Read: Oops: Google Denied Trademark on Android Nexus One
Shared by Gabriel KentIt's been a rough day for Google's Android phone, the Nexus One. First we learned this morning that initial sales have been far weaker than the iPhone saw ...and now this
I haven't seen anyone comment on the blade runner reference in the naming of this phone. Nexus One Android.... heh.
Read: How High Frequency Trading Benefits All Investors
Shared by Gabriel KentComments
Interesting. ..
Read: GM’s next-gen head-up display is like a magic all-seeing helper
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Windshield displays like this will be the first wide spread use of mediated reality.
We already adore GM's head-up display in the Corvette, Cadillac STS, Buick Lacrosse and GMC Acadia, but that system is primitive compared to the magic GM has up its sleeve. This next-generation head-up display is smart. Using a compact laser reflecting off transparent phosphors embedded in the windshield, it superimposes messages and graphics that could save your life.
Think of how useful a night-vision view projected onto your windshield could be. It can indicate children running toward the car, or point out approaching vehicles that are out of your field of vision. But the system's overly helpful routine of graphically encircling speed limit signs might be overkill.
Still, this could come in handy. I'm reminded of the day I was driving around in the mountains and suddenly I was in a fog bank with zero visibility. It was unsafe to stop because someone might hit my car from behind, there was not enough shoulder on the road to pull over, so the only way I could see was to open the door and look down at the line in the middle of the road. I sure could have used a head-up display system like this.
Via GM
tweet: The moral: vast absurdity can be observed when imaginary property is assumed controllable without a means of abolishing imagination.
Read: WHAT'S WRONG WITH A LITTLE COMPETITION?
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Agreed... bring on the hotel states!
Here's a little bombastic vision on what could be the most important social trend of this century.
____________________
What if the world as we know it today isn't the end of history? The pen ultimate destination of human cultural evolution that eventually (likely sooner than later) collapses due to its own obesity. What if it is merely a stepping stone to something new? Something much better than the increasingly barren monoculture prone to increasingly frequent bouts of malfunction we live in today.
The idea that something new is possible is spreading. Most favorably, it is giving rise to a new type: the cultural entrepreneur.
For these people, the slow motion failure of the global system hasn't resulted in capitulation, depression, or isolation. They don't have a blind faith that things will auto-magically get better. In contrast, to these entrepreneurs, the failure of the global system is a call to arms. An open invitation to build something new. A better social and economic system and not merely another patch on a wheezing status quo.
For entrepreneurs of this type, the goal isn't isolation or withdrawal into the wilds to build communes or stock cabins with ammo. It also isn't about taking control of the current levers of power and of forcing compliance. A clue: it's not about bankrupt ideologies or the politics of the 20th Century.
Instead, this effort is about competition. It is to build new social and economic systems that can compete with the current political and economic monopolies and if successful, force them to compete in order to stay relevant. It's about building something new from the ground up, a start-up culture of independence and sanity, that attracts better participants and delivers more results than any other alternative.
The start-ups these entrepreneurs are building work within the current system and against it, growing in power with each cycle of innovation. They compete against each other to provide the best possible results, yet connect on a level that allows them to accelerate faster than if they were alone.
Sure, as with all start-ups, most will fail. Many will be horribly misguided. But some won't fail. Some will even work spectacularly well.
May the best solution win.
NOTE: This isn't an essay to convince you. If you think the status quo is the best of all possible systems, this likely isn't for you. However, if when the the current system eventually fails you or your kids, you might think differently.
Read: Etacts Adds Contact Info, Social Networking, and Handy Statistics to Gmail
Shared by Gabriel KentComments
Looks good... to-try
Read: Google Readying To Pull Out of China
Shared by Gabriel KentSagelinka writes "Both Google and the Chinese government appear to be leaking word that the search firm may soon shutter its operations there as negotiations between the two break down. Google first threatened to halt its operations in China after disclosing in January that an attack on its network from inside China was aimed at exposing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. At the time, Google also said it was reconsidering its willingness to censor search results of users in China as required by the government. 'I think Google thought China would be flexible,' said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. Google has since been negotiating with the Chinese government to find a way to continue operating in the country. Google did not respond today to requests for comment on the state of the negotiations with China."
Good...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read: Surfrider Foundation Calls Us Out on Our Water Cycle of Insanity (Video)
Shared by Gabriel Kent
My favorite: we piss and shit in it... and then spend billions to filter the piss and shit out.
Image via Know Your H2O We have a weird relationship with water. We know it's a precious resource, we know that less than 1% of water on the planet is available for human consumption. And yet as a species, we have the craziest, most wasteful and polluting ways of dealing with water. World Water Day is approaching - March 22nd...mark your calendars - and the Surfrider Foundation is getting ready to point out the "Cycle of Insanity" and show us the real story of our water through a video that lin...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Read: Parrot AR.Drone turns your living room into a virtual battlefield
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Geez... still waiting for this thing.
