NEW NET Weekly List for 24 Sep 2013
Below is the final list of issues for the Tuesday, 24 September 2013, NEW NET (NorthEast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 PM weekly gathering upstairs at Tom's Drive In, 501 N. Westhill Blvd., Appleton, WI, USA, near Woodman's. Ignore the chain if it's across the stairs; come on up and join the tech fun!
The Weekly Top
Ten, (pre-NEW NET, based on potential or immediate impact and/or general tech
interestingness)
1.
HP launches self-healing
computer startup software to cure malware attacks http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/17/hp-launches-self-healing-computer-start-software/ “Hewlett-Packard is introducing self-healing
computing startup software that can repair itself after a malware attack. The
new HP BIOSphere with SureStart technology is a new kind of startup software
that runs when a personal computer is turned on…Hackers have been able to
compromise OS security protections by gaining root access, or compromising the
BIOS software underneath the OS. To protect against that, HP has created its
own BIOS software. The system can heal itself by comparing the BIOS that loads
in a computer to an image of the BIOS that is supposed to be running. If the
loaded BIOS is different from the copy of the BIOS that is embedded in the
hardware, the computer will load the correct version of the BIOS instead…”
2.
Brazil's controversial
plan to extricate the internet from US control http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/brazil-dilma-rousseff-internet-us-control “When Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff
postponed her official visit to the US in protest of National Security Agency
spying activities on Tuesday, it seemed like a routine bit of diplomatic
posturing. But another one of her proposals could perhaps be more significant:
a set of measures intended to extricate the internet in Brazil from under the
influence of the US and its tech giants…Rousseff proposed a set of ambitious,
and controversial, measures that include: constructing submarine cables that do
not route through the US, building internet exchange points in Brazil, creating
an encrypted email service through the state postal service and having
Facebook, Google and other companies store data by Brazilians on servers in
Brazil…”
3.
BlackBerry aims to go
private in $4.7bn deal with Fairfax Financial group http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/23/blackberry-sold-fairfaix-financial “BlackBerry, the once-dominant maker of
smartphones…has found a suitor willing to pay $4.7bn for the troubled company. Fairfax
Financial, a Canadian firm that already owns 10% of BlackBerry, has agreed to
join forced with an unnamed consortium of other buyers to acquire the company
for $9 a share. The move would take BlackBerry private, removing it from a
public listing on Nasdaq, where stocks have fallen from a high of $148 in June
2008 and now languish at about $8 a share…The deal is not done, however. First,
Fairfax will spend two months vetting the company's financial statements…BlackBerry
said it could take a better offer if another buyer appears…”
4.
Google makes Quickoffice
for Android and iOS free for Microsoft Office editing http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/09/19/google-makes-quickoffice-for-android-and-ios-free-for-all-bringing-microsoft-office-editing-to-the-masses/ “Google…is making Quickoffice free for
everyone. That means Android and iOS users can edit Microsoft Office documents,
spreadsheets, and presentations on the go without paying a dime. You can
download the free versions now directly from Google Play and Apple’s App Store…if
you do sign in to your Google Account from either of the new apps by September
26th, Google will give you an extra 10GB of Google Drive storage for free for
two years…”
5.
Even supermarket chains
are making cheap Android tablets http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/now-even-supermarket-chains-are-making-cheap-android-tablets/ “Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket chain
and the world's second-most-profitable retailer behind Walmart, has announced
it is launching an Android tablet. The device, named the "Hudl"
(pronounced "huddle"), is an attempt to follow Amazon's model of
offering an extremely cheap content portal that encourages customers to use
other services. The device mostly runs stock Android 4.2.2 (including the
Google Apps), but Tesco has added a small "T" to the left side of the
system bar that will bring up an app for Tesco's myriad services. The Tesco app
will give you access to groceries, recipes, coupons, loyalty cards, movie
rentals, music, clothing, and even the Tesco credit card and Tesco bank. Tesco
will actually undercut the Kindle Fire HD in the UK, selling for £119 ($191)
vs. the £159 ($255) Amazon charges for the Fire HD…”
6.
Valve announces SteamOS
as it renews living room push http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24207129 “Video games developer and publisher Valve
has announced SteamOS, a free operating system it hopes will help bring PC
gaming into the living room…The company is widely anticipated to launch its own
machine to run SteamOS, believed to be called the Steam Box…Valve outlined its
plans for the Linux-based operating system that will be available for download
"soon"…"As we've been working on bringing Steam to the living
room, we've come to the conclusion that the environment best suited to
delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam
itself...SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming
experience built for the big screen…”
7.
