Hydrogen-powered cars? Get excited.

If you thought Elon Musk’s Tesla produced some of the most innovative vehicles in the world, wait until you see the new hydrogen-powered cars that were unveiled at the Los Angeles and Tokyo auto shows this month. Not only do these  hydrogen-powered vehicles boast the same sleek and futuristic styling of a Tesla, but they also have superior ranges and refueling times to those of battery-powered electric vehicles.

And that might be the biggest reason of all why hydrogen-powered cars could start entering the mainstream sooner than any of us thought – they behave much more like traditional gasoline-powered cars than do electric vehicles. They have estimated driving ranges and refueling times that resemble those of cars you already own. While it’s certainly nice that these hydrogen cars make no noise and release no carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, what’s even nicer is that an automaker such as Honda is promising that it will be possible to refill its ultra-futuristic FCEV in under 3 minutes and that these cars will have a range of up to 300 miles. Compare that to your typically electric vehicle, which can take hours to charge and may not get you anywhere near 300 miles.
From a consumer standpoint, factors like “range anxiety” matter. The current knock against electric vehicles is that they have limited range, and so when the battery runs out, you’re stuck. It was, after all, why Elon Musk conducted a very public war with the New York Times earlier this year over the alleged performance limitations of the Tesla Model S.
As with any potentially disruptive technology, there’s been a firestorm of controversy as automakers cluster into camps: those who advocate a future for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and those for electric vehicles. On one side, you have Honda, Hyundai and Toyota, all of whom have been making huge bets on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. On the other side, you have Volkswagen, GM, BMW, Nissan and Tesla – all of whom who argue vociferously against the new hydrogen-powered vehicles.
While it’s a tough fight to take on the likes of Elon Musk, whom Fortune just named as its 2013 Businessperson of the Year and whom The Atlantic lumped in the same innovator category as Leonardo da Vinci, it’s equally hard to argue against the fundamental science of the hydrogen-powered car. Quite simply, the better technology deserves to win. And it’s not like a bunch of quixotic start-ups are taking on Tesla with unproven technology – we’re talking about Toyota and Honda.
Not surprisingly, the argument against hydrogen vehicles is really an argument about “sunk costs.” In other words, vehicle makers have sunk so much money into developing the technology of electric vehicles and have spent a corresponding amount of time and money developing a charging network for electric vehicles that they claim it would be a terrible mistake to attempt to recreate the same fueling infrastructure for hydrogen-powered cars. That cost argument comes up again and again, especially since there are only a limited number of places in the United States that are currently equipped to refuel hydrogen-powered vehicles.
As Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn recently pointed out, this is the problem that has bedeviled electric car makers – you need a nationwide charging network for the cars, or else nobody’s going to buy the cars. As he sees it, we’re still a long ways off until we would have enough filling stations to make hydrogen-powered cars economically viable. In October, Elon Musk said that there’s “no way” that hydrogen-powered cars will ever become a workable technology.

However, the lack of infrastructure for hydrogen cars may not necessarily be the hurdle they are making it out to be. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Hydrogen car backers, for example, argue that they can achieve economies of scale with hydrogen-powered cars by equipping huge fleets of buses first and using that momentum to build out a more robust charging infrastructure. And, to showcase the performance capabilities of these cars, Aston Martin even created a hydrogen-powered racing car — the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S. It’s more proof that you don’t have to sacrifice style and design when it comes to creating these vehicles. Imagine pulling up next to your neighbor’s stodgy four-door sedan with a Honda FCEV that looks like it came from the year 2033.
Ultimately, hydrogen vs. electric may end up polarizing consumers as much as the automakers themselves. Top Gear fans will endlessly debate the relative performance merits of the two types of cars, the MBAs and accountants will mull over the ROI cases for both technologies, government bureaucrats will review potential new subsidies for the cars and the people who actually want to save the environment as much as they want to drive cool cars will drill down on the underlying science of the cars’ technology. While hydrogen cars may still be some ways off from being a practical reality, it’s hard not to get excited about an automotive future that feature cars that look like they could be stars of their own science fiction movie.
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Teja's Talent hunt for new faces

Tollywood cinemas trendsetter director Teja who is known well for introducing new faces in his movies is now coming up with one more movie with new faces. The same director has introduced Uday Kiran, Nitin and Reema Sen in the past. Teja is planning to direct the movie Prabhakar as the producer. Script of the new film is completed and it is expected to start the movie in December.

