Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Altantis Ready to go!

NASA - Space Shuttle
Space shuttle Atlantis successfully completed its slow 3.4-mile trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The vehicle was securely fastened to the pad at 11:17 a.m. EDT after a move took approximately six hours.

The shuttle began its trip in the early morning darkness, rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at 3:54 a.m.

Atlantis and crew are targeted for launch on May 12 to begin their mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
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Lights Designed to Exaggerate Acne Repel Teenagers

British local councils have a new weapon in their arsenal of devices that collectively and indiscriminately punish teenagers simply for being young. The new tool is a pink overhead light designed to exaggerate acne, with the intention of making children so unhappy and insecure about their appearances that they go somewhere else.

British local governments deploy anti-teenager pink lights designed to make kids ashamed of their appearance - Boing Boing
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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Sprint Plans 4G launch

Sprint's WiMax Plans Include Gadgets -- WiMax -- InformationWeek
Sprint (NYSE: S) on Wednesday outlined its plan for WiMax services and equipment.

WiMax is a next-generation mobile broadband technology that has a theoretical limit of 75 Mbps. While Sprint's real-world 4G networks are offering peak download speeds of up to 12 Mbps, this is three to five times the data speeds of current 3G networks from any mobile operator.

Sprint currently offers 4G services in Baltimore, but it plans to expand that to Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; Honolulu; Las Vegas; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle by the end of the year. It didn't detail the order of deployment, but many industry watchers expect Chicago's network to be lit up next.

Not surprisingly, Sprint's plans to sell WiMax service lines up identically with Clearwire's WiMax deployment schedule. Clearwire, which already has 4G networks in Baltimore and Portland, Ore., will sell WiMax services to the likes of Sprint and Comcast, as well as offer commercial mobile broadband access.

Over the next two years, the third-largest U.S. carrier said it would be bringing a 4G data card, embedded laptops, small-office WiMax modems, and a cell phone capable of accessing 3G and WiMax networks. The company already has introduced a dual-mode modem for laptops that lets users access Sprint's CDMA and WiMax networks in Baltimore.

Sprint is pushing to expand its 4G services before its rivals get going with networks based on Long Term Evolution technology. LTE offers a higher theoretical speed than WiMax, and more wireless carriers around the world are supporting it. WiMax was thought to have a sizable time-to-market advantage over its 4G rival, but Verizon Wireless recently said it would deploy an LTE network in 25 to 30 markets by the end of 2010.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Canada Arm Put to Use

NASA: Undocked shuttle to use robotic arm to inspect heat shield
March 25, 2009 (Computerworld) After its undocking from the International Space Station this afternoon, the crew of the space shuttle Discovery quickly began two days of inspections to make sure it can survive the trip home. The astronauts leave after installing the S6 truss and attached 5,000-pound solar arrays last week.

After being docked together for 7 days, 22 hours and 34 minutes, the two space crafts parted at 3:53 p.m. EDT today. About a half an hour after the undocking, the shuttle and station began an hour-long process of taking pictures of each other. The images will be sent to NASA engineers on the ground who will study them as part of an effort to determine whether the craft suffered any damage to its thermal protection system, which protects the craft and its seven-person crew from blazingly high temperatures that come during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.
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Monday, March 23, 2009

Wow, what will be next? The Nexus series becoming reality?

Bladerunner Style Lie Detector To Be Developed » Spy Review
Science fiction and movies have often been forerunners of technological innovations which have actually been realised in the future. Whether it was man’s journey to the moon or innovations in Star Trek like the communicator or others – they found a place in reality after some time.