Last time we checked in with Parrot's AR.Drone quadricopter, we were told that game developers would be putting together some games to play with the drone. Parrot recently showed off what those games look like.
You've got three major flavors to choose from when it comes to playing with the AR.Drone: single player, dual mode and against a robot. The single player mode sees the drone hovering in the middle of the room while you dogfight with virtual opponents. With an attachment atop the AR.Drone, you can compete against other players using virtual rockets and guns. Finally, the robot mode has you going up against a simulated robotic foe, which in real life just looks like a board with circles printed on it.
Most of the augmented reality games play out in such a way that you're trying to keep your drone aimed at a target long enough to fire, while dodging incoming fire and avoiding lock-ons. It's all visible in the video that's streamed to your iPhone-turned-controller.
The Parrot AR.Drone doesn't have a release date or price, yet, but you can check it out in the video down below.
Via Joystiq
Read: Why, What, & How to Privatize City Services
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Agreed.
Over the last half century, governments of all political complexions have increasingly embraced privatization-shifting some or all aspects of service delivery to the private sector. This is a strategy to lower the costs of government and achieve higher performance and better outcomes for tax dollars spent. Local policymakers in many jurisdictions in the U.S. and around the world have used privatization to better the lives of citizens by offering them higher quality services at lower costs, delivering greater choice and more efficient, effective government.
The reason for the widespread appeal of privatization is simple: It works. Decades of successful privatization policies have proven that private sector innovation and initiative can do certain things better than the public sector.
[Article continues below video, "Privatize It: Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey, Episode 3]
Why Privatize?
Government managers use privatization to achieve a number of different goals:
Cost Savings. Competition encourages would-be service providers to keep costs to a minimum, lest they lose the contract to a more efficient competitor. As a conservative "rule of thumb," cost savings through privatization typically range between five to 20 percent.
Improved Risk Management. Through contracting and competition, governments may better be able to control costs by building cost containment provisions into contracts.
Quality Improvements. Similarly, a competitive process encourages bidders to offer the best possible service quality to win out over their rivals.
Timeliness. Contracting may be used to speed the delivery of services by seeking additional workers or providing performance bonuses unavailable to in-house staff.
Accommodating Fluctuating Peak Demand. Contracting allows governments to obtain additional help when it is most needed so that services are uninterrupted for residents.
Access to Outside Expertise. Contracting allows governments to obtain staff expertise that they do not have in-house on an as-needed basis.
Innovation. The need for lower-cost, higher-quality services under competition encourages providers to create new, cutting-edge solutions to help win and retain government contracts.
What to Privatize?
Privatization can be applied to most things government does. One privatization expert at the City University of New York identified over 200 city and county services that have been contracted out to private firms (including for-profit and nonprofit). This is a partial list, but some of the most prevalent areas of local government privatization include:
Accounting, financial and legal services;
Administrative human resource functions (e.g., payroll services, recruitment/hiring, training, benefits administration, records management, etc.);
Core IT infrastructure & network, web & data processing;
Risk management (claims processing, loss prevention, etc.);
Planning, building and permitting services;
Printing and graphic design services
Road maintenance;
Building/facilities financing, operations & maintenance;
Park operations and maintenance;
Zoo operations and maintenance;
Stadium and convention center management;
Library services;
Mental health services and facilities;
Animal shelter operations and management;
School construction (including financing), maintenance & non-instructional services;
Revenue-generating assets (garages, parking meters, etc.); and
Major public infrastructure assets (roads, water/wastewater systems, airports, etc.).
How to Privatize?
Privatization must be implemented well for it to work. A successful privatization process will ensure transparency, accountability, and the delivery of high-performance services through a strong, performance-based contract. By utilizing best practices and lessons learned from experiences of other governments the likelihood of achieving those results is greatly enhanced. Among them:
Rethink the status quo, and ask the "make or buy" question. Taking a page from management guru Peter Drucker, every "traditional" service or function should have to prove its worthiness and proper role and place within government.
Think big. The central question on the subject of outsourcing should not be, "What can we privatize?" but, rather, "What can't we privatize?" Outside of public safety services, the courts, and policymaking functions, the private sector has proven repeatedly most things can be privatized.
Bundle services for better value. Local governments may find greater economies of scale, cost savings and/or value for money through bundling several-or even all-services in a given department (e.g., public works) or departmental subdivision (e.g., facility management and maintenance) into an outsourcing initiative, rather than treat individual services or functions separately.
