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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Article: Tiny Sensor Package Will Let Students Design Their Own Physics Experiments

Measure everything from acceleration to magnetic fields From what I remember of my high school physics class, we spent a lot of time rolling marbles down inclined planes. Today's kids are used to a little more tech, so the Pocket Lab project on Kickstarter wants to spice up science class by devel...

http://www.popsci.com/tiny-sensor-package-lets-students-design-their-own-experiments?dom=tw&src=SOC

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Article: Contact lens with built-in telescope

Lights, mirrors, action! Scientists are developing smart contact lenses embedded with miniscule mirrors that can magnify your vision by almost three times. The 1.55mm-thick lenses incorporate a thin reflective telescope made of mirrors and filters; when light enters the eye it bounces off the ser...

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/tech/contact-lens-telescope-blindness/

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Article: The UK's latest 'wonder material' is made from sugar beet

A Scottish start-up is turning root vegetables into an ingenious new material, which can be used to lock moisture into anything from food to cosmetics to concrete A Scottish start-up has developed a material made from carrots and sugar beet that it claims is twice as strong as carbon fibre, and i...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/11475639/The-UKs-latest-wonder-material-is-made-from-sugar-beet.html

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Monday, March 16, 2015

NCAA tournament makes more than $1.1 billion selling TV commercials

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-ncaa-tournament-tv-commercials-value-2015-3

The NFL is famous for its high-priced Super Bowl commercials. But when it comes to the bottom-line for the entire post-season, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is not far behind.

In 2014, the NCAA Tournament generated $1.13 billion in ad revenue over 67 games, compared to $1.23 billion for the 11 games in the NFL playoffs according to data collected by Kantar Media. The NCAA Tournament actually led the NFL in 2013 when TV commercials sold for a total of $1.11 billion compared to $1.10 billion for the NFL playoffs.

The NBA playoffs is the only other North American postseason that generates more than $500 million in ad revenue while Major League Baseball and the NHL are way off the pace.

NCAA Tournament Chart

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NOW WATCH: 3 hardcore exercises to build muscle super-fast

drag2share: Argos now lets customers order 3D-printed jewellery online

source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/16/argos-3d-printing/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

Argos is under relentless pressure from Amazon in the UK, so it's looking to personalised services as a way to stand apart from its online-only competition. Today, the company is launching a new site for 3D-printed jewellery, which includes rings, bracelets and cufflinks. Customers can tweak the designs with their own names, words and phrases, and Argos promises to deliver the final product in 21 days. 3D printing is often associated with low-quality trinkets, but here Argos is clearly targeting a more luxurious market. All of the products are available in silver and 18 carat gold plating, with prices ranging between £50 and £220. It's a small trial for now, and Argos is enlisting Digital Forming and Innovate UK to help out with some of the technical aspects. If customers embrace the service though, the company says it'll consider how it can be expanded to other areas of its business, such as lighting and homeware. 3D-printing isn't a silver bullet for dethroning Amazon, but it represents the level of risk and creativity Argos needs to stay competitive.

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'BeeRotor' drone uses an insect-style eye to navigate tight spaces

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/16/bee-robot-sight-accelerometer/

Accelerometers have become integral components for many of our favorite gadgets. By measuring acceleration forces, such as gravity or someone's arm waving clumsily back and forth, these sensors can accurately identify a device's angle in relation to the Earth. It's how your smartphone knows when to automatically switch between portrait and landscape orientation. Now, scientists are researching how drones can be built to fly autonomously without the use of accelerometers. It's led to the creation of "BeeRotor," which, as the name implies, takes inspiration from the visual cues and analysis used by winged insects.

The approach is called "optic flow," and it measures both distance and elevation based on how your eyes naturally interpret movement. So when you're cycling at high speed, the landscape on the horizon looks relatively stable; if you move your head to either side, however, the scenery rushes by faster and faster, topping out when your noodle is turned at exactly 90-degrees. The BeeRotor recreates this effect with 24 photodiodes that record contrasts and their motion as part of the environment. When a section of the terrain moves from one sensor to another, the robot uses this data to calculate the angle at which the scenery is passing by, and by extension, its relative position. Likewise, the BeeRotor keeps tabs on its speed by analysing how quickly the landscape is moving across its "eye."

