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Thursday, 3 May 2012
Take your Bluetooth speaker power to the extreme with Jawbone?s BIG JAMBOX
Did you ever look at a Jawbone JAMBOX and wish that it was bigger? If so, your wishes have been answered with the BIG JAMBOX, everything you loved about the original but at a much larger size.
Do You Care About Literally Anything RIM Showed Today? At All? [Qotd]
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Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Video: April 30: 'Obama gets Osama - Republicans snarl'
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How wind farms could cause local (but not global) warming
The atmospheric turbulence caused by large wind farms could cause local temperature increases, a new study indicates.?
Large wind farms might have a warming effect on the local climate, research in the United States showed on Sunday, casting a shadow over the long-term sustainability of wind power.
Skip to next paragraphCarbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels contribute to global warming, which could lead to the melting of glaciers, sea level rise, ocean acidification, crop failure and other devastating effects, scientists say.
In a move to cut such emissions, many nations are moving towards cleaner energy sources such as wind power.
The world's wind farms last year had the capacity to produce 238 gigawatt of electricity at any one time. That was a 21 percent rise on 2010 and capacity is expected to reach nearly 500 gigawatt by the end of 2016 as more, and bigger, farms spring up, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.
Researchers at the State University of New York at Albany analysed the satellite data of areas around large wind farms in Texas, where four of the world's largest farms are located, over the period 2003 to 2011.
The results, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, showed a warming trend of up to 0.72 degrees Celsius per decade in areas over the farms, compared with nearby regions without the farms.
"We attribute this warming primarily to wind farms," the study said. The temperature change could be due to the effects of the energy expelled by farms and the movement and turbulence generated by turbine rotors, it said.
"These changes, if spatially large enough, may have noticeable impacts on local to regional weather and climate," the authors said.
More research needed
But the researchers said more studies were needed, at different locations and for longer periods, before any firm conclusions could be drawn.
Scientists say the world's average temperature has warmed by about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1900, and nearly 0.2 degrees per decade since 1979. Efforts to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are not seen as sufficient to stop the planet heating up beyond 2 degrees C this century, a threshold scientists say risks an unstable climate in which weather extremes are common.
The Texas study found the temperature around wind farms rose more at night, compared with nearby regions. This was possibly because while the earth usually cools after the sun sets, bringing the air temperature down, the turbulence produced by the farms kept the ground in their area warm.
Previous research in 2010 by other U.S. scientists found wind farms could make the nights warmer and days cooler in their immediate vicinity, but those effects could be minimised by changing turbines' rotor design or by building the farms in areas with high natural turbulence.
That research was based on evidence from two meteorological towers over a six-week period.
Although the warming effect shown in that study and the latest research is local, and small compared to overall land surface temperature change, the findings could lead to more in-depth studies.
The authors of the study released on Sunday said: "Given the present installed (wind farm) capacity and the projected installation across the world, this study draws attention to an important issue that requires further investigation."
"We need to better understand the system with observations and better describe and model the complex processes involved to predict how wind farms may affect future weather and climate."
Commenting on the study, Steven Sherwood, co-director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said:
"Daytime temperatures do not appear to be affected. This makes sense, since at night the ground becomes much cooler than the air just a few hundred metres above the surface. The wind farms generate gentle turbulence near the ground that causes these to mix together, thus the ground doesn't get quite as cool."
?(Edited by Pravin Char)
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Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 5:30PM ET
It's Tuesday, and we're back to our regular time and day where you get to listen into the recording booth when the Engadget HD podcast goes to mp3 at 5:30PM. Please be a part of it by reviewing the list of topics after the break, then participating in the live chat as you listen in.
Continue reading Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 5:30PM ET
Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 5:30PM ET originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday, 1 May 2012
'Avengers' Version Of Hulk 'More Accessible,' Mark Ruffalo Says
'He's got a wry sense of humor about himself,' actor tells MTV News at Tribeca Film Festival.
By Kevin P. Sullivan
Mark Ruffalo at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of "Avengers"
Photo: Andrew H. Walker/ Getty Images
Of all the actors coming together to form the Avengers, Mark Ruffalo decidedly had the most to prove. After two previous Hulk films left fans largely unsatisfied, a new actor in the role could either lead to another letdown or, finally, to a version that felt true to the comics.
Fortunately for Ruffalo, early reviews of "The Avengers" overwhelming point to his version of Bruce Banner as one of the highlights of the film. MTV News caught up with Ruffalo at the closing-night ceremonies for the Tribeca Film Festival to get his take on the Hulk's positive reception and to find out what was different this time around.
Ruffalo felt the pressure that came with the role of the Hulk as soon as he signed on to be the third actor in as many films. "It was very daunting. I've never had a part so harshly reviewed before I even shot a single frame of film," he said. "The fanboys had a lot to say about it — granted, they had a great deal of care about this part and a lot of sentimentality as well, as do I, growing up on it."
The actor said that the latest technology gave him the biggest advantage over the first two iterations of the character. "There have been other great performances as Banner. The only real edge that I had was that the technology had changed so much since that last movie that I actually got to play the Hulk," Ruffalo said.
This latest version of the Hulk takes a different approach to the character, giving him a dry sense of humor about his condition, but Ruffalo gave credit to both Eric Bana and Edward Norton for helping lay the foundation in the first two films.
"I just think it's a natural progression of the other performances. When you find the guy at this point, he's tired of running. He's got a wry sense of humor about himself," Ruffalo said. "He's ready to turn and face the world. He's got a charming world-weariness that's kind of knocked the edges off of him and made him slightly more accessible."
Check out everything we've got on "The Avengers."
For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit .
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BlackBerry Music Gateway hands-on (video)
The music streaming accessory market is immensely saturated, but RIM is hoping to add its own flavor with its latest version of the BlackBerry Music Gateway. We took a brief look at this year's BlackBerry World in Orlando, and were impressed by both its size and ease of use. A tiny dongle no larger than the Bold 9900's display, the device easily pairs up with any Bluetooth-enabled phone, tablet or music player and lets you push your tunes into a home or car stereo -- provided it offers ports for RCA cables, that is. NFC is also added into the mix this time around, which means you can impress friends by simply tapping your BlackBerry to the Gateway to initiate the pairing sequence. While it's not bringing anything drastically new to the table, its $50 price tag makes it a tempting offer for anyone whose FM transmitter is picking up nothing but static in a densely populated city. If you fall into that category or are just looking for something to bedazzle close friends and relatives, don't hesitate to check out our gallery below and video after the break.
Continue reading BlackBerry Music Gateway hands-on (video)
BlackBerry Music Gateway hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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