Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

During the July 4th weekend of 1994, while riding in a 1988 Chevy Blazer with his wife at the wheel, a computer engineer named Jeff Bezos laid the groundwork for a retail revolution. Back then, the Internet was an insider's tool, largely limited to government and academic circles

Scientists calculate that a "perfect lens," a slab of artificial material engineered to focus electromagnetic fields in ways that natural materials can't, may increase the efficiency of some wireless power transfer systems.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The past decade has seen the emergence of the field of spintronics, aimed at increasing the efficiency of information processing and computer memories. The idea behind spintronics is to harness the magnetic property of the electron, referred to as its spin. This property can then be used, in addition to the electron charge, for increasing the functionality of the semiconductor computer chip, in terms of its capacity to store and process information.

We all want more time. But how do you get it

I often hear from business owners requesting financial advice--as in, “Where should I put my money?

Robot Fly Trap A professor at the University of Maine has made a robot version of a plant that in some ways is a robot all by itself...the Venus Fly Trap. The diminutive fly-grabber is partly made of a nanomaterial called ionic polymeric metal composite, which acts to replicate the tiny sensitive hairs inside a real trap that send a signal to the closing mechanism when stimulated by a fly landing inside--in this case the nanomaterial, when flexed, sends a tiny electrical signal through an amplifier to the two "leaves" of the trap, made out of the same material. When the bigger signal hits the leaves, they flex in reaction...and trap the fly.

By Ernest Scheyder ORONO, Maine (Reuters) - Efficiency and simplicity have long eluded renewable-fuel researchers, but a Maine scientist has developed a two-step process he says can make oil from the cellulose in wood fiber. [More]

In this age of scientific armament, every new invention that bears at all upon the art of warfare is carefully weighed in. the balance of military usefulness.

An international team of researchers led by the CNST has developed a new type of nanophotonic cavity that improves the efficiency of photon collection from individual quantum dots while enhancing the photon emission rate.

Using an engine design that was largely abandoned after World War II, new engines find fuel savings where big auto companies--weighed down by the inertia of their designs--can't. Decades of refining today's automobile engine technology has come to this: We're investing more and more, but getting less and less in terms of efficiency, performance, and durability

America's trucks burn an enormous percentage of our total fuel, but their efficiency hasn't improved in years. But new, simple additions to a truck's body can have impressive effects on fuel economy

Airlines are rushing to adapt to rising fuel costs, but most efficiency gains have already been made. If gas prices continue to rise, it may require a full rethinking of how we fly

Duke engineers have already shown that they can "cloak" light and sound, making objects invisible -- now, they have demonstrated the theoretical ability to significantly increase the efficiency of ships by tricking the surrounding water into staying still.

Over the last decade the world of do-gooding has seemingly been taken over by MBAs. Social entrepreneurship, a field encompassing both mission-driven businesses and entrepreneurial nonprofits, professes to bring the efficiency, rigor, and cold, hard metrics of business to the most important causes on the planet.

Photovoltaic cells that convert heat, not sunlight, to electricity may turn out to be the solution for capturing all the energy we waste through heat.