First electric aircraft takes flight

Agencies | May 13, 2014, 05.22 AM IST

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First electric aircraft

LONDON: The world's first airplane completely powered by electricity has successfully taken to the skies for its maiden flight, and could bring down air travel cost by more than a third, its developer Airbus said.

The small experimental aircraft called 'E-Fan' carried its first flight at an airport near Bordeaux in southwestern France, and could prove to be a key step towards greener, quieter and cheaper air travel. Manufactured by Toulouse-based Airbus, E-Fan measures little more than 19 feet from nose to tail and makes slightly more noise than a hairdryer.

Powered by 120 lithium-ion polymer batteries, the plane's first official flight last month lasted less than 10 minutes, though the plane has the capability to fly for around an hour before recharging. An hour-long commercial flight with the E-Fan, according to Airbus, could cost only $16, compared to $55 for a flight in a petrol-powered plane of the same size, 'Inhabitat.com' reported.

The electric E-Fan training aircraft is a highly innovative technology experimental demonstrator based on an all-composite construction, Airbus said on its website. "The E-Fan project and Airbus Group's commitment to the field of electric and hybrid research show our vision of future technological developments," said said Airbus Group chief technical officer Jean Botti.

"It will not only lead to a further reduction in aircraft emissions and noise to support our environmental goals but will also lead to more economic and efficient aircraft technology in the long run," said Botti.

Airbus plans to manufacture two versions of the E-Fan. The two-seater E-Fan 2.0 will be a fully electric training aircraft, while E-Fan 4.0 will be used for both training and general flight purposes and will be powered by a hybrid system, the report said.

Airbus Group and its partners are aiming to perform research and development to construct a series version of the E-Fan and propose an industrial plan for a production facility close to Bordeaux Airport, Airbus said.

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A Harvard Girl Figured Out How To 3D Print Makeup From Any Home Computer

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A Harvard Girl Figured Out How To 3D Print Makeup From Any Home Computer And The Demo Is Mindblowing

Alyson Shontell 1May 6, 2014, 10.20 PM

Grace Choi

Grace Choi was at Harvard Business School when she decided to disrupt the beauty industry. She did a little research and realized that beauty brands create then majorly mark up their products by mixing lots of colors. "The makeup industry makes a whole lot of money on a whole lot of bulls**t," Choi said at TechCrunch Disrupt conference this week. "They charge a huge premium on something that tech provides for free. That one thing is color."
By that, she means color printers are available to everyone, and the ink they have is the same as the ink makeup companies use in their products. She also says the ink is FDA approved.
Choi created a mini home printer, Mink, that will retail for $300 and allow anyone to print makeup by ripping the color code off color photos on the Internet.
She demonstrated how it works, then brushed some of the freshly-printed makeup onto her hand. She answered a lot of the tough questions about how she'll move beyond powders to creamier products and partner with traditional printing companies in the video below.
Here's how Mink, Choi's makeup-printing machine, works.

First, find a color you want to print. Choi says her machine will print creamy lipsticks or powdery eye shadows.

TechCrunch Disrupt

Use the color picker to copy the hex code of the color you've chosen. In this demo, Choi chose pink.

TechCrunch Disrupt

Using Microsoft Paint or Photoshop, paste the hex code into a new document. You'll see the color you want to print pop up.

TechCrunch Disrupt

Print the color, like you'd print any other document on your computer.

TechCrunch Disrupt

Here Choi is, printing out the pink eye shadow.

TechCrunch Disrupt

This is what the finished product looks like. It comes in a little Mink-provided container that looks just like eye shadow.

TechCrunch Disrupt

Choi dips a makeup brush in the freshly-printed powder to show it really is makeup.

TechCrunch Disrupt

Then she brushes the pink on her hand. "Mink enables the web to become the biggest beauty store in the world," says Choi. "We're going to live in a world where you can take a picture of your friend's lipstick and print it out."

TechCrunch Disrupt

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First electric aircraft takes flight

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First, find a color you want to print. Choi says her machine will print creamy lipsticks or powdery eye shadows.

Use the color picker to copy the hex code of the color you've chosen. In this demo, Choi chose pink.

Using Microsoft Paint or Photoshop, paste the hex code into a new document. You'll see the color you want to print pop up.

Print the color, like you'd print any other document on your computer.

Here Choi is, printing out the pink eye shadow.

This is what the finished product looks like. It comes in a little Mink-provided container that looks just like eye shadow.

Choi dips a makeup brush in the freshly-printed powder to show it really is makeup.

Then she brushes the pink on her hand. "Mink enables the web to become the biggest beauty store in the world," says Choi. "We're going to live in a world where you can take a picture of your friend's lipstick and print it out."