#Google s new robot army Wildcat Google has purchased Boston Dynamics, the#lab of scientists#behind some of the most awesomely scary robots you have seen ever.
The deal gave Google an army of jaw-droppingly capable robots that can walk, run,
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#A solar-powered 3d printer that prints glass from sand Marcus Kayser s Solar Sinter project When Markus Kayser, a design student,
wanted to test his#solar-powered, sand-fed 3-D printer, he knew the gray skies outside his London apartment wouldn t do.
So he shipped the 200-plus-pound contraption to Cairo, Egypt, flew there himself, and haggled with officials for two days to get it out of customs.
A few small##tips##and 11 hours of driving later, he finally made it to the Sahara.
But soon the mercury hit 104 degrees his components nearly overheated, and he was forced to improvise.##
##The idea for the printer first came to Kayser a few months earlier. He wanted to find a project in which the sun did more than just power a device.
He researched possibilities online, talked to physics professors, and learned about a process in which sand, heated to its melting point,
Markus Kayser s homebuilt 3-D printer created this glass bowl out of heated sand from the Sahara For the printer to work efficiently
and solar panels at the other, can pivot from straight overhead down to a 45-degree angle to chase the sun. directed by a CAD design from a connected laptop,
the printer uses the concentrated beam of sunlight to slowly trace an object into the sandbox layer by layer.
Sensors inside detect the shadows and feed the data on their position to Kayser s computer,
The printer s motors the electronics, cameras and a laptop all run on batteries charged by the solar panels PRINTING Kayser first designs the object he wants to print in a CAD program.
His computer sends instructions to the printer, which works from the bottom up. After a layer has cooled into glass,
he adds more sand to the sandbox in the center of the machine and flattens it out,
and the printer begins heating the next layer. Kayser s first major piece, a bowl, took about four and a half hours to print.
POWER Two photovoltaic panels, one on either side of the machine keep the printer powered
. since the panels are attached to the same arms as the lens, they also benefit from the sun tracking,
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#It s similar to the mass digitization efforts in the#UK#and#Finland, but Norway has taken the extra step of making agreements with many publishers to allow anyone with a Norway IP ADDRESS to access copyrighted material.
The library owns equipment for scanning and text structure analysis of the books. It s also adding metadata and storing the files in a database for easy retrieval.
Librarians estimate the digitization of the entire collection, which includes materials dating back to the Middle ages,
will take 20 to 30 years. The effort started in 2006. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons Via The Verge#Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat o
In the U s.,the outlook for solar power is bright and sunny. The solar industry in America has recorded its second largest quarter ever in the third quarter of 2013,
a transparent display specialist and military head up screen supplier, is wading into the wearable computing market, revealing a new#developer#kit that, unlike#Google s Glass, offers full augmented reality support.
Set to debut at CES 2014 next month, the Lumus DK-40 monocular dev kit may look ostensibly like Glass at first glance,
but where Google s headset has a small display-block suspended in the corner, the entire right lens of the Lumus wearable is in fact a 640 x 480 display.
That means developers building apps for the Android-powered headset can overlay graphics directly on top of the real-world view
rather than simply sliding in separate notifications as Glass does.####Lumus might not be the household name that Google is,
but it has some history in#wearable#displays. The company developed a patented##Light-guide Optical Element##(LOE) in effect a tiny projector that projects onto a special lens
so that the computer-generated image is see-through and has been supplying it to industrial and military customers for some years,
including the helmet displays the US Air force has deployed in the F-16 and A-10. The company s consumer plans have been a little later to the game,
and in fact Lumus still doesn t intend to commercially produce a mass-market wearable computer. Instead
Whereas the last Lumus prototype we saw#the OE-31 wearable display back in March 2012#was somewhat geeky in its appearance,
The VGA-resolution display with 25-degree field of view is integrated into the right lens, while the block section on the side accommodates the 5-megapixel camera,#
#processor, battery, and sensors. Android runs on an OMAP processor Lumus isn t saying which one specifically
and there s a motion sensor with 9 degrees-of-freedom to do precise head tracking, important when you want to exactly match what s on-screen with what s in front of the wearer.
Lumus is billing the DK-40 as completely wire-free, though not commenting on battery life expectations as yet.
Update:##Lumus tells us that very early tests on the DK-40 prototype suggest at least 1-2 hours of runtime.
For developers, there ll be an SDK to get them up to speed with coding Android apps to take advantage of the platform,
It s not the first lens-as-display wearable we ve seen in recent months,
that has two transparent screens, one for each eye, unlike the single-display Lumus. Unfortunately, while Lumus intends to start shipping the DK-40 monocular dev kit at the end of Q1 2014,
The end-goal is still to sell the displays to other companies who will put them into their own consumer products,
The system s algorithms constantly monitor electricity supply and demand charging and discharging the battery to minimize drawing expensive electricity from the power grid.