Researchers from the Institut des Sciences du Mouvement Etienne-Jules Marey are using optic flow to develop three stabilisation-focused feedback loops for BeeRotor. The first automatically adjusts the robot's altitude in accordance with the floor or roof. The second changes BeeRotor's speed depending on the size of the space it's flying in. The final loop moves the robot into position so that its "eye" always has the best possible view of the approaching terrain. In the video below, a tethered BeeRotor is able to safely traverse artificial tunnels that change in size and elevation. Scientists hope to develop the technology further into a lightweight replacement for accelerometers on smaller drones, as well as a backup system for larger models carrying out important research.

[Image Credit: (C) Expert & Ruffier (ISM, CNRS/AMU)]

Filed under: Robots

Via: CNET

Source: CNRS

Hungry Slime Molds Reconstruct Ancient Road Networks

Source: http://gizmodo.com/hungry-slime-molds-reconstruct-ancient-road-networks-1691522167

You probably don't give too much thought to slime molds—the bizarre, colonial organisms that look like blobs of goo. But these underrated creatures have some surprising talents, including designing sophisticated transportation networks. Wait, what?

Withdrawing Cash With a Smartphone Could Beat The Card Skimmers

Source: http://gizmodo.com/withdrawing-cash-with-a-smartphone-could-beat-the-card-1691620307

The U.S. loses more money to card fraud than the rest of the world combined — something that's mostly down to the magnetic stripes that make our cards incredibly hackable. Although more secure technologies are coming , they'll require time and money to adopt. But one kindly Canadian bank has a secure system that only needs a smartphone and a QR code.

drag2share: The FAA doesn't like you posting drone footage on YouTube

source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/16/faa-warns-drone-pilot-on-youtube/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

Jayson Hanes' Florida Everglades footage

Thinking of posting that sweet drone footage online? You might want to be careful about it. The Federal Aviation Administration is telling at least one hobbyist, Jayson Hanes, that his aerial robotic videos run afoul of regulation because they're on YouTube. Hanes is allegedly flying "commercially" (and thus faces more stringent rules) due to his choice of site, strongly implying that YouTube's ads are at fault. If so, it's a sketchy argument. Hanes hasn't made any money from his clips, and there's no obligation to collect revenue on Google's video service.

The FAA tells Motherboard that it didn't explicitly mention ads in its notice to Hanes, and that it's investigating what prompted the warning. However, there isn't a lot of room for alternative explanations -- the issue was with YouTube, not the content. Even if the alert was just a mistake, though, it emphasizes just how fuzzy the line is between personal and professional drone use. The FAA may need to refine its proposed drone rules if it wants to avoid punishing fliers who merely want to share their adventures with others.

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drag2share: NASA wants your help hunting for asteroids

source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/16/nasa-asteroid-hunters/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

"Asteroid hunters". It sounds like Hollywood blockbuster / straight-to-DVD 'classic' that probably already exists, but now you, yes you, can be one... albeit from your PC. NASA has launched a desktop app that recruits civilians to help identify asteroids from telescope photography, helped by a special asteroid algorithm. Scientists announced the desktop app at SXSW during in a panel discussion where they elaborated on how ~~muggles~~ citizen scientists were helping their efforts to identify and tag asteroids. The app is another collaboration between NASA and Planetary Resources. (It's apparently all under a Space Act agreement, which is the coolest act we've heard of in a while.)

The app is able to detect asteroids thanks to an algorithm that specifically sniffs out asteroids from images taken by Earth-based telescopes. Apparently the sheer volume of images being captured these days makes it impossible for astronomers to verify all detections by hand. Here, computers are doing the heavy lifting, filtering down to the images that warrant further investigation. "The beauty of such archives is that the data doesn't grow stale, and with novel approaches, techniques and algorithms, they can be harvested for new information. The participants of the Asteroid Data Hunter challenge did just that, probing observations of the night sky for new asteroids that might have slipped through the software cracks the first time the images were analyzed," said Jose Luis Galache of the Minor Planet Center.

