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

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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.

[YouTube Video]

Via Joystiq

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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 more of this story at Slashdot.

1. Palm Oil

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…

Related Posts

• HTC Desire (Bravo) expected to be next Android superphone
• T-Mobile confirms early January launch for Google Android phone Nexus One
• Googly phone confirmed: first pics and info of the HTC Nexus One
• HTC Passion coming to VZW this Christmas?
• Android advertising assailment advances

"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."

© omgubuntu.co.uk 2010. | Ubuntu News, Tips, Apps and more.

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]

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]

via http://worldfamousdesignjunkies.com/kawaii/doryu-2-16-pistol-camera/

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]

The Official Petition to Establish "Hella-" as the SI Prefix for 10^27

List of SI prefixes

(Thanks, Carl!)

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)

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 more of this story at Slashdot.

So much for “Do No Evil”…

via reddit.com

Want to see more Google Streetview fun? Check out our collection of ”The Best Google Street View Fails, Wins, And WTF’s“.

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.

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!

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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.

The user simply has to take a picture of a person and hit the 'Recognize' button. The photo is then compared to shots on social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter before personal information, which can include phone numbers, addresses and email addresses, is sent to the user. The app works on phones with a camera of five or more megapixel resolution.

Described as a "semi-autonomous robotic avatar" by its creators at MIT, the MeBot is an effort to give people a face and an expressive presence in a room far, far away from them. That, and an adorable crab-like body.

While the MeBot show's the operator's face on a small screen, it goes one step further, using software that will analyze the controller's face and cause the MeBot to respond appropriately with its stubby arms and articulated neck. It looks like the MeBot can also be operated directly using a control that resembles the units arms, though they aren't designed for much more than gesturing (in other words, you wouldn't be using MeBot to do work remotely).

The end results, according to MIT, is one hell of an expressive little telepresence robot:

We conducted an experiment that evaluated how people perceived a robot-mediated operator differently when they used a static telerobot versus a physically embodied and expressive telerobot. Results showed that people felt more psychologically involved and more engaged in the interaction with their remote partners when they were embodied in a socially expressive way. People also reported much higher levels of cooperation both on their own part and their partners as well as a higher score for enjoyment in the interaction.

Check out the MeBot in action in the video below, which also gives you a good look at that control interface.

[YouTube Video]

MIT, via Plastic Pals, via Coolest-Gadgets

A dramatic new image of a star cluster in our neighboring galaxy reveals light, wind and heat flowing in dramatic spirals.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Tobacco Documents Library is an online database of millions of tobacco industry documents made public through court cases. Included are letters written to cigarette companies including several where the public have complained about 'subliminal messages' hidden in adverts.

Quite frankly, they are a joy to read, and this is my favourite among many hidden gems. It's a letter from an organisation called Morality in Marketing to the makers of Camel cigarettes:

Dear Mr. Johnston

While at first we were enchanted with your popular new advertising campaign featuring head-shots of a "cool camel,' in the course of an in-depth analysis by our media researchers the subliminal message inherent in your ads was cracked. Consequently, we must withdraw our agency's support of this ad and include Camel Cigarettes on our hit-list of "Prurient Products" to boycott.

Your subtle ploy to titillate your audience with pornographic imagery of male genitalia disguised as harmless camel heads has not gone undetected. You can only imagine the extreme sense of anxiety, frustration and embarrassment I now feel when I am continually exposed to this graphic homosexual depiction of penile putrescence.

We have a bone to pick with you: where do you get off on displaying this root of all sin to hype your cigarettes? How long will you continue to promote your product by flashing gigantic sex glands on bill-boards throughout this country? As an up and coming organization dedicated to educating the American pubic about decency in advertising, we do not advocate censorship. However, while our desire is not to be too hard on you, we, as chaste Christian consumers, strongly urge you to cut off this media deluge of frontal nudity.

Additionally, could you please send to me a list of promotional materials offered to your customers and their children in conjunction with this extended marketing gimmick . We would be particularly interested, for obvious reasons, in any products which might involve oral contact (ex. mugs, glasses) or fondling (ex . stuffed replicas of the camel).

A prompt reply to this inquiry would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and God Bless You.

Firm in Our Faith,
Reverend Peter Manale
President

Interestingly, most of the other letters complaining about subliminal messages are a bit fixated on hidden representations of the 'male genitalia', probably fuelled in part by a similar urban myth.

I couldn't find anything in the tobacco documents database to suggest that the industry was particularly interested in subliminal advertising, although there are several documents about subliminal flavours in cigarettes.

In fact, an academic paper [pdf] was written on exactly this topic, finding that the industry had done research to show that adding consciously undetectable amounts of menthol flavour to regular cigarettes caused "altered perception of tobacco smoke and its constituents via cooling, smoothing, and anesthetic effects; increased impact through stimulation of trigeminal receptors; interaction with nicotine controlling its perception, delivery, and uptake; and increased respiratory irritation and toxic effects".

I heard a rumour that if you smoked cigarettes backwards you could hear Judas Priest songs but it never worked for me.

Link to subliminal complaints letters in tobacco docs database.

