Tech-O-Fest

Where did Man come from? Evolution vs creation: new battle over old issue

2005-11-23T09:53:00.000-06:00

Creationism and intelligent design are going to be a part of the curriculum at the University of Kansas, but not in the way advocated by opponents of the theory of evolution.

"The KU faculty has had enough," said department chairman Paul Mirecki.

Earlier this month, the Kansas state Board of Education adopted new science teaching standards that treat evolution as a flawed theory, defying the view of science groups.

(via Xinhua)

Web site to curb access to illegal movies? Hmm...

2005-11-23T09:15:00.000-06:00

The chief executive of BitTorrent, Bram Cohen, has agreed to prevent his Web site from linking to illegally available movies online.

He held a news conference with Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America and chief lobbyist for the movie industry, on Tuesday, where he announced the agreement. This is apparently aimed at cutting down the illegal movie traffic exchanged on peer-to-peer networks.

Just what we don't need.

(via IHT)

NASA can't get rid of those foam problems

2005-11-23T08:07:00.000-06:00

We all know NASA is under mandate to keep space shuttles grounded until its issues with foam insulation are resolved. In the effort to resolve them, it seems NASA has discovered nine small cracks in the foam coating on an external tank that had been slated for use by space shuttle Discovery.

How do these cracks that we've found figure into that? We don't know. It would certainly be premature to say the cracks play a factor in that. We don't know that right now. But they might...

-John Chapman, manager of the External Tank Project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

(via CNN)

Broadband over Power Lines?

2005-11-23T07:18:00.000-06:00

Broadband over Power Lines or more commonly, BPL, still has a long way to go. Apparently, the maximum speed right now in the US is about 4mbps. This decreases as more people come on line.

In Europe, which uses 220 volt current, the power lines apparently handle the signal better and the technology is catching on.

BPL still might be the best way to get broadband to rural areas where it is not profitable for cable or DSL to go.

(via InformationWeek)

The First UK Human Clone

2005-05-22T21:44:00.000-05:00

A HUMAN embryo has been cloned for the first time in Britain, scientists said last night.

The stem cell research was carried out at Newcastle University.

Experts hope the breakthrough will lead to treatments for diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s or for spinal injuries. Read more here.

PC Based Robots

2005-05-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

A PC that can walk away from you. Includes vision-based navigation, speech recognition and other off-the-shelf features. R2D2, anyone? Here's more.

New Gmail Skinning Website is Finally Up

2005-05-22T16:46:00.000-05:00

I know gmail skinng is old, but skingmail.com finally allows users to upload and download gmail skins that people have created. So far there are two. I think im gonna try gmail silver. Clicky here if you wanna know more.

Blu-ray disc hits 100GB

2005-05-22T09:11:00.000-05:00

TDK has developed a prototype Blu-ray disc that can store twice as much data as current iterations of the next-generation DVD format--and record it twice as fast. Read more here.

Kingda Ka - Tallest, Fastest Roller Coaster on Earth

2005-05-22T00:49:00.000-05:00

Towering 456 feet, lauching up to 128 mph in 3,5 seconds, Kingda Ka is the tallest, fastest roller coaster on Earth! Now open! Watch the video: INSANE! Here's more, loyal reader.

First Self Cloning Robot!

2005-05-13T07:54:00.000-05:00

Hod Lipson and colleagues at Cornell University built their self-replicating device using small mechanical building blocks that can swivel, and also attach themselves to one another using electromagnets. Robot contains a microprocessor, and they are all equipped with an identical set of instructions for replicating other robots. More of this shit here.

Google ponders Blogger, Gmail integration

2005-05-13T07:45:00.001-05:00

Google is contemplating various improvements to its popular Blogger Web logging service, including native image uploading and deeper integration with the company's Gmail Web-mail service, according to a Google exec. Know more.

Making new fingerprints

2005-05-10T23:31:00.000-05:00

We've all wanted to get new fingerprints and proceed to go wild with our new identity. Well, it's possible to do it, and it's not insanely hard. If you have a hardware store with all the supplies near you, a free afternoon, and patience, you're one step on your way to a new identity. Read how here, and then come back!

High-voltage machine shrinks quarters to the size of dimes

2005-05-10T23:28:00.000-05:00

An electricity hobbyist has built a machine that uses a 22,000-volt capacitor to cause the molecules in a quarter to "rearrange and nuzzle closer, shrinking the coin's circumference to that of a dime," albeit with an "ear-shattering crack." Score!