So, Teja is interested in conducting the star hunt for new faces. Those who were interested to be the part in Teja's film can send their Photos and Videos to "2014prmm@gmail.com".

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NSA infected 50,000 computer networks worldwide with malware

The US’ National Security Agency reportedly hacked 50,000 computer systems globally and infected them with malware, according to the classified documents revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The latest claims come from a digital presentation slide, which show a world map highlighting hard computer networks and ‘world-wide implants’ under the category.

CNE (Computer Network Exploitation), NSA jargon for malware infections.
According to Mashable, NSA’s elite hacker team conducted these sophisticated spy attacks on networks including the one against Belgian telecom company Belgacom that was carried out by NSA’s UK ally, the GCHQ.

The report said that CNE includes enabling actions and intelligence collection via computer networks that exploit data gathered from target or enemy information systems or networks.

The ‘implants’ act as digital ‘sleeper cells’ that can be activated with a single push of a button.
The revelations by Snowden have severely impacted US ties with its allies apart from experiencing loss of trust from its own citizens.
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Another cyclone Lehar to cross Andhra Pradesh on 28th November

Just days after being hit by Cyclone Helen, Andhra Pradesh is bracing itself to face another cyclone, Lehar, which would cross the coast on November 28, the Met office said on Sunday.

"Cyclonic storm Lehar will cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machillipatnam and Kalingapatnam near Kakinada on November 28," the Indian Meterological Department (IMD) said. Under its influence, rain or thundershowers would occur at many places over Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and coastal and south interior Karnataka, IMD said in its weather outlook for four days from November 27 to December 1.

At least six people were killed and crops in 1.69 lakh hectares of land damaged under the impact of Helen earlier this week. Damage caused by last month's Phailin storm in Andhra Pradesh is still being assessed.

Cyclone Lehar in the Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal has underwent the first of a series of stepped-up strengthening cycles. 

According to US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre, Lehar packs howling winds clocking more than 100 km/hr with gusts of up to 130 km/hr. 

An India Met Department update early this morning said the system crossed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands just after midnight last night. 

Dense storm

Joint Typhoon Warning Centre of the US Navy located the system to 1,230 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam after it slowed down a bit lateral speed over waters.

It said Lehar represented a dense structure and a dangerous system in the making with intensification into a very severe cyclone expected anytime today.

The storm may just be developing an ‘eye’ feature in the centre, which is indicative of a stage just ahead of strengthening. 

Odd forecast

According to the US agency, the storm will track west-northwest, which is the normal track for the movement for a cyclone system in the northern hemisphere.

But an odd projection by the UK Met Office suggests that Lehar might deviate from this path and aim at Odisha/West Bengal coast after sometime.

Consensus projections by other models maintain that the storm will intensify into peak intensity of 185 km/hr by Thursday ahead of a landfall over Andhra Pradesh coast. 

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Anand may lose his World Championship title today?

On Thursday, playing with whites, Viswanathan Anand suffered his third loss at the hands of Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship. 

There is just half a point of difference between 22-year-old Carslen and world championship which at the moment looks certain and the Norwegian can seal the title today itself.

Anand went into the ninth game with a two-game deficit and later revealed that there was nothing else he could do but go for the kill in the ninth game on Thursday.

"In general, the match situation did not leave me with much of a choice. I had to give it a shot, I saw a couple of moments where I could exit but I decided to give it a shot. It seemed very dangerous for black," the Anand said after the match.

