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Cellphones

Verizon Wireless To Open Network 286

Posted by kdawson from the bring-your-own dept.
A number of readers are letting us know about Verizon's plans, announced today, to open their nationwide wireless network to devices that they don't sell. A NYTimes blog posting puts VZW's announcement in industry context. From the press release: "In early 2008, the company will publish the technical standards the development community will need to design products to interface with the Verizon Wireless network. Any device that meets the minimum technical standard will be activated on the network. Devices will be tested and approved in a $20 million state-of-the-art testing lab which received an additional investment this year to gear up for the anticipated new demand. Any application the customer chooses will be allowed on these devices."
The Internet

Boing Boing Founder Warns of "Internet AIDS" 154

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the orwell-was-an-optimist dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Cory Doctorow, founder of Boing Boing, says he doesn't have a problem in principle with the automated network defense systems that guard the Internet against malware, spamigation bots, and other network nasties. However, in his article 'The Future of Internet Immune Systems,' he bemoans the problems caused by 'Internet autoimmune disorder' — where the network defenses designed to block network attacks are automated and instantaneous, but the systems in place to reverse erroneous lockdowns are manual and unresponsive."
Transportation

Stopping Cars With Microwave Radiation 522

Posted by samzenpus from the stops-in-under-a-minute dept.
Ponca City, We Love You writes "Researchers have created an electromagnetic system that can quickly bring a vehicle to a stop by sending out pulses of microwave radiation to disable the microprocessors that control the central engine functions in a car. A 200-pound unit attached to the roof of a police car can be used to stop fleeing and noncooperative vehicles. The average power emitted in a single shot is about 10 kilowatts at 100 hertz and since each radiated pulse lasts about 50 nanoseconds, the total energy output is 100 joules at a distance of 15 meters. One concern with the device is that it could cause an accident if a car is disabled and a driver loses steering control. The device could also disable other vehicles in the area so the most practical application may be for perimeter protection at remote areas. Criminals have a work-around too. Since electronic control modules were not built into most cars until 1972, the system will not work on automobiles made before that year."
Science

The Rules of the Swarm 166

Posted by samzenpus from the welcome-to-the-collective dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Researchers are starting to discover the simple rules that allow swarms of thousands of relatively simple animals to form a collective brain able to make decisions and move like a single organism. To get a sense of swarms, Dr. Iain Couzin, a mathematical biologist at the Collective Animal Behaviour Laboratory at Princeton University, builds computer models of virtual swarms with thousands of individual agents that he can program to follow a few simple rules. Among the findings are that swarm behavior has patterns common to many different species, that just as liquid water can suddenly begin to boil, swarm behavior can also change abruptly in character, and that just a few leaders can guide a swarm effectively by creating a bias in the swarm's movement that steers it in a particular direction. The rules of the swarm may also apply to the cells inside our bodies and researchers are working with cancer biologists to discover the rules by which cancer cells work together to build tumors or migrate through tissues. Even brain cells may follow the same rules for collective behavior seen in locusts or fish. "How does your brain take this information and come to a collective decision about what you're seeing?" Dr. Couzin says. The answer, he suspects, may lie in our inner swarm."
Biotech

Microbes Churn Out Hydrogen at Record Rate 168

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the now-make-stuff-that-uses-hydrogen dept.
FiReaNGeL writes to mention that Penn State Researchers have improved on their original microbial electrolysis cell design bringing the resulting system up to better than 80 percent efficiency when considering all energy inputs and outputs. "By tweaking their design, improving conditions for the bacteria, and adding a small jolt of electricity, they increased the hydrogen yield to a new record for this type of system. 'We achieved the highest hydrogen yields ever obtained with this approach from different sources of organic matter, such as yields of 91 percent using vinegar (acetic acid) and 68 percent using cellulose,' said Logan. In certain configurations, nearly all of the hydrogen contained in the molecules of source material converted to usable hydrogen gas, an efficiency that could eventually open the door to bacterial hydrogen production on a larger scale."
Google

Google Honors Veterans Day, Finally 693

Posted by kdawson from the that-wasn't-so-hard-was-it dept.
theodp writes "It took nearly a decade, but Google has done a turnabout and is honoring Veterans Day with a special holiday design for its famous logo. Users who log onto Google's home page are greeted with three World War I-era helmets capping the letters 'o' and 'e' in Google's name. The decoration is a marked departure for the company, which has come under fire from veterans' groups for ignoring American holidays such as Veterans Day and Memorial Day since Google's inception in 1999."
Media

Submission + - Government Study finds P2P increases CD Sales

Submitted by Vaystrem
Vaystrem writes: On November 2nd 2007 Canada's Intellectual Policy Directorate released a report entitled "The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study for Industry Canada" From the abstract:

Our review of existing econometric studies suggests that P2P file-sharing tends to decrease music purchasing. However, we find the opposite, namely that P2P file-sharing tends to increase rather than decrease music purchasing. Among Canadians who engage in P2P file-sharing, our results suggest that for every 12 P2P downloaded songs, music purchases increase by 0.44 CDs. That is, downloading the equivalent of approximately one CD increases purchasing by about half of a CD.