Microduino:
An Arduino clone nearly as small as a quarter, for $20 http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/09/microduino-an-arduino-nearly-as-small-as-a-quarter-for-20/ “A typical Arduino microcontroller board is
pretty small, about the size of a credit card. This makes it suitable for
embedding into all sorts of electronic devices. But it's possible to go even
smaller, as the makers of a new Arduino-compatible product called "Microduino"
show. At 1" × 1.1", it's nearly as small as a quarter…The Microduino
essentially divides the capabilities of an Arduino Uno into two boards, with
one acting as the microcontroller core and a second used to communicate with a
PC. Once an Arduino-compatible program is uploaded onto the core board, the
secondary module for communication with the PC isn't needed. The core board can
simply be placed into whatever project the user is creating…”
8.
Munich to hand out Ubuntu
Linux CDs to ward off upcoming Windows XPocalypse http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048897/munich-to-hand-out-ubuntu-linux-cds-to-ward-off-upcoming-windows-xpocalypse.html “…Windows XPocalypse is set to unleash hell
on April 8, 2014, and in a bid to preserve the security of its citizens, the
German city of Munich is turning to an unlikely savior: Ubuntu Linux. Both
security experts and Microsoft itself have warned that the impending
end-of-life date for Windows XP could spark a hacker holiday, as the
still-popular operating system will stop receiving security patches to plug
vulnerability holes. Microsoft went so far as to warn that people who continue
to run Windows XP beyond April will forever suffer from zero day exploits that
could harm both your PC and spread to infect your friends. Microsoft's
solution, naturally, entails upgrading to a new version of Windows or picking
up a newer PC…”
9.
Applied
Materials buys Tokyo Electron for $9.39 billion http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/applied-materials-to-merge-with-tokyo-electron/?_r=0
“Applied Materials agreed on Tuesday to
merge with Tokyo Electron in an all-stock deal, creating a big new producer of
semiconductor and display manufacturing equipment with an expected market value
of $29 billion. The merger is as much about the continued rise of smartphones
and tablets…as it is about the need for cost cutting and consolidation as sales
of personal computers fall and commitments for research mount…The company will
take on a new name, as yet undisclosed, and it will be incorporated in the
Netherlands. It will maintain headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., and Tokyo…In
2011, Applied Materials acquired another maker of telecommunications equipment,
Varian, in a deal that leapfrogged the combined companies past ASML of the
Netherlands to create the biggest player in the industry. By buying Tokyo
Electron, Applied Materials would consolidate that position…”
10.
Smarter than you think:
the internet isn't dumbing us down after all http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/12/4722526/smarter-than-you-think-clive-thompson “…Clive Thompson is used to defending the
latest trends in digital technology from naysayers and skeptics. In 2008, he
was one of the first to describe how sites like Twitter were about more than
sharing what you had for breakfast. Now he’s written his first book, Smarter
Than You Think, an investigation of how technology is helping us to learn more
and retain information longer…Open the weekend section in any major paper and
you’ll find the same hackneyed opinion pieces about how technology is making us
a dumber, shallower species…I felt like, wow, everything in my life is richer
and deeper thanks to new technologies. The opportunities for expression are so
much greater…”
The ‘net
11.
Gecko Is One Small Step
For The Internet Of Things http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/19/gecko-is-one-small-step-for-the-internet-of-things-one-huge-leap-for-your-smartphone/ “The Internet of Things…awaits us, a world
where all of our devices are connected and communicate with each other in some
sort of futuristic circle of life. But as with any major shift in technology,
we’re certainly not there yet…Gecko, a new Indiegogo project that’s meant to
“make your smartphone smarter.”…the accelerometer-equipped Gecko connects to your
smartphone via low energy Bluetooth to help you monitor the various things in
your life, as well as bring gesture controls and triggers to your smartphone. With
Gecko, the connectedness isn’t built into the devices themselves but can rather
be applied to objects in the home through these accelerometer- and
Bluetooth-based tags. The device itself is packed with a TI CC2541 SoC,
removable coin cell battery with a year’s worth of juice (depending on usage),
as well as a buzzer and LED light for alerts…”
12.
