Scone drone: Shanghai bakery banned from delivering cakes by air

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-07-30

Inbake aims to pioneer home delivery services with its remote-controlled
aircraft. (Internet photo)

Authorities have banned a Shanghai bakery from offering delivery services using remote-controlled aircraft due to public safety concerns, reports the website of the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao.

The bakery, Incake, came up with the interesting idea of delivering their products to customers by using remote-controlled planes which weigh 22 pounds and are 3.6 feet wide. They can carry a box and are equipped with two cameras.

The company said they have three of the aircraft and the service is a fast and environmentally friendly way to transport cakes to their customers.

Local aviation authorities expressed concerns however that the service could be dangerous. They said Incake needs an approval to provide the services.

Last Straw for Jakarta’s Unlicensed, Unroadworthy MetroMinis

Jakarta Globe, Hotman Siregar, July 25, 2013

A MetroMini is seen partially submerged in a canal after veering off the
road in Jakarta on Jan. 21, 2009. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

A fatal MetroMini bus accident on Tuesday has led to calls for the Jakarta city administration to take over the long-running public transportation operator.

“The city administration should just take over MetroMini. The developers are illegal and out of control,” Jakarta Transportation Board chief Azas Tigor Nainggolan said at City Hall on Wednesday.

According to Azas, the company behind the MetroMini, the city’s red-and-blue mid-sized buses, had been prohibited from operating in the city since 2009, with its operating permit frozen, therefore making its current activities illegal.

“Those buses have no documents, the drivers do not have driving licenses,” he said, adding that such issues had been a major contributor to various public transportation accidents on the city’s streets.

“The transportation office is not brave enough to crack down [on them]. Their operational licenses should just be revoked altogether,” Azas said.

Not only were the city buses operating without official documents, most of the mid-sized and big buses were in very poor physical condition, he added.

His remarks came a day after a MetroMini bus serving the route between Senen, Central Jakarta, and Pondok Kopi, East Jakarta, was involved in an accident that claimed the life of a middle school student and injured two others.

An investigation into the crash by the East Jakarta Police found the vehicle was not roadworthy, with the clutch held together using a piece of rubber from an inner tube.

“The investigation revealed that the MetroMini bus involved in the crash was not certified for use,” Adj. Comr. Agung Budi Laksono, the head of the police’s traffic accident unit, said on Wednesday.

Police identified the victim as 13-year-old schoolgirl Benity. She was hit by the bus while crossing the TransJakarta bus lane with two friends, Rahmi and Revi, who suffered serious injuries.

The bus driver, identified by police as W.S., admitted that he did not have a driver’s license and that he had been cited by police several times before. He faces up to six years in jail if convicted.

Azas said he appreciated the city administration’s plan to revitalize Jakarta’s public transportation system but asked that emphasis also be placed on traffic law enforcement efforts.

“Before revitalizing transportation, law enforcement has to be strictly implemented,” he said.

Udar Pristono, the head of the Jakarta Transportation Office, echoed Azas’s indignation over MetroMini’s operations, which he said had often placed the lives of commuters in jeopardy, and suggested that the operator be disbanded.

“MetroMini has been operating without a license. It has no operational license. When its buses are stopped [by law enforcement officers], the company still insists on taking other opportunities to operate. This is no longer just the transportation office’s problem,” Udar said on Wednesday, adding that his office had many other transportation-related issues to deal with besides law enforcement.

He suggested that the closure of MetroMini would be the best option, as the operator’s own monitoring efforts had failed.

“MetroMini no longer qualifies to operate in Jakarta. The buses are inadequate. So just disband them,” he said.

Separately, the city administration plans to add a number of mid-sized and bigger buses, including those operated by PPD, a state-owned operator, in an attempt to boost city’s the public transportation fleet.

ABB to build over 200 EV charging stations in the Netherlands' largest network

Engadget.com, Terrence O'Brien, Jul 10th, 2013

ABB to build over 200 EV charging stations in the Netherlands' network

Swiss company ABB has been chosen by Fastned to provide chargers for over 200 EV charging stations throughout the Netherlands, in what will be that nation's largest such network. The largely solar-fueled stations will be spaced out along Dutch highways at a maximum distance of 50 kilometers from each other. Fastned will be using ABB's Terra fast chargers, which are compatible with a large number of vehicles, including "all major car brands from Europe, Asia and the USA." Each charger will also be connected to the internet, allowing ABB to push software updates and provide customers with remote assistance. The first batch of chargers will land roadside in September with rollout expected to be completed in 2015. 

