South Plantation Engineering: January 2015

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Hallo, hola, olá to the new, more powerful Google Translate app

Instant translation with Word Lens
The Translate app already lets you use camera mode to snap a photo of text and get a translation for it in 36 languages. Now, we’re taking it to the next level and letting you instantly translate text using your camera—so it’s way easier to navigate street signs in the Italian countryside or decide what to order off a Barcelona menu. While using the Translate app, just point your camera at a sign or text and you’ll see the translated text overlaid on your screen—even if you don't have an Internet or data connection.

Monday, January 12, 2015

The new Carbon-fiber construction Ford GT

The engine sitting under that back lid is a twin-turbo Ecoboost V-6 producing, Ford claims, "more than 600 horsepower." Little was revealed about the car at the press conference; we got a short press release, a bunch of images, and not much else. Highlights: active aerodynamics including a deployable rear spoiler, upward-opening doors, aluminum front and rear subframes, torsion-bar and pushrod suspension, 20-inch carbon-fiber wheels, and carbon-ceramic brakes.

Read more here.

World’s Largest Indoor Farm is 100 Times More Productive

The statistics for this incredibly successful indoor farming endeavor in Japan are staggering: 25,000 square feet producing 10,000 heads of lettuce per day (100 times more per square foot than traditional methods) with 40% less power, 80% less food waste and 99% less water usage than outdoor fields. But the freshest news from the farm: a new facility using the same technologies has been announced and is now under construction in Hong Kong, with Mongolia, Russia and mainland China on the agenda for subsequent near-future builds.

Read more here.