Japanese inventor finds solution to global trash problem by converting plastic to oil

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Lg_kvLaAM[/youtube]

This YouTube video about the invention of a plastic-to-oil converting machine went viral and exceeded 3.7 million views. This shows that concern over “the plastic problem” is certainly not going away, despite encouraging bans on and decreases in the use of plastic shopping bags.

 

 

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Electric power without transmission lines

Hundreds of companies are investing in electricity transferred through magnetic fields.

Nikola Tesla, the inventor and rival to Thomas Edison, in the early 1900’s built the Wardenclyffe Tower, a 187-foot-high structure on Long Island, which he said could transmit electricity wirelessly. Financier J.Morgan backed the Wardenclyffe Tower. The project failed, and Tesla ended up broke. (In an earlier experiment in Colorado, Tesla had wirelessly lit up 200 lamps over a distance of 25 miles, but pedestrians witnessed sparks jumping between their feet and the ground, and electricity flowed from faucets when turned on. Oops.)

 

 

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11 major trends in mass energy storage

What are energy CEO’s thinking?

Grid-Scale Energy Storage in North America 2013: Applications, Technologies, and Suppliers, author Chet Lyons spoke with dozens of energy storage CEOs and summarized their thoughts in a recent report. Below is an excerpt of his 311-page report, highlighting eleven common threads shared by energy storage executives.

 

 

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FAA approves using electronics throughout your entire flight

Individual airlines still have to prove to the FDA that in-air electronics during takeoff and landing are safe for their fleet.

The Federal Aviation Administration has finally relaxed the restrictions on in-flight electronics usage. New regulations allow passengers to use e-book readers, play games, and watch videos on devices as long as they are in airplane mode.

 

 

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Lockheed Martin’s SPAN spy rock could be the military’s new secret weapon

The surveillance technology is so small it can fit in a rock.

Lockheed Martin showcased developments in their surveillance technology called SPAN (Self-Powered Ad-hoc Network) at the annual AUSA Army meeting in Washington, D.C. last week. SPAN, a “covert, perpetually self-powered wireless sensor network” that can provide “unobtrusive, continuous surveillance” in units so small they can fit in a rock.

 

 

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More than 20% of government organizations will have appointed a chief digital officer by 2014

The government CIO  role is increasingly under pressure due to the development and implementation of digital government strategies, leading to the creation of new roles, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner predicts that by 2014, more than 10 percent of government organizations will have appointed a chief data officer and over 20 percent will have appointed a chief digital officer.

 

 

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5 trends for the future of food packaging

Sensors that indicate when a product is no longer good will replace the ‘best before’ print.

Sometimes, packaging may appear very wasteful to people. The packaging is used only temporarily and the act of throwing it away does not feel good. The ‘throw away society’ has given way for a society that shares and reuses as much as possible. However, packaging, even for one time use, is still vital in our way of live. As a fact, packaging design can help make sustainable lifestyle choices. Here are five trends in the future of food packaging which we will see in the coming years.

 

 

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Is connecting your product to the Internet of Things a good business decision?

Companies today are more excited than ever about the Internet of Things thanks to widespread Internet adoption and over 10 billion connected devices around the world. Nearly every business, including those from traditionally low-tech industries, wants to get on the cloud, track a group of devices, and gather data. The question is why would a company is connect a previously “dumb” product to the cloud. Or stated differently, if a company invests in making my toaster talk to my lawnmower, is that really a good business decision and why?

 

 

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Global wind power capacity expected to skyrocket

Wind power could generate as much as 18 percent of global electricity by 2050.

Wind energy only accounts for a small percentage of global electricity production even though we have seen more wind farms popping up over the last few years. Wind power generates only 2.6 percent of the world’s electricity, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency, but that number is expected to grow significantly over the next few decades.

 

 

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Competing for the World’s Largest Infrastructure Project: Over 100 Million Jobs at Stake

Elon Musk and Daryl Oster, competing for what could become 
the world’s largest infrastructure project

Futurist Thomas Frey: When Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk, mysteriously leaked that he was working on his Hyperloop Project, the combination of secrecy, cryptic details, and his own flair for the dramatic all contributed to the media frenzy that followed.

 

 

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