Amateurs can even take their from their telescopes and analyze them with the application. The application can tell them whether a matching asteroid record already exists and can report new findings to the Minor Planet Center, which confirms and archives any new discoveries. You can start the hunt by downloading the program here.

Filed under: Science

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Sunday, March 15, 2015

BlackBerry's first tablet in years is a secure Galaxy Tab S

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/14/blackberry-secutablet/

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

BlackBerry's first experience with tablets was more than a little traumatic, but it hasn't completely given up on the idea. The company's SecuSmart wing has teamed up with IBM to launch the SecuTablet, an extra-secure version of Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Reportedly, the slate's included security bundle prevents sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands while allowing personal apps. Yes, you can watch YouTube on the same device that carries your classified documents. You aren't likely to find this in stores (certainly not at its $2,380 price) as a result, but ongoing German government tests hint that you may well see it in the field -- and there's a real chance that it will outlive its ill-fated predecessor.

Filed under: Tablets, Samsung, Blackberry

Via: Wall Street Journal

Source: BlackBerry

Windows 10 will deliver updates through your fellow PC users

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/15/windows-10-peer-to-peer-updates/

Windows 10 on a trio of devices

Not fond of having to wait (and wait, and wait) while you download Windows updates from Microsoft's servers? You might not have to when Windows 10 arrives. The Verge has noticed that a leaked version of the operating system lets you grab updates from other computers, whether they're on your local network or online -- yes, it's a peer-to-peer network for patches. Besides accelerating the upgrade process, the option could save precious bandwidth (important on capped data plans) if you have a multi-PC household. There's no telling when this feature will show up in a Windows 10 build you can try, assuming Microsoft doesn't get cold feet. A new public test release is reportedly coming soon, though, so you probably won't have to wait very long.

Windows 10 peer-to-peer updates

Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft

Source: The Verge

Friday, March 13, 2015

YouTube's Ready To Blow Your Mind With 360-Degree Videos

Source: http://gizmodo.com/youtubes-ready-to-blow-your-mind-with-360-degree-videos-1690989402

We told you that YouTube would support 360-degree videos . Now, they're here: as of today, Google's streaming video service now serves up videos that let you look in any direction—not just where the camera is pointing. Needless to say, this could be a Big. Freaking. Deal.

ASUS' new gaming laptop packs NVIDIA's latest graphics card

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/13/asus-rog-g501-nvidia-960m/

NVIDIA has officially launched the GTX 960M, and a number of manufacturers have revealed new, thin gaming laptops the video card was designed for at the same time. One of those laptops is the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) G501, which measures 0.81 inch in depth and weighs 4.54 pounds. The GTX 960M card inside it can deliver "sharp, vivid visuals, high-quality textures and smooth framerates in the most demanding games," at least according to ASUS. In addition to the video card, you can find a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of GDDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD under the hood, encased in a typical ROG brushed-metal body with red accents.

The device comes pre-installed with Windows 8.1 and has a 15.6-inch 4K/UHD display, three USB 3.0 ports and an Intel Thunderbolt connection. Plus, it uses the company's dual-fan cooling system for super slim laptops called ASUS Hyper Cool Technology. It will set you back $1,999 when it becomes available in April. If you want a gaming laptop right now, though, ASUS is also re-releasing a couple of older models equipped with NVIDIA's new graphics cards today.

First is the lower-end version of the G751 called the G751JL, which comes with the new GTX 965M graphics card instead of the GTX 980M/970M, like you can find inside the former. It costs $1,399, or $100 cheaper than the previous model's cheapest unit. Finally, the company is updating its GL551 laptops with the GTX 960M cards to release two versions that cost $1,099 and $1,299, depending on their SSDs. All these laptops are (or will be, in G501's case) available in various retail outlets, but make sure to check out the ASUS G-Series website first for more info and a list of stores that where you can find them.

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops, ASUS

Source: ASUS

Article: VIRLOCK Combines File Infection and Ransomware

Analysis by Jaaziel Carlos, Jonh Chua, and Rodwin Fuentes Ransomware has become one of the biggest problems for end users are as of late. In the past months alone, we have reported on several variants …

http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/virlock-combines-file-infection-and-ransomware/

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