Technology Effect

World's first flying car gets green signal to take-off Toronto: The world's first flying car, which was caught in a legal snarl in the U.S., has finally been given the green signal. Being developed by Boston-based Terrafugia Transition since 2006, the dual-purpose car-cum-plane vehicle called 'the flying car' has got the waiver on its weight from the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Under FAA rules, the flying car - categorised as a 'light sport' aircraft - was required to be strictly under 1,320 pounds in weight. But with the addition of car safety features such as airbags, crumple zones and a safety cage, the vehicle overshot the weight-limit. With the FAA now relaxing the rules for its weight, the decks have been cleared for the flying car - a two-seater named Transition - to take-off next year. "Our schedule calls for the first delivery to be made prior to the end of 2011. We currently have in excess of 70 orders, which is about a t...

Google to take security page from Mozilla's Firefox Bangalore: Recently, Google said that it will take a page from Mozilla's security playbook and block outdated plug-ins from launching in its Chrome browser, part of a new effort to keep users safer. Chromium is the name of the open-source development project that feeds into the Chrome browser. Google did not spell out when the blocking of outdated plug-ins would be added to Chrome, saying only that it would happen in the medium-term. Nor did the Google engineers specify which plug-ins would be blocked. Chrome will assist users in updating old plug-ins, they said. Chrome will also display a warning when a site calls on an infrequently-used plug-in, said Chris Evans, Julien Tinnes and Michal Zalewski of Google's security team. "Some plug-ins are widely installed but typically not required for today's Internet experience. For most users, any attempt to instantiate such a plug-in is suspicious and Google Chrome ...

535,000 Sony Vaio PCs may overheat Tokyo: Sony recently said that about 535,000 units of its "Vaio" brand personal computers globally may be in danger of overheating and that it has provided software on its website to eliminate the problem. The company said in a statement that there have been 39 overheating cases in total, all reported outside Japan. Some of these have resulted in damage to computer bodies, but no burn injuries have been reported. Some of Sony's F and C series Vaio PCs made in January this year and some custom-made models from the same series have been affected, the firm said. A Sony spokeswoman said the company has not estimated possible costs stemming from the problem.

Earplug Lets the Message Through ScienceDaily — An earplug with a built-in computer that allows speech to pass but shuts out unwanted and hazardous noise will make life easier in noisy environments. The basic technology in the QUIETPRO earplug was developed at SINTEF ICT .The earplug comprises a miniature loudspeaker and both internal and external microphones. The inner microphone measures the noise in the ear. The earplug shuts out the noise but allows speech to pass, thanks to the electronics built into a microchip. In quiet surroundings the sounds that we wish to hear are allowed past, but in a noisy environment, the system shuts out the noise, allowing only speech to pass. The electronics are built into a tiny chip. In combination with a radio, the system is a complete communications terminal for use in noisy environments. Noisy surroundings One of the main principles of the earplug is that sounds are not attenuated more that necessary, so that the user does not feel that he ...

'Balanced' Ecosystems Seen in Organic Agriculture Better at Controlling Pests, Research Finds ScienceDaily — There really is a balance of nature, but as accepted as that thought is, it has rarely been studied. Now Washington State University researchers writing in the journal Nature have found that more balanced animal and plant communities typical of organic farms work better at fighting pests and growing a better plant. The researchers looked at insect pests and their natural enemies in potatoes and found organic crops had more balanced insect populations in which no one species of insect has a chance to dominate. And in test plots, the crops with the more balanced insect populations grew better. "I think 'balance' is a good term," says David Crowder, a post-doctorate research associate in entomology at Washington State University. "When the species are balanced, at least in our experiments, they're able to fulfill their roles in a more h...