Tech Universe: Thursday 21 April

The Finnish 70 Kg carbon fibre composite FlyNano lands and takes off on water or land. Photo / Supplied

FINNISH FLY: The Finnish 70 Kg carbon fibre composite FlyNano lands and takes off on water or land. It's a single-seater electric or petrol aircraft that costs around US$39,000. It can fly at around 140 Kph at 75% power and has a theoretical operational distance of 70 Km. Just imagine having one in the garage. More at Gizmag and FlyNano.

THE BACK 40: The good old File Transfer Protocol turned 40 the other day. Give it a hand. In the last 40 years FTP has evolved from a simple protocol for moving files to a sophisticated transport mechanism that supports much of the Internet behind the scenes. Hip hip hooray! More at Bit-Tech.

MAGNETIC SUNBEAMS: University of Michigan researchers have found that a light field can generate magnetic effects 100 million times stronger than previously expected. The light must be at the right intensity and travel through a non-conductive material such as glass. This could lead to a new kind of solar cell with a low heat load as the light is not absorbed. Instead the energy is stored in the magnetic moment, providing a capacitive power source. Light through glass: that doesn't sound too hard. Details at Physorg.

STAY AT HOME WORKERS: Japan's devastating earthquake has shaken up the country's businesses, with many needing infrastructure that just isn't available any more. With the Fukushima power stations out of action summer electricity demands in and around Tokyo may exceed supply. This is leading to more people working from home, rather than travelling in to a central office. Fortunately Internet services weren't severely disrupted. Change comes about for so many different reasons. More at the BBC.

QUBIT MOVER: The University of New South Wales is working on quantum teleportation - moving a complex set of quantum information from one point to another quickly and reliably. They've now succeeded and maintained the integrity of transmission. This brings us another step closer to quantum computing. And in keeping with things being in two places at once: the actual experiment was carried out in Tokyo. More at the UNSW.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz