The Technology Thread

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This Company Uses Earth's Magnetic Field To See Inside Buildings

In some ways, it's an ominous pitch. By measuring the "magnetic fingerprint" of any building in the world, the Finnish company IndoorAtlas can conjure up a startlingly precise indoor map of any building. It's technology that sci-fi has dreamt of for decades. But instead of surveillance, it's being used for shopping.

According to The New York Times, the app is a lot like the innate ability of animals to detect variations in Earth's magnetic field. But in this case, it's your smartphone that's doing the detecting—your compass records magnetic variations that arise, for example, from the steel used in a building's structure. As you walk through a building with your phone, IndoorAtlas collects information about the magnetic anomalies around you. Using that data, it can create a model of nearly any building, right down to an accuracy of just a few feet.

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So, how does this startup plan to monetize this remarkable technology? It's all about shopping. IndoorAtlas is already offering the service to stores in Finland—shoppers can list the items they need, then receive a plan of attack that tells them, shelf-by-shelf, how to get through the store fastest. They're hoping US-based big box stores will follow.

But that's not all. According to the NYT, Indoor Atlas plans to charge people $99 to keep their floorplans private:

The business plan of InsideAtlas is somewhat unorthodox: It will measure and store your building's magnetic fingerprint in its computing cloud. Keeping it private, however, will cost $99 a month, per building. "It's free if you want it public," he said.
Well, that's one way to make money. But something tells me that radical transparency, when it comes to property, won't go down so well stateside.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/...&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body&version=Blog+Main&_r=0

That's a really cool app but essentially blackmailing businesses to keep their property private is not going to fly here I would imagine

 

[Teelie]

General Motors has already recalled more cars and trucks in the U.S. this year than it has sold here in the five years since it filed for bankruptcy.

Those five years had been good for the "New GM." It recaptured lost market share. It made record profits. And it won praise for the quality of its cars from both critics and buyers.

Then on Feb. 14, GM announced a recall of about 800,000 cars due to an ignition switch problem that could cause the cars to shut off while being driven.

It has been engulfed by the recall crisis ever since.

The company's problems have snowballed. GM ultimately recalled 2.6 million cars worldwide for the flawed ignition switch that's been tied to at least 13 deaths. And GM admitted that its employees knew of the problem at least a decade before the recall.

Recalls hit a record: GM has issued more recalls this year than ever before. There have been 29 separate recalls covering 13.8 million U.S. cars and trucks, and at least 15.6 million vehicles worldwide.

The surge is the result of new standards at GM. The automaker says it's issuing recalls more quickly when reports of problems emerge. And it's also looking back at problems reported in the past that didn't prompt a recall to see whether one would be warranted under these new standards.

GM named a new safety chief and also hired 35 additional investigators to follow up on reports of problems.

The company is going to great lengths to show how serious it's taking matters. Last week GM called the owners of 477 trucks, including Silverados, Sierras and Tahoe SUVs to tell them to immediately stop driving the vehicles, which have a steering problem. GM sent flatbeds to pick up the trucks and have them repaired.

Scrutiny mounts: So far GM has agreed to pay the maximum fine of $35 million to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the delay in the ignition recall. And it will be subject to closer oversight by the regulator.

The Justice Department is also considering whether to bring criminal charges against the automaker. A similar probe over Toyota's 2009 and 2010 unintended acceleration recalls led to a $1.2 billion fine earlier this year.

GM CEO Mary Barra, who in January became the first woman to lead a major automaker, testified before Congress for two days in April. She faced harsh questions from lawmakers who argued the company is criminally liable.

The company isn't legally responsible for injuries or deaths that occurred before its 2009 bankruptcy, and most of the deaths tied to the ignition recall did take place before the filing. But the company has hired compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg, who worked with victims of 9/11 and the BP oil spill, to determine how to pay victims of the delayed recall.

Despite the legal protections it gained in bankruptcy, the automaker is facing dozens of recall-related civil lawsuits.

Profits wiped out: The company estimates it will cost $1.7 billion to repair the cars recalled so far in 2014. That expense essentially erased the profit the company would have reported in the first quarter.

And that only covers the cost of actually making repairs, and not any civil or criminal fines it may have to pay to victims or the government.

GM shares are down 18% this year, lagging far behind rivals Toyota and Ford Motor.

Car buyers don't care: The good news for GM is that car buyers have shown little concern about the recalls. New car sales have been strong in the three months since the ignition recall was announced, and the automaker is still No. 1 in U.S. market share. Even the price of used GM autos have stayed firm throughout the crisis.

Money/CNN

Uh, go GM?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Samsung's Working on its Own Oculus Rift Rival

Got pockets big enough for a Samsung phablet? You might want to stitch an extension into them: Samsung is said to be working on its own virtual reality headset to be paired up with its mobile devices, according to Engadget.