The Internet of Things is
'fundamentally about economic value' http://www.zdnet.com/the-internet-of-things-is-fundamentally-about-economic-value-7000020907/ “Self-driving vehicles, intelligent
refrigerators, stoke-detecting gadgets that everyone wears: the idea of an
"Internet of Things" is all the rage in the technology industry today…The
"Internet of Things," a term coined in 1999…describes a world in
which everything—from a living, breathing you to the inanimate objects around
you—has a digital identity, to enable computers to organize and manage them.
Add to that the notion that each entity could be actively connected with a
radio or modem (allowing two-way communication and real-time manipulation) and
suddenly the potential for new application explodes, such as "smart"
objects that use sensors to understand the environment around them and data
collection for things that have never been digitized before, from your morning
run to the hundreds of machines on the floor of a massive manufacturing plant…"It's
fundamentally about the economic value—what it will do for business and
individuals and organizations…”
Security,
Privacy & Digital Controls
13.
Biometric Technology
Takes Off http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/opinion/biometric-technology-takes-off.html “The use of biological markers like
fingerprints, faces and irises to identify people is rapidly moving from
science fiction to reality. Apple’s latest iPhone, which went on sale this
week, can be unlocked with a fingerprint. Users of Android smartphones can
unlock their devices with a glance. And the Department of Homeland Security is
developing facial recognition technology that would allow it to pinpoint
criminals and suspects in large crowds of people with closed-circuit cameras…biometric
technology has become so commonplace that even some schools and hospitals are
using it. Its adoption could make sensitive information more secure…But it also
has the potential to undermine privacy…biometrics are not as safe as is often
thought…such systems are “inherently fallible” because they identify people
within certain degrees of certainty and because biological markers are relatively
easy to copy…people leave their fingerprints on everything they touch, which
makes those fingerprints available to any determined spy or law enforcement
agent. Experts have shown that fingerprints and other markers can be copied,
giving hackers and thieves access to private information. And once compromised,
fingerprints cannot be reset…”
14.
Secure your
small-business network without spending a dime http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048137/secure-your-small-business-network-without-spending-a-dime.html “…In 2012, 31 percent of cyberattacks were
aimed at small businesses, and that staggering number is 100 percent
attributable to inadequate—or nonexistent—security measures at many of these
firms, which might as well be an open invitation to hackers…what if we told you
that there were security controls in the tools you already own that could
vastly improve your protection if you just used them? And that you could fill
any gaps in protection with free security programs that are every bit as
effective as their commercial counterparts? Below are several ways to fend off
cyberthreats…The quickest—and cheapest—way to beef up your defenses is to
understand and employ the security measures you already have at your
disposal…Stay up-to-date…The longer you go without implementing an applicable
patch, the more at risk you are…Supplement with free security tools…”
15.
FBI warns “Beta Bot”
malware can kill your anti-virus programs, steal data http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/83858 “The FBI sent out a warning today about an
uptick in the use of malware known as Beta Bot that can steal sensitive data
such as log-in credentials and financial information…Beta Bot blocks computer
users' access to security websites and disables anti-virus programs, leaving
computers vulnerable to compromise. Cyber criminals aiming Beta Bot at
financial institutions, e-commerce sites, online payment platforms, and social
networking…Beta Bot infection vectors include an illegitimate but official
looking Microsoft Windows message box named "User Account Control"
that requests a user's permission to allow the "Windows Command
Processor" to modify the user's computer settings. If the user complies
with the request, the hackers are able to infiltrate data from the computer.
Beta Bot is also spread…via Skype, where it redirects the user to compromised
websites…”
16.
Senator asks if FBI can
get iPhone 5S fingerprint data via Patriot Act http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/09/senator-asks-if-fbi-can-get-iphone-5s-fingerprint-data-via-patriot-act/ “Since Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) arrived in the
United States Senate, he’s become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. He’s made it his mission to
raise questions about tech issues that he feels are improper, unjust, or just
downright questionable. The debut of the new iPhones 5S, replete with a
fingerprint reader, has now also gotten Franken’s attention. On Thursday, the
Minnesota senator published a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, raising questions
about the logic in making fingerprint readers more mainstream. "Passwords
are secret and dynamic; fingerprints are public and permanent," wrote Sen.
