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Naval researchers soak up the sun below sea level with special solar cells
Have you ever harbored delusions of living in an underwater city inhabited by the likes of Ariel or those aliens from The Abyss? Yeah, well keep dreaming, because this engineering feat won't necessarily lead to that (the fictional mer people part, that is). What it will pave the way for is a new means of harnessing the sun's rays below sea level to power submerged sensor systems and platforms. The research, carried out by a team of U.S. Naval scientists, forgoes traditional crystalline and amorphous silicon photovoltaic cells for those based on the more efficient gallium indium phosphide. The reason? Turns out those latter semiconductors are well-suited to absorbing photons in the blue / green spectrum -- precisely the wavelengths that diffused sunlight take on under water. Using this newer approach, the team's proven that about 7 watts of energy can be generated per square meter of these deployed cells at a depth of up to 9.1 meters (30 feet). Further refinements and testing are, naturally, on deck, but soon enough we may be looking at a whole new world of possibilities under the sea. [Image courtesy Flickr]
Cataclysm Post-Mortem: Vashj'ir
Alex Ziebart and Mathew McCurley (that's me) decided to give each Cataclysm zone the once-over now that we're many months out from the release of the expansion. In this post-mortem series, we'll examine (in our own opinions and words) what worked and what didn't work in terms of story, quests, and overall feel for the zones and the cool moments that dotted the landscape. Join us for a discussion about Cataclysm's new level 80 to 85 content and what made the cut as the most compelling experiences. The Sunken City of Vashj'ir lies off the coast of Stormwind, with pieces of the forgotten land rising up from the waves after the devastation of the cataclysm and Deathwing's sundering of Azeroth. The Alliance scrambles to secure this territory so close to their shores to prevent any malicious entities from causing more havoc on their shores. The Horde, seeing a golden opportunity for a land grab so close to the human capital, has sent its navy in full force to take the now surfaced islands of Vashj'ir. Little does either faction know that a war rages in the very heart of the sunken city between the Lady Naz'jar and her army of naga aided by the Old Gods and the kvaldir. Lady Naz'jar's ultimate goal -- enter the Abyssal Maw, home of the water elemental lord Neptulon, and seize his power for her naga army. Vashj'ir's story Mathew: Before we begin, I have a confession to make. I finally finished Vashj'ir, from start to finish, only recently for this article. Zones that are built in such a way, as to emphasize the 3D space of the water, etc, are one of those things that occasionally bugs me. It's not that I didn't want to participate in Vashj'ir -- quite the contrary. I just had no reason to go here since Hyjal was so straightforward and had my flying mount ready to go from the get-go. Also, Vashj'ir was notably bottle-necked in beta, as many players streamed in and getting out of that initial sunken ship was a rough ride. Now that I had the zone to myself, it was a much better experience.
LG GD900 Crystal submerged in a fish tank
It's really a shame this isn't an out of box feature, but some ingenious modder has graced LG's GD900 Crystal phone -- you know, the one with the gesture-based transparent keypad -- with a custom water-resistant case that renders it perfect for swimming with the fishes. And so they did just that, dipping it into a fish tank. It'd make for one insanely hip charging dock, but we digress. Meanwhile in Russia, mobile@mail.ru has delivered some impressions on the device, with good words to say for the keypad's gestures but lamenting it's $899 suggested price tag, a figure higher than even the super sexy BL40 Chocolate. Aquatic footage is six feet under after the break, and hit up the read link below for the machine-translated impressions. [Via Daily Mobile; thanks, Daniel] Read - Hands-on Read - LG GD900 Crystal in water
High-def cams used to capture haunting images of a huge sunken 1935 airship
High definition isn't all about pretty girls and flashy images, there can be some practical scientific purposes. Northern California scientists reciently spent 40 hours with a deep-diving robot and a high-def camera exploring the wreckage of the USS Macon airship. The massive rigid frame airship (97 feet shorter then the Titanic) sunk off Big Sur more the 71 years ago during a storm after a high-altitude transcontinental flight damaged her tail section. The high-def cams allowed researches to spot everything from the Sparrowhawk biplanes (pictured) she was carrying to aluminum chairs and now some of the images and video has been released to the public. Hopefully, Discovery HD Theater or National Geographic HD will snatch up this coverage so we can see the images in their full high-def glory.
