Sub-Centimeter Positioning Coming To Mobile Phones

Posted by timothy on Thursday July 14, @02:01PM 

from the we-control-the-latitude-we-control-the-longitude dept.

Oooskar writes"SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), a technique invented by NASA, defines the concept of building a 3D-map of the environment and simultaneously computing the position within it. Based on SLAM, Swedish startup 13th Lab has implemented real-time sub-centimeter local 3D-positioning by using only the sensors, most importantly the camera, already present in most mobile devices (demo video). The technology will be made available as a software platform for developers (sign up for beta). A first application demonstrating the technology has just been released for the iPad2. The technology should be available on other devices with similar computational power soon."

Researchers Build "Squishy" Memory Device

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 14, @11:07AM 

from the memory-stuck-between-my-fingers dept.

ShipLives writes"Researchers have developed a memory device that is soft and functions well in wet environments, which could lead to new biocompatible electronic devices. 'We’ve created a memory device with the physical properties of Jell-O,' says Dr. Michael Dickey, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research."

Man builds turbine-powered Batmobile, brags about having the only one (video)

By Billy Steele  posted Jul 14th 2011 6:51AM

So you think you're a huge fan of the Dark Knight, huh? Not so fast. Do you own a full-sized Batmobile? Yeah... we didn't think so. But, auto restoration guru Casey Putsch does, and to launch himself further into super-fanboy status, he upgraded the engine with a Boeing turboshaft -- snatched out of a naval drone helicopter. According to him, this makes his collector's item one of a kind, in true Bruce Wayne fashion. Sure, these discarded movie props are usually powered by a standard 350 (especially the older models), but that wasn't enough for a dude's dude who appraises and designs all types of vehicles for a living. Mods were also made to the interior, including an iPad in the dash which serves as the avionics system and keeps track of the important GPS coordinates -- you know, stuff you'd expect Lucious Fox to toss in to track villains and such. For a look at this beast in action, check out the video after the break; meanwhile we'll try to figure out how to cram a jet engine into a Tesla Roadster.

Snail Discovered That Can Survive Digestion By Birds

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday July 12, @02:47PM 

from the service-on-this-flight-is-sh*t dept.

smitty777 writes"A recent article in the Journal of Biogeography describes research showing that 15% of the snails devoured by birds on a Japanese island can survive the digestive process. This is thought to be the mechanism by which the snail populations can migrate from island to island, similar to the way plant seeds are deposited. From the article: 'In the lab, scientists fed the birds with the snails to find out whether any survived the digestive process. "We were surprised that a high rate, about 15 percent, of snails were still alive after passing through the gut of [the] birds," explained researcher Shinichiro Wada.'"As bad as riding in a bird's digestive tract sounds, I'd take it over flying standby on a puddle jumper.

Your Mother Was Right: Good Posture Makes You Tougher

ScienceDaily (July 12, 2011) — Mothers have been telling their children to stop slouching for ages. It turns out that mom was onto something and that poor posture not only makes a bad impression, but can actually make you physically weaker. According to a study by Scott Wiltermuth, assistant professor of management organization at the USC Marshall School of Business, and Vanessa K. Bohns, postdoctoral fellow at the J.L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, adopting dominant versus submissive postures actually decreases your sensitivity to pain.

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Three words

JET POWERED BEETLE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mFXHGFWR4s

Social x-ray glasses can decode emotions, make your blind dates less awkward

By Amar Toor  posted Jul 12th 2011 4:18AM

You may consider yourself a world-class liar, but a new pair of "social x-ray" glasses could soon expose you for the fraud you really are. Originally designed for people suffering from autism, these specs use a rice grain-sized camera to pick up on a person's 24 "feature points" -- facial expressions that convey feelings of confusion, agreement and concentration, among others. Once recognized, these signals are analyzed by software, compared against a database of known expressions and then relayed to users via an attached headphone. If their date starts to feel uncomfortable, a blinking red light lets them know that it's time to shut up. Rosalina Picard, an electrical engineer who developed the prototype with Rana el Kaliouby, acknowledged that her algorithm still needs some fine tuning, but told New Scientist that the glasses have already proved popular with autistic users, who often have difficulty deciphering others' body language. No word yet on when these social specs could hit the market, but they'll probably make us even more anti-social once they do.