Franken. "If you don't tell anyone your password, no one will know what it
is. If someone hacks your password, you can change it—as many times as you
want. You can't change your fingerprints…”
Mobile
Computing & Communicating
17.
BlackBerry announces $1B
loss, 4,500 layoffs, and shifts away from consumers http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/blackberry-bombs-announces-1b-loss-4500-layoffs-cutting-operating-costs-by-50-shifting-away-from-consumer-market/
“…BlackBerry…expects an operating loss between $950 million and $995 million in
the second quarter, it’s laying off 4,500 employees, and it’s refocusing on
enterprise and “prosumer” customers rather than mainstream consumers…As part of
its move away from the consumer market, the company says it will reduce its
smartphone portfolio from six phones to four…Now that the iPhone and Android
are dominating mainstream smartphone buyers, BlackBerry’s only hope is to
appeal to the businesses that need its secure services and its few remaining
hardcore fans. The company plans to offer two high-end smartphones and two
entry-level phones, with each group containing an all-touchscreen device and
physical keyboard model…”
18.
Open source Android fork
Cyanogen becomes $7m company http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/18/cyanogen_gains_funding/ “Independent Android firmware project CyanogenMod
has become a company…The new company, Cyanogen, will be based in Seattle…Steve
Kondik, who founded the Cyanogenmod project and from whose forum handle the
names of both the project and the company are derived, will act as chief
technology officer…The first thing Cyanogen has to show is a new, graphical installer
that makes it easier to load a stock Android device with a custom CyanogenMod
firmware. According to Kondik, that installer will be available in the Google
Play store "in the coming weeks…”
19.
Android users can now
lock their lost devices remotely http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57604339-94/android-users-can-now-lock-their-lost-devices-remotely/ “Worried about data from your lost Android
phone or tablet getting into the wrong hands? You can now lock down your device
remotely…Google's Android Device Manager is a handy service that allows you to
see the location of a lost or stolen Android device. You can also remotely tell
the device to ring as well as erase all of its data…The latest update to
Android Device Manager enables remote password locking. If you want to prevent
others from accessing your missing device, you can send a new password to
secure it…”
20.
Microsoft Unveils the
Surface 2 http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/microsoft-unveils-surface-2-130924.htm “Microsoft has unveiled the Surface 2, which
sports a lighter and thinner design along with a full HD screen…Because there's
a Tegra 4 chip under the hood, you get 72 cores of graphics performance for
games like "Halo: Spartan Assault," even while running other apps
side by side…The camera on the Surface 2 is 5X sharper, but Microsoft is
touting the enhanced front camera more for Skype calls. A new third-inch sensor
with a unique lens helps you make video calls in very dim lighting…The new
Surface 2 also promises to deliver 25 percent longer battery life. Other enhancements
include double the bus speed for Wi-Fi and memory. The Surface 2 also moves
from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0…Surface 2 runs Windows 8.1…”
21.
Nursing students
embracing mobile technology http://media-relations.www.clemson.edu/5081/nursing-students-embracing-mobile-technology/ “…Lanham, a former clinical nurse specialist
at Greenville Health System, is teaching Clemson nursing students how to
integrate mobile technology into health-care management. Using iPads, Kindles
and other devices, students are learning how to capture medical records and
access the latest patient health information. “In health care, the use of
mobile technology is skyrocketing and nurses are expected to be technologically
savvy,” Lanham said…In earlier days if a patient asked a question that a nurse
couldn’t immediately answer, he or she would have to leave the room and look up
the answer in a textbook that might be several years old…“With mobile
technology, the latest information is always there and nurses can immediately
convey it to patients.”… “When a patient wants to know more about his or her
upcoming cardiac catheterization, for example, the nurse can pull up a photo of
a heart at the bedside and the patient can know exactly what is going to
happen…”
Apps
22.
Nix Is A Smartphone
Colour Sensor http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/nix/ “The army of Bluetooth-powered auxiliary
hardware being built by hardware startups to extend the native capabilities of
smartphones shows no signs of slowing its
march. Meet Nix: a colour sensor that lets you scan an object and get
its exact colour data signature sent to the corresponding app on your phone so
you can maintain a palette of preferred shades — and even track down an exact
tin of paint. The sensor’s…creators say their device is much more accurate than
using your phone’s on board camera to grab colour data, firstly because it’s
purpose-built for accurate colour scanning and is “calibrated to return
exact/specific colour values”. And secondly because it blocks out all ambient
light — meaning the true shade can be captured…”
23.
