Supersonic jet could slash flying times

An international team developing a new type of supersonic jet that would allow air travel at more than eight times the speed of sound said today that a test flight appeared to have succeeded.

A prototype of the scramjet, which uses the rush of oxygen in the air at high speeds to ignite hydrogen fuel, was blasted into the upper atmosphere on a rocket and allowed to plunge back to earth in the south Australian desert.

Researchers said they would have to wait a couple of weeks to marshal all the data before giving an authoritative assessment but the project leader, Dr Allan Paull of the University of Queensland, said: "It was at least a 95% success."

Scientists believe scramjets (short for supersonic combustion ramjet) could one day be used to build aircraft capable of flying from, say, London to Sydney in a few hours, a flight that now takes at least 18 hours.

During today's test, two Terrier Orion Mk-70 rockets blasted the scramjet to an altitude of about 314km (195 miles) before hurtling back to earth.

Just seconds before the rockets slammed into the red dust of the central Australian desert after a scheduled 10-minute flight, the scramjet was supposed to kick into action at a speed of some 8,000 kph (5,000 mph), said project spokeswoman Jan King.

Dr Paull said that it appeared to have worked, and told reporters: "As far as we are aware ... we certainly got in the right trajectory."

Onboard sensors sent flight data back to the researchers on the ground. "We got everything we wanted, we've just got to analyse the data now but it all seemed to basically work," Dr Paull told reporters.

Scramjets can theoretically halve payload weights by carrying only fuel - such as liquid hydrogen - rather than both the fuel and oxygen carried by traditional rockets. That would significantly cut the cost of launching satellites into space.

The international consortium led by Dr Paull's team launched a test in October but it failed when a rocket carrying the experimental jet veered off course and slammed into the desert.

In a scramjet, oxygen from the atmosphere is rammed into the combustion chamber where it spontaneously ignites, but the engine must be traveling at about five times the speed of sound for the process to work. Sound travels at 1,200 kph (744 mph) at sea level.

Source: guardian.co.uk

Salam Hijrah 1429

Bermula petang tadi, selepas solat maghrib bermula perkiraan tahun baru bagi kalendar hijrah iaitu tahun 1429. Saya yakin ada yang berdoa pada petang tadi selepas solat asar atau sebelum solat maghrib yang dikatakan doa akhir tahun. Dan ada juga yang berdoa sebaik selesai solat maghrib yang dikatakan pula doa awal tahun.

Namun perkara ini tidak dilakukan di Perlis darus sunnah, dan telah diarahkan oleh jabatan mufti perlis. Saya tidak berminat untuk mengatakan perbuatan bacaan doa akhir tahun dan awal tahun itu salah atau tidak, kerana saya tiada hujah yang boleh diberikan. Namun perkara yang baik, dan difahami serta dilakukan dengan niat yang betul serta tidak melanggar hukum-hukum yang qat'ie (putus) yang terdapat dalam nas Al-Quran dan hadis, maka bagi saya tidak menjadi suatu yang terlalu berat atau memberi kesan yang besar kepada akidah.

Namun yang lebih penting ialah pembawaan dalam diri kita sebagai penganut muslim. Ramai yang memasang niat serta azam yang baik sempena awal hijrah. Ramai juga di kalangan kita yang memberi SMS berbentuk ucapan atau nasihat yang baik sempena awal hijrah. Semuanya itu adalah suatu keadaan yang baik dan tidak perlu dipertikaikan.

Menyusuri sirah permulaan perkiraan tahun hijrah bagi kalendar penganut Islam, idea asalnya telah dilontarkan dan dilaksanakan oleh khalifah ar-rasyidun yang kedua, saidina umar al-khattab. Namun dari tarikh berlakunya peristiwa hijrah, ianya bukan berlaku pada bulan Muharam. Bahkan peristiwa hijrah kaum muslimin pada peringkat awal pembentukan kelompok muslimin, melalui beberapa kali.

