Keebler/Blog » Science/Technology

Be a computer scientist without the years (of hell)

Jonathan — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:35:21 +0000

There’s one thing I regret about getting my Computer Science degree: the years of my life it wasted. Ok, ok, that’s not true. I regret way more than that

Anyhow, some guys at MIT have whipped up an Automatic CS Paper Generator. I love their rational:

One useful purpose for such a program is to auto-generate submissions to conferences that you suspect might have very low submission standards.

I’d bet most submission boards wouldn’t notice one of these coming in. Maybe I’ll reference a few of these bad-boys on my resume from now on Here’s my ground-breaking paper: A Case for Symmetric Encryption.

Have fun with your new found power, and I am in no way responsible if you get drop-kicked out of University for using one of these papers for your homework (you idiot).

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Intel’s Wireless Power Technology Demonstrated (MIRROR)

Jonathan — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:27:50 +0000

This innovation is hoped to be embedded into tables and work surfaces so that as soon as a device is placed on the surface, it will be able to draw power. The technology uses magnetic fields to transmit up to 60 watts of power to a distance of up to two to three feet while only losing around 25% of the power during transmission.

A major concern of any wireless power technology is its possible effects on users. Fortunately during the demonstration the electricity was broadcast without electrocuting anyone who passed between the transmitter and the receiver. Intel’s lead researcher Josh Smith explained that, “The trick with wireless power is not that you can do it; it is that you can do it safely and efficiently.” Magnetic fields, used by Intel’s WREL technology do not affect the human body (at least as far as we currently know), unlike electric fields, which might give the user a zap.

The idea of using resonant magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit electricity was demonstrated by a team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who refer to their idea as WiTricity. More recently Intel researchers joined forces with MIT to explore the phenomenon known as ”resonant induction,” and the outcome is a technology capable of transmitting power several feet away without wires.

Currently, resonant induction is used to recharge small devices such as electric toothbrushes. Future induction systems based on Intel’s technology will not be restricted to a physical touch between transmitter and receiver and will be able to transmit power over a distance of several feet with efficiency of 50 percent or more.

“In the future, your kitchen counters might do it [supply the power],” Mr. Smith said. “You’d just drop your espresso maker down on them and you would never have to plug it in.”

The new technology would initially be used to charge the battery of devices such as laptops, cameras, and cell phones, but Intel hopes to eventually eliminate the use of batteries altogether. Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle said, “That is potentially a world changing event. This is the closest we’ve had to something being commercially available in this class. Previous wireless power systems consisted basically of firing lightning bolts from sending to receiving units.”

Intel is not the only player in the growing market of wireless power companies. Many companies are currently working on different types of wireless power technologies. Two American start-up companies, WildCharge and WiPower, have already shown simpler wireless power technologies. Intel’s next target is to design a system to recharge a laptop computer without wires.

Intel looks on this next development as a strategic move since attaching a WREL receiving antenna to a laptop would be easier than trying to implement the WREL technology into cell phones or PDAs due to their small size compared to the WREL receiver. If successful, the system would be implemented in airports, offices, and other buildings and deliver power to laptops and other mobile devices. The technology could also be built into plugged in computer components, such as monitors, to enable them to broadcast power to devices left on desks or carried into rooms.

Smith says that Intel’s wireless power system is still in an early stage of development and much research remains before it can be brought to the market. “You’d like to cut the last cord,” Smith said. “It’s great that we have wireless email and wireless internet and stuff like that but at the end of the day it would be nice to have wireless recharge as well.”

You can read more about MIT’s first test of the technology mentioned above in “Wireless Power Demonstrated,” where a 60 watt light bulb was able to be lit wirelessly from a distance of about 2 meters in mid 2007. Another wireless power technology is currently being developed by the U.S. company Fulton Innovation under the title “eCoupled Wireless Power.” While waiting for all those wireless power technologies to be developed, you can check out a new, fully operational, green plug universal adapter, which helps you power all your devices from a single adapter.

More information can be obtained on Intel’s website and blog. Several videos show a demonstration of the WREL technology (here, here and here).

