SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – It has been nearly four months since the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet was grounded due to troubles with its battery system. Overheating of the 787′s battery had lead to an emergency landing and an incident of smoke filling up in the cockpit. Since January, Boeing has been working on modifications for the battery system, which have now finally been approved by the Federal Aviation Authority. The certification testing for this new battery system was completed nearly two weeks ago.

Starting next week the FAA will send out instructions to airlines with Dreamliners on how to implement these new modifications. Soon after that happens the grounding order on 787 will be lifted. Boeing hasn’t exactly said when that will happen but it has already deployed teams all around the world to aid airlines in the installation of these modifications. The FAA will also be keeping a close eye on 787 battery system modifications in the U.S. fleet so as to assure proper installation, teams of inspectors will be deployed at modification locations. According to Boeing it takes five days per plane to make these modifications.-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Ubergizmo

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Boeing conducted a test flight of its 787 Dreamliner today to analyze how the aircraft's redesigned battery system performed in the air.

The two-hour test flight, which departed Paine Field in Everett, Wash., around noon today, is the first step in confirming that the systems perform as designed to allow the grounded aircraft to return to service, Boeing said in a statement. The crew of six onboard during the flight performed a variety of tests from a normal flight profile, including cycling the landing gear and operating the backup systems.

The test was conducted on a production airplane built for LOT Polish Airlines and "went according to plan," Boeing said.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to ground their fleets of the much-hyped Dreamliner in January after an issue with the aircraft's lithium-ion batteries forced the evacuation of an All Nippon Airways flight. A similar incident occurred January 7 when a Japan Air Lines 787 on the ground at Boston's Logan International Airport caught fire.

Earlier this month, Boeing outlined its plans for preventing the 787 Dreamliner's batteries from overheating or igniting, although it said it had not identified the root cause of the heat issues. Some of the modifications include encasing the batteries in a stainless steel enclosure to isolate it from other electrical equipment and the addition of drain holes to the battery enclosure to allow any moisture to drain away from the battery.

The Chicago-based aircraft maker hopes the new measures will help get its flagship aircraft back in the skies. So far, 50 planes have been delivered to airlines around the world.

Boeing said the data would be used to prepare for ground and flight certification demonstrations in the coming days, although it noted that as a matter of practice the aircraft maker does not reveal its flight test schedule.-www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Boeing today outlined its plans for preventing the 787 Dreamliner's batteries from overheating or igniting, issues that have kept the aircraft's global fleet grounded for nearly two months.

While noting that it had not identified the root cause of the heat issues, the aircraft maker said during a news conference Friday in Tokyo that it had developed additional safety features designed to prevent heat issues with the planes' lithium-ion batteries.

"We've come up with a comprehensive set of solutions that result in a safer battery system," Boeing Chief Project Engineer Mike Stinnett said in a statement. "We have found a number of ways to improve the battery system and we don't let safety improvements go once they are identified."

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to ground their fleets of the much-hyped Dreamliner in January after an issue with the aircraft's lithium-ion batteries forced the evacuation of an All Nippon Airways flight. A similar incident occurred January 7 when a Japan Air Lines 787 on the ground at Boston's Logan International Airport caught fire.

The batteries will be wrapped in new thermal and electrical insulation materials to prevent heat from one cell from spreading to others. Another modification involves the addition of drain holes to the battery enclosure to allow any moisture to drain away from the battery. The plan won the FAA's approval earlier this week.

During the briefing, Stinnett suggested that reports of fires were overblown and that the battery incidents never posed a threat to aircraft. The problem, he said, was "limited to the function of the battery in the immediate area of the battery, but the airplane was not at risk," according to an account published by  The Verge .

"In the factual report you can see that the only report of flame was two small three-inch flames on the front of the battery box on the connector," he said. "There were no flames inside the battery and in the Takamastu event there was no fire at all."

Boeing hopes the new measures will help get its flagship aircraft back in the skies. So far, 50 planes have been delivered to airlines around the world.

"As soon as our testing is complete and we obtain regulatory approvals, we will be positioned to help our customers implement these changes and begin the process of getting their 787s back in the air," Boeing CEO Ray Conner said in a statement. "Passengers can be assured that we have completed a thorough review of the battery system and made numerous improvements that we believe will make it a safer, more reliable battery system."

With the FAA's permission, the Seattle-based aircraft builder began conducting test flights of the Dreamliner early last month to determine the cause of the battery issues. Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board said it had traced the JAL battery fire to short circuit of a single cell that then spread to other cells.

After a long history of delays and production problems, the much-hyped Dreamliner -- a plane that features innovative use of composite materials -- was finally released to its first customer in September 2011, some three years behind schedule. The Dreamliner testing program was temporarily halted in November 2010 after an onboard electrical fire.-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Cnet

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – The US airline regulator has approved a plan by aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, to redesign the fire-plagued lithium-ion batteries for the 787 Dreamliner, but it has to pass a series of tests before the airliner can return to service.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the plan on Tuesday, which included changes to the internal battery components to avoid overheating.

Boeing's new battery - which it presented to the FAA in February - is designed to minimise the chances of a short

circuit, insulates the cells within the battery better and adds a new containment and venting system to prevent damage even if the battery catches fire.