Whereas the Oculus Rift focusses on PC gaming, and Sony's Project Morpheus will do the same for the PS4, Samsung's headset will rely on Android-powered games. When it becomes available to consumers it will require next-generation Samsung Galaxy smartphones or tablets to work with (though the current development models are said to be working with Samsung's existing flagship devices).

Samsung's headset will make use of OLED screen technology, and will require a wired connection to a mobile device in order to avoid lag. It's not yet clear whether Samsung's VR entrant will offer depth tracking though, and is not to be confused with Samsung's rumoured Google Glass rival, which is a separate project entirely.

The aim is to beat both the Oculus Rift and Sony's headsets to market, and at a price that undercuts those two as well. Samsung's got the money and the manufacturing facilities to achieve that goal, but what about the games? Virtual reality versions of games require significant development — a simple port of existing titles wont do. It's tough enough to get mobile game developers to support a Bluetooth gamepad, let alone a VR headset. To me, that's the largest hurdle Samsung faces, should the report prove true.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/22/samsung-vr-headset/

I remember in the 90's VR was the next big thing and I'm glad to see it's coming to fruition, even though it took longer than I expected

 

[KevanG]

They used to have a big VR thing is my hometown when I was a kid. They closed it up because it wasn't popular and just a gimmick.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

New Thermal Technology Turns the Entire World into a Touchscreen

Holy crap, somebody invented something that makes Google Glass seem cool. The augmented reality wizards at Metaio just showed off their Thermal Touch technology, a new kind of user interface that basically turns the whole world into a touchscreen. It looks pretty futuristic.

The idea itself is surprisingly simple. Whenever you touch something, you leave behind a heat signature that can be picked up by an infrared camera. Thermal Touch technology registers that heat signature and treats it, well, kind of like a click. So you could be reading a magazine, see a picture of an item you like, touch it, and go straight to a web page where you can buy it.

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Thermal Touch is honestly not that different than your smartphone screen. Whereas that technology uses capacitive sensors to detect the electricity in your finger, Thermal Touch uses heat. But the kicker is, there's no edge to this screen. The entire world is suddenly clickable and interactive. It makes the most sense to combine this sort of capability with something like Google Glass, though Glass would need a better camera.

There's another kicker, too. Metaio built the prototype by simply combining existing technology and writing some new software. The company says that Thermal Touch could be on the market within five years, though it's unclear if they'll actually take it that far. Either way, it's good to see augmented reality get a little more real—and useful.

http://gigaom.com/2014/05/22/metaio...y-for-making-user-interfaces-out-of-thin-air/

This could make things very interesting in the future

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

MIT Developed a Camouflage Generator That Can Hide Almost Anything

When you hear the word camouflage, images of fake foliage, random brown blobs, or maybe even the US military's failed pixelated fatigues come to mind. But researchers at MIT have developed a new algorithm that generates camouflage patterns that let an object blend into any surroundings, not just a jungle or the desert.

Designed to hide urban eyesores like electrical boxes in lush green parks, or an air conditioner sitting outside a historic building, the algorithm uses a series of images—taken at various angles around the object—to generate a camouflage pattern that can be turned into a covering.

The goal is to make the object less noticeable at a glance, because unlike a soldier, an air conditioner can't adjust its position and hunker low to the ground, or slip behind a tree to help further disguise itself. In other words, it may not be a perfect invisibility cloak just yet, but as a way to improve aesthetics, there's a good chance Voldemort won't notice that hideous breaker box on the wall.

http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/algo...ide-public-eyesores-0521#.U30AvlAij9U.twitter

We are well on our way to becoming invisible

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Quantum Positioning Could Be a Radically New Sub Navigation System

We take GPS so much for granted on land that it's easy to forget where GPS doesn't work—like deep underwater, where only strange sea creatures and submarines roam. Enter the bizarre new world of quantum positioning, where supercooled atoms could be the future of navigation.

The UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) is leading the way in quantum positioning, as reporter Paul Mark discusses in a recent article for New Scientist. Submarine navigation today still relies on accelerometers, which records a sub's movements from a last known position. The longer the sub roams without surfacing for a GPS "fix" on its position, the less accurate the path plotted by its accelerometers.

A day without a GPS fix can take a sub a kilometer off course. By contrast, quantum accelerometers could be a thousand times more accurate with an error of just one meter. New Scientist explains how such an accelerometer could work.

To create the supersensitive quantum accelerometers, [the DSTL] team was inspired by the Nobel-prizewinning discovery that lasers can trap and cool a cloud of atoms placed in a vacuum to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. Once chilled, the atoms achieve a quantum state that is easily perturbed by an outside force – and another laser beam can then be used to track them. This looks out for any changes caused by a perturbation, which are then used to calculate the size of the outside force.

