Since I seem to move house every six months or so, I have ample opportunities to test new strategies. This time around I experimented by putting plastic storage totes through FedEx Ground, and for the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 1:00 pm
AnInkle writes "A blogger on The Tech Report details his research and testing of wireless voice communication options for remote mountainous villages in rural undeveloped areas. The home-built project involves open-source software, low-cost wireless routers, solar power, mesh networking, unlicensed radio frequencies and VoIP technology. Although his research began several months ago, he has concluded the first stage of testing and is preparing to move near one of the sites where he hopes to eventually install the final functional network. Anyone with experience or ideas on the subject is invited to offer input and advice."
By Andrew Liszewski Of all the Star Wars characters I think R2D2 gets the least respect, at least in terms of product tie-ins. But I guess it's mostly because he's shaped like a garbage can on wheels,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 12:44 pm
modernphysics writes "The Outreach Department at Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics offers a wide array of online lecture playbacks examining hot topics in modern physics and beyond. Presentations include Neil Turok's 'What Banged?,' John Ellis with 'The Large Hadron Collider,' Nima Arkani-Hamed with 'Fundamental Physics in 2010,' Paul Steinhardt with 'Impossible Crystals,' Edward Witten with 'The Quest for Supersymmetry,' Seth Lloyd with 'Programming the Universe,' Anton Zeilinger with 'From Einstein to Quantum Information,' Raymond Laflamme with 'Harnessing the Quantum World,' and many other talks. The presentations feature a split-screen presentation with the guest speaker in one frame and their full-frame graphics in the other."
Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to buy Electronic Data Systems Corp. for about $12.6 billion to build a technology-services company that could challenge IBM. The companies said Tuesday... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 12:12 pm
Hewlett-Packard says it will buy Electronic Data Systems for about $12.57 billion in cash in a move to more than double its services revenue and become a bigger challenger to IBM. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 11:52 am
Last week, I told you about my donations program for my new book, Little Brother. Every time I put a book online for free, I'm inundated by offers of cash "tips" from people who got the ebooks for free. I don't want anyone's money (cutting my publisher out of the loop isn't good for them or me), so I came up with an alternative. I asked librarians and teachers who wanted free copies to step forward and put their names down, and now I'm looking for would-be "donors" to step forward and send them copies of the book.
The project's been a smashing success so far: dozens of librarians, teachers and related trades put their names down for free copies, and we've started to fulfil the orders at a good clip. There's plenty of open orders left, though -- if you're one of those people who wants to compensate me for the free ebook, here's your chance!
Link
Last week, I told you about my donations program for my new book, Little Brother. Every time I put a book online for free, I'm inundated by offers of cash "tips" from people who got the ebooks for free... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 11:43 am
David Byrne's latest art project turns an entire building into a instrument:
"I'd like to say that in a small way it turns consumers into creative producers," Byrne explains on his official site, "but that might be a bit too much to claim. However, even if one doesn't play the thing, it points toward a less mediated kind of cultural experience. It might be an experience in which one begins to reexamine one's surroundings and to realize that culture -- of which sound and music are parts -- doesn't always have to be produced by professionals and packaged in a consumable form.
"I'm not suggesting people abandon musical instruments and start playing their cars and apartments," he adds, "but I do think the reign of music as a commodity made only by professionals might be winding down. The imminent demise of the large record companies as gatekeepers of the world's popular music is a good thing, for the most part."
David Byrne's latest art project turns an entire building into a instrument: "I'd like to say that in a small way it turns consumers into creative producers," Byrne explains on his official site, "but... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 11:35 am
Muddy Mountain Pottery's Raku Ray Guns are made from ceramic, and named for golden age science fiction authors and personalities ("Tiptree Trilobite," "D.E.L. Ray," "Gerns-Backfire"). Beautiful and contradictory,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 11:33 am
Muddy Mountain Pottery's Raku Ray Guns are made from ceramic, and named for golden age science fiction authors and personalities ("Tiptree Trilobite," "D.E.L. Ray," "Gerns-Backfire"). Beautiful and contradictory, made from heavy ceramic instead of futuristic materials.
