20110413

FBI Vault website has memo from Roswell crash investigator

The document is hosted on the fbi.gov site. This can't be a hoax, even though it doesn't provide sufficient proof of anything :P

OMG THEY'VE VISITED OUR PLANET.

 
 

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via SlashGear by Shane McGlaun on 4/13/11

This has to be a hoax, so take this with a grain of salt the size of Everest. According to Gizmodo a file has been spied on the FBI Vault website where old documents are put for the public to peruse that is a report on the infamous 1950 crash in Roswell, New Mexico that some believe was a UFO crash. The government has long maintained the crash was a weather balloon.

The document in question is a memo by an FBI agent named Guy Hottel that was working the original case and recounts what a so-called "investigator for the Air Forces" told him about the crash. The Air Force investigators name is blacked out in the memo. The reminder of the memo is an interesting read and conspiracy theorists will be riled up for sure.

The memo goes on to say that the Air Force found a crashed saucer shaped flying machine about 50-feet in diameter and that the investigator believed that the high-powered military radar in the area interfered with the UFO's controlling mechanisms. This is a crazy document to turn up on the FBI website for sure. Check out the document here.

[via Gizmodo]


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SouthPark Season 15 Press Release

 
 

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From the Comedy Central Press Release:

"SOUTH PARK" KICKS OFF 15TH SEASON!
ALL NEW EPISODES BEGINNING ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27
AT 10:00 P.M. ON COMEDY CENTRAL


"South Park: The Complete Fourteenth Season Uncensored" DVD And Blu-Ray
Arrives In Stores On Tuesday, April 26

All-New Season 15 Episodes Available In HD Exclusively On xBox LIVE, iTunes,
Sony Playstation Network, Amazon Video On Demand
New Episodes Also Available On SouthParkStudios.com


NEW YORK, April 12, 2011 The foul-mouthed fourth-graders of "South Park" are back for their 15th season with seven all-new episodes beginning Wednesday, April 27 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on COMEDY CENTRAL.

On Tuesday, April 26, "South Park: The Complete Fourteenth Season" will be released nationwide on DVD and Blu-ray by COMEDY CENTRAL Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment. In addition to all 14 episodes, the DVD and Blu-ray include mini-commentaries on all episodes by creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, never-before-seen footage and deleted scenes.

The all-new episodes from this season are available in HD exclusively on xBox Live, iTunes, Sony Playstation Network, Amazon Video On Demand and are also available on SouthParkStudios.com.

 
 

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20110412

Japan Raises Nuclear Plant Crisis Severity To 7

Red Alert!

 
 

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via Slashdot: Hardware by Soulskill on 4/12/11

darkonc writes "Early Tuesday in Japan, the government decided to raise the severity level of the accident to the maximum 7 on an international scale, up from the current 5 and matching that of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. The government declared the level 7 emergency because it is now estimated that the crippled plant was emitting over 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactivity for a number of hours at the height of the nuclear incident. Previously, on Monday, the government had expanded the evacuation zone around the plant to include at least 6 cities up to 60 km away from the plant. These cities, outside of the current 20-30 km evacuation area, are now expected to exceed the 20 millisieverts/year limit on residual radiation established by International Commission on Radiological Protection and the International Atomic Energy Agency in the case of an emergency."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


 
 

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20110410

Card design

Hi!

This is the design of my business card (it's a draft version.. not finalized)




20110409

Google ups father of Android to Senior VP in executive shakeup

google a.k.a. the engineering heaven :P

 
 

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via SlashGear by James DeRuvo on 4/8/11

Andy Rubin, the man who shepherded Android into the powerhouse OS it is today has been promoted to Senior Vice President for Google. The move came as Larry Page began to streamline the executive structure to make it leaner, meaner, and thinking more like the start-up it began as. Rubin, made headlines recently by dispelling rumors that Android would be getting locked down as an OS, stating that Google is committed to Android as an open source platform. And Rubin's promotion to one of seven senior vice presidents reporting directly to Page means that Google's commitment to Android is at the heart of their corporate governance right behind search.