MICROSOFT ROBOTS TO WATCH KIDS

2005-05-10T23:27:00.000-05:00

The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection. Creepy.

Robot Attends Nursery School

2005-05-10T23:25:00.000-05:00

Qrio, a humanoid robot developed by a Sony Intelligence Dynamics Laboratories Inc has been attending a nursery school in California since March to play with children up to 2 years of age in an experiment to help develop a robot that can "live in harmony with humans in the future." What next?

Student suspended for cellphone call from mom in Iraq

2005-05-10T11:30:00.000-05:00

Um, ok, another completely egregious one to file in the why-public-school-sucks scrapbook; Kevin Francois of Spencer High in Columbus, Georgia, was suspended for the rest of the school year for refusing to hang up on a cellphone call from his mother, a soldier positioned in Iraq for over a year. What crap.

Sushi-making Robot

2005-05-10T11:28:00.000-05:00

Never go out for sushi again! Capable of making 50 pieces of sushi per minute. Wish it could make pizzas as well... Robots sure come in handy. Eat them, now.

Talking Robot That Sounds Like Humans

2005-05-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

This anthropomorphic talking robot was built to better understand how the human vocal mechanism creates speech. The WT-4 has 19 degrees of freedom (DOF) for lungs, vocal cords, tongue, lips, teeth, nasal cavity and soft palate. With its vocal cords, it can produce Japanese vowels that are similar to human ones. Whoa.

Photoemission 100 Years After Einstein

2005-05-10T11:24:00.000-05:00

In 1921 Einstein won the Nobel Prize for solving a puzzle that had baffled scientists since 1887, the photoelectric effect. New Journal of Physics published a special celebratory focus issue containing a series of new papers looking at the latest applications of the phenomenon first explained by Einstein one hundred years ago. Read more.

Endless Snow for 1,000 Years

2005-05-10T08:27:00.000-05:00

A new ice age is just around the corner, and it's not science fiction or "end of the world" religious nuts who are saying this (we've had 17 ice ages in 2,000,000 years, and they occur every 10,000-12,000 years).

We're currently overdue for an ice age by almost 2,000 years. Whoa.

Full-length movies on your cell phone!!!

2005-05-10T01:41:00.000-05:00

Full-length films can now be compressed tightly enough to fit on memory cards so they can be watched on cellphones.

The award-winning tale of a miscarriage of justice The Shawshank Redemption became the first movie to go on sale on a 64-megabyte Multimedia Memory Card (MMC) last week. Rok Corporation of Wolverhampton in the UK, which is behind the idea, says its cards will work in any MMC-capable phone from Motorola, Panasonic, Samsung, Nokia or Toshiba. The firm also says it has patented a technique whereby its movie-player software, carried on the card along with the film itself, starts up automatically when the card is inserted and plays the encrypted content. Because the chip card's content is self-extracting, the phone plays the movie even when there is no cellphone network available or when the phone function is switched off: no transaction with a network is necessary. Awesome!

Your Own Personal Supercomputer? Only $100,000

2005-05-09T23:16:00.000-05:00

Pricing starts in the $100,000 range. The Orion system achieved 110-Gflops sustained performance and 230-Gflops peak performance based on the Linpack benchmark. Buy buy!

Misconceptions and Confusion about The Big Bang?

2005-05-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, you're not alone. Even the best astronomers get it wrong. Find out what it really means when they say "the universe is expanding", and how it's going faster than light. Fascinating stuff. Read....

How to detect lies - body language, reactions, speech patterns

2005-05-09T23:09:00.000-05:00

Many different techniques are often used by police and security experts to tell if someone is lying. Their knowledge is also useful for managers, employers, and for anyone to use in everyday situations where telling the truth from a lie can help prevent you from being a victim of fraud/scams and other deceptions. Read more...

Welcome!

2005-05-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

Being an avid tech maniac and an aficionado of all forms of science, I've always wanted to make the people around me realize the advancements in technology and science. The result of my desires is this blog. In the sidebar, you can see the top science/technology related news. Of course, there will posts related to my fields of interest and also some like this one. Hope I can make your visit as enjoyable and informative as possible. Have a nice time!