Link
(via Neatorama)
Nat sez, "Rats laugh in the ultrasound when they're tickled. They also seek the hand that tickled them (not to bite). Listen to the Radio Lab segment on it, where the researcher who discovered the rodent guffaw talks about how he came to do so. I first found out about it in the excellent QI: The Book of Animal Ignorance, where you can learn that a kangaroo can shuffle foetuses between its two uteruses to wait for droughts to end before giving birth, monotremes are literally "one hole" (for pee, poo, and procreation), and the New Zealand kea are parrots strong enough to rip the kidney fat out of sheep. It's certainly changed my after-dinner conversation!"
Link
(Thanks, Nat!)
Nat sez, "Rats laugh in the ultrasound when they're tickled. They also seek the hand that tickled them (not to bite). Listen to the Radio Lab segment on it, where the researcher who discovered the rodent... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 11:28 am
Japan's top telecommunications company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit surged 32 percent in fiscal 2007 on booming long distance and international... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 11:19 am
DirectPointe announced today that it has signed an exclusive partnership with Transcensus. With the partnership DirectPointe will have exclusive rights to the Transcensus performance based learning platform for the technology service provider market. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
Integrated Technology Group Launches ITG America Leading IT Company Integrated Technology Group announces the launch of its new American Division; ITG AmericaIntegrated Technology Group, a leading provider of IT solutions and technologies, unveiled the formation of its new division based in Boston, USA. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
Hynix Semiconductor and ProMOS Technologies have signed an agreement to strengthen their existing technology and product exchange alliance. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
TransCanada has announced that the Salt River Project has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement to secure 100% of the output from TransCanada's planned Coolidge Generating Station. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
By Brady McCombs, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson May 13--Work is set to begin this week in Nogales, Ariz., to permanently repair a damaged 150-foot section of concrete wash that connects Mexico and the United States and houses a pipe that carries millions of gallons of raw sewage. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
By Steve Waters, South Florida Sun-Sentinel May 13--Brent J. Mechler II has a great way to beat the heat and catch big blackfin tuna: He fishes late in the afternoon. Mechler, of Margate, took out Ray Jimenez of Coral Springs on Wednesday aboard Desidorado, his 25-foot SeaCraft. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
IBM has won a five-year global IT contract from car rental company Hertz to support its re-engineering and efficiency-improvement program. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
By Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle May 13--As I've noted here and in my blog, more and more Windows users are expressing an interest in switching to Apple's Macintosh platform, and many of them are taking the plunge. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
INX, Inc., (NASDAQ:INXI) announced today that it has been selected by Choctaw Nation to design and implement a Cisco unified communications solution for the Tribal Government and business enterprises. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
DALLAS, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- TRUE.com(R) the leading scientifically-based online relationship service and one of the most-trafficked sites on the Web, intends to increase its advertising budget by approximately 70 percent -- to $75 million -- over the next year. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
By Rob Johnson rob.johnson@roanoke.com 981-3234 The well-worn hymnal isn't trendy anymore and is being rapidly replaced in Roanoke and elsewhere by singalong visual productions that project words on screens or church walls. But beware. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
Text of report by South Africa-based Zim Online website on 13 May [Report by own correspondent: "Zim Trade Union Leaders Denied Bail"] JOHANNESBURG - A Zimbabwe magistrate on Monday remanded in jail the country's two most senior trade union leaders who are facing charges of inciting public violence. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
By Bruce Cadwallader, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio May 13--Amid gasps of surprise from his relatives, Derris Lewis was sent to the Franklin County jail yesterday after a prosecutor called him a danger to the public and a judge raised his bail to $800,000. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/310576) has announced the addition of "Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy: Evolution and Adaptation, 2nd Edition" to their offering. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
Last night was the second Digg Townhall, a live session hosted online by Digg founder Kevin Rose and CEO Jay Adelson. Like before, Kevin asked Digg users to post their suggestions on Digg as to what topics... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 11:00 am
John Paul sez, "My sister Wendy went to Jamaica to make a music video for Gnarls Barkley. I've always found it fascinating how she listens to songs and just fantasizes about what imagery or story goes... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 10:54 am
John Paul sez, "My sister Wendy went to Jamaica to make a music video for Gnarls Barkley. I've always found it fascinating how she listens to songs and just fantasizes about what imagery or story goes with the music, and then struggles to make the video happen in an incredibly short time frame and on a tight budget. This video is maybe her finest. The imagery comes out of her head, partly inspired by a trip we made to Africa, partly inspired by Jamaican dance hall glory.
