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Input Devices

Nano-Scale Terahertz Antenna May Make Tricorders Real 185

Posted by samzenpus from the welcome-to-the-future dept.
MrSeb writes "Researchers from Imperial College London and A*STAR in Singapore have shown off a terahertz antenna that's just 100 nanometers across — about 30,000 times smaller than existing terahertz antennae — and two orders of magnitude stronger than other T-ray beam-forming techniques. T-rays are a lot like EHF (extremely high frequency), which is used by millimeter wave scanners in airports, medical imaging, and emerging wireless networking standards like WiGig — but stronger, faster, and more detailed. Where EHF radiation can see through your clothes, T-rays can penetrate a few millimeters of skin. Furthermore, because atoms and molecules have a unique terahertz-range signature, T-ray scanners can detect toxic substances, bombs, drugs — or even cancerous tumors under your skin. Most importantly, though, due to the nano scale of these antennae, it's possible to create huge antennae arrays on a single silicon chip, meaning hand-held T-ray scanners are now a possibility. In the not so distant future, every household might have a Star Trek-like tricorder capable of detecting cancer or other diseases."

Comment what motivates you...? (Score 1) 165

by bodland (#38690852) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Advancing a Programming Career?
Money...
Cleverness...
Sloth...
Babes...
Fame...
Only on person had it all....Bill Murray...
Seriously, if you have money in the bank or the ability to put money in the bank do that for a year or two...then chuck it all, and do something completely out of character...like go volunteer some place...go sailing, visit all the baseball parks in one season, take up something inherently selfish for a few years and enjoy the world and it's people...meet people, love and enjoy the beauty of the world. When you have run out of money go back to work and you will be surprised how motivated you will be. Motivated to fill the bank again so you go off on another adventure...life is too short to be a code monkey or a slave to your customers...or strapped to someone's insane project and crappy software...go now.
Social Networks

Kodak Failing, But Camera Phones Not To Blame 309

Posted by timothy from the all-the-world's-a-sunny-day dept.
An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from The Conversation: "According to the Wall Street Journal, camera manufacturer Kodak is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, following a long struggle to maintain any sort of viable business. The announcement has prompted some commentators to claim that Kodak's near-demise has been brought on by: a failure to innovate, or a failure to anticipate the shift from analogue to digital cameras, or a failure to compete with the rise of cameras in mobile phones. Actually, none of these claims are true. Where Kodak did fail is in not understanding what people take photographs for, and what they do with photos once they have taken them." Continues the reader: "Looking at camera data from Flickr, of images uploaded in 2011, camera phones only make up 3% of the total. Dedicated cameras from Canon, Nikon and yes, Kodak were used to take 97% of the images. What Kodak failed to understand is that people have switched from taking photos for remembering and commemorative reasons to using photos for identity and communication. The shift changes the emphasis away from print to social media platforms and dedicated apps."
Earth

New Record High Temperature At South Pole 387

Posted by timothy from the happy-christmas dept.
New submitter Titus Andronicus writes "The South Pole experienced its highest-ever recorded temperature of -12.3C (+9.9F) on December 25, 2011, according to preliminary reporting from the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center at the University of Wisconsin."

Comment Cost analysis... (Score 1) 214

by bodland (#38516140) Attached to: Justifications For Creating an IT Department?
Figure out:

how much downtime costs the company

how many of those incidents are due to engineers screwing up servers or databases

which engineers are avoiding engineering work doing IT work

compare labor costs of a IT pro and Engineer

If you can cost justify having six IT pros, couple of OS admins, couple of DBAs and a few tech support persons then it should be a no brainer...companies would rather pay engineers to do engineering work...not setting up PC's or installing and managing databases or patching windows servers....
Transportation

In-Car Video Chat and 4G Streaming From OnStar 72

Posted by Soulskill from the what-could-possibly-go-right dept.
thecarchik writes "At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, OnStar will reveal the latest on their system. This time, the system will be equipped in a Chevy Volt research vehicle, which seems to be a more appropriate vessel than a Buick for previewing your latest technology. In a press release teasing the appearance, OnStar said the system will offer such features as cloud-based streaming of information and entertainment, rear-seat infotainment management and video chat. Video chat may sound like a terrifying feature for any car, but OnStar said in last year's CES press materials that the feature would only be enabled when the car is in park. Other features like video streaming would also be limited to the rear seat or to a parked vehicle."
Oracle

