68742227
submission
Press2ToContinue writes:
Apple today was awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a digital stylus that translates a user's handwritten note into a digital version when connected to a smartphone, tablet, or any "digital computing device"
Is it just me, or is this so obvious it's downright painful?
68735555
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Press2ToContinue writes:
Between the company's general disposition and the incredible failure of the SimCity launch, Electronic Arts is becoming a name associated directly with digital rights management. The most infamous DRM platform the company has used is probably SecuROM, which was noteworthy for being equal parts mega-annoying to paying customers, as well as being so massively ineffective that games employing SecuROM later became amongst the most pirated video games of all time.
But, results aside, EA would tell you that it needed to use DRM to protect the company from piracy. Even if SecuROM failed, the company had to at least try, or else the freeloaders that live the highlife getting around intellectual property laws would win. Violating IP laws is wrong, damn it, and EA was going to do everything in its power to right that wrong.
Including violating a notorious patent troll's intellectual property to do so, apparently — at least, according to an East Texas court, which awarded Uniloc nearly $5 million after determining that EA violated the patent troll's patent with the SecuROM platform.
I have to admit, I feel a bit like the characters at the end of the original Jurassic Park movie, who were being attacked by velociraptors only to be saved at the last moment by the tyrannosaurus rex that had nearly murdered them all earlier. You don't really root for either side; you can only pray they tear each other apart.
67644033
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Press2ToContinue writes:
THIS one’s for real. Forget the faces and the pyramids: An odd ‘boil’ on the face of Mars has scientists scrambling for an explanation.
The weird circular blemish, some 2km in diameter, recently appeared in an image beamed back from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It leaps out at the camera in an area otherwise unusually smooth for the Red planet.
And that in itself could be a clue as to what it actually is.
67410603
submission
Press2ToContinue writes:
In the early 1970s, about 25 percent of 12- to 54-year-old Americans were myopic. By the 2000s, more than 41 percent had the condition. Researchers have trouble finding non-myopic controls for their studies, and clinicians see children as young as 4 with severe myopia.
Other countries, particularly those in East Asia where schooling starts earlier and lasts longer each day, have beat us to the chase. In Singapore, for one, the military realized it could no longer rule out recruits due to nearsightedness; there would be too few prospects left.
In Taiwan, the myopia prevalence among 7-year-olds increased from 5.8 percent in 1983 to 21 percent in 2000. And in South Korea, a large, representative study of 19-year-olds showed that more than 96 percent were myopic in 2010. “So you can pretty much say everybody’s myopic” there.
That’s a problem because myopia – characterized by eyeballs that are more egg-shaped than spherical – is linked with a higher risk for various eye diseases such as retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts.
67302197
submission
Press2ToContinue writes:
At UPS, you might be able to pick up a different kind of package.
The company began offering 3D printing services over the past couple of months, and UPS rules don’t explicitly prohibit customers from using those printers to create sex toys. A UPS representative told the site they won’t allow patrons to print out items like weapons but when asked about sex toys, the rep said there’s no company-wide rule against them.
Free downloadable sex toy patterns for 3D printers can already be found for free on the net.
Is it possible, that like the exponential growth of the the early Internet being spawned by the driving force of porn becoming so available, could the new, easy availbility of custom-fit sex-related items and clothing do the same for 3D printing? I'm feeling a sexy cosplay coming on...
53389591
submission
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
submission
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.
53387269
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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
submission
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.
53196793
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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.
43891835
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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
submission
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.
42306925
submission
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?
42293211
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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.
42292517
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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."