Malcolm Moore / Telegraph:
Apple admits using child labour in China — Apple has admitted that child labour was used at the Chinese factories that build its computers, iPods and mobile phones. — At least eleven 15-year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple.

These are a half dozen of my favorites from 30 Bizarre Examples of Defacing Money from the aptly named site, MONEY MUMBO JUMBO:

Sparta!

iPod

Head shot

Alice in Wonderland

Moth Eaten:

And even though I was never a big Kiss fan, this one still tickles me:

Kiss

Source: Money Mumbo Jumbo

Hat tip boingboing

Ciji Thorton is a 26-year old woman with an artificial eye.
Will LaFerriere is a 27-year old former military man with an artificial heart.
Alex Gamble is a 22-year old female with an artificial liver.
And Usman Akeju is a 27-year old software consultant with an artificial kidney.

For the next month, three simple words can cost these four runners $7,500. Any registered hunter in the country can repossess the runner’s artiforg (artificial organ) by getting within speaking distance of them, uttering a three word phrase, receiving their codeword, collecting their artiforg, and calling their Union rep using the runner’s phone. Promoting the upcoming release of the movie Repo Men, this alternate reality game will test the abilities of Ciji, Will, Alex, and Usman to remain undetected against an onslaught of investigative skills from “bounty hunters” nationwide.

People following the hunt for these four individuals at wired.com/repomen and through the #repomen hashtag on twitter will become intimately familiar with the lives of these four brave volunteers. Do you have what it takes to learn everything there is to know about these individuals, track them down, and collect their artificial organs?

There are Google Maps to track verified sightings of the Eye, the Heart, the Liver, and the Kidney. Each artificial organ has been spotted in Los Angeles (although the Heart is reported to be in “Lost” Angeles)…where they’ve gone from there is up to you to find out. The hunt has commenced in earnest, with new discoveries about the four targets being made by the minute.

Join us Monday, March 8th on the ARGNetcast for an interview with Lone Shark Games about this exciting chase.

Click Here for previous coverage of the Repo Men hunt.
Click Here for coverage on the previous hunt for Evan Ratliff.

 UPDATE: The blog Dread Central received a special package from the Repo Men team earlier today containing dossiers on the four runners along with some truly impressive posters, a copy of Wired Magazine, and a cooler containing a replacement brain.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Quite a surprise. I have not given Xerox much thought. True, about 11 years ago we had a job to hook one of the DocuTech scanners to the main DocuTech copy machine. Not too tough, but work is work. Since that time, I don’t pay much attention to Xerox. I know about Xerox Parc’s history of innovation, of course. I do recall learning that the company has rolled out an information system for law firms, but I don’t think of Xerox as a document management or eDiscovery company. Xerox to me is a maker of photocopy machines which makes clear why the headline “Xerox Files Patent Suit against Google, Yahoo” caught my attention. I thought, “What?”

The main idea is that Xerox has US6778979, “System for Automatically Generating Queries”. I think I met Greg Grefenstette at one time. The invention, according to the patent document’s abstract states:

A system generates a query using an entity extractor, a categorizer, a query generator, and a short run aspect vector. The entity extractor identifies a set of entities in selected document content for searching information related thereto using an information retrieval system. The categorizer defines an organized classification of document content with each class in the organization of content having associated therewith a classification label that corresponds to a category of information in the information retrieval system. The categorizer assigns the selected document content a classification label from the organized classification of content. A query generator formulates a query that restricts a search at the information retrieval system to the category of information in the information retrieval system identified by the assigned classification label. The short length aspect vector generator generates terms for further refining the query using context information surrounding the set of entities in the selected document content.

Xerox also asserts that the Google infringed on US6236994, “Method and Apparatus for the Integration of Information and Knowledge.” This invention, according to that patent document’s abstract states:

The present invention is a method and apparatus for first integrating the operation of various independent software applications directed to the management of information within an enterprise. The system architecture is, however, an expandable architecture, with built-in knowledge integration features that facilitate the monitoring of information flow into, out of, and between the integrated information management applications so as to assimilate knowledge information and facilitate the control of such information. Also included are additional tools which, using the knowledge information enable the more efficient use of the knowledge within an enterprise, including the ability to develop a context for and visualization of such knowledge.

The TechWeb article reported:

Xerox is seeking treble damages because it claims the defending companies are aware of its patents and that their infringement is willful.

I know zero about the legal world. I do know big bucks when I read about this type of claim. What’s interesting is that Xerox seems happy to talk about the legal matter. According to the write up:

“We have been in dialog with Google and Yahoo for some time about licensing these patents, without reaching a resolution,” a Xerox spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. “We believe we have no option but to file suit to properly protect our intellectual property.”

The economy may be struggling, but the lawyers involved in this may have a Veyron in the drive way by next spring.

