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Microsoft

Submission + - Steve Jobs Was Wrong About Touchscreen Laptops

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Don't believe everything Steve Jobs and Tim Cook tell you, advises The Verge's Sean Hollister. Gunshy of touchscreen laptops after hearing the two Apple CEOs dismiss the technology (Jobs: 'Touch surfaces don't want to be vertical.' Cook: 'You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not gonna be pleasing to the user.'), Hollister was surprised to discover that Windows 8 touchscreen laptops actually don't suck and that the dreaded 'Gorilla Arm Syndrome' did not materialize. 'The more I've used Windows 8, despite its faults, the more I've become convinced that touchscreens are the future — even vertical ones,' writes Hollister. 'We've been looking at this all wrong. A touchscreen isn't a replacement for a keyboard or mouse, it's a complement.' Echoing a prediction from Coding Horror's Jeff Atwood that 'it is only a matter of time before all laptops must be touch laptops,' Hollister wouldn't be surprised at all if Apple eventually embraces-and-extends the tech: 'Microsoft might have validated the idea, but now Apple has another chance to swoop in, perfecting and popularizing the very interface that it strategically ridiculed just two years ago. It wouldn't be the first time. After all, how many iPad minis come with sandpaper for filing fingers down?'
Education

Submission + - More Stanford Computing Courses go free (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: Following on the recent Slashdot item on the availablity of a free Stanford AI course there is news that two other Stanford Computer Science courses are also joining in this "bold experiment in distributed education" in which students not only have access to lecture videos and other course materials but will actively participate by submitting assignments and getting regular feedback on their progress. The subjects are Machine Learning with Andrew Ng and Database with Jennifer Widom.
This open approach looks as if it might be a sucess with well over 100,000 prospective students signing up to the AI course alone.
The 2000 Beanies

Submission + - 2011 Hugo Awards (renovationsf.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Hugo Award® is the leading award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The Hugos are awarded each year by members of the World Science Fiction Society, and presented at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).
The winners were announced Saturday, August 20th, 2011, during the Hugo Awards Ceremony at Renovation in Reno, Nevada. 2011 Hugo Award Winners 2100 valid voting ballots were counted and presented at
Technology

Submission + - Hacker Steve Built Hand-Mounted Tacit Sonar Device (geektech.in)

Submitted by
GeekTech.in
GeekTech.in writes: "This innovations takes out the stick from a blind man’s hand. Steve has been working on the Tacit, a wrist mounted sonar device with haptic feedback, it’s like strapping a bat to your wrist to help you see. It makes use of two sonar ping sensors to measure the distance to the nearest obstacle, the relative distance to an object is then fed back to the user using two servos which apply pressure to the back of the wrist."
Medicine

Submission + - You have taste receptors in your lungs (io9.com) 1

Submitted by timothy
timothy writes: Says the article: "It sounds like the plot of a Troma flick, but yes, your lungs contain taste receptors. When these receptors encounter bitter compounds, they open up your airways — this discovery could radically improve the treatment of lung conditions like asthma." I wonder if this is why some people can handle spicy foods, and others can't ...
Science

Submission + - Robotic hands grip without fingers (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Physicists have designed a robotic hand that doesn't have fingers, yet can still serve drinks and draw pictures. The hand is a thin rubber sack filled with coffee grains or small glass spheres. When it comes in contact with an object, a small pipe sucks air from the sack, causing it to contract and mold to the object's shape. As long as the gripper can fold about one-fourth of the object's surface, it can pick up just about any shape thrown in its path. (video included)

Comment Why not Google for Governments? (Score 1, Interesting) 484

by Tork (#33773376) Attached to: 'The Laws Are Written By Lobbyists,' Says Google's Schmidt

So, the obvious question becomes why DOESN'T google start something like Google for Governments, and offer legislative tools for all levels of Government, from local to federal.

Have easy, gmail-style interfaces to thread-based tool which exposes version changes and their source - and then make it open to the public so the public can see who, exactly, introduced what, and further, have it linked to relavent, search-based results. Offer it free to Governments to use in all proceedings, from City Council meetings to Senate subcommittees, and if Governments elect not to use the tools, then for the general public, automate the same sort of bill tracking, infographics, &c., and incorporate public secrets-type info to elevate what is a great existing resource beyond a wall of text such that voters can have a sense of where, and why, actions are taken (or not).

Again, why doesn't google do what it does best, organize information for consumption? This seems like a slam dunk for Google - they have the knowledge, skills and abilities in house, and have already/are currently developing the traditionally hard parts (e.g., linking information) as a part of their core business.

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