54848463
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Lots of CEOs, entrepreneurs, and developers made headlines in 2013—but in hindsight, Edward Snowden will likely stand as this year’s most influential figure in technology. In June, Snowden began feeding top-secret documents detailing the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs to The Guardian and other newspapers. Much of that information, downloaded by Snowden while he served as a system administrator at an NSA outpost in Hawaii, suggested that the U.S. government swept up massive amounts of information on ordinary Americans as part of its broader operations. Whatever one’s feelings on the debate over privacy and security, it’s undeniable that Snowden’s documents have increased general awareness of online vulnerability; but whether that’s sparked an increased use of countermeasures—including encryption tools—is another matter entirely. On the developer side of things, when you consider the sheer amount of money, time, and code that’ll be invested over the next few years in encryption and encryption-breaking, it’s clear that Snowden’s influence will be felt for quite some time to come—even if the man himself is trapped in Russian exile.
54823529
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Some high-profile tech initiatives really crashed-and-burned this year. Did BlackBerry executives really think that BlackBerry 10 would spark a miraculous turnaround, or were they simply going through the motions of promoting it? That's the key question as BlackBerry 10 devices fail to sell. Then there's Facebook's misbegotten attempt at "skinning" the Android OS with its Home app. Or maybe Healthcare.gov counts as 2013's biggest debacle, with its repeated crashes and glitches and inability to carry out core functions. What do you think was the biggest software or hardware (or both) mishap of the past twelve months?
54819787
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
According to research firm NPD Group, Chromebooks—which run Chrome OS, Google’s PC operating system—accounted for 21 percent of all commercial notebook sales in 2013, up from a “negligible” percentage in 2012. On a broader level, Chromebooks seized 8 percent of all commercial tablet and PC sales through November, a significant increase from the one-tenth of one percent claimed the previous year. Roughly 1.76 million Chromebooks and Android tablets flowed through commercial channels between January and November, an increase from 400,000 units in 2012. Tepid sales of Windows PCs created an opening for alternative operating systems, according to Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD: “As businesses upgrade from older machines and operating systems in the year ahead, the long-term trend is clearly towards greater hardware diversity, which all manufacturers will need to embrace in order to continue to grow.” But are Chromebooks an existential threat to those rival PC platforms? Microsoft seems to think so, having launched a series of vicious attack ads that denigrate Chrome OS as ineffectual for daily needs. And it’s easy to see why Microsoft is freaked out, considering how Dell and Hewlett-Packard—two longtime Windows OEMs—have added Chromebooks to their portfolio.
54777173
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
The decision of a New York judge that the wholesale collection of cell-phone metadata by the National Security Agency is constitutional ties the score between pro- and anti-NSA forces at one victory apiece. The contradictory decisions use similar reasoning and criteria to come to opposite conclusions, leaving both individuals and corporations uncertain of whether their phone calls, online activity or even data stored in the cloud will ultimately be shielded by U.S. laws protecting property, privacy or search and seizure by law-enforcement agencies. On Dec. 27, Judge William H. Pauley threw out a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that sought to stop the NSA PRISM cell-phone metadata-collection program on the grounds it violated Fourth Amendment provisions protecting individual privacy and limits on search and seizure of personal property by the federal government. Pauley threw out the lawsuit largely due to his conclusion that Fourth Amendment protections do not apply to records held by third parties. That eliminates the criteria for most legal challenges, but throws into question the privacy of any data held by phone companies, cloud providers or external hosting companies – all of which could qualify as unprotected third parties.
54732215
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
A 4-foot, 7-inch semi-autonomous bipedal automaton from a Google-owned maker of commercial robots took first place in DARPA’s rescue-robot competition last weekend. Japanese robot-maker Schaft, Inc.’s HRP-2 outclassed robots from NASA, Lockheed-Martin, MIT and other leading U.S. teams in a series of eight competitions designed to see which could complete eight disaster- and rescue-related tasks in the shortest time and with the smallest amount of help from humans. Schaft was spun out from Tokyo University into a private company, and was eventually acquired by Google along with Boston Dynamics, the U.S.-based robot-maker Google bought earlier this month. Boston Dynamics makes military inspired robots, including Big Dog as well as the Atlas humanoid robot. DARPA rules allow software developers to enter the competition using hardware built by a third party. Sixteen teams competed in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials 2013 at Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway Dec. 20-21, which was designed and sponsored by the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The event was the third of four rounds of competition that will wrap up late in 2014 in a far more difficult series of challenges designed to both test the robots themselves and push teams to higher levels of development and ingenuity, according to DARPA program manager Gill Pratt, who was quoted in DARPA statements describing the event.