Stephen E Arnold, February 24, 2010

No one paid me to write this. Unlike attorneys, I guess, I work without compensation. I have to report non payment to the USPTO. I hope that group’s online system someday includes more patent documents easily accessible via a search system that does not violate another party’s patent.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Crowd-sourcing through a network of over 40,000 highly mobile literate users is how Mob4Hire is solving one of the mobile industry’s perennial problems. Industry expert Russell Buckley describes how it works:

Mob4Hire is the inspiration of Paul Poutanen, who set out to solve a perennial mobile industry problem of testing not only on the huge variety of 26,000 handsets, but also over the local idiosyncrasies of over 350+ networks in 130+ different countries. Just because you’ve tested your JME* app on one handset in the US, don’t assume that it’s going to work on exactly the same handset in the UK.

Mob4Hire’s solution to the problem is crowd-sourcing and today they have a network of 40,000 highly mobile literate users throughout the world to do not only do usability and functionality testing for developers’ projects, but they do so at up to 90% of the cost of traditional testing. A very strong proposition and one which meets the main criteria for any new start-up – solving a need or real pain in the sector. . . .

CARNIVAL CELEBRATIONS: A reveller of the Mocidade samba school participated in the second night of the Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome on Monday. (Bruno Domingos/Reuters)

PAYING TRIBUTE: Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on Monday. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

BEAUTIFUL SPACE: Back dropped by the blackness of space, space shuttle Endeavour was photographed by the Expedition 22 crew as the shuttle approached the International Space Station during STS-130 rendezvous and docking operations on Feb. 9. (Eyevine/ZUMApress.com)

IN NEED OF AID: Haitians awaited medical attention Monday at a Mission Rescue clinic next to a camp for the displaced in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A month after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, doctors at the nonprofit say they are now suffering from a lack of volunteers, as many early responders have gone back to their home countries. They also said there is shortage of tents, tarps and food aid for displaced Haitians living in the nearby camps. (John Moore/GettyImages)

RESCUE TASK: A man carried a child from the site of a head-on collision between two commuter trains in a Brussels suburb during rush hour Monday. Eighteen people were killed, Belgian rail officials reported. (Thierry Roge/Reuters)

MAKING A MESS: Revellers in Galaxidi, Greece, 125 miles northwest of Athens, celebrated Clean Monday by participating in a colorful “flour war.” This traditional festivity marks the end of carnival season and the start of the 40-day Lent period until the Orthodox Easter. (Yiorgos Karahalis/Reuters)

GROOMING: Dog owners put the finishing touches on three Briards on Monday during the first day of the Westminster Kennel Club’s 134th annual dog show at Madison Square Garden in New York. Some 2,500 dogs competed in the event. (Justin Lane/EPA)

CANDLELIT HUTS: A visitor took photos of the candlelit miniature Kamakura, or snow huts, on Monday during the Kamakura Snow Festival in Japan. In the 400-year-old folk event, local children offer sweet sake and grilled rice cakes to visitors as they invite them into the snow huts to worship the god of water at an alter carved inside.(Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)

A MOTHER GRIEVES: Dodo Kharazishvili, mother of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Olympic luger who died in an training accident, is seen at home in Bakuriani, Georgia, on Tuesday. In a call home shortly before he was thrown from his luge and died, Mr. Kumaritashvili told his father that he was afraid of the new lightning-quick track in Whistler. (Shakh Aivazov/Associated Press)

FAINTED SOLDIER: Comrades helped a military honor guard soldier who fainted Tuesday while standing at attention during the funeral of U.S. Rep. John Murtha at Westmont Presbyterian Church in Johnstown, Pa. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)

CRACKED IN HALF ROAD: A view of a road destroyed by a landslide Tuesday in the southern Italian town of Maierato. A landslide, thought to have been caused by heavy rains in the region, split a hillside in Maierato the previous day. About 200 residents of the town in the Vibo Valentia province have had to be evacuated, authorities said. (Belcastro Antonietta/EPA)

GETTING DOLLED-UP: A model has make-up applied backstage before the Marchesa Fall 2010 collection is modeled on Wednesday during New York’s fashion week. (Stephen Chernin/Associated Press)

WINNER BY A SKI: Gold medalist Nikita Kriukov, left, and silver medalist Alexander Panzhinskiy, both of Russia, celebrated as they crossed the finish line to finish first and second in the Men’s Individual Sprint Final on Wednesday. (Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images)

PRESIDENTIAL BLACKBERRY: U.S. President Barack Obama picked up his BlackBerry after dropping it as he climbed the stairs to Air Force One on Thursday at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. President Obama was on his way to Colorado and Nevada for political fund-raisers. (Jason Reed/Reuters)

TEXAS PLANE CRASH: Smoke billowed from a seven-story building in Austin, Texas, after a pilot slammed his small plane into the building on Thursday, apparently killing himself and one agency employee. (Trey Jones/Associated Press)

STAYING DRY: A boy stood inside a makeshift tent Thursday after heavy rain during the night in Cite Soleil, Haiti. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

TRAVELING DANGEROUSLY: A rail commuter stood on the front of a moving train in Soweto, South Africa, on Thursday. Many commuters in South Africa choose to travel dangerously. They try to perform death-defying routines on top and underneath movign trains, sometimes jumping on and off while risking electrocution by dodging bridges and high-voltage cables. (Themba Hadebe/Associated Press)

