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Japan

Third Blast At Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Plant 691

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the good-luck-over-there-guys dept.
iamrmani was one of several people reporting updates on the Fukushima Nuclear plant that has been struggling following last Friday's disaster. A third explosion (Japanese) has been reported, along with other earlier information. MSNBC has a story about similiar reactors in the US. We also ran into a story which predicts that there won't be significant radiation. But already Japan is facing rolling blackouts, electricity rationing, evacuating the area around the plant, and thousands dead already.
Image

How To Index and Search a Video By Emotion 76 Screenshot-sm

Posted by timothy
from the black-beauty-special dept.
robotsrule writes "Here's a a demonstration video of EmoRate, a software program that uses the Emotiv 14-electrode EEG headset to record your emotions via your facial expressions. In the video you'll see EmoRate record my emotions while I watch a YouTube video, then index that video by emotion, and then navigate that video by simply by remembering a feeling. The web page for EmoRate explains how I used Emotiv's SDK to build the software program, and how I trained the system by watching emotionally evocative videos on YouTube while wearing the headset."

Comment: Re:Outdated? (Score 1) 468

by PCPackrat (#28270243) Attached to: California To Move To Online Textbooks
Alas history books have changed. We edit out the parts that might offend people. Mustn't hurt anyone's feelings etc... My kids haven't had a text book in 4 years. They get handouts of 4-7 pages a week and do their homework from that. This is just making those handouts accessible from home which is nice. Saves gas for the buss since the 100+ students wont be carrying the 65 pounds of books each.
First Person Shooters (Games)

First-Person Shooter Modified For Fire Drill Simulation 158

Posted by Soulskill
from the crap-where's-a-medkit dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Researchers at Durham University have modified a video game and turned it into a fire drill simulator using the Source engine (the 3D game engine used to drive Half-Life 2), and created a virtual model of one of the university's departments. Dr. Shamus Smith said that although 3D modeling software was available, modifying a video game was faster, more cost effective, and had better special effects. 'We were interested in using game technology over a customized application and the Source Engine, from Half-Life, is very versatile,' said Smith. 'We used the simulation to see how people behaved in an actual fire situation and to train people in "good practice" in a fire.' The team says the virtual environment helped familiarize people with evacuation routines and could also help identify problems with a building's layout. One problem, however, was that while the simulation worked for most people, those who played a lot of video games did some unusual things when using the simulation. 'If a door was on fire, [the gamers] would try and run through it, rather than look for a different exit,' said Smith." This makes me wonder to what extent entertainment software will fill the role of non-entertainment software as the tools and engines become more and more powerful. Ars mentions related news that the US Dept. of Naval Research is dumping millions of dollars into "virtual reality-like simulations of small-scale urban conflicts." It's unclear whether this is related to the US Army's similar program.

It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous. -- Robert Benchley

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