Stradivarius violin recreated from CAT scan, 'sounds amazingly similar'

By James Trew  posted Nov 30th 2011 6:37AM

We've seen all kinds of crazy things being printed -- from bones to blood vessels -- and now you can add antique violins to that list. Music loving Radiologist Steven Sirr popped his into a CAT scanner to see what it was made of, then showed the results to a violin-making friend. Curiosity soon led them to scan everything from guitars to mandolins, so when the chance to take a peek inside a 307-year-old Stradivarius came up, how could they resist? 1000 scans later, the files were converted to 3D CAD format and another violin maker enlisted. Crucially, the images show the density of the wood all the way through, allowing a CNC machine to carve out copies of each section, with different woods used to match the differing densities. With all the parts in place and a lick of varnish, the replicas were complete. Sirr claims the copies sound "amazingly similar" to the original, but we are unsure if he plans to make itopen-source.

NASA CTO Says Help Desks May Disappear

Posted by timothy on Friday October 14, @05:47PM 

from the no-trash-can-therefore-no-trash dept.

Lucas123 writes"NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has placed its data, from photos of Mars to top secret government information, in 10 different public or private clouds. JPL's 5,000 workers have access to that data with any mobile devices they want to use, as long as it has first been secured. Because JPL's and other workforces are becoming more mobile, a help desk as it's known today may soon become unnecessary, according to JPL's IT CTO Tom Soderstrom. 'Have you ever called a help desk for your mobile device? What do you do? Probably, the first you do is Google or Bing it,' he said. 'If you can't get your answer there, you ask your friends who are like you. For us, that's the workgroup.'"

Nokia Lights Up London With Awesome 4D Projection

BY 

JOANNE CARTER

 – NOVEMBER 29, 2011

POSTED IN: NEWS

Yesterday Nokia brought deadmau5 and the world’s most advanced 4D technology together and created an amazing free light show at Millbank Tower, London.

Check out the video below of this incredible event.

Verizon details live FiOS TV service for Xbox 360, Kinect controls on tap

By Donald Melanson  posted Nov 29th 2011 11:35AM

Microsoft announced back in October that it would be bringing live FiOS TV channels to the Xbox 360 (along with some offerings from Comcast), and Verizon has now finally filled in most of the specifics. As expected, you'll need both a FiOS TV subscription and an Xbox Live Gold membership to access the "select" live channels (up to 26 depending on your TV package), but Verizon is making a special offer available to coincide with the launch. You can get its FiOS Triply Play package including FiOS internet, TV and phone, plus a year of Xbox Live Gold for $89.99 a month if you sign up before January 21st, and Verizon will also throw in the new anniversary edition of Halo. What's more, Verizon has also confirmed that the new service will make use of Kinect voice and gesture controls, and it's accepting orders for the new bundle package right now -- the service itself will be available next month.

Europe's Largest IT Company To Ban Internal Email

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Tuesday November 29, @08:07AM 

from the 140-characters-or-die dept.

Hugh Pickens writes writes"Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos, Europe's Largest IT Company, wants a 'zero email' policy to be in place in 18 months, arguing that only 10 per cent of the 200 electronic messages his employees receive per day on average turn out to be useful, and that staff spend between 5-20 hours handling emails every week. 'The email is no longer the appropriate (communication) tool,' says Breton. 'The deluge of information will be one of the most important problems a company will have to face (in the future). It is time to think differently.' Instead Breton wants staff at Atos to use chat-type collaborative services inspired by social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter as surveys show that the younger generation have already all but scrapped email, with only 11 per cent of 11 to 19 year-olds using it. For his part Breton hasn't sent a work email in three years. 'If people want to talk to me, they can come and visit me, call or send me a text message. Emails cannot replace the spoken word.'"

Tower To Be Built By Flying Robots

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Tuesday November 29, @03:19AM 

from the quadrocopter-bots-to-unionize dept.

Zothecula writes with an excerpt from an article in Gizmag:"The FRAC Centre in Orléans, France will for the first time host an exhibition to be built entirely by flying robots. Titled 'Flight Assembled Architecture,' the six meter-high tower will be made up of 1,500 prefabricated polystyrene foam modules. The installation involves a fleet of quadrocopters that are programmed to interact, lift, transport and assemble the final tower, all the time receiving commands wirelessly from a local control room."

Newer Technology Power2U AC/USB Wall Outlet: More power to your USB devices

by Steven Sande

Nov 28th 2011 at 2:30PM
I'll admit that I'm not the best person to be writing about a do-it-yourself project involving electricity. After all, I've zapped myself more than once while replacing wall switches and installing light dimmers, and I once had smoke pouring from my kitchen ceiling after installing a new light fixture. But I'm going to get out my insulated gloves and screwdriver to install a Newer Technology Power2U AC/USB Wall Outlet (US$39.95) to replace a standard AC outlet in my home.

