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Directory:Mikhail Dmitriev Gravity Wheel

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Mikhail Dmitriev' gravity wheelGif animation by Sterling D. Allan.

by Sterling D. Allan
Pure Energy Systems News
January 30, 2011


Russian inventor, Mikhail Dmitriev contacted me on January 28 to let me know about his gravity motor. He has apparently devised a mechanism whereby static gravitational pull can be harnessed to generate useful energy.

He has been working on various iterations over the years. A more recent one is shown to the right. In it, a small motor shown at about the 2-o-clock location spins a deflector mechanism clockwise. The deflectors push dangling weights to the right. Being on a counter-clockwise ratchet, this causes those evenly-spaced weights to stay outward long enough to cause the larger wheel to be imbalanced and thus turn clockwise.

The claim is that the energy required to turn the small motor is much less than the energy gained from the imbalanced larger wheel turning a generator. It reminds me of the system devised by British inventor, Bobby Amarasingam, the AOGFG, which he is in process of taking commercial. From what I can gather, AOGFG is further along in engineering market-ready iterations which can produce substantial power.

As I look at the photos and the animation of Mikhail's setup, it seems to me like it would be very easy to build. I could do it. A junior high student could do it from a kit.

He said that "Many enthusiasts in Russia have already made the device for home use." I asked him to give me an example of the input/output power, to which he replied:

A typical instance in the range 0.5 - 5 kW. The average size (1500 * 1500 * 700) mm. The average weight of 200 kg. Rotational speed (60 - 120) rpm. Design-folding. Costs here in the $(500 - 2000). This handmade mechanical part, without the electrical generator (output). Industrial production (assembly line) should be much cheaper. The most expensive items - overrunning clutches, Niodim strong magnets and output electrical generator (alternator).
Now, under my leadership, a firm builds an instance of an output power of 50 kW. This will be a multistage amplifier (4 stages). At the entrance of only 100 watts needed. An electric generator is only at the last output stage.

The PCT patent application describes this mechanism as a torque amplifier, but doesn't mention that more energy comes out than what is put in.

Mikhail said that he is NOT planning to take his device commercial because of the corruption in his country which would steal the technology away from him. Meanwhile, he says he has been helping many people to implement the technology into power generators they can use at home – sometimes powering those homes entirely.

I've approached him about helping him open source the technology, to expedite the process of validating, replicating, characterizing, optimizing, and improving the design for rapid worldwide deployment; with some revenue opportunities along the way in selling plans, kits, components, and finished units. I would ask up front here that anyone who goes commercial with this design remit a 7% royalty, a majority of which we at PES Network, Inc. will remit to Mikhail, retaining some to help administer this project and promulgate the knowledge, including providing income to the key players in the project, such as those who prepare the plans, do the translations, find local parts, etc….

On January 20, 2011 6:26 AM MST, Mikhail wrote:

Hi Sterling,
Yes, I'm willing to work with you to open source the technology.
This will be discussed in future correspondence.
I think that first you need to personally make sure that the device works as claimed. To do this, make a demo version directly at your workshop. This will be the most persuasive and credible evidence.
If you agree, then I'll send you a very simple scheme which you can make in just a couple of days. Compact desktop version (components only) will cost about $100.

Of course I told him yes.

Contents

[hide]

Official Websites

Videos

"If you look at all the 28 videos, you will understood the principle of operation and embodiments of the device. All parameters are shown also."

Rotation due to deflection of weights_2


  • "The rotation due to deflection of weights. Motor 20 W easily overclocks wheel radius of 1300 mm with a mass of 30 kg to a speed of 120 rpm or more. In principle - to mechanical failure of the system. For pushing of the weights (in the desired point and in the right direction) requires a small amount of energy. Belt and gear on it is just not capable." (YouTube; October 10, 2010)
  • Part 1 (essentially the same, but the driver motor (that pushes the weights to the side) is located in another position) (YouTube; September 27, 2010)

- - - -

Gravitational engine – two


  • "Gravity can work well!" (YouTube; July 08, 2009)

