Apple Inc has filed a patent at The US Patent and Trademark Office related to some 3D user interface.

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Designers Jae-yun Kim & Jong-Su Lee has designed a speed bump which is intelligent and encourages the drivers to go slow. If you go slow the speed bump will flatten tada its no more speed bump. If you go fast it remains speed bump.

So what do they do?

They make a speed bump that’s based on retractors that open if the impact with them is small enough. These speed bumps can be configured so that if a car is going below 30km/h, the speed bump flattens; over 30km/h, the force causes the retractor to stay closed, keeping the speed bump active.

What a lovely goal: “Encouraging drivers to retain a constant slow speed will reduce the amount of stops and starts made, and thus, the amount of exhaust waste from the car. It is hoped that this retractable speed hump would therefore have positive effects on energy consumption and pollution.”

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“The best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are blowing in the wind and rippling in the water, not growing on prairies or glowing inside nuclear power plants”, says Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford.

Best to worst electric power sources:

1. Wind power

2. concentrated solar power (CSP)

3. geothermal power

4. tidal power

5. solar photovoltaics (PV)

6. wave power

7. hydroelectric power

8. a tie between nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

Best to worst vehicle options:

1. Wind-BEVs (battery electric vehicles)

2. wind-HFCVs (hydrogen fuel cell vehicles)

3. CSP-BEVs

4. geothermal-BEVs

5. tidal-BEVs

6. solar PV-BEVs

7. Wave-BEVs

8. hydroelectric-BEVs

9. a tie between nuclear-BEVs and coal-CCS-BEVs

10. corn-E85 12.cellulosic-E85.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were examined only when powered by wind energy, but they could be combined with other electric power sources. Although HFCVs require about three times more energy than do BEVs (BEVs are very efficient), HFCVs are still very clean and more efficient than pure gasoline, and wind-HFCVs still resulted in the second-highest overall ranking. HFCVs have an advantage in that they can be refueled faster than can BEVs (although BEV charging is getting faster). Thus, HFCVs may be useful for long trips (more than 250 miles) while BEVs more useful for trips less than 250 miles. An ideal combination may be a BEV-HFCV hybrid.

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Novatel has announced that it will unveil its intelligent mobile hotspots. It is essentially a 3G to Wifi conversion device (router shall we call). It allows your existing device with wifi capability to use WWAN internet provided through 3G/4G (WCDMA/HSPA/UMTS).

Novatel Wireless Drives New Era of Mobile Broadband with Industry First MiFi Intelligent