Oracle Sued For 'Extortion, Lies' By Montclair State University 359

Posted by timothy from the their-reputation-precedes-them dept.
angry tapir writes "Montclair State University is suing Oracle in connection with a troubled ERP (enterprise resource planning) project. Montclair's complaint, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, states that Oracle made an array of 'intentionally false statements' regarding the functionality of its base ERP system, the amount of customization that would be required, and the amount of 'time, resources, and personnel that the University would have to devote.' 'Ultimately, after missing a critical go-live deadline for the University's finance system, Oracle sought to extort millions of dollars from the University by advising the University that it would not complete the implementation of the ... project unless the University agreed to pay millions of dollars more than the fixed fee the University and Oracle had previously agreed to,' it adds."
Power

Russia Set To Extend Life of Nuclear Reactors Past Engineered Life Span 215

Posted by Soulskill from the tempting-fate dept.
Harperdog writes "Yikes! Russia is extending the lifetime of nuclear power reactors beyond their engineered life span of 30 years, including the nation's oldest reactors: first-generation VVERs and RBMKs, the Chernobyl-type reactors. This goes against existing Russian law, because the projects have not undergone environmental assessments. 'Many of the country's experts and non-governmental organizations maintain that this decision is economically unjustifiable and environmentally dangerous — to say nothing of illegal. The Russian nuclear industry, however, argues that lifetime extensions are justified because the original estimate of a 30-year life span was conservative; the plants have been significantly upgraded; and extensions cost significantly less than constructing new reactors.'"

Comment Re:It depends... (Score 1) 265

by bodland (#38358126) Attached to: In Favor of Homegrown IT Solutions
That is because our industry has lost the discipline and skill to design, lead and implement custom software projects. I used to "clean up" those failed projects...I would come in and do damage control after people failed and got fired or quit and the entire IT department was pissed off. It takes people trained in software development management and the development lifestyle running the show with a organization that gives the professionals the ability to run the project...not the VP of sales....or marketing. Many industries can benefit from having a quality, professional highly skilled and well paid development staff...

problem is it is too late. That dog ran away in 2001...blame it on consulting. I guess...I blame it on greed.
Businesses

Clothier Slammed For Using 'Perfect' Virtual Model 471

Posted by Soulskill from the it-was-only-a-matter-of-time dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Swedish Clothing Giant H&M recently disclosed that the images from the company's website, showing models wearing the latest swimsuit and lingerie in generic, stock-form, are not just photoshopped but entirely computer-generated. 'We take pictures of the clothes on a doll that stands in the shop, and then create the human appearance with a program on [a] computer,' H&M press officer Hacan Andersson said when questioned about the company's picture-perfect online models. Advertising watchdogs elevated the controversy by criticizing the chain of lower-cost clothing stores for their generic approach to models, accusing the chain of creating unrealistic physical ideals. 'This illustrates very well the sky-high aesthetic demands placed on the female body,' says a spokesman for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, one of the groups most critical of H&M. 'The demands are so great that H&M, among the poor photo models, cannot find someone with both body and face that can sell their bikinis.'"
Television

TV Isn't Broken, So Why Fix It? 839

Posted by Soulskill from the no-i-do-not-want-to-wear-3d-glasses-to-watch-tv dept.
PolygamousRanchKid sends this quote from a contentious article at CNN that questions the need for further development of TVs and the entire TV-viewing experience. "The technology industry is absolutely bent on reinventing television. ... But nobody seems to be able to answer the big question: what exactly is so broken about TV anyway? The tech industry is filled with engineers and geeks. They naturally want to optimize the TV experience, to make it as efficient and elegant as possible, requiring the fewest number of steps to complete a particular task while offering the greatest number of amazing new features. But normal people don't think about TV that way. TV is passive. The last thing we want to do is work at it. ... As long as there's something on — anything — that is reasonably engaging, we're cool. Most of us are even OK spending a few minutes just shuffling through channels at random." So, what do you think is broken about TV right now? Is there a point at which it'd be better for us to stand back and say "We've done what we can with this. Let's work on something else"?
Robotics

New 'Rubber Robot' Crawls Through Small Spaces With Inflatable Limbs 56

Posted by timothy from the new-nightmare dept.
JoeRobe writes "Researchers at Harvard have developed a pneumatically-controlled rubber robot that combines undulation and quadrupedal 'crawling,' allowing it to maintain a low profile while moving. In a paper published in PNAS (abstract), they describe it as a 'soft robot, composed exclusively of soft materials (elastomeric polymers), which is inspired by animals (e.g., squid, starfish, worms) that do not have hard internal skeletons.' The robot is solely powered by relatively low pressure (10 psi), and controlled by 5 pneumatic actuators. The research was funded by DARPA." The paper is also available (not paywalled) from the researchers' project site (PDF), complete with more creepy images of the squidbot.

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