- - - -

Gravitational engine – one

- - - -

2-Spoke Simulation of the Mikhail Dmitriyev gravity wheel


  • (YouTube by airrud; January 08, 2010)

Description:
- Working Model 2D
- Genauigkeit: 50 FPS
- Input: 45 Nm (200 Nm / 4,4)
- Output: 160 Nm

- - - -

4-Spoke Simulation of the Mikhail Dmitriyev gravity wheel


  • Calculates an input energy requirement of 3.49 NM, while producing 7 NM. (YouTube by airrud; January 10, 2010)

Description:
Simulation of the gravitation engine of Mikhail Dmitriyev.
- Diameter 1m
- 2kg per weight
- constant torque of 7 Nm against (!) the wheel direction

- - - -

Principles of Operation

Photos

Assembly

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_assembly_top-half_600.jpg

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_assembly_full_400.jpg

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_assembly_canopy_400.jpg

- - - -

Deflector Apparatus

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_deflector-weight_300.jpg

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_gearing_400.jpg

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_motor-gear_jp60.jpg

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_deflector_400.jpg

- - - -

Weight Ratchet Apparatus

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_weights_400.jpg

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_weight-ratchet_jp70.jpg

- - - -

Alternate Deflector Mechanism

The following photos showing the use of a bicycle rim for the deflector assembly are from a June 22, 2010 YouTube video by Dmitriev. Title: "Implementation of solution n+2 for permanently unbalanced wheel"

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_bike-deflector_300.jpg

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_bike-deflector_angle_300.jpg

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_bike-deflector_closeup_300.jpg

This is apparently an attempt at self-looping. The video only shows still shots. Perhaps there were problems with the gear ratio and positioning of the deflector apparatus.

Diagrams

The following diagrams are found at http://www.sciteclibrary.ru/rus/catalog/pages/9367.html

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_diagram_fig6_bf4.gif

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_diagram_max-torque_fig7_bf6.gif

Image:Dmitriev_grav-mot_diagram_front-side_fig8_bf8.gif

Patents

"I have a Useful Model Patent of the Russian Federation:
¹ 81775
International Application Number:
PCT / RU 2008/000725

WO2010062207

  • TORQUE AMPLIFIER - Inventor: DMITRIEV MIHAIL FEDOROVICH; EC: F03G7/10 IPC: F03G3/00; F03G7/10; Publication date: 2010-06-03
Abstract
The invention relates to mechanics, in particular to devices that work on the basis of a difference in moments of force in relation to an axis of rotation. The invention can be used as a device for enhancing the torque of different rotary devices which are actuated by manual traction, water, wind, permanent magnets and/or electromagnets. The invention can be used in places where there are no sources of electrical energy in order to provide an additional rotational moment of inertia to the rotors of water pumps and drilling rigs or to the drive of the rotating working members of other stationary or mobile machines or assemblies. The invention has the technical result of making it possible to maintain a prolonged moment of inertia during the rotation of a device without using electrical energy sources, which moment of inertia can be used for amplifying the torque of other devices by transmitting torque thereto. The claimed technical result is achieved in that a torque amplifier working on the principle of a difference in torque on opposite sides in relation to an axis of rotation and comprising spokes which are provided with a load and are mounted on a conditionally horizontal shaft is characterised in that, with the aim of increasing the resulting torque and providing for the stability thereof, each spoke consists of two parts which are interconnected by a unidirectional rotation mechanism, wherein in order to extend the spoke length and thus increase the resulting torque, a mechanism is used which straightens the spoke parts into a line on one side of the device and folds said parts on the other side of the device.

Profiles

Inventor: Mikhail Dmitriev

Image:Mikhail_Dmitriev_jp70.jpg

Coverage

In the News


  • Featured / OS: Gravity Motors >
    Mikhail Dmitriev Gravity Wheel - This Russian inventor has been developing gravity-based power systems for years and says that the design has been widely replicated in Russia, even powering some houses. He says he has posted all necessary information to build the device, in which a small amount of power input generates much greater power output. (PESWiki and BeforeItsNews; January 30, 2011)

Forums

Comments

Feel free to comment below.

