Monthly Archives: January 2012

Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life

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Life is an inordinately complex unsolved puzzle. Despite significant theoretical progress, experimental anomalies, paradoxes, and enigmas have revealed paradigmatic limitations. Thus, the advancement of scientific understanding requires new models that resolve fundamental problems. Here, I present a theoretical framework that economically fits evidence accumulated from examinations of life. This theory is based upon a straightforward and non-mathematical core model and proposes unique yet empirically consistent explanations for major phenomena including, but not limited to, quantum gravity, phase transitions of water, why living systems are predominantly CHNOPS
(carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur), homochirality of sugars and amino acids, homeoviscous adaptation, triplet code, and DNA mutations. The theoretical
framework unifies the macrocosmic and microcosmic realms, validates predicted laws of nature, and solves the puzzle of the origin and evolution of cellular life in the universe.

Erik D Andrulis

via Life | Free Full-Text | Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life.

Enyo JavaScript Application Framework (originally for WebOS) opened up

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Enyo is an open source object-oriented JavaScript framework emphasizing encapsulation and modularity. Enyo contains everything you need to create a fast, scalable mobile or web application:

  • Built from the ground-up for mobile first

    – Enyo powers webOS, and was designed from the beginning to be fast and work great on mobile devices

  • Now available for desktop and cross-browser development

    – Enyo 2.0 now runs across mobile environments and desktop browsers including Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer

  • Highly customizable and extensible

    – Enyo core can be expanded with modules, UI widgets, and more

  • Lightweight and fast

    – Enyo 2.0 core is about 13KB gzipped, and built for fast application rendering and performance

  • Simple, self-contained, and easy to digest

    – Build increasingly complex functionality starting with simple, reusable components

  • Built to scale

    – Enyo was created on the principles needed to build vast, complex mobile and web applications

  • Open Source

    – Enyo is available under the Apache License, Version 2.0

Enyo JavaScript Application Framework.

To ‘think outside the box’, think outside the box

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Want to think outside the box? Try actually thinking outside of a box. In a study to be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researchers had students think up solutions to problems while acting out various metaphors about creative thinking and found that the instructions actually worked.

via To 'think outside the box', think outside the box.

Head Up Displays for you car

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The landscape for car HUDs has changed dramatically over the last year, so here is a short overview for what’s possible.

Microvision: Head Up Displays.

Microvision supplies a Pico projector which uses laser projection to project onto a car. It works during daytime and doesn’t need a film to be added to the glass.

AAXA also delivers a pico projector, which it claims is the worlds’ brightest.

Superimaging has a windscreen soluiton, using an emissive projection display. It doesn’t use pixels, which gives an interesting look to it, no idea how the image is generated though. Some more information here.

Wikipedia also has an interesting article on HUD’s including the different generations.

Virtual Cable is an interesting system that puts loads of information on the windscreen, but nothing on how the hardware works. They overlay the route as a cable op the windsreen, and overlay other information on the windscreen too.

Smart HUD uses Android and the Microvision pico projector to turn your smartphone into a HUD solution. A tracker device is added to the steering wheel, allowing you to safely operate the device.

By far the best software is Atoll Ordenadores ASmartHud series of apps, which are unfortunately iphone only 🙁

Pioneer has a system called Navgate that hangs off your sun visor. Not available outside of Japan yet though

Indigogo has a project called IRIS which is pulled off the Pioneer system

Poorly secured SCADA systems logins posted live on Twitter

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Basically SCADA systems are so poorly secured you can find their logins on Google. In a protest that people are uncovering vulnerabilities but the suppliers aren’t fixing the problem but rather trying to silence the exploiters entirely, this twitter account is posting links to loads of SCADA systems. So if you want to play with some systems, now is your chance 🙂

Someone unnumbered ntisec on Twitter.

UK to give schoolkids programming lessons instead of Excel

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An excellent plan to make the future generations more than just users of software, but makers of software is being launched in the UK, where schoolkids will make 2D animations, program smartphone apps, etc. Sounds like they’ll have a lot more fun than they do now as well as learning something very very useful.

Kids should be making software, not just using it – Gove • The Register.

NL courts rule ISP’s are content filters – great firewall of NL coming up?

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Ziggo and XS4ALL, two ISP’s in NL, have been forced by the courts to dissallow users to get to the pirate bay. Of course, users will still be able to get there using VPNs so it’s not very effective, but more worrying is that the Dutch courts seem to think that not only do they have the right to filter content viewed by Dutch web surfers, but also that the ISP is the right body to act as an internet cop.

Of course, this does set precedence, so expect to see politics and the courts follow their own agenda’s soon and revoke our freedoms for loads of other websites.

Rechtspraak.nl – LJN: BV0549.

Implanted biofuel cell converts bug’s chemistry into electricity: good for literally bugging places

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An insect’s internal chemicals can be converted to electricity, potentially providing power for sensors, recording devices or to control the bug, a group of researchers at Case Western Reserve University report.

via Implanted biofuel cell converts bug’s chemistry into electricity: Scientists take step toward cyborgs.