Cody Taylor

Charting the future of cell phone technology, Kyocera recently unveiled a kinetic energy-powered phone that is capable of folding up like a wallet. Designed by industrial designer Susan McKinney, the EOS phone consists of a soft, semi-rigid polymer skin surrounding a flexible low-energy OLED display.

coondoggie writes “Getting spacecraft traveling at hypersonic speeds to slow down and land or achieve a particular orbit on a dime is no easy feat. But researchers are developing a tool that will let engineers model and ultimately build advanced flight control systems that meld balloon and parachute technologies known as a ballute (BALLoon-parachUTE). Basically a ballute is a large, inflatable device that takes advantage of atmospheric drag to decelerate and capture a spacecraft into orbit around a planet, according to NASA who is funding Global Aerospace to build such a tool.”

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Idiomatick writes “Bell Canada is attempting to impose UBB on it’s wholesale customers. As Bell was given a last-mile monopoly in much of Canada by the government they are required to follow rules set up by the CRTC this includes leasing their lines to competitive ISPs. And they are given a directive by the CRTC to provide competitive speeds to said ISPs. Teksavvy has informed it’s customers that were this to go through the current monthly cap would be quartered and the cost for exceeding it would be “multiple times more than our current per Gigabyte rate of {content}.25/GB on overages”. They have also helpfully included a link where you can send your comments/concerns to the CRTC directly.”

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An ISP review website in the UK claims that 25 percent of its readers have run into “excessive use” warnings. Compared to the new caps being trialed in the US, though, there’s little to complain about on that front.

“Now is not the time… to engage in a debate about the need for net neutrality obligations,” Time Warner Cable tells the FCC. But why not, other than the fact that TWC is taking a beating over bandwidth caps?

Google’s first attempts at a social network with Orkut have not proved fruitfulLittle did we know however that whilst we thought Google had made a conscious decision to take steps away from the “social networking” arena, they were building one right under our noses and have the capabilities to grow larger and more useful than any competitor

jcrousedotcom writes “Time Warner cable apparently has heard that folks aren’t too happy with their plan to meter their unlimited connections. From the first paragraph of the article: ‘Time Warner Cable’s proposed trials of consumption-based billing were originally slated to begin in several markets this summer, where customers would be a part of a tiered pricing scheme. Pricing would have started at 1 GB per month for , and go up to 100 GB per month for , and include a per-gigabyte overage fee. The public’s reaction was less than favorable, and the trials in Texas have been rescheduled.'”

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DesScorp writes “The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Energy Secretary Steven Chu is endorsing ‘clean coal’ technology and research, and is taking a pragmatic approach to coal as an energy supply. ‘”It absolutely is worthwhile to invest in carbon capture and storage because we are not in a vacuum,” Mr. Chu told reporters Tuesday following an appearance at an Energy Information Administration conference. “Even if the United States or Europe turns its back on coal, India and China will not,” he said. Mr. Chu added that “quite frankly I doubt if the United States will turn its back on coal. We are generating over 50% of our electrical energy from coal.”‘ The United States has the world’s largest reserves of coal. Secretary Chu has reversed his positions on coal and nuclear power, previously opposing them, and once calling coal ‘My worst nightmare.'”

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