Nabi SAW pernah pergi ke Thaif untuk mengeluarkan kaum muslimin daripada terus ditindas oleh kaum Quraisy. Namun penduduk Thaif menolak seruan nabi Muhammad. Kaum muslimin pernah juga berhijrah ke Najasyi. Raja Najasyi telah memberi layanan yang baik kepada kaum muslimin, namun perkembangan Islam di sana terlalu sedikit dan perlahan. Rasulullah perlu mencari tapak pengembangan dakwah yang lebih strategik. Selari dengan wahyu yang Allah berikan kepada nabi SAW, maka Rasulullah dan kaum muslimin berhijrah ke Yathrib (Madinah). Hijrah ke Yahtrib ini berkait dengan beberapa peristiwa seperti perjanjian Aqabah I dan perjanjian Aqabah II dengan kaum Aus dan Khazraj yang menetap di Yathrib.

Sememangnya fitrah kehidupan, berhijrah atau merantau ke beberapa daerah atau tempat akan mengembangkan lagi pengetahuan, kemahiran dan interkasi. Bahkan kaum muslimin boleh mengembangkan usaha dalam menggunakan method yang berbeza mengikut tempat yang berbeza.

Sepertimana berlaku ketika pengembangan Islam ke Utara Afrika dan seterusnya ke Eropah melaui Andalusia (Sepanyol), pendakwah-pendakwah Islam pada zaman lampau bersungguh-sungguh serta mempunyai keazaman yang tinggi serta mempunyai matlamat yang jelas. Dengan sikap sedemikian, Alhamdulillah Tanah Melayu juga menerima dakwah yang dibawa oleh pendakwah yang datang berdagang.

Melihat keadaan semasa umat Islam pada zaman sekarang, terlalu banyak kelemahan dan kepincangan yang dilakukan. Kita bukan sahaja lemah dari segi ekonomi, ketenteraan dan politik, tetapi akhlak umat Islam telah luntur, akidah telah goyah, dan tauhid juga mungkin telah terpesong.

Dalam apa jua keadaan, samada pada awal tahun hijrah atau pada akhir tahun hijrah, kita perlu sentiasa mengambil rujukan yang paling tinggi. Rujukan atau manual kehidupan yang diberikan oleh Pencipta semua makhluk sebagai panduan dalam perkara yang dibolehkan dan dilarang. Rujuklah kitab Al-Quran. Maksud hadis nabi SAW, "Aku telah meninggalkan dua perkara kepada kamu (kaum muslimin), seandainya kaum berpegang (teguh) dengan keduanya, maka kamu tidak akan sesat selamanya, iaitu Al-Quran dan Sunnahku". (maaf, tidak ingat perawi).

Eksiklopedia Kanak-Kanak Muslim

Eksiklopedia Kanak-Kanak Muslim (EKM) terbitan Aras Mega (M) Sdn. Bhd. menyajikan asas-asas agama dan ilmu pengetahuan secara bersepadu. Kanak-kanak akan seronok diajak menghayati kekuasaan Allah s.w.t melalui pelbagai unsur dalam buku ini.

Tema yang luas mencakupi manusia, kehidupan masyarakat, sejarah, seni, tumbuh-tumbuhan, haiwan, geografi, geologi, astronomi, sains dan teknologi dari perspektif Islam.

Bahasa yang mudah difahami dan bersifat ilmiah. Dilengkapi ayat al-Quran, Hadis Nabi, Mutiara Kata dan Doa.

Kosa kata menyajikan kamus mini serta memperkenalkan istilah-istilah agama dan teknikal pelbagai disiplin ilmu. Ini dapat membantu perkembangan kecerdasan linguistik kanak-kanak.

Jejak Info membantu kanak-kanak menghubungkan satu tema dengan tema yang lain. Data-data yang lebih terperinci disajikan di dalam Catatan Kecilku. Informasi tambahan dan tips keibubapaan disajikan dalam ruang khusus Untuk Ayah dan Ibu.

Lebih daripada 8000 ilustrasi yang berbentuk lukisan, gambar foto, kartun dan vignette membantu mengasah kecerdasan visual / spatial kanak-kanak. Serta elemen-elemen lain yang membantu mengembangkan 9 jenis kecerdasan kanak-kanak.