Related Technologies

Contact

Mikhail Dmitriev
Москва, Russia
phone: +7-903-584-76-70
email: consult@gravitationalengine.com

See also

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Mobile services in poor countries: Not just talk | The Economist

Not just talk

Clever services on cheap mobile phones make a powerful combination—especially in poor countries

Mobile services in poor countries

Jan 27th 2011 | from PRINT EDITION

COUNTERFEIT drugs can make up around a quarter of all those sold in poor countries, according to some estimates. They provide a lucrative and lethal business, against which most consumers are powerless. “If your anti-malaria pill is made of any old white powder, you may not survive,” says Bright Simons, one of the founders of mPedigree, an advocacy group from Ghana.

Mr Simons is not just fighting with words. Late last year mPedigree launched a mobile service in Ghana and Nigeria that could make a dent in the fake-drug trade. People buying medicine scratch off a panel attached to the packaging. This reveals a code, which they can text to a computer system that looks it up in a database. Seconds later comes a reply saying whether the drug is genuine. The service is paid for by pharmaceutical companies that want to thwart the counterfeiters. Hewlett-Packard runs the computer system and found a cheap way to print the scratch-off labels.

This is just one of many such services mushrooming in poor countries, using mobile-phone technology that once carried only humble voice and text messages. Rohan Samarajiva, the boss of LIRNEasia, a think-tank in Sri Lanka, calls it “more than mobile”. Jussi Hinkkanen, Nokia’s head of policy in Africa, says the mobile revolution is moving “from ear to hand”.

The number of users is still small: even among young people in South-East Asia (a tech-friendly lot) only 8% had used “more-than-voice” services, according to a poll by LIRNEasia. But the potential is exciting. Mobile phones are the world’s most widely distributed computers. Even in poor countries about two-thirds of people have access to one (see chart 1). As a result, such devices and their networks, though mainly still much simpler than in the rich world, have become a platform on which many other services can be built. This boosts innovation—just as smartphones and faster wireless data networks have led to an explosion of mobile applications (“apps”).

Classifying mobile services in poor countries is not an exact science. Richard Heeks, director of the Centre of Development Informatics at the University of Manchester, sorts them by their impact on development. One category is services that “connect the excluded”. In their simplest form they provide information to those who would otherwise be out of the loop. Farmer’s Friend in Uganda, for instance, sends out market prices and other agricultural information in text messages.

Such services have been around for some time, but they have become more common—and much more varied. Nokia now provides its Ovi Life Tools, a set of information services from weather to sport, to more than 6m users of its handsets in China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria. Esoko, a Ghanaian “communication platform”, in the words of Mark Davies, its founder, allows two-way communication: people and businesses in 15 African countries can upload their own market or other data, which then become accessible via the internet and mobile phones.

Mobile trading platforms are also in this category. At first most of them focused on agricultural goods: Dialog Tradenet in Sri Lanka lets farmers check market prices and text in offers, helping them to time their harvest to maximise income. But many, including Dialog Tradenet, have other things on offer. In India, Babajob.com lists low-skilled jobs. The most popular items on CellBazaar in Bangladesh are second-hand mobile phones. For people with some cash to spare, KenyaBUZZ, one of the larger local websites in east Africa, is selling tickets for cultural and sports events over the phone.

Mobile phones can also spread learning. In Bangladesh the BBC World Service Trust sponsors a service called BBC Janala that allows people on a few dollars a day to improve their English. After dialling “3000”, they can listen to hundreds of English lessons and quizzes, updated weekly. Mobile operators charge about two cents for each three-minute lesson. Since BBC Janala was launched in November 2009, 3.1m people have used it.

Researchers in South Africa working for SAP, a software giant, are trying to connect very small businesses, which make up a large part of Africa’s economy. One service lets craftsmen create a virtual job docket with a few texts or touches on a smartphone, even without mobile-network coverage. The information is uploaded to a computer system later. Another allows rural stores to order goods, saving time-consuming trips to city markets.

