Free Republic

THE CASE FOR SPACE-BASED DEFENSE The growing interest in nuclear technology by countries such as Iran presages the possibility that one or more nations may attempt to harness such a capability in the form of an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack against the United States, a prominent political scientist has warned. Such a scenario, writes Brian Kennedy of the Claremont Institute in the November 24th edition of the Wall Street Journal, is not far-fetched. "It would require the Iranians to be able to produce a warhead as sophisticated as we expect the Russians or the Chinese to possess. But that is...

Sir Ambrose Fleming: Father of Modern Electronics --snip-- Sir John Ambrose Fleming was a leader in the electronics revolution that changed the world. As a professor at a major university, he carefully researched the evidence for Darwinism, concluding that the theory is not supported by science. He also influenced hundreds of students to evaluate the evidence in science for Darwinism. An outstanding scientist and creationist, he played a significant role in the development and maturation of the early creation movement. As Travers and Muhr wrote, he "had an unusually long and active life," and his life changed the world as...

Big screen plasma televisions are to be banned in California because they use too much energy. In a world first, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has given his backing to the crackdown on sets more than 40 inches wide. These liquid crystal display and plasma high definition sets can use as much as three times the power of smaller cathode ray models. Experts say the ban will reduce the state's rocketing electricity bill by £5billion over the next decade. This is the equivalent of about £20 a set per year. Environmentalists have applauded the move by the California Energy Commission, but manufacturers...

Reporting from Sacramento - The influential lobby group Consumer Electronics Assn. is fighting what appears to be a losing battle to dissuade California regulators from passing the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions.

California considering banning giant TVs Electricity-guzzling giant-screen televisions are on the verge of being banned in California in an attempt to cut the state's soaring energy bill. By Tom Leonard in New York Published: 8:38PM BST 16 Oct 2009 Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state's governor, has supported controversial proposals by the California's energy commission to impose strict energy consumption limits on TVs with screens that are more than 40 inches wide. The commission claims that California's estimated 35 million televisions and related gadgets account for about 10 per cent of household energy consumption in the state. Experts say that the large...

Reporting from Sacramento - The influential lobby group Consumer Electronics Assn. is fighting what appears to be a losing battle to dissuade California regulators from passing the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions. On Tuesday, executives and consultants for the Arlington, Va., trade group asked members of the California Energy Commission to instead let consumers use their wallets to decide whether they want to buy the most energy-saving new models of liquid-crystal display and plasma high-definition TVs.

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Investigators in Germany have arrested a 24-year-old man on terror-related charges. Authorities arrested the man "on suspicion of spreading al Qaeda propaganda online and for procuring materials which could be used to make a bomb," prosecutors said Friday in a written statement. Searches of a flat in Offenbach, Germany, and a business in Frankfurt, Germany, turned up a small amount of an "explosive substance" and a home-made electronic device. An initial assessment suggests that the items "could be used to ignite explosives," prosecutors said. The man holds dual German-Turkish citizenship, they said. The statement from prosecutors...

With two laptop-loving children and a Jack Russell terrier hemmed in by an electric fence, Peter Troast figured his household used a lot of power. Just how much did not really hit him until the night the family turned off the overhead lights at their home in Maine and began hunting gadgets that glowed in the dark. “It was amazing to see all these lights blinking,” Mr. Troast said. As goes the Troast household, so goes the planet. Electricity use from power-hungry gadgets is rising fast all over the world. The fancy new flat-panel televisions everyone has been buying in...

Reporting from Sacramento - Concerned that the growing popularity of big-screen televisions could make it harder for California to keep pace with electricity demand, state energy regulators are poised to crack down on energy-guzzling sets despite opposition from a powerful electronics trade group. The first-in-the-nation TV efficiency standards would require electronics retailers to sell only energy-sipping models starting in 2011. Even tougher efficiency criteria would follow in 2013. The California Energy Commission is slated to unveil the new standards today, followed by a 45-day public comment period. The commission is expected to approve the measure in early November. The rules,...

BERLIN--We're here at IFA at the Sony press conference, where Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer reckons the "3D train is on the track--and we're the ones to drive it home." 3D is Sony's big push, but we're more interested in the announcement of a movie-download service for PS3 and PSP, via the PlayStation Network. Sony has announced its first 3D-compatible Bravia LCD TV, to arrive in 2010. It promises a high frame rate and 1,920x1,080 pixels per eye to give what Sony describes as "high-definition, high-quality 3D images." 3D-enabled Blu-ray players are set to follow and even the PS3 will...

