Linking ideas with the world
There will be no Flash for Android 4.1 devices, unless your manufacturer allready packaged it with the device. It won’t be available from the Google Play store either. An Update on Flash Player and Android « Adobe AIR and Adobe Flash Player Team Blog.
It turns out that most people can’t tell the difference in sound quality above 160 kbps. So having a raw CD doesn’t make the sound ‘better’. Concluding the Great MP3 Bitrate Experiment.
A group of researchers led by Professor Todd Humphreys from the University of Texas at Austin Radionavigation Laboratory recently succeeded in raising the eyebrows of the US government. With just around $1,000 in parts, Humphreys’ team took control of an unmanned aerial vehicle operated by the US Department of Homeland Security. They used the same Read more about $1000,- to hack US UAVs and control them[…]
Using lasers, they guide lightning to their targets: “For very powerful and high intensity laser pulses, the air can act like a lens, keeping the light in a small-diameter filament,” said Fischer. “We use an ultra-short-pulse laser of modest energy to make a laser beam so intense that it focuses on itself in air and Read more about Guided lighting weapons[…]
These will only set you back around $100,- and will run quietly, much less noise than a fan system. Corsair Hydro Series CPU Coolers — give you the power of liquid cooling without the complexity of traditional water cooling kits in a compact, easy-to-install package.
The Flynano is a one man electric amphibious aircraft that costs only EUR 32.000,- and a trailer costs EUR 5.300,-. It files from moderate water and wind states and goes 140 kph. Very basic but looks like fun. Flynano.
Here is a theory that says that some fraud perpetrators are not actually evil, but they don’t see that they are being evil, depending on the frame of mind they are put into. Psychology Of Fraud: Why Good People Do Bad Things : NPR.
Jamming Tripoli: Inside Moammar Gadhafi's Secret Surveillance Network | Threat Level | Wired.com.
Apparently they profile tourists and then force them to open their email on their own PC (which means basically you’re giving them your email login through a keylogger) and they look into it. If you disagree you’re hiding something and not allowed into the country. Besides using profiling, which is innefective, it’s a huge invasion Read more about To get into Israel you may have to give your email password[…]
The world of robotic pets is a large and varied one. The central place for finding out about them is here: ElectronicPets.org – The Complete Database of Interactive and Robotic Pets. There are a few that stand out, however: Wowwee, makers of the robosapien have two lines that are very interesting: The Alive baby animals Read more about Robotic pets[…]
The fuel nozzle drip retainer is a simple yet innovative way of saving millions of litres of fuel on a global scale. Anyone who has pumped fuel before has noticed the drops that fall to the ground after you’ve removed the nozzle from the vehicle. We’ve designed a method of retaining these drops, which initiates Read more about Fuel Nozzle Drip Retainer[…]
Peter Jennings is an inventor who has built loads of stuff for the Go Pro Hero camera’s, such as a programmable time lapse controller, panoramic mounts, external power using the back door of the casing and DIY wireless remote controllers. Very worth looking at the hacks he has if you own a Go-Pro. GoPro Camera Read more about GoPro Camera Tips and Techniques[…]
Burgemeester hackt kritische site | Webwereld. He used the data he gained to strong arm political opponents. So if your elected mayor is capable of doing this, then what makes you think all the drones and other political forces sitting on top of huge centralised databases won’t be capable of this… to much larger effect?
Britain’s largest force says it has distributed 350 of the cell phone-sized devices to officers across various parts of London, part of a nationwide rollout championed by Britain’s National Policing Improvement Agency. via Scotland Yard deploys mobile fingerprint devices. So will they store all precessed fingerprints? How quickly will they be removed from the physical Read more about Scotland Yard deploys mobile fingerprint devices[…]
NASA has contracted this rocket to very carefully approach the ISS for resupply runs. Well done Elon Musk! SpaceX Dragon, first private ship to the ISS, launched successfully • The Register.
It turns out that not only is it a massive privacy invasion, but has a 20% (!!) error rate. Besides that it’s useless, because no border guard system can read the fingerprints on the passport. Tweede Kamer wil af van vingerafdruk in paspoort – update | Webwereld.
The boat is 39 feet long and can reach a top speed of 28 knots. Using a modified version of the unmanned Shadow surveillance aircraft technology that logged 700,000 hours of duty in the Middle East, the boat can be controlled remotely from 10 to 12 miles away from a command station on land, at Read more about Common Unmanned Surface Vessel for Navy[…]
Beam me up Scotty: Life-size hologram-like telepods revolutionize videoconferencing | Human Media Lab :: Queen's University.
Wait – what? It BROKE an insulin pump? And it’s supposed to be safe for people to go in? Really? Diabetic teen upset with TSA screeners at Salt Lake City Airport – ABC4.com – Salt Lake City, Utah News.
Not using a credit card is becoming a much more viable method over the internet (22% of the overall e-commerce payments), with iDeal and Paypal, but also many other methods used to pay for porn or gambling. Worldpay has made an interactive map showing the predominance of specific alternative currencies per country. Worldpay Globe Data. Read more about Payment alternatives to plastic – an interactive map[…]
Melville ten Cate of ECA, housed in Schiphol, claims to have secured EUR 283 million to finance the business plan I have been harping on about for the last 25 years: he wants to buy 24 light combat aircraft to start an Integrated Opposing Force (IOPFOR) which will be used as an agressor training service Read more about ECA secures funds for NATO aggressor aircraft purchase – they say[…]
It turns out that there are pleny of studies out there that debunk the “facts and figures” the industries throw about when talking about IP theft and the costs of piracy. Here is a selection of some interesting other studies. What Various Studies Really Reveal About File-Sharing – Slashdot.
Last month, marine biologist Luke Tipple, armed with a career in the study of sharks, accepted the request from handheld laser manufacturers, Wicked Lasers, to attach a Wicked Lasers laser beam to a shark’s fin, which he did with success. On a diving trip in the Bahamas, he fit a laser device onto a lemon Read more about Lasers on sharks!!![…]
Through a process involving thin layers of material deposited on a surface and then selectively etched away, the MIT team produced a surface covered with tiny cones, each five times taller than their width. This pattern prevents reflections, while at the same time repelling water from the surface via Researchers find a way to make Read more about Researchers find a way to make glass that’s anti-fogging, self-cleaning and free of glare[…]
It turns out that basically copying succesful apps is the best way to actually make money on the app store. The Artificial Life of the App Store – the Best Strategy to Succeed.