Defending an oil tanker from pirates is a tricky business. On the one hand, you’ve got cargo worth upwards of 100 million in black gold; then again, you really don’t want bullets and RPGs whizzing around when your vessel is basically a floating bomb.

Still, the capture of the Greek-owned Maran Centaurus, a 300,000-ton oil tanker and one of the largest prizes for the infamous Somali pirates, is a clear sign that something has to be done. An infographic from gCaptain.com and Oil and Gas News shows one solution: load a tanker up with all the high-tech goodies we can. It’s a kitchen sink approach, with everything from unmanned aerial drones and robotic boats, fire hoses, LRAD sonic cannons (which helped successfully defend the Maersk Alabama earlier this month) to crazier deterrents such as electric fences and dazzle guns.

Well, all that and crossed fingers, of course. Click on through to see a larger graphic.

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Sign-up for this newsletter: Art | Craft | Food | Games | Green | Home | Kids | Life | Music | Offbeat | Outdoors | Pets | Photo | Ride | Science | Tech Happy Holidays! Avoid the Black Friday rush, and make your own gifts this year! …
By: fungus amungus

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11 year old Lady is a beautiful Lurcher and she’s quite fit and sprightly for her age. She gets on well with most other dogs and loves fuss and attention, so her perfect home would be with someone who will be around for most of the day.

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Rocket-propelled grenades, probably best known for their supporting roles in various Michael Bay movies, are a real and ever-present danger to armored vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s a tough problem: How do you stop an explosive that’s about to hit your Humvee in a tenth of a second? You don’t — you let DARPA’s Iron Curtain system do it for you.

Mounted atop a vehicle, the Iron Curtain has three essential parts: a radar to detect the incoming RPG, an optical sensor that can scan the weapon and determine the best place to strike within half an inch, and an explosive countermeasure that destroys the RPG a fraction of second before it hits. The nature of the countermeasure prevents the RPG warhead from exploding properly; check out the video after the jump that shows a Iron Curtain-equipped Humvee being blasted five times with RPGs with virtually no damage.

The U.S. Army just approved $8 million in funding for the system, and plans are underway to test Iron Curtain in the field in July 2010. We’re impressed with the potential efficacy of this system, but wonder if the same result could be achieved with something less sophisticated (and cheaper). Equipping every armored vehicle with a radar-driven search-and-destroy system just sounds a little pricey, and some say that special cloth shielding could also be an effective RPG stopper.

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CERN’s Large Hadron Collider always had the chops to be the new proton accelerating sheriff in town, but this morning in Geneva the monstrous 17-mile-ring finally proved it. The LHC “accelerated its twin beams of protons to an energy of 1.18 TeV,” according to CERN, making it the “world’s highest energy particle accelerator.” 1.18 TeV is head and shoulders above the previous world record of 0.98 TeV, which was set in 2001 by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Tevatron collider in Illinois.

What’s even more impressive is that the LHC is still just warming up. It’s only been online for 10 days, and saw its first low energy collision a week ago. When the LHC starts getting serious in the first quarter of 2010, it will supposedly be causing collisions at 7 TeV — or 3.5 TeV per beam.

CERN, via Scientific American

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Popular Mechanics gets behind the wheel of the pre-production Chevy Volt and first experiences the car in pure-electric and sustained-charge modes.

This post is an excerpt of an article from Popular Mechanics. You can read the full post (with video) on their website. Written by Barry Winfield.

LOS ANGELES—We’ve been following the Chevy Volt as it has progressed through many milestones before it became a development mule based on the 2011 Chevy Cruze last May. That test drive was completed entirely in electric-only mode. Today, we had a chance to slide behind the wheel of a Volt that looks and feels much closer to production. We experienced the car in both pure-electric and sustained-charge modes, when the conventional gas engine powers an on-board alternator to supply the needs of the electric motor when the batteries reach an elected state of discharge.

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Capstone Turbine Corporation—a company normally known for making microturbines that provide back-up power for industrial and commercial operations—has built a prototype extended-range, diesel-electric supercar that has a 0-60 mph time of 3.9 seconds, a top speed of 150 mph and can go 80 miles on battery power alone before a diesel-powered microturbine kicks on and charges the battery on the fly for an additional 420 miles on one tank of fuel.

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Hardly a couple of weeks have gone by since Google’s Chrome OS was rolled out in all its glory, when Dell jumps into the fray with an easy way to load the beta operating system on its nifty Mini 10v netbook. Dell gurus have slightly modified Google’s Chrome OS to work specifically on the company’s tiny, yet versatile Mini 10v.

All you need to do is download the ChromiumOS image file, load it on an 8GB USB thumb drive, and then you’re off and installing it onto this little laptop with no hacking required. Of course, the Chrome OS isn’t going to be completely stable, since it’s not due to be completely finished until year from now, but this would be a magnificent way to get a feel for this upcoming juggernaut from Google.

This Dell Mini 10v has a remarkable story itself, widely hacked to run the Mac Snow Leopard OS with ease, although Apple has been breaking that compatibility with the latest updates to Snow Leopard. Still, for $279, the Dell Mini 10v could be a fertile playground for OS pioneers. And, if you don’t have an 8GB USB drive, here’s a “diet” version that’ll fit on a 1GB drive.

Direct 2 Dell, via Geeky Gadgets

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Just one look at this countdown traffic light and you know it’s a great idea. A progress bar on a stop light? We’re on board with that. Besides alleviating frustration, designer Damjan Stanković sees his idea saving energy — when motorists know there’s plenty of time until the light turns green, they’ll shut their engines off to conserve fuel.

This design concept should be immediately implemented on every traffic signal in the world. Maybe the countdown feature could be used on the yellow and green lights, too. This can’t be difficult to make, either, since many traffic lights are already using LEDs that could be easily rearranged.

