Saturday, April 11, 2009
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are testing an innovative technological system in the Detroit area this month that ultimately will help protect drivers from being surprised by black ice, fog, and other hazardous weather conditions.The prototype system is designed to gather detailed information about weather and road conditions from moving vehicles. Within about a decade, it should enable motor vehicles equipped with wireless technology to transmit automated updates about local conditions to a central database, which will then relay alerts to other drivers in the area.
"The goal is to reduce crashes, injuries, and deaths by getting drivers the information they need about nearby hazards," says Sheldon Drobot, the NCAR program manager in charge of the project. "The system will tell drivers what they can expect to run into in the next few seconds and minutes, giving them a critical chance to slow down or take other action."
Maybe then we could all have cheaper auto insurance!? Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming.
(Credit: Copyright UCAR, photo by Michael Chapman)
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Years after the HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) suit first debuted, it seems that Cyberdyne's pride and joy is about to get really real. According to a report over at HPlus Magazine, the company is linking up with Daiwa House in order to "begin mass production" of the cybernetic bodysuit.
Sounds like someone really wants to be like Iron Man.
The cybernetic suit that "augments body movement and increases user strength by up to tenfold."
Though whether or not that warrants the $4,200 price tag remains to be seen.
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A new blog hosted by Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Technology Transfer Program promises to be a nexus of information on energy research across the University campus and around the world.
The blog, "SIU Energy Technology," will promote energy research at SIU's campuses, publish articles by researchers, carry links to outside information and act as a general clearinghouse for energy research information.
Labels: auto, blogging, energy, HAL, robots
Friday, February 27, 2009
Prime View International, maker of electrophoretic displays AKA epaper makes the screens for Amazon's Kindle 2. That much we know. However, rumors that they are working on a larger-sized touchscreen makes us think they are now ramping up production of the "student's Kindle" we heard about last year. *~*~*
Identity theft cases surged in 2008, according to the Federal Trade Commission's annual data.
In 2008, ID theft was by far the biggest complaint to the FTC, representing 26 percent of complaints. The next biggest one--third party and creditor debt collection scams--represented only 9 percent of complaints.
The FTC's annual Consumer Sentinel Network report (PDF), released Thursday, details that ID theft complaints totaled nearly 314,000 in 2008, up from about 259,00 in 2007 and up substantially from about 31,000 in 2000.
The Consumer Sentinel Network is a secure online database that harvests complaints from law enforcement authorities, as well as other groups such as the Internet Crime Complaint Center and Better Business Bureau.
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Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASAs Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical assistance from Carnegie Mellon Universitys Robotics Institute.
Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon researchers analyzed mission requirements and developed the design for an innovative new type of small lunar robot under contract from NASAs Lunar Surface Systems group.
The results will be presented Friday in Washington, D.C., at a NASA Lunar Surface Systems conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Space Enterprise Council.
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On Friday, Microsoft is releasing a free add-on, dubbed Canvas for OneNote, that takes that same approach to viewing one's notebooks in OneNote.
Because it is an adjunct to OneNote, Canvas requires one really be a heavy user of that program to get the benefit. (It also requires Windows Vista and uses Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation graphics technology).
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While CDs have not yet gone the way of the LP, more and more users are starting to carry their entire music libraries on iPods and MP3 players. When it comes time to drive, these users don't want to take a quantum leap backwards to carrying dozens of CDs in their glove compartment. No, these days, any car stereo receiver worth its salt will either play digital audio from an external storage device or seamlessly interface with a portable digital-audio player.
The Alpine iDA-X100 takes a bold step forward by completely eschewing the CD legacy format, moving to a completely USB-based input scheme with full-speed iPod connection, and an exceptional control scheme for navigating large digital-audio libraries.
Those who haven't jumped on the iPod bandwagon will appreciate the Sony XPLOD CDX-GT920U, which natively supports USB devices, but not the iPod. Users who have chosen to carry their digital audio on a Bluetooth-compatible device, such as a mobile phone, will appreciate the Sony MEX-BT2600, which features A2DP stereo audio streaming over Bluetooth.
