npr:
Intelligent Robots Will Overtake Humans by 2100
Are you ready for the robocalypse? Nah, I’m sure it’ll be peaceful.
This reblog seemed fitting after the last post. — tanya b.
Flying across America, from San Francisco to New York City, in a solar plane. Awesome!
http://www.treehugger.com/aviation/solar-impulse-flying-san-francisco-new-york-city-solar-plane.html
(via 30casterlyrock)
Bicycle Phone Changer
In Tanzania, the majority of people live without electricity, yet a third of the country uses mobile phones. Bernard Kiwia, a trained electrician and vocational-school instructor, collaborated with the for-profit social enterprise Global Cycle Solutions (GCS) to design a phone charger from scrap bike and radio parts. Made from spokes, brake tubes, clamps, motors, and capacitors, the device generates power when its roller comes in contact with the bike’s spinning wheel as one rides it
(via dead-until-dark)
“APEXvj 2.0“
Visualize your favourite tunes online. Next level music visualizer that runs on Chrome and uses WebGL and WebAudio. Official release track : Subsquare - Broken (feat. Jane Dawn)
“Researchers build miniature flying robots, modeled on Drosophila”
We may not be at fruit fly level yet, but researchers are giving the insects some competition. Today’s issue of Science reports on miniature flying robots that aren’t much bigger than a coin. The power and control are handled externally, but the tiny robots can still perform basic maneuvers, and they have enough lift to spare that they could fly under their own power for a few minutes if the right power storage were developed.
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Noting the concept of Moore’s Law, you should be wonderfully afraid.
Researchers Watch Nanoparticles Form Structures in Real-TimeIn a new study performed at the Center for Nanoscale Materials at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers have — for the first time — seen the self-assembly of nanoparticle chains in situ as it occurs in real-time.
The scientists exposed a tiny liquid “cell” or pouch that contained gold nanoparticles covered with a positively charged coating to an intense beam of electrons generated with a transmission electron microscope. Some of the electrons that penetrated the outside of the cell became trapped in the fluid medium in the cell. These “hydrated” electrons attracted the positively charged nanoparticles, which in time reduced the intensity of charge of the positive coating.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/04/researchers-watch-nanoparticles-form-structures-real-time
(via warpedpassage)
“Test drive the Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive with Chris Harris”
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Will you LOOK at this sexy beast!
It’s the lovely amalgamation of science and design…just stunning.
“Google Street View Hyperlapse makes virtual travel magical”
Toronto-based design firm Teehan+Lax has created a process that allows users to build time-lapse animations using Google Street View imagery, and it’s calling the resulting videos Hyperlapses. If you don’t fancy the predetermined routes made by the firm – though we’re sure you will – you can create your own using their web interface.
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This is really beautiful.
“The Future of the Internal Combustion Engine - Inside Koenigsegg”
In the seventh episode, Christian Von Koenigsegg and Urban Carlson demonstrate their Free Valve technology that does not require a camshaft to run. This engineering is being pioneered by Koenigsegg for future use, but is already running in a Saab 9-5 test mule.
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I wish they had added some 3D animation to better explain their working prototype to those not familiar with combustion engine technology but what they have is quite revolutionary when you consider that the internal combustion engine hasn’t really undergone any radical change in the last 100 years.
And the promise of it being able to have regenerative capabilities has huge implications with increasing efficiency and reducing costs for manufacturers and consumers.
If you’re into cars, or at least some of the science involved with helping to end our dependency on fossil fuel, I’d highly recommend a few minutes of your time to digest what is taking place in this video.
I’ve been meaning to put together a recommendation list of Android Apps for a while now. Since a tumblr friend just acquired an Android phone, I figured I would take the opportunity to do so.
Most of the apps I tend to use on a regular basis are for media consumption and productivity. Hopefully you will find them as useful as I do.
