Ascent urban air mobility

The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) has released a 4:38 minute video showing off its advanced capabilities, including those of its newly obtained F-35A fighters. Showcasing the F-35A’s stealth capabilities, the video goes on to show animated footage of the plane attacking North Korean targets, including the DPRK’s new Hwasong-14 mobile intercontinental ballistic missile launcher and what appear to be a Russian-made Pantsir-S1 short-range air defence system and 2K12 Kub mobile surface-to-air missile system. Although the Kub is known to serve in North Korea’s air defence forces, it’s not immediately clear why animators chose to include the Pantsir-S1, since North Korea is not known to operate the air defence system at present. First F-35As to Become Operational Next Week Seoul received the first of its F-35A fighters in March, with 13 planes expected to be delivered before the end of the year. Another 47 F-35As are on order. The ‘A’ denotes that … [Read more...] about South Korean Air Force Video Shows F-35 Destroying Russian-Made Air Defence Systems

For her daily evening puja, Ghaziabad resident Reena Peshawar plays an online aarti. But now she’s debating whether she should cut back on some of that devotion or the makeup videos she watches since her monthly mobile prepaid plan has jumped from Rs 169 to Rs 249. “I just bought a new cellphone with my Diwali bonus and already I have to cut back,” says the 22-year-old domestic worker who earns Rs 6,000 a month. With Airtel, Vodafone and Jio increasing tariffs for prepaid plans, the urban poor, who get their fix of what digital anthropologist Payal Kapoor calls ABCD: Astrology, Bollywood, Cricket and Devotion, from their smartphones, are feeling the pinch. And the numbers of those affected aren’t small since prepaid accounts for 95% of Indian subscribers. Kiran Adhar, an East Delhi housewife, loves uploading videos of her toddler and lip-syncing to Bollywood songs. But the recent hike has dampened her enthusiasm. Adhar used to get her phone recharged for Rs 500 … [Read more...] about No more mobile pujas & cricket: Data price pinches poor as much as onions

To help combat global warming and urban heating, we might just need to paint the town white.A new modeling study simulated the effects of painting roofs white to reflect incoming solar rays and found that it could help cool cities and reduce the effects of global warming.The feasibility of such an initiative for cities remains to be seen, researchers caution, but the idea has been backed by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other policymakers. And now there's some science behind the political support."Our research demonstrates that white roofs, at least in theory, can be an effective method for reducing urban heat," said Keith Oleson, the lead author of the study and a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. "It remains to be seen if it's actually feasible for cities to paint their roofs white, but the idea certainly warrants further investigation."Cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of a phenomenon known as the … [Read more...] about White Roofs Could Reduce Urban Heating

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Slick, glassy skyscrapers cast their shadows over the streets and spaces of cities all over the world. These behemoths are notoriously inefficient: glass exteriors trap the sun's rays during summer and hemorrhage heat throughout the winter, requiring year-round air conditioning and climate control. Dark interiors necessitate vast arrays of bright lighting, while hundreds of computers whirr 24 hours, consuming even more electricity. At a time when energy efficiency is a matter of global significance, it's worth considering how these dark, glass giants came to dominate the urban landscape—and how we can build to fix these flaws in the future. In fact, the modern skyscraper emerged from an architectural evolution, that started with the construction of Chicago's tall office buildings during the 1880s. The iconic "International Style" skyscraper – a prismatic glass surface wrapped around a … [Read more...] about Why Efficient Skyscrapers Will Be Essential To Cope With Growing Urban Populations

Ford has a plan to help cut car emissions, and this time it doesn’t have anything to do with batteries, hybrid powertrains, or clever engine technology. Instead, the company is focusing on improving the parking experience, and its answer involves a crowdsourced real-time database of occupied and empty parking spots across the country and remote control vehicles enabled by off-the-shelf commercial 4G LTE. At first glance that might not sound like it has much to do with reducing vehicle CO2 emissions, but according to Ford, their data shows that hunting for parking spaces in urban environments can account for between 20 and 30 percent of a vehicle’s emissions. To find out more about what Ford has been working on, we spoke with Mike Tinskey, director of vehicle electrification and infrastructure at Ford. He told Ars about a pair of research projects that the car maker has been working on as part of a larger program called Smart Mobility. Smart Mobility involves 25 different … [Read more...] about Remote valet mode and revolutionized parking: Ford’s Smart Mobility