IBM’s oxygen powered battery

IBM-Supercomputer-builds-batter

IBM has built a battery that needs oxygen to live.

In an effort to build a battery capable of powering a car for 500 miles, IBM has designed a battery that produces power by taking in oxygen and then recharges by expelling oxygen. Such a battery can be significantly smaller and lighter than traditional lithium ion batteries, providing a much longer life per square inch since it is driven by the outside air. (Video)

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Chinese drivers could influence your next car

traffic_jam

China alone is forecast to see auto sales rise to 30 million units by 2020, 80 percent above the previous U.S. record.

The BMW 3-Series sedan might look like the conventional BMW but a closer inspection reveals it’s been stretched 11 centimeters — about 4 inches for metrically challenged Americans — almost all of that going to rear-seat occupants.

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Top 10 changes we can expect from the library of the future

library

Libraries have acted as community cornerstones for millennia.

Every April marks School Library Month.  Libraries celebrate how they promote education and awareness in an open, nurturing space. What makes them such lasting institutions, though, isn’t the mere act of preserving books and promoting knowledge. Rather, it’s the almost uncanny ability to consistently adapt to the changing demands of the local populace and emerging technology alike. The library system probably won’t disappear anytime soon, but rather, see itself blossoming into something new and exciting in congruence with today’s myriad informational demands.

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U.S. on track to stop funding clean tech

brookings-bust-graph

Sucks for American clean tech. Never mind that the industry is pretty universally regarded as one of tomorrow’s most important drivers of job growth and innovation—the already too-meager, maddeningly scattershot government support for clean energy is about to dry up altogether. So, goodbye ARPA-E?

David Roberts points us to this graph from a newish report from the Breakthrough Institute, the World Resources Institute, and the Brookings Institution, and, as you can see, it’s not pretty. And that sad-looking $11 billion stump too will disappear unless there’s a shift in policy.

Here’s Roberts…

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Snoozebox – portable hotel made from shipping containers

snoozebox

Snoozebox

We have seen tough, stackable, easy-to-transport steel shipping containers used for everything from a traveling restaurant to a mobile classroom to an off-grid house. But now , the British company Snoozebox has come up with yet another clever use for them – a modular, scalable portable hotel system made up of multiple tiered containers, that can be set up anywhere within 48 hours. (Video and pics)

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The end of the TV remote control

Remote-Control

Designers are now employing built-in cameras and microphones to enable TVs to recognize your gestures, spoken instructions, and even individual faces.

For over 60 years the TV remote control has been a centerpiece of living rooms and the focus of family squabbles. But its age is showing — and new technologies built into the next generation of TVs may replace the old clicker.

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World must adjust to end of cheap labor in China

china manufacturing

“China’s evaporating cheap labor pool will disrupt supply chains and consumption habits around the world.”

Shaun Rein takes a hard look at the economic colossus in The End of Cheap China. Rein is managing director of China Market Research Group, a strategic market intelligence firm with clients like Apple, DuPont and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

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Mike Mann registers 14,962 domain names in 24 hours

Mike Mann

Mike Mann has been snapping up Internet domain names and selling them off to the highest bidder for years.

Mike Mann is one of the longest members of the world of domain speculators, and he’s buying up names in force these days. Not all of them are on the aftermarket, as some other speculators buy domain names. They are new names. Dot-com names that aren’t registered — even though 100 million-plus already are — that he then turns around and sells for a few hundred bucks, sometimes far more.

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Discover the Hidden Patterns of Tomorrow with Futurist Thomas Frey
Unlock Your Potential, Ignite Your Success.

By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

Learn More about this exciting program.