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Submission + - A Neural Network Simulation of a 1mm Nematode is Taught to Balance a Pole

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: Researchers at the Technische Universität Wein have created a simulation of a simple worm's neural network, and have been able to replicate its natural behavior to completely mimic the worm's natural reflexive behavior. According to the article, using a simple neural network of 300 neurons, the simulation of "the worm can find its way, eat bacteria and react to certain external stimuli. It can, for example, react to a touch on its body. A reflexive response is triggered and the worm squirms away. This behaviour is determined by the worm's nerve cells and the strength of the connections between them. When this simple reflex network is recreated on a computer, the simulated worm reacts in exactly the same way to a virtual stimulation – not because anybody programmed it to do so, but because this kind of behaviour is hard-wired in its neural network." Using the same neural network without adding any additional nerve cells, Mathias Lechner, Radu Grosu, and Ramin Hasani were able to have the nematode simulation learn to balance a pole "just by tuning the strength of the synaptic connections. This basic idea (tuning the connections between nerve cells) is also the characteristic feature of any natural learning process."

Comment Cleaning Up Temporary Files & Defrag (Score 1) 517

by ClockEndGooner (#50004741) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Are Post-Install Windows Slowdowns Inevitable?
I know it's been mentioned elsewhere, but Disk Defragmentation of hard disk drives with Windows 7 installed can offer a significant boost in minimizing boot times. In addition to cleaning up cached and temporary files from applications and web browsers before defragmentation can help. You might also want to look into the contents of the \Windows\WinSxS directory for backup sets of previous OS files updated by the installation of Microsoft patches and updates as described in the posting at [Tip] Reclaim Free Space by Removing Old Windows Updates Files in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 on AskVG.com.

Submission + - Land Art Park Significantly Reduces Jet Engine Noise Near Airport

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: A study conducted by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research [TNO] found that low frequency and long wavelength jet engine droning noise was significantly reduced in the fall after farmers ploughed their fields near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, as the remaining furrows "had multiple ridges to absorb the sound waves, deflected the sound and muted the noise." This lead to the development of the Buitenschot Land Art Park, a buffer park featuring "land art" that has significantly reduced aircraft noise without requiriung cuts in the number of allowed flights in and out of the airport. The land art park has also provided neighbors with additional recreational paths and sports fields in the same space. The impact of the Land Art Park is covered in a recent article from The Smithsonian Magazine.

Submission + - Microsoft Releases Visual Studio Code Preview For Linux, OS X & 64-Bit Windo

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: Microsoft is still extending its efforts into cross platform development with the release of a preview edition of Visual Studio Code, "a lightweight cross-platform code editor for writing modern web and cloud applications that will run on OS X, Linux and Windows." . Derived from its Monaco editor for Visual Studio Online, the initial release includes rich code assistance and naavigation for JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, ASP.NET 5, C# and many others.

Comment How Soon We Forget.... (Score 1) 172

by ClockEndGooner (#48185927) Attached to: Microsoft Gearing Up To Release a Smartwatch of Its Own
From the post: " with Apple releasing its AppleWatch in early 2015, things are going to change.". Hmm, how soon we forget the development partnership between Microsoft and Timex for the Timex Datalink series of watches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... At best, I think there's a needless rush to this platform where the technology to make smart watches a partial, let alone replacement for a smart phone compared to an overpriced, under developed and thought out proprietary dongle to a smart phone.

Submission + - Soccer Talent Scouting Application Teams Up With A Video Game Publisher

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: Professional club football in Europe, or soccer, as it's known here in the States, is perhaps the most expensive and costly professional team sport in the world. Yesterday, Spain's traditional powerhouse, Real Madrid, fielded a starting eleven roster that cost the club over $637 Million (£382 Million Pounds Sterling) to acquire and assemble over the past six seasons against rival club Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup match played in Cardiff, Wales. With billions of dollars spent by the top teams in the world's most competitive leagues in Europe, and billions more at stake from TV royalties and commercial licensing rights, its crucial talent scouts, general managers or "gaffers", sporting directors and club owners and the rest of their back office staff do their homework before recruiting and signing new players. Prozone Sports Ltd. has turned to game publisher Sports Interative's popular Football Manager video game to include more player data and archived video footage of tens of thousands of players from across the world in its Prozone Recruiter application to help clubs make better and more informed decisions on player performances and strengths. Though not officially published, it is known that many of the top clubs in England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Holland and Russia rely on Prozone Recruiter.

Submission + - New Findings On Graphene As A Conductor With IC Components

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: Philadelphia's NPR affiliate, WHYY FM, reported today on their Newsworks program that a research team at the University of Pennsylvania have released their preliminary findings on the use of graphene as a conductor in the next generation of computer chips. "It's very, very strong mechanically, and it is an excellent electronic material that might be used in future computer chips," said Charlie Johnson, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania. From the article: Future graphene transistors, Johnson said, are likely to be only tens of atoms across.

