Monday, July 11, 2011

British researchers design a million-chip neural network 1/100 as complex as your brain

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/11/british-researchers-design-a-million-chip-neural-network-1-100-a/

If you want some idea of the complexity of the human brain, consider this: a group of British universities plans to link as many as a million ARM processors in order to simulate just a small fraction of it. The resulting model, called SpiNNaker (Spiking Neural Network architecture), will represent less than one percent of a human's gray matter, which contains 100 billion neurons. (Take that, mice brains!) Yet even this small scale representation, researchers believe, will yield insight into how the brain functions, perhaps enabling new treatments for cognitive disorders, similar to previous models that increased our understanding of schizophrenia. As these neural networks increase in complexity, they come closer to mimicking human brains -- perhaps even developing the ability to make their own Skynet references.

British researchers design a million-chip neural network 1/100 as complex as your brain originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TG Daily  |  sourceThe Register  | Email this | Comments

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Cisco boosts stadium WiFi, makes MLB slightly more tolerable for the internet-obsessed (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/11/cisco-boosts-stadium-wifi-makes-mlb-slightly-more-tolerable-for/


Anyone who's been in a packed stadium or concert venue knows better than to expect to be able to browse the web or even check email, unless of course your device happens to be compatible with a certain underutilized data-only network. A new initiative from Cisco, however, aims to bring connectivity to the over-saturated masses. The company's Connected Stadium WiFi bundles the Aironet 3500p access point, designed specifically for "high-density stadium and arena deployments," with strategically placed antennas that target fewer seats with the same amount of throughput -- likely similar to the 884-device network AT&T deployed at Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV. We hope the lighter load placed on carriers -- and already sky high ticket prices -- would help make Connected Stadium a free service, but key words like "purchasing" and "monetizeable" in the networking company's announcement make us think that some greenbacks are likely to change hands once the service launches in the real, connectivity-challenged world of overcrowded venues.

Continue reading Cisco boosts stadium WiFi, makes MLB slightly more tolerable for the internet-obsessed (video)

Cisco boosts stadium WiFi, makes MLB slightly more tolerable for the internet-obsessed (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wi-Fi Planet  |  sourceCisco Blog  | Email this | Comments

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iOS 5 beta 3 comes out of the oven, brings new fixes and toggles to the table

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/11/ios-5-beta-3-comes-out-of-the-oven-brings-new-fixes-and-toggles/

iOS 5 beta 3 comes out of the oven, brings new fixes and toggles to the table
Ready for a newly refined recipe for the next flavor of iOS? After dropping iOS 5 beta 2 on us on June 24th, Apple has now unleashed beta 3, meaning those with sensitive taste buds (and developer accounts) can start sniffing and sussing out what's changed. Of note seem to be a bevy of toggles controlling location services in detail, while there's also a new switch for voice roaming in settings. From what we're seeing not a lot has changed visually anywhere outside of the gears icon, but don't let that stop you from grabbing this savory download.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iOS 5 beta 3 comes out of the oven, brings new fixes and toggles to the table originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink it's all tech  |  sourceApple  | Email this | Comments

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iDJ Live gives your iPad two turntables, microphone not included

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/11/idj-live-gives-your-ipad-two-turntables-microphone-not-included/

Looking to get a more realistic feel from your Djay iOS app? Yeah, we suspected as much, and now Numark's giving you the ability to boost your street cred while spinnin' tracks in the club... or, you know, your mum's living room. The company's new iDJ Live accessory does its darndest to transform your iOS device (iPhone and iPod compatible, despite being obviously tailored for iPad) into a more legit deejay set-up. With George Strait / MC Hammer mash-ups just waiting to happen, the device guides you into the musical unknown with two "turntables," a mixer (with crossfader), an iPad stand and connection capabilities for use with an external sound system. Already sold? She's yours for a cool Benjamin, and if you'd rather use your existing stash of CoreMIDI-enabled DJ apps, be our guest.