A second category of services includes those that cut out the middleman, or at least keep tabs on him. This is especially helpful in using government services. In the Indian state of Karnataka, corrupt officials would often demand a bribe before issuing landownership certificates, which farmers need, for instance, to obtain a loan. The Bhoomi project helps them directly, by using the internet and mobile phones.

Disintermediation is also made possible by mobile money. Services to transfer cash by text message have been around for some years. One of the most successful, M-PESA, began in 2007 in Kenya, where it now has more than 13m users. It is now used for salaries, bills, donations: few things cannot be paid for via a handset. Similar services can be found in more than 40 countries. Though not yet on the same scale, this seems to be only a question of time: in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, more people have a mobile phone than a bank account (see chart 2).

Other firms are extending the reach of mobile money. Software developed by Tagattitude, a French start-up, uses a handset’s sound channel to transmit money and will be used by several banks in Africa. A Little World, an Indian firm, has combined several pieces of technology to create a “branchless microbanking system” to allow people in remote areas to withdraw cash. A fingerprint reader identifies them and the sum is deducted from their accounts via a special handset. A small printer produces a receipt. The system already has more than 3m users in India. In Andhra Pradesh it directly disburses welfare payments and pensions.

Money on the move in Kenya

The sound of the crowd, texting

A third, perhaps even more promising category is “crowdvoicing”. Ushahidi, founded by a group of activists in Kenya, is among its pioneers. After the country’s disputed elections in 2008, Ushahidi (which means “testimony” in Swahili) mapped reports about violence, most of them text messages, on a website. Now the organisation offers software and even a web-based service to monitor anything from elections to natural disasters. Similarly, text-messaging software called FrontlineSMS collects and broadcasts information.

Such techniques are increasingly applied in other areas, particularly health. Stop Stock-outs, another African group, has used Ushahidi to map where essential medicines are sold out. By checking whether a drug is genuine, users of mPedigree and another Ghanaian service called Sproxil provide real-time data about which illnesses are on the rise (and can be sent more information as needed). In Mali a company called Pesinet gets agents to send in the weight of newborn babies. If the figure falls below a certain level, the baby is examined more closely.

Then there is txteagle, which hopes to reward those willing to perform small jobs on a mobile phone. Its founder, Nathan Eagle, discovered that nurses in Kenya were much likelier to text in the stock levels at their blood banks if they were compensated with a bit of airtime. This got him thinking about whether other tasks could be “crowdsourced” in this way. Today firms use txteagle for translating words into a local dialect and checking street signs for a satellite-navigation service. Mr Eagle hopes that the service will spread far, in particular to Asia.

A fourth and last category hardly exists yet, but could prove the most important, says Mr Heeks: platforms that allow the world’s poor to “appropriate the technology and start applying it in new ways”. One small example is “beeping”: hanging up after a single ring. First used to signal that someone wants to be called back because of lack of credit, it has become a free messaging system. In some countries, street hawkers assign special ringtones to different customers, which are in effect free messages placing orders.

In rich countries, online stores for smartphone apps gave digital innovation a boost. LIRNEasia’s Mr Samarajiva hopes that something similar will happen in the poor world. An early example is AppZone in Sri Lanka. It allows developers to create, test and sell applications, while operators promote them to their customers.

The list will certainly get longer. Whether such services will be commercial successes is another question. Having looked at 400 mobile businesses, the Monitor Group, a consultancy, concludes that too many are dependent on donor money. Social entrepreneurship often muddles demand and need, says Jan Schwier of Monitor. The fact that an African smallholder needs prices for his crops on his mobile does not mean he will pay for them.

Not many services are set up to grow, says Brooke Partridge of Vital Wave Consulting, which advises businesses in emerging markets. Providers lack technology, money and market knowledge. “We don’t need more new services, but a better focus on commercialisation,” she says.

