Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Gertboard extender for Raspberry Pi ships to advanced tinkerers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/17/gertboard-extender-for-raspberry-pi-ships-to-advanced-tinkerers/

If a seemingly infinitely programmable mini computer like the Raspberry Pi is just too... limiting, we've got good news: the Gertboard extender has started shipping. The $48 companion board reaching customers' doorsteps converts analog to digital and back for Raspberry Pi fans developing home automation, robotics and just about anything else that needs a translation between the computing world and less intelligent objects. The one catch, as you'd sometimes expect from a homebrew project, is the need for some assembly -- you'll have to solder together Gert van Loo's Arduino-controlled invention on your own. We imagine the DIY crowd won't mind, though, as long as they can find the fast-selling Gertboard in the first place.

[Image credit: Stuart Green, Flickr]

Filed under: Misc

Gertboard extender for Raspberry Pi ships to advanced tinkerers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Facebook Just Made It Harder for Hackers to Jack Your Account [Security]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5952193/facebook-just-made-it-harder-for-hackers-to-jack-your-account

Facebook Just Made It Harder for Hackers to Jack Your Account Facebook just announced it's partnering with seven new anti-virus companies, in addition to the ones it already worked with. They'll be offering software in the Facebook AV Marketplace, which lets users download antivirus security software. But the real benefit might be in how they affect Facebook at large.

Here's an excerpt from the release:

Our new anti-virus partners bring with them both the latest software and comprehensive intelligence. As with our existing partners, these seven companies will help protect Facebook's community of over a billion users by improving our URL blacklist system. This system scans trillions of clicks per per day, and before each click, the system consults the databases of all our AV Marketplace partners to make sure the website you are about to visit is safe. This means that whenever you click a link on our site you are protected both by Facebook and 12 of the industry leaders in computer security. We will be cooperating with these partners more in the future, and look forward to announcing new tools soon.

You know what that's about. "You won't BELIEVE what Justin Beiber put in his mouth! With Video!" You've clicked on one or two of those, even if you're usually good about it. The URL blacklist helps make Facebook less spammy, and more partners putting more brainpower into getting it up to date faster means a less spammy, virusy, hacky Facebook for everyone. [Facebook]

IBM's Watson Supercomputer Is About to Start Helping Actual People With Their Medical Problems [Watson]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5952276/ibms-supercomputer-now-goes-by-doctor-watson

Last year, Watson beat humans in a battle of wits. Starting this fall, IBM's insanely intelligent supercomputer will begin diagnosing patients at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

For the past six months, Watson has been working on a virtual residency of sorts, learning how to practice medicine through simulations carried out using an app IBM created. But sometime this fall, the robot will start seeing actual patients. Watson will essentially take data from a person's chart, crunch it through some algorithms, and come up with a couple of plans of action. For example, it might suggest two courses of chemotherapy, but it will also say that it has a 90 percent level of confidence in one and just 75 percent in the other. That's when an actual doctor would come in and make the final decision.

FastCo explains why the jump from digital prototype to human tests is such a big deal:

Watson could provide any doctor anywhere with the world's best second opinion. A physician in a community hospital in the Midwest, or at a remote medical center in China, could have instant access to everything that the medical field's best oncologists—people like Kris and his colleagues at Sloan-Kettering—have taught Watson. What is more, Watson will be able to excavate facts beyond the ken of Sloan-Kettering's current lineup of specialists. As Kris says, "We could ask Watson: What is the best treatment for this rare condition based on all of Sloan-Kettering's records?" It could then go through several years of cancer cases looking for the most successful outcomes. In time, it could even look at hospital records from around the world.

Watson was built to learn, so it will only become more intelligent the more it works around the hospital. And Wellpoint, a healthcare provider in Virginia, already uses the genius machine to manage very complex cases. However, Watson's job at Sloan-Kettering is even more impressive. It goes to show that the computer is more than just a novelty game show guest. [FastCo]

Red offers 'truckload' of one-time rental Scarlet-Xs for almost $5K off each

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/16/red-offers-truckload-scarlets-5k-off/

If you were thinking of getting a Red Scarlet-X 4K baby cinema cam for that pet film feature, but were on the fence because, well, $11,900 is a lot of cash -- there's good news. The company just announced they would be selling "a whole truckload of Scarlets" for $7,100 each instead, as they had been used on a rental for a "pretty special 3 second shot." As such, the camera body has less than a minute of recording time, and would come with an SSD module, Canon mount and full warranty for that sum -- along with the option to change out the MX sensor to Red's upcoming Dragon model, presumably. Bear in mind that you'd still lack the SSD drive, LCD, batteries or charger needed to shoot, but even with all that would still be under the regular basic price -- meaning you might be able to stop saving up and start shooting.

Filed under: Cameras

Red offers 'truckload' of one-time rental Scarlet-Xs for almost $5K off each originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint's Galaxy Note II to arrive October 25th, with LTE and $300 price tag

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/16/sprint-samsung-galaxy-note-ii/

Fancy being more than just a statistic on a Japanese balance sheet? Come October 25th, you can be a statistic and the proud owner of a stylus and an accompanying Note II to scrape it against. The Now Network just announced that it'll make the handset available to new customers and upgrade-eligible folk for $299.99 on a two-year contract, in either marble white or titanium gray. Expect to pay a significant monthly sum too, especially if you eventually want to exploit that Sprint-flavored LTE we keep hearing about.

Continue reading Sprint's Galaxy Note II to arrive October 25th, with LTE and $300 price tag

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile