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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