As far as detection techniques are concerned we have come a long way from fingerprints, polygraphs and DNA analysis – all are commonplace and used to catch criminals. But what if criminals could be caught before a crime was committed? That does seem futuristic, but the seeds of this are already in place.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has invited companies to bid for research on a project which can scan eyes and be able to tell if the person has any criminal intentions. They are looking for a system to use advanced technology to scan a person’s eyes and the proposal states that “early research has shown that pupil size varies with changes in a person’s cognitive processing load. Current but unproven studies suggest that a cognitive decision to deceive or practise deception will result in an increased pupil size due to the greater cognitive processing required in comparison to truthful recall”. In other words, if someone is trying to deceive, their eyes will give them away.

This was already shown the movie, Bladerunner, a 1982 science fiction classic. Presumably, when this research and technology bears fruit and is put in use, particularly in crowded places like airports, we can hope to face longer queues but also a greater level of security. Then again, if terrorists are willing to blow themselves up, there is nothing much that can be done to counter that!

But this may also have some pitfalls given the possibilty the size of one’s pupils may change due to circumstances like stress, nervousness, etc. It does sound a little gimmicky for now to rely on reaction to human behavior as a means of security rather than the various tried-and-tested methods they have in use already, although it has to be said security has failed time and again even when it was thought very stringent methods were being used, so using this with other methods and maybe not by itself may enhance overall security.
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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Mobile Economics with the iPhone

How the iPhone 3.0 Will Create a New Mobile Economy
Apple announced some major updates for the iPhone OS software this week that will become available to iPhone owners in June. The iPhone 3.0 software includes the ability to copy-and-paste, a landscape keyboard, and push notifications. However, none of these updates were as revolutionary as the new features Apple offered to iPhone application developers. The one to watch however is the ability to purchase items within an application.

This is a feature that matters because of the vast opportunities that it presents to both developers and users. iPhone users have already downloaded over 800 million applications, but that download has always been the end of the interaction with the developer. With this feature, iPhone applications can sell virtual gifts, ebooks, and application upgrades. The iPhone app store was a major innovation for mobile software. The iPhone 3.0 takes it a step further. The ability for the creators of applications to build relationships with customers by selling items and create stores within applications is a bold step towards the iPhone becoming its own micro-economy.
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Friday, March 20, 2009

New Sony Reader a Kindle Killer?

Google Offers 500,000 Books for Free on Sony Reader
Google is offering up more than 500,000 books that it has already scanned and loaded onto the Web to users of Sony Reader, a competitor to Amazon’s Kindle. Considering that’s twice the number of books available on Kindle, it would be easy to call this a “Kindle Killer,” but, not so fast.
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Swaptree Trading

Swaptree is a network where you can trade your cds, books, dvds, and video games with other members.

SwapTree - Trade Books, Book Swap, Trade Video Games, CD Exchange, DVD Swap
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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Build Your Resume with Social Sites

10 Great Social Sites for Resume Building
Creating the perfect resume is not easy. Luckily, there are a number of online resources dedicated to helping you create outstanding traditional and social media resumes. Here are 10 great social sites with unique features that let you create your own resume-like profile, edit your resume online, get it reviewed by experts, print it, share it on social networks, and much more.

Remember, building a strong profile can help serve as a great marketing tool to help you get the job you’re looking for.
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Raise Money for a Cause with Social Networking

Better The World – a platform and suite of tools that provides people with free and easy ways to raise money for a cause.

The first thing you do when you join Better The World is select a cause to support. Whether you’re interested in the environment, health, or humanity, there will be a cause that our charity partners offer that will align to your interests. And we will be adding more all the time.
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Tweet Congress - Democracy in Social Networking

Tweet Congress is a new site that allows you to follow your representatives in government if they tweet and if they don't, you can sign the petition to get the tweeting.
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Monday, March 16, 2009

Purchasing a Surveillance System

by Ryan Temple

Looking to purchase a Surveillance System? If so please read the following to help avoid any costly mistakes! A surveillance system designed and installed correctly can not only provide protection to employees and peace of mind for an employer, but can be a great observation tool.