Focus on contract-management expertise. Successful privatization initiatives require good contract negotiation, management and monitoring skills on the part of city managers. The more that local governments use privatization, the greater the degree to which the city manager's role will center on contract administration-monitoring and enforcing contracts to ensure that the contractor's performance lives up to their contractual obligations.
Establish a Centralized Procurement Unit. Governments should maintain an expert team of procurement and competition officials to guide individual departments in developing their privatization initiatives.
Apply the "Yellow Pages Test" through Regular Commercial Activity Inventories. Local government managers should regularly scour all government agencies, services and activities and classify each as either "inherently governmental" (i.e., should only be performed by public employees) or "commercial" (i.e., services routinely undertaken by private sector vendors) in nature. This famous "Yellow Pages Test" helps government concentrate on delivering core, "inherently governmental" services while partnering with the private sector for commercial activities.
Utilize Performance-Based Contracting. It is crucial that local governments identify good performance measures to fairly compare competing bids and accurately evaluate provider performance after the contract is awarded. Performance-based contracts should be used as much as possible to place the emphasis on obtaining the results the city wants achieved, rather than focusing merely on inputs and trying to dictate precisely how the service should be performed.
Establish Guidelines for Cost Comparisons. Local governments should establish formal guidelines for cost comparisons to make sure that all costs are included in the "unit cost" of providing a service so that an "apples-to-apples" comparison of competing bidders may be made.
Utilize "Best Value" Contracting. Initiatives that are considered best practices for government procurement and service contracting utilize "best value" techniques where, rather than purchase based on cost or "lowest bid" alone, governments choose the best mix of quality, cost, and other factors in selecting a service vendor.
Ensure Contractor Accountability through Rigorous Monitoring and Performance Evaluation. Regular monitoring and performance evaluations are essential to ensure accountability and transparency, and that the local government's management and the service provider are on the same page.
Len Gilroy is director of government reform at Reason Foundation. This story is part of Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey: How to Fix "The Mistake on The Lake" and Other Once-Great American Cities. Watch the documentary series here. For downloadable iPod, HD, and audio versions of this episode go here.
Read: Blazing Fast Password Recovery With New ATI Cards
Shared by Gabriel KentAn anonymous reader writes "ElcomSoft accelerates the recovery of Wi-Fi passwords and password-protected iPhone and iPod backups by using ATI video cards. The support of ATI Radeon 5000 series video accelerators allows ElcomSoft to perform password recovery up to 20 times faster compared to Intel top of the line quad-core CPUs, and up to two times faster compared to enterprise-level NVIDIA Tesla solutions. Benchmarks performed by ElcomSoft demonstrate that ATI Radeon HD5970 accelerated password recovery works up to 20 times faster than Core i7-960, Intel's current top of the line CPU unit."
Haha...nice
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read: Attack of the Killer Electrons
Shared by Gabriel KentHugh Pickens writes "At the peak of a magnetic storm, the number of highly energetic 'killer electrons' strong enough to damage electronics and human tissue can increase by a factor of more than ten times, posing a danger to spacecraft, satellites, and astronauts. Killer electrons can penetrate satellite shielding, so if electrical discharges take place in vital components, a satellite can be damaged or even rendered inoperable. For many years, the mechanism by which killer electrons are produced has remained poorly understood, in spite of physicists' attempts at solving this puzzle. Now the ESA reports that data shows the increase in the creation of a substantial number of killer electrons is due to a two-step process. First, the initial acceleration is due to the strong shock-related magnetic field compression. Immediately after the impact of the interplanetary shock wave, Earth's magnetic field lines began wobbling at ultra low frequencies. In turn, these ULF waves effectively accelerate the seed electrons (provided by the first step) to become killer electrons. 'These new findings help us to improve the models predicting the radiation environment in which satellites and astronauts operate. With solar activity now ramping up, we expect more of these shocks to impact our magnetosphere over the months and years to come,' says Philippe Escoubet, ESA's Cluster mission manager."
Interesting....
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read: Mysterious robot shuttle blasting into space next month
Shared by Gabriel Kent
It'll be loaded with DEATH RAYS!
Just when we were thinking the United States was getting out of the space shuttle business, here comes the Air Force launching a semi-secret military space plane next month. The unmanned Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), a robotic craft otherwise known as X37B — was built at a Boeing Phantom Works facility in Southern California. The 29-foot long vehicle is set for liftoff at 10PM on April 19.
The plane's development has been underway since 1999, but the mystery revolves around what payload will be stowed inside this unmanned vehicle on a mission that could last up to 270 days. According to the Air Force, the vehicle's objectives include "space experimentation, risk reduction and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies." Thanks for making that clear, Captain PR, USAF.
