singapore

The technology behind an F1 race

When the streets of Singapore come alive with Formula One action this weekend, it may be easy to forget how much technology is involved to enable the cars to whiz through the track at breakneck speeds.

Perhaps the most noticeable equipment will be the lights lining the track. Designed by Italian lighting contractor Valerio Maioli, the Philips-made system will involve some 1,500 lighting projectors around the track, lighting it to the level of 3,000 lux--nearly four times brighter than that of a typical sports stadium.

Provisions have been made for wet weather in the tropical city: the projectors will beam light on the track at different angles, rather than vertically, to minimize glare off the road surface, should it rain.

The power requirements of these lights are correspondingly stringent. While many of the teams will plug their back-end IT systems into the country's power grid, Valerio Maioli has fitted 12 twin-power generators to power the lights. These 24 generators are also fail-resistant--the second generator will pick up the load, should the first one fail, to keep the light levels consistent.

But environmentalists should rest easy, a Philips representative told ZDNet Asia. The lighting system is 16 percent more energy-efficient, compared to competitors' products, the representative said.

Another noticeable addition to the track from Valerio Maioli will be digital flags--electronic light displays that will replace the traditional colored flags used in day races, for better visibility at night. These 35 panels will communicate vital information to drivers.

Supercomputing in Formula One Behind the scenes is where you will find the heavy-duty computing power. Alex Burns, chief operating officer of the Williams F1 team, described to ZDNet Asia in an interview the magnitude of the systems involved, both leading up to the event and during the actual race.

Burns said the team takes 35 Lenovo ThinkPad laptops to the circuit, to be used by race engineers. In the garage by the pit stop, there are another eight racks of servers: two for the data coming off each of the two cars, and another two for each car's engines, he said. … Read more

Robot prototypes battle for cash prize in Singapore

It's back. TechX Challenge, the Singapore death-bot battle, has spit out six finalists who are competing for the S$1 million prize and a chance to further this city state's vision of an army on autopilot.

The competition is sponsored by Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA). The stated objective is to develop an indigenous defense capability for Singapore, but a breakthrough in autonomous, unmanned ground vehicle technology wouldn't hurt weapons sales either.

Experience and resources for the teams that weathered the May semi-finals run the gamut from bootstrap amateurs to international collaborations backed by … Read more

Comex: Where geeks get to bargain like fishwives

There's a certain pain to covering the massive Comex IT bazaar that takes place every August in Singapore. However, getting one's toes stubbed by some clod in the packed halls of Suntec City is a small price to pay when coming across bizarre offerings like an updated version of the Muse2 MP5 player.

Why MP5? Literally, it's an MP3/4 multimedia player that offers 5-in-1, according to the very helpful sales assistant (who probably should learn to count, since the brochure listed 8): a 3-megapixel digital camera, video camera, FM radio, video player, music player, voice recording, … Read more

The 404 121: Where a little Wilson goes a long way

The 404 guys are back along with their trusty sidekick "The Artist formerly known as MTI." On this good Monday morning, they wax poetic about "Crappening" movies they saw this weekend along with a little "Hulk Smash!" Apparently, the Wii Fit actually makes you less of a fat-ass. Sony Ericsson makes a N-Gage competitor. Hermione Granger got hot and 6 million dollars in a Chanel makeup deal and finally some Asian guy (not Justin Yu) is into armpit sniffing. Find out why it got him 14 years and 18 slashes in Singaporean prison. EPISODE … Read more

Singapore Airlines offers iPod-friendly skies

Every day it seems we get little closer to being fully wired--or unwired, as the case may be--in midair. And we think it's about time.

A day after iPass said it would provide in-flight Wi-Fi roaming, Singapore Airlines announced that it is now offering connectivity for iPods and iPhones on its "KrisWorld" in-flight entertainment system on its Airbus A340-500 planes, according to iLounge. That means you can plug the devices into the system with a standard 30-pin connector and then watch your own video on a personal 15.4-inch widescreen LCD (there's one at each seat … Read more

Singapore enters the notebook business

Singapore isn't just known for its chili crabs and cheap electronics--and it will soon be known for making notebooks too. Homegrown company Axioo has provided a sneak peek to journalists of a lineup of laptops and the 12.1-inch notebook pictured here. While not much was disclosed in the way of specs, a company representative did reveal that the machine would be categorized under its TFJ series. Unlike the colorful Axioo Zetta TEN and TEC laptops, the TFJ machine will be offered only in white.

Based on the prototype unit displayed, the notebook appears to be powered by a … Read more

Bus is a roving hot spot in Singapore

You may be able to get free Wi-Fi almost anywhere in Singapore with the Wireless@SG initiative that aims to wire the whole island state, but that's still insufficient for the true Internet junkie. While commuting each day, a Net addict has to go cold turkey as his notebook becomes nothing more than a slab of plastic and silicon without wireless access. Well, a fix has been found.

Nokia has brought Wi-Fi onto 12 buses in Singapore so that commuters can surf for free when riding them, using the existing cellular HSDPA service. The best thing is that users … Read more

World's largest passenger plane takes flight

Since I'm kind of an airplane nut--of the amateur variety--this is somewhat of a Homer Simpson moment.

Mmmmmm...A380.

Singapore Airlines flight SQ380, from Singapore to Sydney, took to the air Thursday and in the process made aviation history as the first commercial flight of the long-awaited mammoth flying machine, the Airbus A380.

I've never seen one of these planes up close. But I'm longing to. It recently made its first (test) flight into San Francisco and I was out of town. And sadly, neither Airbus nor Singapore Airlines invited me to take this first flight today. … Read more

Using the phone to pay for bus rides

As part of a public experiment, some commuters in Singapore need only tap their mobile phones for bus and train fares.

They're part of the Near-Field Communication (NFC) phone trial jointly organized by Singapore service provider StarHub and partner EZ-Link. According to the press release, the trial is the first public NFC trial in the Republic and possibly one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Since the middle of last week, 1,000 selected trialists have been given a handset from Singapore phone manufacturer iWOW and a Sony PaSoRi card reader (EZ-Link card reader) which they … Read more