Comment Re:is the USB 'bug' fixed, at this point? (Score 1) 77
Your friend ported 64-bit Ubuntu to the 32-bit BBB?
He's quite the wizard.
Comment Re:is the USB 'bug' fixed, at this point? (Score 3) 77
I gave up on BBB and went to rpi because BBB couldn't come up with a distro that worked.
Got tired of dd'ing my SD storage space back to stock and starting over when the unit ceased to boot after installing another stock apt.
And that's assuming it even worked when clean which it didn't, at least not at first (I got one of the first batch).
Tor Is Building an Anonymous Instant Messenger 109
An anonymous reader writes in with news about a new anonymous instant messenger client on the way from Tor. "Forget the $16 billion romance between Facebook and WhatsApp. There's a new messaging tool worth watching. Tor, the team behind the world's leading online anonymity service, is developing a new anonymous instant messenger client, according to documents produced at the Tor 2014 Winter Developers Meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland."
Comment how many productions moved overseas? (Score 1) 131
The VFX workers may eventually have to come to grips with the idea that if you can't do it better you can't charge more for it. And thus they will probably have to cut their rates to compete.
This is basically the end game of the guild system Hollywood uses. You can keep people from undercutting you within the country by requiring guild membership and declaring union shops (or productions), but then the production just moves overseas. How many films are produced overseas nowadays to mitigate labor costs?
The Rescue Plan That Could Have Saved Space Shuttle Columbia 247
An anonymous reader writes "In February, 2003, space shuttle Columbia was lost upon atmospheric re-entry. Afterward, NASA commissioned an exhaustive investigation to figure out what happened, and how it could be prevented in the future. However, they also figured out exactly what would have been required for a repair and rescue mission using Atlantis. Lee Hutchinson at Ars Technica went through the report and wrote a lengthy article explaining what such a mission would look like. In short: risky and terribly complex — but possible. 'In order to push Atlantis through processing in time, a number of standard checks would have to be abandoned. The expedited OPF processing would get Atlantis into the Vehicle Assembly Building in just six days, and the 24/7 prep work would then shave an additional day off the amount of time it takes to get Atlantis mated to its external tank and boosters. After only four days in the Vehicle Assembly Building, one of the two Crawler-Transporters would haul Atlantis out to Launch Complex 39, where it would stage on either Pad A or Pad B on Flight Day 15—January 30. ... Once on the pad, the final push to launch would begin. There would be no practice countdown for the astronauts chosen to fly the mission, nor would there be extra fuel leak tests. Prior to this launch, the shortest time a shuttle had spent on the launch pad was 14 days; the pad crews closing out Atlantis would have only 11 days to get it ready to fly.'"
Comment Re:So the Dali Llama says to me . . . (Score 1) 136
Harold Ramis wrote and directed Caddyshack.
And that movie is from Caddyshack.
So now you look a bit stupid.
Comment 2012 Lincoln MKS, 2013 Cadillac CTS (Score 1) 155
Musk says AWD has never been put on a car with no loss of efficiency before.
2012 Lincoln MKS:
FWD version: 17/25 mpg.
AWD version: 17/25 mpg. And the AWD version is more powerful.
2013 Cadillac CTS:
RWD version: 18/27 mpg.
AWD version: 18/27 mpg. AWD version has same power (same engine) as RWD version.
So yes, AWD has been added without a loss of efficiency before.
Elon, it would be fantastic if you would bother to check to see if what you say is true before you say it.
Comment Re:"Must accept harmful interference..." (Score 1) 158
The issue isn't acceptance. The receiving devices are accepting the interference. The issue is the radiation:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr...
b and c indicate what's going wrong here.
The system isn't emitting on 700MHz intentionally. It's just that the equipment is out of spec. Either it was designed wrong and the proper testing not done or else it was designed correctly and not built properly so the particular units that were installed in this building are out of spec.
Comment Re:The building owner is at fault? (Score 2) 158
The manufacturer of the ballasts already said they would replace them. But the building owners haven't taken advantage of this.
