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Submission + - Of Her and Humanoids: The Year in Robotics (popsci.com)

Submitted by malachiorion
malachiorion writes: From Google's emergence as a robotics giant to Gypsy Danger's emergence as a giant robot (we can root for), here's my attempt (for Popular Science) to round up the biggest trends in robotics in 2013. Comments are enabled—they usually aren't, on Pop Sci's site—to point out all the stuff that's more important than my picks.

Submission + - Robot Snake To The Rescue! (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: In these days of drones and robot soldiers it is nice to be reminded that robots can do good. A recent video from Carnegie Mellon University Biorobotics Lab demonstrates how the snakelike robots developed by the lab can aid search and rescue operations in collapsed buildings. The video appear more or less at the same time as the current real disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh where an 8-storey building collapsed on April 24th, the same day the video was posted on You Tube, trapping some three thousand people, of whom at least 362 are now know to have died.
In Bangladesh rescue teams, helped by members of the community, have so far worked with small tools and their bare hands to bring out survivors. After five day the next phase will be to use heavy equipment. Having a snake robot that could provide pictures from within the building would certainly aid both phases of the operation, leading to speedier and more effective rescue operations.
It raises the question of why this technology is still a research project and not deployed?
It could be deployed and developed at the same time.
Advertising

Television Network Embeds Android Device In Magazine Ads 115

Posted by samzenpus from the calling-all-ads dept.
Revotron writes "Readers of Entertainment Weekly might be shocked to find their magazine is a good bit heavier than normal this week. US-based broadcaster CW placed an ad in Entertainment Weekly which uses a fully-functional 3G Android device, a T-Mobile SIM card, and a specialized app to display short video advertisements along with the CW Twitter feed. Writers at Mashable were willing to geek out with a Swiss Army knife and a video camera to give us all the gory details as they tore it down piece-by-piece to discover the inner workings of CW's new ad."

Comment Poll: Would you receive a cyborg implant? (Score 1) 1

by wmain (#31683348) Attached to: Poll: Would you receive a cyborg implant?
a) I'd sign up as one of the earliest testers We already use devices in our everyday life to supplement our senses. For example glasses for correcting eye sight, hearing aids for correcting hearing loss. You could even argue that the automobile is an augmentation that we wear to provide a more efficient method of transporting ourselves. Have these augments internalized is the next natural step in my opinion. Just because something is not biological does not make it wrong to have inside the body if it provides a definite advantage which out ways any detractors.

Submission + - Poll: Would you receive a cyborg implant? 1

Submitted by oldspewey
oldspewey writes: .

If cranial implants could provide digital communication, enhance memory, afford "super vision" etc.:
a) I'd sign up as one of the earliest testers
b) I'd wait a few years until the bugs are worked out
c) I'd consider some modest enhancement as a "trial"
d) My decision would be based purely on cost/benefit
e) There's no way in hell I'd get one
f) I'll figure out how to hack the system and create my own army of zombies

Comment Re:Could be a half-decent toy, if priced well (Score 1) 112

by wmain (#30314242) Attached to: Brain-Control Gaming Headset Launching Dec. 21
To quote their PDF "There is also the issue that brain research has advanced but we are not too concerned with the dissection of the signals into specific origins of neuronal / muscular groups, rather, as mentioned above, it is the synergism of all physiological activities that is the critical signal we are trying to read and understand to the point where we can use it." http://www.ocztechnology.com/files/misc_products/NIA_complete_English.pdf also "The new headbands we are using embrace sensors based on carbon nanofibers that are about 100 times more sensitive than older technology. This allows for a much wider dynamic range and also to pick up signals that were completely masked in previous approaches and that makes the use much more intuitive and easier."
Education

Submission + - We Rent Movies, So Why Not Textbooks? 2

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The NY Times reports that using Netflix as a business model, Osman Rashid and Aayush Phumbhra founded Chegg, shorthand for "chicken and egg," to gather books from sellers at the end of a semester and renting — or sometimes selling — them to other students at the start of a new one. Chegg began renting books in 2007 before it owned any, so when an order came in, its employees would surf the Web to find a cheap copy. They would buy the book using Rashid's American Express card and have it shipped to the student. Eventually, Chegg automated the system. "People thought we were crazy," Rashid said. Now, as Chegg prepares for its third academic year in the textbook rental business, the business is growing rapidly. Jim Safka, a former chief executive of Match.com and Ask.com who was recently recruited to run Chegg, said the company's revenue in 2008 was more than $10 million and this year, Chegg surpassed that in January alone. "The model is clever," says Yannis Bakos, associate professor of management at the Stern School of Business at New York University. "If they execute well, it will be an accomplishment." Savings can vary from book to book. A macroeconomics textbook that retails for $122 was available on Chegg for $65 for one semester; an organic chemistry title retailing for $123 was offered for $33. Those kinds of savings are turning students into fans. "Word of mouth," says Safka, "has put wind in the company's sails.""
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Designing a multi-purpose radio scanner

Submitted by iraubergeek
iraubergeek writes: Aight, so I'm not much of a hacker and have a rather limited programing skillset. However, I have this idea for a project and would like some advice on where to begin my learning.

In some US states, it is illegal to employ a radar detector in your car. However, if one were to employ some sort of multi-purpose radio analyzer which just-so-happened to include radar and have a programmable alarm system in it, it may be overlooked or explained away. It would of course have to be able to tune to FM/AM/UHF/VHF/WiFi or something useful in order to be legitimized. Now, I really do want it to be multi-purpose and not just be capable of doing other things. That way, it could be good for wardrivers and real radio analysts who would want to build/buy one for non-radar purposes.

My question is, what kind of device should I be constructing to accomplish this, and what resources can you direct me to to begin learning this myself?
Earth

Submission + - Enigma: from predator to plant and back

Submitted by SilverEar
SilverEar writes: Imagine a creature that swims and preys on others. But once it eats a certain kind of plant, that plant grows inside it, the predator loses its ability to prey and starts using sunlight to make its food. Its preying mouth is replaced by an eye that is needed to find sunlight. This is the Hatena "enigma" in Japanese. The kicker: when Hatena reproduces, one offspring is a peaceful photosynthesizer with the sun-seeking eye, while the other is yet again a predator with the voracious mouth. Well, at least until it eats the "magic algae". Read about it in Byte Size Biology.

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