What Is An Electric Car?

An electric car is powered by an electric motor instead of a gasoline engine. The electric motor gets energy from a controller, which regulates the amount of power—based on the driver’s use of an accelerator pedal. The electric car (also known as electric vehicle or EV) uses energy stored in its rechargeable batteries, which are recharged by common household electricity.

With the all-electric Leaf, Nissan is taking the lead in pure electric cars in the United States. The Nissan Leaf is a medium-size all-electric hatchback that seats five adults and has a range of 100 miles. The purchase price is around $25,000, after federal government incentives. It started to roll out in select cities in late 2010.

Electric cars produce no tailpipe emissions, reduce our dependency on oil, and are cheaper to operate. Of course, the process of producing the electricity moves the emissions further upstream to the utility company’s smokestack—but even dirty electricity used in electric cars usually reduces our collective carbon footprint.

Another factor is convenience: In one trip to the gas station, you can pump 330 kilowatt-hours of energy into a 10-gallon tank. It would take about 9 days to get the same amount of energy from household electric current. Fortunately, it takes hours and not days to recharge an electric car, because it's much more efficient. Speaking of convenience, let's not forget two important points: charging up at home means never going to a gas station—and electric cars require almost none of the maintenance, like oil changes and emissions checks, that internal combustion cars require.

Electric motors develop their highest torque from zero rpms—meaning fast (and silent) zero-to-60 acceleration times.

Note: In the illustration, we show the relative features of electric cars and gas-powered cars. However, it doesn't have to be an "either-or" situation. Plug-in hybrids offer many of the benefits of electric cars while mitigating most of the drawbacks, such as limited driving range.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: new features

The latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, or simply Android ICS introduces a bunch of new features never seen before in its prior iterations. 

Android 4.0 ICS has a brand new look although it does maintain some resemblance to Android Honeycomb, it would be available for tablets as well as smartphones. The Galaxy Nexus would be the first smartphone with the new version, and it is expected to hit the Indian stores in November. 

Apart from the features we have mentioned here, Ice Cream Sandwich has a bunch of new features which deeply integrate into your smartphone and tablet experience. These are the ones we think are really special.

Screenshots

Finally, your Android smartphone will allow you to take screenshots without rooting the smartphone or installing any third-party apps. Just hold down the volume down key and the power button to capture the screen.

iPhone 5 release date, news and rumours

Getting ready for the next wave of iPhone excitement

Although widely expected, as it happened, there was no iPhone 5 in 2011 after all, but the company did announce the iPhone 4S.

But the Phone 5 will surely be with us later this year. So we've gathered together all the latest iPhone 5 rumours to give us a reasonable picture of what Apple's latest handset might be like.

Apple named 'least green' tech company Greenpeace report puts Apple at bottom of green league table due to reliance on coal at data centres

Apple has come bottom of the most comprehensive green league table of technology companies because of its heavy reliance on "dirty data" centres.

The list, which is compiled by Greenpeace and released in San Francisco on Thursday, shows that the company relies heavily on highly polluting coal power at the sites that house its banks of servers.

Greenpeace's report, How Dirty is Your Data? reveals that the company's investment in a new North Carolina facility will triple its electricity consumption, equivalent to the electricity demand of 80,000 average US homes. The facility's power will be supplied by Duke Energy, with a mix of 62% coal and 32% nuclear. On Wednesday, Apple posted a large boost in quarterly earnings, which grew by 95% to $6bn (£3.65bn).

Gary Cook, Greenpeace's IT policy analyst and lead author of the report, said: "Consumers want to know that when they upload a video or change their Facebook status that they are not contributing to global warming or future Fukushimas."

Companies in the US are not required by law to disclose their energy use or carbon emissions. But Greenpeace drew on publicly available information on investments made in data centres, to estimate the maximum power these facilities will consume, and matched that information with data from the government or utilities.