Via Yanko Design

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America needs more diesels. They get great fuel mileage and tend to require less work than traditional petrol engines… plus they sound freakin’ sweet when coupled with turbochargers. And they make gobs and gobs of torque. I love torque.

I also love the MINI. These spy photos show a MINI mule being tested with a diesel engine, and BMW has been saying for some time that they are considering a diesel MINI for the U.S. market. Even better, there might be a twin turbo version with over 200 horsepower. Super. Freakin’. Sweet.

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Eager as we are to see wireless HDTV, progress is slow. Rocketfish just sped things up significantly with its wireless HD adapter, $600 worth of wireless HDMI that’ll let you move 1080p video 33 feet from source to screen with nary a wire between.

This is just the beginning. This is the WirelessHD brand of cable-free 1080p magic, which only works within 33 feet — a better choice is the higher-quality and 100-foot-spanning WHDI, soon to be slipped into notebooks, projectors, TVs and receivers. The question is, can WHDI be had for less than $600? Not yet, but WHDI creator Amimon tells us that’ll happen soon. Let the competition begin!

Via Best Buy

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The idea of using electric cars to store energy for the power grid is a good one, I think. Unfortunately, it may be too expensive at this time to make any sense, according to one recent cost analyst. The same high cost problems that have hindered electric cars in the past mean it may not make sense for the future even beyond 2020, unless the costs come down.

Then again, advancements in battery technology seem to be happening on a daily basis, so maybe it doesn’t make sense today, but tomorrow could be a different story.

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In a discovery that should help sustainable algae biofuels make the leap from an exotic curiosity to a mainstream fuel, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have identified an ancient protein that helps keep green algae from imbibing too much sunlight during photosynthesis.

The protein, called LHCSR, is a molecular self-regulator that protects algae from a damaging overdose of sun. With a better understanding of how the protein functions, it may be possible to engineer strains of algae that can be grown economically in artificial photosynthesis systems, providing more stability and efficiency than an open pond without the expense of a bioreactor.

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Smooth Storm 9500 BlackBerry theme Purchase at Mobihand Screen transition animations Huge display screen Brilliant design Great visual styling looks great anywhere Features: Smooth Storm 9500 BlackBerry theme Minimum Requirements: Storm BB OS 4.7 9500 Smooth Storm Blackberry theme Target OS 4.7 Storm BB OS 5.0 BlackBerry Storm Storm BB OS 4.7 Display Dimensions 480×360 [...]

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Is the Rubik’s Cube just too easy for you? Do you crave punishment? Do you enjoy giving yourself a frustration headache? Well, say hello to the 12 Surface IQ Pentagon!

This horrifying monstrosity of a puzzle looks next to impossible to actually complete. I mean, the Rubik’s Cube is damned hard, and this takes it to a whole other level. But hey, don’t let me tell you how you should or shouldn’t punish yourself when bored. It’s available now for $60.

ThinkGeek via Coolest Gadgets

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While these might look like crazy sculptures that your artsy neighbor would put in their front yard, they’re actually speakers. Ludicrously expensive speakers! Yes, Fabio Ognibeni’s Opere Sonore speakers will set you back a whopping $263,000.

Beyond looking insane, I’m sure they sound great as well. Although, to be honest, they only look to have a small cube speaker hanging off of them. I’m not sure how the rest of them contribute to good sound, but if you’ve got $263,000 to blow on speakers, you probably know better than I do.

W3sh via BornRich

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When folded up, this lamp looks just like a huge paper clip. Open it up, however, and this clever design becomes a rather handsome LED desk light. Sure, it sort of looks like a gag item from Spencer’s Gifts when it’s folded up, but the full-lamp look is pretty great.

Jhuly Johns via Book of Joe

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Time for a little gadget PSA, fellas. Take a minute and consider the gadget you’re thinking about giving that special lady in your life. Is it pink? Skip it. Would you enjoy it more than her? Then it’s not a good gift, chief.

You know what? This is going to take longer than I thought. What we need here is a list. Well, it’s your lucky day — I happen to have one all ready. Click Continue to find out what six absurd gadget gifts will get you dumped faster than vegetables out of a stocking.

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Here’s a product we can really warm up to: a knit hat and matching gloves with built-in solar panels. No, not your typical bulky (and dare we say, ugly) solar panels, but cheerful little snow-flake shaped panels that convert sunlight into snuggly warm goodness.

Dubbed “Endless Warm,” the cozy conceptual duo from Germany’s Yiran Qian were finalists in the DesignBoom Greenlife contest. The only problem we see is that typical cold winter days don’t boast significant amounts of sunshine. Hopefully, there’s an equally cute battery hidden in the hat and gloves.

Ecouterre via Inhabitat

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By now it is clear to even the most casual observers that the eco-friendly future of cars will rely primarily on electric engines. While some of the new designs being unveiled are striking, others are taking a refreshingly more conservative direction like the new E’mo. With an exterior that looks a bit like a golf cart from the world of claymation, the vehicle’s cute factor makes it a possible eco-age successor to the Volkswagen bug.

Designed by the StauffacherBenz Studio, the car runs on lithium-ion batteries good for about 60 miles per charge and can run at speeds up to 80 miler per hour. A release date has not been announced, but the vehicle will sell for 10,000 euros ($15,000) here.

Via Yanko Design

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DVICE’s relationship with technology is pretty one-sided: we love it. So a shower that goes by the name of Technology can only be a winner. The creation of Italian bathroom company Flexdoccio, the polished stainless steel design has what looks like paper cuts in a star shape slit into the head. I guess it will give the user a cross between a traditional shower and one of those crazy waterfall-esque water-wasters that we all frown upon but secretly heart.

Via Trendir

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