Flight tests of only two 787s with new battery prototypes have been approved so far by the FAA.

"This comprehensive series of tests will show us whether the proposed battery improvements will work as designed," Ray LaHood, the US transportation secretary, said.

"We won't allow the plane to return to service unless we're satisfied that the new design ensures the safety of the aircraft and its passengers."

'Welcome milestone'

The agency also said that the plan is an outline for a recertification of the plane's batteries, which has two identical lithium-ion batteries.

Boeing welcomed the decision.

"Today's approval from the FAA is a critical and welcome milestone toward getting the fleet flying again and continuing to deliver on the promise of the 787," Jim McNerney, Boeing chief executive, said in a statement.

The 787 fleet worldwide has been grounded by the FAA and civil aviation authorities in other countries since January 16, after two battery failures in Boston, US, and Japan.

The 787 is Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced plane. Its grounding marked the first time since 1979 that FAA had ordered every plane of a particular type to stay out of the air for safety reasons.-www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: Al Jazeera

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – While we've seen more than a few flexible batteries in our day, they're not usually that great at withstanding tugs and pulls. A team-up between Northwestern University and the University of Illinois could give lithium-ion batteries that extreme elasticity with few of the drawbacks you'd expect. To make a stretchable battery that still maintains a typical density, researchers built electrode interconnects from serpentine metal wires that have even more wavy wires inside; the wires don't require much space in normal use, but will unfurl in an ordered sequence as they're pulled to their limits. The result is a prototype battery that can expand to three times its normal size, but can still last for eight to nine hours. It could also charge wirelessly, and thus would be wearable under the skin as well as over -- imagine fully powered implants where an external battery is impractical or unsightly. There's no word yet on whether there will be refined versions coming to real-world products, but we hope any developments arrive quickly enough to give stretchable electronics a viable power source.-www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: Engadget

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – This Boeing 787 Dreamliner made the aircraft's first commercial flight. It's seen here at Narita airport near Tokyo just before takeoff.

A battery expert and chemistry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has some suggestions for how Boeing can solve its airplane battery woes, one of which could keep the fleet grounded until 2014.

The problems with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, which was grounded earlier this month by Federal Aviation Administration order, could be solved by switching from the current lithium-ion batteries to nickel metal-hydride (NiMH) batteries, Donald Sadoway told Forbes. However, switching to NiMH batteries, which have a better safety track record, could result in a lengthy certification process that could take up to a year to complete, Forbes reports.

After a series of onboard fires earlier this month, the FAA on January 16 ordered all airlines to park their fleets until the much-hyped airplane's onboard batteries are proven safe to operate. The order followed Japan Airlines' grounding its 787s after a battery fire forced the evacuation of an All Nippon Airways flight.

Boeing's choice of the lithium-ion battery, Sadoway says, was consistent with the airplane maker's goal to reduce the 787's weight, thus saving money on its cost of operation. However, he said lithium-ion batteries were more prone to spontaneous combustion due to "organic electrolyte which makes it volatile and flammable."

Sadoway told Forbes that in his examination of the 787's lithium-ion battery, he was surprised by a seeming lack of a cooling mechanism for the batteries.

"In a large format battery, heat can be generated faster than it dissipates to the surroundings with the result that the temperature of the battery can rise to dangerously high levels which leads to bloating and ultimately fire," he said.

But designing, building, and testing a new control system for the NiMH batteries could take a year, Sadoway said.

Short of replacing the batteries outright, Sadoway also suggests Boeing create vents in the battery box that allow them to dissipate heat, as well as install temperature sensors to ensure that batteries stay within a safe range.

A Boeing representative told CNET that the company was withholding comment until its investigation is complete.

Boeing has said it is working with the FAA to develop a solution to the problem that would allow airlines to resume operation of the 787s as soon as possible. Boeing has shipped about 50 Dreamliners to carriers around the world, including ANA, Japan Airlines, Air India, and United Airlines, which is the only U.S. airline that has taken delivery of the aircraft.-www.shfaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Google really wants you to know that as early as spring of 2013, something big is coming from Motorola, the mobile phone manufacturer Google acquired in May 2012. And while Google executives didn’t mention it in today’s earnings call, that thing is very likely to be the Google “X Phone,” a mobile device as advanced as Google can possibly make it.

At this point its existence and capabilities are pure speculation—rumored features range from a bendable screen and a ceramic case to advanced gesture recognition technology—but whatever it is, it will be the first true “Google phone,” where everything from its hardware to its software will be under Google’s complete control. (Past efforts at creating Google-branded devices, as in Google’s Nexus line of phones and tablets, have always been partnerships with a variety of manufacturers outside Google.)

X Phone as early as May 2013?

Twice during today’s earnings call, Google executives emphasized that when the company bought Motorola, Motorola already had a 12 to 18 month “product pipeline” in the works, which Google is still “working through.” Google could have shut down Motorola’s work on existing handsets, but that would have involved bigger short- and long-term losses than the company was apparently willing to take. It also means that all of the devices that Motorola has released since it was acquired were already in the works, and the same is likely to be true until at least spring of this year. (A good example is the Motorola Motogo! phone, which looks like a dated BlackBerry and doesn’t even run Android.)