Comment "The Mystery Men" & "Independence Day" Go Phra (Score 1) 701

by ClockEndGooner (#47502519) Attached to: Favorite "Go!" Phrase?
"We’ve got a blind date with destiny and it looks like she’s ordered the lobster.”
William H. Macy in
Kinka Usher's 1999 film, The Mystery Men as
The Shoveler (a.k.a., Eddy)

"Let's kick the tires and light the fires, big daddy!"
Harry Connick, Jr. in
Roland Emmerich's 1996 film, Independence Day as
Captain Jimmy Wilder

Submission + - SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Florida

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After two months of delays, SpaceX was successful today with its launch of six Orbcomm telecommunications satellites. All six satellites have been successfully deployed in orbit. The 375-pound satellites will offer two-way data links to help customers track, monitor and control transportation and logistics assets, heavy equipment, oil and gas infrastructure, ships and buoys, and government-owned equipment. From the article: "SpaceX plans to use Monday’s launch to test a landing system it is developing to fly its rockets back to the launch site for refurbishment and reuse. During Falcon 9’s last flight in April, the first stage successfully restarted some of its engines as it careened toward the ocean, slowing its descent. The rocket also was able to deploy stabilizing landing legs before toppling over in the water. The booster, however, was destroyed by rough seas before it could be retrieved by recovery ships. Monday’s launch was the 10th flight of Falcon 9 rocket, all of which have been successful."

Submission + - Home Depot Begins Retail Store Pilot Program To Sell MakerBot 3-D Printers

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: Looking for a 3-D printer to help you out with a home project or two? If you're in one of the 12 pilot program areas here in the U.S., stop into Home Depot to take a look at and purchase a MakerBot 3-D Replicator printer. "MakerBot printers have been available on Home Depot's website for about a month, and sales have exceeded expectations, said Mr. Pettis. The stores will put up specially-designed kiosks where shoppers can see the machines in 3-D action. Trained MakerBot retail staff will also be on-site for the indefinite future in order to put the machines through their paces."

Comment I Wasn't Entitle-d (Score 1) 164

by ClockEndGooner (#47019507) Attached to: Adobe Creative Cloud Services Offline (Again?)
For a company of Adobe's size, technical resources and experience, and for their tremendous investment in the cloud, I was quite surprised that they didn't have any failover capability with their Web services, and that it took as long as it did to analyze and correct the problem, er, "maintenance issue". During this time, I wasn't able to download my monthly eBooks from Entitle, as their catalog of titles are all protected with Adobe's DRM and their eBook Reader applications connect directly to Adobe for authentication.

Granted, not being able to access some recreational reading material was no great loss or inconvenience, but for those whose independent businesses and livelihoods depend on a robust, well maintained and well managed and set of high availability of Web services, it must have been excruciating. But this also makes me wonder that for other online vendors that are so dependent on Web Services, how well are contracted service levels and availabilities thought out by both businesses, how would Adobe price out these services, and do they have any type of services protection or insurance for loss of business and to reimburse other vendors?

Submission + - Cygnus ISS Launch Delayed Due To Sun's Coronal Mass Ejection

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: A giant coronal mass ejection from the Sun yesterday has resulted in a higher than normal level of radioactivity, and in turn, forced Orbital Sciences to postpone their first mission launch of the Cygnus space truck to the International Space Station. Citing concerns of the increased level of space radiation may have on the Antares launcher and Cygnus avionics, the NASA and Orbital launch team is now evaluating if conditions will improve for a launch on Thursday with Cygnus arriving at the ISS on Sunday morning.

Comment What Apps Does Your Sister Want To Run? (Score 2) 732

by ClockEndGooner (#40125901) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How To Shop For a Laptop?
There are some interesting ideas and recommendations on hardware, but what surprises me is that there is no mention whatsoever on what your sister wants or needs to run in terms of applications. Personally, I would make sure I understood what she wanted to run in terms of applications, and coupled with her own preferences and experiences with other hardware, then make a recommendation on which type of notebook to buy. It could very well be the case that the type of applications she needs to run are only available on one platform. Typical users spend time running applications, and in the end, pay little attention to the subtle variations in CPU speeds. In terms of the hardware itself, make sure that the display is suitable to her needs and expectations, and that she is comfortable in the feedback of the keyboard when running the applications she'll be spending most of her time using, and then that, along with budget, will help narrow down the choice in hardware.
NASA

Submission + - Falcon 9 Launch Aborted At Last Minute (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: Sadly, SpaceX had to abort its launch of the Falcon 9 to the International Space Station this morning due to higher than expected pressure levels in one of its engine chambers. NASA and SpaceX have another launch window scheduled for early next week. "Billionaire rocket designer Elon Musk “Will adjust limits for countdown in a few days,” he tweeted".

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