And the Tesla batteries provide backup power if the grid goes down in an earthquake
Israeli hacking school that trains corporate cyber warriors Trainees work in front of their computers at the##Cyber Gym##center.
Mister launches simulated attacks against the computer systems of the trainees, who sit in an adjacent building.##
##he said while seated in the##attack room##a computer nerd s paradise, decorated with Star wars and Pac-Man murals and lines of code running off wall-mounted screens that show the hacking taking place live.
But the work is serious Cyber Gym s launch was attended by members of Israel s intelligence community
##It is possible that there will be a cyber attack on a site supplying the daily needs of Israeli citizens;
#RF Safe-Stop can shut down a vehicle s engine by blasting radio waves Will high-speed car chases become a thing of the past?
##E2v s#RF Safe-Stop#can stall the engine of a vehicle by confusing its electronic systems with radio frequency.
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#UPS researching drones to compete with Amazon Prime Air UPS researching delivery drones. Amazon made headlines
#When algorithms grow accustomed to your face Face-reading technology raises many questions about privacy and surveillance.
Now, computer software is using frame-by-frame video analysis to read subtle muscular changes that flash across our faces in milliseconds, signaling emotions like happiness, sadness and disgust.##
##With face-reading software, a computer s webcam might spot the confused expression of an online student
Or computer-based games with built-in cameras could register how people are reacting to each move in the game
Now computers can be programmed to make those distinctions, too. Companies in this field include#Affectiva, based in Waltham, Mass.,
and#Emotient, based in San diego. Affectiva used webcams over two and a half years to accumulate
These recordings served as a database to create the company s face-reading software, which it will offer to mobile software developers starting in Mid-january.
The company strongly believes that people should give their consent to be filmed, and it will approve
and control all of the apps that emerge from its algorithms, Dr. Kaliouby said. Face-reading technology may one day be paired with programs that have complementary ways of recognizing emotion,
#such as software that analyzes people s voices, said#Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster. If computers reach the point where they can combine facial coding,
voice sensing, gesture tracking and gaze tracking, he said, a less stilted way of interacting with machines will ensue.
And Affectiva is aware that its face-reading software could stir privacy concerns. But Dr. Kaliouby said that none of the coming apps using its software could record video of people s faces.##
##The software uses its algorithms to read your expressions, ##she said, ##but it doesn t store the frames.##
##So far, the company s algorithms have been used mainly to monitor people s expressions as a way to test ads, movie trailers and television shows in advance.
It is much cheaper to use a program to analyze faces than to hire people who have been trained in face-reading.
Face-reading software is unlikely to infer precise emotions 100 percent of the time, said Tadas Baltrusaitis,
The algorithms have improved, but##they are not perfect, and probably never will be said,##he. Apps that can respond to facial cues may find wide use in education
said#Winslow Burleson, an assistant professor of human computer interaction at Arizona State university.####Once we can package this facial analysis in small devices
By wearing Google glass or other Internet-connected goggles with cameras, they could get clues to the reactions of the people with
as long as people agreed in advance to have webcams watch and analyze the emotions reflected in their faces.##
#Powerup 3. 0 A paper airplane controlled by your smartphone Powerup 3. 0 Scientists have spent so much time making amazing airplanes,
Basically, Powerup 3. 0 allows you to control a paper airplane with your smartphone. Exactly what we ve all been waiting for ever
That front piece also has Bluetooth capabilities, so turn on your iphone and go nuts controlling your paper airplane.
The battery charges via mini USB and lasts for 10 minutes of continuous flight. The app itself gives you a pilot s view, complete with a range indicator, a thrust level indicator,
and a magnetic compass. To ascend or descend the plane use the throttle level. To turn it,
tilt your iphone in the direction you d like the paper plane to head. Real talk for a moment:
It s somewhat depressing that we re now controlling our paper airplanes with iphones. I feel like
Spiderfab 3-D robotic printer Since the 1970##s, space-based solar power has been a futuristic fantasy
but the advent of 21st#century 3-D printing may bring it a step closer to reality.
Video)##The overall vision is to create a satellite chrysalis with compact, durable software DNA assembly instructions,
Inc. TUI has won two rounds of funding for its Spiderfab 3-D robotic printer from the#NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts#(NIAC) program.
##3-D printing and robotic construction of components on-orbit would allow a smaller, less expensive launch rocket that will##improve performance per cost by orders of magnitude,
Once#in space, TUI s Trusselator, the first step in the Spiderfab architecture, would use 3-D printing techniques
First, the 3-D printer would build a carbon fiber truss structure that would act as a frame for the system.