SMOKE IN THE AIR: Buddhists burned incense while praying at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing Friday. U.S. President Barack Obama hosted exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, at the White House Thursday, drawing criticism from China. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

FUMIGATING: A soldier fumigated a suburb of San Salvador, El Salvador, Friday to prevent the spread of dengue by mosquitoes. Health officials have reported more than 1,000 cases of dengue since January. (Luis Galdamez/Reuters)

FLOODED OUT: A boy stood in front of his flooded house in Jarkarta, Indonesia, Friday. The overflowing Ciliwung River has caused at least 1,000 people to be displaced, according to local media. (Mast Irham/European Pressphoto Agency)

FLOATING AWAY: A woman floated during a class at a water festival in Eilat, Israel, Friday. The festival, created two years ago, celebrates water and how people interact with it. (Tara Todras-Whitehill/Associated Press)

SAINTLY SOUVENIRS: Souvenirs in the likeness of Brother Andre Bessette were displayed at a gift shop in Montreal Friday. Pope Benedict XVI approved sainthood for Brother Bessette, who died in 1937 and is known for performing miraculous cures. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via Associated Press)

According to MacWorld,, the most mind-blowing demonstration at this year's Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona is NTT Doccomo's remote control earphones that work just by moving your eyes.

According to Docomo the left and right side of your eye emits positive and negative electrons, and Docomo has developed a system that can use this to track eye movement. The earphones look like regular earbuds with three small metal sensors attached.

Read full article.

Apple has figured out online pricing for music. The digital chains are attached to the children of the people at the Barcelona mobile hoe down. I am not sure Apple’s model applies as well to audio books and videos, though. I will admit that the iPhone App Store has been a bit of a surprise to me and my goslings. The iPhone was good looking and easier to use than some of the mobile clunkers I had previously owned. But the different pieces worked reasonably well with iTunes, the iTouch, the iPhone, and the App Store snapping my wrists together quickly.

A few moments ago I popped open my newsreader and saw a headline that caught me by surprise, probably not the magnitude of the surprise that the Apple vertically integrated approach to gizmos evokes, but close enough for an addled goose in the snow.

The article was “Two Dozen Carriers Worldwide Unite against Apple’s App Store.” After a bit of clicking, I noticed that dozens of comments were flashing around the Internet. The basics, according to MocoNews.net, a publication “healthily obsessed with mobile content”, reported:

Two dozen of the world’s largest mobile-phone companies, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile and Vodafone, are teaming up to create an “open international applications platform,” which is obviously in direct response to Apple’s success with its own iPhone App Store. Release. The announcement was made this morning at Mobile World Congress. In addition to the 24 carriers, the GSMA and three device manufacturers—LG (SEO: 066570), Samsung and Sony, Ericsson—are also supporting the initiative. All combined, the group reaches 3 billion subscribers worldwide, making it easily the largest app-store initiative.

Several observations:

• In the online monetizing wars, victory goes to the outfit who figures out how to get money and keep others out. The reason that there are a couple of big companies controlling information in certain market sectors is not an accident. The market coalesces around services that amass high value content. Music is not a must have to me, but I think Apple has done a good job of turning information about which I care not a whit into a must-have information type for its customers.
• Developers go where the money is and keep poking their heads up and honking when a potential new source of money lands in their pond. Developers are paying attention to Android because it is Google, free, and gaining support. If anyone puts a dent in Apple’s shiny vertical consumer combine, it will be Google. Then guess what. Google will be the “new” Apple. It is not Google management acumen; it is the way online markets work for certain information types. I know you don’t believe me, so take a gander (no pun intended) at the online vendors of legal content.
• The Balkans approach to battling a service-device chain is going to be an interesting management problem. Sony, for example, should have been Apple. Apple grabbed a space Sony dominated and then went at the children of Sony executives. Keep in mind that the folks running these companies united against Apple can find the root cause of Apple’s success by talking to their children. If there are any young employees around, ask them.

Now is it fair, just, and right to join together to beat up on a company that was on death’s door with a boss who was on death’s door? In today’s world, I know two dozen companies who think that this type of behavior is just ducky (no pun intended).

My thought is that the telecommunications companies have problems beyond Apple. Maybe the Balkans’ method is the new management revolution? I will keep an open mind.

Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2010

No one paid me to write this. Since the write up is about management strategy, I will report scribbling for no dollars to the Federal Consulting Group, a very strategic operation. Do you read its reports? I think the telecommunications companies do. Check ‘em out here.

Astronauts ran into trouble Saturday while setting up the International Space Station's newest room, Tranquility: A critical insulating cover does not fit.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Spreading candles around the tub is one popular way to give your bathing a romantic twist, but I think this approach is much cooler. Using the same technology as those glow in the dark remote buttons, the Mosaic tub is covered with thousands of photoluminescent tiles that absorb light all day when it's bright out, then re-radiate it when it's dark. The result is this beautiful blue glow that makes the tub look great, even it I'm not so sure human skin will look good under its blue cast.

The tiles are available from an Italian company called Lucedentro, although it looks like the tub itself is a one off.

