Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Cyton Gamma robot arm to work with humanity

Ready to hold hands with a robot arm? Lighter than a laptop, this articulated mechanical limb "is not just another robot for roboticists," says Robai.


A new robot arm extends its manipulator in a gesture of friendship. Will you shake it?


Philadelphia-based robotics firm Robai hopes so. The latest of its Cyton robot arms is the Cyton Gamma, and it's designed to work with us meatsacks.


The Gamma's seven joints are "kinematically redundant," Robai says in a release, meaning it can move various ways to position itself. This gives it more dexterity.


The increased workload on the control system is handled by Actin, software from Energid Technologies that was developed for robots at NASA. The system uses a simple 3D graphical interface.


The Cyton Gamma weighs 4.4 pounds and has a reach similar to the human arm. It connects to Linux, Windows, or OS X systems via USB. Aside from programming with the GUI, it can be "trained" by being physically moved in space.


It also has support for ROS, the common robot programming framework being developed by Willow Garage.


"Our obsession has been on ease of use. We want the Gamma to be the first accessible robot on the market," Robai COO Neil Tardella says in the release. "This is not just another robot for roboticists."


It's been tested in applications such as remote inspection, manufacturing, and healthcare, according to Robai. The firm's Web site lists the Cyton Gamma MX-2 for $9,799.


The company's other arms have been used to test U.S. Army battlefield robots and to check under cars for dangerous objects.


What would you do with a robot arm?



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Fact for the day: 25-07-2012

MS-DOS was a rough imitation of CP/M, one of the first portable operating systems. 'Portable' here means that the OS could run on different hardware.


Finger' is an Internet tool for locating people on other sites. It gives access to non-personally identifiable information.


The term 'petabit' is used in discussing possible volumes of data traffic per second in a large network.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Can you negotiate prices online? Well, maybe, with Netotiate

The old cynic’s line about air travel is that never, in the history of flight, have two people on the same airplane paid the same price for a ticket. Online, that’s getting more and more true as well, as companies such as Amazon and Orbitz experiment with variable pricing for different clients.


Now one company, Netotiate, is asking: Why should online retailers have all the variable pricing fun?


(Awful name, I agree. Until you realize it rhymes with negotiate.)


Netotiate is providing a way for online shoppers to revisit markets of a former day, when a price was not just a number on a sticker but the result of a negotiation between buyer and seller. Netotiate co-founder and chief executive Amir Farhi explains why that’s important, even today:




“If a visitor to your site wants to buy a product from you, if your listed price isn’t right for the visitor, many will simply leave and look for a better deal elsewhere.”



The value to the retailer, of course, is the opportunity to capture business that is walking out the virtual door. That TV a consumer doesn’t want at $1500 might be the perfect purchase at $1400 … and if your profit margins support the lower price, why not take the business now?


Retailers can add the functionality to their sites with a simple plugin, and customize it to offer discounts, incentives, free shipping, and more. In addition, online store managers can set up conditions in which the Netotiate plugin will activate based on user activity such as number of visits and time on site.


Those conditions help ensure that discounts are not given to customers who were going to purchase already.


When potential customers do see the Netotiate option, they submit a bid anonymously. The software will give supply clues indicating whether or not their offer is likely to be accepted, so store owners are less likely to see a flood of bargain basement might-as-well-try offers. Then the store can accept, decline, or counter the offer.


The Netotiate plugin is getting some traction, according to Elliot Moskow, CEO of Pricefalls.com.


“Sometimes shoppers need some incentive to commit to a transaction.”


True enough. However, I’m not sure Amazon.com will be signing up anytime soon.


Netotiate is a venture capital backed company with a head office in Newton, Massachusetts and R&D offices in Tel-Aviv, Israel.





Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.



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Iran nuclear facilities 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC malware

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In 2010, Iran's nuclear facilities were infiltrated by Stuxnet, the centrifuge-wrecking malware allegedly cooked up by the US government. Now they seem to have been hit again by a bizarre attack forcing nuclear plant workstations to pump the song Thunderstruckby heavy metal band AC/DC through the speakers at full volume.


News of the attack comes from Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at Finnish computer security firm F-Secure, who says he recently received a series emailsfrom a scientist working at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI):


"I am writing you to inform you that our nuclear program has once again been compromised and attacked by a new worm with exploits which have shut down our automation network at Natanz and another facility Fordo near Qom."