An $11,000, high-definition audio/video teleconferencing system. A $4,300, 58-inch plasma screen TV for "talking head viewing." A $3,400 interactive tablet. The high-tech amenities of a multinational corporation? No. It's the warden's conference room at Minnesota's juvenile prison in Red Wing. Work was recently completed on a remodeling of the conference room that included $60,000 in new electronics, funded by what the Department of Corrections said was "end of year savings due to responsible management of the budget." Coming at a time of major state budget cuts and layoffs in other state departments, the Red Wing project has drawn criticism from...

We're kicking off our series exploring memorable gadgets from memorable people with one of the most influential tech giants: Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. – JCOK...meaningful...here goes...For that definition, it was probably an electronics learning kit I got for Christmas at about age 8 or 9. As I recall, it didn't teach electronics formulas or resistor codes, but was full of projects to hook up input devices like switches and output devices like buzzers and lights. It was like learning how to connect all the devices to your hi-fi, or connecting all your peripherals to a computer. It also...

American chemists have developed an 'electronic glue' to link nanocrystals together - allowing groups of the crystals to be highly conductive. Since nanocrystals have unique optical and electrical properties, this research could provide some exciting new materials for use in light-emitting devices or solar cells.Nanocrystals are crystalline nanoparticles of metals ranging from cadmium to silicon, and can be grown with precisely controlled size and shape. But despite their exciting range of optical properties, they have found few applications so far. 'The problem is getting the crystals to 'talk' to one another,' says Maksym Kovalenko, lead author on the project at the...

SECAUCUS, NJ -- 05/07/09 -- Panasonic, a leader in High Definition technology, announced today that the critically-acclaimed, 103-inch Plasma Full High Definition 1080p Display -- the world's largest Plasma commercially available -- will now be priced at $50,000. When it debuted in December 2006, the made-to-order HD Display was priced at $69,999.95. With widespread acclaim for its size and picture quality, Panasonic's 103-inch Plasma has become the industry's leading high-impact, large-format display for a wide range of commercial and home theater applications -- from digital signage and entertainment, to high-end home theater, command and control and higher education. Since its...

The state energy commission denies it wants to ban any kind of television sets. They claim that they just want to limit the market only to those models that provide better energy efficiency in order to save costs and cut down on emissions. The Orange County Register notes that the annual savings in energy costs between comparable plasma and LCD models amounts to a grand total of $30 per year.

US Marine arrested at Logan April 19, 2009 05:42 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – + John C. Drake, Globe Staff A US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport after federal airport screeners discovered a gun, bomb-making materials, and ammunition in his checked baggage, State Police and Transportation Security Administration officials said. .

FORT WORTH, TX-Q-Edge has selected Hillwood's Alliance Global Logistics Hub as the site for its newest strategic assembly and distribution center. The company will lease 365,440 square feet in the 423,992-square-foot Alliance Gateway 2 building. Fort Worth City Council is meeting this morning to hear details about a proposed incentive package connected with Q-Edge's expansion in the building at 5650 Alliance Gateway Freeway. An update will follow, but according to a press release from the Forth Worth Chamber of Commerce and Hillwood, Q-Edge's assembly and distribution center will create 500 jobs for the region, while providing a $700 million economic...

Flexible display screens and cheap solar cells can become a reality through research and development in organic electronics. Physicists at Umeå University in northern Sweden have developed a simple method for producing cheap electronic components, writes Cellular-News.

Hoping to scoop up some last-minute deals from the soon-to-be-defunct retailer? Better hurry up, because Circuit City's final weekend is nigh. Just remember: buyer beware. The liquidators behind the massive Circuit City fire sale have announced that the remaining 567 stores will close for good on Sunday, March 8, at the end of the business day. So far, liquidators have sold off more than $1 billion in Circuit City's remaining inventory, according to CrunchGear, with "deeper discounts" expected through the final days. Those who've gone to take a long, last look at the remaining, tattered Circuit City stores have reported...

In a move many would call in-saane, a Brooklyn businessman is reviving one of the most scandalous names in retail history - Crazy Eddie. Jack Gemal has purchased the trademark of the 1970s and '80s electronics chain and plans to open 50 stores in the tristate area in the next two years. As well as their rock-bottom prices, the original Crazy Eddie stores were known for their wacky radio and TV commercials featuring a frenzied, bug-eyed Jerry Carroll - driving New Yorkers nuts until the firm went bankrupt in 1989. "Any New Yorker over 35 knows the line, 'Crazy Eddie...