With the reductions in volume and mass promised by 3-D printing, those launch costs could be reduced significantly,
##But the maximum radio frequency intensity of the transmission##is only one-fourth that of sunlight,##according to former NASA wireless power transmission engineer Richard Dickinson.
##and Lobbyists who protect#other energy sources subsidies#who would be##out of their jobs###The term 3-D printing has become a catch-all for a number of purposes
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#Volocopter VC200 18-rotor electric helicopter takes flight Volocopter VC200 Greener transportation options have become a priority in the modern world.
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#Computer analyzes images to teach itself common sense At Carnegie mellon University computers are running a program that analyze images to learn common sense.
A computer program analyzes images 24 hours a day to try to learn common sense.##The aim is to see
if computers can learn, in the same way a human would, what links images, to help them better understand the visual world.##
##The Never Ending Image Learner (NEIL) program is being run at Carnegie mellon University in the United states. The work is being funded by the US Department of defense s Office of Naval Research and Google.
Since July, the#NEIL program#has looked at three million images. As a result it has managed to identify 1, 500 objects in half a million images and 1, 200 scenes in hundreds of thousands of images as well as making 2, 500 associations.
Computer programs can already identify and label objects using computer vision, which models what humans can see using hardware and software,
but the researchers hope that NEIL can bring extra analysis to the data.####Images are the best way to learn visual properties,
##said Abhinav Gupta, assistant research professor in Carnegie mellon s Robotics Institute.####They also include a lot of common sense information about the world.
People learn this by themselves and, with NEIL, we hope that computers will do so as well.##
##Examples of the links that NEIL has made include the facts that cars are found on roads
what to teach computers, ##he said.####But humans are good at telling computers when they are wrong.##
##Another reason for NEIL to run is to create the world s largest visual knowledge database where objects, scenes, actions,
attributes and contextual relationships can be labelled and catalogued.####What we have learned in the last five to 10 years of computer vision research is that the more data you have,
the better computer vision becomes, ##Mr Gupta said. The program requires a vast amount of computer power to operate
and is being run on two clusters of computers that include 200 processing cores. The team plans to let NEIL run indefinitely.
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#Uber teams with GM and Toyota to help 100k drivers buy cars to get more Ubers on the road The expansion means hundreds of thousands more cars must come onto the Uber system.
To overcome its growing pains, Uber has come up with a brilliant new strategy. Uber is launching a pilot program to finance new cars.
##CEO Travis Kalanick said in a blog post#that Uber is experiencing increased demand in existing markets,
Users can now hail actual taxis, black cars, lower cost Uberx drivers in regular cars,
#Users began complaining#that the driver acceptance times were getting longer, surge pricing was more frequent,
#How cars of the future will make better use of data they collect every time you drive The interior of the Tesla Model S offers a glimpse of the data-rich driving environments of tomorrow.
generating some 11.1 petabytes of data on an annual basis. That s about 30 terabytes a day.
What will be in that data? Four key items, said Mark Boyadjis, senior analyst of infotainment and Human-Machine Interface at IHS Automotive:
diagnostics, location, user experience (UX)/ feature tracking, and adaptive driver assistance systems (autonomy). He said all four of these areas will drive sales, value-added services,
for example, through a cell phone built into the car, Bluetooth transmissions to other devices, or when the car goes in for service.
##but the eventual goal is to learn user habits to improve the interfaces of the car##for example,
but feels the data belongs to car owners, who have the choice of opting into any data research and gathering.##
##It s very important for auto makers to be transparent. Transparency will lead to openness of information.
I would say the end user owns all the data. But, the automaker also can claim rights to anonymized data.
If you got a system collecting bits of data where they wipe info that is traceable, there s a lot of discussion that the auto maker owns that information,
##he said. All of these details need to be defined and worked out. The first challenge, he said,
Right now there are just too few vehicles collecting data and most tend to be higher-end cars.##
Half of the mass is the motor, a commercially available component about the size of the vibrator in a phone.
Flying machines modeled on insects typically require a computer on board or fins of some kind to maintain their stability,
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#Scientists create electrode that lets you taste virtual food on your tongue The same research team is also working on a digital lollipop.
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#Project Ara: Motorola And 3d Systems will 3d-print modular cell phones 3d printed modular cell phone.
Motorola announced last month a plan for a modular smartphone.##Project Ara will be a simple way for users to individualize their phones,
swapping out parts like the battery and camera until users have#a phone that s#just for them.