"Filming in Jamaica is worth it, and the dancers are not the only
amazing Jamaicans behind the video. The local crew worked themselves
silly to make this happen."
Link
(Thanks, John Paul!)
By Andrew Liszewski The only thing better than having your own robot servant is having a robot servant you can actually ride. RINGBO is kind of a hybrid between the Radio Shack bots of yesteryear, and... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 10:07 am
One hundred years later, Nathan Stubblefield is finally being recognised as the inventor of the mobile phone. Photographs of the world's first "wireless telephone" have revealed that it was not... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 13 May 2008 | 9:57 am
AgentPaper writes "Three years ago we discussed an open source brewing project in which a Danish brewer made his beer recipes available for public consumption and alteration. The concept has taken off, first with the 'Free Beer Project' in Denmark and now with Flying Dog's 'Collaborator' Doppelbock in the US, which was created via input from home brewers across the world. One version of the Collaborator is commercially brewed and available for purchase (and is darned tasty), but you can download the same recipe and labels, brew it yourself, and submit your mods back to the project."
DENVER, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Denver-based IM&I and SportsHD Productions, have teamed up to launch SportZu.tv, a video based sports community focused on athletes,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 8:37 am
CUPERTINO, Calif., May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today announced that a team of Apple executives, led by CEO Steve Jobs, will kick off the company's... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 8:31 am
DALLAS, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today announced the newest members of its Voice over IP (VoIP) gateway silicon and software Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 8:30 am
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TIBCO Software Inc. (Nasdaq: TIBX) today announced that it has been named one of START-IT Magazine's... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 8:30 am
CHENGDU, China, May 13 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tianyin Pharmaceutical, Co., Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: TYNP), a manufacturer and supplier of modernized... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 8:30 am
RICHMOND, Va., May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Savi, a Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) company, has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command (JMC)... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 13 May 2008 | 8:30 am
By La Crosse Tribune, Wis. May 13--Three graduates have been chosen as the 2008 inductees to the La Crosse Central High School Hall of Excellence by the school and its alumni association: Judy Bouffleur, Craig Fiedler and Dave Schleh. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 8:00 am
By Reid Magney, La Crosse Tribune, Wis. May 13--WEST SALEM, Wis. -- Democrat Tara Johnson formally launched her campaign today to unseat state Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse, in the 32nd District. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 8:00 am
StonyandCher writes in about a collaboration between NASA and a leading Australian exploration and mining scientist, Dr. Brent McInnes, to search for signs of ancient life on Mars. The plan is to develop and miniaturize the "Alphachron" — an exploration technology currently employed by the Australian minerals industry to determine the age of minerals. If the Alphachron can be miniaturized, it could fly with the next rover mission set for launch in 2010. "The highest priority is to understand when liquid water was present on Mars. 'The same minerals that can be found in [Western Australia]... can also be found on Mars,' McInnes said. Accordingly, by using the Alphachron to date minerals on Mars and thus tell when liquid water may have been present, it can be inferred when life may have been sustainable near the surface of the planet."
Jack Anderson said the messages violated county law because they were sent to deputies' departmental accounts. His rival Hunt says the action was politically motivated. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 13 May 2008 | 7:00 am
The acquisition would lift revenue and help it weather slowdowns in sales of computers and printers. Seeking a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 13 May 2008 | 7:00 am
The new handset, which has quicker Web browsing and more room for music and videos, aims to compete with a faster iPhone expected soon. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 13 May 2008 | 7:00 am
Back pain is one of the most common medical problems and will affect about eight out of 10 people during their lifetimes. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 13 May 2008 | 7:00 am
Kevin Kelly is one of the most fascinating people I've ever had the honor of meeting. For today's episode of Boing Boing tv, I visited his Bay Area home to learn more about the stories behind the stunning images that comprise Asia Grace, one of my favorite books by Kelly (there are many others).