Lucedentro, via Trendir

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
U.S. To Be Hit By Massive Cyber Attack On Feb. 16. Asterisk. — On February 16, at about 10:00 am ET, the U.S. will be hit by a massive, crippling cyber attack from an unknown entity. Key players will convene in the White House situation room and plan the response, from mitigation to (possibly) retaliation.

A 1964 article from the Archives of Surgery discusses how to treat psychotic patients who may have ingested inedible objects.

It reports on one remarkable case where the following list of objects was found in one patient's stomach. They also helpfully provided a photo of all the objects laid out on a table.

Nickels (173), Pennies (161), Quarters (3), Dimes (26), Military buttons (22), Insignia clasps (5), Nails (50), Staples (5), Screws (16), Metal bolt (1), Metal nuts (4), Overall buckles (19), Metal cap top with keys (8), Lock key (1), Crucifix (2), Bottle caps (2), Knife handle (1), Fork handle (1), Spoon handle (1), Complete fork (bent double) (1), Dessert spoon (1), Rifle shell (unexploded) (1), Pieces of lead (14), Brass ball (1), Pieces of brass (3), Pins and needles (27), Watch parts (22), Broken earring (1), Rings with chain (2), Pieces of wire (7), Nondescript pieces of metal (16), Empty cigarette package (with tinfoil) (1), Official War Department letter (wrapped in cellophane) (1), Piece of glass (1), Streetcar tokens (2), Several small packages of cancelled postage stamps wrapped in cellophane.

Rifle shell? Blimey.

The persistent eating of inedible objects is known as pica although rarely does it occur in such as spectacular fashion.

Link to PubMed entry for 1964 study.

Gib Sorebo wrote a post on his RSA blog criticizing much of the content of our Project Grey Goose report on Critical Infrastructure as FUD, exaggeration and innuendo. Actually I use the word “criticize” loosely because he never actually rebuts our facts nor our findings, he just calls them names. I expected more from the co-lead of SAIC’s Smart Grid security practice.

Here’s a quick re-cap of his points, and my answers. And Gib, unlike you, I encourage informed dissent in my comments section so feel free to respond.

Regarding our concern that the DoD’s most critical assets rely on the commercial grid, he had two criticisms: (1) we should have mentioned that they have backup generators and (2) we should have encouraged the DoD to buy MORE generators.

That’s really not the point, Gib. That’s the problem. Backup generators are grossly insufficient in the event of a long-term collapse of the grid. We aren’t talking about heavy winds knocking down trees and causing a temporary outage. We’re talking about a preemptive strike by an adversary who wants to impact Command and Control, and who targets the many vulnerabilities in the power grid to accomplish that. If extra generators were the answer, this wouldn’t be a long-standing problem, would it.

Regarding our criticism of the reluctance of energy asset owners/operators to report network attacks, his criticism was that everyone is reluctant to report attacks, why single this industry out?

Two reasons why – because of the word “critical” in “critical infrastructure” and because in the case of cyber security, we need more transparency into what the systemic problems are, not less. Hiding problems is what brought us to where we are today – highly vulnerable to attack. Exposing problems, on the other hand, will serve to underscore the need to take action now; action that is being thwarted by special interests, lobbyists for the power industry, and NERC itself.

Regarding his use of blanket statements like this one: “The other statements made about the vulnerabilities in the electricity sector are either exaggerated or just wrong”, he leaves it dangling without calling out specifics, other than saying that our use of the word “voluntary” in reference to CIPs is not 100% accurate. Ouch.

Regarding his final criticism that we don’t provide more details on the Smart Grid vulnerabilities, I can only say – Gib, read the source material. That’s what we lead each vulnerability off with. If you want more detail, click on the link.

Gib closes by calling our report conjecture and the re-telling of old news stories. Interesting criticism, Gib, but that’s what happens when an industry like this one chooses to erect a wall of silence around its many vulnerabilities, decides which ones to report, and makes those reports exempt from FOIA requests. However, that’s a false criticism anyway. No one except a very few hard-core kool-aid drinkers deny that incidents have happened and gone un-reported. Disclosing those incidents wasn’t the objective in our final report. Our objective was to disclose the most serious extant issues that need to be addressed if we want to secure the Power grid.

… a founder, a VC, and his Associate negotiate a down round. Very NSFW.

Video: Old Face Andre talks economics with Omar

Another business lesson from The Wire — about intellectual property: “It ain’t about right, it’s about money.”

In part one and part two I started a series of instructional screencasts that get very practical about my idea of mindful infotention — combining technical skills with mental attitudes to not just cope but manage today’s overwhelming flows of information. Now I’ve finished part three. You could go through these screencasts step-by-step to set up your own dashboards, radars, and filters.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Now I'm no expert in the ways of makeup, but I can see how it could be an expensive and frustrating exercise to try something new only to discover it looks terrible once you've gotten home. If only there was a way to try it out before you buy!

Well, the Digital Cosmetic Mirror at the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo lets you do just that. It's got a camera on the front that scans your face. It then gives you personal recommendations and lets you put makeup on this virtual version of you. When you're satisfied, you can buy the real makeup and put it on your real face, confident in the fact that it'll look good. Finally!