Multimedia   Zhong Lin Wang describes his work to power the nanoworld. Nanoscale sensors are exquisitely sensitive, very frugal with power, and, of course, tiny. They could be useful in detecting molecular signs of disease in the blood, minute amounts of poisonous gases in the air, and trace contaminants in food. But the batteries and integrated circuits necessary to drive these devices make them difficult to fully miniaturize. The goal of Zhong Lin Wang, a materials scientist at Georgia Tech, is to bring power to the nano world with minuscule generators that take advantage of piezoelectricity. If he succeeds,...

Japan's exports plunged 45.7% in January compared with a year ago to hit the lowest figure in 10 years, official figures have shown. Imports exceeded exports by 952.6bn yen ($9.9bn; £6.8bn). It is the largest gap since records began in 1980. Demand for Japanese cars in particular dropped by 69%. Trade in electronics and other goods has also slumped as global economies and consumer spending contract, pushing Japan deeper into recession. "Japan is particularly vulnerable to this downturn because trade is so central to the economy," World Trade Organization head Pascal Lamy told reporters on a visit to Tokyo. Serious...

Washington, D.C. (February 8, 2009) -- Pioneer, the maker of high-end Plasma High-Definition TVs, told Reuters last week that it's considering leaving the TV business entirely. The company is projecting a loss of $848 million for the year ending March 31, which would be its fifth consecutive annual loss "There is a whole spectrum of possibilities with withdrawal on one end, in-house development and production on the other and sales of procured TVs somewhere in the middle," a Pioneer spokesman told the news service. Several other news reports, however, say Pioneer has decided to exit the TV business and bundle...

The Army has announced approval for the establishment of a new Electronic Warfare 29-series career field for officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel. The new career field will eventually give the Army the largest electronic warfare manpower force of all the services. Nearly 1,600 EW personnel, serving at every level of command, will be added to the Army over the next three years. The Army is also considering adding an additional 2,300 personnel to the career field in the near future as personnel become available, officials said.

Best Buy Co. Inc., said Tuesday it will resort to layoffs at corporate headquarters, even though 500 workers earlier this month agreed to leave voluntarily. The Richfield-based retailer told corporate workers in an e-mail and in meetings Tuesday that an unknown number of employees will be laid off Feb. 19 as the company continues to cut costs amidst a massive slowdown in sales.

Marked-down merchandise attracts throngs to L.A.-area stores as the bankrupt electronics chain prepares to close. Shoppers eager to grab their share of discounted plasma TVs and Blu-ray DVDs lined up in droves today as Circuit City stores began liquidating inventory. Bankrupt electronics retailer shutting down 567 U.S. stores, laying off 34,000 workers. By late morning, the line outside the Circuit City in Hollywood was almost 100 people long. Carlos Reyes, 24, and girlfriend Diana Anzora, 22, of Los Angeles, lined up to buy video games and DVDs. "We don't want to get anything too big," he said. "You don't want...

Circuit City Stores Inc. will close its remaining 567 U.S. stores, including three in Middle Tennessee. The Richmond, Va.-based consumer electronics retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November and closed 155 stores at that time. Since then, the company has sought to find a buyer or work out new financing arrangements, but without success. The retailer had operated five stores in Middle Tennessee. Two of those, one in Antioch and one in Spring Hill, were on the original list of shuttered locations and were closed. Now stores at the Rivergate Shopping Center in Madison , on Highway 70...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Inc. said Friday it has asked for court approval to close its remaining 567 U.S. stores and sell all its merchandise. The company said it has 34,000 employees. "We are extremely disappointed by this outcome," James Marcum, acting CEO for Circuit City, said in a statement. "We were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders to structure a going-concern transaction in the limited timeframe available, and so this is the only possible path for our company." In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District...

Circuit City Stores Inc. says it has reached an agreement with liquidators to sell the merchandise in its 567 U.S. stores after failing to find a buyer or a refinancing deal.

Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc., after failing to secure financing from its creditors and lenders, said Friday that it will liquidate, joining a list of other retailers like Linens N Things that set plans to fold their operations in the economic downturn.

