darkshot117 - Slashdot User

Electronic Skin Gives Robots a Sense of Touch 22

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday June 30, 2011 @10:51AM from the we're-gonna-need-more-lotion dept.

Zothecula writes "Providing robots with sensory inputs is one of the keys to the development of more capable and useful machines. Sight and hearing are the most common senses bestowed upon our mechanical friends, but even taste and smell have gotten a look. There have also been a number of efforts to give robots the sense of touch so they can better navigate and interact with their environments. The latest attempt to create a touchy feely robot comes from the Technical University Munich (TUM) where researchers have produced small hexagonal plates, which when joined together, form a sensitive skin."

Passcodes Prove Predictable 167

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday June 28, 2011 @01:02PM from the ladies-love-alliteration dept.

mikejuk writes "Research reveals something we all suspected but couldn't prove — in a four digit pin the most popular first digit is one, the most popular second digit is two. Entropy only really kicks in on the third and fourth digits. What is more looking at the frequencies of four digit groups just 10 different passcodes would be enough to unlock one in seven iPhones!"

Comment iOS 5 Released? (Score 1) 135

by darkshot117 on Tuesday June 07, 2011 @10:13AM (#36362032) Attached to: iOS 5 Jailbroken

Anyone else totally confused by this article, first they say, iOS 5 was released yesterday, then a few paragraphs down they say iOS 5 is only available in beta to developers right now. Nice job getting the facts straight. Made me go try to update my phone only to discover its not actually released.

Robots Successfully Invent Their Own Language 159

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday May 18, 2011 @12:14PM from the killall-humans dept.

An anonymous reader writes "One group of Australian researchers have managed to teach robots to do something that, until now, was the reserve of humans and a few other animals: they've taught them how to invent and use spoken language. The robots, called LingoDroids, are introduced to each other. In order to share information, they need to communicate. Since they don't share a common language, they do the next best thing: they make one up. The LingoDroids invent words to describe areas on their maps, speak the word aloud to the other robot, and then find a way to connect the word and the place, the same way a human would point to themselves and speak their name to someone who doesn't speak their language."

Instant Quantum Communication Is Near 287

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 19, 2011 @08:40PM from the by-the-time-you-read-this dept.

fljmayer writes "In this experiment, researchers in Australia and Japan were able to transfer quantum information from one place to another without having to physically move it. It was destroyed in one place and instantly resurrected in another, 'alive' again and unchanged. This is a major advance, as previous teleportation experiments were either very slow or caused some information to be lost."

High Schoolers Push Down Price of Near-Space Photography 88

Posted by timothy on Thursday April 14, 2011 @04:33PM from the can-I-get-a-student-discount dept.

Floodge writes "High School students at Explore Knowledge Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada have launched a near space photography balloon which took over 2000 pictures of Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, and much more! The 'space craft' was built from used and recycled components for under 60 dollars and was inspired by MIT students Project Icarus in 2009." Near-space photography via balloon isn't quite new any more, but price is a great frontier to explore. And I'm glad that there's a school called "Explore Knowledge Academy."

NYPD Anti-Terrorism Cameras Used For Much More 400

Posted by Soulskill on Monday April 11, 2011 @01:51PM from the donut-location-devices dept.

An anonymous reader writes with an excerpt from the NY Times: "The Police Department's growing web of license-plate-reading cameras has been transforming investigative work. Though the imaging technology was conceived primarily as a counterterrorism tool, the cameras' presence — all those sets of watchful eyes that never seem to blink — has aided in all sorts of traditional criminal investigations. ... 'We knew going into it that they would have other obvious benefits,' Mr. Browne said about the use of the readers in the initiative. 'Obviously, conventional crime is far more common than terrorism, so it is not surprising that they would have benefits, more frequently, in conventional crime fighting than in terrorism.'"