For others bureaucracy, taxation and bad regulation are the obstacles. In many African countries providers of new mobile services cannot deal with network operators directly, but must use intermediaries to get, for instance, a short code for customers to dial. Governments also use mobile networks as cash cows. A study in 2008 by the GSM Association, an industry group, found that the ratio of mobile-related tax to operators’ revenues in sub-Saharan Africa was 30%. Today the share is probably even higher. And regulators often limit competition, for instance by failing to license radio spectrum to new entrants. All this means that mobile communications are more expensive than they need be. “Price remains the major barrier to the growth of mobile entrepreneurship in Africa,” says Steve Song, a telecoms expert at the Shuttleworth Foundation, a think-tank in South Africa.

Talk of a “Development 2.0”—meaning a mobile-driven transformation of how poor countries develop—thus seems premature. But the potential of mobile services should not be underestimated. If they take off, they could transform lives and livelihoods, not just by connecting the world’s poor to the infrastructure of the digital economy, but by allowing them to become digital producers and innovators.

Fanciful? Maybe, but sceptics said the same about the potential of mobile phones in poor countries a decade ago. Just think what would be possible if smartphones and even tablet computers become as cheap and common in poor countries as mobile phones are today.

from PRINT EDITION | Briefings2

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Why choose Tropo over Twilio? | Diggz.org Johnny Diggz Blog

A few weeks ago I was in Portland at the CivicWebs Hackathon talking with Amber Case and Aaron Pareki when Amber asked me why Tropo is better than Twilio.  She acknowledged that while she and Aaron love Tropo and built their GeoLoqi app on Tropo’s API, a lot of other people seem to like Twilio.   “So why is Tropo better?” she asked.

I responded with all the certainty, aloofness and charm I could muster: “Because we are!”

For most normal people, that answer might suffice, but Amber Case is a Cyborg Anthropologist.  It’s hard to win her over with just charm.  So I started laying out some of the reasons why Tropo is just plain better, and I figured rather than just keep them between me and Amber and Aaron, I’d share…

1) Features – Twilio for pranks, Tropo for business

This is where Tropo really blows Twilio away, and even Twilio’s own people acknowledge it.  At an API vendor shootout session at Internet Telephony Expo earlier this year, Danielle Morrill, Twilio’s head of marketing, said that Twilio would never be able to keep up with Tropo on features.

Twilio is great for making prank phone calls

Tropo offers a ton of advanced features that Twilio just can’t match: Voice recognition, SIP connections (critical for integration with other VoIP systems), Skype integration, instant messaging, short codes, hosting, numbers in 41 countries, speech in multiple languages, and a host of other things.

Furthermore, Tropo is a unified API. The days of needing one app for voice calls, another for SMS and a third for conferencing are over.  The same code you use to say something over the phone can also respond via SMS, IM, and Twitter.

2) Tropo’s Extreme Support

Twilio works on a credit system that requires developers to pay to play.   Tropo is and always will be 100% free for developers.  No credits, no limits on minutes, no ads played to you or your callers.  Every developer gets 24×7 support from engineers that know how to write code.  Paying customers measure their response times in minutes.  Our support team is consistently ranked the highest in customer service and satisfaction, at the top of not only our industry, but above all other software and telephony companies.

3) Scalability, Reliability and Portability

Twilio’s service is based on Asterisk, a free and open source telephony framework and runs on Amazon’s EC2 network.

Tropo runs on Voxeo’s SIP Cloud, the largest worldwide voice application host. Voxeo has been running phone+web applications for 10 years.  Because Voxeo’s been doing this stuff for so long they know that business customers demand security and reliability, which is why Voxeo manages their own datacenters that connect directly to major carriers and delivers tens of millions of voice minutes a day for the largest companies in the world, including half the Fortune 100.

Portability is another factor.   If someone develops an app on Twilio, they’re pretty much locked in to Twilio.  Hopefully it will be a happy marriage, but what happens if they want to switch providers?   Tropo, on the other hand, can be run in your own network.   You can even run Tropo on Amazon EC2 (if you want to).