The 11,000-pound vehicle will be nestled inside the nosecone atop an Atlas 5 rocket. After its classified mission is complete, it'll autonomously reenter the atmosphere and land on the 15,000 foot long runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
An unmanned space plane? Telepresence technologies are getting so good, maybe this makes more sense than a dangerous shuttle full of seven fragile human beings.
Via Space.com
Read: Mobile outdoor augmented reality
Shared by Gabriel KentComments
Nice work!
Enjoyed: Atlantic
Atlantic by .hj barrazaRead: Lets say you’re the first human ever to make alien contact.
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Don't fuck this up....
 | submitted by lmfap to pics [link] [82 comments] |
![[link]](http://imgur.com/vf279.gif){kind=link}
Read: Lets say you’re the first human ever to make alien contact.
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Don't fuck this up....
| | submitted by lmfap to pics [link] [82 comments] |
Read: Hunting Disease Origins By Whole-Genome Sequencing
Shared by Gabriel KentChocSnorfler writes "James Lupski, a physician-scientist who suffers from a neurological disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth, has been searching for the genetic cause of his disease for more than 25 years. Late last year, he finally found it — by sequencing his entire genome. While a number of human genome sequences have been published to date, Lupski's research is the first to show how whole-genome sequencing can be used to identify the genetic cause of an individual's disease."
Wow.... great work.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Enjoyed: Adagio g-moll
Adagio g-moll by Tomaso Giovanni AlbinoniRead: Dying for a Cookie: Seemingly Harmless Foods That Aren’t
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Geez...
Michael Pollan's first food rule is simple: Eat Food, which he considers to be a different thing than what he calls edible foodlike substances, or "highly processed concoctions designed by food scientists, consisting mostly of ingredients derived from corn and soy that no normal person keeps in the pantry, and contain chemical additives with which the human body has not been long acquainted." 1. Palm Oil
Many of those substances are bad for our health, bad for our planet and show up in really surprising places. One of the most blatant examples is palm oil, which is now found in just about everything; alm...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Read: Rotten Apple: HTC sued over 20 patents
Shared by Gabriel Kent
http://www.cafepress.com/fuckx.115597339
Are we really surprised? They might not be the biggest handset maker yet, but HTC is clearly producing the best smartphones on the market. Apple has identified them as a threat and decided to unleash their team of high paid lawyers to slow them down.
Today in a U.S. District Court, Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC for infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. Apple CEO Steve Jobs went as far as to say HTC is stealing their technology.
“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”Steve JobsApple CEO
According to the court documents Apple is seeking a permanent injunction that would stop HTC from selling devices in the United States.
Many had speculated that Apple was the reason some Android phones didn’t support multitouch out of the gate, but we never had any official confirmation. Now we have a list of patents that Apple claims have been “stolen”. These include features we have seen on several Android phones like unlock screens, rotating displays, accelerometer controls, and power conserving technology.
Update: Neowin has an official response from HTC.
“HTC is a mobile technology innovator and patent holder that has been very focused over the past 13 years on creating many of the most innovative smartphones. HTC values patent rights and their enforcement but is also committed to defending its own technology innovations. HTC only learned of Apple’s actions this morning via media reports, and therefore we have not yet had the opportunity to investigate the filings. Until we have had this opportunity, we are unable to comment on the validity of the claims being made against HTC.”
Update 2: Gizmodo has a nice illustrated guide for some of the patents.
Update 3: Engadget reports Apple is specifically targeting Android and has named several phones in the suit including the Nexus One, Dream / G1, myTouch 3G, Hero, and Droid Eris.
Update 4: Steve Jobs responds via YouTube. “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.”
Apple patents listed in the suit include:
- The ‘331 Patent, entitled “Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States,” was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
- The ‘949 Patent, entitled “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics,” was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
- The ‘849 Patent, entitled “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,” was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.
- The ‘381 Patent, entitled “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display,” was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.
- The ‘726 Patent, entitled “System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device,” was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.
- The ‘076 Patent, entitled “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices,” was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.
- The ‘105 Patent, entitled “GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality,” was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.
- The ‘453 Patent, entitled “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor,” was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.
- The ‘599 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Graphic System,” was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.
- The ‘354 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods,” was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.