FDA lays out rules for
some smartphone health apps http://www.telegram.com/article/20130923/NEWS/130929943/1002/business “Food and Drug Administration…will begin
regulating a new wave of applications and gadgets that work with smartphones to
help users monitor their health…there are already more than 17,000 medical
applications available, ranging from calorie counters to high-tech heart
monitors. The FDA said Monday that the vast majority of these health care apps
don't pose much of a risk to consumers and will not be federally regulated…the
agency will focus on a handful of apps that turn smartphones into devices, like
a heart monitor, or medical attachments that plug into smartphones, like arm
cuffs that measure blood pressure…”
SkyNet
24.
Google+ Brings Snapseed
to Online Photo Editing via Chrome http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/09/18/google-brings-snapseed-to-online-photo-editing-via-chrome/ “Google recently bought Snapseed, one of our
favorite photo editors, and this week added the features from Snapseed into
their Google+ online photo editing interface…Google+ users who access the site
using the Chrome browser…can now click on Photos and choose an image. Click on
Edit in the upper middle of the screen…Along the right the user will find all
the familiar Snapseed tools along with the Google+ “Auto Enhance” button, which
does a decent job of automatically improving photos by itself. If Auto Enhance
doesn’t produce desired results, then use the “Customize” button to do manual
edits or click on one of the many Snapseed icons…”
25.
10 Questions to Ask When
Using Google Analytics http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228493 “…Google Analytics…automatically collects
helpful data for you, so you can better understand, serve and build your online
audience -- and your customers…Here are 10 essential questions to ask when
using Google Analytics to track and improve your company's website: 1. Why is
it important to gauge my website metrics in the first place?...2. How can I
connect Google Analytics to my website?...3. What are Google Analytics 'Goals'
and why should I use them?...4. How can I find out how people discover my website
and keep them coming back?...5. Can I track my Google Adsense campaigns with
Google Analytics?...7. How can I track and improve e-commerce sales?...8. How
can I see which browsers and devices people view my website on?...9. How can I
know what is sending my website visitors away?...10. How can I share key Google
Analytics data with my clients, colleagues and stakeholders?…”
General
Technology
26.
Apple
Refreshes iMac With Haswell, Next-Gen Wi-Fi http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2424768,00.asp “…iMac…new 21.5- and 27-inch desktops get
fourth-generation Intel quad-core processors, new graphics, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and
faster PCIe flash storage options…Fusion Drive is a combination of Flash
Storage and a regular hard drive, which promises shorter boot times and faster
access to apps and files. Apple provides the option of an iMac with a 1TB or
3TB Fusion Drive, and all-flash storage options are now available in
configurations up to 1TB…The iMac comes standard with 8GB of memory and a 1TB
hard drive…expandable up to 32GB of memory and up to a 3TB hard drive…The
entry-level 21.5-inch iMac will run a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor
- with the option for Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.2 GHz - and Iris Pro graphics
for $1,299. A 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6
GHz and Nvidia GeForce GT 750M will set you back $1,499. The 27-inch iMacs…with
a 3.4GHz Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz, and Nvidia GeForce GTX
775M is $1,999. Those who need something even more powerful can upgrade to
quad-core Intel Core i7 processors up to 3.5GHz and Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M
series graphics with up to 4GB of video memory…”
27.
Code for
America, MindMixer want your ideas for Ideation Nation http://www.siliconprairienews.com/2013/09/code-for-america-mindmixer-want-your-ideas-for-ideation-nation “Code for America co-executive director Abhi
Nemani believes the country is ready to embrace the civic technology movement.
Alongside…online community engagement platform MindMixer, the nonprofit helping
government work better through technology will instill that belief into
Ideation Nation, a five-week rally that asks Americans, "How would you
improve your community using technology?" Using MindMixer's platform, the
contest will gather responses online to be presented in front of a panel of
judges, who will select 25 finalists. From there, the Ideation Nation community
will vote on the ideas and provide feedback for the judges to make a top pick.
The top entry will win a $5,000 grant…”
28.
