Author Archive

Study finds that storage prices are falling faster than PV and wind technologies – pv magazine International

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2017/07/31/study-finds-that-storage-prices-are-falling-faster-than-pv-and-wind-technologies/#.WX_20l9ZtdU.twitter Long-term R&D spending played a critical role in achieving cost reductions. Energy storage projects may bring the cost per kWh of a lithium-ion battery down from $10,000/kWh in the early 1990’s to $100/kWh in 2019, according to a new study written by a research team from University of California and TU Munich in Germany, →

Chip Hall of Fame: Atmel ATmega8 – IEEE Spectrum

https://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/processors/chip-hall-of-fame-atmel-atmega8 Atmel’s ATmega8 is one of the seed crystals of the modern maker movement. It’s at the heart of the first generation of the Arduino board. ATmega8 and its sibling chips such as the ATmega328P are used in current Arduino’s. The ATmega8 comes from the AVR line of microcontrollers, originally developed in the early 1990s by two students at the Norwegian University →

The scientific reason you don’t like LED bulbs

http://theconversation.com/the-scientific-reason-you-dont-like-led-bulbs-and-the-simple-way-to-fix-them-81639 Scientists used to think we could see no more than about 90 flashes of light a second but now we know it’s more like 2,000. During the eye movement, the flicker of light creates a pattern that we can see. It could discourage people from using more energy-saving LED lightbulbs. One obvious way of avoiding →

Hackers Show Proofs of Concept to Beat Hardware-Based 2FA – Motherboard

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xazek/hackers-show-proof-of-concepts-to-beat-hardware-based-2fa “Hardware security devices are an improvement… However, we need to be mindful of our hardware, and just because we say this magic token is secure, we don’t implicitly assume that.” Hardware tokens provide possibly the best way to add an extra lock onto your account. Two-factor authentication sent by SMS can be intercepted. It is probably →

Hackers are coming for your jewels with this safe-cracking robot

http://mashable.com/2017/07/28/safe-cracking-robot-defcon/#4DUijhH.lgqL If hackers want what’s on your computer, chances are they can find a way to get it. But what about your non-digital goods you keep in a safe at home? Turns out those aren’t that secure, either.  At the 25th annual DEF CON in Las Vegas professional tinkerer and founder of SparkFun Electronics Nathan →

System Administrator Appreciation Day

http://sysadminday.com/ Your network is secure, your computer is up and running, and your printer is jam-free. Why? Because you’ve got an awesome sysadmin (or maybe a whole IT department) keeping your business up and running. So say IT loud; say IT proud … Happy SysAdmin Day! →