(mirror)

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Large Hadron Collider Live

Jonathan — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:53:38 +0000

I feel safer already to have these webcams watching the LHC since I was convinced it was going to kill us all. What could possibly go wrong?

(source)

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Android G1 phone shows you where you are

Jonathan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:37:19 +0000

The new Google Phone was unveiled today (TechCrunch liveblogged the launch using ScribbleLive crossposting). I definitely want one to play with, but I won’t be dropping my iPhone cold just yet

One thing I found kinda ~~funny~~ cool was that it comes with a built-in compass. It gives the phone its precise orientation when it comes to GPS positioning. Their big demo app was Google Street View that rotates on the screen as you rotate the device. So let-me-get-this-straight, if you are standing somewhere you can pull up a photo of the exact place you are. Oh, and if you turn around while you’re standing there, you can see the photos of what’s in-front of you over there. Yes, that definitely is a selling point I no longer have to refocus my eyes by being forced to look at a screen, then the real world. It’s a miracle!

Of course, I’m just trying to balance-out all the glowing reviews of the launch with a slightly negative one, for no particular reason. Don’t listen to me. Go enjoy your Google Phone and smite me down with your no-refocussing ways.

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CRTC denies new TV channels that would compete with major broadcasters

Jonathan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:19:22 +0000

In Canada we essentially four major TV networks (sorry, CBC): CTVglobemedia, Astral, Canwest and Rogers. Between the four of them, they own almost ever analogue channel and a big share of the HD channels in Canada. The CRTC is a regulatory body for the broadcasting industry. In recent years, they have started allowing unprecedented consolidation of the media in this country. The rational has been that we need the Canadian broadcasters to be as strong as possible to be able to compete with the power of the U.S. networks. Of course, there’s no way that will ever happen, but that’s the rational

Over the last few years, the Canadian broadcasters have been allowed for the first time to own multiple news stations in each city market, which has further narrowed the points of view that we are exposed to in the media. For example, in Toronto CTVglobemedia owns both CP24 and CTV Toronto. To make matters worst, CP24 airs mostly news from Rogers‘ CityNews, which shares content with 680 News Radio, etc, etc. You start to get an idea how consolidated the media is despite the CRTC’s “efforts.”

Given this state of the industry, we need more independent voices in the market, not less. So what does the CRTC do to respond?

CRTC slaps down application for new HD stations
In three separate decisions handed down today, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) turned down multiple applications from High Fidelity HDTV Inc. to operate two new English language high definitions and one standard definition channel in Canada.

The federal regulator denied the applications because the commission said the new stations would compete with stations owned by Canada’s largest television broadcasters: Astral, CTVGlobemedia, and Rogers and that would contravene the commissions “competitive policy.”

Although it is counter-intuitive to most readers, under the CRTC’s competitive policy, new applicants must convince bureaucrats in Ottawa that a new station would NOT compete with an existing analog or pay channel in order to receive approval.

In simple terms, the CRTC ruled that High Fidelity, the broadcaster of several HD channels in Canada including Oasis HD, Equator HD and Treasure HD, had dared to propose stations that would compete with stations owned by Astral, CTVGlobemedia and Rogers therefore the stations were rejected.
Diversion HD and Diversion SD

The CRTC is using outdated mandates to protect the major broadcasters and denying competition as a matter of policy. Can anyone explain to me how that policy benefits Canadians?! Combined with the CRTC starting hearings about whether they should regulate the Internet, this bureaucracy is completely out of control. Unfortunately, the minority Conservative government in Ottawa is no friend of the media industry. There’s little hope of them making tough decisions about the CRTC.

So I guess we’re stuck with this increasingly irrelevant, dinosaur office mucking about in an industry it no longer understands. I guess the moral story is: if you want to broadcast your content in Canada, you’d better look to the Web not the TV.

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Melting icecap = just more land for us (and Gisele Bündchen)

Jonathan — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:13:52 +0000

So there are lots of stories out this week about the unprecedented melting going on at the North Pole. I’m still waiting for the ~~first~~ second scientist to come right out and say, “Yup, we told you this was going to happen. Now the Earth is going to absorb way more sun, which will heat the oceans, and trigger a massive climate shift.”