Flour made
from insects wins $1M for McGill team
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/flour-made-from-insects-wins-1m-for-mcgill-team-1.1866685 “A team of McGill University MBA students has
won the $1 million Hult Prize for a project that aims to improve the
availability of nutritious food to slum dwellers around the world by providing
them with flour made from insects…The money will help them grow Aspire Food
Group, an organization that will produce nutritious insect-based food products
that will be accessible year-round to some of the world’s poorest city
dwellers. “We are farming insects and we’re grinding them into a fine powder
and then we’re mixing it with locally appropriate flour to create what we call
power flour,”…Protein and iron, the students noted, are nutrients in short
supply in the diets of many people in developing nations, but found in high
amounts in insects. For example, they note, crickets have a higher protein
content per weight than beef…”
Leisure &
Entertainment
29.
A new crop of literary
novels explores our internet dystopia http://io9.com/dave-eggers-thomas-pynchon-and-isabel-allende-expose-o-1351440125 “…there's a new wave of beloved authors
tackling our bewilderment with the internet-dominated world we live in. The
literary wave may have started with Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love
Story, with its ubiquitous social media ranking everybody's social status…There's
the new Thomas Pynchon novel, Bleeding Edge, which takes place in 2001 and
deals with the world of dotcom entrepreneurs and internet whiz-kids…while
exploring the notion of the Deep Web, a part of the internet that hasn't been
crawled by search engines…Then there's The Circle, the new book by the prolific
Dave Eggers, who already tackled globalization and our discontents with
technology in A Hologram for the King. In The Circle, Eggers follows Mae
Holland, who goes to work at an internet company in the near future…The Circle
is…a mashup of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and PayPal…founded by
shadowy futurists whose vision of complete, global knowledge-sharing carries
ominous consequences for democracy…perhaps most surprisingly, there's Ripper by
Isabel Allende…she's doing a thriller that sounds as though she's commenting on
the relationship between the virtual and "real" worlds in a very
different fashion than Eggers and Pynchon…”
30.
Tips for making the most
of Google Chromecast http://www.gizmag.com/5-ways-to-get-more-out-of-google-chromecast/29125/ “Google's Chromecast currently doesn't have a
whole lot of options other than its four officially supported apps: YouTube,
Netflix, Google Music and Google Video…here's some user tips on how to get a
little more out of the device…you can stream your local videos to the
Chromecast if the Chrome browser on your computer supports the file type. In my
tests, I've been able to stream the most common file types like mp4, m4v, avi
and mpeg…The obvious extension of this is that you can stream a webpage to your
HDTV via Chromecast…you can…send your entire desktop to the big screen…Adjust
streaming quality to improve video playback…Make video always play full
screen…”
Entrepreneurism
and Technology
31.
Bad news for Isis:
Capital One pulls out http://gigaom.com/2013/09/18/bad-news-for-isis-capital-one-pulls-out-of-mobile-payments-trial/ “Capital One is dropping out of Isis’s mobile
payments pilot project…casting a pall over the carrier-driven initiative to
turn the mobile phone into a universal digital wallet…its departure could mean
that the banks are losing faith that Isis can really succeed with its
nationwide launch of a near-field communications-powered mobile payments
network…Capital One was just one of the four financial institutions…others are
American Express, Chase and BarkleyCard…”
32.
Grove, Sequoia Capital’s
New Startup Events And How-To Content Hub http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/20/meet-grove-sequoia-capitals-new-startup-events-and-how-to-content-hub/ “VCs are starting to get into content. First
Round debuted its own version of Harvard Business Review…Sequoia…is debuting
Grove, its new portal for how-to content, videos and events…one of the key
pieces of feedback that portfolio founders had begun to share with the firm
over the past year was that they wished there were a centralized place where
they could find advice and how-to’s on important topics like hiring, fundraising
and other business advice…this content is public for any founder or startup to
see…each VC firm is thinking carefully about how to create a hub for marketing
content that is actually helpful to the startup ecosystem. First Round has
taken a more intensive approach with its Harvard Business Review-esque site.
Google Ventures Startup Lab has started publishing some of its videos and
tutorials…”
33.
Intuit updates
QuickBooks, integrates Square “…Intuit
announced a completely new version of its QuickBooks accounting software, and
to kick it off, it’s also announcing a new, and rather groundbreaking,
partnership…with mobile payments juggernaut Square…small businesses that use
the mobile payment service can automatically feed data from those transactions
into their books…The service will be U.S. only for now, although with
QuickBooks’ large global footprint it will be interesting to see if Square uses
that in any way in the future…This is something of a sea change for the two
companies. Intuit has itself created its own point of sale product called Go
Payment, complete with a dongle that links up with a mobile device…”
Design / DEMO
34.
