Perey - Slashdot User

Sony SmartAR: markerless augmented reality-> 0

Submitted by MrSeb on Monday May 23 2011, @08:37AM

MrSeb writes "If you watch this short video, Sony will completely change your idea of what augmented reality is, and possibly your entire world view. SmartAR is capable of identifying completely arbitrary objects — it detects a cup standing on a table, and then animates water bubbling from it, and balls bouncing out of it. SmartAR can also create a 3D map of your environment — in the same cup demo, a demonstrator picks up a book, which SmartAR identifies as a solid surface, allowing virtual balls to bounce off it.

The main uses for SmartAR will be in games, education, and advertising. Imagine pointing your phone at a restaurant's menu to see 3D samples of the dishes. Imagine playing a 3D MMORPG that's actually based on the world you live in. Imagine it as a teaching aid! At the touch of a button, the classroom could become Roman ruins, or an Amazonian rain forest."
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iPhone 5 rumored to come with curved glass screen-> 0

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 23 2011, @08:30AM

An anonymous reader writes "There's been a lot of repeated talk about what the iPhone 5 will feature but a new report relays a new and juicy iPhone rumor — namely that Apple's next gen iPhone will come with a curved glass screen"
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SPAM: A programming language for news: $gimme 0

Submitted by Sourcefabric on Monday May 23 2011, @08:22AM

Sourcefabric writes "$gimme lets you list and arrange articles, display text and multimedia, prepare content for third-party services and include external content. It allows editors of news sites total design freedom and doesn't push them into a single way of presenting their stories."
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Watson To Be Tasked With Solving Medical Problems-> 0

Submitted by The Installer on Monday May 23 2011, @08:10AM

The Installer writes ""A doctor who is helping to prepare IBM's Watson computer system for work as a medical tool says such blog entries may be included in Watson's database.

Watson is best known for handily defeating the world's best "Jeopardy!" players on TV earlier this year. IBM says Watson, with its ability to understand plain language, can digest questions about a person's symptoms and medical history and quickly suggest diagnoses and treatments.

The company is still perhaps two years from marketing a medical Watson, and it says no prices have been established. But it envisions several uses, including a doctor simply speaking into a handheld device to get answers at a patient's bedside.""
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Babylscript - a multilingual language-> 0

Submitted by mikejuk on Monday May 23 2011, @07:47AM

mikejuk writes "What language would you like to program in?
No this isn't a Ruby v Perl v Java v ... argument.
Let's rephrase the question as "What natural language would you like to code in?".
English has been the language of programming for far too long and now the Babylscript project has provided a JavaScript that can be written in almost any natural language.
You might well conclude that English is a perfectly good abstract language and quite sufficient.
However consider how you might feel if the next big language was invented in China with no English translation. That is one way for the emerging world to lock us English speakers out of their expansion plans.
Perhaps we do need to look at ways of accommodating more than just English within programming languages."
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PlayStation Network hack will cost Sony $170M-> 0

Submitted by alphadogg on Monday May 23 2011, @07:40AM

alphadogg writes "Sony expects the hack of the PlayStation Network will cost it $170 million this financial year, it said Monday. Unknown hackers hit the network gaming service for PlayStation 3 consoles in April, penetrating the system and stealing personal information from the roughly 77 million accounts on the PlayStation Network and sister Qriocity service. A second attack was directed at the Sony Online Entertainment network used for PC gaming. Sony responded to the attacks by taking the systems offline. It called in several computer security companies to conduct forensic audits and rebuilt its security system."
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Chrome will start an IT teaching revolution-> 0

Submitted by superapecommando on Monday May 23 2011, @07:17AM

superapecommando writes "Google Chrome netbooks are being targeted directly at education and for good reason. Initial press reactions to the Chrome-book are enthusiastic ... with two caveats. These are: ‘it’s a bit expensive for an empty book isn’t it?’ and ‘great concept maybe too soon?’.

Nonsense, the Chrome books will save education an absolute fortune and render existing ICT models obsolete: here’s why."
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Cybersecurity needs international buy-in-> 0

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 23 2011, @06:44AM

An anonymous reader writes "Former UK government CIO John Suffolk has said that international collaboration is key if cybersecurity efforts are to progress in the next twenty years"
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40% of IT Staff Could Wreak Havoc to Your Network-> 0

Submitted by Orome1 on Monday May 23 2011, @06:41AM

Orome1 writes "A survey showed that 40% of IT staff admit that they could hold their employers hostage — even after they’ve left for other employment — by making it difficult or impossible for their bosses to access vital data by withholding or hiding encryption keys. claim that even after they have left they still could cause havoc with their knowledge of the encryption keys, shared passwords and weak controls. 40% of respondents admitted that they would still have access to vital information and could manipulate it to their own ends — both to their company's financial and reputational detriment."
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Apple examines killer blast at iPad plant in China-> 0

Submitted by alphadogg on Monday May 23 2011, @05:25AM

alphadogg writes "A third employee had died from injuries caused by an explosion at an iPad factory of Foxconn in Chengdu, China, the company said Sunday. Initial findings show the blast was caused by "combustible dust in a duct." Apple said it was working with Foxconn to understand what caused the incident. The Friday explosion injured 15 other employees, six of whom have been treated and released from the hospital, according to Foxconn. (Video from the factory after the explosion can be seen on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-9RErCL-Qk)"
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