The DSTL team wants this set-up to be usable in the real-world setting of a submarine, where the size of the force would correspond to the movements as the sub swings around in the sea.
Right now, DSTL only has a prototype, a "1-metre-long shoebox" that records one axis of motion to be tested next year. It'll need more lasers and more supercooled atoms of rubidium to navigate in all three dimensions.

But the ultimate challenge with quantum positioning may be its exquisite sensitivity. Even tiny amounts of gravity could confuse the accelerometer "If the submarine passes an underwater mountain whose gravity attracts it to the west, that feels exactly like an acceleration to the east," says Edward Hinds at the Centre for Cold Matter at Imperial College London told New Scientist."

Still, if we do figure out quantum positioning, it need not be confined to the water—it could be an extra layer of backup in cars, planes, and even cellphones when GPS signals are blocked. It wasn't so long ago that receiving signals from space might have seemed like an outlandish way to navigate—why not supercooled atoms?

http://www.newscientist.com/article...tem-steps-in-when-gps-fails.html#.U3zP4FhdX-g

This would be a big step up for subs

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This USB-Friendly Flashlight Is So Bright It Hurts—in a Good Way

Now that we all have pocket computers with camera flashes, the need for a good flashlight just isn't what it used to be. But if you're lost in the woods at midnight, that little LED is not going to cut it. The Maelstrom Regen MMR-X will.

This lightweight, pocket-sized flashlight is simply terrific. Not only is it super bright at 800 lumens, it also recharges quickly with a micro-USB port. The Regen MMR-X features several different brightness options as well as some special modes like strobe and SOS. The flashlight can also last up to 840 hours on a single charge, though of course that's at the lowest brightness setting. Full blast will drain the juice in two hours, but you'll sort of feel like a secret agent while doing it, thanks to the sleek design.

Obviously, there are brighter flashlights and more compact flashlights and more complex flashlights. But it's the simplicity that makes the Regen MMR-X so desirable. At $100, it's certainly pricier than those plastic ones you buy at Walmart, but it also won't flicker when you walk. Oh, and did I mention that it's super bright? Like, you can't even look into the beam, it's so bright. Trust me. I tried.

http://www.foursevens.com/products/MMR-X-AF

Everyone needs a good flashlight

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

App turns iPhone into turntable that plays music printed on paper

PhonoPaper is one of those apps that is useless but so cool that it feels like magic from the future when you're using them: It scans printed sound waves, turning them back into music, messages, or any other kind of sounds as you move your iPhone or iPad across the paper. Watch—and listen:

[YT]-GAJ9e8ifYU[/YT]

To use it you only need a computer and a program called Virtual ANS to print the sound waves into paper.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phonopaper/id865947553?mt=8

Cool as heck even though I'm not sure what it's purpose is

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Herbalizer Vaporizer Review: High Times at a High Price

The Volcano vaporizer has stood, virtually unchallenged, atop the mountain of tabletop vaporizers for years. This upstart all-in-one system designed by ex-NASA engineers looks to topple the Volcano from its perch—just so long as you're cool forgiving all the rattling.

What Is It?

The Herbalizer is a dual-function aromatherapy/vapor therapy device. It can either be employed to vaporize and distribute the scent of essential oils throughout a room or get you utterly blunted on a preferred mix of psychoactive herbs and concentrates.

Why Does It Matter?

Because, while it is still the gold standard of hope vaporizers, the Volcano is beginning to show its age. The Herbalizer, instead, packs a powerful heating element, speedy but quiet fan, and more functionality into a form factor that doesn't scream "Hey lookit my drug paraphernalia" when guests come over.

Design

"Designed by ex-NASA engineers," "Made in the USA". These two phrases are plastered all over the Herbalizer's marketing materials and packaging. But while you can totally see where the design of the Herbalizer is going, it doesn't actually quite get there.

The design is solid, sleek, and downright futuristic. The egg-shaped device measures about a foot long, weighs about two pounds, and is completely self contained. The main controls and materials chamber sit under the flip-up lid while the whip wraps around the outer edge of the device and other miscellaneous tools (chamber brush, stash box, aromatherapy disks, cheese grater, and essential oil storage) are held in the mezzanine level of the lid—everything you need to use the device in one handy place. The heating element is wicked fast (jumping from room temperature to 380 degrees in all of five seconds) and the fan is both powerful and deceptively quiet.

The actual construction quality, however, leaves much to be desired. You pull the unit out of the box and the first thing you notice is the fact that the badge on the lid doesn't actually sit flush, like someone just whacked it in there without a second thought. And while the fan and heating element are both top notch, the rest of the device rattles more than the dashboard of a '97 Mercury Mountaineer. The lid is made of the same cheap-ass plastic that my George Foreman uses, the accessory storage section is constantly falling open and spilling its contents all over the table, and the color LCD screen is slick but was already flickering when I took it out of the box.