54632171
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Snapchat managed to attract a lot of buzz in 2013—perhaps more than any other app on the market—and it’s easy to see why: in these paranoid times, with the NSA allegedly sniffing around the world’s collective inbox, and lots of software on the market designed to snoop into people’s lives, it’s comforting to have an app that’ll vaporize your messages within seconds of their opening. Snapchat’s executives see the startup’s future as so bright, in fact, that they reportedly turned down a $3 billion buyout from Facebook. But whether Snapchat eventually accepts a buyout offer, or tries to parlay its popularity into some sort of IPO, it faces a rather unique problem: how do you make money off a free app that near-instantly vaporizes all content? Snapchat could emulate enterprise-centric vaporizing-message firms such as Silent Circle and start charging for subscriptions, but that would probably kill the service; a multitude of free rivals would likely spring up, with the express purpose of stealing irate customers away. More likely, Snapchat will probably launch some sort of display ad system, similar to what Facebook and Twitter have now—but given how it doesn’t store user information on its servers, it’ll probably be hard to monetize its users as extensively as those social networks. With that in mind, Snapchat might be left with two options going forward—either expand its services in a radical new (and more profitable) direction, or sell to a Tech Big Fish for a whole lot of money.
54558549
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Research scientists could learn an important thing or two from computer scientists, according to a new study showing that data underpinning even groundbreaking research tends to disappear over time. Researchers also disappear, though more slowly and only in terms of the email addresses and the other public contact methods that other scientists would normally use to contact them. Almost all the data supporting studies published during the past two years is still available, as are at least some of the researchers, according to a study published Dec. 19 in the journal Current Biology. The odds that supporting data is still available for studies published between 2 years and 22 years ago drops 17 percent every year after the first two. The odds of finding a working email address for the first, last or corresponding author of a paper also dropped 7 percent per year, according to the study, which examined the state of data from 516 studies between 2 years and 22 years old. Having data available from an original study is critical for other scientists wanting to confirm, replicate or build on previous research – goals that are core parts of the evolutionary, usually self-correcting dynamic of the scientific method on which nearly all modern research is based. No matter how invested in their own work, scientists appear to be “poor stewards” of their own work, the study concluded.
54512291
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
A compiler can take your C++ loops and create vectorized assembly code for you. It’s obviously important that you RTFM and fully understand compiler options (especially since the defaults may not be what you want or think you’re getting), but even then, do you trust that the compiler is generating the best code for you? Developer and editor Jeff Cogswell compares the g++ and Intel compilers when it comes to generating vectorized code, building off a previous test that examined the g++ compiler's vectorization abilities, and comes to some definite conclusions. "The g++ compiler did well up against the Intel compiler," he wrote. "I was troubled by how different the generated assembly code was between the 4.7 and 4.8.1 compilers—not just with the vectorization but throughout the code." Do you agree?
54485195
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
The comparatively recent addition of supercomputing to the toolbox of biomedical research may already have paid off in a big way: Researchers have used a bio-specialized supercomputer to identify a molecular “switch” that might be used to turn off bad behavior by pathogens. They’re now trying to figure out what to do with that discovery by running even bigger tests on the world’s second-most-powerful supercomputer. The “switch” is a pair of amino acids called Phe396 that helps control the ability of the E. coli bacteria to move under its own power. Phe396 sits on a chemoreceptor that extends through the cell wall, so it can pass information about changes in the local environment to proteins on the inside of the cell. Its role was discovered by a team of researchers from the University of Tennessee and the ORNL Joint Institute for Computational Sciences using a specialized supercomputer called Anton, which was built specifically to simulate biomolecular interactions among proteins and other molecules to give researchers a better way to study details of how molecules interact. “For decades proteins have been viewed as static molecules, and almost everything we know about them comes from static images, such as those produced with X-ray crystallography,” according to Igor Zhulin, a researcher at ORNL and professor of microbiology at UT, in whose lab the discovery was made. “But signaling is a dynamic process, which is difficult to fully understand using only snapshots.”