Geocaching Shuts Down British Town

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 07, @01:44AM 

from the everyone-panic dept.

DaveAtWorkAnnoyingly writes"Many geocachers will be thinking twice when planting their treasure in an urban space as one geocacher found out in England after the police cordoned off the center of a small West Yorkshire town and the Bomb Squad was called in. From the article: 't was a normal busy Friday morning in the small West Yorkshire market town of Wetherby when someone working in a café spotted a man acting a bit suspiciously on the street. He appeared to have a small plastic box in his hand and after fiddling with the container he bent down and hid it under a flower box standing on the pavement. He then walked off, talking to somebody on his phone.'"

Outcomes for Cardiac Valve Procedure Patients Are Affected by Insurance Status, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (July 6, 2011) — The type of primary insurance patients carry affects outcomes of cardiac valve operations in the United States according to a study in the May issue of theJournal of the American College of Surgeons. As a result, the type of primary insurance should be considered as an independent risk factor during preoperative risk stratification and planning, the researchers reported. They found that uninsured and Medicaid patients incur worse unadjusted and risk-adjusted outcomes following cardiac valve operations compared with those who carry private insurance.
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Bill Gates On Energy

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday July 07, @10:00AM 

from the agreeing-with-bill-gates-feels-dirty dept.

Sam the Nemesis submitted an interview in Wired with Bill Gates on the future of energy. Gates sees nuclear as the only feasible option for base load generation. His views on the current direction of energy funding are particularly distressing: "But the economics are so, so far from making sense. And yet that's where subsidies are going now. We're putting 90 percent of the subsidies in deployment — this is true in Europe and the United States — not in R&D. And so unfortunately you get technologies that, no matter how much of them you buy, there's no path to being economical. You need fundamental breakthroughs, which come more out of basic research."

Climate Skeptic Funded By Oil and Coal Companies

Posted by timothy on Thursday June 30, @02:11PM 

from the not-that-I-can-recall-at-this-time-sir-no dept.

Honken writes with a report from The Guardian that"'One of the world's most prominent scientific figures to be sceptical about climate change has admitted to being paid more than $1m in the past decade by major US oil and coal companies.' This somewhat contradicts that [Harvard researcher Willie] Soon in a 2003 US senate hearing said that he had 'not knowingly been hired by, nor employed by, nor received grants from any organisation that had taken advocacy positions with respect to the Kyoto protocol or the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.'"

Why Do We Share Stories, News and Information With Others?

ScienceDaily (June 30, 2011) — People often share stories, news, and information with the people around them. We forward online articles to our friends, share stories with our co-workers at the water cooler, and pass along rumors to our neighbors. Such social transmission has been going on for thousands of years, and the advent of social technologies like texting, Facebook, and other social media sites has only made it faster and easier to share content with others. But why is certain content shared more than others and what drives people to share?

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Did the Chinese Military Use Top Gun Footage?

has the People's Liberation Army signed up Goose and Maverick? Chinese bloggers are accusing state broadcaster CCTV of using re-purposed footage from the 1986 film Top Gun for a story on a recent air force drill.' Is it just me or are communist nations very skilled at embarrassing themselves?"

Assange Handed Sydney Peace Medal

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 12, @12:59AM 

from the love-or-hate dept.

hihihihi writes"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's Gold Medal for 'exceptional courage in the pursuit of human rights.' It is only the fourth time in the organization's 14-year history that the prize for extraordinary achievement in promoting peace with justice has been given out. Previous winners are Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda. Foundation director Professor Stuart Rees accused the Australian government of demonizing Mr Assange and aiding US efforts to behave like a totalitarian state."

Don't Show, Don't Tell? Direct Instruction Can Thwart Independent Exploration

ScienceDaily (June 30, 2011) — Suppose someone showed you a novel gadget and told you, "Here's how it works," while demonstrating a single function, such as pushing a button. What would you do when they handed it to you?
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A Solar-Powered 3D Printer Prints Glass From Sand

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Tuesday June 28, @03:41PM 

from the print-your-dishes-off-the-grid dept.

