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Submission + - Could 3D Printing be the Future of Earthquake-Proof Building?

Submitted by Beverley Mitchell
Beverley Mitchell writes: California-based architects Emerging Objects have developed a 3D-printed building component known as the Quake Column. The design draws on the ancient Incan dry-stone building technique known as “ashlar” and merges it with modern technology. Ashlar used blocks of stone cut to fit together tightly without mortar. During earthquakes, the Incas' dry-stone walls would move slightly and resettle without any damage. Similarly, the component-based Quake Column system interlocks perfectly. However, unlike the Incan version, whose stones weighed up to several tons, its 3D-printed blocks are lightweight, hollow and come with convenient handles.

Submission + - Intel processors fails at math. Again.

Submitted by rastos1
rastos1 writes: In a recent blog, software developer Bruce Dawson pointed out some issues with the way the FSIN instruction is described in the “Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual.”, noting that the result of FSIN can be very inaccurate in some cases, if compared to the exact mathematical value of the sine function.

Bruce Dawson says: I was shocked when I discovered this. Both the fsin instruction and Intel’s documentation are hugely inaccurate, and the inaccurate documentation has led to poor decisions being made. ... Intel has known for years that these instructions are not as accurate as promised. They are now making updates to their documentation. Updating the instruction is not a realistic option.

Intel processors had a problem with math in past

Submission + - Maps Suggest Marco Polo May Have "Discovered" America 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For a guy who claimed to spend 17 years in China as a confidant of Kublai Khan, Marco Polo left a surprisingly skimpy paper trail. No Asian sources mention the footloose Italian. The only record of his 13th-century odyssey through the Far East is the hot air of his own Travels, which was actually an “as told to” penned by a writer of romances. But a set of 14 parchments, now collected and exhaustively studied for the first time, give us a raft of new stories about Polo’s journeys and something notably missing from his own account: maps. If genuine, the maps would show that Polo recorded the shape of the Alaskan coast—and the strait separating it from Asia—four centuries before Vitus Bering, the Danish explorer long considered the first European to do so. Perhaps more important, they suggest Polo was aware of the New World two centuries before Columbus.

Submission + - The Ebola Patient Was Sent Home Because of Bad Software (theatlantic.com)

Submitted by bricko
bricko writes: The Dallas hospital's debacle highlights the atrociousness of many electronic health records.

        Protocols were followed by both the physician and the nurses. However, we have identified a flaw in the way the physician and nursing portions of our electronic health records (EHR) interacted in this specific case.

The hospital's electronic health record contains separate workflows for doctors and nurses. The information about the patient's travel history was on the nurses' side, but "it would not automatically appear in the physician’s standard workflow." Which means the doctor wouldn't know about Duncan's recent trip to Liberia. Which means she'd have no reason to suspect Duncan had Ebola.

The incident underscores how important it is for doctors and hospitals to find EHRs that work well. The federal government has greatly incentivized the use of digital records, as opposed to paper charts, and nearly half of physicians now use them. Increasingly, EHRs aren't just a convenient way to track appointments and vital signs, they're critical communication links that can make all the difference.

There are technical problems beyond the software, too: Ebola isn't even considered its own disease under the current medical classification system for diseases, called ICD. Under ICD-9, the current version, Ebola shares a code with "multiple viral diseases." (The virus will have its own code under ICD-10, which rolls out next year.)

For its part, the Dallas hospital said it plans to make changes to its health record in order to prevent future such slip-ups:

        As result of this discovery, Texas Health Dallas has relocated the travel history documentation to a portion of the EHR that is part of both workflows. It also has been modified to specifically reference Ebola-endemic regions in Africa. We have made this change to increase the visibility and documentation of the travel question in order to alert all providers. We feel that this change will improve the early identification of patients who may be at risk for communicable diseases, including Ebola.

Submission + - The ReactOS Foundation officially joins the Open Invention Network (reactos.org)

Submitted by jeditobe
jeditobe writes:

The ReactOS Foundation officially joins the Open Invention Network.Membership in this organization will help protect users of ReactOS operating system from possible patent claims around the world (even in the USA), now and in the future.

The Open Invention Network (OIN) is a company that acquires patents and licenses them royalty free to entities which, in turn, agree not to assert their own patents against Linux and Linux-related systems and applications. So in factOIN isis a shared defensive patent pool with the mission to protect Opencource projects. Launched in 2005, OIN has strong industry support with backing from Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Red Hat, Sony and SUSE (a business unit of Novell).

ReactOS Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in the Russian Federation that provides support and promotion for the ReactOS Project. The primary objective of the ReactOS Project is to create an operating system that is binary compatible with applications and drivers developed for the Windows NT series of operating systems. To help further this goal, the ReactOS Foundation exists as an administrative and logistical entity, offering support for the project developers as well as engaging the ReactOS community and providing an avenue for communication and transparency.