The report estimated dependence on coal for Apple's data centres at 54.5%, followed by Facebook at 53.2%, IBM at 51.6%, HP at 49.4%, and Twitter at 42.5%. Top marks in Greenpeace's clean energy index went to Yahoo, followed by Google and Amazon. Greenpeace is also campaigning for Facebook to "unfriend coal" and use cleaner energy to power its servers.

Cook said: "Many companies treat their energy consumption a bit like the Coca-Cola secret formula, because they don't want competitors knowing how much they spend on energy. The amount of electricity they consume would give some indication of what kind of arms race they were in. They don't really want this story to be told."

Cloud computing relies on large data centres, rather than in-house based IT services, to power internet-based services such as Hotmail or Gmail. Data centre energy demand already accounts for 1.5% to 2% of world electricity consumption and is set to quadruple over the next 10 years.

Molly Webb, head of smart technology at the Climate Group in London, said: "Greenpeace is calling for transparency from companies which rely heavily on data centres, and that would ideally highlight the need for investment and ambitious government policy to ensure enough clean power is available to green our tweets."

Jonathan Koomey, a project scientist for the End-Use Forecasting Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, whose work was cited in the study, said that the IT industry wrongly attracted criticism: "The use of IT often reduces environmental impacts. When we compared greenhouse gas emissions for downloading music to buying it on a CD, for example, we found downloads reduced emissions 40-80%."

Apple declined to comment on the Greenpeace report. But at its last shareholder meeting, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said the company would have more to say on the new data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, in the spring

cloud computing presentation

ØThe term “cloud” used here is  have its origins in network diagrams that represents the internet and various parts of it.

Ø The other term “computing” means to doing various work we do on our computer system.

Ø“Cloud computing” was coined for what happens when applications and services are

moved into the internet “cloud.

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Simple Tips to Extend Your iPhone Battery Life

Although the Apple iPhone has become everyone’s favorite gadget, its battery life leaves much to be desired. With the numerous apps available for your enjoyment, it can be a bit frustrating that the iPhone’s battery runs out of juice much quicker than other mobile phones. There are, however, a number of tips that you can use to make sure that you enjoy your iPhone fully, without worrying about battery life.

Tips such as making sure that your iPhone’s software is up-to-date, lowering the display brightness of your screen and setting email settings or data retrieval services to fetch data less frequently can help extend the battery life of your iPhone.

It is also recommended that you calibrate your battery at least once a month (by fully charging your iPhone battery, then allowing it to drain). You can also try out several battery management apps, such as Battery Doctor Pro and BatteryPlus to help you monitor your battery usage

The Five Least Environment-Friendly Electronics Companies According to Greenpeace

It is sad to note that while the call for environmental responsibility is becoming stronger as the years go by, there are still many electronics companies that are refusing to heed the call. Some claim that it is simply bad for business, while some are trying to become environment-friendly companies but continually fail.

Greenpeace is among the many watchdog organizations that assess which electronics companies are making the mark when it comes to being environment-friendly company. In its 2008 list, it has named the companies below as the five least environment-friendly electronics companies by its reckoning.

Number 5: Apple

Apple landed the fifth place among the least environment-friendly electronics companies in the world according to Greenpeace mainly because it has failed to disclose information regarding its e-waste, except for its recycling rate, which was pegged at 18% in 2006. While the company did make some effort to remove the brominated fire retardants (BRFs) from its products, it has yet to make the same effort with the polyvinyl chlorinates (PVCs).

Number 4: Philips

Philips fails to meet the Greenpeace mark and made the fourth spot in its list of the least environment-friendly electronics companies because not all of its products meet Energy Star standards. The company is also vague when it comes to the amount of renewable energy it uses as well as on disclosures regarding its e-wastes. Also, the company was involved in regressive lobbying against individual producer responsibility with the European Union.

Number 3: Lenovo

Greenpeace rated Lenovo poorly and named it one of the least environment-friendly electronics companies in its list because it failed to disclose verifiable data on its take-back and recycling program, as well as on its e-waste. The company also admitted to greenhouse gas emissions and that not all of its products meet Energy Star standards.