The study was paid for by Public Works and Government Services Canada. Details of the contract, methodology and the original data files from the study may be found here.
Software

OpenDocument Foundation Closes 177

Posted by kdawson from the to-bed-without-your-supper dept.
Munchkinguy writes "First, they dropped support for their namesake OpenDocument Format and declared a switch to the W3C's 'Compound Document Format.' Then, W3C's Chris Lilley clarified that CDF 'was not created to be, and isn't suitable for use as, an office format.' Now, the Foundation has mysteriously closed up shop, leaving the following message: 'The OpenDocument Foundation, Inc. is closed. We sincerely wish our friends and associates in the OpenDocument Community all the best and much success going forward. Good-bye and good luck.'"
Robotics

Submission + - CMU wins Robot Car Challenge 2

Submitted by qeorqe
qeorqe writes: Tartan Racing Team from CMU has been declared the winner of The Urban Challenge. Autonomous (unmanned)robot cars competed in tasks in an urban setting. Professional human drivers drove on the course as moving obstacles. Vehicles were penalized for violating the California driving laws, collisions, hitting the curb, and various other restrictions.

DARPA sponsored the competition. Tartan Racing Team (CMU) won the $2 million first prize with their entry "The Boss" based on a Chevy Tahoe. Stanford Racing Team won the $1 million second prize with their entry "Junior" based on a Volkswagen Passat. VictorTango (Virginia Tech) won the $1/2 million third prize with their entry "Odin" based on a Ford Escape. Junior had line honors being the first to cross the finish line. The Boss finished shortly after Junior. Because starts were staggared and penalties were applied for errors, a corrected time was used to determine the winner.

MIT's car cut off and hit Team Cornell's car during the competition. Both cars were eventually able to resume.

Congratulations to all participants and especially Tartan Racing Team. Is there any chance of The Boss leading a victory parade through the streets of Pittsburgh?

Some other coverage may be found at WIred and itwire. Earlier slashdot coverage can also be found.
Robotics

Submission + - Carnegie Mellon wins DARPA Urban Challenge

Submitted by
angio
angio writes: "Carnegie Mellon University's Tartan Racing team won the DARPA Grand Challenge, narrowly beating out competitors Stanford and Virginia Tech in a closely-watched race. Eleven finalists started the race on Saturday, with six finishing. The top three winners received $2 million, $1 million, and $500 thousand, respectively. Blow-by blow blogging of the event was covered by the register, Wired, and Popular Mechanics."
The Military

Submission + - DARPA Urban Challenge Event winners announced (darpa.mil)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The DARPA Urban Challenge Event winners have been announced. 1st Place — Tartan Racing, Pittsburgh, PA 2nd Place — Stanford Racing Team, Stanford, CA 3rd Place — Victor Tango, Blacksburg, VA 6 out of 11 finalists completed the race, and MIT only crashed a couple of times — a tremendous accomplishment for the entire field! Virginia Tech had an awesome performance for an underdog team. From the DARPA Website: "Vehicles competing in the Urban Challenge will have to think like human drivers and continually make split-second decisions to avoid moving vehicles, including robotic vehicles without drivers, and operate safely on the course. The urban setting adds considerable complexity to the challenge faced by the robotic vehicles, and replicates the environments where many of today's military missions are conducted." http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/index.asp
Robotics

Submission + - 'Boss' Wins DARPA's Urban Challenge (tfot.info)

Submitted by
Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth writes: "After several hours of highly eventful competition Carnegie Mellon University's robotic car team won DARPA's 2007 Urban Challenge. "Boss", as it is known, was able to complete all three main missions and 19 submissions successfully scooping gold for Carnegie Mellon and its panthers with Stanford in second place and Victor-Tango from Virginia Tech coming in third. Hundreds watched the Urban Challenge on site with thousands watching at home using DARPA's live feed as the 11 robotic cars drove, crashed (into each other and into walls) got stuck in robotic traffic jams and even passed other human driven cars as they raced towards the finish line, in what shall be remembered as the first realistic urban robotic competition."
Robotics

Submission + - CMU takes the Urban Challenge $2m prize (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by pacopico
pacopico writes: CMU has taken first place in the Urban Challenge robotic car race sponsored by DARPA, according to this story in The Register, which looks like the first account. For winning, Carnegie Mellon grabbed $2 million, while second place Stanford took $1 million and third place Virginia Tech won $500,000. CMU lost to Stanford in the previous race. But, in this year's contest, the robots had to battle it out on an urban course, competing with other robot vehicles and stunt driver, as opposed to the desert race in 2005.
The Military

The Real Mother of All Bombs, 46 Years Ago 526

Posted by kdawson from the things-that-go-boom dept.
vaporland writes "Tsar Bomba is the Western name for the RDS-220, the largest, most powerful weapon ever detonated. The bomb was tested on October 30, 1961, in an archipelago in the Arctic Sea. Developed by the Soviet Union, the bomb had a yield of about 50 megatons. Its detonation released energy equivalent to approximately 1% of the power output of the Sun for 39 nanoseconds of its detonation. The device was scaled down from its original design of 100 megatons to reduce the resulting nuclear fallout. The Tsar Bomba qualifies as the single most powerful device ever utilized throughout the history of humanity."

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