Education and reference

Calculator runs cost numbers for plug-in vehicles

Automakers this week are showing off all manner of fuel-efficient concept cars at the Frankfurt auto show in Germany. But, in general, the majority of people are reluctant to pay a big premium for the last green auto technology.

Think tank the Rocky Mountain Institute has launched an online calculator to figure what higher up-front cost brings you in terms of savings and environmental benefits. It's part of the group's Project Get Ready to prepare communities for plug-in electric vehicles.

The price premium of greener cars is an important issue as the auto industry readies many plug-ins designed for everyday use. These first-generation cars, such as the all-electric Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt, will have a bigger price tag because they will carry a bigger--and pricier--battery than today's hybrids. But owning an electric car "fueled" by electricity is typically going to be cheaper per mile than gasoline.

The calculator is structured so that you can compare the lifetime costs of two cars, giving you the ability to input a number of variables, such as cost of gas, lease versus buy, and how many miles you drive. It lets you take your best guess at gas prices--today it's at $2.61 per gallon--and assumes electricity costs of 9 cents per kilowatt-hour, though these days that price is more like 11 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Six years is the default number of years to own a car because it's a national average. … Read more

Get your questions answered with these resources

The Web is arguably the best way to get your burning questions answered quickly. But finding online resources beyond search sites such as Google and Bing that will help you do that can be difficult.

Which services can you trust? Which will get you the best information? I've sifted through several question-and-answer Web sites, trying to find the most reliable services. Let's take a look.

Get your Q&A on

Ask Me Help Desk Ask Me Help Desk has an extremely active community that seems constantly willing to answer your questions.

When you get to Ask Me Help Desk, you'll need to first click on the category that best matches your query. So if you want to ask a question about business or technology, you'll have to click on either option. From there, you can ask any question that might be related to a particular topic on the site.

Since the site's community is so active, it's likely that you'll find a question that someone has already posed that's either exactly the same as yours or quite close. If you still want to ask your question, you can, but I found in my queries that finding the right answer was made easy by quickly searching the site.

I asked several questions to see how the site performed on different topics. I asked how many dog breeds there were (about 400, according to the top answer), looked to see if anyone knew what HTTP stood for (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and more. In almost every case, except for a medical question for which I'm still awaiting an answer, the question was already asked, and the answer was available on the site.

Ask Me Help Desk is a great service that will let you access answers for free. I just wish registration wasn't required to ask a question.

Askville Amazon's Askville is another take on the many question-and-answer sites on the Web. But unlike most of the other services, which allow you only to ask a question, Askville, which is free to use, will let you input details about your question to get a more desired response.

I found that when I used the detail option in my queries, I received the best response. I was able to ask the community a better question. For example, instead of asking how many dog breeds there were, I used the detail option to also ask Askville users how many terrier breeds are currently recognized by the American Kennel Club. It worked: there are 27 terrier breeds recognized by the AKC.

Askville's biggest issue is its design. It doesn't have a simple, easily navigable menu system like many of its competitors. Unfortunately, the site's front page is dominated by an enormous logo, a huge search box, and random questions that most people probably won't care about. A sleeker navigation pane would have been preferable. Besides that, I like Askville. The answers I got were generally informative. And thanks to such a large community, many of the questions you might ask are already on the site.… Read more

Swine flu apps you'll want on your iPhone

The H1N1 Influenza, better known as the swine flu, is a real concern for just about everyone this year, making keeping up to date on the latest news paramount.

But considering we're all so busy, remembering to visit government Web sites can be difficult. Installing some basic apps onto your iPhone isn't. Check out some of these apps that will keep you abreast of all the latest news about the swine flu.

Swine Flu apps CDC News Reader If you want the latest and most up-to-date information on the swine flu, CDC News Reader is probably a good place to start.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides all the latest information available on the swine flu. And since it also provides information on other outbreaks the organization is tracking, you're likely to find some of the best health data of any app in this roundup. For 99 cents, it might be worth it.

H1N1 Cases by State If you want daily updates on how the swine flu is spreading, H1N1 Cases by State will fill you in.

H1N1 Cases by State automatically downloads daily all the new instances of swine flu in each state in the U.S. When you click on a new outbreak, you'll be brought to a page detailing it. You can also see how many deaths have occurred because of the outbreak. For 99 cents, it's not a bad app to have with you when you need some updates.… Read more

NOAA supercomputers to forecast better weather?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week that it has finally completed a nine-year, $180 million project aimed at installing new supercomputers to aid in more accurately predicting weather. The primary IBM supercomputer is now called Stratus. Its backup is dubbed Cirrus.

The new supercomputers, based on IBM Power 575 Systems, are capable of making 69.7 trillion calculations per second. According to NOAA, the faster the calculation speeds, the greater the chances that meteorologists can rapidly update severe weather forecasts as dangerous weather affects local communities. Billions of bytes are entered into the supercomputers each day to help predict the weather more accurately.

Just how important NOAA's new supercomputers are to our understanding and prediction of weather is easily understated.

Right now, Stratus contains about 20 weather models that predict worldwide weather accurately for about five days. A few decades ago, weather models could forecast weather accurately up to only about two days.