Bankrupt Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation's second-biggest consumer electronics retailer, said Friday it failed to find a buyer and will liquidate its 567 U.S. stores. The closures could send another 30,000 people into the ranks of the unemployed. "This is the only possible path for our company," James A. Marcum, acting chief executive, said in a statement. "We are extremely disappointed by this outcome." The company had been seeking a buyer or a deal to refinance its debt, but the hobbled credit market and consumer worries proved insurmountable. The liquidation of Circuit City is the latest fallout from the...

Sony chief executive Sir Howard Stringer unveiled prototypes of video bifocals and bendable televisions as he kicked off a gadget-rich Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Stringer, with help from film celebrity Tom Hanks, unveiled the future products after Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) chief Gary Shapiro called on president-elect Barack Obama to support the industry. "Obama is the first digital president," Shapiro said while outlining the association's political agenda. "We don't seek a hand-out. We say embrace us. Let us innovate. Let us create. Our economy will flourish. Innovation is the best medicine to end economic stagnation." The CEA expects...

The Japanese electronics giant says that by 2011, 90% of all the products it makes will be able to connect online Just a few years ago most people were content watching their videos on a TV in the living room. But even though we now watch television over our computers, on high definition flatscreens or even on our iPods, we have still only seen the tip of the iceberg. That's according to Japanese electronics giant Sony, which today unveiled a pair of futuristic glasses that project 3D video onto the lens while still allowing you to see the world around...

Reporting from Sacramento -- That 52-inch, flat-screen television on the family room wall may have a terrific picture, but there's a big drawback: It's an energy hog. State regulators are getting ready to curb the growing power gluttony of TV sets by drafting the nation's first rules requiring retailers to sell only the most energy-efficient models, starting in 2011.

For years, Ausaf Umar Siddiqui lived big in Las Vegas, gambling and losing millions of dollars - including money the Internal Revenue Service now says was embezzled through a $65 million kickback scheme he engineered as a Fry's Electronics vice president. Should the casinos have suspected something was wrong prior to Siddiqui's arrest Friday? "At what point or under what circumstances should the casinos be held accountable?" posited William Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if Fry's lawyers are all over...

WOODBURN, Ore. (AP) - A bomb exploded inside a bank here late Friday afternoon after explosives experts arrived to check on a suspicious object and authorities said at least one person was killed by the blast. Oregon State Police said the explosion at the West Coast Bank caused "serious injuries" and that police officers were in the area when the device detonated. They did not say how many police officers were injured. A spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told The Oregonian at least one bomb technician had been injured. Marion County deputy medical examiner Rodge...

Black Friday is widely known for low prices on everything from electronics to toys and kitchenware but if you ask the average consumer what they will be purchasing on this, the day of massive sales; they're likely to respond, "HDTV!" For low and mid-range HDTVs there's no time like Friday to buy and this year the prices are reaching record lows even without the help of rebates. In fact, USA Today took a look at HDTV sales this holiday season and found that most retailers will be selling them, "at near cost." on Black Friday. Additionally, due to an oversupply...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Circuit City Stores Inc., the No. 2 electronics seller after Best Buy, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, thus becoming the latest retailer hurt by a worsening economic downturn. According to the company's Chapter 11 filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Richmond, Va., Circuit City (CC, Fortune 500), which currently has 566 operating stores in the United States, will continue to do business and pay its workers while it restructures debt and its business operations. Circuit City said it decided to file for bankruptcy at this time to ensure that it would have "adequate merchandise flow...

Circuit City plans to move ahead with closures of 155 stores, the Web site Consumerist.com reported Sunday, citing company sources. In addition, the troubled retail giant will withdraw from 12 U.S. markets. According to a letter obtained by the site, some employees have been told they will be let go Dec. 31. In addition, employees told the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper that the company would announce Monday which stores will close. The store closings plan, then in the planning stages, was first reported last month by the Wall Street Journal.

Attention will be riveted on the Olympic torch Friday during the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympiad, but in cyberspace, another torch relay is under way to promote visibility of a “sport” not yet ready for prime time in Beijing. It is the digital torch of the World Cyber Games, being passed from country to country, ultimately to land in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 11. World Cyber Games? That’s right: pro video-game play. Before anyone snickers, remember that sports channel ESPN routinely showcases poker tournaments, which arguably involve even less athleticism than video-gaming. Indeed, competitive video-game leagues have contracts with...

