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Input Devices

Microsoft Kinect With World of Warcraft 80

Posted by Soulskill from the get-some-exercise-while-you-raid dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies have developed software that enables control of PC video games using the Microsoft Kinect sensor. Their toolkit, known as the Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit (FAAST), emulates custom-configured keyboard controls triggered by body posture and specific gestures. This video shows a user playing the online game World of Warcraft using the Kinect. Potential applications of this technology include video games for motor rehabilitation after stroke and reducing childhood obesity through healthy gaming."
Image

Smart Wallets React To Spending By Shrinking 98

Posted by samzenpus from the smaller-by-the-hour dept.
fangmcgee writes "These high-tech wallets are digitally programmed to react to your bank account levels by shrinking in size, refusing to open, or vibrating whenever a transaction is processed. From the article: 'The Proverbial Wallets come in three attractive styles to fit your spending needs: The Mother Bear has a constricting hinge that makes it harder to open the closer you approach your monthly budget, while the Bumblebee buzzes every time a transaction is processed. The Peacock inflates and deflates with the amount of cash in your account, which puts your assets on “display” for potential mates, according to the designers.'"

Comment Re:Guilt by association? (Score 1) 275

by clampolo (#34424210) Attached to: Google To Block Piracy-Related Terms From Autocomplete

I have more respect for Microsoft. Microsoft never pretends to be anything other than a corporation trying to maximize profits. Google try to pose as friend by supporting some open source projects, but when it comes to issues like sucking up to the Chinese, censorship, and net neutrality we see their true colors.
Image

Aquarium Uses Eel Powered Christmas Lights 96

Posted by samzenpus from the slippery-tinsel dept.
A Japanese aquarium is using the greenest energy possible to power the lights on its Christmas tree, an electric eel. From the article: "Each time the eel moves, two aluminum panels gather enough electricity to light up the 2-meter (6 ft 6 in) tall tree, decked out in white, in glowing intermittent flashes."

Comment Re:This is research? (Score 1) 81

by clampolo (#34394584) Attached to: Inside the Labs At HP, Microsoft and IBM

"Spec#", the proof system for C#, was a research result

Pretty sad that decades of $500M a year have led to the "innovation" of stealing a language feature of Eiffel and putting it into a Java clone.

Another effort in that area involved automated verification of Windows drivers [microsoft.com] to determine if they could crash the rest of the OS. That paid off. In Windows 7, every driver has to pass the static verifier before it gets signed

Nice. A lint tool for drivers.
Patents

8-Year-Old Receives Patent 142

Posted by samzenpus from the young-inventor-society dept.
Knile writes "While not the youngest patent recipient ever (that would be a four year old in Texas), Bryce Gunderman has received a patent at age 8 for a space-saver that combines an outlet cover plate with a shelf. From the article: '"I thought how I was going to make a lot of money," Bryce said about what raced through his brain when he received the patent.'"
Science

Pumpkin Pie increases Male Sex Drive 173

Posted by samzenpus from the we're-going-to-need-more-whipped-cream dept.
Dr. Alan Hirsch, Director of Chicago's Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Center, says the key to a man's heart, and other parts, is pumpkin pie. Out of the 40 odors tested in Hirsch's study, a mixture of lavender and pumpkin pie got the biggest rise out of men ages 18 to 64. That particular fragrance was found to increase penile blood flow by an average of 40%. "Maybe the odors acted to reduce anxiety. By reducing anxiety, it acted to remove inhibitions," said Hirsch.
Education

200 Students Admit Cheating After Professor's Online Rant 693

Posted by samzenpus from the people-get-what-they-deserve dept.
Over 200 University of Central Florida students admitted to cheating on a midterm exam after their professor figured out at least a third of his class had cheated. In a lecture posted on YouTube, Professor Richard Quinn told the students that he had done a statistical analysis of the grades and was using other methods to identify the cheats, but instead of turning the list over to the university authorities he offered the following deal: "I don't want to have to explain to your parents why you didn't graduate, so I went to the Dean and I made a deal. The deal is you can either wait it out and hope that we don't identify you, or you can identify yourself to your lab instructor and you can complete the rest of the course and the grade you get in the course is the grade you earned in the course."
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Debt Collectors Using Facebook To Embarrass Those Who Owe 266

Posted by samzenpus from the pay-up-or-be-unfriended dept.
Not even the tranquility of FarmVille can save you from the long arm of debt collectors. Melanie Beacham says that a collector from MarkOne Financial contacted her relatives about her past due car note via Facebook. She is filing suit alleging that the company is harassing her family. Tampa based consumer attorney Billy Howard of Morgan & Morgan says, "Now Facebook does a debt collectors work for them. Now it's not only family members, it's all of your associates. It's a very powerful tool for debt collectors to use."

Comment Re:Social stability or autocracy? (Score 4, Insightful) 326

by clampolo (#33841568) Attached to: China Blanks Nobel Peace Prize Searches

Is that an ideal that's especially resonant with the Chinese culture for some reason?

No, it's something that is resonant with people that want to suppress speech. Look at recent articles and you will see similar lame excuses (ie. stopping terror, child porn, copyright protection) for allowing the NSA/FBI/etc to spy on citizens or try to take down their computers.

Comment Re:Linkedin are just spammers anyway. (Score 1) 122

by clampolo (#33716818) Attached to: Attack Targets LinkedIn Users With Fake Contact Requests

Linkedin are just a bunch of scummy spammers. I blocked all email from their domain since.

That's not enough. Headhunters are going to continue to call you at work. They see where you are working and then just call your company's operator asking for you. Once you put your information on Linkedin it is for sale to anyone that pays them for it.

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