Those 20 weather models rarely change. They analyze conditions such as temperature, humidity, and precipitation to give organizations ranging from the National Weather Service to local meteorologists data on which they can base forecasts.

According to Ben Kyger, director of central operations for the National Center of Environmental Prediction, a division of NOAA, "We analyze weather conditions on grids we lay over maps of the world. In order for meteorologists to accurately predict a hurricane's path, for example, NOAA needs to pinpoint weather conditions in 1-kilometer grids of distance." Right now, those spans "are not even close to that."

How does it work? In order to improve forecasting, a lot of work needs to be done. Right now, scientists from around the world are analyzing Stratus' weather models to find ways to improve them. When they think that they've come up with an improvement, NOAA analyzes the new models.

If it likes what it sees, NOAA takes it open source. It installs the new model on the Cirrus supercomputer to run in parallel with the approved model on Stratus. Scientists, weather experts, and even you and I can view the new model and inspect it for errors. Errors found are removed or tweaked. If no errors can be found, and the new data enhances weather forecasting, it will be put into operation and replace the existing model that it improved upon.… Read more

Shmoop sends your kids to school--online

Shmoop, an online learning tool designed for high-school students, has unveiled several new categories and a whopping 115 iPhone apps.

The site now features study guides on poetry, bestselling books, civics, and biography. It already offered in-depth information on U.S. history and literature.

The timing on Shmoop's announcement is certainly appropriate. School is about to be back in session. Students will be needing Shmoop's online offerings to help them get through class.

But just how they use Shmoop's features is up for debate.

The basics Shmoop is basically a study guide, although the site's founder … Read more

iPhone app hunts down Web's best blog posts

So many blogs, so little time. If you feel like the blogosphere is passing you by, check out Regator, a new app that culls the Web's best posts.

An offshoot of the eponymous Web service, Regator (agg-regator, get it?) differs from traditional RSS feed readers in that it doesn't rely on you to choose the blogs you want to follow.

Instead, the app employs "qualified human editors" to bring you "topical, well-written, frequently updated, and relevant" posts. In other words, the cream of the blogosphere crop, at least according to these guys.

You can browse the posts any number of ways, starting with "popular" items from the Web at large or looking within a couple dozen specific topics (from Academics to "What the?").

Regator also provides a full directory of more than 500 topics, so you can really drill into the areas that interest you most. (Beekeeping? Check. Museums? Check.)… Read more

Wikipedia to add editing safeguard for the living

Wikipedia will soon be adding a feature to its English-language site that assigns an experienced editor to sign off on any changes to articles on living people, according to Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the user-written online encyclopedia.

Confirming a story reported Monday by The New York Times, Wikimedia Foundation spokesman Jay Walsh said the "flagged revisions" feature is already active on the German site, but needs some fleshing out before it goes live to the public on the English site.

The plan is to deploy the feature on a test wiki soon so the Wikipedia community … Read more

A back-to-school guide for college students

It's almost time for college students to head back to class. It's an exciting time for both the students and those who want to see their loved ones succeed. But doing it alone with no help from the Web doesn't make much sense nowadays.

That's why I've compiled a list of resources for students to use when they head back to college. Whether it's finding textbooks or getting help with tough subjects, every student should use at least some of these sites.

College tools

BuddySchool BuddySchool helps you find tutors that can assist you with some of your difficult class subjects.

When you get to the site, you'll need to find the class topic you're having trouble with. Once you find what you're looking for, BuddySchool lists several tutors on each subject. Those listings include a brief synopsis of the tutor's expertise, how they can help, and how much they charge for their time. If you like what you see, you can set up a time to be tutored. All payments are sent through the site to ensure the tutor is getting paid before they help. The site also features a review listing, so you can determine if other users' experiences were positive or not.

CollegeClassifieds If you're looking to find some on-campus merchandise, CollegeClassifieds is for you.

As the name suggests, CollegeClassifieds provides classified listings from college students on your campus. Simply find your school, choose the listing topic you're looking for, and you're all set. You can even subscribe to each listing's RSS feed, so you don't miss when new products are added. It's a great idea, but unfortunately, not too many colleges are listing products. That said, larger schools tend to have more listings. Your mileage may vary.… Read more

iPhone app helps you care for four-legged friends

I'm not a pet owner anymore (it's a long and painful story; please don't ask!), but as I have written about a First Aid app for humans, it's only fair I write about one designed with animals in mind. (OK, I admit it, secretly I also want to make sure I remain on PETA's favorite list).

The app's name is (you guessed it!) Pet First Aid. It works with both the iPhone and iPod Touch and is a product of PetTech of Vacaville and JiveMedia (which is the same company that wrote the First … Read more

Barnes & Noble shutters how-to site Quamut

Barnes & Noble has quietly shuttered its how-to site Quamut. The site, which was launched back in late March 2008, was a mix of professionally produced how-to guides and user-created wikis, the latter of which are no longer available.

What remains are the 1,685 guides which will continue to be sold both at Barnes & Noble's online store as digital downloads, and at brick-and-mortar stores as laminated paper reference guides. These range anywhere from $2.95 to $5.95 depending on what format they're in.

There's no word yet on whether the company will continue to … Read more