The promotions, made by Page this week, moves engineers at the head of the company, which Page hopes will streamline communication and help spark Google, which has been plateaued of late. The promotions came from Engineering, where Rubin had been developing Android and turning it into a serious competitor to Apple's iOS, YouTube – headed by Salar Kamangar, Chrome Browser VP, and Sundar Pichai – in charge of Google's Social Networking initiatives. The other Senior VPs include advertising lead Susan Wojcicki; Jeff Huber, an engineering executive; and Alan Eustace, who led engineering and research, who will head the search division. Of the seven VPs, five are software engineers, signaling that Page is wanting to concentrate of innovation.

But that's not all. In a move that is sure to catch the eye of execs over at Facebook and Twitter, Page has also tied 25% of performance bonuses to the success of Google's social networking projects. The plan is to head off Facebook's efforts to get the upper hand in ad dollars by adding a social "layer" atop Google's products, including Web search, Picasa and YouTube, And while the social aspect is the rage for users who spend a lot of time online, the concern over privacy has also been a challenge to Facebook and other companies. Google's reach echo's the words of former CEO Eric Schmidt who said that people should get over their worries about privacy. Should Google create a social link to all their products, it'll be interesting to see if privacy is protected, or if the assumption is that users will have to "get over it."

[Via Android Community]


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20110408

3D WWII footage to be shown on TV

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 4/8/11

3D footage of World War II, showing a German anti-aircraft crew in 1943, is to be shown on TV for the first time.

 
 

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Commodore 64 is Back in Business!

http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/R04Xv5hkbKg/

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20110407

Accelerator hints at new particle

The fifth fundamental force (after electromagnetism, gravity, the weak and the strong nuclear forces) :P

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 4/7/11

Results from the Tevatron particle accelerator in the US show compelling hints of a completely new particle in what could be a radical change to physics.

 
 

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Naked Florida man opens fire on SWAT bot with AK-47, no kidding

Before shooting the robot he should have said "Hasta la vista, baby." :P

 
 

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via Engadget by Christopher Trout on 4/7/11

"Investigators say they've never dealt with a naked man attacking a robot before." So starts perhaps the most insane local news story we've ever heard. According to an ABC affiliate in Florida, a disgruntled man, sporting nothing more than his birthday suit and an AK-47, opened fire on a robot last week, after threatening to shoot himself and anyone who crossed the threshold of his home. The $65,000 SWAT bot was sent in to investigate, and captured every inch of the man on video before being pumped full of bullets. Deputies say the man eventually surrendered fully-clothed and was taken for a mental evaluation. No word yet on when or if the footage will be released in a Robo COPS: Disrobed and Dangerous Special Edition. For now, you can check out video at the source link below.

Naked Florida man opens fire on SWAT bot with AK-47, no kidding originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Geek plays epic prank on wife for April Fools

WOW :D

 
 

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via SlashGear by Shane McGlaun on 4/4/11

The best April fools prank I ever got up to was when I was nine and I loaded up a few cigarettes in my dad's pack cigarette loads. He happened to pull out one of the loaded cigarettes while we were driving down the street with me next to him. I had pushed the things so far down into the cigarette that he had to smoke most of it before it blew. Ashes went everywhere and he almost crashed the car. I spent the next week grounded. It was worth it.

A geek pranked his wife on April 1 and it was a good one. He got a hold of her phone while she was not around and changed his name in her contact list to AP Mobile to spoof her favorite news app. He then sent a text to her that said the Pentagon had confirmed the Roswell Crash as being alien.

It then went on to say that Obama would address the nation about UFOs at 1PM. Pete the prankster says that her jaw hit the floor. I bet it did, I wonder how long he let her stew before telling her it was a joke. I also wonder how long he has to sleep on the couch as a result.

[via Boingboing]


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Pensioner 'cuts Armenia internet'

If we were to award a country for the security of its telecommunications' infrastructure, Armenia would take the first prize :)

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 4/6/11

An elderly woman in Georgia is facing a prison sentence after reportedly causing internet services in neighbouring Armenia to crash.