Rumors have already circulated that Google will reveal a Motorola-built “X Phone” and “X Tablet” at its next developer’s conference, which is scheduled for May 15-17, 2013.

In today’s call, Google CEO Larry Page said that “In today’s multi screen world, the opportunities are endless… battery life is a huge issue… when you drop your phone it shouldn’t go splat. There’s a real potential to invent new and better experiences.” Page also mentioned phone recharging as a pain point for people. This is speculation, but the obvious interpretation of these comments is that Google is working on—or at least thinking about—phones with extra long battery life, some kind of novel (perhaps wireless) recharging capability, and a case that won’t break when the phone is dropped. (Which is possibly a reference to earlier rumors about Google’s X Phone using an extra-hard case that incorporates ceramics.)

Motorola not profitable yet

Motorola lost $152 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 but, insists Google CFO Patrick Pichette, “We’re not in the business of losing money with Motorola or even cross subsidizing it.” He did warn that as Motorola is restructured, it could suffer more losses.

“On the financials themselves, Motorola was hindered by a portion of amortization of intangibles by the acquisition [by Google],” added Pichette. “So, all in all, when we look at the losses like this quarter, of $150 million, when we take out the amortization these are not consequential losses either to Google or to the momentum we’re seeing [at Motorola].” Translation: Motorola can lose money in the short term, because long term it’s a very important strategic asset for Google.

Google’s overall mobile strategy: Keep users searching on Google

At other points in the call, Page and other Google executives emphasized that products like Google Maps, which don’t generate much revenue on their own, are still essential to keeping users searching on Google.

“The component of queries that are geographically related, it’s a huge number and always has been,” said Page, who also called maps “critical” to people’s search experience. To drive the point home, he mentioned that while Google is in the early stages of making money on maps, “on the search side we have significant revenue already.”

Google appears to be pursuing a similar strategy with mobile. Advertising on Google search continues to be the primary way that Google makes money. And Android-powered devices built by Google are one more way to guarantee that users will continue to use Google’s services, and especially Google’s search.

One risk for Google is that smartphone makers adopt its open source operating system software but don’t include Google’s apps and search when they install it on devices at the factory. Another issue is that the big smartphone makers such as Samsung instead use rival operating systems. Already, Samsung appears to be inching away from Android as the primary operating system on its mobile devices.

Making its own devices is a way for Google to make sure Android is on as many smartphones as possible, along with Google search and apps. It’s also a way for Google to finally profit directly from Android, since it does not charge manufacturers a license fee to use it.-www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: QZ

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - We do have this problem surrounding batteries, especially when it comes to the issue of disposing them in a safe manner. Well, nature has come to humanity’s rescue once again, where an ancient natural red plant dye could actually be the ideal candidate to create an eco-friendly, sustainable, lithium-ion battery. Researchers are currently looking into developing batteries that will rely on the roots of a climbing herb known as the madder plant. For more than 3,500 years, civilizations in Asia and the Middle East have boiled madder roots to extract purpurin, a nontoxic dye they used to color fabrics vivid oranges, reds and pinks.

Who would have thought that this dye would be able to hold the potential for energy storage? It seems that purpurin and its relatives are the ideal electrode materials, sporting electron-rich molecular rings that are adept at passing electrons back and forth just like how standard electrodes do, coordinating with lithium in a jiffy. Not only that, turning purpurin into an electrode is but a matter of a few steps without costing too much, all at room temperature. Nature knows best, don’t you think so?- www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: Ubergizmo

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – The latest stable release of the popular Chrome for Windows browser from Google now has full GPU acceleration enabled for video decoding.

Dedicated graphics chips draw considerably less power than CPUs when watching videos, which means that your laptop will last that much longer.

In Google’s own tests, with GPU video acceleration enabled the battery lasted 25% longer when watching 1080p videos on YouTube.

Another update brought by this release is a quicker way to access permissions for any website you visit with Chrome. Instead of having to dig through a settings menu for the permissions of a particular website, simply clicking on the new padlock icon in the address bar will give you access to all the permissions available for the current website you’re visiting.

If you have Chrome already, then the update should roll out to you automatically. Otherwise, Chrome for Windows can be found here.— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Gsmarena

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Battery packs for smartphones tend to add unnecessary bulk to the device, making it thicker and heavier than it already is. Mobile chargers too can be quite bulky and heavy and do not always fit into your pocket, thus requiring you to bring a bag wherever you go. However thanks to designer Ping-Yi Li, this Chewing Gum Battery concept was conceived where the battery is shaped as thin and flat as a chewing gum, just minus the sugary goodness and edible nature. As pictured in the rendering above, the Chewing Gum Battery can be slapped onto the back of our gadgets, thus giving them the extra boost in battery life. They will be sold at solar-powered dispensing stations and will come like chewing gums do, in a pack. Sounds pretty novel but the idea of being able to purchase batteries from a vending machine that will give our phones, cameras, or laptops that extra hour or two of battery life sure seems rather handy! What do you guys think? —www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Ubergizmo