- United States Patent No. 5,481,721 entitled “Method for Providing Automatic and Dynamic Translation of Object Oriented Programming Language-Based Message Passing Into Operation System Message Passing Using Proxy Objects,” issued on January 2, 1996…
- United States Patent No. 5,519,867 entitled “Object-Oriented Multitasking System,” issued on May 21, 1996…
- United States Patent No. 6,275,983 entitled “Object-Oriented Operating System,” issued on August 14, 2001…
- United States Patent No. 5,566,337 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Distributing Events in an Operating System,” issued on October 15, 1996…
- United States Patent No. 5,929,852 entitled “Encapsulated Network Entity Reference of a Network Component System,” issued on July 27, 1999…
- United States Patent No. 5,946,647 entitled “System and Method for Performing an Action on a Structure in Computer-Generated Data” issued on August 31, 1999…
- United States Patent No. 5,969,705 entitled “Message Protocol for Controlling a User Interface From an Inactive Application Program,” issued on October 19, 1999…
- United States Patent No. 6,343,263 entitled “Real-Time Signal Processing System for Serially Transmitted Data,” issued on January 29, 2002…
- United States Patent No. 5,915,131 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Handling I/O Requests Utilizing Separate Programming Interfaces to Access Separate I/O Service” issued on June 22, 1999…
- United States Patent No. RE39,486, entitled “Extensible, Replaceable Network Component System,” reissued on February 6, 2007…
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- Googly phone confirmed: first pics and info of the HTC Nexus One
- HTC Passion coming to VZW this Christmas?
- Android advertising assailment advances
Read: Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too
Shared by Gabriel KentAkin to the Texas-size garbage patch in the Pacific, a massive trash vortex has formed from billion of bits of plastic congregating off North America's Atlantic coast, researchers say.
A damn shame...
Read: Ubuntu Gets New Themes, Logo, Boot Screen, Indentity and So Much More!
Shared by Gabriel KentOver a week ago we revealed that a big announcement regrading the re-branding of Ubuntu was imminent. That announcement has now been made - but even we didn't expect it to be quite as big as this!
Looking pretty good..
Beginnings
All of the new artwork and design directions are the result of Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth and a small team reassessing the brand values and identity that Ubuntu embodies.
The team touched up on "light" as a reference point:
"We're drawn to Light because it denotes both warmth and clarity, and intrigued by the idea that "light" is a good value in software. Good software is "light" in the sense that it uses your resources efficiently, runs quickly, and can easily be reshaped as needed."Ensuing collaboration, consultation and shared vision between that small team and the Ubuntu artwork community - over all major non-KDE spins - are responsible for the following utterly awesome artwork you will see below.
New logo
Ubuntu gains a new logo with a new typeface and visual style.
In keeping with trying to create a cohesive brand identity the ancillary services Ubuntu provides have also been redesigned under the same styling: -
Two new themes
The visual identity of Ubuntu goes deeper than simple changing the font and logo. To this extent two new themes have been created to provide Ubuntu users with a modern and elegant desktop in keeping with the "light" direction.
"Light"
"Dark"
I'm not entirely convinced that the 'left' alignment of window buttons is a change most users will take to - but i have every faith that a checkbox check will put them back on the right side (no pun).
The lack of bottom panel isn't actually that notable as it's obvious these screenshots are simply cropped above it.
Boot
A slick new boot screen also ties in the new Ubuntu experience from power-on to desktop. Powered by Plymouth this is one part of the new visual styling most users won't get to see much of thanks to the super fast boot Lucid already has!
Website
The entire "branding" of Ubuntu has been realigned and refocused - from the default icon set right down to the official website.
Further
You can read much more on the semantics behind the visual change - as well as even more gallery goodness on the Ubuntu Brand wiki page @ wiki.ubuntu.com/Brand#Light:%20Ubuntu%20is%20Lightware
Snap Poll
We love polls here on OMG - so we're holding a snap one to gauge your initial reactions.
The new Ubuntu style: Like it or not?
The new Ubuntu look - Like it or loathe it?opinion
Read: With Artificial Photosynthesis, A Bottle of Water Could Produce Enough Energy To Power A House
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Hmm... need to look into more... very light on details...
One of the interesting side effects of last year's stimulus bill was $400 million in funding for ARPA-E, the civilian, energy-focused cousin of DARPA. And in this week's first ever ARPA-E conference, MIT chemist Dan Nocera showed how well he put that stimulus money to use by highlighting his new photosynthetic process. Using a special catalyst, the process splits water into oxygen and hydrogen fuel efficiently enough to power a home using only sunlight and a bottle of water.
Like organic photosynthesis, Nocera's reaction uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and energy. However, whereas plants create energy in the form of sugars, this process creates energy in the form of free hydrogen. That hydrogen can either be recombined with the oxygen in a fuel cell to generate electricity, or converted into a liquid fuel.
In about four hours, water treated with Nocera's catalyst can produce 30 kilowatt-hours of energy. Moreover, the process is cheap. So cheap, in fact, that Nocera has no problem envisioning a day when each house generates its own fuel and electricity from photosynthesis.
But don't take my word for it. Check out this video and hear Nocera describe this process himself:
Read: Power line 1, tree branch 0
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Wow...