Continue reading iDJ Live gives your iPad two turntables, microphone not included

iDJ Live gives your iPad two turntables, microphone not included originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink iLounge  |  source< a href="http://www.numark.com/idjlive">Numark  | Email this | Comments

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Google Talk to use SRI technology for stabilizing video chats, revive Chatroulette

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/11/google-talk-to-use-sri-technology-for-stabilizing-video-chats-r/

Okay, so maybe it's not the only reason that Chatroulette is due for a revival, but it certainly won't hurt matters. SRI Technology has just announced that it'll be providing image stabilization software to take the jiggles from your future Google Talk videocalls. 'Course, you'll need an Android 3.0+ device in order to take advantage, but the general consensus here seems fairly positive. SRI's press release (embedded after the break) isn't exactly laced with details, but GigaOM is reporting that this could also improve battery life, but only the heaviest of video chatters are apt to notice the difference. Looks like distracting yourself just got a whole lot less distracting.

Continue reading Google Talk to use SRI technology for stabilizing video chats, revive Chatroulette

Google Talk to use SRI technology for stabilizing video chats, revive Chatroulette originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileBurn  |  sourceSRI Technology  | Email this | Comments

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Friday, July 08, 2011

Listen and Watch How the Sounds of Transformers 3 Were Made [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5819429/listen-and-watch-how-the-sounds-of-transformers-3-was-made

Soundworks Collection has a great little feature on a very big movie called Transformers 3. Heard of it? Sure! In this video you get to see how the movie's sound effects were made using dry ice, electric guitars and more.

We already know the creative sound methods used in Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon (like tigers with emphysema) but in the video above you get to see the sound artists actually at work. Their passion for the project and getting it right bleeds through, they examine every detail of every possible sound everywhere. Dry ice melting on metal is freaky, they used it. Spending days on an electric guitar is painstaking, they did it. It's always awesome to see behind the scenes of movie making magic. [SoundWorks Collection]

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Remains of the Day: YouTube Launches New Redesign Entitled "Cosmic Panda" [For What Its Worth]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5819182/remains-of-the-day-youtube-launches-new-redesign-entitled-cosmic-panda

Remains of the Day: YouTube Launches New Redesign Entitled "Cosmic Panda"YouTube tries out new, sleek, redesign; Apple promises to fix .pdf loophole for jailbreaking; Gizmodo takes a look at what exactly goes into a "Social Media Background Check."

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The bizarre mathematical conundrum of Ulam's Spiral [Maths]

Source: http://io9.com/5819325/the-bizarre-mathematical-conundrum-of-ulams-spiral

The bizarre mathematical conundrum of Ulam's SpiralIf there's anything we learn from math teachers and the Da Vinci Code, it's that prime numbers are magic. They can do anything, and be anywhere. Including a doodle on a math paper.

In the 1960s, a gentleman known as Stanislaw Ulam was making his way through a miserable meeting by doodling on a piece of paper. Unlike most of us, who only manage to do 3D cubes and obscene drawings of people we don't like, Ulam tried filling his paper with math. And he discovered something very strange. Ulam drew a '1' at the center of his paper. Directly to the right of the one he drew a '2.' Above the two he drew '3', and continued spiralling the numbers outwards toward from the one. When he was done filling up the page, he decided to circle all the prime numbers - the numbers divisible only by one and themselves.

The bizarre mathematical conundrum of Ulam's Spiral
What he found was a lot of diagonal lines. They crisscrossed the paper, sometimes in short bursts and other times in long strings. While there are plenty of singularities and outliers, a large plot of the primes on Ulam's Spiral shows a remarkable density of diagonals. Further plotting with computers show that these diagonals appear even when the numbers get high, and even when the spiral doesn't originate with the number one. Change the spiral from one that's plotted on a grid to one that's plotted on a circular spiral, and the lines will change direction, but they'll still be there. Plot it on the hexagon - more lines.

It's things like this that make prime numbers so eery. They keep showing up in nature, in important functions, and in pure mathematical play. (I think they're the ghosts of ancient Greek numerals.)

