Interesting Current Events

[VinReaper]

China’s 10 day, 60 mile Traffic Jam Disappears
Posted on: August 26th, 2010 by Benjamin Tier

Both Chinese and foreign media have been reporting on the thousands of vehicles trapped in the biggest traffic jam ever, stretching for over 60 miles and lasting for 10 days. However, this is the only evidence now that the highway leading to Beijing was this congested, as the issue seems to have disappeared overnight.

The traffic jam started on the Beijing-Tibet expressway on August 14 due to a rise in traffic from heavy trucks carrying cargo. Then road maintenance only made matters worse, and it’s said that drivers were only moving one-third of a mile in a single day. After a few days, police were deployed to help.

The jam was bad for the people trying to get to where they want to go, but there was an up side to the issue. It seems that local merchants were able to capitalize on the disruption, selling water and food at inflated prices to stranded drivers.

This particular highway has become more and more prone to traffic congestion, as Beijing takes in such huge goods shipments to provide for its 20 million population. In June and July, traffic slowed significantly for almost a month.

In recent years, China has launched a huge expansion of its road system, but the grid is periodically overwhelmed by traffic. In fact, Beijing is set to have 5 million vehicles on its road by the end of the year, while last December passed the 4 million mark. Guo Jifu, the head of Beijing Transportation Research Centre, has recently warned that traffic in the capital may slow to an average of less than 15km/h if measures aren’t taken to limit how many cars are traveling on the road.


VR

[Barbarian]

I read about that. That is ridiculously funny and crazy! What the hell is the most populated country in the world coming to? First commies, now this!

[VinReaper]

Could 'Goldilocks' planet be just right for life?
AP Photo/Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation


By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer – Wed Sep 29, 7:19 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Astronomers say they have for the first time spotted a planet beyond our own in what is sometimes called the Goldilocks zone for life: Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust right.

Not too far from its star, not too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is neither too big nor too small for the proper surface, gravity and atmosphere.

It's just right. Just like Earth.

"This really is the first Goldilocks planet," said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

The new planet sits smack in the middle of what astronomers refer to as the habitable zone, unlike any of the nearly 500 other planets astronomers have found outside our solar system. And it is in our galactic neighborhood, suggesting that plenty of Earth-like planets circle other stars.

Finding a planet that could potentially support life is a major step toward answering the timeless question: Are we alone?

Scientists have jumped the gun before on proclaiming that planets outside our solar system were habitable only to have them turn out to be not quite so conducive to life. But this one is so clearly in the right zone that five outside astronomers told The Associated Press it seems to be the real thing.

"This is the first one I'm truly excited about," said Penn State University's Jim Kasting. He said this planet is a "pretty prime candidate" for harboring life.

Life on other planets doesn't mean E.T. Even a simple single-cell bacteria or the equivalent of shower mold would shake perceptions about the uniqueness of life on Earth.

But there are still many unanswered questions about this strange planet. It is about three times the mass of Earth, slightly larger in width and much closer to its star — 14 million miles away versus 93 million. It's so close to its version of the sun that it orbits every 37 days. And it doesn't rotate much, so one side is almost always bright, the other dark.

Temperatures can be as hot as 160 degrees or as frigid as 25 degrees below zero, but in between — in the land of constant sunrise — it would be "shirt-sleeve weather," said co-discoverer Steven Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

It's unknown whether water actually exists on the planet, and what kind of atmosphere it has. But because conditions are ideal for liquid water, and because there always seems to be life on Earth where there is water, Vogt believes "that chances for life on this planet are 100 percent."

The astronomers' findings are being published in Astrophysical Journal and were announced by the National Science Foundation on Wednesday.

The planet circles a star called Gliese 581. It's about 120 trillion miles away, so it would take several generations for a spaceship to get there. It may seem like a long distance, but in the scheme of the vast universe, this planet is "like right in our face, right next door to us," Vogt said in an interview.

That close proximity and the way it was found so early in astronomers' search for habitable planets hints to scientists that planets like Earth are probably not that rare.

