Page 9 - Technology Facts

The ‘color bars’ TV test pattern won an Emmy in 2001-2002 (for engineering)!

The SMPTE colors bars is a television test pattern used where the NTSC video standard is utilized. Viewers knew it better as the random stripes of color that occasionally popped up on the television for seemingly no reason. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers calls this test pattern “Engineering Guideline EG 1-1990.”.

By comparing this pattern as received to the known standards, engineers are given an indication of how an NTSC video signal has been altered by recording or transmission and what adjustments need to be made to bring it back to specification. Al Goldberg of CBS Laboratories originally created the colors bars in the 1970s.

Over 30 years later in 2001, these bars received an Engineering Emmy. Between their creation and this award, television stations often broadcast the color bars during special “color check” segments. On occasion, viewers would need to adjust their television sets to make sure the colors were “well separated” and matched their descriptions.

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There is a fabric that you can spray onto your body--Instant clothes in a can!

Wouldn’t your mornings be easier if you could simply spray on your outfit rather than pick it out? Well a London organization may have made this dream a reality. In 2000, Fabrican, Ltd, based at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Imperial College London, invented a spray-on fabric. The spray is instant and produces a non-woven fabric.

It was developed for household, industrial, personal, healthcare, decorative and fashion applications. The spray is used with an aerosol can or a spray-gun, and the fabric itself is formed by cross-linking fibers. These adhere to one another and create an instant non-woven fabric. Fabrican notes that the properties can be tailored to meet the needs of each user. They can be altered to produce different fabrics in varied textures and colors.

In the medical world, Fabrican could be used for new types of patches, wound healing products, dressings, bandages and casts, and slow release systems. In the fashion industry, Fabrican hopes this new fabric will free designers to try new ideas. The spray on fabric will also make it more possible to repair and recycle old clothing, make seamless garments and better customize pieces.

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A man built a Lamborghini from scratch in his basement. He smashed a hole through his house to get it out!

In 1989, Ken Imhoff began building a Lamborghini Countach, an Italian sports car, from scratch in his basement. For the next seventeen years, he worked for countless hours building the car. He would fail at one part and start again.

He welded and painted and measured and slowly the car began to take shape. Imhoff first wanted a Lamborghini Countach when he saw the movie "Cannonball Run," which features the car in one of its opening scenes. Not being able to afford one, he followed his father's advice and decided to build it instead.

He originally estimated that it would take him five years to finish. It ended up taking him much longer. He did, however, achieve his goal of finishing the car by his 50th birthday. Imhoff then had to knock down a wall of his basement in order to get the car out. Perhaps he should have built it in his car.

Now that he's finished the Countach, Imhoff wants to sell it. He thinks that the building was the journey, and now he's reached his destination. He'd like to pass it on to someone who would take good care of it. Any takers?

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There’s a nuclear drill that heats up the tip enough to melt rocks, then cools them enough to create a glass coated tunnel!

A subterrene is a type of tunneling machine, similar to that of a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM). A subterrene works by utilizing forward pressure and massive amounts of heat to push through rock. The front of the machine is equipped with a stationary drill tip which is kept between to 1300 and 1700 °F.

The molten rock left over from drilling is immediately turned into a glass-like material and coats the inner diameter of the tunnel, creating an initial tunnel liner. Massive amounts of energy are required to heat the drill head, which is supplied through nuclear power or electricity.

All of this is in contrast to traditional TBMs, which grind away at rock instead, but the results are similar. Patents issued in the 1970s show that U.S. scientists had planned on utilizing nuclear power to liquefy lithium metal and circulate it to the front of the machine.

The process is supposed to be cheaper and the benefit of the initial tunnel liner also helps reduce costs as it is beneficial as is. The machines use a lot of energy, though, and their safety and reliability is unknown.

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PayPal was voted one of the 10 worst business ideas of 1999

PayPal is one of the most successful Internet business endeavors of the last few decades. However, when it was first pitched, it was voted one of the 10 worst business ideas of 1999. How is that possible?

Today, PayPal is a global e-commerce business that allows money transfers to be made safely online. It serves as an alternative to traditional money transferring methods, such as credit cards or checks.

In 1999 however, PayPal was not what it is today. It started out (and was pitched as) an infrared beaming device on Palm Pilots for sending money. The founder says that it was a product failure at this point, but their team was still good. So they went back, reworked the idea and turned their failure into a success.

He suggests not getting hung up on failure and always moving forward. This advice certainly worked for him and the entire PayPal team.

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