The Iranian scientist goes on to say that they believe the attackers used Metasploit, a common hacking tool which provides a variety of ways to penetrate supposedly secure networks. "There was also some music playing randomly on several of the workstations during the middle of the night with the volume maxed out," says the scientist. "I believe it was playing 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC."


While the US military has used heavy metal music as a weapon in the past it seems unlikely that a Stuxnet-like stealth attack would announce its presence with a few blasting power chords, suggesting the hit is more likely the work of a thrill-seeking hacker. Hypponen says he has been unable to verify any details of the attack, but has confirmed that the emails were sent and received from within the AEOI.





Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.



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Fact for the day; 24-07-2012

CD-ROM XA (Compact Disk-read-only memory, extended architecture) is a modification of CD-ROM that defines two new types of sectors that enable it to read and display data, graphics, video and audio at the same time.


The first optical data storage disk, developed by Philips, had 60 times the capacity of a 5.25 inch floppy disk.


Though the highest possible encryption in Windows 2000 was 128 bit, Microsoft only sent the 40-bit version to India, because India was under US sanctions after Pokhran.


WinPad was Microsoft's failed handheld PC operating system, which it developed and killed before coming up with Windows CE, Microsoft scrapped the WinPad project reportedly because they couldn't figure out how to squeeze a variant of Windows into an affordable handheld size.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Quote for the day: 24-07-2012

The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life Is the source from which self-respect springs.
~ Joan Didion






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Monday, July 23, 2012

iPhone 5 will launch with 19-pin Dock connector


The company's current iPhones has a 30-pin port. The smaller connector will make room for the headphone jack on the bottom of the device.



Apple's next iPhonewill come with a smaller Dock connector port, according to a new report.


Although Apple's current mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad, come with a 30-pin port, the new iPhone will sport a 19-pin connector, Reuters is reporting today, citing sources. The switch will help Apple make room on the bottom of the handset for a headphone jack. The headphone jack currently sits at the top of Apple's iPhones.


Reuters' report on Apple's Dock connector is just the latest in a string of rumors surrounding Apple's plans for that port. Over the last few months, an increasing number of reports have cropped up, saying that Apple will be ditching the 30-pin connector for a smaller, 19-pin option.


Back in May, for example, Apple site iLounge reported, citing sources, that the new connector is "closer to a pill shape." In addition, the site said that the connector will be available on all future mobile devices Apple launches.


For its part, Apple hasn't commented on its plans for a new Dock connector, but blowfish12 has contacted the company for comment on the Reuters report and will update this story when we have more information.


If Apple does, in fact, decide to launch a new Dock connector in the iPhone 5, its latest handset would, out of the box, seemingly be incompatible with the many accessories that connect to its devices with a 30-pin connector. Whether Apple will offer up an adapter to ensure legacy products still work with its products remains to be seen.





Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R,



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Virtual germ created on computer for first time

image


In a move that promises to bring the advantages of computer aided design (CAD) to genetic engineers, the first computer model of a complete bacterium has been produced in the US. It means researchers will soon be able to modify models of an organism's genome on a computer screen - or create artificial lifeforms - without the risks of undertaking wet biology in secure biosafety labs.


The pathogen is called Mycoplasma genitalium, a bacterium implicated in a number of urethral and vaginal infections. The bug was ripe for modelling say researchers at Stanford University in California, because it has the smallest genome of any free-living organism, with just 525 genes. By contrast, the popular lab pathogen E. colihas 4288 genes.


The modelling was undertaken by bioengineer Markus Covert and colleagues. To get the raw data for their model, they undertook an exhaustive literature review - spanning 900 research papers - to allow them to program into their model some 1900 experimentally observed behaviours and molecular interactions that M. genitaliumcan take part in during its life cycle.


In software terms, they found the behaviours of the 525 genes could be described by 28 algorithms, each governing the behaviour of a software module modelling a different biological process. "These modules then communicated with each other after every time step, making for a unified whole that closely matched M. genitalium's real-world behaviour," claims the Stanford team in a statement. Their research appears in the journal Cell (doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.05.044).