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"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)

"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

Hyundai’s fuel cell ‘flop’ is big leap forward

Car and Van News, July 16, 2013

Hyundai plans to have around 15 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles operating in London by the end of this year, and 40 or more by the close of 2014.

Through initiatives not only in the capital but across the country, the UK is emerging as a champion of these long-range all-electric cars.

Hyundai recently became the first manufacturer in the world to put a fuel cell car into full production, with plans to build 1,000 hydrogen ix35s by 2015 and another 10,000 cars beyond.

“These are not hand-built prototypes; they are proper series production models,” Hyundai UK CEO Tony Whitehorn tells Headline Auto.

“We have broken the chicken-and-egg cycle as to which should come first – the cars or the infrastructure to support them.”

Fuel cell vehicles (FCEV) are all-electric vehicles making their own electricity on the move through chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in a metal box known as a fuel stack. They have roughly the same range on a tank of fuel as a conventional petrol/diesel vehicle, but the only waste product is water vapour.

Whitehorn likens the arrival of FCEVs to the introduction of the Fosbury Flop in high jumping. “At the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 Dick Fosbury arrived at the bar head first and backwards – and incidentally won the event,” he says. “Now everybody does the Fosbury Flop. This is our Dick Fosbury moment.”

The take-up of FCEVs in the UK is being encouraged by organisations such as the UK and Scottish Hydrogen Fuel Cell Associations, UK H2 Mobility, the London Hydrogen Partnership and London H2 Network Expansion.

“To establish hydrogen fuel cells you need collaboration between the vehicle manufacturers, the infrastructure companies and government,” says Whitehorn. “That is happening in the UK.”

The aim is to have 300 hydrogen refuelling stations across the UK by 2025 and 1,150 only five years later. The Sainsbury and Morrison supermarket chains recently joined UK H2 Mobility, prompting hopes that they may start to roll out refuelling pumps at their sites.

Forecasters think there could be 10,000 FCEVs in the UK by the end of this decade, with sales increasing by 300,000 a year to a total of 1.6 million by 2030.

The establishment of a refuelling infrastructure is only one obstacle to the widespread take-up of FCEVs, however. The other is cost, which is why Hyundai will lease its initial batch of cars. Currently an FCEV would be priced at the same level as a supercar because the fuel stack is expensive to make, but with economies of scale this would tumble.

“Over the next 18 months we need to look at the cost element and bring down the percentage difference between a fuel cell vehicle and one with an internal combustion engine,” says Whitehorn. “The important thing is that fuel cells are within the reach of private buyers now.”

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Spiritual plane: Flight attendants bow at altar of on-time departures

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-07-17

The flight attendants set up the altar on board the plane.
(Internet photo)

A photo showing two female flight attendants kneeling in an attitude of worship before a shrine with two boards bearing the Chinese characters "zheng dian," literally meaning "on schedule," has gone viral on the internet. Netizens say the photo shows how flight delays, a normal nuisance in China, are a torment for flight crew just as much as for passengers, reports the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News.

The photo shows an altar with fruit and food before which two flight attendants wearing the uniform of Xiamen Airlines kneel side by side, holding their hands together in the traditional "baibai" gesture of worship gods and ancestors. However, they are not bowing to the statue of a deity or a portrait of an ancestor; they are rather giving thanks to a departure board that assures them their flight will depart on time.

Xiamen Airlines denied claims that the two flight attendants on the photo had been fired, saying they had not violated any company rules.

Nor, apparently, was the photo a joke. This "ritual" is said to have begun in 2011 and photos of flight attendants from different airlines praying for punctuality have been shared on the internet since then. The ritual does not imply that those attendants are crazy but that — like everyone else — they are fed up with delayed flights, netizens said.

Government subsidy of new-energy cars to be extended

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-07-14

A lithium car battery displayed at a car expo in Beijing. (Photo/CFP)

The Chinese government will reportedly roll out a new subsidy program for new-energy automobiles in July, which may aggravate the overcapacity of the lithium battery industry.

According to the Chinese-language National Economic Weekly, the new program calls for extending the existing program by three years and expanding its coverage nationwide, removing the existing restriction to 25 pilot cities. Subsidies for pure electric cars will remain at 60,000 yuan (US$9,800) per vehicle, while subsidies for indigenous hybrid cars will be raised from 3,000 yuan (US$480) per kilowatt.