Via Good Math.

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Someone Thought It Was Clever Combining Instagram With Color [Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5819324/someone-thought-it-was-clever-combining-instagram-with-color

Someone Thought It Was Clever Combining Instagram With ColorFar from being lukewarm, Instacolor takes the best bits of Instagram and combines them with the location-specific guidelines of the unpopular Color, helping you find other photo-sharers in your proximity, in real time. Out now, it costs $1. [iTunes via TechCrunch]

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Apple Patent Shows Visual Content Sharing Between iPad and iPhone [Patents]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5819338/apple-patent-shows-visual-content-sharing-between-ipad-and-iphone

Apple Patent Shows Visual Content Sharing Between iPad and iPhoneFrom the looks of things, Apple has been working on a content sharing feature between iOS devices, much like HP is doing on WebOS with the TouchPad and Pre 3. But taking things one step further, they've animated it all.

According to Patently Apple, Apple is working on a method of sharing files, contacts, webpages, etc., that is activated by gestures which are metaphoric in nature. The prime example here, is "pouring" files from your iPhone to your iPad.

Example: A Pouring Motion

Apple's patent FIG. 1B illustrates an iPhone (device 110) in motion relative to the iPad (device 120). Here, the user has rotated their iPhone above the iPad's interface (122) in a manner similar to tipping a glass of water. This angular motion can be detected by one or more onboard motion sensors.

As shown in FIG. 1B, detached objects 114a-114d could be animated to simulate the effect of gravity by "sliding" toward the lowermost portion of interface 112 as device 110 is rotated. The animation of the objects creates the appearance that the objects have mass and are reacting to forces of a real world, physical environment. In FIG. 1C, we see that the iPad could interpret the rotation of the iPhone as a pouring motion as an indication of the user's intent to transfer the files represented by selected objects 114a-114d.

Upon determining that the user of the iPhone intends to transfer the files, the iPhone (device 110) determines if the iPad (device 120) is present and available to receive the files. After a link is established between the two devices by Bluetooth or RFID and authenticated, the iPhone could request that the iPad accept a file transfer.

Other physics based examples include floating objects, friction, repelling forces, and a vacuum-like effect that would come from something like an Apple TV. And this all sounds entertaining, but maybe a bit over the top. Can't I just tap my two devices together and call it a day? [Patently Apple]

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This Solid-State Camera Fits on the Head of a Pin and Can Dive Into Your Skull [Monster Machines]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5819033/this-solid+state-camera-fits-on-the-head-of-a-pin

This Solid-State Camera Fits on the Head of a Pin and Can Dive Into Your SkullImage quality isn't the only measure of a camera's functionality. The PFCA, developed by a Cornell Postdoc, has only a 20-pixel resolution but its size and construction will allow it to go where few cameras have been before.

The Planar Fourier Capture Array (PFCA) is constructed from a single piece of doped silicon and lack either a lens or any moving parts. It measures just 1/100th of a millimeter thick and only a half millimeter on each side—thinner than a human hair. Its dim 20-pixel-wide images are captured using advanced mathematical Fourier Transformations. Basically, the PFCA doesn't record images as a whole. Instead, each pixel records one component of the image by measuring the individual incident angles within it. This disparate data is then patched together by a computer into a unified image. "It's not going to be a camera with which people take family portraits, but there are a lot of applications out there that require just a little bit of dim vision," states Gill.

Nothing on the PFCA requires off-chip manufacturing, which results in an incredibly simple, small, and light miniature camera that costs pennies to produce. Similar-sized cameras with moving parts are more expensive by a factor of ten! This allows the camera to be, say, implanted in your skull to image neurons or used by satellites to measure the angle of the Sun or even help tiny robots to navigate a landscape.

[BoingBoing - TruthDrive - NewTec]


Monster Machines is all about the most exceptional machines in the world, from massive gadgets of destruction to tiny machines of precision, and everything in between.