Prosthetic 'wearable art'
line designed by Alleles Design Studio http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/prosthetic-wearable-art-line-designed-by-canadian-pair-1.1861584 “A Canadian couple quit their jobs, sold
their cars, moved across the country and hunkered down for months to turn their
pet project of affordable, designer prosthetic covers for amputees into
reality, creating a product to fill a void in an industry dominated by
medically oriented prosthetists. The founders of the Alleles Design Studio…first
dreamed of designing high-fashion prosthetic covers years ago. Wanner developed
the idea for the…business during her industrial design studies, when she
realized amputees had few affordable options for creative cosmetic covers. A
friend of the couple, John-Paul Austring, has been bothered by the lack of
prosthetic options since doctors amputated his left leg when he was a
15-year-old battling bone cancer…”
35.
Finnish design can no
longer afford to be complacent http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/19/dan-hill-opinion-finnish-design/ “…I can only really guess at the deeper
resonance of Vitra buying legendary Finnish furniture brand Artek, following
hot on the heels of Microsoft buying legendary Finnish cellphone brand Nokia…Although
this small country of five million people has also produced Iitala, Marimekko,
Kone, Fiskars and others, these two firms bookend a first era of Finnish
design, with Artek founded by the Aaltos and co. in 1935 and Nokia's dominance
of the global mobile phone sector six decades later. Where do these
"exits" leave Finnish design?...the wider culture around Nokia over
the last decade had…betrayed a lack of understanding of the value of design.
The software suffered badly and although intriguing handsets occasionally
emerged, one felt that design was generally no more than an indulged child
amidst what was really a masterful engineering and logistics machine…Once
Apple, and then Google, had deployed a richer, strategic approach to design in
order to seamlessly orchestrate people, apps, media, devices and the interfaces
between them, Nokia had no answer…this week of deals actually poses the
question: what does Finnish product design do now? There are…obvious
trajectories…The first is in a new form of interactive object, as active
partners of people, socially and culturally, via Internet of Things
technologies, absorbing the essence of Varnelis's "new modernity"…Despite
a culture borne of survival, Finland has an incredibly high standard of living…Yet
in places, that success bred complacency, and by "places" I mean the
pre-iPhone era Nokia and some of its other heritage brands. These last weeks
suggest that Finnish design can no longer afford to be complacent…”
36.
The rise of the
micro-manufacturers http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24203938 “Thanks to state-of-the-art design software
and the latest computer-controlled laser cutters, 3D printers and other
manufacturing hardware, designers and inventors are turning their ideas into
reality and getting them to market far more quickly and cheaply…Digital designs
sent online to micro-factories situated locally or abroad are reducing costs,
waste and supply chains…TechShop, a pioneer in the "make-it-yourself"
movement…has six centres in the US, each with around 1,000 members…Mr Hatch
rattles off a number of…TechShop success stories, including Type A Machines, a
3D printer manufacturer; Clustered Systems, which makes lower-energy cooling
systems for data centres; and Lightning Motorcycles, creator of the world's
fastest electric motorbike…Prof Neil Gershenfeld…is developing a similar
concept with his Fab Labs - local digital fabrication centres aimed at
stimulating invention and entrepreneurship…There are about 150 Fab Labs dotted
around the world in what the Fab Foundation describes as "a distributed
laboratory for research and invention"…"In the past you had to go and
convince a manufacturer to make your prototype, then convince a retailer to
stock your product…Now digital manufacturing and the internet have made it so
much easier for you to create, make and sell your products…New technology
allows an individual like me to become independent and create a micro-business…Digital
technology is lowering design and manufacturing costs by factors of 10 and 20
times…”
37.
Design Can (and Will)
Transform Lives http://www.manufacturing.net/blogs/2013/09/design-can-and-will-transform-lives “…the Industrial Designers Society of America
(IDSA) Annual Conference…is…the perfect location to bring together more than
600 industrial designers to talk about the importance design plays not only in
product development, but in world of social entrepreneurship. IDSA is…filled
with conversations about how design can transform lives…Byron Bloch, an expert
in car safety who has dedicated his life to making sure that design flaws on
vehicles don’t happen…has testified in front of congress on multiple occasions
regarding car company oversights on design defects…Bloch stood in front of the
crowd and demanded that, as designers, we must put our foot down and take the
side of the consumer. He stated that no matter what, it’s on the shoulders of
the designers to take care of the passengers…Following Bloch was Dean Kamen…He
came to talk about the program he began more than 20 years ago, FIRST (For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)…It is truly one of the
most inspiring stories of dedication to the future engineers and scientist of
the world…“There are over 350,000 student participants annually with over
130,000 volunteers,” Kamen said. “Over 28,000 robots that have been built over
the past 20 years…”
DHMN Technology
38.