I think it’s obvious by now that we’re all pretty-much screwed at this point. So smoke-’em-if-you-got-’em people, and let’s live out the rest of our days squabbling over the Northwest passage. At least Canada will end up with more land…until the U.S. decides to annex our arctic. I hereby extend an official invitation to Gisele Bündchen to come live out her days up here in the sunny arctic with us

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The Large Hadron Collider is trying to kill us

Jonathan — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:50:34 +0000

For years I’ve been ~~boring~~ telling people about how the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is going to kill us all. Well I’m finally justified in my crazy ramblings thanks to a Cracked article, Cracked being the definitive source for all science articles I hope someone let’s me know when they first turn the LHC on. I know that if they screw up, I won’t have time to realize that I’m being sucked into a wormhole or something, but I’d still like to be sitting on a patio, drinking a beer, and contemplating how cool science is.

The article also waxes the finer points of nanotechnology:

Imagine you meet a magical leprechaun. For a bargain price, he offers to fix up the your house and add an extra room. So you take him home, and he proceeds to eat your house and shit out a hundred and forty more leprechans, which promptly murder you.

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How It All Ends: An argument for immediate action on climate change

Jonathan — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:44:15 +0000

Nothing like a great doomsday video to get you in that holiday spirit This guy was on Canada AM this morning. He makes a very logical argument for taking immediate action to counter global climate change, and has posted dozens of videos debating the finer points with skeptical YouTubers. Give it a watch, and decide for yourself. At the very least, he’s pretty entertaining

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Xbox 360 Convergence: Is it here?

Jonathan — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:22:06 +0000

I just realized that last night I had the ultimate convergence experience on my Xbox 360:

I turned on my Xbox 360. I checked what my friends were playing, and decided to play some Halo 3. I played for a while, when a friend’s MSN message popped up on the screen. I waited for the game to end, then MSNed them back. While I was doing that, a friend from Halifax joined my Halo 3 team and asked me if I wanted to play. I hooked up the mic and me and my g/f talked to him for a bit. Then I decided to go to the gym for a bit, so I started some music streaming and my g/f played some Arcade games I had downloaded. When I got back, we started a Marketplace movie downloading. While that downloading, I watched an episode of Dexter I had on my computer. When I turned off the Xbox that night, I left it recharging my iPod and the controller through USB.

It can’t be at the point where this is all possible, is it?! All this was possible with a stock Xbox 360 and my Mac with Connect360 running. I’m very impressed with Microsoft right now

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Xbox Media Center is awesome, but not quite HD

Jonathan — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:09:08 +0000

As you may have guessed already, I’m in love with my Xbox Media Center (XBMC). It’s a great media center for watching downloaded content. But even-though it’s pushing out a 1080i picture, the adage holds: Garbage in, garbage out. Although in this case, it’s more like recycling.

Most of the TV you can download out there are 350MB per half hour, multi-pass encoded in the Xvid codec. They look great, they sound great, but they don’t match the high-definition coming through the air or cable company. Even though they may be labelled “.hdtv.avi”, they have been encoded down from a high-definition MPEG2 down to an MPEG4. If you look at the true HD rips floating around out there, they are 4GB per hour. So despite Xvid being a great codec, picture information is being lost.

Here’s a look at the same scene, from the same show (’Lost’), on the XBMC vs. a Scientific Atlanta HD-PVR. Both screenshots were taken from a paused screen at almost the same timecode (you try pausing within a millisecond ) with a Canon Powershot SD30 on a Sharp Aquos 32″ HD LCD TV.

Xvid on XBMC

HD TV on Scientific Atlanta PVR

As you can see, there is a fairly big difference. This is a pause, so you can’t see the motion effects. But differences in clarity and colour are pretty easy to see.

The sharpness just isn’t there in the Xvid. Look at the details of the woman’s face, and the stairs behind her. The Xvid is blurry whereas the HD has the clarity you have come to expect on a modern TV.

