It may not be tech-related, but if you have ever wanted to know how to make candles at home. There is a great post at Sacred Paths about making Sand Candels. Fun to do with family and friends…and relatively easy to do.
Radiance Technologies, a small Huntsville, AL company, has created a system that can instantly determine the exact location of a gun being fired and its model. The U.S. Army is currently testing it and three similar ones to give soldiers an edge in battle conditions, by allowing them to return fire more rapidly.
Unlike other known systems, the Radiance’s WeaponWatch is powered by infrared sensors that can literally detect missiles or gunfire at the speed of light. It even works while under heavy attack and at longer sniper distances.
WeaponWatch is one of the major reasons Radiance has grown from only three employees six years ago to 275, making it one of the 500 fastest-growing small businesses in the United States.
China’s Shenzhou VI is scheduled launch two Chinese taikonauts into Earth orbit at 3 a.m. GMT on Thursday, October 13th. The Chinese government has not released details but those close to development say the flight will expand on China’s first manned flight, which took place in 2003 and allowed for 14 orbits over 21 hours.
The Shanghai Morning Post reported in September that Zhai Zhingang and Nie Haisheng are in the running to be the taikonaut to pilot the flight.
Segway, the company best known for its two-wheel Human Transporter, will begin to license its smart-motion technology and know-how to other companies, and it will jointly develop new products with them.
The first technology license for Segway will be with Hong Kong-based Wow Wee. Wow Wee will use the Segway technology in its next generation of robotic entertainment products such as Robosapien, Roboraptor and Robopet.
In a likely response to Google’s book scanning project, Yahoo has announced that it will work with partners to make electronic versions of books available online. The project will be run by the new Open Content Alliance (OCA) and books will be hosted by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit group created to offer access to historical collections that exist in digital format.
Most news organizations are reporting that Yahoo is taking a more cautious step than Google by announcing that it will only scan and digitize texts in the public domain, except where the copyright holder has expressly given permission. However, this leaves open the question of what “in the public domain” actually means.
Alabama’s growing technology base, skilled labor force, low cost of doing business, lucrative state and local incentives and friendly environment has drawn numerous automotive companies into the state. These same traits are now beginning to cause a tremendous expansion in Alabama’s aerospace and defense industries.
Northrop Grumman, known as a world leading defense company, currently […]
Verizon Communications expects to save roughly $250,000 per year thanks to a fuel cell pilot project. Verizon began working to find alternative energy sources due to soaring oil prices and increased energy costs. The $13 million fuel cell pilot at its office building and switching center in Garden City, a suburb of New […]
Compass Bancshares, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is one of the countries largest banks, and it has a history of high growth and integration of new technologies. This deal will be the first for Compass since it acquired First Tier in Denver in 2001, and may serve as a further spark for the company. TexasBanc will cost Compass 5 million shares and $232 million in cash.
The banking industry has been looking to expand brick-n-mortar and internet banking into Texas due to its accelerated growth in recent years. The Census Bureau says that Texas’ population grew by 23 percent from 1990 to 2000 and another 6 percent since then.
Once the deal closes regulatory checks and receives shareholder approval, Compass will have more than $31 billion in assets, making it the nation’s 28th largest bank. Analysts also see this key move to expand Compass’s swap and bond desk activities further.
Bruce Anderson named chief operating officer of the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, Alabama. Anderson will be responsible for the “day-to-day management and operation of the science center, including strategic business planning, safety oversight and supervision of facility resources”. In addition, he will be the primary liaison between the […]
HUNTSVILLE, Ala.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 14, 2005–Digital Fusion, Inc. , an information technology (”IT”) and engineering services provider announced it has been awarded a competitive contract for Acquisition and Business Support Services (ABSS) by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, AL. The contract is a performance-based, Firm-Fixed-Price, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a maximum value of $48.75 million over five years, if all options are exercised. The contract has a two week phase-in period beginning September 16, 2005, to be followed by a one year base period and four one year options. Digital Fusion is the prime contractor and does not anticipate using any subcontractors on this contract.
Since its announcement, Google’s digital library initiative has polarized both consumers and copyright holders.
On first view, Google’s plan to scan books and make them available through their search engines appears to violate copyrights on these books, and many large publishers have geared for a fight with the search giant. However, at closer inspection, Google only plans to allow searching within these texts and does not plan to make full text or even large sections available to users. This, likely, falls under the terms of fair use.
InternetWeek’s Christopher Heun takes an unbiased and thorough look at the legal hurdles behind the Google Print Library Project in a new article.
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As authors ourselves, The Technology Suits strongly supports the rights of copyright holders to be compensated for their creations. We also believe in taking an unbiased view on new technologies such as the Google Print Library Project. There are obviously pluses and minuses to new technologies and their ability to make content more readily available. It is important that creators of content stay up to date with these to protect their creations, expand their audience and receive proper compensation.
For the past several years, municipalities across the country have talked about and even begun implementing free WiFi offering. Many critics of these plans have claimed that cities have no business offering free high-speed wireless access as it competes with local telephone companies, cable providers of broadband, cellular companies and even local small business owners that use free wireless access to attract customers.
Proponents of free municipal provided WiFi say that it will bring internet access to lower-income households, improve tourism and benefit businesses. There are benefits, but many of these do not pass even the most basic cost-benefit analysis.
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Enter a simple but novel approach from Huntsville, Alabama. Many do not think of Alabama as a technology front mover, but Huntsville is home to 1) one of the country’s two U.S. Space Camps 2) Intergraph Corporation, 3) sizeable offices for Boeing, Northrop Grumman, LG Electronics and Lockheed Martin 4) Redstone Arsenal which houses several military and NASA installations, plus external associate firms 5) many other large technical installations and smaller R&D houses.
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Other municipalities would do well to copy this arrangement from Huntsville. It provides wireless data access to visitors and residents for basic needs at little cost to tax payers, may even become a revenue stream from commissions on extended plans sold by the service provider and leaves open the possibility of helping low-income households access the internet.
Google first made many security analysts very concerned with the release of Google Desktop Search (now called Google Desktop) in October of last year. The first version allowed for access to many secure files and even provided access to password protected websites and intranet sites.
With the release of Google Desktop 2, Google has answered many of these initial questions, and ones that remained open after the release of Google Desktop Enterprise in May. However, some security analysts are still leery about the new search software.
This latest version no longer indexes password protected files and will not view files in other users’ directories, but it is one of the new feature suites that is causing some concern. This new version adds a Sidebar that searches the internet for information (email, news, weather, photos, stocks, Atom feeds) and displays them to the user based on their web browsing history.
In an in-depth article by eWeek on the subject, Nikhio Bhatla, product manager for Google Desktop is quoted as saying “we wanted to let people just sit back and let the Web come to them.” This can be quite benefical for users but does add two concerns:
Nanotechnologists at University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and an Australian colleague have produced transparent carbon nanotube sheets that are stronger than the same-weight steel sheets.
Component strength is extremely important for many applications and tested strength of the new material already exceeds the strongest steel sheets and Mylar and Kapton sheets used for ultralight air […]
News began to circulate last week about a preliminary meeting between Skype and BSkyB, a News Corp satellite unit, to discuss an acquisition by News Corp. News Corp, which includes holdings such as the Fox media outlets, is seeking to expand itself into the online world, but the estimated $3+ billion price tag for […]
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