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Submission + - Engineers Invent Acoustic Equivalent of One-Way Glass

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Up until now, acoustic waves traveling between two points in space always exhibited a basic symmetry summed up with the phrase, “if you can hear, you can also be heard.” Not anymore as Tia Ghose reports at Live Science that a team at UT Austin has created a “nonreciprocal acoustic circulator," the first step that could lead to the sound equivalent of a one-way mirror.” All waves — whether visible light, sound, radio or otherwise — have a physical property known as time reversal symmetry so a wave sent one way can always be sent back. For radio waves, researchers figured out how to break this rule using magnetic materials that set electrons spinning in one direction. The resulting radio waves detect the difference in the material in one direction versus the other, preventing reverse transmission. To accomplish the feat with sound waves, the team created a cavity loaded with tiny CPU fans that spin the air with a specific velocity. The air is spinning in one direction, so the flow of air "feels" different to the wave in one direction versus the other, preventing backward transmission. As a result, sound waves can go in, but they can't go the other way. The result is one-directional sound. With such a device, people can hear someone talking, but they themselves cannot be heard.The findings will likely lead to many useful applications, says Sebastien Guenneau "I would be surprised if sound industries do not pick up this idea. This could have great applications in sound insulation of motorways, music studios, submarines and airplanes."

Submission + - Kansas to nix expansion of Google Fiber and municipal broadband (consumerist.com) 1

Submitted by symbolset
symbolset writes: Consumerist is reporting on a bill to restrict municipal support of broadband expansion. Purportedly to ensure a "level playing field" to encourage commercial expansion in this area, these bills are usually referred to as oligopoly protection acts. Everywhere they have been implemented expansion of new broadband technology stops. In this specific case no municipal entity in Kansas will be able to enter the same sort of agreements that enabled Google Fiber. From the bill:

Except with regard to unserved areas, a municipality may not, directly or indirectly: (1) Offer to provide to one or more subscribers, video, telecommunications or broadband service; or (2) purchase, lease, construct, maintain or operate any facility for the purpose of enabling a private business or entity to offer, provide, carry, or deliver video, telecommunications or broadband service to one or more subscribers.

More details at Muninetworks.org and GigaOM

Submission + - Feds grab 163 web sites, snatch $21.6 million in NFL counterfeit gear strike (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: As they have for the past few years the US Customs department teamed with the National Football League to cut into the lucrative counterfeit sports gear market. In what the feds called “Operation Team Player,” special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and officers from Customs and Border Protection worked with the National Football League (NFL) and other sports leagues along with law enforcement agencies to identify illegal shipments imported into the U.S., as well as stores and vendors selling counterfeit trademarked items.

Submission + - Nintendo Could Base Comeback on Improving Peoples' Health (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: It’s no secret that Nintendo faces significant challenges: revenues are down, rival platforms such as Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 are attracting a lot of buzz, and iOS and Android have made significant inroads into mobile gaming. Rather than double down on its core business, however, Nintendo reportedly sees its salvation in new, nongaming segments such as... monitoring your health? “We have now redefined entertainment to mean making it fun for people to improve the quality of their lives,” Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata told a company strategy meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal . But he refused to part with more detail about Nintendo’s plans, except to claim that whatever’s in the works isn’t a wearable device along the lines of Nike’s FuelBand or the FitBit, and it isn’t an iteration of the Wii Balance Board, an accessory that measures the user’s weight and center of balance while playing games.

Submission + - When cars go driverless, what happens to the honking? (theatlanticcities.com)

Submitted by blastboy
blastboy writes: The potential upside to getting rid of drivers: "Today car horns are still a leading source of noise pollution in urban centers. India's honking problem is so severe that the response to it—from both activists and government officials—mirrors the response to an actual epidemic. Officials in Peru, meanwhile, began treating honking like a serious crime in 2009, threatening to confiscate the cars of people who honk when they shouldn't.

Submission + - Half of U.S. nuclear missile wing implicated in cheating (reuters.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Just over half of the 183 nuclear missile launch officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana have been implicated in a widening exam cheating scandal, the Air Force said on Thursday, acknowledging it had "systemic" problem within its ranks.

The cheating was discovered during an investigation into illegal drug possession among airmen, when test answers were found in a text message on one missile launch officer's cell phone. The Air Force initially said 34 officers either knew about the cheating or cheated themselves.

But Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told a Pentagon news conference on Thursday that the total number of implicated officers had grown to 92, all of them at Malmstrom, one of three nuclear missile wings overseeing America's 450 inter-continental missiles, or ICBMs.

Submission + - Startup out of MIT promises digital afterlife — just hand over your data 1

Submitted by v3rgEz
v3rgEz writes: A new startup out of MIT offers early adopters a chance at the afterlife, of sorts: It promises to build an AI representation of the dearly departed based on chat logs, email, Facebook, and other digital exhaust generated over the years. “Eterni.me generates a virtual YOU, an avatar that emulates your personality and can interact with, and offer information and advice to your family and friends after you pass away,” the team promises. But can a chat bot plus big data really produce anything beyond a creepy, awkward facsimile?