Using It

The controls are intuitive. The system boots up as soon as you open the lid. You can then either select the aromatherapy option (which requires you dab a small amount of essential oil on what looks like a miniature brillo pad then mount it in front of the exhaust fan) or vapor therapy option, which then preheats the unit. For aromatherapy, you can then select the amount of time you'd like the unit to run (one minute to an hour) as well as select either a low or high fan speed.

For vapor therapy, you instead select the heating element temperature (in one degree increments from 290 - 445 degrees F) and toggle the fan on and off using the appropriate button. The system can utilize either a silicon whip or one of the four included mylar bags. The whip's nice and doesn't impart any taste to the vapor but holy schamoley those bags are deadly. They fill in under 20 seconds, hold at least two liters of vapor, and can be refilled once per bowl (one bowl = two bags)

Like

There's a lot to like about the Herbalizer. For one, it's innocuous, even when in use. Unlike the Volcano, which can get trash-compactor loud, the Herbalizer is whisper quiet even on the highest fan setting. Its heating element evenly and smoothly toasts a bowl without the need for stirring and without burned spots. I also like that you can use it to vape concentrates and oils as well (just set them on the spare aromatherapy disk and set it in the crucible.)

Even the aromatherapy function—which is usually just employed in tabletop vapes as a cheap means of adding legitimacy to an otherwise purpose-built stoning machine—works really well. It creates a pleasantly diffuse scent that fills the room without being overpowering and certainly a better option than lighting a stick of Nag Champa after your session.

No Like

There's also a lot not to like about the Herbalizer. The upper lid and storage section are flimsy. They don't close smoothly, stay shut, or even really fit together all that well. Still, these are superfluous details, the core functionality of the device is solid.

Should You Buy It?

$730? Hahahaha—oh wait, you're serious. Vocanoes run from about $400 for the "classic" analog model up to $620 for the digital version. This is $110 more. To start. Granted, it can and fill a bag in less time than it takes for the Volcano to preheat and makes your room really freaking fantastic, but $730. That's a stupid amount money by any standard.

Overall, its a great design with solid functionality but in desperate need of some polish. Save your cash for now and wait for the next iteration to be released.

Well it's a start

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Flexible LED Studio Lighting That Can Be Rolled Up Like a Blanket

Short of solving world hunger, there doesn't seem to be much LEDs aren't good at. They're a far superior alternative to incandescent and even fluorescent lights, and given they're so small and indestructible, they can be used in incredibly unique lighting products like these flexible, roll-up studio lights.

But the RagLites aren't just designed for professional photographers. They do allow for unique setups in studio sessions that traditional rigid lighting can't pull off, but its creators have made cheaper and smaller versions designed for regular consumer use as well. Whether it's mood lightning under a bed, or as an emergency work light you can just crumple up and toss in the trunk of your car.

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If you believe in the idea, you can help make the RagLites a reality by donating to its Kickstarter campaign which is hoping to raise $25,000 over the next month to cover production and legal costs. The cheapest version, the RagLite Mini, will sell for $75 if and when the lights successfully make it to consumers. But the larger professional versions, which include color-accurate LEDs, top out at $2,400. A price tag most consumers will balk at, but given the flexibility (pun intended) these offer, most studio photographers will probably appreciate the investment.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theraglite/raglite

Very cool

 

[Guts]

Chinese Company Wants To Build Underwater City

We’re sure some of you guys have been to places like the zoo where they might have exhibits for underwater animals. Sometimes these exhibits have been designed to make us feel like we’re underwater, and that the animals are swimming above us, kind of like Singapore’s Underwater World.
It’s a pretty cool concept and there’s something about being underwater that’s pretty soothing and relaxing. Now imagine if you could live in such a place permanently, is that something you might be interested in? Well apparently that’s what one Chinese company wants to find out. The China Communications construction company has recently commissioned AT Design Office to plan a four square mile underwater city.The idea is to use the same techniques that they are using to construct the 31 mile long bridge that connects Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai together. While it does sound slightly impossible, architect Slavomir Siska believes that this is entirely doable. As for that 31 mile bridge, that project is coming to an end soon and is expected to be completed next year, so if they can pull that off, perhaps this underwater city idea might not be a stretch of the imagination.The construction company is currently in talks with a large Chinese investor group where they are trying to figure out if this is an idea worth pursuing. Perhaps from a novelty standpoint, and possibly an architectural and engineering standpoint, this could be worth it, but from a financial standpoint? That could be tricky.