Via Japan Trends

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Haiping Zhao / Facebook Developers:
HipHop for PHP: Move Fast — One of the key values at Facebook is to move fast. For the past six years, we have been able to accomplish a lot thanks to rapid pace of development that PHP offers. As a programming language, PHP is simple. Simple to learn, simple to write, simple to read, and simple to debug.

Haiping Zhao / Facebook Developers:
HipHop for PHP: Move Fast — One of the key values at Facebook is to move fast. For the past six years, we have been able to accomplish a lot thanks to rapid pace of development that PHP offers. As a programming language, PHP is simple. Simple to learn, simple to write, simple to read, and simple to debug.

Haiping Zhao / Facebook Developers:
HipHop for PHP: Move Fast — One of the key values at Facebook is to move fast. For the past six years, we have been able to accomplish a lot thanks to rapid pace of development that PHP offers. As a programming language, PHP is simple. Simple to learn, simple to write, simple to read, and simple to debug.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tablets, tablets, tablets! With the announcement of the iPad, it looks like 2010 is going to be the year of the tablet. And don't think that Apple is the only one getting in on the fun.

MSI is looking to ship a tablet PC of its own later this year. It'll be a 10-inch model that should sell starting at $500, just like the iPad. Look for it to run a modified version of Android as well. Can this compete with Apple's new toy? Time will tell.

DigiTimes via Electronista

Do you find yourself constantly running out of screen space? Sick of having windows hidden by other windows? Well, that's an easy problem to fix: get a secondary monitor!

SoundGraph has just introduced its FingerVU sub-monitors. Coming in 4.3-inch and 7-inch varieties, these little USB screens can display whatever you want. And the kicker: they're touchscreen. So its perfect for having, say, iTunes' CoverFlow for flipping through albums while you work on your main screen. No word on price or release dates as of yet.

UberGizmo via SlipperyBrick

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This chapter was due for inclusion in The Rough Guide Book of Brain Training, but was cut - probably because the advice it gives is so unsexy!

The idea of cognitive enhancers is an appealing one, and its attraction is obvious. Who wouldn't want to take a pill to make them smarter? It's the sort of vision of the future we were promised on kids TV, alongside jetpacks and talking computers.

Sadly, this glorious future isn't here yet. The original and best cognitive enhancer is caffeine ("creative lighter fluid" as one author called it), and experts agree that there isn't anything else available to beat it. Lately, sleep researchers have been staying up and getting exciting about a stimulant called modafinil, which seems to temporarily eliminate the need for sleep without the jitters or comedown of caffeine. Modafinil isn't a cognitive enhancer so much as something that might help with jetlag, or let you stay awake when you really should be getting some kip.

Creative types have had a long romance with alcohol and other more illicit narcotics. The big problem with this sort of drug (aside from the oft-documented propensity for turning people into terrible bores), is that your brain adapts to, and tries to counteract, the effects of foreign substances that affect its function. This produces the tolerance that is a feature of most prolonged drug use - whereby the user needs more and more to get the same effect - and also the withdrawal that characterises drug addiction. You might think this is a problem only for junkies but, if you are a coffee or tea drinker just pause for moment and reflect on any morning when you've felt stupid and unable to function until your morning cuppa. It might be for this reason that the pharmaceutical industry is not currently focusing on developing drugs for creativity. Plans for future cognitive enhancers focus on more mundane, workplace-useful skills such as memory and concentration. Memory-boosters would likely be most useful to older adults, especially those with worries about failing memories, rather than younger adults.

Although there is no reason in principle why cognitive enhancers couldn't be found which fine-tune our concentration or hone our memories, the likelihood is that, as with recreational drugs, tolerance and addiction would develop. These enhancing drugs would need to be taken in moderate doses and have mild effects - just as many people successfully use caffeine and nicotine for their cognitive effects on concentration today. Even if this allowed us to manage the consequences of the brain trying to achieve its natural level, there's still the very real possibility that use of the enhancing drugs would need to be fairly continuous - just as it is with smokers and drinkers of tea and coffee. And even then our brains would learn to associate the drug with the purpose for which they are taken, which means it would get harder and harder to perform that purpose without the drugs, as with the coffee drinker who can't start work until he's had his coffee. Furthermore, some reports suggest that those with high IQ who take cognitive enhancers are mostly likely to mistake the pleasurable effect of the substance in question for a performance benefit, while actually getting worse at the thing they're taking the drug for.

The best cognitive enhancer may well be simply making best use of the brain's natural ability to adapt. Over time we improve anything we practice, and we can practice almost anything. There's a hundred better ways to think and learn - some of them are in this book. By practicing different mental activities we can enhance our cognitive skills without drugs. The effects can be long lasting, the side effects are positive, and we won't have to put money in the pockets of a pharmaceutical company.