If you haven’t tried out Tropo, you should give it a whirl. Here’s a great tutorial to help you get started: How to build a Twitter Bot using Tropo and JavaScript

Related Post:  Twilio vs. Tropo AKA A little more noise for Dave McClure

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Corporate US Media’s Woeful, Sanitized Egypt Coverage Amounts To Censorship | Philip Brennan

Anti-government mass uprising? What anti-government mass uprising?

Steve Watson | PrisonPlanet | 31 January 2011:

While the ailing dictatorship government in Egypt is busy rounding up and arresting Al Jazeera journalists in an attempt to control the release of footage and accounts of the mass uprising going on throughout the entirety of the country, the disgraceful corporate American media has once again shown itself to be just as strictly regulated in terms of the content it provides to viewers.

In Britain and Canada anyone interested in following the mass unrest in Egypt can simply turn on the television and tune into the English version of Al Jazeera, which has round the clock reports and uninterrupted live footage from journalists on the ground in Cairo and around the rest of the country.

The channel has been running and offering its content worldwide since 2006, yet unless you live in certain parts of Ohio, Vermont or Washington, D.C., you cannot even access the channel in the US, because the cable carriers are not interested in allowing you to see it.

Occasionally, if you are lucky, Fox News, CNN or MSNBC might break away from reporting on some mindless fluff to show you a short loop of some footage that appeared on Al Jazeera English a few hours previously.

This corporate censorship has resulted in a two-and-a-half thousand percent increase in web traffic to Al Jazeera’s website, where it is broadcasting a live stream.

This is the only place in America that you will see continuous live footage from Egypt – an utter disgrace, but no surprise whatsoever, given that the major US networks are all wholly or part owned by mega corporations comprising the military industrial complex.

As noted by Salon.com, during the time that President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling party headquarters was torched and set on fire, Al Jazeera had a live feed and an opposition party leader on the phone responding to the events. Meanwhile, Fox News waited to conclude an in depth feature on anchor babies, and then switched to an interview with John Bolton, who said words to the effect of “those darn muslims are up to no good again”.

“A bit earlier, Al Jazeera reported on what could be live ammunition fired by police outside the heavily guarded radio and television building. And Fox went live to Chicago, where two men tried to rob a Brink’s truck.” notes Alex Pareene.

MSNBC went one better by conducting an interview with Dan Senor of The Council on Foreign Relations live from a luxury elite hideout in Davos. There’s some straight up unbiased geopolitical analysis for you.

Any other reporting on Egypt that airs on US cable news consists of repeating loops of the same few minutes of footage with similar paid for and owned “analysis” slapped over the top.

Of course, in the past when Al Jazeera has covered the Iraq and Afghanistan wars a little too in depth for the liking of the US government, it has become the target of US bombs.

In the absence of having any actual facts, the written media has remarkably decided to defend the dictatorship in Egypt, with The LA Times noting that “Egypt and its President Hosni Mubarak are strong US allies in a region rife with anti-Americanism” and the New York Times adding that “the downfall of Mubarak could pave the way for Islamist radicals eager to increase their clout in Egypt”.

Once again, the “free press” at is hard at work keeping Americans in the dark.

Related video: Alex Jones: Corporations, US Government Run News Media

Click here for the original article...

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RT Raw Footage: Thousands on Cairo’s Tahrir Square demanding Mubarak goes | Philip Brennan

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BBC News - South Sudan referendum: 99% vote for independence

30 January 2011 Last updated at 09:51

South Sudan referendum: 99% vote for independence

A Sudanese young man waves the regional flag of southern Sudan (image from 15/1/11) There was a vast turnout for the vote, which lasted a week

Sudan: Set for divorce?

Some 99% of South Sudanese voted to secede from the north, according to the first complete results of the region's independence referendum.

A total of 99.57 percent of those polled voted for independence, according to the referendum commission.

Early counting had put the outcome of the ballot beyond doubt, indicating Southern Sudan had secured a mandate to become the world's newest nation.

The poll was agreed as part of a 2005 peace deal to end two decades of war.

Final results from the 9-15 January vote, which Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said he will accept, are expected early next month.