EKM dirancangan khusus untuk menyokong perkembangan IQ, EQ dan SQ.

Terdapat 15 jilid bagi satu set EKM dengan tajuk-tajuk yang berbeza:

Jilid 1: Islam Agamaku
Jilid 2: Tubuhku
Jilid 3: Malaysiaku
Jilid 4: Masyarakat dan Bangsa
Jilid 5: Tokoh
Jilid 6: Sejarah
Jilid 7: Seni
Jilid 8: Dunia Haiwan dan Mamalia
Jilid 9: Burung dan Serangga
Jilid 10: Ikan, Reptilia dan Amfibia
Jilid 11: Tumbuh-tumbuhan
Jilid 12: Bumi Kita
Jilid 13: Alam Semesta
Jilid 14: Sains
Jilid 15: Teknologi

Contoh kandungan Jilid 1:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 2:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 3:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 4:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 5:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 6:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 7:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 8:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 9:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 10:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 11:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 12:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 13:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 14:


Contoh kandungan Jilid 15:


Harga satu set (mengandungi 15 jilid) ialah RM825. Diskaun diberikan bagi pembelian secara tunai dan untuk kegunaan jabatan, sekolah atau pusat asuhan kanak-kanak.

Pembayaran boleh dilakukan menggunakan dua kaedah berikut:
1. Tunai
2. Secara ansuran selama 8 bulan

Sila hubungi talian berikut untuk tempahan:
Wan Muhamad Azmi Wan Mamat 019-9643864 (wm.azmi@yahoo.com)
Abdul Rahim Ahmad 019-4127837

Students 'should use Wikipedia'

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said teachers who refuse students access to the site are "bad educators".

Speaking at the Online Information conference at London's Olympia, he dismissed the long-running controversy over the site's authority.

He said he now thinks that students should be able to cite the online encyclopaedia in their work.

Previously, Mr Wales believed that the website, which is edited by users, lacked the authority for academic work.

As long as an article included accurate citations, he said he had "no problem" with it being used as a reference for students, although academics would "probably be better off doing their own research".

"You can ban kids from listening to rock 'n' roll music, but they're going to anyway," he added. "It's the same with information, and it's a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia."

In 2005, at the height of the controversy over the site's accuracy, Mr Wales told the BBC that students who copied information from Wikipedia "deserved to get an F grade", and that the site should really be used as a "stepping stone" to more authoritative information.

New editing and checking procedures have made Wikipedia more trustworthy, said the Wikipedia founder.

Changing procedures

Since the controversy, in which it emerged that the "free editing" policy had allowed articles containing inaccuracies and bias to appear, the site has introduced a system of real-time peer review, in which volunteers check new and updated articles for accuracy and impartiality.

Volunteers check Wikipedia entries for inaccuracies, bias

Despite advances in technology, there are no plans to automate this process. "There is no substitute for peer critique," Mr Wales told delegates.

It is this perceived lack of authority that has drawn criticism from other information sources. Ian Allgar of Encyclopaedia Britannica maintains that, with 239 years of history and rigorous fact-checking procedures, Britannica should remain a leader in authoritative, politically-neutral information.

Mr Allgar pointed out the trustworthy nature of paid-for, thoroughly-reviewed content, and noted that Wikipedia is still prone to vandalism.

But Britannica and Wikipedia should not be seen as direct competitors. Wikipedia, he said, had made the use of encyclopaedias "trendy and popular" with young people, which could only benefit Britannica's subscription-led service.

Content licensing

Jimmy Wales also announced that the site would be rolling out a new version of its free documentation licence.

We are the Red Cross for information. We won't sell out to Google Jimmy Wales

Although Wikipedia allows users to copy, modify and redistribute information, commercially or non-commercially, the new licensing regime, based on the existing Creative Commons scheme, would "bring Wikipedia into line with the rest of the free content culture".

Mr Wales reiterated his commitment to keeping the Wikimedia Foundation free of corporate sponsorship, and of major donors who might want control of online information.

