Britain abandons onshore wind just as new technology makes it cheap

The world’s biggest producer of wind turbines has accused Britain of obstructing use of new technology that can slash costs, preventing the wind industry from offering one of the cheapest forms of energy without subsidies.

Anders Runevad, chief executive of Vestas Wind Systems, said his company's wind turbines can compete onshore against any other source of energy in the UK without need for state support, but only if Source

Test drives without a driver as China car maker

BEIJING, Jan 7 — Chinese automaker BAIC has an ambitious plan for beating Apple Inc and Google Inc in the autonomous car business: take the driver out of the test drive.

BAIC Group will be the first company to let customers ride in driver less cars that are manoeuvring around each other, said Rong Hui, the executive overseeing the effort. This spring, BAIC will run as many as 10 electric cars on a course encompassing three American football fields, with features including traffic lights and faux landmarks such as housing and a hospital.

The concept may resemble Source

Facebook made its own Android app crash on purpose to test user loyalty

Remember how mad the internet got when news broke that Facebook had covertly turned 700,000 of its users into unwilling test subjects for an experiment on "emotional contagion"?

Facebook doesn't.

Either that, or, perhaps more likely, the company hadn't considered that people would ever find out they'd been messed with in the name of data again.

A report published this week by San Francisco Source

Smart-Home Gadgets

Computer chips and wireless communications are being added to everything from doorknobs to dog collars. But the cascade of gadgets for the so-called smart home, which is due to accelerate at this week’s Consumer Electronics show, seems to be running well ahead of consumer desires.

Early technology adopters have snapped up Internet-connected versions of devices like thermostats and smoke detectors. But some market researchers say mainstream consumers haven't yet found reasons to buy.

Source