 

[Guts]

BIOTECH’S BRAVE NEW WORLD: PUSH ONE TO CREATE LIFE; PUSH TWO TO CREATE ALIEN LIFE

It’s been a good month for miracles. And by miracles I mean our oldest miracle, that first miracle, the creation of life itself.

During these first weeks in May, two separate teams working at two separate institutions announced that when it comes to creating life from scratch, well, there are a couple of new gods in town.

Of course, if we’re talking about creating life from scratch, we most first mention the old gods, which is to say, this is when biologist Craig Venter comes into the discussion.

A few decades back, while he was working to read the human genome (i.e. the Human Genome Project), Venter also began wondering what it would take to write one. He wanted to know, “what does the minimal genome required for life look like?”

Back then, DNA synthesis technology was too crude and expensive to consider writing a minimum genome for life, but exponential advances in biotechnology obliterated these problems. Consider “synthetic biology,” which moves the work from the molecular to the digital. In syn-bio, genetic code is manipulated using the equivalent of a word processor. With the press of a button, DNA can be cut and pasted, effortlessly imported from one species into another. Single letters can be swapped in and out with precision. And once the code looks right? Just hit send. A dozen different DNA print shops can now turn these bits into biology.


DNA replication or DNA synthesis is the process of copying a double-stranded DNA molecule. This process is paramount to all life as we know it. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In May of 2010, with the help of these new tools, Venter answered his question: creating the world’s first self-replicating, synthetic chromosome.

To pull this off, he used a computer to design a novel bacterial genome (over a million base pairs in total). Once the design was complete, the code was emailed to Blue Heron Biotechnology, who specializes in synthesizing DNA from digital blueprints. Blue Heron took Venter’s blueprint and returned a vial filled with freeze-dried strands of the DNA. Just as one might load an operating system into a computer, Venter inserted the synthetic DNA into a host bacterial cell that had been emptied of its own DNA. Soon, the cell “booted up,” that is, began generating proteins, starting to metabolize, grow, and, most importantly, divide. One cell became two, two became four, four became eight. And each new cell carried only Venter’s synthetic instructions. For all practical purposes, it was an altogether new life form, created from scratch. Venter called it “the first self-replicating species we’ve had on the planet whose parent is a computer.”

This in itself was huge news—but it was also yesterday’s news.

This month, Autodesk, the design and engineering software company, booted up a synthetic bacteriophage—aka a virus—then 3-D printed the result. What is a software design company doing in the virus business? “Well,” says Andrew Hessel, distinguished researcher, “we’re considering the possibility that you can write software for living things with bio-code (aka DNA).”

And the craziest part—Venter’s effort took five years of research, Autodesk, meanwhile, took two weeks and about $1000.

At roughly the same time this work was going on, over at Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla, California, scientists succeeded in creating the very first organism with “alien” DNA, what the researchers involved called: “a semi-synthetic organism with an expanded genetic alphabet.”

Extreme Tech has a great description of the work:

“In normal DNA, which can be found within the genes of every organism, the twin strands of the double helix are bonded together with four bases, known as T, G, A, and C. In this new organism, the researchers added two new bases, X and Y, creating a new form of DNA that (as far as we know) has never occurred after billions of years of evolution on Earth or elsewhere in the universe. Remarkably, the semi-synthetic alien organism continued to reproduce normally, preserving the new alien DNA during reproduction.”

So what does all this mean going forward? Hard to say for sure. But one thing for certain, sooner or later, we’re going to need a new definition of the miraculous.

http://singularityhub.com/2014/05/22/biotechs-brave-new-world-push-one-to-create-life-push-two-to-create-alien-life/

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

New Method of Quantum Teleportation Could Bring Us a Quantum Internet

A team of Dutch scientists just announced a new method of quantum teleportation that uses entanglement as a form of communication. They can successfully teleport data over a distance of ten feet. But, more importantly, they can also do so with 100 percent reliability.

The feat in and of itself isn't such a big breakthrough. Quantum teleportation is not a new thing. In fact, scientists have been doing it for years and for distances of up to 100 kilometers. The 100 percent reliability part of it, though, is a big deal. This brings us one step closer to a real, bonafide quantum computer. Or at least, in the words of the lab's press release, it's "an important step towards a quantum network for communication between future ultra-fast quantum computers—a quantum internet."

That sounds pretty cool! But wait 'til you hear how they do it. The researchers actually trapped electrons inside of diamonds at extremely low temperatures and then zapped them with lasers, producing quantum bits (a.k.a. qubits) that can describe many values. The diamonds act as "mini prisons" for the electrons, they said, and enabled them to create a spin for the electrons and read it back accurately. Through entanglement, they effectively transported data between the qubits over a distance of ten feet with 100 percent accuracy. Next, they plan on doing it over a distance of a little less than a mile.