 
 

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20110403

Man steers R/C car with his hands, not to mention an HTML5-based web app (vi...

The guy is "using the force" to steer the RC car :D If it was accompanied with the appropriate background music and the driver was performing more dramatically while driving the car (not just demonstrating the functionality), it would have had an awesome effect ;)

Also, wearing a black helmet, a cape and breathing heavily would be a plus. :P

 
 

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via Engadget by Sean Hollister on 4/3/11


With the right Arduino board, an R/C race car, a couple paperclips and the MacGyver spirit, we imagine most anyone can hack together a creative remote control these days... but how many can open-source an HTML5 web app that'll do the deed from any tablet, phone or PC? Gaurav Manek crafted just such a thing, and he'll demonstrate it for you on an Apple iPad in the video immediately above. What's more, he's also got a Kinect hack that uses Microsoft depth camera (with Code Laboratories' NUI SDK) to control the very same with the wave of a well-placed hand -- we're already envisioning fisticuffs should he and a lab partner try for some head-to-head racing action. That said, you don't need to wait for an illustrious creator to have all the fun. Why not download his source code at our links below and give it a go yourself?

Man steers R/C car with his hands, not to mention an HTML5-based web app (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack A Day  |  sourceGaurav Manek  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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New Quantum Record: 14 Entangled Bits

 
 

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via Slashdot: Hardware by timothy on 4/3/11

Tx-0 writes "Quantum physicists from the University of Innsbruck have set another world record: They have achieved controlled entanglement of 14 quantum bits (qubits) and, thus, realized the largest quantum register that has ever been produced. With this experiment the scientists have not only come closer to the realization of a quantum computer but they also show surprising results for the quantum mechanical phenomenon of entanglement. By now the Innsbruck experimental physicists have succeeded in confining up to 64 particles in an ion trap. 'We are not able to entangle this high number of ions yet,' says Thomas Monz. 'However, our current findings provide us with a better understanding about the behavior of many entangled particles.' And this knowledge may soon enable them to entangle even more atoms."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


 
 

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20110402

Monkeys display basic numeracy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9439000/9439825.stm

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Gmail Motion April Fools' gag inevitably turned into reality using Kinect (video)

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/02/gmail-motion-april-fools-gag-inevitably-turned-into-reality-usi/

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Basement rack complete

Rack 3
Construction complete. :D

Tesla Roadster 2.5 Sport review

buy me one :P

 
 

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via Engadget by Tim Stevens on 4/1/11

Tesla Roadster 2.5 Sport review
Gadgets come in all shapes and sizes, but it's safe to say this is a big'un. Sure, it isn't exactly portable in the traditional sense, and no 24 month contract is going to make it fit into our budget, but that doesn't mean it can't have a place in your life. It's the Roadster Sport, the latest addition to the Tesla family and released to the world last summer. Version 2.5 is the fastest yet on the road, leaping from zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds yet still getting a rated 245 miles of range.

Of course, we all know that rated range doesn't necessarily equate to real-world range, and real-world car performance doesn't always live up to what you read in the magazines, either. Indeed in our testing we weren't able to make it the full 245 miles that Tesla says you can in a roadster, nor did we come close to approaching this thing's 125mph top speed. But, after spending plenty of hours wedged inside the cockpit of this $128,500 sporty EV we did walk away mighty impressed, not only with how it drove but in how it sounded. Read on, and you might just be too.

Continue reading Tesla Roadster 2.5 Sport review

Tesla Roadster 2.5 Sport review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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20110401

Kinect quadrocopter gets a new mission: 3D mapping (video)

The kinect-quadrocopters combination is so awesome that it practically defines awesomeness. :P
Combine it with some image processing, weaponry and some algorithms and you have a flying predator (not the drone.. the movie thing).

 
 

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via Engadget by Sean Hollister on 4/1/11

In the future, our flying robot overlords won't just navigate terrain autonomously, they'll also report back to base with detailed 3D maps of everything they've seen -- or at least that's what this homebuilt UAV does in a video released this week. In a nutshell, MIT's combined its room-mapping Roomba with the Kinect quadrocopter radar developed at UC Berkeley, resulting in a flying contraption sure to be the envy of topographers everywhere. We're not sure that the world's robot incumbents will be too happy, though -- perhaps MIT should invest in some laser protection next.