Earthscraper Takes Sustainable Design Underground

Posted by samzenpus on Monday November 28, @10:18AM 

from the moving-on-down dept.

Hugh Pickens writes"The 'Earthscraper,' a 65-story, 82,000-square-foot inverted pyramid beneath Mexico City takes a new approach to escalating megacity problems like population growth, urban sprawl, preserving open space, and conserving energy and water, promising to turn the modern high-rise, quite literally, on its head. The proposed building will be located at the Zocalo, Mexico City's major public plaza one of the few sizable open spaces left in the city of 9 million. 'It's a massive empty plot, which makes it the ideal site for our program,' says architect Esteban Suarez. The Earthscraper concept begins with a glass roof replacing the opaque stone surface of the Zocalo preserving the open space and civic uses of the Zocalo, whileallowing natural lighting to flow downward into all floors of the tapering structure through clear or translucent core walls. The first 10 stories would hold a museum dedicated to the city's history and its artifacts. 'We'd almost certainly find plenty of interesting relics during the dig — dating right back to the Aztecs who built their own pyramids here,' says Suarez adding that the design incorporates a system of gardens occurring roughly every 10 stories, to help generate fresh air. One thing working in Earthscraper's favor is there are strict laws that prevent building upwards in this part of Mexico City, but no laws for building down. 'They will have to develop new laws to stop this from happening," says Chief Design Officer Emilio Barja. "I hope they don't [find the] time to do that.'"

A Fifth of Global Energy Could Come from Biomass Without Damaging Food Production

ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2011) — A new report suggests that up to one fifth of global energy could be provided by biomass (plants) without damaging food production.

Smart Phones Power Consumption Cut by More Than 70 Percent

ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2011) — Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have designed a network proxy that can cut the power consumption of 3G smart phones up to 74 percent. This device enhances performance and significantly reduces power usage by serving as a middleman for mobile devices to connect to the Internet and handling the majority of the data transfer for the smart phone. Historically, the high energy requirements of mobile phones have slowed the adoption of mobile Internet services in developing countries.

Microsoft patent aims to curb your enthusiasm in the office

By James Trew  posted Nov 21st 2011 5:48AM

You might think working for tech royalty out west is all beanbags and 20 percent time. And it might well be. But if your paychecks say Microsoft, you might want to be careful how you spend that extra down-time. A patent with the snappy title Organizational Behavior Monitoring Analysis and Influencedescribes a system devised by the company to monitor employee interactions. Everything from cutting people off in conversation, to the verbal phrases and mannerisms used over "multi-modal communications" (e-mail, phone and so on) is covered. The aim of the Orwellian system is "defining desired and undesired behaviors for enhancing organizational trust levels" and it's not the first timeMicrosoft has made such sinister sounding patent applications. OK, so there is nothing saying exactly what this might be for, or if this would ever be used to monitor its own employees. That said, if your parking space isn't there on Monday, you might want to backtrack through the previous week's water-cooler diatribes.

Minecraft Is Finished

Posted by timothy on Tuesday November 15, @09:35AM 

from the it's-never-finished dept.

SharkLaser writes"Minecraft, the most widely known and best selling indie game in the history, is now finished. Minecraft creator Notch tweeted yesterday that Minecraft has gone gold and will be released at the end of the week at the first Minecon, a gathering of Minecraft fans. So far over 4 million people have bought the game, generating over 50 million dollars in revenue. Minecraft has also had a rapid modding community around the game, developing gems like the Millenaire mod, Builders and Tornadoes. Minecraft also brought back the interest in voxel based engines, introducing games like Ace of Spades (build, make tunnels, capture the flag FPS) and Voxatron [note: you might want to turn down your volume for this video]. It also opened up many ways for new indie developers, as Minecraft showed development can be funded solely by making something new and giving out early access to the game for those who are interested in the project. The upcoming Steam-like IndieCity-platform will also employ similar feature where, in addition to normal indie game store, players can look at unfinished projects and choose to support their development."

Identifying Nuclear Scientists Willing To Sell Their Knowledge

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 17, @05:53AM 

from the update-your-resume dept.

Harperdog writes"This is an interesting piece on U.S. programs most people don't know about: programs to identify and win over nuclear scientists who might bewilling to sell their know-how to non-nuclear countries. Fascinating discussion, and points to the alleged Russian scientist who is reported to have sold information to Iran. How could he have been stopped?"

Has Apple Made Programmers Cool?

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 17, @04:31AM 

from the for-some-definition-of-cool dept.