Submission + - US Navy Develops Robot Boat Swarm to Overwhelm Enemies

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Jeremy Hsu reports that the US Navy has been testing a large-scale swarm of autonomous boats designed to overwhelm enemies. In the test, large ship that the Navy sometimes calls a high-value unit, HVU, is making its way down the river’s thalweg, escorted by 13 small guard boats. Between them, they carry a variety of payloads, loud speakers and flashing lights, a .50-caliber machine gun and a microwave direct energy weapon or heat ray. Detecting the enemy vessel with radar and infrared sensors, they perform a series of maneuvers to encircle the craft, coming close enough to the boat to engage it and near enough to one another to seal off any potential escape or access to the ship they are guarding. They blast warnings via loudspeaker and flash their lights. The HVU is now free to safely move away. Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of the Office of Naval Research (ONR), points out that a maneuver that required 40 people had just dropped down to just one. “Think about it as replicating the functions that a human boat pilot would do. We’ve taken that capability and extended it to multiple [unmanned surface vehicles] operating together within that, we’ve designed team behaviors,” says Robert Brizzolara. The timing of the briefing happens to coincide with the 14-year anniversary of the bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen that killed 17 sailors. It’s an anniversary that Klunder observes with a unique sense of responsibility. “If we had this capability there on that day. We could have saved that ship. I never want to see the USS Cole happen again.”

Submission + - Test version Windows 10 includes keylogger (winbeta.org) 1

Submitted by wabrandsma
wabrandsma writes: From WinBeta:

One of the more interesting bits of data the company is collecting is text entered. Some are calling this a keylogger within the Windows 10 Technical Preview, which isn't good news.

Taking a closer look at the Privacy Policy for the Windows Insider Program, it looks like Microsoft may be collecting a lot more feedback from you behind the scenes.

Microsoft collects information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage.

This isn't the only thing Microsoft is collecting from Insider Program participants. According to the Privacy Policy, the company is collecting things like text inputted into the operating system, the details of any/all files on your system, voice input and program information.

Submission + - Windows 10 officially unveiled by Microsoft (trendingscoopnow.com)

Submitted by youscooper
youscooper writes: If you are a fan of Microsoft, you’re probably updated of their latest product announcement – the release of their latest operating system (OS), the Windows 10.

Microsoft officially announced the launching of Windows 10 beta at an event in San Francisco happened last Tuesday, September 30.

  It has been rumored that Microsoft planed to unveiled their next version of Windows OS earlier in the first quarter of 2014. Speculations were indeed true but contrary to the anticipated release of Windows 9, the tech giant decides to skip Windows 9 in favor of 10.

Submission + - An Appetite for Wonder: The Makings of a Scientist, by Richard Dawkins (newrepublic.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: John Gray, emeritus professor of European thought at the London School of Economics, and a fellow atheist, reviews Richard Dawkins' memoir in the New Republic, writing: "There cannot be much doubt that Dawkins sees himself as a Darwin-like figure, propagating the revelation that came to the Victorian naturalist. ... Dawkins may not be Victorian, but the figure who emerges from An Appetite for Wonder is in many ways decidedly old-fashioned. ... Dawkins’s description of growing up in British colonial Africa, going on to boarding school and then to Oxford, has a similarly archaic flavor and could easily have been written before World War II. ... Born in 1941 in Nairobi, Kenya, and growing up in Nyasaland, now Malawi, Dawkins writes of life in the colonies in glowingly idyllic terms: “We always had a cook, a gardener and several other servants.... Tea was served on the lawn, with beautiful silver teapot and hot-water jug, and a milk jug under a dainty muslin cover ...” ... Exactly how Dawkins became the anti-religious missionary with whom we are familiar will probably never be known. From what he writes here, I doubt he knows himself. ... curiously his teenage passion for Elvis Presley reinforced his vestigial Christianity. Listening to Elvis sing “I Believe,” Dawkins was amazed to discover that the rock star was religious. “I worshipped Elvis,” he recalls, “and I was a strong believer in a non-denominational creator god.” ... We must await the second volume of his memoirs to discover how Dawkins envisions his future. But near the end of the present volume, an inadvertent remark hints at what he might want for himself. Darwin was “never Sir Charles,” he writes, “and what an amazing indictment of our honours system that is.” It is hard to resist the thought that the public recognition that in Britain is conferred by a knighthood is Dawkins’s secret dream. ... What could be more fitting for this tireless evangelist than to become the country’s officially appointed atheist, seated alongside the bishops in the House of Lords? "

Submission + - Gaining weight? Blame it on the fat person in the room. 1

Submitted by BarbaraHudson
BarbaraHudson writes: Several sites are reporting on a University of Illinois study that shows that people eat more in the presence of a fat person.