Tx-0 writes in with a story in Colossal Art & Design. From the article:"Industrial designer and tinkerer Markus Kayser spent the better part of a year building and experimenting with two fantastic devices that harness the sun's power in some of the world's harshest climates. The first he calls a Sun Cutter, a low-tech light cutter that uses a large ball lens to focus the sun's rays onto a surface that's moved by a cam-guided system. ... Next, Kayser began to examine the process of 3D printing. Merging two of the deserts most abundant resources, nearly unlimited quantities of sand and sun, he created the Solar Sinter, a device that melts sand to create 3D objects out of glass."

Fidgeting Your Way to Fitness

ScienceDaily (June 28, 2011) — Walking to the photocopier and fidgeting at your desk are contributing more to your cardiorespiratory fitness than you might think.

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The Enterprise Is Wrong, Not Mozilla

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday June 28, @11:40AM 

from the beam-me-up-snotty dept.

There's been a lot of noise about Mozilla's new rapid release leading to conflict with Enterprise users. Kethinov found an Ars article that points out that"Now that Mozilla has released Firefox 5, version 4, just three months old, is no longer supported. Enterprise customers aren't very pleased with this decision, and are claiming it makes their testing burden impossible. We're not convinced: we think Mozilla's decision is the right one for the Web itself.'"

Happy Tau Day

The actual site had an interesting argument about why Tau is right and Pi is wrong.


Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday June 28, @10:48AM 

from the look-how-round-it-is dept.

Forget about Pi Day, today we celebrate something twice as good: Tau Day. For far too long, Pi has been the bride and Tau has been the bridesmaid. As Michael Hartl points out in The Tau Manifesto, "Pi is a confusing and unnatural choice for the circle constant." He is giving a talk at the California Institute of Technology based on the Manifesto, with pie served at the end. "Twice as many as you might expect," he says.

Surprising Drop in Physicians' Willingness to Accept Patients With Insurance, U.S. Study Finds

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2011) — As required under the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, millions of people will soon be added to the ranks of the insured. However, this rapid expansion of coverage is colliding with a different, potentially problematic trend that could end up hampering access to health care.

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Brain Rhythm Associated With Learning Also Linked to Running Speed, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (June 24, 2011) — Rhythms in the brain that are associated with learning become stronger as the body moves faster, UCLA neurophysicists report in a new study.

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New Solar Cell: Engineers Crack Full-Spectrum Solar Challenge

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2011) — In a paper published in Nature Photonics, U of T Engineering researchers report a new solar cell that may pave the way to inexpensive coatings that efficiently convert the sun's rays to electricity.

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Video: Intriguing BioShock Infinite Tears Up the Shooter Rulebook

Don't be fooled by the franchise. The only thing BioShock Infinite shares with its predecessor is a captivating aura of mystery.

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/8Ozor8guZwo/

Sunspot Drop Won't Cause Global Cooling

News that solar activity might fizzle for a few decades has prompted talk of a new "Little Ice Age," even a quick fix for global warming. But that??s just not going to happen.

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/WT3bSzuv7mg/

Scientists study orca ears, employ lasers to create hyper-sensitive underwater microphone

By Brian Heater  posted Jun 27th 2011 5:13AM

There are plenty of reasons to want to monitor what's going on in the ocean, from whale migration, to the recent stylistic resurgence of hot crustacean bands. There are certain inherent difficulties, however, in creating a powerful underwater microphone, namely all of that water you've got to contend with. A team of scientists has taken cues from the design of orca ears, in order to develop a powerful microphone that can work far beneath the waves. The researchers developed membranes 25 times thinner than plastic wrap, which fluctuate as sound is made. In order to operate at extreme depths, however, the microphone must fill with water to maintain a consistent pressure. So, how does one monitor the minute movements of a membrane hampered by the presence of water? Lasers, of course! The hydrophone can capture a 160-decibel range of sounds and operate at depths of 11,000 meters, where the pressure is around 1,100 times what we're used to on earth. So if the orcas themselves ever master the laser, at least we'll be able to hear them coming.