Also, check out the buttons on the woman’s jacket. In the HD you can see they are all gold/bronze, whereas the Xvid shades them each very differently (some even look green).

Although the Xbox Media Center is great for streaming downloaded (Xvid) videos to your TV, if you are used to high-definition television, you can’t get rid of your cable company or HD-tuner quite yet

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We’re all hoping this is the cure for cancer

Jonathan — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:44:48 +0000

Over the last couple of weeks, the subject of Dichloroacetic acid (DCA) as a cure for cancer has come up a few times in my circle of friends. Being the liberal, hippy, environmental, free-speach-a-cists that we are, there are a lot of conspiracy theories going around. In particular, that DCA is the cure for cancer, but we aren’t hearing about it from Big Business because it’s not owned by the drug companies. I really, really hoped that was the case, but I researched it tonight (by which I mean that I found articles written by medical professionals who know how to research medical discoveries) and I found that just isn’t the case.

DCA may be the miracle cure that we’ve been waiting for, but it hasn’t entered human-trials yet so there’s no evidence that it will work in humans. Although it’s shown success in reducing the size of tumours in lab mice, “DCA is an organic chemical that causes liver cancer in laboratory mice when put in their drinking water” (source – emphasis added).

The University of Alberta researchers are theorizing the following (summed up nicely by Dr. Len at the American Cancer Society):

The basic gist of the research report is that cancer cells rely on certain energy pathways that are different from normal cells, similar to the situation that occurs in what we medically call lactic acidosis.

Lactic acidosis in very simple terms occurs in our bodies when we are very ill or may be suddenly severely traumatized. Our cells basically become starved for energy, and switch into other energy pathways that rely less on oxygen, resulting in the production of lactic acid.

As a result, when there are large quantities of lactic acid circulating in our system, it can contribute to a significantly increased risk of death.

What the Alberta researcher hypothesized was that cancer cells also work through similar metabolic pathways. If you could revert them to normal, then the cells would switch back to the typical energy pathway, and either die or convert to normal cells.

Where DCA or dichloroacetic acid fits into this theory is that it can apparently convert the bad metabolic pathways into good ones.

I’m sure everyone who has had someone affected by the disease has been hoping for an announcement like this, but it really seems too early to tell at this point. I hope this is it.

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Tux the Penguin’s Siege of Windows Vista’s Ice House

Jonathan — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 22:47:22 +0000

For the Windows Vista launch, Microsoft decided to build an ice house in downtown Toronto. Never the ones to shy away from some free promotion, the Ubuntu Toronto chapter decided to bring a giant Tux, the Linux penguin, to the event and place it across the street. They were even giving out copies of Ubuntu for free.

The next step, I suppose, would have been to have a flamethrowing version of Tux melt that place to the ground, while yelling “Linux forever! O/S was meant to be free”. However, I’m not aware of any reports of that happening…yet. *hint, hint*

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High-speed Cameras Take High-Speed Movies

Jonathan — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:09:44 +0000

This gallery of high-speed movies is pretty impressive. Lesson of the Day: bees have wings that flap, instead of my original hypothesis that they hovered in an anti-gravity field created by magnets they eat circling in their stomachs of copper wire. Who knew?!

(Thanks Evan)

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Crazy-assed Shark!

Jonathan — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:52:34 +0000

I know everyone and their mothers (if they have blogs I suppose) have already seen this crazy-assed shark, but LOOK AT THIS THING! WTF!

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SD Card with Built-in USB

Jonathan — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 14:28:40 +0000

I’ve been resisting blogging this for a couple weeks now, mainly because I hate Tiger Direct a little more than Futureshop, and only the former sells this. But I broke down this morning, so here we go: a secure digital (SD) card from Sandisk that you can fold into a USB adapter.

My digital camera takes SD cards, and it’s a royal pain-in-the-arse to carry around it’s USB cord every time I’m on the road (especially because it needs it’s stupid, little dock too). With these SD cards, I could just pop it out and put it directly into a USB drive. Heck, it’s so easy, it’s almost worth using these things as thumb-drives!