Internet
- Dolphin Browser - This is the best browser I’ve used on an Android device. The installed browser is nothing special, and this is the best alternative I’ve tried. I used to use Opera Mobile / Mini but a few versions back Opera began to take a very long time to load. So I switched to Dolphin and I’ve been happy with it ever since. The bookmarks interface is great (and integrates with xMarks for synchronization), it has a lot of useful add-ons, including a “night mode” which conserves batter life. Most importantly it is fast.
- Pocket - Save web pages for offline reading. This is particularly useful if you’re going to be without a data or wifi connection, as it stores the media on your phone. (Great for reading fic on an airplane, for example).
- Tweetcaster - my preferred twitter client.
- Aldiko - my preferred eBook reader. I haven’t used any others, but it suits my requirements. Supports ePub and PDF files, has a customizable reading experiment, and a useful bookshelf view.
- Tumblr - Obviously.
- Pulse News - Track your favorite websites and blogs. It integrates with Read It Later and Evernote to save things for later reading.
Media
- PowerAMP - A really great music player that features an excellent equalizer, great library interface and support for most file formats. It’s not free, but there is a trial version you can use to see if it is for you.
- Shazam - Tells you the name of that song playing on the radio that you like so much.
- Songza - Exellent streaming radio service that features a “Music Concierge” to find just the right radio station. It is also available as a web app. My favorite station is Mellow Electro. I wouldn’t recommend using this app without a WiFi connection unless you have a really great data plan, because like most music streaming services it does consume a lot of bandwith.
Productivity
- Astrid - Astrid is a to-do list tool that I like so much I upgraded to the Power Pack. It comes with a widget that you can place on a screen for easy access to your list at any time. You can categories lists, make subtask, set up reminders, and share lists. It’s really great for absent-minded people who forget things all the time, like me. Full disclosure: I have ADD, and this is an invaluable tool I use to help manage that.
- Evernote - Evernote is my favorite app, and with good reason. I use the desktop application, as well as the Web Clipper chrome extension to keep track of all manner of information. At its most basic, it is a notebook tool that you can use to create notes that you file away in different folders called notebooks, but really it is so much more than that. You can create a hierarchical structure of note books to organize your notes and use a tagging system to make the information easy to find. I create text notes, photo notes, and audio notes to keep track of all the little bits of information in my life. I use it to track articles I want to read (and maybe post about later), recipes, my grocery list, meal plans, business cards, numbers and access codes (i.e. my work conference call number), the number of the vaccuum bag for my vaccuum (seriously, I always forget this), I track my kid’s heights and weights, and I also use it for some fandom purposes also. I use it to track all the little and big details I need to keep track of because my brain is not capable of doing so on it’s own. It integrates into your chosen mobile browser, so you can clip and track media from there also. Lifehacker has an excellent tag for Evernote, which highlights this app’s many uses and functionality. Their recent article, I’ve Been Using Evernote All Wrong. Here’s Why It’s Actually Amazing is well worth a read.
Tools and Utilities
- Go Launcher EX - a custom launcher that replaces the factory default launcher. It include the ability to customize the dockbar so you’re not limited to the five (or is it four?) application shortcuts that are provided by the default launcher, allows you to create application folders to organize your apps so your screens aren’t cluttered, and has a great many custom theme packs of icons and backgrounds.
- AndroZip - The best zip utility for Android that I’ve tried. Handles most archive formats.
- Astro File Manager / Browser - Excellent file management utility for Android.
- Battery - A simple battery utility. It displays the % charge in the status bar, which i find particularly useful.
- Color Flashlight - Very simple flashlight application.
- Easy Uninstaller - Better than the default Android uninstaller because it allows you to uninstall in batches, which is a great time saver
- Chrome to Phone - Send data to your phone from Chrome on your desktop (requires that you have the corresponding Chrome extension installed). It can launch urls in your default web browser on your phone, and send maps (and directions) in Google Maps on your phone.
- My Data Manager - Tracks how much of your data plan you’ve used, and shows you what apps are consuming the most data.
