When Catastrophe Strikes, Emulate the Octopus

When Catastrophe Strikes, Emulate the Octopus: If we want to effectively deal with unknown threats, we need to study the natural world, which has been adapting in the face of adversity for 3.5 billion years.

Slick Google Voice integration may not be Sprint exclusive for long

Slick Google Voice integration may not be Sprint exclusive for long:

Despite it's rocky start, we wouldn't blame you for being a little jealous of Sprint's tight integration with Google Voice. Well, the relationship between the two might not be exclusive for much longer. Vincent Paquet, Product Manager for Google Voice, told CNET in an interview that the web giant is actively talking to other carriers about forming a similar bond. Paquet didn't name any names unfortunately, but we're hoping one of the other major national providers here in the US is on the short list of potential corporate polygamist partners. If we're lucky, getting your Verizon phone to play nice with Google Voice's voicemail inbox will soon be a lot simpler. Or, at least it'll be easier to send those stubborn exes straight to voicemail.

Slick Google Voice integration may not be Sprint exclusive for long originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Censorship of Chinese Social Media Is Real, Comprehensive

Censorship of Chinese Social Media Is Real, Comprehensive:
chicksdaddy writes "Threatpost has a write-up of a study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University that provides the first conclusive evidence that Chinese government censorship extends to social media sites like Sina Weibo, the popular micro blogging Web site that many have likened to a Chinese Twitter. 'The study ... found that censors in China delete around 16 percent of the messages submitted to Sina Weibo ... The study, released in March, concludes that "soft censorship" in China — the removal of controversial subject matter from blogs and Web pages — is at least as popular as hard censorship, like the blocking of offensive sites. The result is suppression of news about events or individuals that are deemed threatening to the ruling Communist party.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Chronic stress spawns protein aggregates linked to Alzheimer's

Chronic stress spawns protein aggregates linked to Alzheimer's: Repeated stress triggers the production and accumulation of insoluble tau protein aggregates inside the brain cells of mice, say researchers.

'Could my child have autism? ' Ten signs of possible autism-related delays in 6- to 12-month-old children

'Could my child have autism? ' Ten signs of possible autism-related delays in 6- to 12-month-old children: Though autism is often not diagnosed until the age of three, some children begin to show signs of developmental delay before they turn a year old. While not all infants and toddlers with delays will develop autism spectrum disorders, experts point to early detection of these signs as key to capitalizing on early diagnosis and intervention, which is believed to improve developmental outcomes.

Militarizing Your Backyard With Python and AIfrom Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters

by timothy



mikejuk writes "Kurt Grandis took some cutting edge and open source AI tools, Python, an Arduino and a SuperSoaker and built the (almost) perfect squirrel hosing machine. The project involved Open Computer Vision (OpenCV), an a SVM learning procedure that he trained to tell the difference between a squirrel and a non-squirrel. After 'perfecting' the classifier the hardware came next — a SuperSoaker Mark I was used as the 'water cannon.' A pair of servos were used to aim the gun and a third to pull the trigger."

Red Wine and the Secret of Superconductivityfrom Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters

by timothy



cold fjord writes "Red wine is a popular marinade for meat, but it turns out that it may become a popular treatment for creating iron based superconductors as well (Link to academic paper): 'Last year, a group of Japanese physicists grabbed headlines around the world by announcing that they could induce superconductivity in a sample of iron telluride by soaking it in red wine. They found that other alcoholic drinks also worked--white wine, beer, sake and so on — but red wine was by far the best. The question, of course, is why. What is it about red wine that does the trick? Today, these guys provide an answer, at least in part. Keita Deguchi at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and a few buddies, say the mystery ingredient is tartaric acid and have the experimental data to show that it plays an important role in the process. . . It turns out that the best performer is a wine made from the gamay grape--for the connoisseurs, that's a 2009 Beajoulais from the Paul Beaudet winery in central France.'"

