Month: August 2018
Google Waymo launching paid self-driving car service in Phoenix in 2018 and California likely in 2019
Waymo has been testing self-driving cars without any safety drivers in Phoenix for nearly a year. Waymo will launch the first commercial program in Phoenix within months. They have applied California regulators to begin testing without safety drivers. The commercial self-driving in California will likely start in 2019. Waymo is buying 62,000 plug-in hybrid Pacifica …
Ultimate Photonic Rocket
Haug has recently introduced a new maximum velocity for subatomic particles (anything with rest mass) that is just below the speed of light. This is combined with the relativistic rocket equation in order to assess how much fuel would be needed to accelerate an ideal particle rocket to its maximum velocity. Planck masses of fuel …
3D Printed studio scale model of Discovery from 2001 Space Odyssey
3D printing has come a long way and this can be seen in a hyper-detailed one-tenth studio scale model of the Discovery spaceship from the 2001 movie. The prototype 3D printed model is more like movie prop replica. It photo etched and has resin parts added. It is high-end $13,000 model. It will be available …
Rounding up hyperbullish price predictions and the stated reasons
Bitcoin has fallen back to the mid-$7000 support level after rallying over $8000. Bitcoin had a peak in January, 2018. Various bitcoin bulls have doubled down on their price predictions. Most of the hyperbullish predictions of $25,000 to 100,000 prices for Bitcoin by the end of 2018 are based upon institutions moving in and the …
Nuclear Fusion Updated project reviews
Here is a rundown of the various nuclear fusion projects. Overall there many interesting projects with decent funding. Most are being more careful about making specific timeline promises. Molten Salt fission could deliver on most of the nuclear fusion clean energy and low-cost energy claims with what appears to be lower technical risks and no …
Lockheed Compact Reactor design is 100 times worse than initial claims
The Lockheed Compact Reactor was kicked off with huge promises a few years ago and their patent based upon those promises has publicized again. Journalists and publications who do not follow nuclear fusion in detail missed the technical revisions in 2015 and 2017 that downgraded what Lockheed in 2014 had hoped and publicized by 100 …
Breakthrough for topological spintronics memory up to 100 times better in many ways than STT-MRAM
Japanese researchers have made the world’s best-performing pure spin current source made of bismuth–antimony (BiSb) alloys, which they report as the best candidate for the first industrial application of topological insulators. This is a big step forward towards spin-orbit torque magnetoresistive random-access memory (SOT-MRAM) devices with the potential to replace existing memory technologies. This could …
California needs to fight Wildfire with fire and stop building houses in the forests
Battalion chief with Cal Fire Jonathan Cox said the rise in the number of wildfires over the last several years has been “the new normal” in California. There have been larger and more destructive fires year over year. It is obviously requiring additional resources not just from California but from throughout the United States to …