Submission + - Woz gets an android phone (telegraph.co.uk)
whoever57 writes: Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, has accepted an Android phone from Google. He was given a Samsung Galaxy Nexus when he visited Google's campus. Woz had earlier told the newspaper De Telegraph that Android was better than IOS, although he later claimed to have been misquoted and that he would never say that IOS was better than Android.
Submission + - Nine of The Most Advanced Robots Today (txchnologist.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Robbie the Robot was all wrong. Today’s robots, loosely defined as mechanical or virtual “agents” that can perform some autonomous tasks, aren’t ungainly bubble people that issue plangent warnings.
In some cases, such as Boston Dynamics’ terrifying “Big Dogs,” they’re physically able but essentially dumb machines. In other cases, such as the virtual scientist Eureqa,they’re highly able pieces of software that can learn on their own but have almost no physical expression. As Joseph Engelberger, one of the early fathers of robotics, once cheekily said, “I can’t define a robot, but I know one when I see one.”
Despite our best efforts, we haven’t created machines that are both physically able and intelligent. But a look at this array of robots shows that we’ve come far in recent years.
In some cases, such as Boston Dynamics’ terrifying “Big Dogs,” they’re physically able but essentially dumb machines. In other cases, such as the virtual scientist Eureqa,they’re highly able pieces of software that can learn on their own but have almost no physical expression. As Joseph Engelberger, one of the early fathers of robotics, once cheekily said, “I can’t define a robot, but I know one when I see one.”
Despite our best efforts, we haven’t created machines that are both physically able and intelligent. But a look at this array of robots shows that we’ve come far in recent years.
Submission + - Is HP Paying Intel To Keep Itanium Alive? (itworld.com) 1
itwbennett writes: "In a court filing, Oracle accused HP of secretly contracting with Intel to keep making Itanium processors so that it can continue to make money from its locked-in Itanium customers and take business away from Oracle's Sun servers. Oracle says that Intel would have long ago killed off Itanium if not for these payments from HP. For its part, HP called the filing a 'desperate delay tactic' in the lawsuit HP filed against Oracle over its decision to stop developing for Itanium."
Comment Environmentalism... (Score 1) 251
Project will probably be canceled because some astro-enviromentalist detected a spor on a moon rock that can live in a vacuum.
Comment A couch or second bedroom (Score 1) 2
If he/she isn't sleeping on butterfly wings (Lunesta/Unisom/sleep agents) then sleeping in another room may be the answer. My partner just got used to it after a while and made it an excuse to get glasses of water while I'm up.
Submission + - Airdrop Irrigation System Wins James Dyson Award (jamesdysonaward.org)
An anonymous reader writes: The innovative Airdrop Irrigation System is capable of transforming drought-stricken areas into fertile farmland, and it just took home the top prize in this year's James Dyson Awards. The device harvests tiny amounts of moisture from even the driest climate and then pushes the moisture through a network of piping that funnels it directly to the roots of crops.
Submission + - All-Electric DeLorean Car to Hit the Streets in 20 (delorean.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The DeLorean Motor Company just announced plans to launch an all-electric version of its gull-winged Back to the Future car in 2013. While it doesn’t run on fusion power (yet) it still has some sweet performance statistics like a top speed of 125 mph driven by a 260 horsepower electric motor.
Comment "Your Mom" is missing from the most hacked list... (Score 1) 2
After all, anyone who's been on a "hacker" board knows she's been 0wn3d.
Submission + - Analysis of 250,000 Hacker Conversations (net-security.org) 2
Orome1 writes: Imperva released a report analyzing the content and activities of an online hacker forum with nearly 220,000 registered members, although many are dormant. The forum is used by hackers for training, communications, collaboration, recruitment, commerce and even social interaction. Commercially, this forum serves as a marketplace for selling of stolen data and attack software. The chat rooms are filled with technical subjects ranging from advice on attack planning to solicitations for help with specific campaigns. The forum is also a place where curious neophytes can find “how-to-hack” tutorials on various methods.