The Dutch team just published a paper about the new method in Science, but the party is just getting excited. If they're able to scale this method, we'll be breaking through the next frontier in computing, introducing a new standard of speed and power never before seen. We won't be transporting our crew members onto the surfaces of far off planets, like in Star Trek. But at least the internet will be really freaking fast.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2014/05/28/science.1253512

This is really big news

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Oculus Is Helping Samsung With Its Own VR Headset

We've heard rumors that Samsung is working on a VR headset, which should really come as no surprise. What is a surprise is that, according to Engadget, Samsung has help from the big guys: Oculus VR.

Engadget's unnamed sources say that the project is a co-op job in which Samsung will handle the hardware, while Oculus helps with the software. It's apparently a tit-for-tat where Samsung gives the guys at Oculus early access to OLED screens, and in exchange Samsung gets early access to Oculus' mobile SDK.

So why is Oculus helping out a competitor? According to Engadget, the Samsung headset will have a strong media focus, leaving the Oculus Rift proper room to shake it up in the gaming space. And to further differentiate the pair, Samsung's headset is said to use Galaxy phones for its screen, which would make it a cheaper, if less technically competent way in to the world of virtual reality. Not to mention that approach could also have some cool advantages, like using a phone's rear-facing camera to get glimpses of the outside world.

The whole thing sounds a little weird at first—and it is—but in the wake of Facebook's acquisition of Oculus VR, it makes a lot of sense. Facebook benefits from promoting Oculus as a platform for virtual reality, not just as a headset. And with partners like Samsung, Oculus would instantly have a gigantic user base.

Granted, it's all just rumors for now, but a Samsung-Oculus partnership is just surprising-but-obvious enough that it's likely to be at least somewhat true. As for the details of how it plays out, we'll just have to wait and see.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/30/samsung-oculus-partnership/

Well that is surprising

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A Little Fancy Math Could Make Mobile Networks Five Times Faster

LTE might be fast, but it sure ain't fast enough. Enter new research from MIT and Caltech, which suggests that a little fancy math could boost mobile data transmission rates—by as much as 400 percent.

Network World reports that the collaboration has given rise to a new data transmission method which used something called Random Linear Network Coding. Unlike usual transmission techniques, RLNC—as its best buddies call it—encodes each packet of data being sent using information from the previously sent packages, and a few randomly generated coefficient thrown in for good luck, using some linear algebra.

That may sound uninspiring, but what's clever about it is that it can recover from errors without the sender or receiver ever retaining transmission information or having to request packets to be resent. How? Well, it simply works out what the missing packet contained from a later-sequenced packet—that, by definition, includes earlier-sequenced packets and the coefficients used to encode the packet.

Big deal, huh. But remember that a big reason for slow mobile data is the way the networks deals with missing and corrupt data. With RLNC that's just not a problem, despite the fact that packets are necessarily a little larger than usual—and it's borne out in testing. Pitting conventionally encoded Wi-Fi with RLNC-coded Wi-Fi, researchers looked to see how quickly a four-minute video could be downloaded when it had a 3 percent error rate, which is not uncommon. RLNC encoding was five times faster than normal Wi-Fi. Five. Times. Faster.

Excited? You should be. RLNC has the added benefit of allowing the use of 4G LTE and Wi-Fi data streams in channel bonding applications—in other words, it can double up data streams to use them both, for the same data transfer, at the same time. And because it's all math, it can implemented entirely in software, with no need to upgrade hardware.

The only bad news is that it's still lab-based. Hopefully MIT and Caltech change that soon.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/85496

Hell yeah, that would def change the mobile data game

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A New Wireless Router Lets You Trade Facebook Check-Ins For Free Wi-Fi

Offering free Wi-Fi to shoppers or diners is almost as essential to a business these days as having a public bathroom on site. But at the same time, you don't want to give it away to just anyone walking by—at least without getting something in return. So D-Link's new AC 1750 wireless router only doles out the Wi-Fi after someone has checked in to your business' Facebook page.

It's easier for customers—assuming they're on Facebook—since it means they don't have to enter an obscure password while trying to get online. It also means there's some level of accountability to those using a business' free Wi-Fi, because they're revealing who they are when checking in, discouraging them from downloading illegal materials.

The $150 router also provides a business with additional demographics data, allowing them to keep track of who has checked in through Facebook throughout the day, but also connect with them further—with promotions and coupons enticing them to return—after they've left.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2014/05/d-...ou-check-in-for-free-wifi/?utm_source=mainrss

Cool option for business'

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Microsoft Working on Smartwatch That Plays With iOS and Android

Everyone seems to be working on a smartwatch right now. Now, Forbes reports that Microsoft is working on a device too—which plays nicely with the mobile operating systems of its competitors.

