Daily Archives: May 20, 2016

IBM Research Quantum Experience – access a real quantum computer for free!

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IBM Quantum Experience represents the birth of quantum cloud computing, offering hands-on access to IBM’s experimental cloud-enabled quantum computing platform, and allowing users to run algorithms and experiments, work with quantum bits (qubits), and explore tutorials and simulations around what might be possible with quantum computing[…]
The IBM Quantum Experience is a virtual lab where you can design and run your own algorithms through the cloud on real quantum processors located in the IBM Quantum Lab at the Thomas J Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY.

Source: IBM Research Quantum Experience

SkinTrack Turns Your Arm Into a Touchpad.

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n the project video, a finger swipes and pokes at skin like it’s a touchscreen. As the finger navigates a hairy forearm, a cursor reacts to the movement on the smartwatch screen. There’s no projection and little lag between the finger’s movement and movement on the screen.[…] the researchers developed a ring that sends a high-frequency alternating-current signal into your finger. When your finger touches or hovers above your arm, that signal propagates outward along your skin to a wristband embedded with electrodes. By measuring something called phase difference, which this technology does by comparing the times at which the oscillating signal arrives at two pairs of electrodes, SkinTrack can determine the position of your finger with impressive accuracy.

Source: SkinTrack Turns Your Arm Into a Touchpad. Here’s How It Works


OpenRA – updated and free Red Alert, Command and Conquer

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Open Source reimplementation of Westwood Studios’ 2D Command and Conquer games

OpenRA is a project that recreates and modernizes the classic Command & Conquer real time strategy games. We have developed a flexible open source game engine (the OpenRA engine) that provides a common platform for rebuilding and reimagining classic 2D and 2.5D RTS games (the OpenRA mods).

This means that OpenRA is not restricted by the technical limitations of the original closed-source games: it includes native support for modern operating systems and screen resolutions (including Windows 10, Mac OS X, and most Linux distros) without relying on emulation or binary hacks, and features integrated online multiplayer.

While we love the classic RTS gameplay, multiplayer game design has evolved significantly since the early 1990’s. The OpenRA mods include new features and gameplay improvements that bring them into the modern era:

A choice between “right click” and classic “left click” control schemes
Overhauled sidebar interfaces for managing production
Support for game replays and an observer interface designed for streaming games online
The “fog of war” that obscures the battlefield outside your units’ line of sight
Civilian structures that can be captured to provide benefits
Units gain experience as they fight and improve when they earn new ranks

OpenRA is 100% free, and comes bundled with three distinct mods. When you run a mod for the first time the game can automatically download the original game assets, or you can use the original game disks.

Source: OpenRA

Laser-assisted direct ink writing of planar and 3D metal architectures

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The ability to pattern planar and freestanding 3D metallic architectures at the microscale would enable myriad applications, including flexible electronics, displays, sensors, and electrically small antennas. A 3D printing method is introduced that combines direct ink writing with a focused laser that locally anneals printed metallic features “on-the-fly.” To optimize the nozzle-to-laser separation distance, the heat transfer along the printed silver wire is modeled as a function of printing speed, laser intensity, and pulse duration. Laser-assisted direct ink writing is used to pattern highly conductive, ductile metallic interconnects, springs, and freestanding spiral architectures on flexible and rigid substrates.

Source: Laser-assisted direct ink writing of planar and 3D metal architectures

Study shows phone metadata is much more sensitive than top spies admit

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In a study published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Stanford University researchers demonstrated how they used publicly available sources—like Google searches and the paid background-check service Intelius—to identify “the overwhelming majority” of their 823 volunteers based only on their anonymized call and SMS metadata.

Using data collected through a special Android app, the Stanford researchers determined that they could easily identify people based on their call and message logs.

The results cast doubt on claims by senior intelligence officials that telephone and Internet “metadata”—information about communications, but not the content of those communications—should be subjected to a lower privacy threshold because it is less sensitive.

Contrary to those claims, the researchers wrote, “telephone metadata is densely interconnected, susceptible to reidentification, and enables highly sensitive inferences.” Study shows phone metadata is much more sensitive than top spies admit