Materials Inspired by Mother Nature: One-Pound Boat That Could Float 1,000 Pounds

Materials Inspired by Mother Nature: One-Pound Boat That Could Float 1,000 Pounds: Combining the secrets that enable water striders to walk on water and give wood its lightness and strength yielded an amazing material so buoyant that, in everyday terms, a boat made from 1 pound of it could carry five kitchen refrigerators, about 1,000 pounds. It is one of the lightest solid substances in the world.

Vibrating tattoo alerts patent filed by Nokia in US

Nokia's patent suggests magnetic tattoos could replace passwords on its future devices.

Vibrating magnetic tattoos may one day be used to alert mobile phone users to phone calls and text messages if Nokia follows up a patent application.

'The Art of Video Games' Exhibition Opens

'The Art of Video Games' Exhibition Opens:
bednarz writes "The Smithsonian's 'Art of Video Games' exhibition opens today. To kick it off, they're holding a three-day festival with panel discussions, live action gaming, and crafting activities. 'Video games allow us as human beings to explore our dreams, our fears, our thoughts, our morals, and engage with each other in a way that no other medium allows us to. I find that inspiring and beautiful, and I am so happy to be alive during this time. We are going to experience, I think, one of the greatest surges of artistic intent in human history, and I believe that the majority of it will come through video games,' said Chris Melissinos, former Sun exec and guest curator of the new exhibition."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Biomechanics of Good Running

The Biomechanics of Good Running: If you're a runner and you can't extend your hip well behind you on your stride, Jay Dicharry has bad news: You're never going to be a great runner.

TED-Ed, Khan Academy Enable Flipped Classrooms

TED-Ed, Khan Academy Enable Flipped Classrooms: Educators interested in "flipping" their classroom (that is, providing traditional lecture material for review at home and problem-solving exercises in the classroom) now have two more options to provide core content with a minimum of effort.

Research shows 50 years of motherhood manuals set standards too high for new moms

Research shows 50 years of motherhood manuals set standards too high for new moms: New research into 50 years of motherhood manuals has revealed how despite their differences they have always issued advice as orders and set unattainably high standards for new moms and babies.

Barrier to faster graphene devices identified and suppressed

Barrier to faster graphene devices identified and suppressed: Physicists report that they have nailed down the source of the interference inhibiting the rapid flow of electrons through graphene-based devices and found a way to suppress it.

'The Hobbit' Pub Threatened With Lawsuit

'The Hobbit' Pub Threatened With Lawsuit:
An anonymous reader writes "'The Hobbit,' a small pub in Southampton, England, has been threatened with a lawsuit by lawyers representing the Saul Zaentz Company in California. The pub, which has traded under the name for the last 20 years without incident, now faces closure if it does not change its name. It's yet another example of big business throwing its weight around to get its way. The pub's landlady said simply, 'I can't fight Hollywood.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Dietary patterns exist among US adults based on demographics

Dietary patterns exist among US adults based on demographics: Scientists say they have identified five eating patterns for US adults that are strongly influenced by age, race, region, gender, income and education.

The Consoles Are Dying, Says Developer

The Consoles Are Dying, Says Developer:



hypnosec writes "While you might have often heard that PC gaming is dying — detractors have been claiming this for over a decade — one developer has a different take: that consoles are the ones on the way out. In a 26-minute presentation at GDC — available now as a slideshow with a voice-over — Ben Cousins, who heads mobile/tablet game maker ngmoco, uses statistics of electronic and gaming purchases, along with market shares of developers and publishers from just a few years ago, to come to some surprising conclusions. The old guard, including the three big console manufacturers — Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft — are losing out when compared with the new generation of gaming platform developers: Facebook, Apple and Google. With the new companies, the size of the audience is vastly increased because of their focus on tablets, mobile and browser-based gaming."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Forth Dimension's second Replicating Reality concept stuffs Half-Life 2 into a virtual reality headset (video)