Such models will ultimately give biologists the freedom to undertake "what if" scenarios common in regular engineering - changing parameters in a genome design, say, like a civil engineer adjusts the width of a bridge deck on a computer to see what happens. As well as being experimentally useful, allowing artificial organisms and synthetic lifeforms to be created virtually (harming no-one), they could also boost biosafety by preventing accidental creations of lethal pathogens. In 2001, for instance, researchers in Australia accidentally created a lethal strain of mousepox.


In a commentary article in Cell, systems biologists Peter Freddolino and Saeed Tavazoie of Columbia University say they hope the work will soon be extended to more commonly used lab bugs like E. coli- but also warn that the technique's accuracy has yet to be demonstrated. It is unclear, they say, "how well overall behaviors will be predicted from a collection of separately obtained parameters" gleaned from hundreds of research papers.


But the US National Institutes of Health, which funded the modelling work, is excited. It believes the model a major step towards finding "new approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of disease", says James Anderson, an NIH program director.





Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12,tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.



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Fact for the day: 23-07-2012

Many Nokia phones come with a reserve battery. To activate the battery, key-in *3370# your cell will restart with this reserve and your instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.


The name Epson for the popular brand of printers was coined when the subsequent models of their first printer 'Electronic Printer 101' were called 'Sons of electronic Printers'


A CD-RW disk can, in general, be-written about a thousand times. In contrast, a hard disk can be written over virtually an unlimited number of times.


When desktop scanners were first introduced, many manufacturers used florescent bulbs as light sources.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Google acquires hot iOS & Mac e-mail app Sparrow (updated)

Google has just acquired Sparrow, a company that has gained notoriety for its innovative iOS and Mac e-mail clients.


“We care a lot about how people communicate, and we did our best to provide you with the most intuitive and pleasurable mailing experience,” Sparrow CEO Dom Leca wrote on the company’s blog this morning. “Now we’re joining the Gmail team to accomplish a bigger vision — one that we think we can better achieve with Google.”


Sparrow’s apps have gained a devoted and vocal fan base, thanks to their clean design and elegant functionality. The apps integrate particularly well with Gmail, so it’s not too surprising that Google was interested in snapping up Sparrow. On iOS, Sparrow filled the gap for a truly powerful Gmail client (Google released its own Gmail iOS client in November, but it had a very rough start).


When it comes to Sparrow’s existing apps, we’re hearing that Google will support them with critical updates, but don’t expect any new features.


Sparrow is based in Paris and has received seed funding from Kima Ventures. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.


Update: Sources tell the Verge that Sparrow was acquired for under $25 million.












Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R. Source: TheVerge



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The spacebar is pressed 6M times a second & other crazy typing facts (video)

How many times do you tap characters on your keyboard a day? Which letter do you press the most? A new video from popular YouTube channel Vsauceexplains these and more.


The video reveals which letter is pressed is most often, how many calories you burn an hour by typing, how many text messages are sent a day, and more. Not only do you get to find out all kinds of crazy typing facts, the video also links back to other cool things related to typing, including the real-time heat map of your keystrokes and great free software for tracking your keystrokes and clicks.


Check out the thoughtful video below:












Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.



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Quote for the day: 23-07-2012

The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life Is the source from which self-respect springs.
~ Joan Didion






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Quote for the day: 19-07-2012

Ability is a poor man's wealth.
~ John Wooden



Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Fact for the day: 19-07-2012

The Dilbert Zone was the first comic website on the Internet.


Sixteen times a second is the fastest a key can be pressed on a keyboard or controller. Toshuyuki Takahashi, a Japanese, is the record holder.


A PlayStation 3 Blu-ray disc can hold up to 20 GB of data or the equivalent of about 2000 Nintendo 64 game catridges.


Nintendo was originally founded in 1889 as a maker of playing cards.


In 1971, Intel launched the world's first single-chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004. The Pioneer 10 spacecraft used the 4004 microprocessor.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

5 ways Apple is shoring up Mac security

By now most people that keep themselves updated with regards to the tech happenings would all be aware of Apple’s retraction of their claim that a Mac is the daddy of all computer monitoring software. In other words Apple claimed that a Mac is not susceptible to the viruses that wreck havoc with the Windows-based computers. That stance has been changed to a rather modest – and ambiguous – built-in safety claim.


