Mix of hybrid and electric vehicles varies greatly across different regions of the U.S.

15 metropolitan areas have accounted for 41% of all U.S. electric vehicle registrations through the first 10 months of 2012.

The mix of new hybrid and electric vehicles varies as much among the different regions of the United States as does the mix of makes and models, if not more so. The 15 Designated Market Areas (DMAs) with the highest percentage of hybrid powertrains together account for almost 30% of all hybrid registrations nationally, yet these same 15 markets include just 12.5% of all new vehicle registrations. Nine of these 15 hybrid-rich areas have a hybrid penetration greater than 6%, while the national penetration is 2.97%. In San Francisco, the market area with the highest hybrid mix, almost one of every 10 new vehicles sold is a hybrid.

 

 

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Energy company developing home refueling appliance for natural-gas cars

About 112,000 natural-gas powered vehicles are now on U.S. roads.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. said it is working with General Electric Co GE and Whirlpool Corp. to develop a $500 appliance that will allow natural-gas powered cars to be refueled at their owners’ homes.

 

 

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Africa has more cellphone users than all of North America

There are more cellphone users in Africa than in North America.

When you are a developing continent you can skip entire stages of technological progress, like going directly from no phones to cellphones without suffering through land lines in between. Africa, for example, now has more mobile subscribers than the United States or Europe, and that means big things for African economies.

 

 

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Top 15 most dangerous people in the world

Cody Wilson develops software that would allow anyone with the funding to easily build a gun from the comfort of their own home.

There used to be an order to the world and a structure to things. You couldn’t print a gun like a term paper. It was impossible to wreck a nuclear production plant with a few lines of code. Flying robots didn’t descend on you in the dead of night and kill you in your home.

 

 

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DARPA’s robotic pack mule responds to vocal commands and stomps through the forest

The Legged Squad Support System, or AlphaDog.

The robotic “pack mule” from DARPA and Boston Dynamics, the AlphaDog, has markedly improved capabilities since the prototype was introduced in October 2011. Then, the machine—intended to carry up to 400 pounds over rough terrain, while also serving as a power source for troops—was stuck on an inside track, connected to heavy cables. In this latest video from DARPA, filmed recently in central Virginia, it marches through the forest, responds to about 10 verbal commands, and follows its leader closely. Rough terrain like ditches isn’t a problem for the hearty man-made beast, and when it rolls down a hill, it recovers smoothly. On flat land, its trot is impressive, too. (video)

 

 

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More that 1,000 startups are destined to be abandoned at the Series A stage

We now have real data to accompany all the anecdotal stories about the ongoing “Series A crunch” for tech startups. CB Insights, a venture capital analysis firm, has released a new seed financing report that digs into some real numbers about the situation.

 

 

 

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The $5 lamp that is powered solely by gravity

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/53588182[/vimeo]

There are currently over 1.5 billion people in the World who have no reliable access to mains electricity. These people rely, instead, on biomass fuels (mostly kerosene) for lighting once the sun goes down. GravityLight is a sustainable lighting solution powered by gravity. (Pics)

 

 

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Less than 1% of the world’s data is analyzed, over 80% is unprotected: Study

The study finds that 0.5% of global data is analyzed, and just half of data requiring security measures is protected.

In 2012, the global data supply reached 2.8 zettabytes (ZB) – or 2.8 trillion GB – but just 0.5% of this is used for analysis, according to the Digital Universe Study.

 

 

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Companies pave way for natural gas fueled cars and trucks

Shell, and others, see the export of the super-cooled natural gas as a lucrative venture.

While oil development continue to dominate the Royal Dutch Shell portfolio, the energy developer is now making plans to invest heavily in liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Shell, and others, see the export of the super-cooled natural gas as a lucrative venture.

 

 

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The insourcing boom – bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

New refrigerator factory at GE’s Appliance Park.

General Electric’s storied Appliance Park, in Louisville, Kentucky, for much of the past 10 years, appeared less like a monument to American manufacturing prowess than a memorial to it.

But after  years of offshore production, General Electric is moving much of its far-flung appliance-manufacturing operations back home. It is not alone. An exploration of the startling, sustainable, just-getting-started return of industry to the United States.

 

 

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Latin Americans are happiest people in the world

Happiest people live in Latin American countries.

Qatar is the richest county in the world but the world’s happiest people don’t live there.  They don’t live in Japan either, the country with the highest life expectancy.  With a chart-topping percentage of college graduates in Canada, they didn’t make the top 10 of the happiest people in the world either.

 

 

 

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