Schwippy

X Prize Wants Their MPG

The X Prize foundation is probably most notable for their past sponsorship, the Ansari X Prize; an $10,000,000 prize to the private group who could first get a spacecraft into space and return safely. That contest was finally put to an end in 2004 when Burt Rutan and Paul Allen finally succeeded.

Since then, the X Price foundation has come up with another contest that should spawn the ideas and improvements we desperately need in the world today.

The proposal states it will give an unnamed amount in prize money (Probably the standard $10M) to the first group that can make an automobile that can successfully break the 100 MPG mark.

Whats the record right now, like 50ish or something? Hold on…… ok, a quick googling shows 76 MPG (Dont quote me on that though). But anyways, how awesome would it be to be able to have a car that could get you across the country on a single tank of gas? The foundation isn’t looking for a car that was just made by some MIT students in a dorm room. They want something that can actually be manufactured and sold. They have 2 classes so far; a 4-wheel / 4-passenger model, and a 2-passenger model with an unspecified amount of wheels.

With the rediculous gasoline prices around these days, this has got to be one of the most needed things in our world. Everything should go pretty well too, as long as Chevron doesnt get their hands on the winning prototypes. We would never hear about it again.

Automotive X Prize [Via Slashdot]

I need to go to college

Heres just another reason I need to get into a university.

Top 10 used passwords

ModernLifeIsRubbish has obtained an up-to-date top 10 list of currently used passwords online.

I’m willing to bet that you’ve used one or more of these passwords online before. I know that I have used ‘qwerty’ on more than one occasion for throw-away accounts or for shady sites that I fear I may be in danger of personal information theft.

Just one more note, the list was compiled across the pond, so obviously, there are going to be different numbers if we were to take a poll here in the states. For example, our favorite team probably wouldnt include Liverpool

Click the link to check it out

Top 10 Most Common Passwords

Magnetic Fluid Video aka Ferrofluid

If you’re like me, you’ve heard all about ferro fluid but just haven’t seen it in action. Heres a great video of it showing you its real-world properties.

For those of you that don’t know what ferro fluid is, ferro fluid is simply a fluid that is has a ferrous material embedded in it, thus making it magnetic.

Whats going on here is simple. The spiral ‘poles’ you see are connected to an electromagnet underneath and is being controlled with varying amounts of power to get the movement of the fluid.

Head on over to the link to see the project in the video.

Ferrofluid Spiral [Via Boing Boing]