Business

The next push in renewable energy may be supported by an unlikely material: concrete. Midwest Energy News reported Oct. 20 that Sri Sritharan, an engineering professor at Iowa State University, is working on a modular tower design for wind turbines that would allow them to reach above the 80-meter limit of current steel towers. Sritharan has developed two pieces that can be precast from concrete, a panel and a column, that can be assembled in as many combinations as are necessary to reach the desired height. “It’s flexible,” he told Midwest Energy News. “If you’re using a GE turbine, you use one set of dimensions. If you’re using a Siemens turbine, you have a different set of dimensions.” The Limitations of Steel Steel cannot be used to create taller towers because steel towers are tr...

According to a new study recently released by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, the slow recovery of the home remodeling industry is expected to continue, but that the recovery process could take a while. After the housing market was hit by the recession in 2008, secondary industries (like the home remodeling business) were also impacted quite severely. However, unlike the housing market, which has regained health quite suddenly in the past couple of years, the remodeling business is expected to continue its slow trajectory of recovery throughout 2015. The Harvard study used an algorithm called the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) which calculated the numbers of remodeling projects, along with homeowner spending habits on remodeling projects, in order ...

The results of a recent survey show that a majority of people would be interested in purchasing semi-autonomous vehicles. The study, by Boston Consulting Group, revealed that 55% of people would be likely to buy a car that had partial self-driving abilities, such as taking over the wheel on the highway or during traffic jams, while 44% said they'd be interested in a car that was fully autonomous. Apparently people are willing to pay a good chunk of change for these vehicles, as well. More than 20% of those surveyed said they would pay $4,000 extra for a car that was able to entirely drive itself. As the hype builds over these new autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, the reality of putting self-driving cars on the market is closer than ever before. Just last month, California issued 2...

Since 1880, according to research from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, global median temperatures have increased by 1.5°F. While that might not seem like much, the shift in temperature is having a staggering effect on oceanic water levels, crop development, and weather patterns. It's also a driving factor behind a huge increase in the number of people across the world using air conditioning.Hoping to stem demand and do its part to fight off the forces of climate change, the University of California-Berkeley has developed a new technology that effectively air conditions structures without using a single watt of energy. SABER, as the tech is known, emulates skin to regulate air and light flow into buildings. The skin automatically senses changes in light and temperature, openin...

A Kentucky t-shirt company refusing to print shirts for a gay pride parade, citing their Christian faith, has been found guilty of discrimination by a civil rights commissioner. The verdict calls for the employees at the Lexington-based company to attend diversity training; however, it seems that the company intends to challenge the verdict. Last Tuesday, Gren Munson of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission announced that Hands on Originals discriminated against the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization in their refusal to print the shirts. It was previously reported that the gay rights group first filed a complaint against the company in March of 2012, alleging they were being discriminated against due to their sexual orientation. Since that time, company owner ...

Last week, Apple supplier GT Advanced Technologies Inc filed for bankruptcy in a move that shocked even Apple, which had planned to depend on GT Advanced for scratch-resistant sapphire screen technology for all future Apple devices. According to the Wall Street Journal, GT Advanced's bankruptcy filing was met with shock from its investors, creditors and partners alike -- even Apple itself remarked that the filing was "a surprising decision" in a statement. The bankruptcy comes as such a shock due to the fact that GT Advanced made a bond payment and promised a business update just a week before the bankruptcy was filed. In August, GT Advanced executives stated they predicted the company would have $400 million in the bank at the end of the year. Even more bizarre is the fact that GT Adva...

Last week, Barry Schwartz (news editor of Search Engine Land) put together cues from Google and his own research and came to a potentially game-changing conclusion: mobile accessibility may soon become a part of Google’s ranking algorithms. “Google sees what users see, and if that is a bad mobile experience, it may impact your rankings,” the article reads. If accurate, this prediction points to an ever-growing need to consider mobile design as an integral part of building an online presence. Primacy of the User Experience Schwartz writes that at Search Marketing Expo Eas, held this year in New York from September 30 through October 2, Google engineer Gary Illyes emphasized the importance of the user experience, or UX in industry slang. When questioned about the motivation for stressin...

When Target's point-of-sale system was hacked during the winter holidays last year, resulting in approximately 40 million customer credit card and debit card numbers being compromised, the chain store suffered from scathing articles and customer feedback reports for months. Consumers were furious that the store could allow such a huge security breach to occur, and that company executives could let so much time pass between the initial breach and their official confirmation of the breach, thereby allowing the hackers more time to use the stolen information. The backlash from Target's POS security woes was sure to make national retailers re-examine their own security measures, American consumers had assumed. But chain stores continue to fall victim to dedicated hackers, and The Home De...

The characters of the Star Wars film series are all iconic for one reason or another: Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, Princess Leia's hair, and Chewbacca's growl come to mind. And when it comes to villain Darth Vader's characterization, perhaps what is even more widely known than his mask and cape is the sound of his mechanical breathing. That sound is something that Lucasfilm, the company run by Star Wars creator George Lucas, protects from infringement thanks to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This type of trademark is referred to as a non-visual mark or "soundmark" by the USPTO. Like a trademark, the soundmark is also used to protect intellectual property from infringement. The USPTO showed off the application for Vader's signature breathing, filed in 2008, on its Twitter...

A business owing the state of Kansas more than $163,000 in taxes is going to auction -- but the items up for bid are raising some eyebrows among the state's lawmakers. The state originally raided five shops, all of which were owned by United Outlets LLC, property of Larry Minkoff. Minkoff was guilty of nonpayment of income, withholding and sales taxes, according to officials. So what's all the fuss? Minkoff's shops, located in four different cities, sold adult entertainment products. After negotiating with Minkoff, the state agreed to return the merchandise under the condition that he would auction it off to pay back the state. The issue caused quite a stir among the state's legislators, especially among Kansas's Democrats. They accused the Republican-led state Senate and Governor Sam ...