The report cites "multiple sources with knowledge of the company's plans" who claim that Microsoft is working on a sensor-rich smartwatch which syncs with with iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The device is said to "continuously measure heart rate through the day and night" and feature a battery that "will last for two days."

The report goes on to explain that "the watch will look similar to the Samsung Gear Fit and feature a full-color touch screen about the size of half a stick of gum, positioned on the inside of the wearer's wrist." Which sounds a bit weird, but according to the sources that screen placement is designed to make it easier to see notifications.

Apparently a team of "engineers from Microsoft's Kinect division, designers and data scientists" have been working on the software for the new device that will "correlate data from the device's sensors." What it will do with all that data isn't clear, though.

Of course, while it's incredibly likely that Microsoft is indeed researching a smartwatch, whether it will ever see the light of say is quite another. Let's wait see.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/05/29/exclusive-a-microsoft-smartwatch-is-coming/

Having it play with all devices is the smart approach, if it were just for Windows phones it would be another Microsoft flop

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This Terrifying Robo-Raptor Will Hunt You Down at 29 MPH

Google doesn't have a monopoly on all the horrifying-but-awesome robots. Sure, Wild Cat looks pretty ready to track down the last remaining humans, but this velociraptor-inspired robot would win the race for the kill.

Developed by researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the Raptor is outfitted with carbon-fiber running blades, and can reach a top speed of 46 kilometers per hour, or 28.5 miles per hour. To aid it in that pursuit and keep it from falling over, it also has a "tail" like a velociraptor would. Though not in any way you might recognize it.

[YT]lPEg83vF_Tw#t[/YT]

The Raptor's tail takes the form of a spinning counterbalance that juts out from its side, offering the same stability benefits of a hind tail that swings side to side. As a bonus, it can also help knock stuff out of the way.

The Raptor isn't the fastest bot out there—that honor belongs to the Cheetah—but at a mere six and a half pounds, it's got agility on its side. Suffice it to say you don't want either running after you; not even Usain bolt could outrun these bad boys. The rest of us don't stand a chance.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/...pectrum/automaton+(Automaton+-+IEEE+Spectrum)

Not sure I like the fact that there are robots who can outrun me

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

An Overdue Reactor That Could Be the Key to Our Fusion Revolution

Even with the recent advancements in renewable energy technologies, it's going to be tough to satisfy the electrical needs of our booming human population in the coming years. However, if this international nuclear reactor can ever come online, we may see fusion-driven, utility-scale power grids within our lifetimes.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is an experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor located at the Cadarache scientific research facility in the south of France and grew out of earlier work around plasma physics. It's being built as part of an international effort— involving the US, China, the EU, India, Japan, Russia, and South Korea—to harness and recreate the immensely potent energy production capabilities of our Sun. The ITER is, simply, a miniaturized sun serving as a proof of concept. If this reactor proves successful, safe, and stable, the lessons researchers learn and the date they collect will be leveraged to create a commercial-scale reactor.

Even as a proof of concept, the ITER is enormous. It's twice as big and 16 times as heavy as any other tokamak reactor ever built. The 830 cubic meter doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber, where a mix of deuterium and tritium isotopes are heated to 150 million degrees C to form plasma which is then confined and controlled via powerful superconducting magnetic coils, is 64 feet in diameter. These coils are necessary to keep the plasma from burning clear through the containment wall. The structure as a whole will be well over 100 feet tall, weigh 5,116 tons—double that of the Eiffel Tower—and produce 500 MW throughout its 20 year operational life.

When that operational life starts, however, is still up for debate. Crews first broke ground in 2007 with hopes of completing in 2016 but a seemingly endless string of delays and budget overruns have pushed the ribbon-cutting back more than a decade, to 2019 at the earliest. And though it is expected to start running in 2020, it likely won't be running at full power until 2027. Given the current political situations among the seven participatory states that seems a rather optimistic timetable, still if it does prove successful, it could substantially alleviate—if not entirely eliminate—global energy demand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER

Man if this thing ever gets running it will literally change the world

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Verizon Claims Public Utility Status on Broadband For Government Perks

The biggest Internet service providers in the U.S. hate the idea of being treated like utilities companies—but a new report reveals that Verizon's FiOS service uses public utility rules to get a raft of government perks.

The FCC classifies broadband—like FiOS—under Title I of the Communications Act, which has less strict rules than Title II, under which traditional phone systems fall. In essence, Title II controls the national phone network, promotes competition and consumer choice, and generally means that pricing and services are more consistent for users.

But Ars Technica reports that Verizon uses the fact that both services are delivered down the same wire "to reap the benefits of utility regulation without the downsides" for its broadband service. The benefits include "types of legal immunity, easements over private property and public rights of way, pole attachment rights, access to the phone number system, and the right to interconnect with other networks."