The presence of Malware on Apple products has become a reality. Just ask any knowledgeable iPhone buff what their biggest concern with regards to the impending iPhone 5 release is and their answer would be: its security mechanism to counter iPhone spyware. So with the security concerns surfacing regularly Apple is upping the ante on security. Here are six ways that Apple has fortified its defense.


Mac Security


1. Lessons Learnt From Flashback


It goes without saying that it was the Flashback debacle that highlighted Apple’s procrastination in covering quite a few security bases. Obviously when 600,000 Macs were affected, it was the proverbial hand gesture towards the Apple hierarchy, and they had to do something about it – something that intriguingly took months to conjure up.


Apple’s lethargy with regards to acknowledging the presence – and the means to counter them – of malware like computer monitoring software became the butt of global ridicule. And now the company is ensuring that it learns its lesson and realize that Macs are under the malware gun relentlessly. Hence, the need to strengthen the security has become all the more important.


2. Gate Keeper Has Been Hired


Apple has been constantly revamping its security mechanism of late, which gives the hackers something new to think about. The OS X feature which has been dubbed the ‘Gate Keeper’ is being touted as the best thing that has ever stood next to the Apple door.


3. Sandboxing


Gate Keeper protects Mac devices owing to the fact that it channels the iOS aspects on Mac OS X. Apple has been hiring developers to sandbox their applications, which restricts the actions that a program can perform on a Mac device. It also keeps an eye on the files that can be accessed, and monitors the programs that can be launched. In simple words sandboxing reduces the area that is available for the spyware to strike a blow, which in turn increases the overall security.


4. Background Checks


A mechanism to restrict the execution of apps has also been formulated courtesy Gate Keeper. Users can ensure that their settings determine whether or not OS X should allow the applications in, which have been obtained via Mac.  And for this purpose Apple has decided to build a developer ID codes database, and a related system of tracking.


5. Encryption


FireVault 2, the latest Apple maneuver introduced with Apple OS X 10.7 (aka Lion) offers full-disk encryption, to further hike up the security. And this when compared to the previous version of FireVault also confirms that Apple is taking Mac security rather seriously now. And who knows maybe they might have something similar to counter iPhone spyware on iPhone 5.





Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.



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Quote for the day: 18-07-2012

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.
~ Washington Irving



Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Fact for the day: 18-07-2012

When the CD was being designed, Sony and Philips were instrumental in deciding how long each CD could play. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was used as a standard, the performance of which lasted for 74 minutes.


When Windows 3.1 was launched, 3 million copies were sold in the first two months.


Windows 95 can officially run on a 386DX at 20MHz with just 4MB of RAM.


The Japanese version of MS Office has a character you can't find in any other version. The 'Office Lady' is a virtual assistant that bows and serves tea.


The Windows 95/98 logos were created with Freehand on a Macintosh.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

MegaUpload judge calls U.S. 'the enemy'


The New Zealand judge presiding over the MegaUpload case criticizes U.S. attempts to strengthen International copyright laws.



kimtv


The judge overseeing the MegaUpload in New Zealand doesn't sound like a supporter of the U.S. government's attempts to strengthen international copyright law.


According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, the United States is attempting to require New Zealand and other countries to adopt tougher copyright restrictions as part of a trade agreement and this prompted the judge to call the U.S. government "the enemy."


The Herald raised the question whether Harvey's comments were appropriate for the judge presiding over the MegaUpload case to make. According to a legal expert there, making such comments could be seen by some as "unhelpful" but it was unclear whether they were inappropriate.


Representatives from MegaUpload and to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, the office that filed criminal charges against the online storage service and seven managers, including founder Kim DotCom, were not immediately available. We'll update as soon as we hear back.


The U.S. claims DotCom and the other defendants operated MegaUpload as a criminal enterprise, encouraging users to store pirated video and other digital media in the service's lockers and then share them with people from all over the world. The case has generated worldwide attention and now the spotlight is being trained on one of the judges in the case.


