Flying car completes test flight between airports
A prototype flying car has completed a 35-minute flight between international airports in Nitra and Bratislava, Slovakia.
The hybrid car-aircraft, AirCar, is equipped with a BMW engine and runs on regular petrol-pump fuel.
Its creator, Prof Stefan Klein, said it could fly about 1,000km (600 miles), at a height of 8,200ft (2,500m), and had clocked up 40 hours in the air so far.
It takes two minutes and 15 seconds to transform from car into aircraft.
The narrow wings fold down along the sides of the car.
Prof Klein drove it straight off the runway and into town upon arrival, watched by invited reporters.
He described the experience, early on Monday morning, as "normal" and "very pleasant".
In the air, the vehicle reached a cruising speed of 170km/h.
It can carry two people, with a combined weight limit of 200kg (31 stone).
But unlike drone-taxi prototypes, it cannot take off and land vertically and requires a runway.
the vehicle would be particularly loud or uneconomical in terms of fuel costs, compared with other aircraft."I have to admit that this looks really cool - but I've got a hundred questions about certification," Dr Wright said.
"Anyone can make an aeroplane but the trick is making one that flies and flies and flies for the thick end of a million hours, with a person on board, without having an incident.
"I can't wait to see the piece of paper that says this is safe to fly and safe to sell."
Tesla: Elon Musk ‘rather hates’ being company boss
Elon Musk has revealed that he does not enjoy being the boss of Tesla.
Tesla's billionaire founder was speaking at the start of a trial where he is accused of pressuring the firm's board members into a $2.6bn
deal to buy a solar panel firm.
Shareholders claim the carmaker's money was wasted on buying SolarCity, which - they say - was running out of money.
At the time of the deal, Mr Musk owned a 22% stake in both Tesla and the solar panel company, which was founded by his cousins.
"Since it was a stock-for-stock transaction and I owned almost exactly the same percentage of both there was no financial gain," he said.
He also denied exerting pressure on board members, saying that the deal was part of a "master plan" to create affordable vehicles with green power supplies.
Colonial hack: How did cyber-attackers shut off the pipeline?
The hack on Colonial Pipeline is being seen as one of the most significant attacks on critical national infrastructure in history.
The pipeline transports nearly half of the east coast's fuel supplies and prices at pumps are expected to rise if the outage is long lasting.
How can a pipeline be hacked?
For many people, the image of the oil industry is one of pipes, pumps and greasy black liquid.
In truth, the type of modern operation Colonial Pipeline runs is extremely digital.
Us pipeline hackers didn´t mean to create problems
The ransomware surge ruining lives
Pressure sensors, thermostats, valves and pumps are used to monitor and control the flow of diesel, petrol and jet fuel across hundreds of miles of piping.
Colonial even has a high-tech "smart pig" (pipeline inspection gauge) robot that scurries through its pipes checking for anomalies.
The Colonial Pipeline carries 2.5 million barrels a day
All this operational technology is connected to a central system.
And as cyber-experts such as Jon Niccolls, from Checkpoint, explain, where there is connectivity, there is risk of cyber-attack:
"All the devices used to run a modern pipeline are controlled by computers, rather than being controlled physically by people," he says.
"If they are connected to an organization’s internal network and it gets hit with a cyber-attack, then the pipeline itself is vulnerable to malicious attacks."
How did the hackers break in?
Direct attacks on operational technology are rare because these systems are usually better protected, experts say.
So it's more likely the hackers gained access to Colonial's computer system through the administrative side of the business.
"Some of the biggest attacks we've seen all started with an email," Mr Niccolls says.
"An employee may have been tricked into downloading some malware, for example.
"We've also seen recent examples of hackers getting in using weaknesses or compromise of a third-party software.
"Hackers will use any chance they get to gain a foothold in a network."
How can critical services be protected?
Experts have long been concerned about critical national infrastructure being hacked.
Last month, the Ransomware Task Force global coalition of experts called it a "national security risk".
The group says governments need to take urgent action to prevent ransoms being paid in secret.
One of the big companies in the family history industry has developed new technology that transforms still pictures into moving images. Now people are using MyHeritage’s “Deep Nostalgia” photo animator feature to bring all kinds of historic photos to life. MyHeritage introduced Deep Nostalgia last week at RootsTech Connect, the largest family history conference in the world. “Do you sometimes wonder how your ancestors moved, smiled and looked in real life? You can now see your ancestors from generations past like never before!” MyHeritage posted in a Feb. 25 blog.
“This new addition to our suite of photo tools produces a realistic depiction of how a person from an old photo could have moved and looked if they were captured on video.” The feature has helped some to feel a deeper connection to lost loved ones. One person tweeted: “My mom died of cancer in 2017. ... I never had any happy videos of her. This is from a picture of her as a teenager being all smiley. I’m not crying hysterically or anything.”
There are four steps for using this phone app called Deep Nostalgia: Look deep nostalgia on playstore or apple store Download the MyHeritage app using iOS or Android. Sign in. Upload the photo you want to animate. Tap on the picture and then tap on the animation icon. After a short wait, you can download and share with friends.
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