Number 2: Microsoft

Microsoft placed second on the Greenpeace list of the least environment-friendly electronics companies because it was vague in its disclosure of handling its e-waste. But while the company committed to ridding its products of BFRs and PVCs, it scored low by the Greenpeace criteria because of its weak position on Individual Producer Responsibility.

Number 1: Nintendo

Greenpeace named Nintendo as the least environment-friendly electronics company for 2008 because it has not espoused any efforts to reduce its e-waste and is vague in its timeline to phase out PVC, antimony and beryllium from its products. More importantly, although it has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, the company has admitted to a 6% increase in the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from its production in 2006.

Greenpeace had noted that these electronics companies are in the position they are now because of the lack of definite plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their operations and because they do not show any true support for the need to prevent climate change. Some companies did exert some effort, but the effort is not really enough for them to be deemed environment-friendly.

Technology Is at Least 3 Years Away From Improving Student Success

Las Vegas—At the very start of the Higher Ed Tech Summit here this week, James Applegate threw out a challenge. Mr. Applegate, vice president for program development at the Lumina Foundation, told an overflow crowd that the United States needed 60 percent of its adults to hold high-quality degrees and credentials by the year 2025.

During the rest of the day, technology executives described programs that could improve graduation rates and learning, but won’t be able to do so for several years. They collect many points of data on what professors and students do, but can’t yet say what results in better grades and graduation rates. “We’re beginning to get lots of data on things like time of task, but we don’t have the outcomes yet to say what leads to a true learning moment. I think we are three to five years away from being about to do that,” said Troy Williams, vice president and general manager of Macmillan New Ventures, which makes the classroom polling system called I-clicker. “These are really early days,” agreed Matthew Pittinsky, who runs a digital transcript company calledParchment and was one of the founders of Blackboard.

There’s lots of technology out there that’s outcome-related. For instance, at the meeting, which is part of the international Consumer Electronics Show, the interactive textbook publisher Kno announced a suite of new features. One of them, a performance gauge callled Kno Me, gives students information about how much time they spend on different sections of a book, the results of quizzes, and the kinds of notes they took. “With thousands of students using these books, we can show them which of these variables are related to students—anonymous, of course—who get A’s, or B’s, or C’s, so students learn what kind of activity leads to the best results,” said Osman Rashid, the company’s chief executive.

But he admitted that the grades were self-reports: Students would have to add that information themselves, since colleges did not supply it to Kno. So the outcome data might not be reliable.

Video lecture capture is another tool that could help professors fine-tune teaching techniques, said Fred Singer, CEO of Echo360, whose lecture-capture software is used by more that 400 institutions. The software could identify parts of a talk devoted to a particular concept, and also detect how often students went over that segment, how long they spent on it, and all that information could be related to how students do on tests about that concept. If students don’t seem to be doing well, then a professor could try a different explanation. And even borrow one from a professor teaching the same subject whose students are doing better. But while all that information is available now, it isn’t being tied together, Mr. Singer said.

Technology companies are only beginning to realize that the tools they created for interactivity—last decade’s education buzzword—are powerful devices for learning analytics—this decade’s hot term. So now they are going to have to work with colleges to connect the dots to teaching outcomes, said Mr. Applegate.

He added that this will also require colleges to agree on desirable teaching and learning outcomes in the first place, something they don’t do now. And that’s another problem.

What Is the Difference Between Compact & Economy Cars? Read more: What Is the Difference Between Compact & Economy Cars?

There are many factors consumers need to consider when purchasing or renting a car. One such factor is the difference between different types of cars. There are a few considerable differences between compact and economy cars

Size

• According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a compact car is defined as a passenger car with 100 to 109 cubic feet of interior and cargo volume. Economy cars are classified by how they are designed. Economy cars are generally designed to be small and light weight to give better gas mileage.

