Gizmo
1
Technology CRASH investigators in the UK are running tests to determine whether ice can build up in aircraft fuel lines and stop the flow. An inquiry into the loss of power that caused a Boeing 777 to crash land at London’s Heathrow airport in January found that ice may have blocked its fuel pipes. Yet the plane had not been flying in unusually cold conditions, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch found after comparing conditions on 141,000 other B777 flights. What had differed on the flight in question, however, was the far longer time the fuel stayed below 0 °C while the aircraft needed only a gentle fuel flow. The AAIB speculates that these conditions led to “ice accretion” in fuel pipes and it is undertaking tests to “understand more fully” if other aircraft are at risk. EVER since the invention of photography, notes scribbled on the back of prints have revealed things like where a picture was taken, who took it, and who’s in the shot. But this intuitive capability is missing from digital photography. Not for much longer. Last week, Nokia of Finland filed a US patent (2008/0215962) on a 2 . 2 per cent: share of the PC browser market achieved by Google Chrome in its first week, overtaking Opera’s 1.9 per cent The crisp, bright sound of a stringed musical instrument that exists only in the artwork and lore of ancient Greece has finally been heard again – thanks to the number-crunching power of latter-day computer networks. Francesco de Mattia and colleagues at the Conservatory of Music in Salerno, Italy, wondered what an instrument introduced to Greece by a musician called Epigonus in AD 180 might have sounded like. No complete examples of the instrument – eponymously dubbed the epigonion – survive, but it’s known to have had 50 strings, like a harp. It also had a soundboard, like a guitar, but was played without a plectrum. Using images of the epigonion in artwork, fragments from excavations and written descriptions of the instrument and how it was played, the team developed a 3D mechanical computer model of the instrument. Once they had their best guess at its physical form and the materials it would have been made from, they simulated numerous factors – such as the instrument’s mass, stiffness and resonances – responsible for its distinctive sound. Crunching the resulting complex acoustic equations on a PC would have taken 400 hours, but the researchers instead used two European academic networks – GEANT2 and EUMEDconnect – to do the job in just 4 hours. “For the first time we can hear the musical sounds of the past,” says de Mattia, who likens the epigonion’s sound to that of a harpsichord. His team have compiled the sounds of four variants of the epigonion: hear them at www.tinyurl.com/58fn2c ANCIENT MUSIC PLAYED AGAIN technique to let users of digital or cellphone cameras make back-of- photo notes for posterity. Once a photo is snapped, it can seemingly be turned over to reveal a blank rear side. It is reminiscent of the iPod’s “cover flow” view, but instead of flipping through album covers, users flip through photos and turn a selected one over. They then use the keypad to write a note, or use a touch-screen stylus to write it in their own handwriting. The note is then saved with the picture. You might be tempted to call it FatNav: smartphone software is set to guide dieters to places selling low-calorie foods in their locality. Once users have entered their target calorific intake for the day, the WebDiet software correlates GPS position with the fare on offer at local restaurants and grocery shops to help people avoid fast-food outlets. Users can also count calories at home by scanning the barcodes on food packaging. A bendable, A4-size “e-paper” reader will be available by mid-2009, according to Plastic Logic of Cambridge, UK – up to six months later than originally planned (New Scientist, 27 January 2007, p 24). The device, which will use a wireless internet connection to update content continuously, is designed for magazine and newspaper pages, unlike its paperback-sized rivals, the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader. GIZMO Q: Have you ever downloaded a podcast? 27% 15% 8% Age 18-29 30-49 50-64 65+ NOT-SO-EASY LISTENING Podcasts have yet to catch on among over-50s NASA boss Mike Griffin goes “off message” in an email to senior staff revealing his feelings about the White House’s insistence on retiring the space shuttle before a replacement is ready for lift-off (Orlando Sentinel, Florida, 8 September) “The rational approach didn’t happen” –Plucking the sounds of 440 BC– MICHAEL HOLFORD SOURCE: GETCLICKY.COM SOURCE: PEW INTERNET & THE AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT Did iced-up fuel down UK jet? See the back of digital photos www.newscientist.com 13 September 2008 | NewScientist | 23
Transcript of Gizmo
Technology
CRASH investigators in the UK are running tests to determine whether ice can build up in aircraft fuel lines and stop the flow. An inquiry into the loss of power that caused a Boeing 777 to crash land at London’s Heathrow airport in January found that ice may have blocked its fuel pipes.