Before he helped launch Wired 15 years ago, and served as the publication's founding editor, the onetime "nomadic photojournalist" wandered throughout Asia with a backpack crammed full of film -- and little else.
The resulting images, most of which were taken in the 1970s, form the body of Asia Grace. We see worlds that no longer exist: Afghanistan and Iran before wars that changed them forever; and traditional lifestyles in Tibet, Nepal, China, and India that fade further into history with each passing year.
Several readers sent in links on the earthquake that hit 10 hours ago near the Sichuan city of Chengdu in China. The Telegraph focuses on the citizen journalism that got word on the quake out on the Net instantly (the first report was via Twitter). Science magazine speculates that deaths from this event could exceed the 240,000 killed in the Tangshan quake in 1976, though the estimated death toll is below 10,000 at this writing. Hundreds of videos are up on YouTube, including this footage from a security camera — keep your eye on the goldfish.
Researchers from Louisiana State University have developed a way to destroy unwanted animals and plants that reside in the ballast waters of cargo vessels. The scientists found that a continuous microwave system removed all marine life within the water tanks.According to the U.N., "invasive species" dispersed by ballast water discharges are one of the four main threats to the world's marine ecosystems. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 5:05 am
Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report related to the Nanotechnology industry is available in its catalogue. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 5:00 am
By Carl Chancellor, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio May 12--Akron City Council Monday authorized the payment of more than $659,000 for the purchase of several pieces of property. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 5:00 am
By The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) - The coyote was limping as it approached a girl in a sand box at a public park - but it still was dangerous. It snapped its jaws on the girl's buttocks and her nanny had to pry the toddler from the wild animal. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 May 2008 | 5:00 am
Having seized the lead in personal computer sales worldwide, Hewlett-Packard Co. is stalking the technology services market for its next conquest. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 13 May 2008 | 4:20 am
The New Yorker's "Drug War Bulletins" are sure to boil your blood: a man who died for want of a liver transplant because the hospital insisted he needed "drug treatment" for his medical marijuana use; a suburban San Diego housewife who will spend the next 20 years in jail because she was peripherally involved in a heroin deal while she was in college in 1975; and a pulmonologist who'd been favored by the drug warriors until his giant, well-funded, unreproachable study concluded that pot didn't give you lung cancer, and who is now a pariah whose research conclusions have been boycotted by the press.
The War on Some Drugs is as unwinnable and destructive as all the other wars on abstract nouns. Who needs terrorists to rip America apart when you've got drug warriors killing off, imprisioning and shunning its innocents?
.In Seattle, a fifty-six-year old man died last Thursday after being refused a liver transplant because he had followed his doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana to ease the symptoms of hepatitis C. From the Associated Press story:
His death came a week after a doctor told him a University of Washington Medical Center committee had again denied him a spot on the liver transplant list. The team had previously told him it would not consider placing him on the list until he completed a 60-day drug-treatment class…
The Virginia-based United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation’s transplant system, leaves it to individual hospitals to develop criteria for transplant candidates.
At some, people who use “illicit substances”—including medical marijuana, even in the dozen states that allow it—are automatically rejected. At others, patients are given a chance to reapply if they stay clean for six months.
The cruelty and stupidity of this beggars belief. This patient did not need “drug treatment.” He was already undergoing drug treatment. Nor did he need to get “clean.” He was already clean. It’s the drug war that’s dirty. (H/t: John Leone.)
You know how the mobile carriers charge you a couple cents to SMS a few characters' worth of text over their network? When you add it up, you're paying about a zillion bucks a meg for that traffic -- seriously! A space scientist from Leicester has calculated that SMS data is four times more expensive than receiving data from the Hubble space telescope.
He worked out the cost of obtaining a megabyte of data from Hubble – and compared that with the 5p cost of sending a text.
