential threat to your system.
So what do we have to do to prevent these computer crooks from hooking vital information inside your computer? First, you have to install any reliable firewall in your computer. Firewalls are computer programs that delimit the entry and exit of information in your computer. Constant updates of these softwares are also necessary to prevent the novel ways that hackers can actually enter your system. Second, you should not open suspicious emails that have attachments on it. These may contain computer viruses or other malicious programs that can jeopardize your computer and the data you have inside. Lastly, you should protect your vital information from prying eyes. Do not give your credit card number from suspicious websites or tell your password to anyone. It is sure is better to be safe than sorry in the end.