Submission + - Are gamers saints or sinners? (healthline.com)
LesterMoore writes: Why there's so much contradictory information on how video games spur violence or useful life skills in kids and the most solid conclusions to draw.
Submission + - Mobile Payments may be a big part of the next iPhone (tuaw.com)
An anonymous reader writes: It seems that the stars are aligning in such a way as to make Apple's upcoming September event the company's biggest and most impactful event in years.
In addition to new iPhones and swirling reports of a new type of wearable device, one rumor that's been picking up steam in recent weeks centers on Apple entering the big bad world of mobile payments. Now the ability to make mobile payments is of course nothing new, but none of the the implementations introduced by a myriad of companies over the years have ever gained mainstream traction. To that end, perhaps Apple will be able to usher mobile payments into the mainstream in the same way that they revived a tablet market that was previously DOA.
So without further ado, below are a few pieces of compelling evidence which suggest that a mobile payments announcement from Tim Cook and co. may just a few days away.
In addition to new iPhones and swirling reports of a new type of wearable device, one rumor that's been picking up steam in recent weeks centers on Apple entering the big bad world of mobile payments. Now the ability to make mobile payments is of course nothing new, but none of the the implementations introduced by a myriad of companies over the years have ever gained mainstream traction. To that end, perhaps Apple will be able to usher mobile payments into the mainstream in the same way that they revived a tablet market that was previously DOA.
So without further ado, below are a few pieces of compelling evidence which suggest that a mobile payments announcement from Tim Cook and co. may just a few days away.
Submission + - Particle physics to aid nuclear cleanup (symmetrymagazine.org)
mdsolar writes: Cosmic rays can help scientists do something no one else can: safely image the interior of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.... [M]uon tomography, is similar to taking an X-ray, only it uses naturally produced muons. These particles don’t damage the imaged materials and, because they already stream through everything on Earth, they can be used to image even the most sensitive objects. Better yet, a huge amount of shielding is needed to stop muons from passing through an object, making it nearly impossible to hide from muon tomography.
“Everything around you is constantly being radiographed by muons,” says Christopher Morris, who leads the Los Alamos muon tomography team. “All you have to do is set some detectors above and below it, and measure the angles well enough to make a picture.”
By determining how muons scatter as they interact with electrons and nuclei within the item, the team’s software creates a three-dimensional picture of what’s inside.... To prove the technology, the Los Alamos team shipped a demo detector system to a small, working nuclear reactor in a Toshiba facility in Kawasaki, Japan. There, they placed one detector on either side of the reactor core.
“When we analyzed our data we discovered that in addition to the fuel in the reactor core, they had put a few fuel bundles off to the side that we didn’t know about,” says Morris. “They were really impressed that not only could we image the core, but that we also found those bundles.”
Based on that successful test, Toshiba signed an agreement with Los Alamos and later with Decision Sciences to design and manufacture muon-detector components for use at Fukushima Daiichi.
“Everything around you is constantly being radiographed by muons,” says Christopher Morris, who leads the Los Alamos muon tomography team. “All you have to do is set some detectors above and below it, and measure the angles well enough to make a picture.”
By determining how muons scatter as they interact with electrons and nuclei within the item, the team’s software creates a three-dimensional picture of what’s inside.... To prove the technology, the Los Alamos team shipped a demo detector system to a small, working nuclear reactor in a Toshiba facility in Kawasaki, Japan. There, they placed one detector on either side of the reactor core.
“When we analyzed our data we discovered that in addition to the fuel in the reactor core, they had put a few fuel bundles off to the side that we didn’t know about,” says Morris. “They were really impressed that not only could we image the core, but that we also found those bundles.”
Based on that successful test, Toshiba signed an agreement with Los Alamos and later with Decision Sciences to design and manufacture muon-detector components for use at Fukushima Daiichi.
Submission + - Coffee Naps Better For Alertness Than Coffee or Naps Alone (vox.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Caffeine is a staple of most workplaces — it's rare to find an office without a coffee pot or a fridge full of soda. It's necessary (or at least feels like it's necessary) because it's sometimes hard to stay awake sitting at a desk for hours at a time, and the alternative — naps — aren't usually allowed. But new research shows it might be more efficient for employers to encourage brief "coffee naps," which are more effective at returning people to an alert state than either caffeine or naps by themselves. A "coffee nap" is when you drink a cup of coffee, and then take a sub-20-minute nap immediately afterward. This works because caffeine takes about 20 minutes to get into your bloodstream, and a 20-minute nap clears adenosine from your brain without entering deeper stages of sleep. In multiple studies, tired participants who took coffee naps made fewer mistakes in a driving simulator after they awoke than the people who drank coffee without a nap or slept without ingesting caffeine.
Submission + - Antibiotic Resistance: It's Happening and It's a Really Big Deal (healthline.com)
LesterMoore writes: In a huge series on antibiotic resistance, Healthline's Brian Krans explains how it happens, why it happens, why the government hasn't done anything and what you can do to protect yourself from superbugs.
Submission + - A simple inhaler shows promise preventing and treating Alzheimer's disease (healthline.com)
LesterMoore writes: Among the most promising research on Alzheimer's disease from the last year highlighted by the NIH come a few studies that suggest that blood sugar is a key factor in the disease and that a simple insulin inhaler can prevent dementia & even improve existing symptoms. Compared to failed attempts to use new pharmaceuticals, that seems like a big deal.
