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NASA PINPOINTS SUNNIEST SPOTS
Southern California is sunny, the French Riviera is sunny, but NASA says the middle of the Pacific Ocean and the Sahara Desert in Niger are the sunniest - and the information could be worth money.
America’s space exploration agency has located the world’s sunniest spots by studying maps compiled by U.S. and European satellites.
The maps can also gauge solar energy at every other spot on the planet, and have already been used to help businesses to site solar panels in Morocco, for instance, or send text messages t
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PUTTING THE “B” BACK ON BENTLEY’S BONNET
A commitment to quality and versatility has brought prestigious new business with one of motoring’s most iconic brands for a Birmingham-based manufacturing company.
Hi-Finish Casting Ltd deliver high quality zinc and aluminium pressure casting, bright chrome and satin chrome finishing, powder coating, lacquering and assembly from their 70,000 sq ft factory in Hall Green, in what used to be Birmingham’s automotive heartland.
Around 75 percent of Hi-Finish’s output is for the automotive industry, but the company als
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UK STEEL COMPANIES PAY FASTER THAN EUROPEAN COUNTERPARTS
The UK steel and metal processing sector pays more quickly than their counterparts across Europe, according to new research by Atradius (a global leader in credit insurance and collections).
According to their annual Payment Practices Barometer, which analyses the payment behaviour of 1,200 businesses within sixteen sectors across European, UK-based firms in the steel and metal sector pay their invoices in an average of 48 days. This compares to a European sector average of 53 days. Italian steel and metal co
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FIRST “ROBOT” ELECTRIC GUITAR TUNES ITSELF
Ever get mad trying to figure out why your version of “Voodoo Child” doesn’t sound like Jimi Hendrix?
Help is at hand from what is described as the world’s first robot guitar - an electric guitar that not only keeps itself in tune even after string changes but also allows players to access six nonstandard tunings at the push of a button.
After 15 years of research, Gibson Guitar is launching a limited edition Les Paul Robot Guitar that has set players abuzz with both enthusiasm and scepticism.
“It wi
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COLOSSUS CRACKS THE CODE - BUT IT’S NOT THE FIRST
Colossus, the Second World War computer, successfully deciphered a coded message transmitted from Germany in a competition designed to recapture the drama and excitement of Bletchley Park’s code-breaking legacy.
The Cipher Challenge took place on November 16, when encrypted messages were transmitted from the Heinz Nixdorf Museum in Paderborn after being encrypted using the Lorenz SZ42 cipher, the same machine used by the German high command in war time.
At Bletchley Park Block H, the computer nerve centre used b
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ONLINE THIEF CAUGHT
Dutch police have made their first arrest of an online thief - a 17-year-old accused of stealing virtual furniture from rooms in the Habbo Hotel - a popular teenage networking website.
An Amsterdam police spokeswoman confirmed a report that the teenager was accused of stealing 4,000 euros ($5,864) worth of virtual furniture by hacking into the accounts of other users. Four other 15-year-olds have also been questioned in the case.
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HD DVD VS BLU-RAY
Toshiba has said its HD DVD high-definition video format is not dead despite being dealt a big setback by Warner Bros studio’s decision to exclusively back Sony’s rival Blu-ray technology. Akiyo Ozaka, president of Toshiba America Consumer Products, told a briefing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that HD DVD “has not lost”. Toshiba’s remarks were the latest in a long-running battle over which format will dominate the next generation of technology for delivering high-definition movies to consumers. The wi
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AIR CAR MAY TAKE OFF
What seemed like a pipe dream may become a reality as Frenchman Guy Negre hopes versions of his compressed air car will be produced in India this year by Tata Motors Ltd. The former Formula One motor racing engineer’s invention depends on pressurised air to move the pistons, which in turn help to compress the air again in a resevoir. The engine also has an electric motor, which needs to be periodically recharged, to top up the air pressure. The bottles of compressed air - similar to those used by divers - can be fille
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BIOFUELS IN CONGO
The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most promising biofuels producers due to its vast amount of farmland suited to a range of crops from palm oil to soybeans, a top UN economist Dr. Joesph Schmidhuber has said.
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EU CARBON TARIFF TALK
The European Commission is debating whether to push for a carbon tariff on imports from countries that do not tackle greenhouse gas emissions, as part of climate change proposals due out in January. Supporters of the measure say it would level the playing field for European companies facing tougher domestic emissions penalties. The new rules would be part of a raft of post-2012 proposals covering issues including national emissions targets and clean energy subsidies. Unlike the European Union, neither China, India or
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| Brains and beauty |
Furness and West Cumbria’s West Coast is about to experience a major investment that will strengthen the tourism and industry s ...
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| National Stadium, Beijing |
At the pinnacle of its construction, the National Stadium in Beijing had 7,000 workers toiling over the infrastructure. ...
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No smoke without fire
It seems that commentators, industry heads, central bankers and, dare I say it, Industrial Focus’s own journalists have made so ...
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Innovation for the nations
Hope for the future has arisen from the turmoil of the last few months, as industrial technologies have spun out some marvels o ...
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Supposedly the construction
materials of the future, composites are increasingly seen in
applications where optimum efficiency is paramount including
aircraft construction and renewable energy. As two research
examples show in this video, composites really are the future
for efficiency.
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