Anyhow, Viva la Revolution SD Cardo!

Sandisk 2GB Ultra II Secure Digital Plus Card SDSDPH-2048-901 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

This ground-breaking card gives you the capability to connect your SD card directly into a USB port by transforming into a USB adapter, via our unique hinged cover, eliminating the need for any readers to offload content to a PC.

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My Phone is Better Than iPhone

Jonathan — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 02:10:37 +0000

Everyone who knows me, knows that I’m a geeky fellow. I love gadgets, upgrades, product launches, dongles, and cords. I have a MacBook, an HD television, a DVR, an iPod, 5.1 surround sound, wifi, and a 5MP digital camera.

But my phone outshines them all. I have an LG TM520: the newest flip phone of 2001. My phone can not only make calls, it can text message via it’s green-glowing screen, it has a built in WAP browser *AND* it comes pre-loaded with Blackjack. It doesn’t have custom ringtones, wallpaper, a web-browser, or a camera. It’s just a phone, and that’s why it rocks.

Maybe one day I will upgrade. Telus has offered my free upgrades to a newer phone for the past 4 years, but I can’t give up my awesome cellphone for the prettiest new thing to come on the market. Just because my girlfriend is embarassed when I use my phone in public, doesn’t mean I can give up my life-long friend. I’ve even acquired five new batteries which are ready to go whenever I start noticing my call-time shrinking. They should keep me going until at least 2010.

Thank you, LG TM520, for being the best phone — and friend — a guy could ever have.

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Rogers Upgrading their DVR Firmware

Jonathan — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:58:35 +0000

I finally called Rogers Cable on Friday about my Rogers-branded Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 digital video recorder being all wonky (it routinely stops recording shows midway though and jumps to live TV when I’m watching a recording). They told me that they have started rolling out firmware updates to all their DVR boxes on their network in the Toronto-area this month. The updates will take place at 2am, and will cause a forced reboot of your box.

It’s nice to know I’m not the only one having these problems, but it would have been nice to be notified proactively by Rogers that a fix was underway

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Snowbot

Jonathan — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 04:13:08 +0000

Ever wonder what you’d get if a cylon f0ked Mrs. Clause? Well, you would probably get this crime-against-nature Snowbot. He may not be atomically correct, but he’s all SnowMAN under his frosty exterior.

And yes, I realize my blog is slowly becoming a shill for ThinkGeek

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Smart Wifi Rabbit

Jonathan — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 05:01:57 +0000

I think I remembering seeing this ~~months~~ years ago, but I just saw it again and *DAMN* if I don’t want it Seriously, could this thing be any cooler? I want it to sit on my bed-stand and read me RSS while I go to sleep. I hope it has one of those scary computer-generated voices. Hello-Keebler-I-am-your-friend-A-tragic-fire-killed-an-entire-family-…

$14.95 for 3 months to hear my own RSS feeds is a little high, but it’s a helluvalot cheaper than paying some ~~homeless~~ guy on the street to read you the news. Although I’d probably prefer the little, white rabbit on my bedstand *Probably*

ThinkGeek :: Nabaztag Wifi Smart Rabbit

So you are probably wondering if a rabbit can really be “smart”? Well this bunny can teach you tai chi, read your e-mail, report the weather or stock market, pull RSS feeds and tell you the time. We’d say that’s pretty smart – but he’s also got personality. Nabaztag can move his ears, play music, talk and whistle, and his body can show off hundreds of colors and special patterns of light.

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iGallop Horse Riding Simulator and Exercise Device

Jonathan — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:11:14 +0000

Now you can have all the fun of riding a horse, without the horse…or the horse shit. Hey, maybe this isn’t so stupid after all

iGallop Horse Riding Simulator and Exercise Device Now in the U.S. – Gizmodo

Yes, the iGallop, the exercise device that sort of simulates riding on a horse, has been spotted in the U.S. recently, and if all the videos Youtube mean anything, we’re in for some good clean fun.

(Thanks Mike)

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