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IBM

Submission + - IBM's Watson to Play Against Jeopardy! Champs (networkworld.com)

Submitted by UTF-8
UTF-8 writes: IBM is pitting its natural language Watson supercomputer against two of the quiz show Jeopardy!'s biggest champion players in a $1 million man versus machine challenge for the ages. The game will air on February 14, 15 and 16, 2011, with two matches being played over three consecutive days. There is also a YouTube video and some Q&A about the project.
Earth

Submission + - Rare earth elements; the metaphorical Unobtainium

Submitted by
frank_tudor
frank_tudor writes: "An amusing title but there is very serious concern is unfolding in the rare earth elements industry here in the U.S. At the highest concept is 'clean energy' with hybrid cars zipping around a wind farm speckled cityscapes but at the moment it all boils down to who controls REE, who can extract REE and refine it (recycling included) so it can be used in materials to make 'something useful' out of these elusive rare earth elements. So when Heather Hansen published this 'surgical' description of the REE situation, it goes without saying that using the word Unobtainium to describe rare earth elements pretty much sums up the problems we face. But here are my personal concerns and questions when it comes to REE... Will China indeed curb REE exports and eventually stop exporting in five years like they have suggested? Will China then consume their own resources 'and import more' to get the U.S., and the world, high end finished clean energy products? I think that is what we need here in the United States to stay in the economically competitive game, isn't it? What about magnets? We don't have single company in the U.S. here that makes NdFeB magnets (seems like we are 5 to 10 years behind). It just feels that we are not technologically outfitted for cutting edge REE consumer products let alone efficiently manufacturing the big ticket REE products. So it all feels like a huge race with the U.S. REE industry (from mined resources to finished products) stressed, exposed and struggling against the odds."
Christmas Cheer

Submission + - Perfect Xmas Gift: Computer Engineer Barbie

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Over at CNET, Chris Matyszczyk says he has the perfect Xmas present in this year-of-the-Zuckerberg — Computer Engineer Barbie. 'This digital diva engineers the perfect geek-chic look,' explains Mattel, 'with hot pink accessories and sleek gadgets to match.' So, is this Mattel's way of atoning for Math-is-Hard Barbie and her undermining of girls' math scores?
Oracle

Submission + - Oracle releases MySQL 5.5 (oracle.com)

Submitted by darthcamaro
darthcamaro writes: Two years after Sun released MySQL 5.1, Oracle has picked up the ball with the official release of MySQL 5.5. New features include semi-synchronous replication, InnoDB by default and new SIGNAL/RESIGNAL support for exception handling. Above all, Oracle stressed that they are comitted to further MySQL open source development and that they see it as a complentary technology to their proprietary Oracle database.

"MySQL 5.5 remains and future versions will remain, open source under the GPL license," Tomas Ulan, vice president of engineering for MySQL at Oracle said.
Science

Submission + - Anesthetic gases more harmful than CO2

Submitted by renewableenergywade
renewableenergywade writes: Anesthetic gases can actually be more detrimental to the environment than carbon dioxide, finds a study conducted by chemists from the University of Copenhagen and National Aeronautics and Space Administration in collaboration with anesthesiologists from the University of Michigan Medical School.

The study shows that 1 kilo of anesthetic gas affects the climate as much as 1,620 kilos of carbon dioxide. In fact, its global warming potential is as high as HFC-134a, a refrigerant that is on their way to be banned in the European Union.
The Military

Submission + - Navy tests Mach 8 Electromagnetic Railgun (wired.com)

Submitted by hargrand
hargrand writes: Wired magazine has a story and publicly released video of the Navy test firing of a 32 megajoule electromagnetic railgun.

Reporters were invited to watch the test at the Dalghren Naval Surface Warfare Center. A tangle of two-inch thick coaxial cables hooked up to stacks of refrigerator-sized capacitors took five minutes to power juice into a gun the size of a schoolbus built in a warehouse. With a 1.5-million-ampere spark of light and a boom audible in a room 50 feet away, the bullet left the gun at a speed of Mach 8.
Science

Submission + - New Cell Type Implicated in Vision (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Researchers have discovered that a very rare cell in the eye may help us sense the brightness of our surroundings. Rods and cones were long thought to be solely responsible for our vision, but the rare cells, called melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cells or mRGCs, can sense variations in brightness across the visual field that might allow them to distinguish between a dark wall and a brightly lit doorway. If these unheralded cells are as important as the authors suspect, studying them may open the door to new therapies for some forms of blindness.
Space

Submission + - Zombie satellite hoses NOAA/NWS weather systems (wattsupwiththat.com)

Submitted by radioweather
radioweather writes: Overnight, the drifting and still transmitting rogue "zombie" Galaxy 15 satellite spewed C band emissions into the satellite data distribution system used by NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS), effectively shutting down data sharing between NWS offices nationwide, as well as weather support groups for the U.S. Air force. Interference from Galaxy 15 affected transmissions of the SES-1 Satellite, which not only serves NOAA with data relay services, but also is used to feed TV programming into virtually every cable network in the U.S. NOAA's Network Control Facility reports that the computer system affected was NOAA's Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) used to issue forecasts and weather bulletins which uses the weather data feed. They also state the problem is likely to recur again this month before the satellite drifts out of range and eventually dies due to battery depletion.
Apple

Submission + - Architect Norman Foster to Build 'City of Apple'