He said: “The bottom line is texting is at least 4 times more expensive than transmitting data from Hubble, and is likely to be substantially more than that.
“The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes 140 bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text messaging system, and we assume the average price for a text message is 5p. There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so that's 1 million/140 = 7490 text messages to transmit one megabyte. At 5p each, that's £374.49 per MB - or about 4.4 times more expensive than the ‘most pessimistic’ estimate for Hubble Space Telescope transmission costs.”
Dr Bannister said it had been difficult to work out exactly how much Hubble data transmission costs. So he contacted NASA who gave him a firm figure of £8.85 per megabyte (MB) for the transmission of data from HST to the Earth.
religious freak sends word of the public beta of Powerset, a closely watched San Francisco startup that promises an "understanding engine" to revolutionize Web search. An article in SearchEngineLand points out that Powerset is reaching higher than for mere "natural language." Techcrunch has more details and analysis. For the beta, Powerset makes available all of Wikipedia to search — not all the Web. It's said that their understanding engine required a month to grok Wikipedia's 2.5M articles. The Web is currently at least 8,000 times as large.
Smivs writes "US researchers say they have developed an effective way to kill unwanted plants and animals that hitch a ride in the ballast waters of cargo vessels. Tests showed that a continuous microwave system was able to remove all marine life within the water tanks. The UN lists 'invasive species' dispersed by ballast water discharges as one of the four main threats to the world's marine ecosystems. For example European zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) have infested more than 40% of the US's inland waterways. Between 1989 and 2000, up to $1B is estimated to have been spent on controlling the spread of the alien invader."
Fandom takes many forms, and some are truly creepy. An East Carolina University biologist names a species of trapdoor spider after his favorite rock star.
Sen. John McCain throws his support behind the idea of placing mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions. He calls for the United States to lower its emissions to "at least 60 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050."
1637: Perhaps weary of watching dinner guests picking their teeth with the points of their daggers, Cardinal Richelieu orders the blades of his dinnerware to be ground down and rounded off. Et voilà, the modern dinner knife is born.
Prior to Richelieu's flash of inspiration (or simple revulsion at bad manners), diners typically used hunting daggers to spear their morsels, which were then conveyed to the mouth by hand or with the help of a spoon. The fork, the implement that really revolutionized chowing down, had existed since biblical times. Despite its utility, however, the fork remained a relative rarity in the West until the 17th century, even among the French royals that Richelieu served with unswerving devotion.
Richelieu's knives became the rage among the court and soon everyone who was anyone in France had a set. The dinner knife became commonplace throughout France after Louis XIV -- who, like most kings, had his own reasons for not wanting sharp blades and pointed tips around -- decreed its universality. Soon afterward, the dinner knife found its way throughout continental Europe to England and, eventually, the American colonies.
It's fitting that the table knife helped refine table manners at the French court. If the French didn't invent good manners (and they didn't: the ancient Egyptians instituted a code of behavior during the Fifth Dynasty), they at least gave the world étiquette, the five-franc word that's synonymous with refined behavior.
Cardinal Richelieu, of course, was more than a simple cutler. As Louis XIII's chief minister, he was no stranger to using sharp implements to influence geopolitical events.
His policies transformed France into a powerful state, bringing it into direct conflict with the House of Hapsburg and the Holy Roman emperors. Allying Catholic France with the Protestant Swedes in the Thirty Years' War, Richelieu looked on as sword-wielding mercenaries laid waste the tiny neighboring German states, helping fuel the grudges that set the stage for modern European history.
Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne turns New York City's Battery Maritime Building into a full-size musical installation that will empower visitors to make music off the building itself.
Fields writes "It's well known that failed hard drives can be recovered, but few people actually use a recovery service because they're expensive and not always successful. Even fewer people ever get any insights into the process, as recovery companies are secretive about their methods and rarely reveal any more information that is necessary for billing. Geek.com has an article walking through a drive recovery handled by DriveSavers. The recovery team did not give away many secrets, but they did reveal a number of insights into the process. From the article, "'[M]y drive failed in about every way you can imagine. It had electro-mechanical failure resulting in severe media damage. Seagate considered it dead, but I didn't give up. It's actually pretty amazing that they were able to recover nearly all of the data. Of course, they had to do some rebuilding, but that's what you expect when you send it to the ER for hard drives.'" Be sure to visit the Museum of Disk-asters, too.