While the new program has yet to be officially announced, lithium battery and materials manufacturers have embarked on a new round of expansion despite their current overcapacity.

Yu Qingjiao, CEO of battery.com, notes that due to policy encouragement, lithium battery investment picked up further from late 2012 to June and the existing investment projects will lead to overcapacity of 5 billion AH (ampere hours) by 2015.

CCID Capital predicts that power-use lithium batteries will account for 38% of the market by 2015, capable of powering 230,000-300,000 pure electric cars.

According to a recent report from Frost & Sullivan, the total demand for pure electric cars, hybrid cars, and commercial electric vehicles in China will reach only 120,000 by 2015. According to the National Economic Weekly, the new subsidy program may stimulate China's lithium battery industry to speed up in a risky environment.

The existing program was rolled by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology in January 2009, offering a 60,000 yuan subsidy per vehicle for pure electric cars and up to 50,000 yuan (US$8,150) for hybrids.

In January 2010, Miao Yuwei, then deputy minister of industry and information technology, mapped out a grand plan for the Chinese electric car industry, envisioning an output of 500,000-1 million electric cars by 2015.

In May 2010, the Ministry of Finance and three other central government agencies decreed the provision of subsidy amounting to 3,000 yuan/kilowatt to new-energy cars during the 2010-2012 period and the number of pilot cities for pushing new-energy cars was expanded to 25 later in 2010.

The handsome subsidy has fueled unbridled development of the lithium-battery industry, which has been aggravated by additional incentives provided by some municipal governments. The governments of Hangzhou and Shenzhen, for instance, offered an additional subsidy of 60,000 yuan per car to buyers of pure electric cars. Yichun in Jiangxi province provided income-tax rebates to lithium battery firms on top of interest subsidies for special loans.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner blaze at Heathrow revives safety concerns

Incident leads to closure of runways at airport, while technical fault causes another 787 to abandon transatlantic flight

The Guardian, Gwyn Topham, transport correspondent, Friday 12 July 2013

The fire on the Ethiopian Airlines plane delayed flights for over an hour.
No passengers were aboard. Photograph: Sky

Fears over the safety of the world's newest passenger plane have been raised further after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Ethiopian Airlines caught fire at Heathrow airport – and another 787 carrying British holidaymakers to Florida returned home after a technical fault.

Arrivals and departures were suspended for over an hour at the London airport as fire crews put out the fire on the Boeing 787, which was still at a departure gate, just after 4.30pm on Friday.

Heathrow said the aircraft was parked on a remote stand and no passengers were aboard. The emergency services said the fire had been extinguished and the cause was unexplained. Both runways which were closed immediately after the incident were later reopened.

While the cause of the blaze was yet to be determined, the fire immediately raised concerns that recurrent problems with the state-of-the-art lithium batteries had not been resolved.

Boeing said: "We're aware of the event. We have Boeing personnel on the ground at Heathrow and are working to fully understand and address this." The US National Transportation Safety Board said it would send a representative to assist in the investigation of the fire.

In a separate incident on Friday afternoon, a new Thomson Airways Dreamliner plane returned to Manchester airport after taking off on a transatlantic flight. Thomson – the airline of travel giant TUI – was the first British customer for Boeing's new plane, taking passengers for the first time last month after the long-delayed delivery of its first 787s.

Thomson said its flight TOM126 to Sanford, Florida, "experienced a technical issue", with the aircraft returning to Manchester airport as a precautionary measure.

A spokesperson said: "Passengers have disembarked and our dedicated team of engineers are now inspecting the aircraft. Our customers will be moved to an alternative aircraft to ensure they get away on their holiday as soon as possible.

"The safety of our customers and crew is of paramount importance and we would like to apologise for the delay caused."

Flight tracking data showed the plane circling the coast off north Wales, apparently to dump fuel before landing. Thomson charges its passengers a £10 premium each way to fly in the 787, with seats only available as part of a holiday.

The Boeing 787, the pioneering "plastic plane" made largely of carbon fibre and with more systems running on electric circuits, has been heralded as a far quieter, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Production problems with the pioneering technology meant the first 787s did not go into commercial service until late 2011, three years late, with the Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways.