"We are the Red Cross for information. We won't sell out to Google," he said.

The foundation is, however, expanding into the search function, with July's announcement of the Wikia search facility which combines open-source searching and social networking.

"This is a political statement against proprietary-driven software tools," Mr Wales said. "Wiki wants to give people the maximum freedom to do good."

MyGOSSCON 2007

MyGOSSCON 2007
Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference
6 - 7 December 2007
Putrajaya International Convention Centre

The Open Source Competency Centre (OSCC) has successfully completed Phase I of the Malaysian Public Sector OSS Master Plan Programme, which focussed on Laying the Foundation and Early Adoption stages. The programme is currently in Phase II - Accelerated Adoption stage, which targets to further accelerate OSS adoption in Public Sector.

The Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference (MyGOSSCON) is an event held to support the Phase II - Accelerated Adoption. In line with the Phase II targets, the theme for this year is Accelerate OSS Adoption through Strategic Alliance.

Details here.

The economics of Open Source software

The Conservative Party – Britain’s largest opposition party – recently mooted the idea that embracing Open Source software in all government information technology (IT) projects could save taxpayers £600 million (RM4.07 billion) a year. Shadow chancellor Gorge Osborne reckoned that opening up the software market would enable the Government to slash 5% off Whitehall’s annual IT bill as open software allows users to read, change and improve its code, in contrast to proprietary software where a company controls the source code.

In Japan, the government’s edict that it wants to make Linux and Open Source a priority for all IT procurements starting this month. This has prompted the formation of a consortium by 10 global IT equipment and software vendors to develop and sell Linux-based servers and computer for the Japanese market. Tokyo reckons it would spend around 1.25 trillion yen (RM34.56 billion) on IT over the next year.

That open source software promotes cost savings is not hard to envision, according to Ditesh Kumar, user, developer and evangelist of Malaysia’s free and Open Source software (FOSS) movement.

‘A small company with limited funds may decide whether it wants to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007 or move to FOSS. Currently, the best alternative to Microsoft Office is OpenOffice.org (OOo) v2.1. The list price for Microsoft Office 2007 is RM1,365 for the “Standard” entry level version or RM1,711 for the “Professional” version. The price for OOo v2.1 is zero,’ he says.

Ditesh adds that it is hard to compare against something that cost nothing. ‘Sure, there is installation and training costs but since Microsoft Office 2007 is radically different to Microsoft Office 2003, the training costs will be the same if not more costly when adopting Microsoft Office 2007,’ says Ditesh.

If these costs were to be eliminated and channeled towards human resource development, companies can expect substantial cost savings, he adds. ‘Just in one area – the office productivity suite – Malaysian companies can save up to 30% - 60% per terminal. In terms of server level software, there is more available savings, for example on costs which are restricted on with per client access licenses or per CPU (central unit processing).

In real practice, Royal Selangor International already has half of its server running on Linux. ‘This proves substantial saving over other operating systems which require licensing costs on a per client basis. So on average we save RM20,000 to RM30,000 per server,’ says the company’s group IT Manager Yong Yoon Kit.

In the case of desktop applications, Royal Selangor deploys OOo. The preference for OOo lies in its ease of usage, which is as good or even better than Microsoft Office 97 or 2000, according to Yong.

‘Considering that commercial productivity apps nowadays cost in the region of RM1,000 to RM2,000 per seat, we would rather spend this money on more hardware or training and use OOo, than to use software features which we hardly use,’ he tells Malaysian Business.

Currently, FOSS adoption rate in Malaysia is slow but steadily growing within both the government and private sectors. In Asia OSS 2006, the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) noted that significant savings were achieved via the reduced usage of proprietary software. Among others, licensing cost was trimmed by 88%, development and consultancy cost by 58% and software support services cost b 7%.

At the private sector end, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has initiated a small Special Interest Group on Free and Open Source Software of which Yong is a member of, to educate its 2,000 members on how to make more efficient use of their IT funds by leveraging on FOSS. This group aspires to assist members who require specific IT products from FOSS list of ready solutions.