He said that excitement led him to commit a blunder on the 28th move.

"In a sense it was irresponsible or silly but I spent about 40 minutes on this move and then I suddenly saw his response. And for a second I got excited with this knight move (the blunder) and simply missed. As soon as I played the knight move I saw what I had done," the defending champion said.

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Mangalayaan sends first pictures of Earth regarding "Helen"

 The Mars orbiter spacecraft's first images of Earth have reached Isro's Indian Deep Space Network in Byalalu, about 30km from here.

On Thursday, Isro released one image taken on November 19 which captures the Indian subcontinent. It was taken using its Mars Colour Camera (MCC) from 67,975km with a resolutionof 3.53km per pixel. The image was taken as part the payload testing activity which commenced last week.

The MCC, which is meant for optical imaging of the Martian surface, was one of the first payloads to be tested. "It's ideal to conduct a test on the functioning of all payloads before the craft leaves the sphere of Earth's influence. The MCC is working well, as indicated by the images we've received," a senior Isro official told TOI.

The tri-colour camera will send images and information about the Martian surface from September 2014 after the craft reaches its designated elliptical orbit around Mars. "The images and information will be useful to monitor the Martian weather. The camera will be used to monitor two of its satellites, Phobos and Deimos," the official said.

MCC will also provide context information for other payloads aboard MOM, another official said, adding that the testing of the four other payloads will be done next week. "Information received from other payloads may not be published as they're not of public interest. They'll be in the form of scientific data which will be released later," he said.

Here is picture from the Mars mission:

We can clearly see the Helen Cyclone coming towards Andhra Pradesh.

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ISRO to put Mars Mission spacecraft into Martian orbit on December 1

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), chief Dr K Radhakrishnan on Tuesday said the Indian Mars mission spacecraft will be moved from the earth- centric orbit towards the sun-centric orbit on December 1.

“The Mars orbital spacecraft is in good health. The apogee (farthest point from earth of the spacecraft is nearly 1.93 lakh km. On the first of December, we expect to move the spacecraft from the earth’s orbit towards Mars. That’s the main action,” he said.

ISRO has successfully raised the orbit of the Mars Spacecraft for the fifth time since it launch on November 5 this year into the earth-bound orbit by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25).
The Mars Orbiter Mission blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India's Sriharikota with the satellite scheduled to start orbiting Mars by September, searching for methane and signs of minerals.
Only the United States, Europe, and Russia have sent probes that have orbited or landed on Mars. Probes to Mars have a high failure rate and a success will be a boost for national pride, especially after a similar mission by China failed to leave Earth's orbit in 2011.

The probe's 4.5 billion rupee price tag is a fraction of the cost of NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission, also due to launch in November.

Analysts say India could capture more of the USD 304 billion global space market with its low-cost technology.

Even so, it has drawn criticism in a country suffering from high levels of poverty, malnutrition and power shortages and experiencing its worst slowdown in growth in ten years.
India's ties with its neighbour are marked as much by competition as cooperation. Government scientists deny any space race, but analysts say India has stepped up its programme because of concerns about China's civilian and military space technology.
With the mars mission being successful so far, Dr Radhakrishnan said: “As far as the GSLV is concerned, we are now assembling the vehicle, the first stage has been assembled already, the four strap-ons are getting ready for assembling and by December we must have the flight of GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle)-D5.

India's space programme began 50 years ago and developed rapidly after Western powers imposed sanctions in response to a nuclear weapons test in 1974, spurring scientists to build advanced rocket technology. Five years ago, its Chandrayaan probe landed on the moon and found evidence of water.
The relative prowess in space contrasts with poor results in developing fighter jets by India's state-run companies.

The Mars Orbiter Mission plans to search for methane in the Martian atmosphere, the chemical strongly tied to life on Earth. Recent measurements made by NASA's rover, Curiosity, show only trace amounts of it on Mars.

India's mission will also study Martian surface features and mineral composition.

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