But a spate of incidents – including two battery fires on ANA in January this year, one of which forced an emergency landing – saw US safety authorities recommend the grounding of the entire worldwide fleet. Ethiopian Airlines was the last airline to withdraw its four Dreamliners from service and the first to restart operations, in late May, after Boeing had worked for four months to resolve the problems.

However, ANA has since had several flights disrupted by technical issues.

British Airways has ordered 24 of the planes, and took delivery of its first Dreamliner two weeks ago, although it has yet to be put into commercial service.

Boeing shares plunged 7%on Friday after news broke. Aviation consultant John Strickland said: "This is one of the key aircraft Boeing is depending on for its success for the next 20 years, with over 900 already ordered – and airlines are also depending on the fuel savings for their businesses."

Related Article:

Boeing shares fall after 787 Dreamliner fire at Heathrow

2 Chinese die in Asiana crash at San Francisco airport

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-07-07

The remains of Asiana Airlines flight 214. (Photo/CFP)

Two Chinese women aboard an Asiana Airlines flight that crash landed at San Francisco airport on Saturday have been confirmed dead, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

Asiana Airlines flight 214, a Boeing 777-200 passenger plane flying from Seoul, crashed upon landing at San Francisco International Airport in California. The plane partly burst into flames after its tail was torn off.

"We verified through the foreign ministry that the two dead are Chinese and they are all women," a senior official at China's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency as saying.

San Francisco fire chief Joanne Hayes-White said the 82 people injured, 10 of whom are in a serious condition, were transported to local hospitals.

Diplomats with the Chinese consulate general said 141 of the 291 passengers on board were Chinese citizens, including 70 students and teachers from China's Shanxi province and east Zhejiang province. Some of the students were reportedly heading to the US to take part in a summer camp.

It has been confirmed that none of the students were injured, and they have all gotten in touch with their parents. One of the teachers escaped with minor injuries.

According to sources within the Shanghai Pudong International Airport's border inspection station and Asiana Airlines, more than 90 passengers departed Shanghai on Asiana Airlines flight OZ362 to Seoul, and then transferred to flight 214 to San Francisco on Saturday.

An Asiana Airlines official said there were also 77 South Koreans and 61 Americans aboard the flight, along with 16 crew.

Xu Da, an employee from Chinese internet giant Alibaba who was in the crash along with his wife and child, wrote on his microblog that the plane appeared to suddenly lift just moments before it was about to land. There was then a loud bang followed by sparks and a burnt smell inside in the cabin, leading to chaos as soon as the plane came to a stop. The tail of plane was gone and replaced by a massive hole, he wrote, adding that he and his family were fortunate to have only suffered minor cuts and bruises.

Authorities said there are no indications that terrorism was involved in the incident. The US Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and Asiana will carry out a joint investigation into the crash.

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Solar Impulse plane ends transcontinental tour in New York

Deutsche Welle, 7 July 2013

A solar-powered aircraft has completed the final leg of its cross-country journey across the United States, after taking off from California in May. The revolutionary plane is powered by thousands of solar cells.

The experimental Solar Impulse plane, powered by about 11,000 solar cells, completed a transcontinental trip across the United States Saturday evening.

Arriving from Dulles International Airport, the plane touched down at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York at 11:09 p.m. local time, completing the final leg of a journey that started in San Francisco in early May.

The only glitch during the journey was a rip that developed in the fabric of one wings. However, the condition of the aircraft was declared sufficiently stable to continue and the pilot was not in danger.

Despite the malfunction, Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg trumpeted the success of the project.

"It was a huge success for renewable energy," Borschberg said upon arriving at JFK.

Borschberg was met on the tarmac by his compatriot and fellow Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard, both of whom took turns flying the craft across the country.    

"It was supposed to be the shortest and easiest leg," added Piccard, "but it was the most difficult."

"I'm extremely happy to be here," Borschberg told reporters upon landing. "Every moment is a discovery, an exploration. It's not only about technology, it's about what it means."

The plane runs on four electric propellers powered by solar cells mounted on its 206 foot (63 meter) wingspan. It flies to 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) at a speed of 45 mph (72 kph). Weighing about the size of a small car, it has only the power of a small motorized scooter.

The coast-to-coast US journey made stops in Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Ohio and the capital, Washington.     
          

The plane's American trip is just the latest in a series of groundbreaking flights. The plane has also done tests flights across parts of Europe. The two pilots are planning a round the world flight in a two-seater solar aircraft in 2015.

hc/kms (AP, AFP)