Submission + - GNOME Community Launches Desktop Survey (phoronix.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Contributors in the GNOME community have started a GNOME desktop user survey. The GNOME Foundation wouldn't endorse any survey, but the community has put together a 23-question desktop survey. Regardless if you use GNOME, they encourage all Linux users to participate.
Submission + - School builds private social network to teach kids (forbes.com)
nonprofiteer writes: This is quite a cool idea. A New York middle school built a private social network using open source tool Elgg as a "walled garden" where students can experiment and practice without leaving a permanent footprint on the Web. The School wants the kids to learn about “the quandaries of digital life,” such as “invisible audiences,” and “the permanence and persistence” of things put online. But the school doesn’t want the students learning these lessons “out in the wild” — on Facebook, for example — where the students would leave permanent evidence on the Web that could haunt them for the rest of their lives.
The lessons haven't completely sunk in though:
"In another instance of mistakes on the wider Web, a few years ago, some of the students discovered Formspring — a place where users can publicly ask and answer questions of one another. Despite the school’s digital literacy lessons, some of the students had started accounts using their real names and images. A parent-teacher Googling one of the student’s names happened upon it. Blumberg printed out pages and pages of the questions and answers and confronted the school’s 8th graders with it.
“Reading through I was shocked by how many conjugations of the F word there are,” says Blumberg. “I told them this is what people will now find when they Google your names: answers to questions like, ‘Have you ever given a blow job?’”
Some were angry, saying that the questions and answers were private and asking whether teachers were stalking them online. Others just wanted to know how they could delete it."
The lessons haven't completely sunk in though:
"In another instance of mistakes on the wider Web, a few years ago, some of the students discovered Formspring — a place where users can publicly ask and answer questions of one another. Despite the school’s digital literacy lessons, some of the students had started accounts using their real names and images. A parent-teacher Googling one of the student’s names happened upon it. Blumberg printed out pages and pages of the questions and answers and confronted the school’s 8th graders with it.
“Reading through I was shocked by how many conjugations of the F word there are,” says Blumberg. “I told them this is what people will now find when they Google your names: answers to questions like, ‘Have you ever given a blow job?’”
Some were angry, saying that the questions and answers were private and asking whether teachers were stalking them online. Others just wanted to know how they could delete it."
Submission + - Are LEDs the Solution for Light Pollution? (txchnologist.com)
ambermichelle writes: We tend to romanticize the glow that emanates from city lights. We don’t often realize that any light that goes into the sky represents wasted energy, about $2.2 billion per year according to one popular estimate. Not only does light pollution run up electric bills and create carbon emissions, it interferes with ecosystems and obscures our view of the heavens. This is a problem we have brought on ourselves. Fortunately, lighting technology can solve many of these problems. We asked GE’s outdoor lighting guru Tim Miller about how smarter lighting can bring back the night sky. His solution: LEDs. Light emitting diodes use about 70 percent less energy than the most common outdoor lighting technologies. They also reduce four components of light pollution: high light levels, uplight, trespass light and glare.
Submission + - Vint Cerf: Media tagging can be disconcerting (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: "Cerf says he profoundly feels how the advent of cameras everywhere and the ability to post video and photos online can be hugely disconcerting. He recounts how he stepped once off a helicopter for a meeting in Brazil and minutes later was informed a video of himself doing that had been posted to YouTube, something he found to be a discomforting experience. He says getting constant notes about being "tagged" in online photos from social networking sites such as Facebook still remains a bit of a jolt."
Submission + - Android Phones Get Dual Accounts (technologyreview.com)
holy_calamity writes: "AT&T is adopting technology that gives a person with an Android device two user profiles, enabling company email and other data to reside in an encrypted partition separate from a users apps, games and unfettered web browsing. AT&T are calling the feature Toggle, and plan to release it later this year. Toggle is a regular app that once installed creates its own, encrypted desktop under the control of company IT bosses. Toggle is a rebranding of an app developed by startup Enterproid, which continues to develop its own version. AT&T think this move will encourage smartphone adoption in the enterprise. Interestingly, Apple's current version of iOS and app guidelines exclude multiple profiles on one device."