- SwiftKey - The best Android Keyboard i’ve tried. Worth upgrading to, as I didn’t find the factory installed keyboard to be that great. It has an excellent predictive text utility that scans the content on your phone and email to customize for your requirements.
- Fontomizer - Installs a different font on your phone.
- WiFi File Transfer Pro - This is a lightweight tool that essentially allows your phone to behave as a http file server when connected to Wifi. You can upload and download files, and also perform file management operations.
- Lookout Security - Security and antivirus tool.
Games - Full disclosure, I don’t tend to play games these days. Most of the games on my phone are ones that my kids play. Here are a couple that I have played and enjoyed.
- Where’s My Water - A physics-based puzzle game. Your goal is to put water into a bathtub for a cute little alligator. The problem is, there’s a lot of obstacles in between the water spout and his bathtub.
- World of Goo - Another physics based game where in you have to create stuctures to get little balls of goo from one point on the gameboard to another. You have to construct bridges, towers and other structures to make your way over chasms, hills, spikes and cliffs. It’s very pretty.
- Osmos - Another physics based game (I’m sensing a theme here) where-in you start off as a small little mote and need to consume other motes to survive and grow. It is pretty, soothing and has a lovely soundtrack.
Stuff that’s useful when you’re not at home
- Gas Buddy - Helps you find a gas station near you. This application crowdsources gas prices, which helps you find cheap gas. I like it because I drive a diesel car, and it’s not always easy to find a gas station with the right gasoline. This app allows you to specify your requirements for a gas station, and shows you a map of the gas stations meeting your search criteria.
- Google Maps - This is factory installed, so you already have it, but I just wanted to highlight some of the most useful functions: driving direction with GPS navigation, and (more importantly) live traffic information. This invaluable application has gotten me around huge traffic jams on the highway a on more than one occasion.
- UrbanSpoon - Helps you find great restaurants near you by tapping into your phone’s location.
- OpenTable - Get restaurant reservations, especially useful for same-day reservations as it tracks cancellations at restaurants and shows you when there are openings at restaurants nearby.
Other
- Relax and Sleep - Sometimes I can’t get to sleep. This helps. It includes a set of ambient sounds that you can mix and match to create your own sleepy sounds.
- Sky Map - Google Maps for the sky. Shows you constellations, the location of Messier objects, and planets. It takes advantage of the gyroscopic sensor in your phone to determine the direction you are pointing your phone at so that you can aim it at a part of the sky to see the relevant map. You can adjust the location and date to get the appropriate chart for where you are, or look at charts for other areas and times.
For more recs, check out Lifehacker’s list of the best Android apps.
colored SEM of the iris with the lens removed to demonstrate the zonular fibers and ciliary processes that adjust lens thickness for accommodation of sight
credit: University of Delaware
(via abluegirl)
Nanolight - the world’s most Energy Efficient Light Bulb
Why use any old lightbulb when there’s the NanoLight! Using only 12 watts of electricity, the NanoLight generates over 1600 lumens, equivalent to a 100W incandescent lightbulb.- Video above -
(via ceyren)
![“BionicOpter – Inspired by dragonfly flight [w/video]”
With the BionicOpter, Festo has technically mastered the highly complex flight characteristics of the dragonfly. Just like its model in nature, this ultralight flying object can fly in all directions, hover in mid-air and glide without beating its wings.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/9139f004e3db996e74f73fc4a2cbd989/tumblr_mkmq2wp36I1qa8o5mo2_500.jpg)
![“BionicOpter – Inspired by dragonfly flight [w/video]”
With the BionicOpter, Festo has technically mastered the highly complex flight characteristics of the dragonfly. Just like its model in nature, this ultralight flying object can fly in all directions, hover in mid-air and glide without beating its wings.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/2159be3cb8c533f640ddd9af1f0f81a8/tumblr_mkmq2wp36I1qa8o5mo3_500.jpg)
![“BionicOpter – Inspired by dragonfly flight [w/video]”
With the BionicOpter, Festo has technically mastered the highly complex flight characteristics of the dragonfly. Just like its model in nature, this ultralight flying object can fly in all directions, hover in mid-air and glide without beating its wings.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/776a1fa9be1616f697684c34e8d2cee4/tumblr_mkmq2wp36I1qa8o5mo1_500.jpg)
“BionicOpter – Inspired by dragonfly flight [w/video]”
With the BionicOpter, Festo has technically mastered the highly complex flight characteristics of the dragonfly. Just like its model in nature, this ultralight flying object can fly in all directions, hover in mid-air and glide without beating its wings.
