MotoGP Comes To The US And There’s An App For It (Of Course)

MotoGP Comes To The US And There’s An App For It (Of Course):

Race fans, start your engines!

Today marks the start of the Red Bull US Grand Prix – the first stop in the US of the MotoGP series – at the world renowned Laguna Seca raceway. For those unfamiliar, MotoGP is the pinnacle of motorcycle racing and the equivalent of F1 but on two wheels.

By now you’re probably wondering why a racing series – much less a motorcycle racing series – is on TechCrunch, right? For starters, the prototype motorbikes racing in MotoGP are purpose-built and the technology used in these bikes eventually make there way down to production bikes that you and I can purchase. More importantly, the technology (fuel efficiency, anti-wheelie, etc.) that’s being refined by the likes of Honda, Yamaha and Ducati make the bikes we purchase safer and more reliable. Not quite the technology we normally cover on TechCrunch but important nonetheless.

While MotoGP is obviously more popular in Europe and the rest of the world, the premiere class has its fair share of Americans, including 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden (Ducati), 2009 Superbike World Champion Ben Spies, and two-time Superbike World Champion (2000, 2002) Colin Edwards.

So how can you follow along this weekend if you don’t have cable (Speed Channel) like me? As you’d expect there’s an app for that. The 2012 MotoGP Live Experience ($18.99) app for iOS and Android (24-hour free trial) is your cheapest way to follow along from free practice 1 to the race on Sunday.

Despite the poor reviews, the app now includes live audio commentary which was stripped at the beginning of the season and has since been reimplemented. And if you’re new to the sport there’s also an app chronicling the history of the sport spanning from 2002 until last season. (Grand Prix motorcycle racing first began in 1949, a year before F1 making it the oldest ongoing premiere racing series. “MotoGP” is just the latest iteration of the series.)

MotoGP Live Experience Full [App Store]

MotoGP Live Experience [Google Play]

MotoGP History [App Store]

PS – Here’s some slo-mo motorcycle porn and a better understanding of what the world’s best motorcycle racers are capable of doing on these machines.

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Google Doodle Reminds Us of Today’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Google Doodle Reminds Us of Today’s Olympics Opening Ceremony:

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games officially start with today's opening ceremony, which will take place at 21:00 BST (16:00 EST) in London, and today's Olympic-themed Google Doodle reminds us to tune in and watch the show.

Called "The Isles of Wonder," this year's opening ceremony will be directed by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

This year's Olympic Games will last until August 12, with more than 10,000 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participating.

Will you watch this year's Olympics? What do you expect from the opening ceremony? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Meet Google Fiber, the new 1Gbps broadband service now on offer in the US

Meet Google Fiber, the new 1Gbps broadband service now on offer in the US:
From the equivalent of £45 a month, Internet users in the Kansas City region can enjoy connections 100 times faster than exist today.
Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2012/07/27/meet-google-fiber-the-new-1gbps-broadband-service-now-on-offer-in-the-us/
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A Working Assault Rifle Made With a 3-D Printer

A Working Assault Rifle Made With a 3-D Printer:

3-D Printed Gun HaveBlue

Making weapons at home just got much easier
Get ready. It's now possible to print weapons at home.
An amateur gunsmith, operating under the handle of "HaveBlue" (incidentally, "Have Blue" is the codename that was used for the prototype stealth fighter that became the Lockheed F-117), announced recently in online forums that he had successfully printed a serviceable .22 caliber pistol.
Despite predictions of disaster, the pistol worked. It successfully fired 200 rounds in testing.
HaveBlue then decided to push the limits of what was possible and print an AR-15 rifle. To do this, he downloaded plans for an AR-15 in the Solidworks file format from a site called CNCGunsmith.com. After some small modifications to the design, he fed about $30 of ABS plastic feedstock into his late-model Stratasys printer. The result was a functional AR-15 rifle. Early testing shows that it works, although it still has some minor feed and extraction problems to be worked out.
HaveBlue has also been testing the "marketplace" for 3-D printing weapons. To do this he asked Thingiverse, the 3-D design sharing site run by Makerbot Industries, whether it was permissible to post weapons designs or not. According to HaveBlue, Makerbot's senior leadership decided to not disallow, but to discourage, the posting of weapons designs. Haveblue then posted a design for an AR-15 part on Thingiverse, but in the intensive legal discussion that followed Haveblue's posting, Thingiverse decided to ban weapons designs outright. However, since Haveblue's design is still on the site, it's unclear whether Thingiverse is enforcing a ban or not.
While there are still some details to sort out, it's pretty clear that making weapons at home using 3-D printers from commonly available materials is going to become much more commonplace in the near future. In fact, as 3-D printing technology matures, materials feedstock improves, and designs for weapons proliferate, we might soon see the day when nearly everyone will be able to print the weapons of their choice in the numbers they desire, all within the privacy of their own homes.

Source:Google Reader

The Lede Blog: Iranian Scientist Claims U.S. Cyberattack Was ... Loud

The Lede Blog: Iranian Scientist Claims U.S. Cyberattack Was ... Loud: A scientist with Iran's atomic energy agency said the United States used "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC in an attack on the program's computers.



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The Math Problem – and What We Can Do About It

The Math Problem – and What We Can Do About It:
The large number of K-12 students in the United States falling short of math proficiency benchmarks raises serious concerns about the nation’s ability to compete. Research suggests the problem can be traced to students’ preparation in the core number skills, which is not strong enough to give them an adequate foundation as they tackle more challenging concepts.
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Can Earthquakes Be Predicted?

Can Earthquakes Be Predicted?:
Earthquakes happen when the tectonic plates underlying the continents slip past each other violently, causing severe vibrations. Unlike eclipses, predicting earthquakes was entirely impossible prior to the 1970s. However, some headway has been made in recent decades.

In February 1975, scientists predicted an earthquake five hours in advance. The earthquake occurred in Haicheng in northeast China and it was the first time an earthquake prediction bore true...

Can Earthquakes Be Predicted?

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