54441149
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Tech publications and pundits alike have crowed about the benefits we’re soon to collectively reap from healthcare analytics. In theory, sensors attached to our bodies (and appliances such as the fridge) will send a stream of health-related data—everything from calorie and footstep counts to blood pressure and sleep activity—to the cloud, which will analyze it for insight; doctors and other healthcare professionals will use that data to tailor treatments or advise changes in behavior and diet. But the sensors still leave a lot to be desired: "smart bracelets" such as Nike's FuelBand and FitBit can prove poor judges of physical activity, and FitBit's associated app still requires you manually input records of daily food intake (the FuelBand is also a poor judge of lower-body activity, such as running). FDA-approved ingestible sensors are still being researched, and it'd be hard to convince most people that swallowing one is in their best interests. Despite the hype about data's ability to improve peoples' health, we could be a long way from any sort of meaningful consumer technology that truly makes that happen.
54406695
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Commercial package-delivery drones such as those revealed by Amazon and DHL could face danger from more than shotgun-toting, UAV-hunting yahoos following the successful test of a drone-killing laser by the U.S. Army. Though it’s more likely to take aim at enemy observation drones than Amazon’s package-deliver ‘copters, the U.S. Army’s High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL-MD) did prove itself in tests last week by shooting down 90 incoming mortars and a series of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The original goal during the test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was to burn out or blow up mortar rounds and blind the cameras or other sensors carried by drones. The laser proved capable enough to damage or slice off the tails of target drones, which brought them down, according to Terry Bauer, HEL MD program manager, as quoted in the Dec. 11 Army announcement of the test. The quarter-sized beam of super-focused light set off the explosives in the 60-millimeter mortars in mid-flight, leaving the rest to fall “like a rock,” Bauer said. The laser could target only one mortar at a time, but could switch targets quickly enough to bring down several mortars fired in a single volley. The laser and its power source are contained in a single 500-horsepower, four-axle truck but was directed by a separate Enhanced Multi Mode Radar system. The next step is a move from New Mexico to a testing range in Florida early next year “to test it in ran and fog and things like that,” according to Bauer.
54335975
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Computer scientists at Harvard University have come up with a way to convert algorithms that teach machines to learn into a form that would allow artificial intelligence to be programmed into complex chemical reactions. The ultimate result could be “smart” drugs “programmed” to react differently depending on which of several probable situations they might encounter – without the need to use nano-scale electronics to carry the instructions. “This kind of chemical-based AI will be necessary for constructing therapies that sense and adapt to their environment,” according to Ryan P. Adams, assistant professor of computer science at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), who co-wrote the paper explaining the technique. “The hope is to eventually have drugs that can specialize themselves to your personal chemistry and can diagnose or treat a range of pathologies.” The techniques are part of a larger effort to program the behavior of molecules in manufacturing, decision-making and diagnostics, using both nano-scale electronics and the still-relatively-new study of bionanotechnology.