When choosing a surveillance system here are a few things to consider:

· How do you want to use the Surveillance System (observation, protection of employees, deterring theft, communication, or peace of mind)? Today surveillance systems are not only used for traditional surveillance/security for a business and employees. Many companies use surveillance systems for observation of employees and customers to become more efficient, better understand buying habits, and a way to communicate. So before choosing a system, think through what you want to use the system for today and what you might want it to accomplish in the future.

· How long do you want to store data? Video storage can eat up hard drive space fast! When choosing the amount of hard drive space, you first need to think through how long you want to keep the data? Then consider at what frame rate are you going to be recording at? Real time video is 30 fps. Video can reach about 7.5 fps before you start noticing the video getting “choppy”. However the higher fps the more storage space is required.

· What type of Operating System does the equipment use? Surveillance systems are divided into two groups; PC based and Linux (standalone) systems. PC based dvr’s use windows as there operating system. Linux (standalone) dvr’s have their own proprietary operating system. There is no right or wrong choice, PC based systems are more robust and have more features. Linux (standalone) dvr’s are less expensive, but have less hard drive space, and can’t be easily repaired.

· Will you need cameras with Infrared Lighting (LEDS)? LED/Infrared cameras will allow you to see a black and white picture in the dark. Without LED’s your picture would go totally black. Also consider the distance you want to see in the dark, LED cameras come in varying viewing lengths.

· Do you need the ability to access your Surveillance System remotely? Remote client access is very common in most surveillance systems today. These systems will allow you to view live video, make changes, operate a Pan Tilt Zoom camera, and even review past video.

· Is your System being built with quality parts (Intel, Seagate, and Kingston)? If you choose a PC based surveillance system, make sure the system is built with quality name brand parts. Using cheap and inferior products will cause you problems within 6 months of operating the system.

· Do you need the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom? If you plan on having a pan tilt zoom camera, then you will need to find out if your system can operate the ptz through it’s software. Some video surveillance systems require you to have a separate hand controller.

· What type of cable should I run? The two most popular options are RG 59 Siamese Coax cable or cat 5. RG 59 cable will carry an analog signal while cat 5 carries a digital signal. If you are looking to install IP cameras you will need to run cat 5, while analog cameras run on RG 59.

· Should I choose IP Cameras or Analog Cameras? Again, there is no right or wrong choice. Analog cameras are less expensive, but also come with fewer options than IP cameras. IP cameras are the future of video surveillance, however they are still cost prohibitive in most situations.

· What type of power supply do I need? When choosing a power supply you need to think about the distance, type of power, and ampage. All cameras are rated with a minimum power requirement, and if they are not able to pull that minimum requirement, they will fail. Distance, plays a large factor in choosing a power supply also. The longer distance the more voltage you will lose from the power supply to the camera. It’s recommend that RG 59 Cable not run further than 800’, while cat 5 can run up to 1,200 feet without being amplified.

These are just a few questions to ask when looking to purchase a surveillance system. The biggest mistake you can make is not planning and thinking through the installation and design of your system. Also make sure you purchase equipment from a company that offers technical support, because you will have questions!

ryan

Ryan Temple is the Director of Operations for PCSurveillance.net. PCSurveillance has been serving integrators and manufacturing customized Surveillance Systems throughout the US since 2002. You can read more of Ryan’s articles on the Company Blog.


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Friday, March 13, 2009

Motherlode of Soviet futuristic magazine covers

courtesy of Boing Boing

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Here's a massive boatload of covers from vintage Soviet tech magazines -- most of these came from valiant Twitterers (@billnagel, @kwispel, @vr_quarksoup, @houbi) who responded to my call for the originating URL for an unattributed gallery of covers I found on another site, filling my cup to overflowing with a motherload of sovfuturkitsch that I'll be wallowing in for days. I want to wallpaper my office with these.

Update: Via Twitter, @vonross adds, "This was a youth-oriented futurist/kosmist zine started in the 20's, purged & retasked by Stalin during WWII, it went to roots of modernism."