Gas Mileage

• Compact cars typically achieve good gas mileage due to their small size but some have high performance engines that don't help gas mileage. Economy cars are generally designed with more fuel-efficient engines. That and the lighter weight give economy cars the leading edge on gas mileage.
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Price

• The prices of compact cars can vary greatly depending on the trim level (equipment package) and the engine size. Economy cars are made to be less expensive to buy and maintain. Economy cars generally lack trim options and are cheaper to repair when problems arise.

Importance Of Reading Luxury Car Reviews

Importance Of Reading Luxury Car Reviews 

Buying a luxury car is a confusing, time-consuming and expensive time in a buyer’s life. There are several important reasons why people must read and pay attention to car reviews. While one may fall into the right auto purchasing deal, it is expected that there will always be certain unforeseen circumstances which may crop up in the future with the vehicle. At such times, it will be less troublesome if one knows about the negatives pertaining to the vehicle beforehand. This is where a luxury car review may be a money and time saver while one searches endlessly for the best prices along with great features and security.

A review relays several important details such as the working of the car, the market price, the features, models, comfort, the problems or the negative aspects of the car, and many other details which need to be paid attention to. This is very important, because if the buyer isn’t knowledgeable about the car he or she is planning to buy, then its likely that the buyer may not have any idea whether the car is going to be the right choice or not.

It’s also a good idea to speak to friends as well as family and get their views on what are the best models, because it’s likely that they know someone who has the same car and can give a great secondhand opinion.

Where To Look

If a buyer realizes the importance of reading reviews (for becoming more educated) before actually buying a luxury car then he or she must of course know exactly where to look. The World Wide Web, for that matter, is the best available source, and only within minutes one can go through thousands of different reviews, and get the best opinion.

Apart from this, there are other ways as well to get reviews. For one, the buyer can sign up to a luxury car forum and post his or her questions, to which members may respond and provide helpful advice. He can also come across top luxury cars models and reading their reviews will make his task easier.

Basically, by reading such reviews the buyer will educate him or herself and give a better chance of getting just the right luxury car and also make sure that he or she is making the correct decision. Since luxury cars can cost a fortune, they are a very serious investment. Hence, it’s important to be sure that one is spending the money intelligently and choosing a car and a model that one is going to be satisfied with.

In addition, before spending any money on a car it’s good to make sure that one is being supplied with all the papers and the ownership of the car. Also, when it comes to a luxury car it’s important to always buy one from a genuine dealer. There are several buyers who become victims of fraud by making deals with unauthorized dealers who promise to sell the car at a considerably lower rate compared to the actual market price. Reading car reviews from different sources over the Internet and making a sound, well informed decision will always help one get the best deal.

Do I have to own a website to use AdSense?

Yes, you must have access to edit the HTML source code of the website you submit in your application in order to be able to display Google ads or an AdSense for search box.

• If you've created a website via a content management system (CMS) providing hosting (for example, Blogger, Wordpress), you can submit its URL providing that you have access to AdSense or to the HTML source code from the interface.



• If you don't have a website, or your site isn't compatible with JavaScript, the options below will help you get started with AdSense. Keep in mind that the AdSense ad code and search code may be used on any page on any site that complies with our Program Policies.


1. Create a new blog using Google's weblog service, Blogger. Through Blogger, beginner webmasters can display Google ads without ever copying or pasting HTML code. Signing up for a Blogger account is fast, easy and free.
   
   Once you've created your blog, you can begin displaying Google ads in minutes by following the instructions here.


2. Create a new site using Google's web hosting service, Google Sites. To begin designing and publishing your own Google-hosted website, please visit //sites.google.com. For more information, read "Adding AdSense to your Google Site".


3. If you want to monetize your YouTube video content, please apply for the YouTube Partner Program or if your YouTube account is already eligible for monetization follow the instructions displayed in the YouTube interface to apply for AdSense.

If you submit a site you don't own (for example, www.google.com), you won't be able to place the AdSense code on the site and your application will not be approved.