54306015
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Upworthy is a runner-up for most cynical site on the Web. Its formula for pageview success: scour the Web for content that’s compelling enough for readers to share it on their social networks. Repackage that content with leading headlines designed to spark maximum curiosity (“You Think His Big Brother Will Fight the Attacker. Then There’s a Shockingly Beautiful Twist”) and lots of prominent sharing icons, for epic clicks and follows. Sprinkle the text with outbound hyperlinks for optimized SEO. Cross your fingers, and hope that the package goes “viral” as bored Web surfers share it with their networks. A key demographic in that quest for viral domination: middle-aged women. “Let’s talk about your Mom, dude,” reads Upworthy’s own Slideshare. “Fact: no one likes to disappoint their mom. Double fact: Middle aged women are the biggest sharers on the interwebs. Ergo: If you frame your content to not make your mom shake her head, you have a better chance of winning.” Upworthy also leans heavily on Facebook to deliver its millions of pageviews a month, and that dependence is its Achilles Heel: if the social network’s anticipated changes to its newsfeed algorithm results in less surfacing of Upworthy-style content, it could have a severe impact on the Website’s traffic. “If and when Facebook begins to ratchet back on this new wave of viral content it can do so in ways that separate the really manipulative posts from the ones people actually enjoy,” The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein wrote in a column earlier this month. “But as a genre, this stuff is flooding into Facebook so fast, and it’s so much more effective at getting shared than anything that came before it, that it seems almost certain that there’ll eventually be a correction in the algorithm to keep it from taking over news feeds entirely.”
54251931
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
From the annals of Really Important Science comes word that a research assistant who picked up his B.S. just seven months ago has invented a coffee mug designed to keep java at just the right piping-hot temperature for hours. Logan Maxwell, who got his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University in May, created the “Temperfect” mug as part of his senior design project for the College of Engineering. Most insulated mugs have two walls separated by a soft vacuum that insulates the temperature of a liquid inside from the temperature of the air outside. Maxwell’s design has a third layer of insulation in a third wall wrapped around the inner basin of the mug. Inside is a chemical insulator that is solid at room temperature but melts into a liquid at 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The insulator – which Maxwell won’t identify but swears is non-toxic – turns to liquid as it absorbs the extra heat of coffee poured into the mug at temperatures higher than 140 F, cooling it to a drinkable temperature quickly. As the heat of the coffee escapes, the insulating material releases heat through the inner wall of the mug to keep it hot as long as possible; a graph mapping the performance of a prototype shows it could keep a cup of coffee at between 128 F and 145 F for as long as 90 minutes. “Phase-change” coffee-mug insulation was patented during the 1960s, but has never been marketed because they are difficult and expensive to manufacture compared to simpler forms of insulation. While working on the Temperfect design, Maxwell met Belgian-born industrial designer Dean Verhoeven, president of consulting form Ancona Research, Inc., who had been working on a similar design and had already worked out how to manufacture a three-walled insulated mug cost effectively. The two co-founded a company called Joevo to manufacture the mugs.
54196563
submission
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Nokia is working on an Android-based smartphone, according to unnamed sources speaking to AllThingsD and The Verge. The test versions of device, which is codenamed “Normandy,” run a heavily modified version of Android. In late November, @evleaks posted an alleged image of the phone, which (if accurate) includes many of the Nokia design hallmarks, such as a brightly colored shell and prominent rear camera. Exactly how the software differs from the “standard” version of Android is an open question, although other companies that have forked the operating system (most notably Amazon, with its Kindle tablets) haven’t been shy about modifying the user interface in radical ways. According to AllThingsD, Nokia’s “low-end mobile phone unit” is overseeing the project. “Normandy aims to repurpose the open-source version of Android into a better entry-level smartphone than Nokia has had with its current Asha line,” the publication explained, “which is based on the aging Series 40 operating system.” But here’s the rub: Nokia’s phone unit is well on its way to becoming a Microsoft subsidiary. Microsoft competes against Google in many arenas, including mobile and search. The idea of a Microsoft ancillary producing an Android-based phone to compete in lower-end markets—where cheap Android phones dominate—is liable to provoke a burst of surprised laughter from anyone in tech: surely such a project would never hit store-shelves, given Microsoft’s very public backing of Windows Phone as its sole mobile OS. And yet, there’s also reason to think Microsoft might actually take a chance on an alternative OS. Over the past few years, the company’s legal team has cornered the majority of Android manufacturers worldwide into a stark deal: agree to pay a set fee for every Android device produced, or face a costly patent-infringement lawsuit. As a result of that arm-twisting, Microsoft already makes quite a bit of money off Android (more, perhaps, than it earns selling Windows Phone), which could acclimate it to the idea of taking the leap and actually selling Android devices.