If the result is confirmed, the new country is set to formally declare its independence on 9 July.

Hundreds of officials and diplomats gathered in Juba at the grave of rebel leader John Garang for the first official announcement of the results.

'The prayer of a country'

The revered South Sudanese leader died in a plane crash just days after signing the January 2005 peace agreement ending more than 20 years of conflict between the black Christian-dominated south and the mainly Arab Muslim north.

"The prayer I say the people of Southern Sudan have been waiting for for 55 years, the prayer of a country," Episcopalian Archbishop Daniel Deng said as he opened the ceremony.

Sudan's Historic Vote

  • Voted: 9-15 January
  • Vote a condition of 2005 deal to end two-decade north-south conflict
  • Most northerners are Arabic-speaking Muslims
  • Most southerners Christian or follow traditional religions
  • Final result due 6 February or 14 February if there are appeals
  • South will become continent's newest nation on 9 July 2011
  • National anthem and flag chosen, but not new country's name

"Bless the name of this land, Southern Sudan," he said.

According to the commission website, 3,851,994 votes were cast during the week-long ballot.

Five of the 10 states in Sudan's oil-producing south showed a 99.9% vote for separation, the lowest vote was 95.5% in favour in the western state of Bahr al-Ghazal, bordering north Sudan, Reuters reports.

North and south Sudan have suffered decades of conflict driven by religious and ethnic divides.

Southern Sudan is one of the least developed areas in the world and many of its people have have long complained of mistreatment at the hands of the Khartoum government.

The BBC's James Copnall, in Khartoum, says independence for the South now seems inevitable.

Our correspondent adds that though the South Sudanese are celebrating that their dream of having their own country is a massive step closer there are still issues to resolved - including underdevelopment and inter-ethnic conflict.

Tough negotiations remain on how to divide up economic resources between north and south - which has the bulk of oil, he adds.

Sudan: A country divided
Satellite image showing geography of Sudan, source: Nasa

The great divide across Sudan is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. Southern Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.

More on This Story

Sudan: Set for divorce?

Historic vote

Life in the north

Life in the south

Profiles

Related Internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites

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BOLIVIA PODRÍA DENUNCIAR CONVENCIÓN DE 1961

La Paz, 31 ene (ABI).- Para lograr el respeto del uso tradicional y cultural de la hoja de coca, "Bolivia busca mecanismos y líneas de acción que podrían llevar hasta la denuncia de la Convención de 1961 de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU)", manifestó el lunes el presidente Evo Morales Ayma.

En un encuentro con los jefes de las misiones diplomáticas acreditadas en Bolivia que le presentaron el saludo protocolar anual, Morales se refirió a la enmienda enviada a la ONU para lograr la despenalización del masticado o "acullicu" de la hoja de coca.

Esta práctica cultural ha sido penalizada por la ONU e inclusive la hoja de coca fue incluida en la lista de estupefacientes de la mencionada Convención.

El Jefe Estado lamentó que "por falta de información, en algunas naciones todavía se confunda la hoja de coca con la cocaína, a los productores de este cultivo con narcotraficantes y a las poblaciones que usan la coca en su estado natural como dependientes".

Mencionó la existencia de estudios realizados inclusive por universidades de Estados Unidos que establecieron que la hoja de coca es un alimento y hasta sirve para fines medicinales y no es una droga.

El canciller David Choquehuanca convocó la pasada semana a dar a conocer la investigación realizada por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) sobre la hoja de coca en 1998 que establece que este cultivo cuenta con propiedades alimenticias y medicinales.

Choquehuanca expresó que es inexplicable que la OMS no haya hecho público el estudio para que la comunidad mundial conozca la realidad de la coca.

En la reunión con las representaciones de países amigos, el presidente boliviano manifestó el lunes que, por razones políticas, algunas naciones se niegan a aceptar esa realidad y pretenden imponer el mantenimiento la cláusula de penalización de la hoja de coca.