By Dante Cesa  posted Mar 9th 2012 8:09PM

GDC might be winding down, but we'd be remiss if we didn't catch up with Forth Dimension Displays, the Kopin subsidiary responsible for all those little microdisplays inside your camcorders and, we're told, specialized military gear. While neither of those are terribly exciting to consumers, the outfit's latest concept is. Similar to last year's E3 demo, the company's new rig is built to highlight the kinds of use cases it would like OEMs to build using its microdisplays. The above jury-rigged setup above consists of a helmet rocking two of the company's SXGA (1280 x 1024) microdisplays which are in turn connected to back-mounted drivers which are then attached to your run-of-the-mill gaming PC. But unlike previous endeavors, when head-tracking happened in the helmet, this year we've got a plastic gun stuffed with an air mouse which controls onscreen movement. It's admittedly hacked together and certainly not flawless -- the cursor tended to bob upwards in our time with it -- yet very immersive and an amazing way to frag combine soldiers in the trenches of Half Life 2. But don't take our word for it, ogle at the gallery below, or watch a video of it in all its glory after the break.

Forth Dimension's Replicating Reality Half-Life 2 concept

See more video at our hub!

Shakespeare narrates a B-Ball Game

Shakespeare telss the three little pigs

Video: Darpa's Robotic Cheetah Sets Racing Record

Video: Darpa's Robotic Cheetah Sets Racing Record: The Pentagon's far-out research agency, Darpa, has just released a new video of their Cheetah 'bot -- designed to mimic the rapid movements of cheetahs, the speediest animals in nature -- absolutely killing it on a laboratory treadmill.

Chrome Users Are Best With Numbers, IE Users Worst

Chrome Users Are Best With Numbers, IE Users Worst:

New submitter dr_blurb writes "After reading about last year's hoax report 'Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Browser Usage' I realized I was in fact already running a real live experiment measuring number skills: a site were you can solve Calcudoku number puzzles. I analyzed two years' worth of data, consisting of over 1 million solved puzzles. This included puzzles solved 'against the clock,' of three different sizes. For each size, Chrome users were the fastest solvers, Firefox users came second, and IE users were the slowest. The number of abandoned puzzles (started but never finished) was also significantly higher for IE users. Analysis shows that the differences are statistically significant: in other words, they did not happen by chance. I put up more details and some graphs, and also wrote a paper about it (PDF)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Voting System Test Hack Elects Futurama's Bender To School Board

Posted by Soulskill on Friday March 02, @11:36AM 

from the bite-my-shiny-metal-ballot dept.

mr crypto writes with this quote from El Reg:"In 2010 the Washington DC election board announced it had set up an e-voting system for absentee ballots and was planning to use it in an election. However, to test the system, it invited the security community and members of the public to try and hack it three weeks before the election. 'It was too good an opportunity to pass up,' explained Professor Alex Halderman from the University of Michigan. 'How often do you get the chance to hack a government network without the possibility of going to jail?' With the help of two graduate students, Halderman started to examine the software. Despite it being a relatively clean Ruby on Rails build, they spotted a shell injection vulnerability within a few hours. They figured out a way of writing output to the images directory (PDF) on the compromised server, and of encrypting traffic so that the front-end intrusion detection system couldn't spot them. The team also managed to guess the login details for the terminal server used by the voting system. ... The team altered all the ballots on the system to vote for none of the nominated candidates. They then wrote in names of fictional IT systems as candidates, including Skynet and (Halderman's personal favorite) Bender for head of the DC school board."

Are Rich People Less Moral?

Are Rich People Less Moral?:

sciencehabit writes "New research suggests that the upper classes are more likely to behave dishonorably than those lower on the economic spectrum. The rich are more likely to cheat, steal, and even disobey traffic laws than those with less money and power (abstract). Curiously, in one experiment, Prius drivers also behaved badly, regardless of their wealth."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft Kinect Games Grocery Shopping at Texas Whole Foods

Microsoft Kinect Games Grocery Shopping at Texas Whole Foods: The Board of Awesomeness is now lugging groceries at a Whole Foods in Texas. Last month, Chaotic Moon Labs' Board of Awesomeness was one of the stars of CES in Las Vegas. It's a motorized skateboard tricked out with a Samsung tablet and Microsoft's Kinect so that it can be steered by hand gestures and voice commands. But it turns out that the Moon Lab had more on its mind than just skateboarding.