Mobile Hotspot
Ultra Portable Stand-Alone Device Creates a Mobile Wi-Fi Cloud
Capable of Connecting Users and Devices
SAN DIEGO, Dec 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Novatel Wireless, Inc., (Nasdaq:NVTL), today unveiled MiFi
(TM)
, an unprecedented line of Intelligent Mobile Hotspots. Together
with a rich applications environment for enterprises and consumers, MiFi drives a new ecosystem of broadband connectivity.
Unlike existing router solutions that require an external broadband modem and serve only to provide connectivity, the MiFi line
creates a personal cloud of high-speed Internet connectivity that can be easily shared between multiple users and Wi-Fi
devices such as laptops, cameras, gaming devices and multimedia players. The MiFi products serve as an intelligent, open
platform capable of hosting advanced software applications and flexible enough to address the continued evolution of mobile
broadband.
“With the pocket-sized MiFi device, Novatel Wireless has invented a new category of mobile broadband solutions, pushing the
envelope in design and performance and ushering in the next era of the mobile broadband experience,” said Peter Leparulo,
chairman and CEO of Novatel Wireless. “Our carrier partners will now be able to provide new wireless solutions and bundles for
consumer and enterprise users. This will contribute to the continued growth of the addressable broadband market and create a
unique opportunity for carriers to generate additional revenue per user through the deployment of innovative value-add
applications and services.”
“Mobile Broadband is evolving and with the large number of Wi-Fi enabled electronic devices coming to market, there is a
growing consumer need for Internet-ready devices and applications to stay connected while on the go,” said Christopher
Collins, senior analyst with The Yankee Group Research, Inc.
Next Generation in Mobile Broadband Connectivity
MiFi represents the industry’s first Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, a new category of mobile broadband that lets users put their world
of content, services and connectivity in their pocket. Featuring an internal battery providing over forty hours standby and up to
four hours of active use on a single charge, the MiFi product line enables users to access high-speed Internet from anywhere
there is a cellular connection, including moving vehicles where multiple passengers may need Internet access.
Rich Applications Environment
The MiFi product line will offer enterprises, SMB and SOHO users a unique solution to secure, control and manage wireless
connections. Certain MiFi configurations support applications such as auto VPN, automatic syncing of email and optional
remote management capabilities for the enterprise IT manager. MiFi offers a robust platform capable of hosting third party
applications that extend the reach and control of the enterprise when dealing with remote mobile assets.
With MiFi, consumers can consolidate and personalize their mobile Internet services through a convenient landing page
whether they are at home, in the car or on the go. For the wireless operator, the MiFi landing page provides a window to the
user to offer additional content and services. MiFi will continue to evolve in order to support applications and services for
individuals and families leading a mobile lifestyle.
Unprecedented Ease of Use
Novatel Wireless has applied its expertise in human interface engineering to make MiFi the easiest to use broadband device
ever. Users are one-click away from their personalized content and services, with no need for installing host applications or
hardware drivers as part of the installation process.
Pricing and AvailabilityThe MiFi line of Intelligent Mobile Hotspots will be commercially available in 1H09 through a variety of Novatel Wireless’ global
tier-one operator customers and retail channels.
ABOUT NOVATEL WIRELESS
Novatel Wireless, Inc. is a leader in the design and development of innovative wireless broadband access solutions based on
3G and 4G WCDMA (HSPA & UMTS), CDMA and GSM technologies. Novatel Wireless’ USB modems, embedded modules,
Intelligent Mobile Hotspot products and software enable high-speed wireless Internet access on leading wireless data networks.
The Company delivers specialized wireless solutions to carriers, distributors, OEMs and vertical markets worldwide.
Headquartered in San Diego, California, Novatel Wireless is listed on NASDAQ: NVTL. For more information please visit
www.novatelwireless.com. (NVTLG)
This release may contain forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended to date. These forward-looking statements involve risks
and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements contained herein. These factors include risks relating to technological changes, new product introductions,
continued acceptance of Novatel Wireless’ products and dependence on intellectual property rights. These factors, as well as
other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, are discussed in more detail in Novatel Wireless’ filings with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission (available at www.sec.gov) and other regulatory agencies.
(C) 2008 Novatel Wireless. All rights reserved. The Novatel Wireless name, logo and MiFi are trademarks of Novatel Wireless,
Inc. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Novatel Wireless, Inc.
Novatel Wireless, Inc.
Patty Goodwin, (858) 431-3726
pgoodwin@nvtl.com
or
Nadel Phelan
Mike Kelly, (831) 440-2403
Michael@nadelphelan.com

Gateway MC7803u is a 16″ laptop with Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM

Pros:

• Low price
• discrete graphics
• attractive, minimalist design; 
• 16:9 screen perfect for HD movies
• backlit keyboard
• handy light-touch media controls 
• recessed touch pad.

The bad:

• Key travel is shallow
• lacks Blu-ray drive
• lagged behind similarly configured systems on Photoshop benchmark.

Verdict: With an HD-friendly 16-inch screen, beautiful design, and dedicated graphics, the affordably priced Gateway MC7803u makes an excellent portable entertainment center, provided your HD content is not on a Blu-ray Disc.

Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2 GHz)
• RAM installed: 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition                        
• CyberLink Power2Go , Microsoft Works 9.0         
• Fingerprint reader
• 320 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm HDD
• 8x DVD RW (R DL) / DVD-RAM                                                                    
• Labelflash Technology Disclabeling
• 5 in 1 card reader 
• 1366 x 768 ( WXGA ) 16 in TFT active matrix display
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 HyperMemory up to 2304MB 
• Video Ram: GDDR3 SDRAM - 512 MB 
• Microphone, Stereo out jack
• 1.3 Megapixel webcam
• 56 Kbps Modem
• Ethernet 
• 802.11a/b/g/n
• ExpressCard/54 
• 4 x Hi-Speed USB
• 1 x Display / video - VGA 
• 1 x Audio / video - HDMI - 19 pin HDMI Type A
• Security lock slot
• 8-cell Lithium ion Battery
• Weight: 7.7 lbs 

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Joe Jeddeloh, director of the vendor’s Advanced Storage Technology Center, Micron, demonstrated the technology using a two-processor, eight-core Intel Xeon PC and a card with two SSDs and 16 flash channels. A blurry readout showed the SSD reaching 800MB/sec. throughput, with Jeddeloh claiming that it “will be hitting a bandwidth of 1GB/sec. and at least 200,000 IOPS,” or I/O operations per second. The card was directly connected to a PCI Express (PCIe) slot, bypassing Serial ATA or Serial Attached SCSI interfaces that would normally be used to plug SSDs into a server or PC, thereby limiting it to 3Gbit/sec. throughput per channel.

Using file transfers ranging from 2KB to 2MB, Jeddeloh demonstrated 150,000 to 160,000 random reads per second in the video. “That’s what flash can do when it’s managed correctly,” Jeddeloh said.

more here and here