Submission + - Meet The Electric Porsche From 1898

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: We all talk about the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf as if electric cars are brand-new. Reality check: Electric cars were around long before you were alive, or your father, or maybe even your grandfather. In fact, it turns out that the very first Porsche ever built was an electric car--way back in 1898. It wasn't called a Porsche, but an "Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model"--or P1 for short. Designed by Ferdinand Porsche when he was just 22 years old, it has a rear electric drive unit producing all of 3 horsepower--and an overdrive mode to boost that to a frightening 5 hp! It had an impressive range of 49 miles, not that much less than many of today's plug-in cars. Porsche recently recovered the P1 from a warehouse--where it has supposedly sat untouched since 1902--and plans to display it in original, unrestored condition at the Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen, Germany. So what have we learned? First, Porsche is no stranger to electric cars. Second, electric cars aren't quite as new as you may have thought

Submission + - EU secretly plans to put a back door in every car by 2020 (dailymail.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A secretive EU body has agreed to develop a device to be fitted to all cars allowing police to cut off any engine at will, it emerged today. The device, which could be imposed within a decade, would also allow police to track a vehicle's movements as well as immobilise it. According to The Daily Telegraph a group of senior EU officials, including several Home Office mandarins, have signed off the proposal at a secret meeting in Brussels.

Submission + - South Korean Court Rules That Phone Bloatware Must Be Deletable (zdnet.com) 1

Submitted by _0x783czar
_0x783czar writes: Starting this april, South Korea will require all phone vendors to allow pre-installed bloatware to be uninstalled. That's right, they will be able to get rid of all that pesky software without having to root their phones.

According to press release by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning: "The move aims to rectify an abnormal practice that causes inconvenience to smartphone users and causes unfair competition among industry players." They hope this will also increase the users' data storage and battery life.

From the article: "Under the new guidelines, telcos are required to make most of their pre-installed apps deletable except for four necessary items related to Wi-Fi connectivity, near-field communication (NFC), the customer service center and the app store."

It'd be nice if similar legislation where passed in the US and elsewhere.

Submission + - Google Fiber launches in Provo -- and here's what it feels like (foxnews.com)

Submitted by Velcroman1
Velcroman1 writes: I’ve seen the future. It’s called gigabit Internet by Google Fiber, and it just launched in my hometown of Provo, Utah, the second of three scheduled cities to get speeds that are 100 times faster than the rest of America. “What good is really fast Internet if the content stays the same?” you may ask yourself. I certainly did, before testing the service. Besides, my “high speed” Internet from Comcast seemed fast enough, enabling my household to stream HD videos, load web pages quickly, and connect multiple devices as needed, largely without hiccup. I was wrong. Using gigabit Internet, even in its infancy, opened my eyes to speed and reminded me of why I love the Internet.

Submission + - Electric Cybersecurity Regulations Have a Serial Problem (threatpost.com)

Submitted by msm1267
msm1267 writes: A class of SCADA vulnerabilities discussed at a recent conference is getting attention not only for the risks they pose to master control systems at electric utilities, but also for illuminating a dangerous gap in important critical infrastructure regulations.

Submission + - Mexico's Stolen Radiation Truck: it Could Happen in the US (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Tom Bielefeld, a physicist specializing in nuclear security, writes a detailed article that has some surprising revelations about nuclear security in the US (and elsewhere). Although some security measures have been tightened since 9/11, the US does not require transports of category-1 to be protected by armed guards, and individual states don't have to provide lists of "safe havens" to the transport company (and they often don't). And at hospitals and other buildings that house radioactive materials and devices, "security conditions remain hair-raising, even when these facilities have been checked by inspectors." Great read.
Science

20,000 Customers Have Pre-Ordered Over $2,000,000 of Soylent 543

Posted by samzenpus from the you-can't-have-any-pudding-unti-you-drink-your-macro-nutritious-beverage dept.
Daniel_Stuckey writes "Less than a year ago, Rob Rhinehart published a blog post explaining how he had stopped eating food and begun living entirely on a greyish, macro-nutritious cocktail. Today, he told Motherboard that he's sold more than $2 million worth of Soylent to tens of thousands of post-food consumers worldwide—and that it's on track to ship next month. 'We have crossed $2,000,000 in revenue from over 20,000 customers, with more every day,' Rhinehart told me. 'International demand is really picking up as well.' This despite the fact that Soylent isn't technically on the market yet, and has thus far only been available to beta testers. Rhinehart's company spent much of last year tinkering with the formula—the version he tried first was deficient in sulfur, and contained since-jettisoned ingredients like cow whey. But there's been a steadily building crescendo of publicity—both positive and negative—around the project since its inception."

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