Video courtesy YouTuber BozkurtTekinTahsin.
In case you didn't believe Louie the Lightening Bug when he said "ya gotta stay away from power lines," consider the fate of this gentle tree branch, who apparently never got to watch Saturday morning PSAs, or at least wasn't paying attention if it did. It screams, literally, for about 14 seconds before bursting into flames like a vampire in a tanning booth.
[via Neatorama]
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Electronics | Digg this!Read: Days Get Shorter Because of Chilean Earthquake [Science]
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Damn...
Apart from a colossal tsunami, here's another effect of the 66.6 exajoules liberated by this weekend's earthquake in Chile: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says that days will now be shorter because the quake shifted Earth's axis by three inches.
The change—which can only be measured thanks to computer models—will result in days that are 1.26 microseconds shorter than before. That's 0.00000126 seconds shorter. There may have been more visible changes, like islands changing its position. One of them, Santa María, may have raised two meters after the shattering land move.
This is not the first time this has happened, as every single earthquake has an effect on the planet's axis. [Business Week]
Read: DORYU 2-16 Pistol Camera
Shared by Gabriel Kent
word...
via http://worldfamousdesignjunkies.com/kawaii/doryu-2-16-pistol-camera/
Read: Photo
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Great shot.
Read: Do A Total Background Check On Yourself
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Not a bad list.
Now you can know what Big Brother knows about you and get access to the same dirt everyone from your boss, landlord, insurance agent, to your favorite casino has on you. Here is a comprehenisve list of websites and phone numbers for most of the "specialty" consumer reports, like your employment, rental, and check writing history. Be sure to check them out and correct any errors, before a crisis hits.
Employment History Reports
The Work Number
ChoicePoint (866) 312-8075
Acxiom
Abso
Tenant History Reports
ChoicePoint (877) 448-5732
First Advantage SafeRent (888) 333-2413
Tenant Data Services
RentBureau
UD Registry (818) 785-3905
Auto & Home Insurance Claim Reports
ChoicePoint
Insurance Services Office (ISO) (800) 627-3487
Credit Bureaus Reports
Equifax
Experian
Transunion
Innovis
Payment Reporting Builds Credit (PRBC)
Full File Disclosure/Personal Information Reports
ChoicePoint
LexisNexis
Check Writing History Reports
ChexSystems (800) 428-9623
TeleCheck (800) 835-3243.
Shared Check Authorization Network (800) 262-7771 Fax: (800) 358-4506
Health History Reports
Medical Information Bureau (MIB) (866) 692-6901
Prescription Drug Purchase History Reports
Ingenix MedPoint
Milliman IntelliScript
Social Security Statement
Social Security Administration
Purchase Returns History Reports
Retail Equation
Gaming Patron's Credit History and Transaction Data
Central Credit
Other Reports
TeleTrack
Utilities & Telecommunications Reports
National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange, Inc (NCTUE) Call 1-888-201-5643 for reports
(Thanks to Bob!)
SOURCES:
Do A Background Check On Yourself [Consumerist]
[Consumer Reports]
[PrivacyRights]
[Bankrate]
[Listergeant]
[MyFico Forums]
[CreditBoards]
Read: Petition to make “Hella” the prefix for 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Shared by Gabriel Kent
It has my vote.
Carl sez, "A petition to make Hella- the official SI prefix for 10^27, for measuring things bigger than Yotta- (the prefix for (US) billion trillion). For instance: 'the sun (mass of 2.2 hellatons) would release energy at 0.3 hellawatts.' It would also come in handy for eventually measuring Internet traffic and US national debt." The Official Petition to Establish "Hella-" as the SI Prefix for 10^27
(Thanks, Carl!)
- Punk math philosophy and podcast
- The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 ...
- Math for adults: the subtle wonder of numbers and Sesame Street ...
- Möbius Bagel: interlocking, endless, doughy rings of math
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- Zombie apocalpyse: the math geek edition
- Zombie apocalpyse: the math geek edition
Read: Dogs Filmed at 1000 Frames Per Second
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Great ad...
The above is a beautiful slow motion video (1000fps) shot of dogs jumping for dog treats flying through the air. It’s actually an advertisement for Pedigree, as you’ll see at the end. It’s interesting seeing all the little details our eyes can’t ordinarily pick up.
(via Boing Boing)
Read: Hydrofloors Pools with Movable Floors
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Nice!
Hydrofloors Pools with Movable Floors
Hydrofloors are only like the coolest thing ever invented. They are specially designed pools with movable floors. When you’re using your pool it’s just like a normal pool. But when you are done swimming or aquacising, you press a button and the pool’s floor slowly raises up while the water slips underneath the floor. Pimpin! Eventually the pool’s floor reaches the top and you are left with a large flat area you can use for recreation, dining, parties or any other dry land event you want.
