Cheat (or learn from) math problems with Mathway

Mathway is a Web calculator that not only solves math problems for you, but also shows you how it got to the answer with step-by-step directions. It’s the kind of service that would have utterly ruined me in middle school if I had wanted to cruise through the stacks of homework without doing any of the actual computations.

Mathway covers several types of math genres including high school level stuff like trigonometry and calculus. It’ll also take any “basic math” like what you’d do with a calculator, although it’s kind of a waste since most problems only involve one line of explanation. I’m guessing most would simply open up their computer’s calculator instead.

http://www.mathway.com/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10016513-2.html

Fujitsu Siemens ships world’s first zero-watt monitor

Fujitsu Siemens has apparently been spending a lot of time on its SCENICVIEW Premium Line ECO range. Announced today, the 20-inch P20W-5 ECO and the 22-inch P22W-5 ECO are being hailed as the planet’s first to feature power supplies that “automatically switch off completely in power-save mode.”

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/13/fujitsu-siemens-ships-worlds-first-zero-watt-monitor/

Madrid gets in on the pollution-cutting asphalt action

It looks like the Dutch aren’t the only ones looking to snag some car pollution before it gets too far from the source, with Madrid now also paving at least one of streets with a special asphalt of its own that promises to capture up to 90 percent of the pollutants on a sunny day.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/13/madrid-gets-in-on-the-pollution-cutting-asphalt-action/

Oregon to Construct First Ever U.S. Solar Highway

The Oregon Solar Highway demonstration project, a public-private partnership with Portland General Electric and US Bank is to build the first-in-the-nation solar array in a freeway interchange. Groundbreaking took place Aug. 7, 2008. Physical construction is expected to begin in mid-September.
….
…The 104 kilowatt ground-mounted solar array will cover an area roughly the length of two football fields and producing 112,000 kilowatt hours a year, or 28 percent of the 400,000 kilowatt hours used to light the interchange.

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news08/next-energy-news8.13.08b.html

Bush Aims to Relax Endangered Species Rules

Personally I dislike it when projects can’t go through due to some strange environmental rule, but this is a bit much, basically agencies can decide if something will cause potential to harm endangered animals and plants.

Just months before U.S. President George Bush leaves office, his administration is proposing changes that would allow federal agencies to decide for themselves whether subdivisions, dams, highways, and other projects have the potential to harm endangered animals and plants.

The proposal would cut out the advice of government scientists who have been weighing in on such decisions for 35 years.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080812-bush-species-AP.html