They plan on doing that with 3-D printing.####The company has inked a deal#with 3d Systems, a global 3-D printing manufacturing company,
to help produce parts of the phone. Assuming the projectstill officially in developmenttakes off, 3d Systems would be#a##multi-year###production partner, making smartphone##enclosures and modules##for the Google-owned phone company.
There s#reason to be skeptical#of modular phone technology, but Project Ara does get a pedigree boost#from former DARPA director and now-Google exec Regina Dugan,
and having the weight of a big tech company behind it doesn t hurt. Motorola says they ll be releasing more details on the project in the coming months.
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#Heat from subways to warm homes in London London s subway will be supplying green energy to warm up more homes around the borough.
A new project announced by the#Islington council will redirect the heat from a Northern Line of London s subway to vent to homes across the city,
giving homeowners a new way to get through the cold season. The project will deliver cheap heating to 500 homes around the area.
It will not only be saving consumers money, but also the environment from 500 tons of CO2 EMISSIONS.##
##This is the first known project of its kind. Spearheading a green initiative#to harness secondary heat, Boris Johnson,
as if it was ink in ordinary, everyday desktop printers, and will adhere to surfaces as diverse and supple as rubber, paper, cotton T-shirts,
##Need an RFID T-shirt? A smart magazine? The possibilities appear to be endless, as the same material can also be adapted to make a##transparent conductive film,##in other words a see-through electronic circuit,
But charging moving vehicles with high-power wireless chargers below them is complex.####Researchers at North carolina State university have developed a method to deliver power to moving vehicles using simple electronic components, rather than the expensive power electronics or complex sensors previously employed.
Wireless charging through magnetic induction##the same type typically used for electric toothbrushes##is being pursued by a number of companies for consumer electronics and electric vehicles.
Stationary inductive chargers for electric vehicles typically use sensors to ensure that the receiver coils on the vehicle are aligned above wireless charging pads correctly.
Commercial interest in wireless charging systems for moving vehicles is growing. Qualcomm is working on a##dynamic##charging system that builds off its current stationary#wireless EV charger.
The University of Utah has tested a wireless charging infrastructure for city buses and has spun out a company called Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification#to build commercial products.
With the Utah system a bus could charge from coils placed under the road surface where passengers load or at traffic lights.
a company that makes wireless charging equipment. But the electronic tooling used for small electronics,
and tougher environmental requirements, particularly on air emissions.####In other words, TVA was bowing to reality. Federal emissions regulations make retrofitting aging coal plants prohibitively expensive
or printing detailed jewelry or metal ornaments. The Mini Metal Maker is built around the concept of using the minimum number of parts
so that it can be printed easily on low cost printers such as the Makerbot and Reprap.**Refine custom firmware for the printer to further optimize printing for clay.*
*Create the Mini Metal Forge software environment in order to foster a good user experience, particularly for the nontechnical craftsperson.*
*Work with industrial partners to tool up for production of the machine with injection molding.
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Following in#the footsteps of neighboring country Estonia, Alexander Stubb,#the Finnish Minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade, says that teaching basic programming skills to young kids in the classroom
The software teaches everything from basic logic to Java and C++ for older students. Finland is emerging as one of the hottest new startup hubs in the world,
as well as#newcomer Supercell###which has two of the most popular ios games:##Clash of Clans#and#Hay Day###Finland has attracted tech talent from all over Europe looking to set up shop in its capital city.
As#Nokia###once the hometown hero of the country, accounting for 4%of the Finnish GDP##began to shed workers over the years,
long before#Nokia sold its mobile division to Microsoft#in September, and is encouraging venture capitalists from around the world to invest in the local talent.##
##With the success of Nokia in the 90s, it grew our confidence that we could really make it in the tech space,
##But Nokia became too big for comfort, and as leaders moved out, the startup scene started to surface.
along with Nokia and Microsoft, and is set up to spur app development for Windows phones. Startups from various countries around the globe,
as well as founders of all ages, are now working with Appcampus to secure funding and become successful in the Windows phone app store.##
##Everyone knows that gaming is actually good for neurology and the brain, ##Stubb says.####Long gone are the days where parents tell you to stop.
Companies like Apple and Google have tried to give us digital wallets, but nothing has caught really on.
A small display and a fancy magnetic strip let you choose from a range of your cards and memberships before paying.
A Square-like card reader attachment that ships with Coin plugs into your iphone s headphone jack.
Coin communicates with your iphone using low energy Bluetooth and securely stores the data on the card.
and the small display shows you what you have selected with a nickname, the last four digits of the card,
One cool feature that was highlighted in the above video is that Coin checks in over Bluetooth with your iphone.
So when your phone and Coin card get separated a push notification is sent to your phone letting you know you let your Coin behind.
Coin looks like it could be for normal people what Square is for merchants. We ll see.
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