Shell "Spars" with the Gulf of Mexico

Early next year Shell expects to flip the on-switch for the deepest oil well yet drilled.

The Perdido Spar, constructed in Finland by Technip, is a 555-foot 50,000 ton cylindrical oil-rig that Shell successfully secured to the sea floor earlier this year in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell is now in the process of drilling 22 wells into the sea floor that will grant the spar access to approximately 130,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas each day.  That seabed, known as the Perdido Foldbelt, is about the size of Houston.

A unique aspect of the Perdido is how it will get the oil 9,627 feet (depth of deepest well) up.

Above you can see a number of pumping stations littering the sea floor, but only 5 risers lifting oil from those stations up the rig.

Offshore oil rigs normally have 1 pipeline per well, a direct line from the oil's natural resting place into the rig for production and use.

However, shell intends to built 13 additional wells up to nine miles away.  With just 1 two-mile pipe weighing 500 tons the additional wells offered a nightmare for engineers.  Add on the 22 other wells within proximity to Perdidio and the task seemed too burdening.

So Shell dropped the short-cut and instead installed massive risers that will shoot the oil from the pumping stations top-side.

The Perdido rests 200 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas.

Total length of pipeline laid, 184 miles.

What is a Spar?

Technologies making this possible

Shell's safesty challenge

When you're an Xbox and you wanna go "Wii"

In 2006 Nintendo finally released the infamous "Wii" into the videogame mainstream.  For the idea behind the Wii was initially laid down by Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto in 2001.

That idea?  Completely innovate the console "controller" by completely renovating its mechanic.

No longer would people simply press buttons to manipulate their games on console, now they would have the power of manipulation not just in their hands' fingers...but in their movements.  No more calloused thumbs!

Since then the rather primitive motion-sensor-controlled Wii has dazzled people by forcing them into a new echelon of videogame interaction.  Coming close to body-movement-sensor-control but not quite there.

A police shooter I've found at a few movie theaters does just that, you stand square-shouldered feet facing forward on top of a platform with footprints, from there you use the plastic gun to shoot but move your body to find cover, seriously...after a few goes I decided to drop back and watch someone else play it...its quite hilarious due to the sluggish response of the game, grown people killing time by shooting computer-generated gangsters while performing what looks like a Richard Simmons workout in slow motion.

Thus spoke Microsoft!  Project Natal..."you are the controller."

This marvelous addition to the Xbox 360 is home to a color video camera to detect your movements from 48 body parts (joints, head, neck, shoulders, facial features, etc), an infrared emitter and sensor for depth perception (to visually gauge your distance from the Natal system), and a microphone (for detecting your voice commands and for hearing how far from the Natal system you are).

Toss a microprocessor into the device to compute all that data on the fly and bam!  The "Wii" becomes a "Bii" for innovation.

But the truly remarkable dynamic shift is it's detail.  It has the ability to read your facial features, subtle hand gestures, while recognizing your voice; this quite frankly may take the role-playing genre to the extent of realism.

Volvo...thinking for you

How many times have you found yourself in a moment of panic as you realize turning the dial on the radio took your focus away from the car in front of you bringing on eminent impact?

Scary isn't it?  The locked up feeling you get in your chest, the terror of the oncoming collision freezes you in place, you can't apply the breaks, hell...you can't even move, you're petrified by your damaging decision.

If you find yourself doing this commonly, noticing too late how close you are to the car in front, then buy a 2010 Volvo XC60, in cases like this it will break for you.

THAT"S RIGHT!  THE VEHICLE WILL BREAK FOR YOU!

So how does it do it?

The front-end of the XC60 has a laser sensor that constantly scans the area in front of you tracking any vehicles it contacts.

Get too close or approach too quickly and the vehicle will apply the breaks as needed.  That means if you let loose on the break at a stop the car will gently correct your move.  Coming screaming like a demon towards a red light and it will slam on the breaks.

Doctors' orders, out with the old and in with the new.

Once upon a time in France, a physician invented a device that allowed him to hear the sounds produced within a patient's chest without cutting it open!


In 1816 Dr. René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec developed the stethoscope.  Since then, no major optimizations have been devised for it, only better materials but no addition to it's general function.


In 1902 the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company was founded.


You've probably heard of 3M, if you've spent much time in hospitals you've seen a lot of there stuff...then again if you've been to Staples or Office Depot you've seen a lot of there stuff as well.


That's because 3M simply makes shit...all kinds of it.  But the catch to their culture is innovation, quality rather than quantity.


Now, 193 years later, 3M has cast their benevolent wand of innovation over the device that doctor's use most to get close to your heart.

With aid from Zargis Medical Corp., 3M Littmann has developed the Electronic Stethoscope Model 3200.


This marvelous device not only digitally amplifies the sounds in your chest, it also sends the beat count to Cardioscan software developed by Zargis (via Bluetooth).


This eliminates the fine science MDs have been trained for, in order to properly identify murmurs or any other abnormalities giving doctors hard data to consult right on their computer.


This digital format allows doctors to analyze the sounds of your heart the way a sound engineer produces records.  Start/Stop Forward/Rewind Change of tempo.  All useful manipulations doctors can test to best diagnose the sounds being produced by their patients.

LED flashlights...beyond batteries.

The gang at 511tactical gear have raised the bar and thrust the flashlight standard beyond batteries...once...and for all!

