Web 2.0- Now the "stock" Market

Invest virtual money on the web 2.0 stock market based on Alexa.com reach.

Originally reported by Michael Arrington (Tech Crunch)

Alexadex is a great new marketplace for web sites. Upon signing up the user is given $10,000 to start. The price of a share is set at the site's daily reach per million, according to Alexa.com.

To start playing you need to create an account, then start buying shares. You get a daily quote for the sites you wish to buy.

My Strategy: Alexa works on a 12-24 hours delay so sites that have received a lot of traffic today will appreciate in value the following day. The key is to buy sites on the day they become popular. For example, let say there is a rumour story posted on digg.com reddit.com or del.icio.us/popular spurl.net furl.net.

Another technique is to buy sites which top players refer to as "cyclical" (ie. those that tend to receive high traffic on a particular day of the week). Popular examples of cyclicals include sites with sport news, cinema listings, daily market news etc. For example most nfl matches are on Sunday thus nfl.com will receive highest traffic on that day. The strategy then is to buy nfl.com on Sunday and sell on Monday. Finally one of the best ways to learn is to watch the top players and their transactions

Start Playing!

MIT Working on Nanotube Batteries, Could Be a Breakthrough

In the search for that holy grail, the everlasting battery, not much has been accomplished over the 200 years since old man Volta rolled out the first crude battery back in the dark ages.

Source: TerraDaily / Gizmodo

Now those whiz kids at MIT are using nanotube structures to create new super batteries by using energy storage doodads called ultracapacitors. These devices do their magic by storing electrical fields at the atomic level. Bear in mind that ultracapacitors are nothing new, but what is new is making them small enough to put into regular-sized batteries. Best of all, the MIT researchers are saying these nanotube batteries can be made using ordinary manufacturing methods. No word on how much more energy storage capacity these whiz-bang batteries will have than the conventional ones we know and love to hate. If these scientists can pull this off, standby world—you’re about to be changed forever.

X-ray vision for real-world heroes

An Israeli startup's invention will let rescue workers see through walls -- and save lives.

Source: Cnn Money

The saver
Camero's device, the Xaver (pronounced "saver") 800, emits an ultra-wideband signal that travels through plaster, brick, and even reinforced concrete. It then calculates the distance and orientation of everything on the other side--people, furniture, weapons--in real time. "A rescue worker can locate trapped people in a matter of seconds," says Camero CEO Aharon Aharon. Dense walls reduce Xaver's maximum viewing distance of 26 feet, but Aharon predicts that within five years, new technology will enable the device to see as far as 300 feet into a building.

Camero isn't the only company trying to commercialize X-ray vision. Alabama-based Time Domain sells a $33,000 gadget called RadarVision2 that displays moving objects as radarlike blips. But the Xaver pieces together a full three-dimensional image of each person it locates.

Investment choices
Motorola corporate VP for equity investments Warren Holtsberg, who funds fewer than 25 new companies a year, passed on Time Domain but bankrolled Camero, saying it delivers "better picture quality than any other through-wall imaging company." Camero attracted $6.6 million from four investors in 2004, and expects to ship the $100,000-plus Xaver by year's end to police departments and rescue workers eligible to buy it under FCC regulations. The company also plans to sell a stripped-down version (shorter range, lower resolution) for as little as $25,000. Not cheap, but for many--Aharon says he has eager clients in Europe, Israel, and the United States--it's a small price to pay to see behind closed doors.

First green laser to cut diamonds

The Israeli company Sarin, developer and manufacturer of precision diamond and gemstone production technology, has recently started shipping a new system for cutting diamonds using green laser.

Source: Isracast

The new system, called Quazer, is based on proprietary technology and features a number of important breakthroughs in the sawing, cutting and shaping of diamonds. Some of its unique advantages include minimal breakage and weight-loss on the cut or sawn stone and the ability to cut damage-prone "tension stones".
The Quazer system can also seamlessly integrate with Sarin's DiaExpert rough planning machine, DiaMark-Z laser marker and its "Advisor" software for mapping, analysis and laser marking of rough diamonds.