"Es una enorme contradicción que, por ejemplo, Estados Unidos anuncie que respeta las tradiciones culturales de Bolivia con relación a la coca, pero no apoye la enmienda de despenalización internacional del masticado del producto, pese a la existencia de suficientes estudios que demuestran que no daña a la salud humana".

Indicó que algunas naciones ya han planteado la necesidad de que si no es apoyada la enmienda presentada por Bolivia, el Consejo Económico y Social (ECOSOC) de la ONU convoque a una Conferencia Mundial en la se debata la totalidad de la Convención de 1961.

"Es un derecho de los Estados miembros de la ONU denunciar la Convención de 1961", anotó el Primer Mandatario.

Aclaró que la demanda boliviana tiene como objetivo despenalizar el masticado de la hoja de coca porque es una práctica cultural y tradicional de los pueblos andinos, como Perú, Ecuador y Colombia, además de otros como Chile y Argentina.

Organizaciones sociales de Bolivia han iniciado el lunes vigilias en espera de la determinación de la ONU, una vez que vence el plazo dado a sus naciones integrantes para que manifiesten su apoyo o no a la autorización del masticado de coca.

Uno de los piquetes de ese movimiento social se ha asentado frente a la sede de la embajada de Estados Unidos en La Paz.

De acuerdo con los informes, bastará que solamente uno de los 190 miembros de la ONU no respalde la enmienda de Bolivia para que se mantenga en la Convención.

Sin embargo ese hecho puede dar lugar a la convocatoria de una Conferencia que debata a profundidad la mencionada Convención.

via encod.org

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Intel hit with chipset design flaw in Sandy Bridge rollout | ZDNet

Intel hit with chipset design flaw in Sandy Bridge rollout

By Larry Dignan | January 31, 2011, 7:18am PST

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If you just purchased a system powered by Intel’s Core i5 or i7 chipset, get ready for a return or repair. Intel has a chipset issue that affects the launch of Sandy Bridge.

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Intel said Monday that it discovered a design flaw in a chipset circuit and has “implemented a silicon fix.” The chip giant also said it will work with PC makers to handle returns and repairs.

Specifically, Intel found a design problem in a support chip, the Intel 6 Series, which is code-named Cougar Point. In a nutshell, chipsets with Serial-ATA ports could degrade over time and hurt the performance of hard drives and DVD drives.

This potentially faulty chipset was used in Intel’s latest Core processors, or Sandy Bridge.

In a statement, Intel said:

Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.

The company said it will deliver an updated version of the chipset in late February with full volume in April. Intel added that it will work with PC makers to handle returns of the chipset and support motherboard replacements.

At least Intel caught the issue early. The faulty support chip has only been shipping since Jan. 9. Customers impacted will be those that bought second-generation Core i5 and Core i7 systems.

This recall will also lead to a financial hit relative to previous expectations. For the first quarter, Intel said the chipset problem will cut revenue by $300 million as it “discontinues production of the current version of the chipset and begins manufacturing the new version.” The total cost to repair and replace systems will be about $700 million.

Intel added that the issue, which technically occurred in the fourth quarter, will cut previously reported margins to 63.5 percent, down from a reported 67.5 percent. Intel will also take a first quarter charge that will cut margins by 2 percent. Revenue projections for 2011 aren’t changed.

Since Intel was updating its outlook, the company said it also closed the purchase of Infineon, which will be known as the Intel Mobile Communications Group. The McAfee deal will close by the end of the first quarter.

Here’s Intel’s outlook, which excludes McAfee at this point:

  • For the first quarter, Intel expects revenue to be $11.7 billion, give or take $400 million. The previous outlook was $11.5 billion, give or take $400 million. Gross margins will be about 61 percent, down from the previous outlook of 64 percent.
  • The company is projecting revenue growth in the “mid-to high teens” compared to its previous estimate of 10 percent. For 2011, gross margins will be 63 percent compared to the previous outlook of 65 percent.
  • For 2011, R&D spending will be $8.2 billion, up from a previous outlook of $7.3 billion.

Bottom line: Intel takes a hit on the chipset design flaw, but things could have been much worse.

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Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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