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"Halp, I'm Stuck In My PC!" And Other Fun Transparent-Gadget Hacks [Photography]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5819383/halp-im-stuck-in-my-pc-and-other-fun-transparent+gadget-hacks

"Halp, I'm Stuck In My PC!" And Other Fun Transparent-Gadget HacksI know, I know—another weekend stretches before us, a weekend full of twiddling thumbs and watching paint dry before work begins yet again on Monday. So why not make your gadgets transparent? Seriously. Photojojo has a great tutorial, which works on computers, laptops, iPads, TVs...[Photojojo]

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Samsung's Q2 profit drops 26 percent due to sluggish TV sales, demand for phones explodes

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/samsungs-q2-profit-drops-26-percent-due-to-sluggish-tv-sales-d/

You may or may not have noticed, but we're once again in the thick of earnings season, and today Samsung's in the hot seat. The company has reported that its second-quarter profit fell 26 percent year-over-year to 3.7 trillion won ($3.5 billion), largely thanks to underwhelming sales of flat screen TVs and, to a lesser extent, semiconductors. That's a shade worse than the whiz kids over on Wall Street were expecting, according to Bloomberg. In fact, the demand for televisions was so disappointing that it overshadowed what was actually an impressive quarter for the outfit's mobile division -- sales of feature and smartphones quadrupled year-over-year to 19.2 million units, putting the company on track to further narrow the gap with Nokia, the world's bestselling handset maker. All told, this balanced out to a modest growth in revenue -- an uptick of 2.9 percent to 39 trillion won ($36.7 billion).

Samsung's Q2 profit drops 26 percent due to sluggish TV sales, demand for phones explodes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBloomberg Businessweek  | Email this | Comments

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WiFi Xoom sheds $100, could stand to lose a few more Benjamins

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/wifi-xoom-sheds-100-could-stand-to-lose-a-few-more-benjamins/

$499 Xoom WiFi
Oh Xoom, you're but a few months old -- still only a babe -- and Motorola already has you on a diet. Sure, maybe it was a mistake to jump right into the deep end where big boys play, but you had to try right? Well, now that you've shed a $100 in weight, treading water alongside the rest of the WiFi tablets should be a little bit easier and, with 32GB of storage, you're more well-endowed than your $499 brethren. Still, it might be too little too late with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 muscling in on your territory and "iPad" quickly becoming a generic word for slates. Maybe if you dropped another $100 you'd have better luck -- and talk to your 3G-packing sibling, he's looking a little plump around the price tag too, if you ask us.

WiFi Xoom sheds $100, could stand to lose a few more Benjamins originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileBurn  |  sourceTwitter  | Email this | Comments

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iPhone 4 SLR Mount lets you shoot 5-megapixel photos with your $3,000 lens

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/iphone-4-slr-mount-lets-you-shoot-5-megapixel-photos-with-your/


So you flew around the world for a photo assignment, camera bag packed full of high-end lenses, but forgot the DSLR on the kitchen counter. Not to worry! You never leave home without your iPhone 4 and its new must-have accessory: the iPhone SLR Mount. $190 $249 scores you one of these aluminum bad boys, eager to pair with your multi-thousand dollar Canon or Nikon optics, bringing "powerful depth of field" and manual focus to your smartphone's itsy bitsy image sensor. You can reportedly use the new pricey mobile rig to capture photos with shallow depth of field, without the need to add one of those "unethical" $5 digital filter apps. The accessory is ready to ship, so you're just 24 hours (and a couple hundred dollars) away from having this life-changing masterpiece sent straight to your door. As for us? We're holding out a bit longer for the iPad version.

Update: The folks at Photojojo wrote in to let us know that the $190 price provided earlier today was incorrect -- the iPhone 4 mount will actually set you back a cool $249.

iPhone 4 SLR Mount lets you shoot 5-megapixel photos with your $3,000 lens originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink iLounge  |  sourcePhotojojo  | Email this | Comments

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