Kinect quadrocopter gets a new mission: 3D mapping (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slashdot, sUAS News  |  sourceMIT Robust Robotics Group  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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20110330

Visualized: Mercury

nicely done NASA, nicely done :D

 
 

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via Engadget by Vlad Savov on 3/29/11

It may look like a spotty, monochromatic water melon, but we're taking NASA's word on this one -- the image above is the very first taken from an orbiting spacecraft of our solar system's innermost planet. Mercury has been snapped by NASA's MESSENGER probe, which is currently preparing itself to start on its elliptical trajectory around the planet and commence collecting data about it in earnest. Hit the links below to learn more about this bold exploration project.

Visualized: Mercury originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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20110329

Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy

cool :D

 
 

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via Engadget by Vlad Savov on 3/28/11

You've seen one quadrocopter juggle a ball autonomously while gliding through the air, but how's about a pair of them working cooperatively? Yeah, we've got your attention now. The Zurich-based lab that brought us the piano-playing and ball-bouncing quadrocopter is back with a simply breathtaking display of robotic dexterity and teamwork. Like all mad scientists, they call their Flying Machine Arena research "an experiment," though we see it a lot more as a Pong-inspired dance of our future overlords. We all know how far video games have come since two paddles batted a ball between one another, right?

Continue reading Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video)

Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Robots.net  |  sourceETH - IDSC  | Email this | Comments

 
 

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20110328

Columbia doctors turn to IBM's Watson for patient diagnosis, clairvoyance

is it a coincidence that Herbert Chase's last name is the same as the name of one of Dr. House's subordinates in the House M.D. TV show? Is he trying to build a robotic House that will give answers to "unusual, head-scratching questions" (Dr. Chase's words, not mine)? :P

 
 

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via Engadget by Darren Murph on 3/24/11

Who says Watson's only good for laying the smack down on former Jeopardy champions? In what can only be described as the natural progression of things, Herbert Chase -- professor of clinical medicine in Columbia's Department of Biomedical Informatics -- is working with IBM in order to retrofit the supercomputer to "help doctors diagnose and treat patients." According to Chase, this level of robot practice has been impossible for the past score or so, and if the experiment works, Watson could serve to provide physicians "immediate, accurate answers to unusual, head-scratching questions that come up in their daily practice and do so based not only on the latest published research, but also the blogosphere." In other words, Watson could rapidly collect and analyze up-to-date published data from a near limitless amount of online sources, and then use that knowledge to recommend suggestions that a seasoned M.D. may never consider. Furthermore, Chase sees tremendous potential for Watson in the realm of personalized medicine; considering that two patients with the same diagnosis won't necessarily react to treatments the same way, Watson could come up with alternatives on the fly. There's no clear indication of when the testing will wrap up, but see how far you get next time you're in the emergency room by inquiring about Dr. Watson's availability.

Columbia doctors turn to IBM's Watson for patient diagnosis, clairvoyance originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LOL is Now Officially English

Add WTF to the dictionary now! :D

 
 

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via SlashGear by Kevin Fubar on 3/25/11

The Oxford English Dictionary added a number of networthy initialisms to the ranks of official English words. If you haven't heard of an initialism before, I hadn't, you'll now know that this is a word that is created by making an acronym from the first letters of each word in a longer phrase. The venerable dictionary added and updated a collection of these acronyms to it's rolls of wordiness earlier today.

LOL officially enters the ranks of real words alongside such internet-chat-spawned shorthand as OMG (Oh My God), IMHO(In My Humble/Honest Opinion), and BFF(Best Friend Forever). The Oxford guys also decided to update the entries to the older terms FYI (For Your Information) and TMI (Too Much Information). Apparently the folks over at the OED neglected to include ROFL and LMAO, most likely because they aren't used quite as often verbally or in traditional print.