The test involved a sample of 82 college coeds who were observed helping themselves to a simple pasta and salad meal. Each of the coeds were themselves of normal weight. The students first required to watch what they believed was a fat woman serving herself some of the food. The fat woman was actually an actress wearing a fat suit.

After observing the "corpulent" woman serve herself, the students were allowed to come forward and serve themselves pasta and salad. On average, the coeds each served themselves more pasta than the "fat" woman had selected while taking less salad than she did. When the same study was performed with the actress appearing sans the fat suit, researchers observed that students ended up eating more salad than pasta. The conclusion was simple: people may consume more unhealthy food and eat less healthy food when in the presence of an overweight person.

As anyone on a diet will tell you, a waste is a terrible thing to mind. And weight control is a lot more complex than the article makes it seem, though some will welcome the opportunity to blame someone else. BTW, since when is pasta unhealthy? We're omnivores, not rabbits.

Submission + - Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency' (entrepreneur.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After long remaining mostly mum on Bitcoin, Microsoft’s legendary co-founder Bill Gates has spoken. At the Sibos 2014 financial-services industry conference in Boston, America's richest man just threw his weight behind the controversial cryptocash. Well, at least as a low-cost payments solution. ... “Bitcoin is exciting because it shows how cheap it can be,” he told Erik Schatzker during a Bloomberg TV’s Smart Street show interview yesterday. “Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.” ... While he seems relatively bullish on how inexpensive transacting in Bitcoin can be, Gates isn’t singing the praises of its anonymity. The billionaire alluded in an oblique, somewhat rambling fashion to some of the more nefarious anonymous uses associated with Bitcoin.

Submission + - Cyanogen Inc. Turns Down Google, Seeing $1 Billion Valuation (droid-life.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to a report at The Information (paywalled), Cyanogen Inc., the company try to commercials the popular CyanogenMod mobile OS based on Android, recently met with Google's Android Chief to talk about an acquisition. The report says Cyanogen turned down Google's offer and instead seeks funding from investors and major tech companies at a valuation around $1 billion. "Cyanogen has told potential investors that it has a deal in place to bring its custom version of the Android OS to India through a manufacturer called Micromax. Alongside Samsung, Micromax currently holds almost as much share of the smartphone market in India, making this deal a very large step to get Cyanogen into the hands of millions of more people. Lastly, the report claims that Cyanogen should be wary of modifying Android too much. During the process, the company must continue to follow Google’s compatibility requirements which ensure third-party applications will work on their devices. If those requirements are not met, devices will not be licensed to run Google’s services, such as Google Play and other Google applications."

Submission + - How Computer Vision Algorithms Cope With Detecting Human Figures In Cubist Art

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: The human visual system has evolved to recognise people in almost any pose under a vast range of lighting conditions. But abstract art pushes this ability to its limits by distorting the human form. In particular, Cubism seeks to represent three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional plane by juxtaposing snapshots from different angles. The result is that a Cubist picture contains many ‘fragments of perception’ of the same object. That's why it is often hard for people to recognise the human figures that these pictures contain. Now a group of computer scientists have tested how computer vision algorithms fare at the task of spotting human figures in Cubist art. They compared a variety of different algorithms against humans in trying to spot human figures in 218 Cubist paintings by Picasso. Humans easily outperform all the algorithms at this task. But some algorithms were much better than others. The most successful were based on so-called "deformable parts models" that recognise human figures by looking for body parts rather than the entire form. Interestingly, the team says this backs up various studies by neuroscientists suggesting that the human brain works in a similar way.

Submission + - DIY Open Source Smart Watch Launches

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An Open Source project called TinyScreen has just launched which lets you create your own wearable devices like smart watches using a miniature Arduino hardware system with a color OLED screen. The hardware includes support for Bluetooth Low Energy connections to smart phones along with iOS and Android apps, and is small enough to create a set of smart glasses.

Submission + - Elon Musk: We Must Put a Million Humans On Mars To Safeguard Humanity (aeon.co)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Elon Musk's ambitions for SpaceX keep getting bigger. First he wanted to make the trip to Mars affordable, then he wanted to establish a city-sized colony, and now he's got his eye on the future of humanity. Musk says we need a million people on Mars to form a "sustainable, genetically diverse civilization" that can survive as humanity's insurance policy. He continued, "Even at a million, you’re really assuming an incredible amount of productivity per person, because you would need to recreate the entire industrial base on Mars. You would need to mine and refine all of these different materials, in a much more difficult environment than Earth. There would be no trees growing. There would be no oxygen or nitrogen that are just there. No oil." How fast could we do it? Within a century, once the spacecraft reusability problem is solved. "Excluding organic growth, if you could take 100 people at a time, you would need 10,000 trips to get to a million people. But you would also need a lot of cargo to support those people. In fact, your cargo to person ratio is going to be quite high. It would probably be 10 cargo trips for every human trip, so more like 100,000 trips. And we’re talking 100,000 trips of a giant spaceship."

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