New Zealand District Court Judge David Harvey made the comments last week as part of a campaign started by opponentsof any agreement in the Trans Pacific Partnership that would change New Zealand copyright law. The Herald wrote that Harvey said this:


"Under TPP and the American Digital Millennium copyright provisions you will not be able to [hack around DVD region codes, which limit discs sold in one country from being played on DVD players in another country], that will be prohibited... if you do you will be a criminal - that's what will happen. Even before the 2008 amendments it wasn't criminalized. There are all sorts of ways this whole thing is being ramped up and if I could use Russell [Brown's] tweet from earlier on: we have met the enemy and he is [the] U.S."


MegaUpload has also heard favorable comments from the U.S. district judge overseeing the indictment. Judge Liam O'Grady wondered aloud in court during an April hearing whether the case against MegaUpload would ever go to trial.





Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.



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Quote for the day: 17-07-2012

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
~ Dalai Lama



Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Kinect keeps your body-mounted projector steady

Are you the kind of person who likes to give your colleagues (or any friends you may have left) a PowerPoint presentation at the drop of a hat? If so, you could be a prime customer for the Kinect-powered wearable projectorthat's being developed by Sven Kratz and colleagues at the University of Munich in Germany.


Called the Attjector - short for attention projector - their shoulder-mounted system is designed to project slides onto a wall at precisely the point your attention is focused. It does so using a microchip-based picoprojector to deliver a bright image of your bullet points, holiday snaps or pet pictures sent via Bluetooth from a PowerPoint style app on a phone.


But how does it know where to project the image? Enter Kinect, the contactless, gesture-based interaction system from Microsoft.


The projector is mounted on a movable motor-driven gimbal (see it being tested here) so that its projection direction can be steered to where you need it. A Kinect depth camera, mounted beside the projector seeks out the image of your hand and dominant fingers as you point out key facets in your presentation - and drives the gimbal motor to ensure the projection is always pointed to the area where your hand is gesturing.


Why do this? Kratz and colleagues say that holding a phone projector with one hand while pointing at a presentation with the other creates a wobbly mess - and that auto-tracking with Kinect sorts this out. It may have all the makings of a solution in search of a problem, but the Munich team are confident the idea has legs. Or shoulders. They'll now use a headset to monitor eye-gaze to further refine the Attjector's ability to focus on your attention point.


Presented at The First Workshop on Kinect in Pervasive Computing, held in Newcastle, UK, in mid-June, Attjector builds on ideas like Microsoft Research's astonishing LightSpace system, which allows users to "pick up" parts of a projected presentation as a dot of light in their palm - and place it magically elsewhere in a room.





Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.



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Superfast mirrors track a ping-pong ball in flight








Hundreds of broadcasters are set to cover the Olympic action starting next week, but even the most dedicated camera operators can't always keep up with sports that move at lightning speed. Now, researchers at Tokyo University in Japan have built a camerathat can perfectly track fast-moving objects like a ping-pong ball mid-flight.

Rather than moving the device itself, the camera's gaze is controlled by two mirrors attached to high-speed motors which can readjust in a fraction of a second, much faster than adjusting a bulky recording device. These rapidly moving mirrors combined with a filming speed of 1000 frames per second allow the camera to keep the ping-pong ball dead center.

Oku Ishikawa Lab Professor Masatoshi Ishikawa says: "I hope the technology will be applied to various fields in robotics, medical/bio operation, scientific observation, as well as judgment or analysis in sports at the Olympic Games."

The researchers say the camera could also record close-up views of flying birds or insects.



Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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Fact for the day: 17-07-2012

In February 2009. Twitter had a monthly growth (of users) of over 1300 % - several times more than Facebook.


The inspirationt for the brand name Yahoo! Came from a word made up by Jonathan Swift in his book Gulliver's Travels. A Yahoo was a person who was ugly and not human in appearance.


The first ever search engine was called "Archie" and was created way back in 1990 by a Canadian student Alan Emtage.


In 1999, new fiber was being installed at a rate of 2800 miles or 4500 kilometers per hour !


Tom Vendetta is the youngest Google employee ever hired. He was hired by Google when he was just 15 years old. Vendetta used to fool his friends by sending fake press releases and news. Vendetta was employed because he was young and would know how young hackers thought. His job was to help address security flaws in Gmail.


More than a billion transistors are manufactured.....every second!!!!!!!!


Heard of Mentaplex? It was an April fools joke that Google could read peoples minds and search the Internet for what they were thinking of.






Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.
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