Submission + - Chair Cushion Monitors Vital Signs Through a Patient's Rear End (healthline.com)
LesterMoore writes: A seat-cushion monitor calculates a sitting patient's heart and breathing rates based on vibrations. By monitoring patients who aren't bed-ridden hospitals can catch more problems and, hopefully, offer overall better results.
Submission + - New Mexico will build renewable energy ghost town (sfgate.com)
LesterMoore writes: It won't be New Mexico's first ghost town, but it will be the first to be built intentionally. Complete with highways, commercial buildings and houses and 35,000 hypothetical residents, the ghost town will allow renewable energy innovators to test their wares in real-world conditions.
Submission + - Find my iPhone used to locate plane crash in Chile (9to5mac.com)
spagiola writes: Late last week, a military transport aircraft with 17 people on -board went missing near Robinson Crusoe, Chile. The relatives of one of the crash victims logged into Find My iPhone and were able to isolate the coordinates of the last known whereabouts of the plane before it crashed.
Submission + - Ammonia: The Fuel Technology Of The Future? (allcartech.com)
thecarchik writes: Ammonia: Useful in fertilizers, cleaning products and fairly unpleasant in direct human contact. Used as a fuel for vehicles? Certainly not impossible.
Rather than using hydrogen to power fuel cells and the associated high-pressure storage problems associated with this, we could would use water to produce hydrogen from electrolysis, and this is then combined with nitrogen from the air to produce ammonia.
The ammonia itself would then be burned in an internal combustion engine, but the burning process only releases water vapor and nitrogen, rather than the unburned hydrocarbons and other pollutants that internal combustion is normally associated with.
In theory, the ammonia is also simple and cheap to produce — enough so that it could be sold at 20 cents per gallon. As long as researchers keep working on radical ideas such as Ammonia powered cars or "urine powered cars", they are bound to one day to hit on the formula that can be widely adopted.
Rather than using hydrogen to power fuel cells and the associated high-pressure storage problems associated with this, we could would use water to produce hydrogen from electrolysis, and this is then combined with nitrogen from the air to produce ammonia.
The ammonia itself would then be burned in an internal combustion engine, but the burning process only releases water vapor and nitrogen, rather than the unburned hydrocarbons and other pollutants that internal combustion is normally associated with.
In theory, the ammonia is also simple and cheap to produce — enough so that it could be sold at 20 cents per gallon. As long as researchers keep working on radical ideas such as Ammonia powered cars or "urine powered cars", they are bound to one day to hit on the formula that can be widely adopted.
Submission + - CS Majors do badly in the jobs market (wordpress.com)
An anonymous reader writes: British CS majors do badly in the job market — with, four years after graduation, a higher than average (for college graduates) unemployment rate and fewer returning to higher education. The only good news is that a higher propertion than average are in employment. Brit CS majors also do badly immediately after graduation. No similar US figures exist reports the Computing Education Blog.
Submission + - London Riots + Facial Recognition Technology (forbes.com)
nonprofiteer writes: A bunch of vigilantes are organizing a Google Group dedicated to using recently revealed facial recognition tools (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/01/1533210/How-Face-Recognition-Can-Uncover-SSNs) to identify looters in the London riots. While Vancouver discussed doing something similar after the Stanley Cup riots, it never actually moved forward on it. Ring of Steel London, though, is far more likely to incorporate FRT into its investigative work.
http://groups.google.com/group/london-riots-facial-recognition (now a private group)
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/09/google-group-members-to-use-facial-recognition-to-identify-london-rioter/
http://groups.google.com/group/london-riots-facial-recognition (now a private group)
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/09/google-group-members-to-use-facial-recognition-to-identify-london-rioter/
Submission + - An E-Reader That Doesn't Require Electricity (inhabitat.com)
LesterMoore writes: Faced with a choice between paper and channeling electricity through the latest gadget, it's easy to feel guilty about reading. But you don't need to fret anymore, because Taiwanese researchers have developed re-writable “paper” that allows you to channel the benefits of an e-reader, all without the need to keep it powered up.
Submission + - RIM About To Shut Down BBM (theappwhisperer.com) 1
theappwhisperer writes: "Despite responses from RIM during the night that they will not be shutting down their BBM service it is now looking increasingly likely that they will. Tottenham MP David Lammy has called on RIM to shut down its BlackBerry Messenger service overnight, in the hope that it will prevent rioters coordinating more attacks throughout England.
Lammy went on to speak on Radio 5Live earlier today where he said the BBM service was, "one of the reasons why unsophisticated criminals are outfoxing an otherwise sophisticated police force".
We have been speaking with RIM's PR department today and so far there is no official word that this will happen, the message is to 'stay tuned' with a statement following (hopefully) in due course. We will keep checking back on this and as soon as we have an update we will let you know."
Lammy went on to speak on Radio 5Live earlier today where he said the BBM service was, "one of the reasons why unsophisticated criminals are outfoxing an otherwise sophisticated police force".
We have been speaking with RIM's PR department today and so far there is no official word that this will happen, the message is to 'stay tuned' with a statement following (hopefully) in due course. We will keep checking back on this and as soon as we have an update we will let you know."
Submission + - Yahoo! So Many Visitors, So Little Revenue (internetevolution.com)
rsmiller510 writes: "Yahoo! has managed to build some of the most popular sites around, yet its valuation and revenue don't reflect that. Perhaps it's because they continue to use a print-style advertising model that just doesn't work."
