Maglev technology is tough sell globally
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Engineers have been trying for decades to perfect and promote the use of powerful electromagnets to suspend trains above their tracks so they can travel as fast as some airplanes.
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Hundreds of people marched through  China's financial hub of Shanghai on Saturday protesting a  planned extension of the city's magnetic levitation train, or  "maglev," worried it would emit radiation and sicken them.
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Sometimes even a stylish, well-engineered new vehicle has trouble gaining traction in the marketplace.
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The global drive to make trading ever faster and more efficient through the use of technology was put to the test earlier on Tuesday when record trading volumes triggered by an equity market sell-off put the US system under severe strain.
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The toy train recall is about the realities of offshoring and it isnât clear that anyone involved has learned not to make the same mistakes again.
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A high-tech train that floats on powerful magnetic fields smashed into a maintenance car on an elevated test track Friday, killing 23 people and injuring 10 _ the first fatalities on a maglev train.Comment
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The electronics retailer has a tough quarter, as expected.
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A team of Washington scientists are pioneering the concept of the Mag-beam as a technology that could significantly shorten the time it takes to travel to other planets. By Lakshmi Sandhana.
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A small booth at the back of the show floor is attracting a lot of attention.While I stood around, two people exchanged business cards with the man working the stand, promising to place orders for the product. It was nothing related to the iPhone or the latest mobile social-networking service -- topics that are consuming this year&#39;s CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment conference in San Francisco.Instead, the booth was stocked with a relatively simple device: the Solio, a small solar-powered charger that can power up any mobile phone as well as MP3 players, GPS devices, and digital cameras.A key feature of the Solio is the battery. The solar cells charge the battery, which in turn charges the device. That means you can leave it outside during the day, when you might be using your phone, and bring it in to power the phone overnight. One charge of the Solio can power two mobile phone batteries.The Solio also can be plugged into an electrical outlet so that&#160;people can use whatever power source is available and think of it as their universal charger, said Mike Levin, vice president of business development for Better Energy Systems, the company based in Berkeley, Calif., that makes the Solio.Various models cost from $79 to $199, depending on durability and the speed that the solar panels can charge the batteries. They&#39;re available currently in the United States at outdoor goods store REI and will also soon be available in T-Mobile USA stores, Levin said. The company is working on getting them stocked in the big-box electronics retailers.Solios have been on the market already for a couple of years and a few hundred thousand have sold, Levin said.The most expensive model is made of magnesium oxide and can withstand very hot temperatures. The company is targeting government users and other people who might travel to locations with extreme temperatures for that one.According to research commissioned by Better Energy Systems, an average person who uses the solar capability of the Solio to charge their phone 60 percent of the time would pay off the $100 unit in about 10 years, in terms of electricity savings.While Solios might be a neat gadget for many people, Better Energy Systems has some interesting prospects in the developing world. The company&#39;s sustainability officer is exploring several potential applications, Levin said. One is using the capability of the Solio to power a one- or three-watt LED light. People in developing countries could use the Solio to replace their kerosene-powered lights, which aren&#39;t kind to the environment.In addition, Better Energy Systems is working with the Grameen Foundation&#39;s Village Phone project. The project offers small loans to people who can then buy a mobile phone and rent it on a per-call basis to their neighbors. The project currently relies on batteries to power the phones, but Better Energy Systems is hoping to offer users Solios instead.
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The crash was a setback to magnetic levitation technology, which aims to narrow the speed gap between trains and planes.
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Where the frenetic pace of technological change is concerned Asia's general dominance in the race to provide the next must-have gadget seems only too apparent to many a European.
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Bavarian officials have found funds to build a magnetic levitation train with the backing of industrial groups, but more than half the region&#39;s residents oppose the futuristic and already fatal project.
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While the market in Central and South America is growing faster than the U.S., Asia, and most of Europe, it still faces some challenges that need to be overcome.
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Business & money: Industry reluctant to make the ultimate sacrifice of speed and acceleration.
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Major setback for flying-train technology A high-speed magnetic levitation train has crashed on a test track in north-west Germany, killing one person and injuring more than 20 others, some seriously.â¦
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CHEJU, South Korea  - Global mobile operators and   device makers are betting that the next level of transmission   technology will ramp up mobile phone usage in a way that   third-generation technology has so far failed to do.
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Prices for raw materials had languished for years, but the sector is now trying to meet burgeoning global demand for iron, copper and other key commodities.