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Press2ToContinue writes:
If Steve Jobs were here, this might have already happened — it's just one of those upgrades that seems blindingly obvious in hindsight. But thanks to Psy Corporation, maybe our tech can achieve at least one capability that the I-Everything visionary might have envisioned — night-vision-capable smartphones.
Launching a crowdsource funding campaign starting tomorrow on HWTrek.com, Psy Corporation is aiming to raise $60,000 to help bring the Snooperscope to fruition. Read on...
53388955
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Press2ToContinue writes:
A four-winged design causes this bot to float in the air like a jellyfish does in water, has no electronics, and is more stable in the air than insect-like machines.
The prototype consists of a carbon-fibre frame surrounded by two pairs of thin plastic wings that open and close when driven by a motor. Its shape allows it to fly upright with little effort, without requiring sensors or intelligence to adjust its wings like those used by insects.
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Press2ToContinue writes:
It's the first Falcon 9 launch to geosynchronous transfer orbit. Live webcast starts at 5 pm EST, launch window opens at 5:37. SpaceX is a-commin' to town.
53197405
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Press2ToContinue writes:
Middle Earth is an amazing fictional world, but if you want to really get to know it, you've got to read a lot of words. So if you're in the mood for a little Tolkien fantasy without hunkering down for a serious reading session, Google's brand new tour of Middle Earth is a beautiful (and effortless) way to get your fix.
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Press2ToContinue writes:
He was designed to save lives in disaster zones (like Fukushima). But while this Tin Man has a heart, he lacks a brain. In December, seven teams of scientists from top institutions, including MIT and Virginia Tech, will compete to code the bot for action.
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Press2ToContinue writes:
Diversity is a good thing, right? If so, then what if we could bring back extinct species at will? According to a current article in National Geographic, we just may be at that point now, and the list of species ranges from wooly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger and the woolly rhinoceros to the passenger pigeon and the dodo.
It seems inevitable: it's not a question of "should we," but "when will we?" So the question really seems to be, "who gets to decide?" And if done, can it be undone?
Oh, and one more question.... "where's the goat??" (Jurassic Park, 1993)
43523309
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Press2ToContinue writes:
With products like Google’s Glass, the Oculus Rift, and even certain features found on the Nintendo 3DS, augmented, mixed, and virtual reality are starting to make some headway in the consumer space. Canon, best known for its cameras, is looking to break into the mixed reality scene with its new head-mounted display.
The core of the setup is the Canon HMD (head-mounted display) which works in conjunction with various sensors — optical and magnetic, as well as visual markers — to help create the mixed reality environment. The HMD employs two cameras located in front of each eye that captures video and shoots it off to an off-board, tethered computer. The computer then combines the real-world visuals with computer-generated visuals, and beams that back to two monitors placed in front of the eyes within the HMD. The unit combines with a development platform, dubbed the MR Platform, which allows companies to create mixed reality images to display on the HMD.
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Press2ToContinue writes:
Amazon has found a simple way around Apple's tight-fisted iTunes... give users a web app to buy MP3s that runs in Safari. No need to pay 30%-per-tune to Apple.
Freedom of choice of vendor in Apple-only territory? A big breach of Apples walled garden? How much you wanna bet that Apple is going to have a Step Thee to say about this?
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Press2ToContinue writes:
Three days prior to its planned impact on a lunar mountain, mission controllers activated the camera aboard one of NASA’s GRAIL twins to take some final photos from lunar orbit.
This is 1 minute and 51 seconds of time-lapse photography.
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Press2ToContinue writes:
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is ready to drill the Martian surface for the first time as it journeys through a rockbed with pale veins that could hold some clues about the history of water on the Red planet.
The Mars rover will test its drilling for the first time, and this is the most complex task ever done since the landing on the Martian crater.
"Drilling into a rock to collect a sample will be this mission's most challenging activity since the landing," Mars Science Laboratory project manager Richard Cook said, according to The Los Angeles Times. "It has never been done on Mars. The drill hardware interacts energetically with Martian material we don't control. We won't be surprised if some steps in the process don't go exactly as planned the first time through."
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Press2ToContinue writes:
Patients with irritable bowel syndrome were told they’d be participating in a study of the benefits of acupuncture and one group, which received the treatment from a warm, friendly researcher who asked detailed questions about their lives, did report a marked reduction in symptoms, equivalent to what might result from any drug on the market. Unbeknownst to them, the researchers used trick needles that didn’t pierce the skin.
Now here’s the interesting part: The same sham treatment was given to another group of subjects but performed brusquely, without conversation. The benefits largely disappeared. It was the empathetic exchange between practitioner and patient, Kaptchuk concluded, that made the difference.
What Kaptchuk demonstrated is what some medical thinkers have begun to call the "care effect" — the idea that the opportunity for patients to feel heard and cared for can improve their health. Scientific or no, alternative practitioners tend to express empathy, to allow for unhurried silences, and to ask what meaning patients make of their pain. Kaptchuk’s study was a breakthrough: It showed that randomized, controlled trials could measure the effect of caring.
http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/01/the-placebo-phenomenon
http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/12044130/reload=0;jsessionid=2iFEBiTN3TVLZzQC5xF8.0
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Press2ToContinue writes:
ESA’s Mars Express imaged the striking upper part of the Reull Vallis region of Mars with its high-resolution stereo camera last year.
Reull Vallis, the river-like structure in these images, is believed to have formed when running water flowed in the distant martian past, cutting a steep-sided channel through the Promethei Terra Highlands before running on towards the floor of the vast Hellas basin.
This sinuous structure, which stretches for almost 1500 km across the martian landscape, is flanked by numerous tributaries, one of which can be clearly seen cutting in to the main valley towards the upper (north) side.
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Press2ToContinue writes:
I came across this page that asks the question, "what are the unwritten rules of deleting code?"
It made me realize that I have seen no references to generally-accepted best-practice documents regarding code modification, deletion, or rewrites. I would imagine /.'s have come across them if they exist. The answers may be somewhat language-dependent, but what best practices do /.'s use when they modify production code?
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Press2ToContinue writes:
"Facial recognition cameras are installed at local businesses. These cameras recognize your face when you pass by, then check you in at the location. Simultaneously, your smartphone notifies you of a customized deal based on your Like history."
From Facebook, whose track record for privacy problems is legendary.
What could possibly go wrong?
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Press2ToContinue writes:
"Idiopathic autism, caused by genetic susceptibility interacting with unknown environmental triggers, has increased dramatically in the past 25 years. Identifying environmental triggers has been difficult due to poorly understood pathophysiology and subjective definitions of autism. The use of antidepressants by pregnant women has been associated with autism. These and other unmetabolized psychoactive pharmaceuticals (UPPs) have also been found in drinking water from surface sources, providing another possible exposure route and raising questions about human health consequences.
Our findings suggest a new potential trigger for idiopathic autism in genetically susceptible individuals involving an overlooked source of environmental contamination."
More easily digestible rephrasings of the report are found here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21882-antidepressants-in-water-trigger-autism-genes-in-fish.html
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/04/antidepressant.pregnancy.autism.risk/index.html