Your earthquake preparedness kit is well-stocked, but are you ready for a zombie apocalypse? Make sure you have what it takes to repel an undead army should one appear on your doorstep. Follow our guide and submit your own tips on Wired's How-To Wiki.
mattnyc99 writes "Popular Mechanics is reporting that NASA — faced with the looming retirement of the space shuttle, and planning for longer missions like the one to Mars we've been discussing — is looking to free up its budget and depend a lot more on private space startups to carry key payloads into orbit in the next few years. For an agency so steeped in bureaucracy, it seems like everyone from NASA chief Mike Griffin to contracted officials to the key players in this in-depth podcast roundtable is finally acknowledging that commercial rocketeering (space tourists aside) is a more efficient a means of getting back into space for NASA. Quoting: 'Because of a new focus for NASA's strategic investments — not to mention incentives like the Ansari X Prize, which spurred the space-tourism business, and the Google Lunar X Prize, which could do the same for payloads — private-sector spaceships could be ready for government service soon, says Sam Scimemi, who heads NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. "The industry has grown up," he tells PM. "It used to be that only NASA or the Air Force could do such things."'"
Google is hoping to avoid a fight with European privacy campaigners as it prepares to launch its controversial Street View service this side of the Atlantic later in the year, by introducing new technology... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 12 May 2008 | 11:08 pm
A spiritualist who "feels vibrations in his aura" when making contact, a healer who claims to cure hangovers through touch and self-styled sex therapist Dr Cockney are among the wannabe TV celebrities... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 12 May 2008 | 11:07 pm
Linux.com has an interesting look at Google Gears and one of its leading evangelists, Brad Neuberg. "For Neuberg -- as for most developers -- the idea of expanding the Web's capabilities is intriguing in itself. But both inside and outside Google, his argument is that there's more at stake than just a particular piece of technology. In fact, he does not even seem particularly concerned whether Gears or some rival project takes on the role he envisions. What matters, he says, is that finding a solution to the problems of the Web is essential not only to the continued evolution of the Web, but also to its continued freedom. "
Three alleged hackers have been indicted in the United States and are accused of siphoning credit card information from customers at a national restaurant chain, Dave and Buster's. The data was purloined as the customers paid for their meals. One of the accused had millions of of stolen credit card numbers in his possession, most unrelated to the restaurant chain, when arrested in July.
A new 248-page report from the Department of Energy suggests that, with the right conditions, wind could power 20 percent of U.S. homes, businesses and factories by 2030.
PC World editor in chief Harry McCracken announced his resignation in a blog post today. After June 2, he will be starting a new product reviews site, McCracken told Wired.com's Epicenter blog.
Researchers at Cornell University genetically modified a human embryo in a "proof of concept" experiment in 2007, a British paper is reporting. The experiment prompts questions about what sorts of genetic modifications scientists can ethically undertake.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Aficionados of alcohol and androids alike celebrated the first stateside gathering of cocktail-serving robots this weekend at Roboexotica.
Patrons delighted in drink-making droids that ranged from a fire-spewing drink warmer, a fully automated mind-reading mixologist and a shot-pouring conveyor belt built entirely from Legos.
"You have liquor, fire and robots," said Johannes Grentfurthner, Roboexotica organizer and member of art collective monochrom in Austria. "How could we go wrong?"
The annual gathering of booze-pouring robots is usually held in Vienna, Austria. To celebrate its approaching 10-year anniversary, organizers threw a San Francisco satellite event.
Though the U.S. event was slightly smaller than its Viennese counterpart, the barbots landed with a booze-fueled bang.