Vogt and Butler ran some calculations, with giant fudge factors built in, and figured that as much as one out of five to 10 stars in the universe have planets that are Earth-sized and in the habitable zone.

With an estimated 200 billion stars in the universe, that means maybe 40 billion planets that have the potential for life, Vogt said. However, Ohio State University's Scott Gaudi cautioned that is too speculative about how common these planets are.

Vogt and Butler used ground-based telescopes to track the star's precise movements over 11 years and watch for wobbles that indicate planets are circling it. The newly discovered planet is actually the sixth found circling Gliese 581. Two looked promising for habitability for a while, another turned out to be too hot and the fifth is likely too cold. This sixth one bracketed right in the sweet spot in between, Vogt said.

With the star designated "a," its sixth planet is called Gliese 581g.

"It's not a very interesting name and it's a beautiful planet," Vogt said. Unofficially, he's named it after his wife: "I call it Zarmina's World."

The star Gliese 581 is a dwarf, about one-third the strength of our sun. Because of that, it can't be seen without a telescope from Earth, although it is in the Libra constellation, Vogt said.

But if you were standing on this new planet, you could easily see our sun, Butler said.

The low-energy dwarf star will live on for billions of years, much longer than our sun, he said. And that just increases the likelihood of life developing on the planet, the discoverers said.

"It's pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions," Vogt said.



VR

[VinReaper]

February 10th is the day!!!


Where does AT&T go when the iPhone exclusivity ends?

By Galen M. Gruman
Created 2011-01-11 03:00AM

Wannabe iPhone users like me are rejoicing at the imminent iPhone availability in the United States from a carrier other than AT&T. (Verizon Wireless today announced that it will begin selling iPhones on February 10, with existing customers able to pre-order one on February 3.) AT&T's poor network in many areas has frustrated iPhone users and prevented many more potential customers from getting an iPhone. And losing the iPhone exclusivity could really hurt AT&T, for which the iPhone represented about 65 pecent of its smartphone sales in the last quarter.
But don't pity poor AT&T. The carrier has been preparing for the day when rivals get the iPhone, and many users may find themselves sticking with or even switching to AT&T.

First, let's be clear on AT&T's problem: Its network coverage and capacity are poor in several large cities, including San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York, where many technophiles live. Thus, iPhone users in those cities tend to suffer -- loudly. My own experience with AT&T 3G on my iPad bears that out; I usually get better 3G service in places like Boston, Palm Springs, Bakersfield, and Phoenix than I do in my hometown of San Francisco and its surrounding Bay Area suburbs. Where you live and work is a major factor as to whether the AT&T network is a problem or not. The tech press -- which is concentrated in cities that have poor AT&T networks -- sometimes forget that our experience is not everyone's.

Also, AT&T has about twice as many smartphone users on its network than Verion does, according to my calculations: 53.0 million versus 21.4 million. So AT&T's network has a lot more load to handle. And although AT&T loves to claim its network is faster, the truth is its speed advantage is a theoretical one that AT&T rarely delivers on in practice.

Still, whatever the technical realities, surveys show regularly that AT&T's customers rate its service poorly [6] (it usually comes in dead last), and those respondents come from all over the country. So, AT&T can expect to see its iPhone growth level off or even shrink as Verizon and perhaps other carriers get the iPhone.

To combat that, AT&T is making a few changes.
For several years, AT&T has gotten exclusive rights to the more business-oriented smartphones, cementing a professional user base. In addition to the phenomenally popular iPhone, it had the popular BlackBerry Bold [7] as an exclusive for six months and now has a similar exclusive for the well-regarded BlackBerry Torch [8]. It also will have an exclusive deal for the forthcoming Motorola Atrix [9], the innovative "post-PC" smartphone [10] that can dock to a monitor and keyboard.

