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GM to make own batteries

merbraWith the wind firmly in the sails (lolwhut?) of hybrid cars auto giant GM is to get into the electric battery business:

The company also plans to increase its in-house battery development by building a 31,000-square-foot battery lab and hiring hundreds of battery engineers. GM is also working with a battery-engineering program at the University of Michigan to train new engineers. The lack of qualified and experienced battery engineers in the United States has been one of the big challenges facing battery startups such as A123 Systems. Most advanced battery production takes place in Asia, and this could hold back a switch from conventional vehicles to electric ones in the United States.

Technology Review have also created an interesting infographic of how a hybrid car works.

[from Technology Review][image from jaqian on flickr]

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How to Communicate More Effectively, Part 4 – Inspire Desire

[How to Communicate More Effectively is a series of guest posts from Gareth L Powell. In case you missed ’em, here’s part 1, part 2 and part 3.]

Having shown the reader that your product (magazine subscription, book, story, etc) can do something for them, you need to inspire in them the desire to take the next step.

If you want them to download your podcast or subscribe to your magazine, you have to make them want to do it. You have to make the product look desirable. You have to make them want it. It’s no use having a crappy black and white sketch in your advert, you need an image that reflects what the readers want from a magazine – you need something that looks stylish and professional and good value for money. You have to offer them a discount or throw in something extra.

You have to show them how your product will fit into and enhance their lifestyle – how reading your book will make them the kind person they really want to be.

Some common things to tell people to make them want to buy or use your product include:

  • It’s a limited edition
  • It’s only available on a first-come-first-served basis
  • It’s only available for a short time
  • People they respect use the product
  • If they don’t buy it, they will lose out
  • It’s very easy to obtain
  • It’s good value for their time and/or money
  • Owning it will prove they have taste and intelligence
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What BitTorrent can teach you about highway traffic control

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highway vehicle headlightsThe guys at the RIAA may loathe BitTorrent with an unholy passion, but researchers at the University of California have found another use for the peer-to-peer protocols that could win it a lot more fans. In a nutshell, you fit cars with wireless modems and make them into a peer-to-peer network that works to reduce traffic jams:

Their Autonet plan would center around ad hoc networks of vehicles and roadside monitoring posts supported by 802.11 technology (the prototype uses 11b). The vehicles would essentially be the “clients” in such a system and feature graphical user interfaces to pass along information to drivers.

The caveat at the moment is that not enough roads have the monitoring infrastructure available to make the system work all the way from the big highways to the small streets. But given the proliferation of monitoring technology, not to mention the continuing (if now more muted) promises of municipal wi-fi networks, that can’t be far off. [via SlashDot; image by IM SNOT REAL]

Of course, what might make even more sense would be investing in the public transport networks so there was less traffic in the first place…

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From bottles to bricks – recycling plastics into architecture

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POLLI-brick - recycled plastic architectural componentOne of the less-feted stars of this year’s CES was the POLLI-Brick, an example of how recycling might be used to make something useful. The POLLI-Brick is an oddly-shaped plastic building block which…

… features a unique interlocking cylindrical shape and […] is created from around four recycled PET plastic bottles. The shape incorporates a great deal of air; thereby providing the thermal and sound insulation.

Besides their potential use as architectural components, they can be fitted with LED lamps in their cavities to provide mood lighting, or be used as plant pots. All good stuff, for sure – I’m all for reusing stuff we usually throw away -but one can’t help but feel that they’re going to look rather unfashionable rather fast, like last season’s rave club decor. Few things age as badly (and obviously) as architecture. [image borrowed from linked GizMag article]

And while we’re on the subject of recycling… oil prices may be low again at the moment, but they’re unlikely to stay that way forever. The prudent person plans ahead… so maybe you’d be interested in step-by-step instructions for converting your Honda Accord to run on organic trash, a bit like the Mr Fusion unit on the Back to the Future Dolorian? [via MetaFilter]

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Stylus and sketch: interaction for design

An ongoing trend in design tools and techniques lies in finding ways to make CAD more intuitive by using pen-based interfaces, from Physorg:

Because thinking about a new product shape by sketching is more expressive and more intuitive for engineers than the traditional mouse-and-menu-based design interfaces, the new system gives users more freedom to be creative and a shorter learning curve for use.

By providing greater freedom in conceptual design phases and alleviating costly redesign issues, the new technology will have an immediate impact on a multitude of industries, Carnegie Mellon researchers said.

This sounds similar to the ILoveSketch software tool, demonstrated in this video:

[ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo][via Bruce Sterling]

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