Another press of the button and the floor sinks back down slowly to reveal your already water-filled pool. You can also stop the floor at any point which means you can make the pool as shallow or deep as you want. Having a kid’s party? Just set it for shallow kiddie pool depth. Be sure to throw a few extra chlorine tablets in the pool cleaning mechanism though, you know how kids are.
via gizmodo
Read: Scientists Discover Booze That Won’t Give You a Hangover
Shared by Gabriel KentKwang-il Kwon and Hye Gwang Jeong of Chungnam National University have discovered that drinking alcohol with oxygen bubbles added leads to fewer hangovers and a shorter sobering up time. People drinking the bubbly booze sobered up 20-30 minutes faster and had less severe and fewer hangovers than people who drank the non-fizzy stuff. Kwon said: "The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage reduces plasma alcohol concentrations faster than a normal dissolved-oxygen alcohol beverage does. This could provide both clinical and real-life significance. The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage would allow individuals to become sober faster, and reduce the side effects of acetaldehyde without a significant difference in alcohol's effects. Furthermore, the reduced time to a lower BAC may reduce alcohol-related accidents."
Crazy...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read: Google killed Bambi
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Shit...
So much for “Do No Evil”…
Want to see more Google Streetview fun? Check out our collection of ”The Best Google Street View Fails, Wins, And WTF’s“.
Read: Google Index to Go Real Time
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Interesting...
Google is developing a system that will enable web publishers of any size to automatically submit new content to Google for indexing within seconds of that content being published. Search industry analyst Danny Sullivan told us today that this could be "the next chapter" for Google.
Last Fall we were told by Google's Brett Slatkin, lead developer on the PubSubHubbub (PuSH) real time syndication protocol, that he hoped Google would some day use PuSH for indexing the web instead of the crawling of links that has been the way search engines have indexed the web for years.
Google senior product manager Dylan Casey said yesterday at Sullivan's Search Marketing Expo in Santa Clara, California that the company plans to soon publish a standard way for site owners to participate in a program much like that.Sponsor
How The System Might Work
PuSH is a syndication system based on the ATOM format where a publisher tells the world about a Hub that it will notify every time new content is published. Subscribers then tell the Hub "when this Publisher posts new content, please deliver it to me right away." So instead of the Subscriber checking back with the Publisher all the time to see if there's new content, they just sit and wait to be told that there is by the Hub. The Publisher publishes something, then tells the Hub that it's available, then the Hub goes and delivers it to all the Subscribers. This can take as little as a few seconds.
If Google can implement an Indexing by PuSH program, it would ask every website to implement the technology and declare which Hub they push to at the top of each document, just like they declare where the RSS feeds they publish can be found. Then Google would subscribe to those PuSH feeds to discover new content when it's published.
PuSH wouldn't likely replace crawling, in fact a crawl would be needed to discover PuSH feeds to subscribe to, but the real-time format would be used to augment Google's existing index.
As Danny Sullivan told us today, Google would have to implement some sort of spam control and not just let content be pushed live to the index unvetted. That was what happened in the earliest days of search and it was a real mess, he told us.
The Advantages of a Real Time Google Index
PuSH is much more computationally efficient for Google but Slatkin says that even more important is the impact of such a move for small publishers. Right now many small sites get visited by Google maybe once a week. With a PuSH system in place, they would be able to get their content to Google automatically right away.
A richer, faster, more efficient internet would be good for everyone, but the benefits in search wouldn't be limited to Google, either. The PubSubHubbub is an open protocol and the feeds would be as visible to Yahoo and Bing as they would be to Google.
"I am being told by my engineering bosses to openly promote this open aproach even to our competitors," Slatkin says. That's a very good sign.
We expect this will be a very big deal and we'll be covering it more extensively in the coming days, as well as whenever Google has something to announce more formally.
Don't Forget: ReadWriteWeb recently released a big research report titled The Real-Time Web and Its Future, based on 50+ interviews with key innovators, like PubSubHubbub creator Brett Slatkin. Check it out!
Above: Slatkin's deck for a presentation about Hubbub at Facebook HQ last Fall. DiscussRead: #601; The Discovery that Changed the World
Shared by Gabriel Kent
heh...
Modern Warfare 2 - No Russian Machinima
Here's that video, now stop sending me messages to do this please. Only disappointment is I think I cut it too much, feels short and too fast. Enjoy.Read: Skyscrapers and Business Cycles
Shared by Gabriel Kent
This is really interesting.
