Submission + - Camera-toting EyeRing could help blind people to "see" objects (gizmag.com)
Submission + - EPIC's Claim of Early White House TSA Petition Pulldown Is False (vortex.com)
Submission + - Demonoid Domains name for sale (pcmag.com)
Would it be fair to assume that the week long DDOS was part of the operation to take the site down? and if so does thing signal that the *IAA's now see it as ok to break the law witha DDOS to enforce their copyright? http://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-domains-go-up-for-sale-120812/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57491730-93/domains-seized-from-demonoid-bittorrent-site-up-for-sale/
Submission + - Facebook faces high-level staff exodus (computerworld.com.au)
Feed + - Engadget: NAA verifies new US record for human-powered helicopter flight (video) (engadget.com)
A team at the University of Maryland has been taking human powered flight to new heights. Or, rather, lengths, by setting a new US record for flight duration of 49.9 seconds with its Gamera II rotorcraft. The benchmark event actually took place in June, but only received the all important plaudits from the National Aeronautic Association on August 9. Gamera II builds on its predecessor (unsurprisingly, Gamera I) by featuring improved transmission, rotor design and a redesigned cockpit. Not content with smashing the previous craft's record of 11.4 seconds, the team plans to fly a further refined version of the copter with longer blades and other fine tuning later this month. The 49.9 second flight has also been submitted to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale for World, rather than American-record verification. The guys at Maryland might want to keep an eye over their shoulders though, as it looks like someone else already has their eyes on that prize. Video evidence after the break.
Continue reading NAA verifies new US record for human-powered helicopter flight (video)
Filed under: Transportation
NAA verifies new US record for human-powered helicopter flight (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Aug 2012 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
PermalinkGizMag | Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center |Email this|CommentsSubmission + - Is sexual harassment part of hacker culture? (blogher.com)
Submission + - Colour printing reaches its ultimate resolution (nature.com)
Each pixel in these ultra-resolution images is made up of four nanoscale posts capped with silver and gold nanodisks. By varying the diameters of the structures (which are tens of nanometres) and the spaces between them, it’s possible to control what colour of light they reflect. As a proof of principle, researchers printed a 50×50-micrometre version of the ‘Lena’ test image, a richly coloured portrait of a woman that is commonly used as a printing standard (abstract).
Even under the best microscope, optical images have an ultimate resolution limit, and this method hits it."
Submission + - Machine Learning allows actors to create games that understand body language (gold.ac.uk)
Submission + - Intellectual Ventures tied to 1,300 shell companies (gigaom.com)
Submission + - How To Breed A Face - Pareidoloop (i-programmer.info)
The program constructs some random polygons and then proceeds from generation to generation breeding new images. The measure of fitness in each generation is simply the score on the face detection program. Eventually the image evolves to look more and more like a face — sort of.
The overall result is spooky and its a demonstration of the power of evolution in just a few thousand generations.
You can try it for yourself at pareidoloop
Submission + - Rep. John Culberson, R-TX to propose NASA reform bill (examiner.com)
First, a NASA administrator would be named to a ten year term. The intent is to provide some continuality in the way the space agency is run and to remove it, as much as possible, from the vagaries of politics.
Second, NASA funding would be placed on a multi-year rather than annual cycle. This is of particular importance to the space agency because the majority of its high level projects take several years to run their course. If funding were fixed for a number of years, the theory goes, money could be spent more efficiently. NASA planners would know how much they have to spend four or so years going forward and would not have to worry about being cut off at the knees by Congressional appropriators year after year."
Submission + - The Number That Shows Why Apple is Suing Every Android Manufacturer in Sight (readwriteweb.com) 1
Submission + - White House Pulls Down TSA Petition (epic.org)
At approximately 11:30 am EDT, the White House removed a petition about the TSA airport screening procedures from the White House "We the People" website. About 22,500 of the 25,000 signatures necessary for a response from the Administration were obtained when the White House unexpectedly cut short the time period for the petition. The site also went down for "maintenance" following an article in Wired that sought support for the campaign.
Submission + - MSFT reaches out to hackers: 'Do epic $#!+' (cnn.com)
Last summer, Microsoft completed a redesign of one of its original buildings on campus — Building 4, where Bill Gates' office used to be — into a laid-back workshop where staff can tinker with things. It's open to anyone, anytime, and it's got everything from a hardware workshop to an actual working garage door.
If it doesn't sound to you like something Microsoft would normally do , the Garage's motto will really shock you: "Do epic s--t.""