As such usage indicates, many people would consider these recent coinages, from the last 10 or 20 years, and associate them with a younger generation conversant with all forms of digital communications. As is often the case, OED's research has revealed some unexpected historical perspectives: our first quotation for OMG is from a personal letter from 1917; the letters LOL had a previous life, starting in 1960, denoting an elderly woman (or 'little old lady'; see LOL n./1); and the entry for FYI [FYI phr., adj., and n.], for example, shows it originated in the language of memoranda in 1941 – OED

The dictionary also added the popular usage of ♥ to heart as a colloquial synonym for to love. So now, writing "I ♥ you" to your sweetie is not only sickeningly adorable, it's also grammatically correct! I think you'll all join us in saying, "WTF?"

[via Ars Technica]


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Apple Ditches SAMBA in Favour of Homegrown Replacement

Cool. :P

 
 

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via OSNews by donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) on 3/25/11

When you run smbd -V on your Snow Leopard installation, you'll see it's running SAMBA version 3.0.28a-apple. While I'm not sure how much difference the "-apple" makes, version 3.0.28a is old. Very old. In other words, it's riddled with bugs. Apple hasn't updated SAMBA in 3 years, and for Lion, they're dumping it altogether for something homegrown. The reason? SAMBA is now GPLv3.

 
 

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Microsoft launches campaign of epic douchebaggery

 
 

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via SlashGear by Shane McGlaun on 3/28/11

This is just plain crazy and any legislator that votes for Microsoft in this quest deserves to be ousted in the next elections. Microsoft is on a campaign to make it illegal for companies inside the US to buy from overseas firms that use unauthorized software. That might not sound that bad at first glance.

Once you get into the details of what Microsoft wants to do the audacity of the plan comes into plain view. Microsoft wants to be able to sue American firms for buying from these companies. So this is how it would work. If Ford buys a washer from a firm in China that Microsoft establishes is using unauthorized software, Microsoft wants to be able to sue Ford.

The real rub is that the law might actually pass and is in fact already in place in Louisiana and may even be passed in Washington. At the core, this will put the burden of policing pirated software on all companies that buy from overseas or they could face fines. Exactly how a company in the US is supposed to know that a supplier in China uses pirated software isn't made clear.

[via TEchDirt]


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20110327

20110324

Smell 'is quantum physics effect'

we have a pretty sophisticated chemical substance detector just under our noses :P
just imagine: the nanowires in our noses (a.k.a. nasal hair) detect the quanta collisions, send a positron 10" back in time, generate an electron. the electron that was transmitted travels through our neurons to give us the sense of smell and the positron collides with the same nanowire 10" before and warns us for imminent trouble (before having smelled anything) by canceling the existence of an electron in a nasal hair (another message to the brain)

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 3/24/11

A long-standing conjecture that our sense of smell may be due the the effects of quantum physics is gaining ground, thanks to new measurements.

 
 

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Two Fukushima workers in hospital

The final countdown has started :P

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 3/24/11

Two workers at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are taken to hospital after being exposed to high levels of radiation, say officials.

 
 

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US Music Industry Demands $75 Trillion from LimeWire

75.000.000.000.000$ :P

 
 

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via OSNews by donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) on 3/23/11

"Does $75 trillion even exist? The thirteen record companies that are suing file-sharing company Lime Wire for copyright infringement certainly thought so. When they won a summary judgment ruling last May they demanded damages that could reach this mind-boggling amount, which is more than five times the national debt. Manhattan federal district court judge Kimba Wood, however, saw things differently. She labeled the record companies' damages request 'absurd' and contrary to copyright laws in a 14-page opinion." Wait, this is only five time the US national debt? Fascinating.

 
 

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20110323

Film Legend Elizabeth Taylor Dies at 79

 
 

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via NYT > Movies by By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on 3/23/11

Ms. Taylor, who gained stardom as a child and appeared in more than 50 films, has died in Los Angeles. She was 79.


 
 

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Monirobo measures radiation following nuclear crisis at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/23/monirobo-measures-radiation-following-nuclear-crisis-at-japans/

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