AP story via Fox News. Link only Link

IBM researchers have achieved a breakthrough in photovoltaics technology that could significantly reduce the cost of harnessing the Sun's power for electricity. ------------------------------------------------------------------ IBM today announced a research breakthrough in photovoltaics technology that could significantly reduce the cost of harnessing the Sun's power for electricity. By mimicking the antics of a child using a magnifying glass to burn a leaf or a camper to start a fire, IBM scientists are using a large lens to concentrate the Sun’s power, capturing a record 230 watts onto a centimeter square solar cell, in a technology known as concentrator photovoltaics, or CPV....

Memory plus resistor may add up to longer-lasting batteries and faster-booting computers After nearly 40 years, researchers have discovered a new type of building block for electronic circuits. And there's at least a chance it will spare you from recharging your phone every other day. Scientists at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Palo Alto, Calif., report in Nature that a new nanometer-scale electric switch "remembers" whether it is on or off after its power is turned off. (A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.)Researchers believe that the memristor, or memory resistor, might become a useful tool for constructing nonvolatile computer memory,...

PORTLAND, Ore. — The long-sought after memristor--the "missing link" in electronic circuit theory--has been invented by Hewlett Packard Senior Fellow R. Stanley Williams at HP Labs (Palo Alto, Calif.) Memristors--the fourth passive component type after resistors, capacitors and inductors--were postulated in a seminal 1971 paper in the IEEE Transactions on Circuit Theory by professor Leon Chua at the University of California (Berkeley), but their first realization was just announced today by HP. According to Williams and Chua, now virtually every electronics textbook will have to be revised to include the memristor and the new paradigm it represents for electronic...

Blockbuster Inc, the No. 1 U.S. movie rental chain, said on Monday it has offered to buy electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc in an all-cash offer in the range of $6 per share to $8 per share Blockbuster said it made the offer in a February 17 letter to Circuit City's Chief Executive Philip Schoonover on behalf of Blockbuster's board, but that Circuit City had so far failed to provide due diligence. Blockbuster said it was making its proposal public, "because it believes the shareholders of Circuit City should have the opportunity to participate in determining the destiny of...

Walk into the Circuit City in my town, and you'll suddenly get a strange sensation. Look around...you're the only person there. Wait, someone must work here. Hello? Anyone? Then head over to Best Buy, which is packed with customers and ringing up sales.

ARGONNE, Ill. (April 4, 2008) – Superinsulation may sound like a marketing gimmick for a drafty attic or winter coat. But it is actually a newly discovered fundamental state of matter created by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with several European institutions. This discovery opens new directions of inquiry in condensed matter physics and breaks ground for a new generation of microelectronics. Led by Argonne senior scientist Valerii Vinokur and Russian scientist Tatyana Baturina, an international team of scientists from Argonne, Germany, Russia and Belgium fashioned a thin film of titanium nitride which...

Graphene is a single planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. It can also be viewed as an atomic-scale chicken wire made of carbon atoms and their bonds. The carbon-carbon bond length in graphene is approximately 1.42 Å. From a physicist point of view, graphene is the basic structural element for all other graphitic materials including graphite, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. For a chemist, graphene is an infinitely large aromatic molecule, an extension of a family of flat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons called graphenes. University of Maryland physicists have shown that in...

UNDATED (AP) - It may not be organized sabotage, but many of the hottest electronic gadgets on the market are coming pre-loaded with viruses. Recent cases reviewed by The Associated Press include Apple iPods, digital picture frames sold by Target and Best Buy, and TomTom navigation gear. Some of the viruses steal passwords that can expose a computer to hackers and prompt them to spew spam. In most cases, the sources appear to be Chinese factories where many of the devices are being made. Security experts say the problem appears to be lax quality control. The malicious software is apparently...

The wheel-like assembly of 16 duroquinone molecules on the edges and 1 duroquinone molecule in the center can produce quotone-to-manyquot parallel communication. Credit: Bandyopadhyay and Acharya. The wheel-like assembly of 16 duroquinone molecules on the edges and 1 duroquinone molecule in the center can produce "one-to-many" parallel communication. Credit: Bandyopadhyay and Acharya. For years, researchers have been building tiny nanobots that could one day serve a variety of purposes. But, until now, nanobots couldn't work together. Recently, scientists Anirban Bandyopadhyay and Somobrata Acharya from the National Institute of Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, have built the first ultra-tiny, ultra-powerful...