Devices of that sort (unintentional emitters) are subject to FCC regulations but do not go through FCC testing. They are generally self-certified. That is, the makers submits a document indicating they have tested the device and it conforms.
Comment cars do have dead reckoning (Score 1) 151
A GPS which receives speed, wheel position and reverse light data from the car does dead reckoning. I watched a friend's car do it just this weekend as we drove into an underground parking garage where you get no GPS reception.
Dead reckoning for car NAVs has been around forever, it actually predates GPS. The first in-car NAV systems by Etak were made using only maps and dead reckoning because GPS didn't exist yet. It also predated affordable LCD panels.
Before accelerometers and gyros were cheap Garmin even made add-on GPSes for cars which required installation so the NAV could get speedometer data and reverse light data so it could dead reckon your position.
Dead Reckoning For Your Car Eliminates GPS Dead Zones 151
cartechboy writes "We've all been there. You're relying on your vehicle's built-in navigation system to get to that meeting downtown, but then suddenly the car loses the satellite signal due to the concrete skyscraper canyon you're in--and you're about to be late. Swiss semiconductor manufacturer U-Blox thinks it has the solution with 3D Automotive Dead Reckoning, or 3D ADR for short. It's a new navigation chip that uses the vehicle's built-in sensors to track speed, horizontal movement, and elevation. The 3D ADR system measures movement in three dimensions, letting the navigation system can keep track of the vehicle's location even when it loses its connection to GPS satellites. Imagine never having to see your navigation screen saying connection lost again. In an age where our phones have accelerometers and compasses, it's amazing your car is still trying to catch up, right?"
Comment Re:Why not Aereo? (Score 1) 578
If you don't pay for satellite/cable you only get what goes out over the broadcast station. You can get that through Aereo. If you pay for cable/satellite and your cable/satellite kicks part of your bill on to NBC, then you also get the expanded coverage which includes live streaming of every event (not opening and closing ceremonies though).
So if you have Aereo, you still don't get what these people are complaining about not getting. Because you're not paying NBC. It is this kind of expanded content offering that the networks are using to justify monthly subscription fees (through your cable bill) when their over-the-air broadcasts are free to receive.
Some think that having part of their cable bill go to NBC whether they watch NBC or not isn't right. I can see the value of this argument. What I can't see is the value of an argument that if your money isn't going to NBC that they still owe you the expanded coverage just because this is an event you want to watch.
Comment Re:Why? (Score 1) 578
The costs of putting them on are paid for by the host country and the IOC. The IOC sells the rights to televise them to try to defray some of the costs.
The costs are not collectivized.
Comment Re:Move to Canada! (Score 1) 578
That chart is wrong. You can stream every event online live in the US. And you can replay stream any event which isn't going to be shown in primetime on replay immediately after it finishes.
Why do I care when the first live TV is shown when I already have streaming? I already watched the Slopestyle prelims online on day -1 on NBC's streams.
I do dislike that you can't watch some events on replay because they are held for primetime, but other than that, the coverage is great on NBC. If you want to watch it live, you can, assuming you are paying NBC through a cable/satellite subscription.
Amputee Has Prosthetic Hand Wired To Nerves 72
New submitter kalman5 writes "Dennis Aabo Sørensen is the first amputee in the world to feel sensory rich information — in real-time — with a prosthetic hand wired to nerves in his upper arm. Sørensen could grasp objects intuitively and identify what he was touching while blindfolded. The surgical team 'attached electrodes from a robotic hand to a 36-year-old volunteer's median and ulnar nerves. Those nerves carry sensations that correspond with the volunteer's index finger and thumb, and with his pinky finger and the edge of his hand, respectively. The volunteer controlled the prosthetic with small muscle movements detected by sEMG, a method that dates to the 1970s and measures electrical signals through the skin—unlike the electrodes attached to his nerves, sEMG is not invasive.' The results? 'The volunteer was able to complete the requested tasks with his prosthetic thumb and index finger 67 percent of the time the first day and 93 percent of the time by the seventh day of the experiment, Micera and colleagues report. He found the pinky finger harder to control: he was only able to accomplish the requested grip 83 percent of the time by the end of the experiment.'"