Einstein Pedometer App Measures Relative Time Gain 148

Posted by samzenpus on Monday April 11, 2011 @11:28AM from the walking-your-way-to-a-younger-you dept.

cylonlover writes "Among other things, Einstein's theory of special relativity says that as an object's velocity increases, time as experienced by the object will slow down when compared to another object traveling at a lower velocity. This means that a 'relatively' short round trip on a space ship traveling at close to the speed of light would see you arrive home having aged less than those back on Earth. While the greater the velocities involved, the greater the effect, the theory applies to all relative movement. Now there's an iPhone app that will let you know just how many extra nanoseconds you've gained by getting moving as opposed to sitting on your rear end."

Comment Re:Fastest slashdot story ever! (Score 1) 313

by darkshot117 on Thursday April 07, 2011 @12:38PM (#35746272) Attached to: 7.4-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Off Japan; Tsunami Alert Issued

I can confirm this is happening in Chrome 10 as well...

FCC.gov: A Modern Open Platform 88

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday April 05, 2011 @12:36PM from the oh-well-they-used-drupal-then dept.

An anonymous reader writes "FCC.gov just launched a public beta which aims to take the agency into the future. The $1.35 million site follows the WhiteHouse.gov lead to Drupal. Agency director Steven Van Roekel spoke with O'Reilly about the agency's push for an open platform: 'It's not breakthrough stuff, but it's breakthrough for government.'"

The Facebook Obsession 265

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday April 05, 2011 @11:18AM from the even-my-three-year-old-knows dept.

rabidmuskrat writes "Are we too obsessed with Facebook? With 500 million users and a CNBC story about it, the answer would seem to be yes. PostRandomonium notes the media's obsession with Facebook, and how it impacts their news coverage — in particular, that of CNN. One out of every 13 Earthlings and three out of four Americans is on Facebook, and one out of 26 signs into Facebook on a daily basis."

BP Loses Laptop With Oil-Spill Claimants' Personal Info 137

Posted by timothy on Tuesday March 29, 2011 @10:00PM from the why-cry-over-spilt-milk-oil-and-data? dept.

Oxford_Comma_Lover writes "CNN Reports that BP lost a laptop with the name, address, DOB, and SSNs of everyone who filed claims related to the big oil spill last year. In other words, everyone asking for money from them based on the spill just got their private info misplaced. There has been no allegation of bad faith."

X-37B Secret Space Plane's Second Launch Today 59

Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday March 04, 2011 @09:50PM from the secret-space-weapons-from-space dept.

garymortimer writes "The X-37B will launch soon for a second 240 day flight and the cat and mouse game of following it will begin. Amateur astronomers have been able to find the orbit changing high flying UAV on at least two occasions after it altered height. For the first X-37B OTV mission, Air Force officials focused on testing and evaluating the performance capabilities of the vehicle. This second mission will build upon the OTV-1 on-orbit demonstration, validate and replicate initial testing and fine tune the technical parameters of the vehicle tests."

Bandwidth Being Throttled In Bahrain? 69

Posted by timothy on Thursday February 17, 2011 @11:56PM from the oh-just-a-coincidence dept.

mahiskali writes "In light of recent uprising and protests in Bahrain, reports are coming in showing slower than usual internet access across the country. Broadband providers are claiming this is due to high-usage and heavy load, but Twitter is abuzz claiming a government-imposed lockdown. Accounts on the popular media-sharing site Bambuser have reportedly been blocked as well."

Glen Beck Warns Viewers Not To Use Google 1276

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday February 15, 2011 @10:30AM from the the-sky-is-falling dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Glenn Beck has told his viewers to do research, but to not use Google, because 'Google is pretty deeply in bed with the government.' He points to the fact that Google is having some problems overseas, as well as Jared Cohen. Cohen is Director of Google Ideas, has worked with the State Department, and has played a role in the 2009 unrest in Iran. He also mentions social networking in sinister undertones, asking if it's government propaganda."

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