Link to more about The Rough Guide book of Brain Training
Three excellent magazine articles on cognitive enhancers, from: The New Yorker, Wired and Discover

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Gizmodo:
Apple iPad First Device to Use “Apple A4” Processor — Apple didn't buy P.A. Semiconductor for nothing. And now the fruits of that buyout are appearing: The Apple iPad uses a 1GHz “A4” chip that can decode HD video for up to 10 hours on a single charge. [Apple iPad]

Being the rumormongers that we are, we've been filling you in on the latest scuttlebutt about the upcoming Apple tablet, but now even the Gray Lady, otherwise known as the illustrious New York Times, is weighing in with rumors of its own. Tipped off by "a person who has seen the device and is familiar with Apple's marketing plan for it, but who did not want to be named because talking about it might alienate him from the company," there were a couple of tantalizing tidbits on board:

"It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print."

New York Times, via Gizmodo

Scientific Advisory Board Information Security Training Late 2009 (Specialty 090103)

• Academy of Russia’s FSB Chairman UMO Education of information Security chief ICSI AP Kovalenko
• Academy of FSB of Russia Deputy Chairman of EMA Education of information Security, Deputy Chief ICSI EB Belov
• Academy of FSB of Russia President of UMC specialty 090101, the first Deputy Chief of ICSI VV Mizerov
• Academy of FSB of Russia Deputy Chairman of the IRO on specialty AV 090102 Cheremushkin
• Academy of FSB of Russia President of UMC specialty 090106 VA Raven
• Academy of FSB of Russia Deputy Chairman of the IRO on specialty IA 090106 Shalimov
• Academy of FSB of Russia President of UMC specialty 090107 VV Sizykh
• Academy FSO Russia Head Department VI Kozachok
• Voronezh State Technology University Head of Department, AG Ostapenko
• GNIII PTZI FSTEK Russia Senior Researcher NT Shevtsov
• Moscow State Institute of Electronic Technology Professor AA Horev
• Nizhny State University Prorector LY Rothko
• Omsk State Head of Department VV Mitrokhin
• University of Helpful Penza State University Head of Department SL Zefirov
• Petersburg State University of Helpful Head of Department AA Kornienko
• Tomsk State University systems Management and Radioelectronics Deputy Chairman
• Siberian Regional Branch UMO Education of information security

The full report detailing Russian InfoSec training under current FSB guidelines along with all past reports on Russian institutions engaged in Information Security R&D is available free to IntelFusion FLASH Traffic subscribers or is available as a special focus report to non-subscribers for a fee. Contact me for more info.

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Some SEO Advice For Bill Gates — What do you get for Bill Gates, the richest person in the world? How about a little free SEO advice for his new blog? It could use some. — Bill, I went looking for your blog today on Google. Sorry, like many people, I have a habit of using that search engine first.

Designed by Australian design firm LAVA, these Digital Origami Tigers were commissioned to raise awareness of tigers as an endangered species around the world.

Using environmentally friendly low power LEDs, and constructed using aluminum and barrisol, the tigers are a striking sight day or night. And, since this is the Chinese year of the tiger, the sculptures are culturally well timed. You can see more images detailing the construction design of the sculptures here.

Via DesignBoom

Do you want a tablet computer? I don't think I do. But I'm not sure. Apple might be able to convince me that it's exactly what I need. Next Wednesday, if thousands of rumors can be trusted, Apple will introduce a tablet. There are plenty of imaginative renderings of what the tablet might look like and much speculation about what it will be called. The more important question is what, exactly, will it be for?

Though the details of Apple's tablet are still mysterious, we saw many competing tablets at CES this year. The tablets were similar to the show's other major trend — 3D television — because in both cases, it was far from certain that anyone would want one. Will tablets catch on and become must-have gadgets the way smartphones and laptops have? Will it wipe out another category (say, e-readers)? Here, we break it down — how tablets compare to similar products, and what Apple's new toy will have to do to be a breakthrough product.

We've been looking for our own perpetual motion machine, and this could be it: the Jaeager-LeCoultre Atmos 566 clock by Marc Newson. We've told you about Atmos clocks, powered by minuscule changes in temperature, seemingly running forever on virtually nothing.

This limited version of the Atmos 566 takes the magical Atmos concept to a whole new level. Encased in either clear or blue Baccarat crystal, it indicates the hours, minutes, month, and then shows you a sky chart in the middle, indicating astrological signs and which stars you'll see that night in the Northern Hemisphere. From the clock's creator, Australian aircraft designer Marc Newson:

"I have always been fascinated by the concept of the timepiece as a miniature universe. The Atmos 566 is particularly intriguing because of its own unique internal night sky. It's a wonderfully mysterious object that ironically seems very timeless."

Jaeager-LeCoultre, via Oh Gizmo

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Apple retaliates: requests US import ban on Nokia phones — As expected, Apple just responded to Nokia's ITC request to ban Apple device imports with a US embargo request of its very own. Notice of Apple's complaint (without any detail) was posted yesterday on the website …

This home theater PC is being touted as eco-friendly thanks to its low power consumption and cypress wood and sheep leather case, but that's not really what's impressing me about it. Eco-friendly or not eco-friendly, this is one beautiful machine.

Loaded up with an Intel Core2Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive and HDMI outputs, it looks to be a pretty solid HTPC. Of course, there's no price available for it, so whether or not it's a reasonable option has yet to be seen.

