Robotic Kite Power Could Turn The Sky Into A Wind Farm

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Robotic Kite Power Could Turn The Sky Into A Wind Farm

Via PopSci-Tech

Google's acquisition of a kite power generator manufacturer suggests a strong future for the technology.

Google has acquired a Bay Area technology company that generates power through wind turbines attached to robotic kites. The news comes just a couple weeks after the company, Makani Power, completed the first fully autonomous flight of a kite power system.

How flying generators work: the kite flies in a circle, off nothing more than lift and wind, and uses that motion to push air over its propellers, which in turn generate electricity. The energy is then transmitted down a tether attached to a landing station, dubbed the "spar buoy< /a>." Makani claims that the system generates more energy than conventional turbines and costs less to build.

Why is Google interested? Google uses a tremendous amount of electricity, and has copped to being a little embarrased by how much fossil fuel it uses. Google actively seeks out renewable energy, and has invested in wind farms before. Efficient, futuristic renewable energy harvested by flying robots? Ideal.

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Coaches are highest paid public employees

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Coaches are highest paid public employees

Via FlowingData

Deadspin made a straightforward map that shows the highest paid public employee in each state.

Based on data drawn from media reports and state salary databases, the ranks of the highest-paid active public employees include 27 football coaches, 13 basketball coaches, one hockey coach, and 10 dorks who aren't even in charge of a team.

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Water-Activated LED Wall: Sounds Dangerous, Looks Beautiful

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Water-Activated LED Wall: Sounds Dangerous, Looks Beautiful

Via Gizmodo

Water and electricity: historically, not a great combo! But Antonin Fourneau, a French artist and engineer, combines both to remarkable ends in his installation, Water Light Graffiti, which landed in New York this week.

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Guess Where You Are in the World with Google Street View

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Guess Where You Are in the World with Google Street View

Via Gizmodo

Think you know your geography? Think you know what a country looks like? What if you were dropped in the middle of no where and had to figure out where you were? That's what GeoGuessr is. It's an insanely fun game that gives you an image from Google Street View and asks you to point out where you are on Earth. It's pretty hard.

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The Most Crowded Part of the Whole World Fits in This One Small Circle

 

 

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The Most Crowded Part of the Whole World Fits in This One Small Circle

via Gizmodo by Eric Limer on 5/6/13

East Asia is a crowded place. The crazy-cramped architecture of locales like Hong Kong gives you an idea. But this image posted to Reddit by valeriepieris puts that population consolidation in a whole new light. And for the most part, it seems pretty accurate.

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Shark Attacks On Humans Vs. Human Attacks On Sharks [Infographic]

 

 

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Shark Attacks On Humans Vs. Human Attacks On Sharks [Infographic]

via Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now by Colin Lecher on 4/19/13

You seriously have no idea how many more sharks are killed by people than people are killed by sharks.

Sharks have been mythologized in our culture as ruthless brutes and hunters, but the truth is humans are way, way more of a threat to sharks than sharks are to us. About 100 million sharks are killed annually, mostly related to "finning" (when the shark fins are sliced off and sold, often for soup).

Marketer Joe Chernov wanted to visually express how the amount of shark attacks that kill people in a year stacks up against the number of people attacks that kill sharks. (It takes four seconds for us to kill the number of sharks that kill us in a year.) So Chernov teamed up with designer Robin Richards to make this incredible infographic comparing the stats. Note that the first figure is per year, while the second is per hour. Your jaw is about to fall about as far down as this image.

 

 

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