Comment Re:The 3 laws aren't what you think (Score 2) 97
Furthermore he proceeded to make every Robot novel and short story thereafter about the subtleties and insufficiencies of the laws.
Comment The hype was so bad. I am glad it is over. (Score 1) 84
Hearing Malcolm Gladwell wax fantastic about the miracles of (AT&T) 5G was enough to make me stop listening to his podcasts.
Granted, they were paid spots, but you have to protect your brand at least a little.
Comment Linear A - Not yet (Score 1) 111
I came ot see if Linear A had been cracked. Maybe someday. At least there is hope short of finding a Rosetta Stone equivalent.
Comment For a whole host of reasons (Score 1) 440
My wife and I have been doing this for decades for a whole host of reasons. Most of them boil down to these categories (summarized well in the summary):
1) Environmental noise: whether it is because you are in a noisy environment or you don't want to add sound to the environment
2) Dialogue comprehension: Even mild accents can throw me off. I got a lot more out of Downton Abbey this way.
There are a few pitfalls:
1) It drives visiting family crazy!
2) Sometimes ill-timed cc spoils joke punchlines
3) Carelessly placed cc sometimes covers things you would like to see on the screen. Live sports is a big offender here.
Comment Eagerly awaiting 10G (Score 1) 116
Or is it XG?
Am I doing this right?
Comment You buried the lead... (Score 1) 51
...Angelfire is still operating!
Comment Maybe the isotope profile... (Score 1) 206
...points to the materials being non-terrestrial.
I am way out of my league here, but this seems like a plausible reality that may be connected to the story. Of course this does not mean they are "alien" unless they are truly alloys (which I suppose would require intelligence to fashion) made of non-terrestrial materials.
I am just trying to connect the dots between reality and what gets reported in the NYT.
Comment Overly specific (Score 1) 152
Maybe it is just me, but the denial seems overly specific.
Maybe the mic is used to maintain a profile for each user. Oh, and the profile is used to target ads.
Talking out loud about tin-foil hats now to see if I get any ads for a discount.
Comment Re:Simple fix (Score 1) 92
I would guess that someone is clever enough to circumvent this by making the licensee and the inventor different legal entities even though the beneficiaries are the same.
Comment Re:Not DRM, just an old business model (Score 1) 769
The difference being that consumers want variety from their coffee. Not so much with razors.
Comment This will not end well... (Score 2) 769
Although I am a heavy user of their current line of products, I appreciate the fact that I have the choice to buy unlicensed pods that are either cheaper or represent coffee that is otherwise unavailable.
Surely this will kick open the door for a competitor that can take advantage of their self-disruption!
Hybrid Human-Animal DNA Experiments Raise Concerns 311
Kevin Fishburne writes
"British scientists are calling for a new agency to oversee the mixing of human and animal DNA, which is progressing at a rate most may not be aware of: 'Among experimentation that might spark concern are those where human brain cells might change animal brains, those that could lead to the fertilization of human eggs in animals and any modifications of animals that might create attributes considered uniquely human, like facial features, skin or speech. ... Some disagree. "We think some of these should be done, but they should be done in an open way to maintain public confidence," said Robin Lovell-Badge, head of stem cell biology and developmental genetics at Britain's Medical Research Council, one of the expert group members. He said experiments injecting human brain cells into the brains of rats might help develop new stroke treatments or that growing human skin on mice could further understanding of skin cancer.'"
Comment Re:There's a big difference, though (Score 1) 333
Tipping point was in 3/11 for me. DSL+Netflix+HD Antenna
I should have swit
Heroic Engineer Crashes Own Vehicle To Save a Life 486
scottbomb sends in this feel-good story of an engineer-hero, calling it "one of the coolest stories I've read in a long time." "A manager of Boeing's F22 fighter-jet program, Innes dodged the truck, then looked back to see that the driver was slumped over the wheel. He knew a busy intersection was just ahead, and he had to act fast. Without consulting the passengers in his minivan — 'there was no time to take a vote' — Innes kicked into engineer mode. 'Basic physics: If I could get in front of him and let him hit me, the delta difference in speed would just be a few miles an hour, and we could slow down together,' Innes explained."
Digital Dashboard Device Detects Driver Drowsiness 117
Pickens writes "Science Daily Headlines reports that researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology have developed a self-contained, dashboard-mounted assistant system that tracks a driver's eye movements and issues a warning before the driver has an opportunity to nod off to sleep. 'What we have developed is a small modular system with its own hardware and programs on board, so that the line of vision is computed directly within the camera itself,' says Professor Husar. 'Since the Eyetracker is fitted with at least two cameras that record images stereoscopically — meaning in three dimensions — the system can easily identify the spatial position of the pupil and the line of vision.' The cameras, which can be installed in any model of car, evaluate up to 200 images per second to identify the line of vision. If the camera modules detect that the eye is closed for longer than a user-defined interval, it sounds an alarm. The Eyetracker also has applications in computer games where players could look around themselves without requiring a joystick to change their viewing direction, and in marketing and advertising, where researchers could determine which parts of a poster or advertising spot receive longer attention from their viewers."