DesignHara via Yanko Design

You could be a serious boss and put a conference table in your office. Alternately, you could be a fun boss and put a ping pong table in your office. But the best option? Put a conference table that doubles as a ping pong table in your office.

The Table & Tennis is just that. It's a classy office table, yes. But attach a net and open up the special paddle-and-ball-holding drawer, and all of the sudden you've gone from meeting to match. No info on pricing or availability, but I want one.

Table and Tennis via NotCot

When the very first stars lit up, they may have been fueled by the dark matter that has long eluded scientists.

Alana Hunt, who is currently studying at the department of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) New Delhi, has designed 4x4 inch ‘paper text message’ cards meant for Kashmiris to exchange written messages.

“Since the prepaid mobile phone connections in Kashmir have been banned, perhaps it is the right time now for us to use our imagination and generate different kinds of commutative tools ourselves,” the card reads.

The card offers space to people to write a “different kind of paper text message” to anyone, real or imagined, anywhere in the world about anything one would like to write in a text message.

Most of the cards appeal Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram to withdraw the ban. Some even dare him to try the decree in New Delhi and elsewhere in India.

Read full article.

Read full article. Image from The Hindu.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google’s new touch-screen Android phone, which it began giving to many employees to test last week, could also shake up the fundamentals of the cellphone market in the United States, where most phones work only on the networks of the wireless carriers that sold them.

The company, using the power of its brand, plans to market and sell the new phone directly to consumers over the Internet, and buyers would be able to sign up for service from any compatible provider, the employees say.

Read full article.

A rising star in the effort is Ushahidi, an open-source combination of text messaging and Google maps that got its start following the violence in the wake of the 2007 Kenyan elections.

Since then, it has been used to map conflicts and indirectly monitor elections from Colombia to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Afghanistan.

And more effective than the traditional megaphone is FrontlineSMS, a tool used to broadcast emergency information via SMS to anyone in a region with mobile signal.

Read full article in BBC.

As we prepare for the annoying onslaught of holiday marketing, it raises a smile for us to think back to the days when said holidays were called "Christmas." See how many of these most popular Christmas toys of the past half century you can remember — this astonishing info graphic goes all the way back to 1960.

Lots of toys on the list, but it's also a handy guide to gadget evolution, reaching all the way back to the Etch-a-Sketch, bringing us all the way up to last year's fave, Elmo Live. Some of us here remember far more of these than we care to admit.

Permuto, via Neatorama

I've just discovered a curious medical finding that can be detected on MRI brain scans called the 'face of the giant panda sign' where, quite literally, it looks like there's a panda face in the middle of the brain, indicating a specific pattern of neural damage.

The image you can see on the left is the 'face of the giant panda sign' that appeared in a brain scan of a patient with multiple sclerosis who started showing unusual sexual behaviour and is taken from a 2002 study. Click the image if you want to see the whole scan.

The pattern is apparently caused by "high signal in the tegmentum, normal signals in the red nuclei and lateral portion of the pars reticulata of the substantia nigra, and hypointensity of the superior colliculus".

It is most associated with Wilson's disease, a genetic condition which causes a toxic build-up of copper in the body, but obviously can appear in other disorders as well.

Thanks to Twitter user @sarcastic_f for alerting me to this.

It's not just pandas that appear in brain scans of course, the Virgin Mary has also been known to make an appearance.

Link to PubMed entry for MS study.
Link to brief description from Neurology.

NASA's brand-new rocket, the vehicle planned to launch astronauts spaceward after the space shuttles are retired, is poised to make its first-ever test flight Tuesday.

This may look like a weird, foam cube. And it is! But it's also a chair, one of the cleverest I've ever seen.

Look closely: in the middle of the cube, the triangular voids are larger. They're meticulously placed, actually, so that when you sit down it forms to you and makes the shape of a chair. When you stand up, it goes back to being a cube. So awesome.

CCTV via Core77

As NASA readies the Ares 1-X test rocket, a commission of experts appointed by the president says hold everything. NASA should forget about going to the moon for now, and land humans on a nearby asteroid or comet, or one of the two moons of Mars, says the Augustine panel. The reason? It will take a whole lot less fuel to get humans back from such low-gravity destinations.

It makes sense. The moon? Been there, done that. Let's get some big honking rockets, maybe even bigger than the Saturn V, and head out into deep space. Meanwhile, the Augustine panel recommends extending the life of the shuttle for another year — until 2011 instead of putting it in mothballs on October 1, 2010 — and keeping the International Space Station aloft until 2020 instead of crashing it into the ocean in 2015.

Too bad this commission didn't exist when George W. Bush decided back in 2003 that our goal was to set up a base on the moon, and then head to Mars. Among the eight options presented by the commission, a moon landing would only be a training mission, a stepping stone to destinations beyond. A Mars mission would only happen in the distant future.

These new plans could work. Well, until another politician decides to change them.

Via USA Today (art courtesy Denise Watt, via Space Gizmo)

LED eyelashes! Why do they exist? I have no idea, but they do. And hey, at least you'll know you have the most unique eyelash decor around if you hook these up. Just be careful… electricity and eyeballs don't mix. Eek.

Fashioning Tech via Make