2.5 GB torrent of PDFs of full issues of "Техники молодежи" (!!!!1111!ONE!)

Обложки "Техники молодежи" (30е - 50е, СССР)

'Техника - молодежи'

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Monday, March 9, 2009

Mind Blowing Cell Phone Watch in Stainless Steel


Mind Blowing Cell Phone Watch in Stainless Steel
Tri-Band (900, 1800, 1900) stainless steel cellphone watch with 1 GB of memory and easy to use touch screen display.

Adding to our blooming mobile phone product range is this new simple but elegant cell phone watch finished in stainless steel. A brilliant timepiece complete with all the convenience of a cell phone, perfect for light travelers. Fill the micro SD card (1GB included) with movies and music to take with you on the go, and listen with crystal clear sound over an excellent Bluetooth connection. Features like the organizer, and sneaky side mounted camera add to this very attractive package.

This is a watch that will impress the guys with it's great features and the girls with its masculine looks, be the center of attention today, get one now and have it delivered to your door in just a few days.


China Vasion

Friday, March 6, 2009

Tracking Service on your mobile phone

Courtesy of: Spy Review

GPS tracking systems are widely used not only in a professional environment such as emergency services, policing, transportation, etc, but they are also increasingly being used by individuals. Although a lot more people would like to use GPS tracking systems, especially by parents concerned about their children or in cases of people suffering from a debilitating illness, they are not always feasible because of the cost of purchasing hardware or there just isn’t enough awareness.

We all know pretty much everyone owns a mobile phone these days and this is where the tracking service provided by World-Tracker could be useful. It is a fairly new service that makes use of mobile phone networks to locate an individual’s mobile phone, wherever they are in the United Kingdom.

There are many valid reasons that an individual may want to keep track of someone else. Safety and suspicion of infidelity are two of the primary ones. You can quickly determine if someone is where they said that they would be. Most people never leave the house with out their cell phone, so it is an effective way of knowing where someone is at all times.

World-Tracker users can visit the company’s website or receive updates via text message that will update on the location of the people that they are tracking. World-Tracker works with three networks located in the United Kingdom. They are 02, Orange and Vodafone. One is not required to carry around any additional equipment or purchase any extra hardware. They only need to have a mobile phone. World Tracker is a more cost effective alternative to the GPS systems that require purchase fo hardware.

It is difficult to say reliably how accurate this service is for tracking compared to the popular GPS systems. Also, it does not make it clear whether there are any privacy issues because, in theory at least, you can just about track anyone that has a mobile phone.

Just to give you an idea of the pricing from their site, currently, individuals can purchase a “Getting Started Pack” for £1.00 VAT. This includes 4 lookups. Additional location lookups can be purchased in blocks of 25, and costs only £5.00. If someone wants to purchase location lookups in bulk, they are able to purchase 300 location lookups for £50.00.

To set up tracking on your phone, you can visit World-Tracker.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Waboba Ball - Bounces on Water

Waboba Ball - Bounces on WaterForget Frisbee's, and boycott Beach balls, the Waboba ball is the leisure item to have to ensure fun is had on the beach, or in the pool! Simply throw the Wabobaball across water and this ingenious little article will actually bounce across the surface! Add a few friends to the mix and great fun can be had.

It really is as simple as that, no extra equipment is required (Not even jumpers for goal posts! - Well, they would get a bit soggy). Just the Water Bouncing Waboba Ball itself, some water (anything from knee to waist height is best), and at least one person to exchange passes with. Easy to get the hang of, but difficult to master, the great people who created the Waboba Ball have even given us rules for an all new water sport utilising this unique ball.

This fantastic little sphere is made from polyurethane (a polymer consisting of a chain of organic units joined by urethane links), with a lycra coating, and is about the same size as a hackey-sack.

Features:

  • Multi-polyurethane material
  • CE certified
  • Safe for kids 3 years and older
  • Not suitable for bouncing on hard surfaces

Dimensions:

  • 60mm (approx)