Chronos programmable watchPublished on September 6, 2010, 9:19 am
This is very cool! (in a non-cool geek sort of way)
TI has a watch development kit called Chronos, that opens up for a lot of cool testing and some fun and useful projects. The watch itself has a 3-axis accelerometer, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, battery voltage sensor and a programmable MSP430 MCU. The kit comes with a USB programmer and a USB RF unit that can be used as an access point for sending and receiving messages to the watch.
It really opens up for some cool apps. I’ve made some already, but I’m looking forward to playing with it more. For example I know get an alert on my watch whenever I have a new email incoming.
I’m also making an ethernet gateway for the wireless network that I can plug into the Ethernet port of my home router. It will allow my watch to report stuff into the cloud, and will allow web apps to send alerts to my watch.
It’s obviously a sports watch that can potentially be connected to lots of sensors, and I really now need to build myself a compatible wireless ECG (though you can actually buy a heart rate monitor band for it). It can report onto the internet what my heart rate is and maybe also let you know if I have any heart issues
But there are many other possible application areas also. I can imagine a network of these ethernet gateways around that offer you services as you move around. Sure this can be done on the mobile also, but the watch has some benefits.
The watch itself is quite low cost and the display scratches quite easily, and is probably not the best of watches. The kit costs 49$. It’s really innovative of TI to come out with an open system like this prized so aggressively, showing their capabilities and allowing people to prototype some new cool apps. I highly recommend getting one and having a play.
Will we be facing an open watch revolution? Where is the Apple watch? Hmmm… Or the Google Watch.
Most of the software is open source, and there’s also OpenChronos which is a completely open source version.
Development of Tiny Thorium Reactors Could Wean the World Off Oil In Just Five YearsPublished on August 30, 2010, 7:18 pm
An abundant metal with vast energy potential could quickly wean the world off oil, if only Western political leaders would muster the will to do it, a UK newspaper says today. The Telegraph makes the case for thorium reactors as the key to a fossil-fuel-free world within five years, and puts the ball firmly in President Barack Obama's court.
Thorium, named for the Norse god of thunder, is much more abundant than uranium and has 200 times that metal's energy potential. Thorium is also a more efficient fuel source -- unlike natural uranium, which must be highly refined before it can be used in nuclear reactors, all thorium is potentially usable as fuel.
The Telegraph says thorium could be used as an energy amplifier in next-generation nuclear power plants, an idea conceived by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia, former director of CERN.
Related ArticlesMysteriously, Solar Activity Found to Influence Behavior of Radioactive Materials On Earth Can We Dispose of Radioactive Waste in Volcanoes?Using Cleanup Bacteria to Render Radioactive Metals Chemically InertTagsScience, Rebecca Boyle, nuclear power plants, nuclear reactor, power plants, radioactive isotope, thorium, uraniumKnown as an accelerator-driven system, it would use a particle accelerator to produce a proton beam and aim it at lump of heavy metal, producing excess neutrons. Thorium is a good choice because it has a high neutron yield per neutron absorbed.
Thorium nuclei would absorb the excess neutrons, resulting in uranium-233, a fissile isotope that is not found in nature. Moderated neutrons would produce fissioned U-233, which releases enough energy to power the particle accelerator, plus an excess that can drive a power plant. Rubbia says a fistful of thorium could light up London for a week.
The idea needs refining, but is so promising that at least one private firm is getting involved. The Norwegian firm Aker Solutions bought Rubbia's patent for this thorium fuel cycle, and is working on his design for a proton accelerator.
The Telegraph says this $1.8 billion (£1.2 billion) project could lead to a network of tiny underground nuclear reactors, producing about 600 MW each. Their wee size would negate the enormous security apparatus required of full-size nuclear power plants.
After a three-decade lull, nuclear power is enjoying a slow renaissance in the U.S. The 2005 energy bill included $2 billion for six new nuclear power plants, and this past February, Obama announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear plants.
But nuclear plants need fuel, which means building controversial uranium mines. Thorium, on the other hand, is so abundant that it's almost an annoyance. It's considered a waste product when mining for rare-earth metals.
Thorium also solves the non-proliferation problem. Nuclear non-proliferation treaties (NPT) prohibit processes that can yield atomic bomb ingredients, making it difficult to refine highly radioactive isotopes. But thorium-based accelerator-driven plants only produce a small amount of plutonium, which could allow the U.S. and other nations to skirt NPT.
The Telegraph says Obama needs a Roosevelt moment, recalling the famous breakfast meeting when Albert Einstein convinced the president to start the Manhattan Project. A thorium stimulus could be just what the lagging economy needs.
[The Telegraph]