Dwelling on software acquisition cost, Yong notes the pricing of software can be exorbitant for countries like Malaysia primarily because software prices are almost equal around the world. In other words, if the license cost in US$100 in the United States, it would cost RM370 or so locally.

‘Most of the time, it is more expensive here as the software distributor marks up the price for shipping and additional support. The “Big Mac” index is hardly used in software transactions – the price never reflects the buying power of regional customers,’ explains Yong.

However, such cost is nominal as support comes at local price. Additionally, because the system is open to all to lend support, users can easily interchange support vendors if they are comfortable with their existing vendors. Therefore, FOSS prevents vendor “lock-in” as encountered by specific vendor products in market.

Touching the issue of technical support, Yong agress that such fear has been a common excuse for not adopting FOSS. For in-house IT departments, finding a competent IT staff is no child's play, but faced with a candidate who has prior experience with FOSS almost guarantees several qualities, he says.

'The qualities include the candidate being passionate about IT, able to work out technical problems independently and almost certainly, will try to work out the most efficient use of IT budgets by evaluating FOSS first,' say Yong.

On a similar note, Yong says local support even for proprietary software is often hard to come by. 'Often, we resort to solving the problems ourselves by “Googling” for the answers. In fact, a FOSS-trained personel would be far more resourceful and have a better understanding than a curriculum-trained staff,' he adds.

Russia Unveils New Passenger Jet

Russian aviation company Sukhoi has produced its first passenger jet since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The plane was developed in cooperation with former Cold War rival Boeing.

Until recently, Sukhoi, a venerated Russian aerospace firm with a long history based in the Siberian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, produced only warplanes. But that's about to change: The company proudly presented its new passenger plane, the Superjet 100, in the country's far east on Wednesday. Sukhoi unveiled the new plane, the first of this type since the demise of the Soviet Union, before a crowd of about 1,000 invitation-only Russian guests and foreign investors.

The Superjet provides room for between 78 and 98 passengers and is being built by the Russian company in cooperation with former Cold War enemies like America's Boeing. The company developed the Superjet 100 to compete with companies that already control major shares of the market for regional jets, including Canada's Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer.

Following a test phase in 2008, Sukhoi plans to produce up to 30 planes in 2009. Seventy-one Superjets 100 have already been ordered -- most of them by Russia's Aeroflot airline, but 10 have also been ordered by Italian airline Itali. The goal is to sell 1,000 planes during the next 15 to 20 years. Seventy percent of the aircraft are expected to be sold outside of Russia, the company announced. The maiden flight is expected to take place this year, and the company is expected to apply for an air worthiness certificate for the Superjet 100 from European and US authorities next year.

"A Child of the New Era"

Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogossian welcomed the "birth of a child of the new era, a modern and integrated industry." Clearly, Russia wants to use the passenger plane to revive its past successes in aviation. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, passenger plane construction suffered a dramatic crisis. Business contracts from the communist former Soviet satellite states were lost, and Russia itself came close to bankruptcy. During their best days, the Soviets built more than 100 passenger planes a year, but during the 1990s, production almost ground to a halt. Last year, a mere eight airplanes were delivered in the entire country -- as many as Europe's Airbus delivers in a single week.

President Putin has long been pushing to turn the country into an aviation superpower again. The man widely seen as his most likely successor -- Vice Premier Sergei Ivanov, who is currently responsible for military and industrial policy -- wants Russia to control between 10 and 12 percent of the global passenger plane market by 2024. At present, the Russian share of that market is less than 1 percent.

Ultimately, Putin wants to prove that the Russian aviation industry will soon be capable of doing more than merely supply Western aviation giants Airbus and Boeings with parts. And he wants to restore the injured pride of a nation once famous for its aviation achievements. Even Brazil has overtaken Russia with its Embraer planes -- a country that, at best is associated in Moscow with the export of coffee and soccer players.

Putin wants to prove his new Russia is capable of more than providing oil and natural gas. The giant empire wants to demonstrate that its rediscovered role as a superpower is not based simply on its nuclear arsenal and natural resources, but also on its imminent economic might.