It's worth pointing out that this isn't really illegal. But when the very same telecom companies have been bleating about the fact that they don't want broadband to be classed as a utility, it is completely hypocritical. Essentially, Verizon takes advantage of the law but passes no benefit to the consumer. By now we shouldn't be surprised by such behavior—but we can still find it repellent.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...rom-government-while-avoiding-regulations/#p3

It's even funnier when you see the article I posted in the net nuetrality thread:

http://forums.superherohype.com/showpost.php?p=28931159&postcount=95

That Republicans are trying to introduce a bill to keep the FCC from treating broadband companies like utilities like they should be

 

[Teelie]

New Method of Quantum Teleportation Could Bring Us a Quantum Internet

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2014/05/28/science.1253512

This is really big news

And the ISP's will still throttle your internet.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This Supercooling Fridge Chills Food To Sub-Zero Without Freezing It

The current trend in fridge innovation involves adding extra doors, built-in soda dispensers, and pointless touchscreens. So it's refreshing when a company like Mitsubishi brings a truly unique advancement to its new refrigerators in the form of a freezer drawer that chills food to three degrees below freezing, without actually freezing it.

How is such a thing possible without warping the fabric of space-time that makes up our universe? Apparently the MR-WX71Y and MR-WX61Y refrigerators take advantage of a supercooling phenomenon whereby you can cool food to just before the point where it freezes, and then keep it in that near-frozen state for far longer than just a fleeting moment.

In fact, using a special drawer equipped with advanced temperature sensors and finely-controlled ventilation, the original flavors and nutrients in the food can be preserved for up to seven days. So it's not designed to replace a dedicated freezer for long-term preservation, but it will keep veggies and fresh meat from getting freezer burned before you enjoy them.

And if that isn't enough, Mitsubishi also developed a technology that allows the polyurethane insulating material used in the walls of the new fridges—available in June starting at around $4,100—to be considerably thinner while still keeping everything cold. Resulting in refrigerator models with expanded capacity on the inside, with a smaller kitchen footprint overall.

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20140527/354480/

That is a dope fridge advancement

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

New Method for Spray-On Graphene Makes the Supermaterial Even Stronger

An international team of researchers just announced a simple, inexpensive way to spray graphene onto substrates at supersonic speeds. Besides sounding absolutely awesome, the method also offers a solution to a crippling weakness with the supermaterial. In effect, spray-on graphene is simply stronger.

Despite being one of our most exciting supermaterials, graphene's weaknesses are well-documented. Basically, while it's virtually indestructible in microscopic portions, defects appear as you scale up. "Normally, graphene is produced in small flakes, and even these small flakes have defects," explains Alexander Yarin, lead investigator on a study about the new method. But if you imagine how specks of liquid flow out of a can of spray paint and then consolidate on the wall, you can understand how a similar approach works with graphene.

With graphene in the equation, though, you need something a lot more powerful than aerosol. So the researchers repurposed a unique kinetic spray deposition system and a Laval nozzle—the same sort of thing used in supersonic jet engines—to produce a torrent of graphene droplets. The energy of the impact forces the carbon atoms to rearrange themselves into that perfect graphene grid you're always hearing about, except without the defects. "We're tapping into graphene's plasticity," says Yarin, "It's actually restructuring."

This is exciting. The spray-on method works with any substrate and gives us hope that graphene will become easier to produce and more affordable. Plus, spraying graphene at supersonic speeds is just an awesome thing to do.

http://news.uic.edu/supersonic-spray-delivers-high-quality-graphene-layer

It looks more and more like graphene will be shaping our future in some big ways

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

And the ISP's will still throttle your internet.

The Moon's Internet Connection Is Probably Faster than Yours

Not happy with your internet speeds? Worried about it getting worse? There's a simple solution: Just move to the Moon. Researchers just beamed Wi-Fi there, and the connection is probably faster than anything you've got in your neighborhood.

Moon Wi-Fi has been a long time coming, but researchers at NASA and MIT have now made it a reality. Using four 6-inch diameter telescopes to beam pulses of infrared light to a satellite circling the Moon, scientists established a solid connection with a speed of 19Mbps down. Yes, that's faster than the United States' national average.

While it may beat out your friendly neighborhood ISP, it's nothing compared to the ISS-to-Moon connection, which offers a blistering 622 Mbps down. But over an Earth-to-Moon distance of 238,900 miles, 19Mbps down ain't bad. The researchers will present more in-depth findings at the CLEO laser technology conference in California. In the meantime, keep Comcast away from ol' Luna.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/05/28/the-moon-is-now-a-wi-fi-hotspot/#.U4Yeq5QV46g

I saw your comment and couldn't resist adding this little tidbit