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Wireless Networking

US Wireless Spectrum Auction Raises $44.9 Billion 91

Posted by Soulskill from the all-about-the-wireless-benjamins dept.
An anonymous reader writes: The FCC's recent wireless spectrum auction closed on Thursday, and the agency has raked in far more money than anyone expected. Sales totaled $44.89 billion, demonstrating that demand for wireless spectrum is higher than ever. The winners have not yet been disclosed, but the FCC will soon make all bidding activity public. "The money will be used to fund FirstNet, the government agency tasked with creating the nation's first interoperable broadband network for first responders, to finance technological upgrades to our 911 emergency systems, and to contribute over $20 billion to deficit reduction. In addition, the auction brought 65 Megahertz of spectrum to market to fuel our nation's mobile broadband networks. The wireless industry estimates that for every 10 Megahertz of spectrum licensed for wireless broadband, 7,000 American jobs are created and U.S. gross domestic product increases by $1.7 billion."

Submission + - Dear Slashdot, How do I engage 5th-8th graders in computing without going crazy? 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Slashdot,

I volunteer at a inner-city community after school program focused K-8th grade. Right now, due to the volunteer demographic, we spend most of our activity time in arts and crafts and homework. The 5th-8th students are getting restless with the same activities. I've been asked to spice it up with some electrical wizardry. What I'd like to do is introduce the students to basic jobs skills through computers. My thoughts are that I could conduct some simple hands on experiments with circuits, maybe some bread boards, but ultimately, we're going to take apart a computer and put it back together. How successful this is, will dictate whether or not we will go into programming. However, whatever we do, I want the kids to obtain marketable skills. Anyone know of a curriculum I can follow? Past Wins and Lose Stories?

Submission + - Computers are evil in early education (nytimes.com) 2

Submitted by nbauman
nbauman writes: Middle school students who got computers did worse in school. They wasted their time on games, social media, and entertainment (just like adults), according to Susan Pinker in the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01... Computers only help when they're used by good, trained teachers. Infants who interact with parents do better in school. Screen time reduces interaction with parents.

In the early 2000s, economists tracked the academic progress of nearly one million disadvantaged middle-school students against the dates they were given networked computers. They assessed math and reading skills for 5 years.

“Students who gain access to a home computer between the 5th and 8th grades tend to witness a persistent decline in reading and math scores,” they wrote. The Internet was also linked to lower grades in younger children.

Weaker students (boys, African-Americans) were affected more than others. When their computers arrived, their reading scores fell off a cliff.

Technology has a role in education — but only when it’s perfectly suited to the task, and only when it's deployed as a tool by a terrific, highly trained teacher.

Submission + - Mario Lives! Mario becomes self aware and plays the game himself. (theverge.com)

Submitted by braindrainbahrain
braindrainbahrain writes: Many Slashdotters are familiar with the Infinite Mario game (developed by none other than Markus Persson aka Notch of Minecraft fame) and the game's close relative Infinite Adaptive Mario. Now, researchers at the University of Tübingen, Germany, have developed an AI Mario, capable of playing the infinite game unaided by human hands. The AI Mario learns about his virtual world, has emotional states and includes speech synthesis to communicate with human observers.

Submission + - Falcon Heavy To Be Reusable: Animation

Submitted by Press2ToContinue
Press2ToContinue writes: Despite SpaceX's recent epic fail, aka Elon's RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) event, or depending on how you look at it, their most recent almost-success, Falcon Heavy is slated to be the world’s most powerful rocket when it flies, and will also attempt to return it’s core stage and boosters for rapid refurbishment and reuse, as this animation demonstrates. SpaceX is confident its accuracy will be sufficient to park the booster elements on land near the process and re-launch site.

Now with bonus Infographic: SpaceX's Huge Falcon Heavy Rocket: How It Works

Submission + - Thirteen Wikipedia editors sanctioned in mammoth GamerGate arbitration case (wikipedia.org)

Submitted by The ed17
The ed17 writes: The English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee has closed the colossal GamerGate arbitration case. One editor has been site-banned, while another twelve are subject to remedies ranging from admonishments to broad topic bans and suspended sitebans. Arbitrator Roger Davies told the Signpost that the case was complicated by its size and complexity, including 27 named parties and 41 editors presenting roughly 34,000 words worth of on-wiki evidence—a total that does not include email correspondence.

Submission + - A "comet storm" is in our future, and it isn't pretty

Submitted by StartsWithABang
StartsWithABang writes: Out beyond the orbit of Neptune, hundreds of thousands of large, icy bodies stably orbit our Sun, held very tenuously by our Solar System's gravity at such great distances. For the most part, these objects leave us alone, but every once in a while, a star passes close enough to our Solar System to perturb them, sending a great number into the inner Solar System and causing a (potentially life-threatening) comet storm. There's a candidate for a huge one a few hundred thousand years from now, and a certain one coming in about 1.4 million years. Comet defense, anyone?

Submission + - Telomere-Lengthening Procedure Turns Clock Back Years in Human Cells (gizmag.com) 2

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a new procedure to increase the length of human telomeres. This increases the number of times cells are able to divide, essentially making the cells many years younger. This not only has useful applications for laboratory work, but may point the way to treating various age-related disorders – or even muscular dystrophy.

Submission + - Polar Challenge: 2000km under the polar ice-caps. (wcrp-climate.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes:

The World Climate Research Program (WCRP) is organizing a Polar Challenge competition, which would reward the first team able to send an autonomous underwater vehicle for a 2000km continuous mission under-ice in the Arctic or Antarctic. This challenge will be at least three-fold, in terms of under-ice navigation, endurance and environmental monitoring. A Prize money award would cover at least partially the recipientís investment and operating cost related to the challenge.

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