Labels: identity theft, kindle student, Microsoft, music, NASA, robots
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Nintendo DSi is scheduled to hit stores on April 5th. The system will launch for $169.99, will include all the goodies you've been reading about. The DSi has two cameras -- an outward-aiming camera for taking pictures of others, as well as an internal one for taking pictures of the person holding the system.An SD card slot allows for additional picture storage beyond the internal memory and for digital music files (iTunes' standard AAC format) that can be played back on the system. An audio player lets you tinker with speed and pitch of songs and of recorded sounds (using the built-in microphone). Songs can be broken down into vocals and instrumentation for use in karaoke games.
Downloadable games will be available through a DSi Ware shop, similar to the current Wii Ware game store.
DSi will not include a slot for inserting Game Boy Advance games.
When the DSi launched in Japan last November, it came in both a "matte black" and "matte white" color scheme. But we're hearing it will be available in blue as well.
SOURCE
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Samsung wasn't the only company showing a solar-powered cell phone at the GSMA World Congress. On Wednesday, Chinese manufacturer ZTE launched a green model of its own.
Created with Digicel and Intivation, the Coral-200-Solar is designed for emerging markets where electricity may not be readily available. And, of course, it's Earth-friendly.
It should be available in June.
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Pentagon boffinry chiefs have announced that they would like some self-aware computer systems capable of "meta-reasoning" and "introspection". The plan is to place these machine intelligences in command of heavily armed, well-nigh invulnerable robotic tanks.
This latest plan for humanity's subjugation comes, of course, from DARPA - the agency believed to harbour the largest known group of lifelike people-simulant robots piloted from within by tiny, malevolent space lizard infiltrators in the entire US federal government.
The plan is called Self-Explanation Learning Framework (SELF). It is being handled by Dr Mike Cox of DARPA's renowned Information Processing Technology Office.
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Amid user revolt Facebook backed away from a newly implemented terms of service that many considered a privacy violation. Last night Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company would reverted back to its previous version of its terms of service that "everybody can understand."
(I think I'm slightly insulted by that remark.)
Zuckerberg explained in a blog post: "Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised."
Labels: cell phone, dsi, Facebook, nintendo, robots, zte
Friday, February 6, 2009
I know we're in an age where we'll be seeing more and more lifelike robots and dolls and such, but I still think it's all incredibly creepy.And this particular tidbit has me even more freaked out.
Meet the Little Island Custom Robot Dolls.
The idea is that this plush looking bot can replace your beloved, as they can be designed to freakishly mimic their features. The doll-bot has a 500MHz processor include, so it's not just a pretty face, and you can use it for Skype conversations.
A Japanese company called Little Island will sell you a $2,215 robot based on a picture you send. So it's expensive AND you'll have to wait over six weeks after sending in your picture to receive it.
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Google has adapted its Book Search for the iPhone and its own Android platform, it announced on Thursday. It joins a growing group of network operators and content providers that are putting books on mobile phones.
The new service opens up mobile access to 1.5 million public domain books in the U.S., and half a million outside the U.S., Google said.
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New York-based Loudwater Labs has sold the assets of its online personal finance management application Thrive to Tree.com; the company behind services such as the formerly IAC-owned LendingTree and RealEstate.com. This means that the publicly listed Tree.com now has a very good resource in its hands as well as sufficient reach to give Mint and other personal finance management tools like Wesabe, Geezeo and Buxfer a good run for their money.
Labels: google, iPhone, robots, stocks, thrive
Friday, June 8, 2007
If you want to study Monkeys, what do you do? You probably take a stroll into the jungle with a pair of binoculars. If you want to take a closer look at the lives of ants what do you do? Perhaps you might make an ant farm. So, what do you do when you want to study little kids? You might have some come into a room and play with some toys, or speak with them and see how they behave. Wrong - you make a robot child, silly.
So, Japanese scientists have created a robot that acts like a toddler to better understand child development. By the way, to behold this robot is potentially nightmare inducing. His gaping mouth and wide lifeless eyes are the least bit convincing. I'm thinking the little girl from The Ring.
Anyway, CB2 is his name, and he was created at Osaka University. He moves like a child age 1-3. He's 4 feet tall, can change facial expressions, speak with an artificial vocal cord and can even rock back and forth (like I did in the corner after I saw this thing). Minoru Asada, a professor at Osaka University said the robot was created to learn more about child development. "Our goal is to study human recognition development such as how the child learns a language, recognizes objects and learns to communicate with his father and mother."
So instead of studying an actual child...
Read more.
Labels: robots, technology
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