An anonymous reader writes"CNET suggests that Apple has totally changed the general public's perception of programmers: It's now suddenly cool to code. No matter what platform you're on. They argue that App Store millionaire success stories have 'turned a whole generation of geek coders from social misfits into superheroes.' Apparently, gone are the days when a programmer was the last person you wanted to talk to at a party: 'Mention to someone that you make apps and their interest will pick up instantly. This is an astonishing change from what a programmer in the 80s could have expected in reaction to their job description.' The App Store millionaires, or 'Appillionaires', may have done all of us programmers a huge favor. Programming is now socially acceptable: 'Previous generations strapped on electric guitars and fought for super-stardom in sweaty dive bars, but today's youth boot up Xcode on their MacBook Pros.'"

Verizon begins collecting user data for targeted ads, is kind enough to offer 'opt-out' escape route

By Amar Toor  posted Nov 17th 2011 4:24AM

Verizon still wants to collect your personal information, but it'll understand if you decide to opt out. Really, it's cool. No hard feelings. The provider said as much yesterday, in an e-mail titled "Important notice about how Verizon Wireless uses information." The missive, sent to all VZW customers, essentially lays out the company's revamped privacy policy, originally unveiled last month. Under the new framework, Verizon will be able to monitor your browsing history, location, app usage, and demographic data, all in the name of targeted advertising and vaguely-titled "business and marketing reports." The good news is that you can always opt out of the scheme, either by phone or online. The bad news is that you'll probably have to explain the whole thing to your grandma.

California Making Headway in Battle Against Childhood Obesity but Successes Are Uneven

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — A new study offers hope that California may finally be getting a handle on its 30-year battle with childhood obesity, but it also showcases a patchwork of progress that leaves the majority of the state's counties still registering increases in obesity rates among school-age children.

Revolutionary Ultrasonic Nozzle That Will Change the Way Water Cleans

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — A team of scientists from the University of Southampton have developed a revolutionary ultrasonic attachment for taps, which massively enhances the ability of water to clean.

Diaspora Co-founder Dies At 22

Posted by samzenpus on Monday November 14, @02:18AM 

from the fare-thee-well dept.

phaedrus5001 writes"Tech Crunch is reporting that one of the co-founders of Diaspora, Ilya Zhitomirskiy, has passed away. He was only 22. At the moment, the cause of his death is unknown."

Netflix signs up Lionsgate UK films for its British debut

By Richard Lawler  posted Nov 14th 2011 3:16AM

Now that Netflix has made its plans to launch in the British Isles official, it's gotten busy signing content deals and the latest affiliation is with Lionsgate's UK arm. The deal makes Netflix the "exclusive subscription streaming service" in the UK and Ireland for the studios first-run movies, with upcoming titles like The Expendables 2, and the Dirty Dancing remake already on deck. The agreement also extends to catalog hits like Reservoir Dogs, 3:10 to Yuma and The Blair Witch Project, which should be available when the service launches early next year. Check the press release after the break for all the details, although there's still plenty of time to decide whether or not its worth your pounds, pence, or bank notes.

Man Calls 911 To Fix Broken iPhone

Posted by samzenpus on Monday November 14, @12:38AM 

from the and-bring-me-a-pizza-while-you're-at-it dept.

tekgoblin writes"For some reason Michael Skopec of Illinois thought that calling 911 would get his broken iPhone fixed. It got him arrested instead. From the article: 'After the five calls were made police traced the calls to his home in Illinois where they found him drunk and belligerent. He was arrested because he would not follow the police officers orders. It has yet to be made clear what he was actually trying to accomplish by calling 911 to get help with his iPhone. Although he was arrested he only faces misdemeanor charges and has to be in court next week.'"

Climate Policies Can Help Resolve Energy Security and Air Pollution Challenges ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2011) — Policies to protect the global climate and limit global temperature rise offer the most effective entry point for achieving energy sustainability, reducing air pollution, and improving energy security, according to an article published in the latest issue of Nature Climate Change (Vol 1 Dec 2011). By adopting an integrated perspective on energy and climate policy, one that simultaneously addresses three of the key objectives for energy sustainability, major synergies and cost co-benefits can be realized.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2011) — Policies to protect the global climate and limit global temperature rise offer the most effective entry point for achieving energy sustainability, reducing air pollution, and improving energy security, according to an article published in the latest issue of Nature Climate Change (Vol 1 Dec 2011). By adopting an integrated perspective on energy and climate policy, one that simultaneously addresses three of the key objectives for energy sustainability, major synergies and cost co-benefits can be realized.

Simulating Black Hole Radiation With Lasers: Lasers Produce the First Hawking Radiation Ever Detected ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — A team of Italian scientists has fired a laser beam into a hunk of glass to create what they believe is an optical analogue of the Hawking radiation that many physicists expect is emitted by black holes.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — A team of Italian scientists has fired a laser beam into a hunk of glass to create what they believe is an optical analogue of the Hawking radiation that many physicists expect is emitted by black holes.