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Garmin Nuvi GPS devices run Linux!

I bet you’re as surprised as me that the Garmin Nuvi series of GPS devices run Linux.  But they do, and Garmin has released the source code for its Nuvi 8xx and Nuvi 5xxx-series GPS navigation devices.

A quick look at the Nuvi 8xx source code indicates that the devices run a 2.6.17.7 Linux kernel on a Marvell “Monahans” processor, likely either the Marvell PXA-300 or -310. The kernel seems configured to use 64MB of RAM, and to be patched with Steven Rostedt’s real-time patches.

Source:  Garmin

Cars that run on compressed air.

Taken from the website:

Compressed air is an energy vector that can be used, in a viable way, to transport both people and goods.The main goal of Air Car Factories is to develop and manufacture a vehicle driven by a compressed air engine with a level of performance that will respond to the actual needs of today’s market. With this aim we have drawn up a full agenda and an R&D plan of action for production start up.

They also have another model which runs on compressed air and electricity.  Either way, it’s a cool concept that breaks the link between you and big oil.

Scientists say that it once rained on Mars.

Rain once fell on Martian soil, according to a new geochemical analysis by Berkeley scientists, though it probably stopped raining several billion years ago. Though they can’t say for sure whether the precipitation on Mars fell as snow, sleet or rain, the evidence of reacting with rocks suggests that the water was liquid on the ground.

Source: Wired

Want to learn a new language?

Here are 6 free online resources for learning a new language:

1. MIT OpenCourseWare
2. BBC Languages
3. Internet Polyglot
4. The Open University LearningSpace
5. Madinah Arabic Language Course
6. Livemocha

Enjoy your new languages!

Did you know there was a LEGO secret vault?

I had no idea that something like this existed. I’d love to see this in person.  Lego bricks have put smiles on kids’ faces since the 1950s, so imagine the delight of one lucky Gizmodo contributor when he had the chance to visit the toy company’s secret vault.  The vault contains every Lego set ever produced, all 4,720 of them.  From Lego Space to Lego Technic to Lego Town to Lego Castle, the treasure chest of Lego fun sparks oodles childhood memories.

NASA plans to visit the sun in 2015.

Sometime in 2015, NASA plans on sending a solar probe to study the atmosphere and magnetic fields of our sun.  It will be the first time in history that anyone has explored a star.

The name of the mission is Solar Probe+. It’s a heat-resistant spacecraft designed to plunge deep into the sun’s atmosphere where it can sample solar wind and magnetism first hand.

At closest approach, Solar Probe+ will be 7 million km or 9 solar radii from the sun. There, the spacecraft’s carbon-composite heat shield must withstand temperatures greater than 1400^o C and survive blasts of radiation at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft.

Source:  NASA

Bill Gates made it cool to be a geek.

He’s really leaving Microsoft this week. He’s not going to stick around and consult or advise, he’s officially retiring on June 27th, 2008.

He is going to spend most of his energy on another endeavor that fuels the public’s fascination with him: the world’s biggest philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, funded largely by his own fortune.

Source:  MSNBC

Researchers make breakthrough in renewable energy materials

University of Queensland researchers have made a ground-breaking discovery that produces highly efficient miniature crystals which could revolutionise the way we harvest and use solar energy.

“We have grown the world’s first titanium oxide single crystals with large amounts of reactive surfaces, something that was predicted as almost impossible,” Professor Lu said.

He said the breakthrough technology was a great example of cross-discipline collaborations with work by Professor Sean Smith’s Computational Molecular Science group at AIBN, who conducted key computational studies and helped the experimentalist researchers to focus on specific surface modification elements for control of the crystal morphology.

Source:  University of Queensland

Google launches new space race to the moon!

Google has officially launched the Google Lunar X Prize, which will put $20 million into the hands of the first privately funded team that can land a rover on the moon; have it travel on the surface for 500 meters or more; send back data, photos and video; and do it all by December 31, 2012.The prize drops to $15 million after that date and goes away altogether after 2014. One of the main requirements is to have as little government involvement in the project as possible. Sounds good to me, since NASA and the US Government are taking their sweet time with space exploration.

The Phoenix Mars Lander has found ice!

Scientists are pretty sure that the Phoenix Mars Lander has uncovered ice while digging on the surface of Mars.  When they looked away and came back to it, the ice had disappeared, which leaves two possible causes:

1. Someone moved the ice out of the view of the lander, or
2. The ice turned to water which then evaporated almost instantly.

The lander continued digging another trench and appeared to hit a hard surface on Thursday. Scientists believe the hard material — located at the same depth as the ice found in the other trench — could be another layer of ice.

Source: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission Homepage

IBM's new supercomptuer mimics brain function.

It’s called the Roadrunner and it might be faster then a human brain.  IBM and the Los Alamos National Laboratory turn the new supercomputer on only a week ago and scientists are working hard to push the computer to its limits.

The primary goal of the supercomputer is to model the safety of the United States’ aging nuclear weapons stockpile. At over a certified petaflop, the machine renders calculations in a day that would take every person on Earth a calculator and 46 years to accomplish.  Top speed has been clocked at 1.144 petaflop per second.  Now that’s fast!

No more newspapers or magazines?

Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer has predicted by 2018 there will not be any newspapers or magazines and that “dead tree journalism” will itself be dead, because everything will be delivered by the Internet.

I don’t know, a lot of people in the last decade have predicted the demise of the newspaper, but none of them have been right.  What makes Steve think that everyone in the world is going to want their news and information delivered over the Net?

Five things you didn't know about Google.

Here’s a list of 5 things you didn’t know about Google:

1. Google spends $72 million a year on employee meals

2. Google was originally called BackRub

3. Google loses $110 million a year through the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button

4. Google has a sense of humor

5. Google scans your e-mails

Source:  AskMen.com

Build your own star.

SEED has put some really neat software online where you can build your very own star.

You determine the fate of your star by setting initial characteristics. Then watch as its life story unfolds before your eyes. Here’s your guide to the Build Your Own Star controls and displays. Click on the above picture to create your very own star.