Simpler Brain Lets iCub Learn Language
Side Note: Not all would agree but I think this advancement in robotics could be a gigantic leap in the way artificial intelligence (A.I.) grows in future robots that will need some kind of advanced A.I. For instance, how do we suppose any sentient being with the capacity to learn..learns? Although it may not be the paramount function of robotics, communicating is definitely up there in the list of obstacles needed to be apprehended if we are to have competent robots making human interactions. For it is because of communication that we learn to pass on data, and language is a form of it.
Think of it this way, a robot that understands how language works and even knows how to use it, is a robot that has been given a new pathway to understanding. A pathway that we as humans have acquired and while we haven’t mastered it I believe we do have enough experience with it to imitate it and implement it in fields where it is most needed. What I really took from this article however is the fact that the researchers looked at how the brain actually works in order to mimic the way we form and understand language. This is how robotics ought to be looked at, we see our biological nature and mimic it to the best of our abilities using technology. Working with simpler versions while upgrading along the way.
This technological prowess was made possible by the development of a “simplified artificial brain” that reproduces certain types of so-called “recurrent” connections observed in the human brain. The artificial brain system enables the robot to learn, and subsequently understand, new sentences containing a new grammatical structure. It can link two sentences together and even predict how a sentence will end before it is uttered. This research has been published in the journal PLoS One.
Inserm and CNRS researchers and the Université Lyon 1 have succeeded in developing an “artificial neuronal network” constructed on the basis of a fundamental principle of the workings of the human brain, namely its ability to learn a new language. The model was developed after years of research in the Inserm 846 Unit of the Institut de recherche sur les cellules souches et cerveau, through studying the structure of the human brain and understanding the mechanisms used for learning.
One of the most remarkable aspects of language-processing is the speed at which it is performed. For example, the human brain processes the first words of a sentence in real time and anticipates what follows, thus improving the speed with which humans process information. Still in real time, the brain continually revises its predictions through interaction between new information and a previously created context. The region inside the brain linking the frontal cortex and the striatum plays a crucial role in this process.
Based on this research, Peter Ford Dominey and his team have developed an “artificial brain” that uses a “neuronal construction” similar to that used by the human brain. Thanks to so-called recurrent construction (with connections that create locally recurring loops) this artificial brain system can understand new sentences having a new grammatical structure. It is capable of linking two sentences and can even predict the end of a sentence before it is provided. To put this advance into a real-life situation, the Inserm researchers incorporated this new brain into the iCub humanoid robot.
So while we’re still years maybe decades away from normal social interactions with them, it seems like the way robots will interact with humans (and other functional benefits that come with understand and using language) just got a much needed boost in its progress. Can’t wait to see the evolution of their language come to fruition.
(via dead-until-dark)
300,000 mirrors: World’s largest thermal solar plant (377MW) under construction in the Mojave
The largest concentrating solar power plant (100 MW) in operation is currently in Abu Dhabi, but it won’t stay at the top of the list for too long. Brightsource Energy is putting the finishing touches on its massiveIvanpah concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the Mojave desert, and if all goes well, the switch should be flipped this year.
Ivanpah will have a capacity of 377 megawatts, or about enough energy to power 140,000 houses. It took more than 5 years to plan it, get permits, finance it, and build it. The shot above shows an early phase of construction.