The UC3.400 is an LED (light-emitting diode) flashlight with an estimated re-charge lifespan of 50,000 charge/discharge cycles. (511tactical estimates that at 1 charge per day, the UC3.400 will hold charge for 135 years)

How you ask? Considering just a few short years ago Apple could only get an LED iPod to recharge for a year and a half before it could no longer hold a charge.

Simple. 511tactical put a ultra-capacitor within the flashlight, instead of a lithium battery. This capacitor collects electrons from the layers of metal in the flashlight and stores them as energy.

Due to the ultra-capacitor, the UC3.400 has no batteries and requires no electricity to be produced via a chemical reaction.

511 Tactical's UC3.400

A Robotics Rodeo round-up in honor of the fallen

Remember remember the fifth of November, I doubt that day shall be forgot.

For those that remember, this fifth of November shall first think of those who were lost.

Last Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan shot 13 people dead, 12 of which were soldiers, wounding 29 others during a shootout at Fort Hood Texas.

In honor of those fallen last week and to American armed-service veterans everywhere, I bring you the marvel of Fort Hood's "Robotics Rodeo" that occurred during the tail end of the summer, for Veterans Day 2009.

This is the "Ripsaw" unmanned tank, developed by identical twins Mike and Geoff Howe, 34. (MCT)

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the Army's III Corps, stationed at Fort Hood, hosted the "Robotics Rodeo" demonstration and testing event from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, 2009.

The event gravitated industry professionals, developing robots of varying technological levels and roles to be played for the military, towards Army brass and regulars, with a unique opportunity to show the Army the possibilities of robotic warfare.

Sarnoff Corp. brought this small robot with a video camera to test at the rodeo. (MCT)

The Army said the event was not a competition but rather a "marketing research event."  The event offered the military a chance to see firsthand, what technologies are available, how these technologies can work in convergence on the battle field, and most importantly how they will benefit the Army.

Now that a few months have passed since the event.  Here's a look at what the Army has done with the Ripsaw.

For an idea on how this vehicle operates and tackles terrain, check out this video of the manned version.

 

The Seventh Window

Something marvelous occurred Sunday, and it wasn't just the spectacle that was this week in the NFL.

I woke up.  And that wasn't the marvelous part, just the beginning.

I traveled down the stairs, and luckily I wore PJ's that night (the marvelous part).

I headed towards the door and looked down at the floor.

What did I see to my surprise?

Yeah that's it people.   Microsoft Windows 7, home premium to be exact.

Although I haven't had the time yet to install, to which I post to you still from Vista; I did break the packaging and here's what I found out thus far.

Apparently this is my PC..."simplified."  Great, after 16 years of figuring these complex operating systems out, they've finally cared to simplify things.

*Here is a glimpse of the new CD layout, don't mind the blur, those are my serial numbers*

"Enjoy.  It's designed for you."  And for once!  They thought about us instead of them?  Precious

But despite the marketing rhetoric, Microsoft really smoked a joint on this one, but it doesn't appear to stink like a skunk.

Finally moving away from it's ever present aroma of an office cubicle, Windows has added some cool new features not yet experienced to any intergrated aspect of it's user-interface (the menu bars, minimize buttons, windows, taskbars, start buttons, etc).

Aero Background

It lets you select a number of photos to rotate as a slideshow for your desktop background.

Aero Shake

Simply grab the top of a certain window with a left-click, hold it and shake.  All other open windows will minimize.

Aero Peek

Get a glimpse of your desktop hidden behind your open windows by turning them all completely opaque.

Glass Color

The option allows you to tint the hue of your monitor to appear as your favorite shade of glass, for the ocular-ly inclined. (PS you see more greens in the dark, but during the day yellow dims the intensity of the monitor which strains your eyes, that and blue just looks cool, perhaps some white to see better in dark video games, who knows what you could do with it, do you?)

The taskbar got a face-lift.

• The program boxes are more boxed in shape, still a rectangle but much skinnier (previously the rectangle shape was longer, about 1 measure up 5 measures across), allowing for many more programs on a single-spaced taskbar.  
• A blended background indicates that program is "inactive" with the "active" program at the time being highlighted in orange.  
• You may also "pin" programs to the taskbar, much like the latest Mac interface, simply drag a program onto the taskbar for quick access.  Thus it would appear "quickbar" has become an obsolete Windows feature.  
  
• Thumbnail previews of programs have become even more integrated into the taskbar.
• Jump Lists options have been added to reduce desktop clutter. 
• Rather than having your favorite songs on your desktop for easy and quick access, you may set a list of "Frequent" songs within the Windows Media Player icon on the taskbar, or perhaps a website for Internet Explorer.
• Previous tasks can also be set.

The shortcuts got a boost as well

• Windows key + up arrow = Maximize window
• Windows key + down arrow = Minimize window
• Windows key + arrow left or right = Snap window to left or right of screen (allows you to easily compare to windows side-by-side)
• Windows key + Home = Max / Min all windows
• Windows key + Spacebar (held) = Aero Peek
• Windows key + # = Active program at given numbered slot on the taskbar (if Internet explorer is 1 and you hit WK + 1, IE shall open)

Either way you add up the new stuff, its a boiler of excitement and curiosity waiting to blow.  I can't wait to play with these new features.  

But for now!  Time for some sleep, some class, then some installation instructions.