Yet the plane had not been flying in unusually cold conditions, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch found after comparing conditions on 141,000 other B777 flights.
What had differed on the flight in question, however, was the far longer time the fuel stayed below 0 °C while the aircraft needed only a gentle fuel flow. The AAIB speculates that these conditions led to “ice accretion” in fuel pipes and it is undertaking tests to “understand more fully” if other aircraft are at risk.
EVER since the invention of photography, notes scribbled on the back of prints have revealedthings like where a picture was taken, who took it, and who’s in the shot. But this intuitive capability is missing from digital photography.
Not for much longer. Last week, Nokia of Finland filed a US patent ( 2008/0215962 ) on a
2.2per cent: share of the PC browser market achieved by Google Chrome in its first week, overtaking Opera’s 1.9 per cent
The crisp, bright sound of a stringed musical instrument that exists only in the artwork and lore of ancient Greece has finally been heard again – thanks to the number-crunching power of latter-day computer networks.
Francesco de Mattia and colleagues at the Conservatory of Music in Salerno, Italy, wondered what an instrument introduced to Greece by a musician called Epigonus in AD 180 might have sounded like. No complete examples of the instrument – eponymously dubbed the epigonion – survive, but it’s known to have had 50 strings, like a harp. It also had a soundboard, like a guitar, but was played without a plectrum.
Using images of the epigonion in artwork, fragments from excavations andwritten descriptions of the instrument and how it was played, the team
developed a 3D mechanical computer model of the instrument. Once they had their best guess at its physical form and the materials it would have been made from, they simulated numerous factors – such as the instrument’s mass, stiffness and resonances – responsible for its distinctive sound. Crunching the resulting complex acoustic equations on a PC would have taken 400 hours, but the researchers instead used two European academic networks – GEANT2 and EUMEDconnect – to do the job in just 4 hours.
“For the first time we can hear the musical sounds of the past,” says de Mattia, who likens the epigonion’s sound to that of a harpsichord. His team have compiled the sounds of four variants of the epigonion: hear them at www.tinyurl.com/58fn2c
ANCIENT MUSIC PLAYED AGAIN
technique to let users of digital or cellphone cameras make back-of-photo notes for posterity.
Once a photo is snapped, it can seemingly be turned over to reveal a blank rear side. It is reminiscent of the iPod’s “cover flow” view, but instead of flipping through album covers, users flip through photos and turn a selected one over. They then use the keypad to write a note, or use a touch-screen stylus to write it in their own handwriting. The note is then saved with the picture.
You might be tempted to call it FatNav: smartphone software is set to guide dieters to places selling low-calorie foods in their locality. Once users have entered their target calorific intake for the day, the WebDiet software correlates GPS position with the fare on offer at local restaurants and grocery shops to help people avoid fast-food outlets. Users can also count calories at home by scanning the barcodes on food packaging.
A bendable, A4-size “e-paper” reader will be available by mid-2009, according to Plastic Logic of Cambridge, UK – up to six months later than originally planned (New Scientist, 27 January 2007, p 24). The device, which will use a wireless internet connection to update content continuously, is designed for magazine and newspaper pages, unlike its paperback-sized rivals, the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader.
GIZMO
Q: Have you ever downloaded a podcast?
27%
20%
15%
8%
Age
Sample size: 2251 adults, May 2008
18-29
30-49
50-64
65+
NOT-SO-EASY LISTENING
Podcasts have yet to catch on among over-50s
NASA boss Mike Griffin goes “off message” in an email to senior staff revealing his feelings about the White House’s insistence on retiring the space shuttle before a replacement is ready for lift-off (Orlando Sentinel, Florida, 8 September)
“The rational approach didn’t happen”
–Plucking the sounds of 440 BC–
MIC
HAE
L H
OLF
OR
D
SOU
RCE
: GET
CLIC
KY.C
OM
SOU
RCE
: PEW
INTE
RN
ET &
TH
E AM
ERIC
AN L
IFE
PRO
JECT
Did iced-up fuel down UK jet?
See the back of digital photos
www.newscientist.com 13 September 2008 | NewScientist | 23