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "MacRumors reports that acclaimed British architect Norman Foster has been selected to design Apple's new campus on the 98-acre parcel in Cupertino, California, purchased from Hewlett-Packard and located across the street from a 50-acre parcel Apple had purchased in 2006 just a few blocks from Apple's main campus on Infinite Loop. El Economista reports that Apple is planning to connect its current campus and the new one with a network of tunnels [google translation] instead of cars to make the whole structure free of carbon emissions. In designing Apple's campus, Foster is reportedly drawing on his experience with Masdar City, a new sustainable community under development in Abu Dhabi designed to house up to 50,000 people in a car-free, zero-carbon environment powered entirely by renewable energy sources. Foster, one of the most highly-recognized architects in the world, was a long-time collaborator with American architect Buckminister Fuller, which continued until Fuller's death in 1983, on several projects that became catalysts in the development of an environmentally sensitive approach to design. Among Foster's most well-known works are the Millennium Bridge and 30 St Mary Axe ("The Gherkin") in London, Hearst Tower in New York City, and his reconstruction of the Reichstag in Berlin, including the addition of a glass dome offering a panoramic view of the city."
Government

Submission + - Income Tax Quashed, Ballmer to Cash in Billions 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Washington's proposed state income tax not only prompted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to spend $425,000 of his own money to help crush the measure at the polls, it also inspired Microsoft to launch a FUD campaign aimed at torpedoing the initiative. 'As an employer, we're concerned that I-1098 will make it harder to attract talent and create additional jobs in Washington state,' explained Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith. 'We strongly support public education, but we're concerned by key details in I-1098. This initiative would give Washington one of the top five highest state income tax rates in the country. I-1098 would apply this tax rate to all income, including capital gains and dividends, and would not permit any deductions for charitable contributions.' Nice to see a company take a principled stand, backed by a CEO who's not unafraid to put his money where his company's mouth is, right? Well, maybe not. Just three days after the measure went down in flames, Ballmer said in a statement that he plans to sell up to 75 million of his Microsoft shares by the end of the year to 'gain financial diversification and to assist in tax planning.' Based on Friday's closing price of $26.85, the 75MM shares would be valued at approximately $2 billion. All of which might make a cynic question what was really important to Microsoft — public education, or a $2B state income tax-free payday for its CEO?
Games

Submission + - Don't get naked while playing Xbox Kinect (gamepron.com) 1

Submitted by UgLyPuNk
UgLyPuNk writes: The latest gaming blockbuster from Harmonix, the Kinect-enabled Dance Central hit shelves this week and already it’s taking the world by storm.

I was trying out the Kinect Dance Central game and I was getting hot so I took off my clothes. I had no idea that the game was going to take A BUNCH OF PICTURES OF ME

Submission + - Downwind faster than the wind: Record set (makezine.com)

Submitted by Shawnconna
Shawnconna writes: Can a wind cart travel faster than the wind? A group of makers say Yes!, and Make: Online has published the first in a three-part series on the Blackbird wind cart that just set a record. This is a follow-up on a story in MAKE Volume 11 where Charles Platt built a cart based on a viral video where a guy claimed he'd built a wind-powered vehicle that could travel downwind faster than the windspeed. Charles built one and said it didn't work. Heated debates broke out in forums, on BB, and elsewhere on the Net. In the ensuing time, a number of people have built carts and claimed success, most principally, Rick Cavallaro. He got funding, from Google and JOBY, to build and test a human-piloted cart. They claim success, with multiple sensor systems on board, impartial judges and experts in attendance. The controversy continues. And the 3-part story starts today on Makezine.com.
Security

Submission + - China Penetrated NSA's Classified Operating System 2

Submitted by
Pickens
Pickens writes: "Seymour M. Hersh writes in the New Yorker that after an American EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance plane on an eavesdropping mission collided with a Chinese interceptor jet over the South China Sea in 2001 and landed at a Chinese F-8 fighter base on Hainan Island, the 24 member crew were unable to completely disable the plane’s equipment and software. The result? The Chinese kept the plane for three months and eventually reverse-engineered the plane’s NSA.-supplied operating system, estimated at between thirty and fifty million lines of computer code, giving China a road map for decrypting the Navy’s classified intelligence and operational data. “If the operating system was controlling what you’d expect on an intelligence aircraft, it would have a bunch of drivers to capture radar and telemetry,” says Whitfield Diffie, a pioneer in the field of encryption. “The plane was configured for what it wants to snoop, and the Chinese would want to know what we wanted to know about them—what we could intercept and they could not.” Despite initial skepticism, over the next few years the US intelligence community began to “read the tells” that China had gotten access to sensitive traffic and in early 2009, Admiral Timothy J. Keating, then the head of the Pacific Command, brought the issue to the new Obama Administration. "If China had reverse-engineered the EP-3E’s operating system, all such systems in the Navy would have to be replaced, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars," writes Hersch. "After much discussion, several current and former officials said, this was done" prompting some black humor from US naval officers. “This is one hell of a way to go about getting a new operating system.”""
IBM

Submission + - IBM's plans for the Cell processor (idg.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "Development around the original Cell processor hasn't stalled and IBM will continue to develop chips and supply hardware for future gaming consoles, a company executive said. IBM is working with gaming machine vendors including Nintendo and Sony, said Jai Menon, CTO of IBM's Systems and Technology Group, during an interview Thursday. "We want to stay in the business, we intend to stay in the business," he said. IBM confirmed in a statement that it continues to manufacture the Cell processor for use by Sony in its PlayStation 3. IBM also will continue to invest in Cell as part of its hybrid and multicore chip strategy, Menon said."
Crime

Submission + - New fast, reliable method to detect gravesoil (scienceblog.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Gravesoil. Yes, just what it sounds like. Nothing against bloodhounds, but finding bodies buried by someone who wanted them to stay undiscovered can be difficult. A new technique developed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, can reliably detect biochemical changes in a decomposing cadaver. Typically, cadaver-sniffing dogs or ground penetrating radar are used to detect clandestine gravesites. But these methods are not always useful in all scenarios, such as if a body is buried under concrete.

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