AT&T has focused on having the best, most innovative smartphones, and it will redouble its efforts now. Ironically, it'll rely more on the iPhone's main rival to do so: the Android OS. Verizon Wireless has been the biggest champion of Android devices in the United States, with hits such as the Motorola Droid, but AT&T is moving fast to ride the Android horse [11] as well. If Windows Phone 7 [12] or WebOS [13] ever become viable, you can bet AT&T will cherry-pick devices on those platforms as well.

AT&T is also investing in its network, bolstering backbone capacity and adding faster radio technologies such as HSPA+ and LTE to its cell towers. Of course, so is everyone else; AT&T gets no relative advantage here. But the 4G race is on, and AT&T seems committed to keeping up with the rest of the pack. Its network may not be the best, but it appears it will not get worse relative to the competition. As always in cellular technology, the actual performance varies from location to location and minute to minute, so it's impossible to know who's really better -- other than to see what customers say in aggregate.

Finally, I think AT&T is being smarter about its data pricing [14] than the competition is, which affects both the pocketbook and the network quality. It charges $15 for 250MB and $25 for 2GB of data access -- and lets users switch between the two plans monthly without penalty. For most people, 250MB of data usage on a smartphone is enough (assuming they use Wi-Fi where available, such as at home and at the office). By contrast, to date Verizon has charged $15 for 150MB of data and $30 for unlimited data; that essentially forces people to spend $30 per month even though most will never exceed 1GB of data usage. The $15 difference is meaningful for a lot of people.
This unlimited usage policy also encourages the wasteful users to keep on wasting, which will tend to attract the data hogs to Verizon's network. So far, it seems as this has not been a problem for Verizon's many Android users -- but I'm betting it will be as Android adoption continues to soar and a few million iPhone users and later iPad users join the Verizon network this year. For the short term, though, the siren song of unlimited data usage (which of course is never really unlimited) is a smart marketing move for Verizon.

AT&T also has inertia working in its favor. Verizon uses a different network technology (CDMA) than AT&T's GSM-based network, so AT&T iPhone users can't just switch to Verizon when their contracts expire -- they'll need to buy a new iPhone as well.
Then there's the issue of Apple's typical iPhone schedule, in which it announces a new model each June or July. Verizon will offer 16GB and 32GB versions of the iPhone 4 that are the same as AT&T's except for the cellular network they use. So many users will wait until later this year to see what the next iPhone is, in the hopes that Verizon will get that new model at the same time as AT&T.
This is not certain: The United States is the only market that has two cellular technologies in equal footing, so there is no history of Apple dealing with competing radio technologies that gives us a clue of how it will handle that market reality. Given Apple's focus on having simple product lines, I'm betting on parity.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not suggesting AT&T won't feel the hit from the end of the iPhone exclusivity, nor do I believe that Verizon is cellular nirvana. Its network has issues in some parts of the country, and Verizon's reputation for contract gotchas and fees is not a good one if you're a customer. But AT&T will continue to have the goods that attract technophiles and businesses alike. It's still a two-company market.


I will definitely be waiting until June/July to see what the next iPhone will be, but I am assuredly getting an iPhone thereafter on Verizon's network!

VR

[statman]

I'd like to see an iPhone 5 on Verizon with a 4.3" screen. I really like the extra real estate on my Droid X.

[VinReaper]

Originally Posted by statman

I'd like to see an iPhone 5 on Verizon with a 4.3" screen. I really like the extra real estate on my Droid X.

Ya never know! It could happen!

VR

[statman]

Originally Posted by VinReaper

Ya never know! It could happen!

VR

Just think... a 4.3" with that super high resolution that the iPhone 4 currently has...

[VinReaper]

Originally Posted by statman

Just think... a 4.3" with that super high resolution that the iPhone 4 currently has...

And then add skype and we will all be chatting live and on the forum simultaneously!


VR

[statman]

Originally Posted by VinReaper

And then add skype and we will all be chatting live and on the forum simultaneously!


VR

Hellz yeah!!

[nbr3bagshotrow]

Originally Posted by VinReaper

And then add skype and we will all be chatting live and on the forum simultaneously!


VR

Imagine how fast we could ban someone!