Read: Homemade Flying Hovercraft. Actually Works…Awesome (vid)
Shared by Gabriel KentPretty cool machine -- vid shows it hovering, flying...doing hover/flying things. Inventor wants to market and sell it (potentially for around $13,000 each). No idea about its marketability, reliability or safety -- but definitely looks like a fun ride...
That... looks... so... fun.
APTs Aliso Viejo
APTs Aliso ViejoRead: Ubuntu Desktop In the Cloud
Shared by Gabriel Kentjimjimovich writes "One new feature in Ubuntu 10.04 that caught my attention is the Desktop in the Cloud project. Ubuntu already has great EC2 support, and it's getting even better. Now you can launch Ubuntu Desktop instances on EC2 and connect to them with an NX client."
Interesting
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read: Un-TreeHugger: Get Cocoa Puffs (Literally) with Le Whif Chocolate Inhaler
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Huh? Bad for lungs?
Image via NPR, credit Phase One Photography Sometimes the whole "zero calorie" thing goes too far, like when it comes to enjoying chocolate. The latest thing is a chocolate inhaler called Le Whif. Yep, you read that right. Inhaling - and not in the figurative sense - is actually a way to consume chocolate now, thanks to a disposable tube good for ten hits. Er, puffs. Er, whifs. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Read: 10-year-old’s Jesus picture declared too disturbing for church display
Shared by Gabriel Kentsubmitted by AnnArchist to WTF
Its actually a great photo...
[link] [46 comments]
Read: How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Music
Shared by Gabriel Kentmbone writes "Ever wonder how Jimi Hendrix would cover Lady Gaga? Whether you do or not [I'm guessing not], you may be about to find out. Writing for Wired, Eliot Van Buskirk describes North Carolina's Zenph Sound Innovations, which takes existing recordings of musicians (deceased, for now) and models their 'musical personalities' to create new recordings, apparently to critical acclaim (PDF). The company has raised $10.7 million in funding to pursue their business plan, and hopes to branch out into, among other things, software that would let musicians jam with virtual versions of famous musicians. This work unites music with the very similar trend going on in the movies — Tron 2.0, for example, will clone the young Jeff Bridges. If this goes on, will the major labels and studios actually need musicians and actors? In the future, it could be harder to make money playing guitar with all of the competition from dead or retired artists."
Far out ;)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read: Awesome Biomimicry: Leaf Veins Inspire New Model for Water and Electricity Distribution Networks
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Leaf power!
Lemon leaf with interconnected loops. Photo: RU A team of biophysicists at Rockefeller University recently published a paper in Physical Review Letters about a new way to design distribution networks based on the veins that carry water and nutrients in most tree leaves. This is a great example of biomimicry! Evolution by natural selection maybe be blind, but it has had billions of years of trial-and-error to figure out efficient and robust ways to do things. The interconnecting vein loops in leaves are a good example of that, and we can learn...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Read: Energy Required To Produce a Pound of Food
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Interesting... better eat more beef while the getting is good.
The Oil Drum post some interesting data on the energy input required to produce different kinds of foods; I threw them into bar chart form and it sure looks like Graham Hill should be pitching the idea of a Weekday Vegan rather than a Weekday Vegetarian; cheese is as high as meat....Read the full story on TreeHugger
Read: Long-distance quantum communication gets closer as physicists increase light storage efficiency by an order of magnitude
Shared by Gabriel KentPhysicists at the Laboratoire Aime Cotton - CNRS and University of Geneva have achieved reversible light storage efficiencies of more than a magnitude greater than those offered by previous techniques. The new method could be useful for extending the range of quantum repeaters, used for long-distance quantum communication. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news186654076.html)
Amazing...
Read: Bye bye Earth
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Damn... nice work...
 | submitted by upchuk to pics [link] [27 comments] |
![[link]](http://imgur.com/G9fSO.jpg){kind=link}
Read: Skinput turns your arm into a touchscreen
Shared by Gabriel Kent
Nice...
A skin-based interface from Microsoft Research effectively turns your body into a touchscreen.
Sound creepy? Called Skinput, the system is a marriage of two technologies: the ability to detect the ultralow-frequency sound produced by tapping the skin with a finger, and the microchip-sized "pico" projectors now found in some cellphones.
Read full article in New Scientist.
Read: New technique offers a more detailed view of brain activity
Shared by Gabriel KentMIT and Caltech researchers have developed a new type of fMRI sensor that can measure a specific neurotransmitter (dopamine) -- a more detailed, higher-resolution indicator of neural activity than conventional fMRI, which measures blood flow in the brain. Dopamine holds particular interest for neuroscientists because of its role in motivation, reward, addiction and several neurodegenerative conditions, including Parkinsonâs disease. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news186687539.html)
Great work...