65081511
submission
stephendavion writes:
The US military has displayed a potential new sand table technology at the recently concluded Modern Day Marine exhibition held aboard the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, US. Developed by the Army Research Laboratory, the augmented reality sand (ARES) table features a laptop connected to a projector and a Microsoft Kinect, a combined microphone and camera device used with video game systems. The table combines readily available and relatively inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf technology, and improves on the notecards and string seen in legacy sand tables by projecting images of units and landscapes down onto a tabletop box of sand. Projecting units and vehicles as 3x5 notecards and roads or streams as pieces of string, the traditional sand tables are rudimentary three-dimensional maps used for military planning and war games on a small scale.
64483351
submission
stephendavion writes:
A 16-year-old from India has designed a device that converts breath into speech. High-school student Arsh Shah Dilbagi invented TALK as a portable and affordable way to aid people suffering from ALS, locked-in syndrome, and anyone else speech-impaired or paralyzed. Prototyped using a basic $25 Arduino microcontroller, Dilbagi’s invention costs only $80, or about a hundred times less than the sort of Augmentative and Alternative Communication device used by Stephen Hawking. TALK works by translating breath into electric signals using a MEMS Microphone, an advanced form of listeningtech that uses a diaphragm etched directly onto a silicon microchip. The user is expected to be able to give two distinguishable exhales, varying in intensity or time, so that they can spell words out using Morse code.
64477895
submission
stephendavion writes:
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US have come up with a new algorithm that could aid in analysing the rotation of objects in space, which will help in cleaning up debris in the geosynchronous orbit. The algorithm was tested using two small satellites deployed to the International Space Station (ISS) through MIT's SPHERES project. One of the SPHERES satellite rotated in place, while the other captured photographs of the spinning satellite.
64359285
submission
stephendavion writes:
Wargaming’s suite of online games lets players take virtual command of history’s greatest war machines, but the company is now helping to restore historic vehicles in the real world. From the lifting of a Dornier 17 bomber from the bottom of the English Channel to the recently-announced restoration of the legendary Panzer VIII Maus tank, Wargaming is working with museums around the world to preserve historic military tech for generations to come.
64052743
submission
stephendavion writes:
Five of the world’s ten richest oil and gas billionaires are from Russia; two are based in the US, while surprisingly only one hails from the Middle East. Here are the profiles of the world’s richest oil and gas tycoons based on Forbes’ calculations of net worth as of the end of July 2014.
63918231
submission
stephendavion writes:
Intel has unveiled a 3G modem not much bigger than a UK penny or US one-cent coin, with the aim of embedding it in connected devices around the home. The company says the XMM 6255, with an area of about 300 sq mm, is the world's smallest modem. The standalone chip could be used in wearable tech, as well as security devices such as "smart" smoke alarms. It is built to protect against overheating, and withstand tough conditions. The modem also features an embedded power supply.
63891069
submission
stephendavion writes:
Shvabe has designed and developed a new laser cannon for ships, which is capable of cutting ice. The ship-mounted laser can be used to support operations such as work at oil and gas platforms in the Arctic seas, making it easier to break the ice, reported RIA Novosti. This ship-mounted laser developed for exploration and development in the Arctic. This laser works like glass cutters, snipping away at the ice, and then the ship using its own weight can push through.
63857417
submission
stephendavion writes:
Checking to see if your drink has been tampered with is about to get a whole lot more discreet. Thanks to the work of four North Carolina State University undergrads, you’ll soon be able to find out without reaching for a testing tool. That’s because you’ll already have five of them on each hand. The team — Ankesh Madan, Stephen Gray, Tasso Von Windheim, and Tyler Confrey-Maloney — has come up with a creative and unobtrusive way to package chemicals that react when exposed to Rohypnol and GHB. They put it in nail polish that they’re calling Undercover Colors.
63738471
submission
stephendavion writes:
Researchers will demonstrate the process used to spy on smartphones using gyroscopes at Usenix Security event on August 22, 2014. Researchers from Stanford and a defence research group at Rafael will demonstrate a way to spy on smartphones using gyroscopes at Usenix Security event on August 22, 2014. According to the 'Gyrophone: Recognizing Speech From Gyroscope Signals' study, the gyroscopes integrated into smartphones were sensitive enough to enable some sound waves to be picked up, transforming them into crude microphones.
63691097
submission
stephendavion writes:
Looks like Chinese device maker, Xiaomi, is taking its "Apple of the East" tag too literally. First, their CEO brazenly copies Steve Jobs' signature look, sitting cross-legged on the floor and everything. And now, Xiaomi's latest version of Android shamelessly rips off iOS 7. MIUI 6, which is Xiaomi's upcoming edition of Android for its latest phones and tablets, looks almost exactly like Apple's operating system for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch. It features the same bright color palette and a flat design. Heck, it even does away with Google's "app drawer" and puts all apps on your home screen. It's like the CEO handed iPhones to the design team and barked: "Here, copy this!"
63631997
submission
stephendavion writes:
General Dynamics (GD) C4 Systems' AN/PRC-155 two-channel Manpack radios have demonstrated their ability to successfully close a communications gap between two talk groups located 2,000m apart. The successful PRC-155 radio-channels transmission bridged the line-of-sight rifleman radio and single-channel ground and airborne radio system (SINCGARS) to the orbiting mobile-user objective system (MUOS) satellites.
63507339
submission
stephendavion writes:
The Canadian Government has dispatched two icebreakers on a scientific survey to accumulate data required for Canada's Arctic continental shelf submission. The move forms part of the country's efforts to stake a claim on the North Pole, which is a potentially mineral-rich area. The vessels, CCGS Terry Fox and the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, departed from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador to analyse a portion of the Eurasian Basin on the eastern Lomonosov Ridge, as well as some areas in the vicinity of the North Pole, if conditions permit.
63426525
submission
stephendavion writes:
City of London cops have ventured outside the M25 to cuff a suspect in Nottingham under the suspicion that he runs a "proxy server" which allows users to access 36 verboten sites. Officers from City Police's Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) said they'd arrested and questioned a 20-year-old man suspected of running an "umbrella website" that provided access to websites that are currently subject to blocking orders. The suspect has been released on bail.
63406359
submission
stephendavion writes:
Brent crude oil increased towards $105 a barrel on Wednesday following a large decline in US crude stocks last week. Reuters reported that Brent crude oil was up 17 cents to $104.78 a barrel, while US crude for September delivery increased 16 cents to $97.54 a barrel. Oil prices have fallen more than $10 a barrel in the past six weeks, following a supply glut in West African and Atlantic markets. Demand in the US remains strong as data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed that crude inventories declined by 5.5 million barrels to 363.9 million barrels in the week ending 1 August.
63377553
submission
stephendavion writes:
A legal scholar says he and colleagues have developed an algorithm that can predict, with 70 percent accuracy, whether the US Supreme Court will uphold or reverse the lower-court decision before it. "Using only data available prior to the date of decision, our model correctly identifies 69.7 percent of the Court’s overall affirm and reverse decisions and correctly forecasts 70.9% of the votes of individual justices across 7,700 cases and more than 68,000 justice votes," Josh Blackman, a South Texas College of Law scholar, wrote on his blog Tuesday.