Left: Artists, engineers and automatons gathered in downtown San Francisco on Saturday night for a high-tech brand of mixology. Crafted for fun as much as function, barbots kept serving at the booze-fueled bash as long as partygoers could ask for another: Roboexotica's bartenders don't have a clock-out time.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Robogames founder David Calkins eyes his homespun creation, a bartending bot named Chapek as he whips up a martini. Designed to prepare and serve four different cocktails, Chapek is equally famous for delivering cheeky one-liners and having a drinking problem. During one demonstration, instead of serving a bar patron a freshly mixed cocktail, Chapek malfunctioned and downed it himself. "He's a greedy bastard," Calkins said.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
For partygoers who've overindulged, the Breathalyzer Genie was on hand to dole out handy advice like "Switch to fancy water," and "Did you bring your skates?" Kinetic artist Chris Palmer let us in on a little secret: The bot is a Breathalyzer in name only. "It doesn't actually measure blood-alcohol count," he revealed. Tipsy patrons rest their drink in the genie's hand, blow into the machine's nose, triggering the machine to dispense a fortune. Palmer elected to forgo practicality in favor of fun: "There were too many sanitation issues," he said.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Once you have your drink in hand, it's time to make a toast. That's where Daniel Fabry's "cheersing" machine comes it. Fabry, a monochrom member and media teacher in Austria, spliced together 20 clips of actors toasting from well-known films like The Shining and Once Upon a Time in America. The computer is outfitted with a special theremin, so as guests lift their glass toward the screen, the activity sets the looped footage in motion, and the actors onscreen lift their glasses.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Simon Davalos brought El Espanol Borracho to serve Spanish coffee, a potent mixture of Kahlua, coffee and high-proof alcohol like Bacardi 151 Proof Rum. After pumping the liquors into a mug, the machine ignites a high-pressure stream of fuel, engulfing the cup in fire for several seconds. "It packs a bit of a punch," Davalos said as the contraption blazed a steady stream of fire. Her contraption warmed the cocktail before serving.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Bay Area-based videogame designer Anthony Fudd displays his Shot Bot, a fully automated system that serves shots of sake and vodka. Select your spirit and the machine pumps out the liquor into a Dixie cup before sending it down a conveyor belt. Made entirely from Legos and operated using the geeky toy company's Mindstorm software, the Shot Bot can also sling any two-ingredient drink. Though Fudd was having problems getting the conveyor belt to function properly, the crowd didn't seem to mind: The automated shot-pouring feature worked without a hitch.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Not all of the bots at Roboexotica serve booze -- some, like the Alcotron, just facilitate the drinking process. A modified version of Russian roulette, partygoers pick a color to bet on, and set the electronic wheel in motion. Depending on where the spinner lands, patrons either get their drinks free, half-priced or at an inflated rate.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Can't decide what you'd like to drink? The Mind-Reading Martini Maker will do the work for you. The neurofeedback machine collects EEG brain scans and mixes drinks based on the output. The more Alpha brainwaves the machine reads, the drier the martini. And the drinks are neither shaken nor stirred: The contraption filters gin through a sieve of ice to cool the booze. Roboexotica organizer and Shifz member Magnus Wurzer operates the setup while Melissa Steele sits in as a test subject.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Chassis, an automated keg on wheels, zoomed around the show, serving thirsty patrons beer throughout the night. Controlled by a wireless remote, Chassis also cracked jokes, insulted and flirted with guests -- thanks to a mic setup. Monochron member Daniel Fabry gets a fresh refill of Sierra Nevada from Chassis, as the bot's sculptor, Al Honig, looks on.
We know you've been agonizing over what your 2nd Gen iPhone battery life will be when you start Tweeting at 3G speeds. Fear not: it looks like the new models will let you turn on the 3G afterburners only when you truly have a need for speed.
Last week, I told you about my donations program for my new book, Little Brother. Every time I put a book online for free, I'm inundated by offers of cash "tips" from people who got the ebooks for free. I don't want anyone's money (cutting my publisher out of the loop isn't good for them or me), so I came up with an alternative. I asked librarians and teachers who wanted free copies to step forward and put their names down, and now I'm looking for would-be "donors" to step forward and send them copies of the book.
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
