Netizen

Energy Is The Biggest Security Issue

If Washington DC sends out the right signals, looks like defense companies do respond and start reallocating their resources.

Does Lockheed Martin Really Have a Breakthrough Fusion Machine?

Nuclear fusion could produce far more energy, far more cleanly, than the fission reactions at the heart of today’s nuclear power plants. ..... If successful, the program could produce a reactor that might fit in a tractor-trailer and produce 100 megawatts of power ...... with research partners Lockheed could develop a competed prototype within five years and a commercial application within a decade. The company is even talking about how fusion reactors could one day power ships and planes.

Clean And Expensive

There is a tipping point in the Climate Change debate where clean energy starts competing in price with dirty energy.

Why Solar Is Much More Costly Than Wind or Hydro

no surprise that if environmental costs are considered, renewables—particularly wind power—are a far better bargain than coal power. But it might surprise many that according to a new such analysis, solar power lags far behind wind and even hydroelectric power in its economic impact, at least in the European Union. ........ the economic costs of climate change, pollution, and resource depletion as well as the current capital and operating costs of the power plants ....... a metric ton of emitted carbon dioxide costs around €43 ($55). ...... many of world’s solar panels are manufactured in China, where electricity is very carbon-intensive ...... new coal and natural gas plants in the E.U. have levelized costs of just over €50 ($64) (in 2012 euros) per megawatt-hour (assuming they are running at maximum capacity); onshore wind is around €80 ($102) per megawatt-hour; utility scale solar PV is about €100 ($127); nuclear power is around €90 ($115); and hydropower is as cheap as €10.

Makes total sense. Boston to NYC to Philly to Baltimore to DC totally deserves this. So it would not matter where you worked and where you live. It would take the Northeast economy to a whole new level. The whole of Northeast would become one mega city.

Maglev Train Seen Making Washington-to-Baltimore Trip at 311 MPH

a $10 billion Japanese magnetic-levitation train line to the 40-mile (64 kilometer) Washington-Baltimore corridor for 15-minute trips ..... Japan is looking for an overseas customer for maglev technology as the country works toward opening its first line in 2027. ...... Maglev trains rely on magnetic power to float the cars above the ground, eliminating the friction of steel tracks. The trains start off running on wheels, the same as used on F-15 fighter jets, until they’re going fast enough for the magnets to kick in and create lift. ..... A Washington-Baltimore starter line eventually may be extended to New York, putting the biggest U.S. city within reach of the capital in 60 minutes by train ..... proposed line could carry about 9.2 million passengers a year

Data Security

Edward Snowden showed the government is dipping into data centers at will. That set off alarm bells. It's not just the government. There are many prying eyes.

The “Soft and Chewy Centers” That Put Your Data at Risk

More and more sensitive data is being entrusted to data centers connected to the Internet. ...... The interior of those complex networks is mostly unobserved or protected, meaning that attackers who manage to remotely access the computers can explore mostly as they please .... Servers inside modern data centers usually run multiple copies of Windows, or Linux-based operating systems at the same time. Illumio’s product works by attaching software “agents” to each of the operating systems inside every server. The data those agents send back to Illumio’s central control panel provide a global view of the data moving around inside a data center. Responses to suspicious activity can then be sent back to the software agents for enforcement—potentially shutting down hacking attacks as they happen. ..... “Overall, network security solutions haven’t evolved for the past 20-plus years”

Star Citizen: Gamers Pay For Gaming

Gamers' funding fuels meteoric rise of 'Star Citizen'

Roberts' brain spun out a grand vision: a rich, immersive galaxy; exquisite spaceships traversing between infinite star systems with thousands of computer gamers manning the cockpits, racing, dogfighting and defending humanity. ...... it would be built outside the traditional publisher system dominated by big game companies such as Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts. ....... The vision was clear. All he required was money. ....... Chris is demonstrating you can fund 100% development of a game if you have an audience that wants the game. We've never seen this for a game of this size. ..... Roberts — former Hollywood producer, movie director and veteran computer game creator — had a plan: raise several million dollars from true believers who would place advance orders. That would prove demand to venture capitalists, who could supply the tens of millions of dollars more that "Star Citizen" would require. ...... It turned out he didn't need the venture capitalists......... More than $58 million has poured into the coffers of Roberts' West Hollywood company, Cloud Imperium Games Corp., since "Star Citizen's" inception two years ago. And cash continues to flow — nearly all of it raised from hard-core gamers who make pre-orders and spend cash on digital goods that range from one-man spaceships to interstellar caterpillars that look cool when they explode in space. ....... Small-scale video games have raised as much as a few million dollars through crowdfunding, a fundraising technique in which creators pitch ideas on the Web to attract relatively small amounts of cash from lots of people. But "Star Citizen" did something extraordinary: It quickly reached the several-million mark and then blew past it. ...... The result is a game industry phenomenon. .... The full product isn't scheduled for completion until sometime in 2016, but, according to Roberts, more than 600,000 fans worldwide are playing modules of the partly built game and suggesting improvements to developers. And they're buying digital goods — an average of more than $90 per crowdfund contributor. Roberts attributes the success to the game's possibility to last a lifetime. ...... "The idea is to make it a huge space playground that you dream of spending time in if you've ever watched 'Star Wars,'" he said. "You can be a pilot, a mercenary, an explorer, a salvager; everything's available to you." ....... Cloud Imperium's website features a live fundraising tracker and monthly progress reports on the accomplishments of its 280 employees and contractors ...... He's spent $1,500 on spaceships, including $300 this month to partner with a wingman to buy the 890 Jump, an exclusive space yacht whose "very presence signifies power," according to Cloud Imperium. ...... "How many of us have dreamed of being astronauts at some point?" Snyder said. "This is the only way it's going to happen these days for a lot of us ...... By 2011, technology had "massively changed," he said. Powerful graphics processors, computer chips and memory cards had become cheap enough for Roberts to deliver a game that drops people and their friends into an Internet-hosted universe where players by the thousands interact in a virtual reality. ....... Activision's console title "Destiny," a first-person shooter game released last month, sold 5 million copies in its first five days. ...... With their support, he avoided the strings of big corporations and wealthy individuals......... The video game market is huge: $15.4 billion in U.S. sales alone in 2013 .... About half of that revenue comes from digital content like "Star Citizen," downloaded on a computer, not bought in a store. ...... Cloud Imperium's marketing budget includes large dollops spent on keeping the community engaged, holding live events, producing regular programs on YouTube and Twitch, and pumping out promotional videos that trumpet the latest spaceships on sale as if they were the newest must-have Mercedes-Benzes. ...... I wouldn't be surprised by $100 million in crowdfunding