Ultimaker
Debuts Ultimaker 2 3D Printer
http://hothardware.com/News/Ultimaker-Debuts-Ultimaker-2-3D-Printer-With-Open-Source-Cura-Software-and-YouMagine-Website/ “Ultimaker 2…is more accurate, more
efficient, and it’s even quieter at 49dB…the Ultimaker 2 has a new CNC-milled
case (that’s all white with glowing sidewalls) with an OLED display, and its
glass and aluminum build platform is designed to cool quickly so you can peel
completed projects off more easily. The Ultimaker 2 can print with multiple
materials, including PLA, ABS, and PVA, and it’s WiFi-compatible so you can
print from a mobile device or computer…The machine itself is rather compact at
14.1 x 13.3 x 15.3 inches, and it can print objects within a 8.9 x 8.9 x 8.1
space. Ultimaker is also launching its Cura open source software, which the
company claims can pre-process 3D files some 60 times faster than other open
source applications…to foster a community of makers around its 3D printers and
software, Ultimaker developed the YouMagine.com website where you can upload
and share files…”
39.
Supermodder
Ben Heck builds a quadcopter http://www.cnet.com.au/supermodder-ben-heck-builds-a-quadcopter-339345283.htm “King of the modders Ben Heck is building a
quadcopter from scratch for his YouTube show…At the behest of his fans, super-modder
Ben Heck is building a quadcopter from scratch for his Ben Heck Show on YouTube
channel element14…In part one of the two-part video, Heck started building the
quadcopter from scratch — the first time he has attempted building one — using
model aeroplanes cannibalised for their propellers, controllers, motors and
wires. Part of what he wanted to do was cut down on the wire tangle that's
usually found in home-made quadcopters…”
40.
3D Robotics
announces GPS-guided quadcopter for the masses http://www.gizmag.com/3d-robotics-iris-gps-guided-quadcopter-drone/28818/
“…a lot of the GPS-guided quadrotors on
the market are a bit too complicated for the average consumer to control. 3D
Robotics is aiming to inject a little more simplicity into the equation with
its recently unveiled Iris…the Iris supports simple GPS controls through any
computer, tablet, or smartphone…the main body is designed to be aerodynamic,
durable, and lightweight, while still providing enough lift to carry a payload…On
a full charge, the battery provides enough energy for around 9-14 minutes of
flight time…3D Robotics spent more than four years and enlisted the help of
over 40,000 volunteers to program and fine-tune the open source software that
guides the Iris. The drone can be controlled on any device running Windows, OS
X, Linux, or Android at the moment, with an iOS app planned…Users can set up to
127 waypoints or, in the case of the mobile app, just draw a route on the
screen to have the UAV follow a flight path using GPS coordinates. At any point
during a flight, the Iris can be commanded to automatically take off, land, or
return to its starting position…Pilots will also have the option of setting up
a virtual fence that will keep the Iris from wandering outside a pre-set
boundary, regardless of what it's commanded to do…3D Robotics is currently
offering pre-orders of the Iris drone through its website, with the most basic
package costing US$659.99. Customers can also customize their order with
different add-ons, including a pre-programmed transmitter, extra battery,
replacement parts, or a GoPro camera…”
41.
CodeBender
Makes it Easy to Program Your Arduino from a Browser http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/12/codebender-cc-makes-it-crazy-easy-to-program-your-arduino-board-from-your-browser/ “The official Arduino IDE is a dour piece of
software designed for uploading code to the ubiquitous and super-cool micro
controller. It is a standalone, non-networked app…But what if you want to share
code and upload programs right from your browser? That’s where CodeBender.cc
comes in. CodeBender is a browser-based IDE that supports uploading to nearly
any Arduino board. You can use the program to copy sample code, browse code
uploaded by other users, and even store private snippets. Because it is
collaborative you can clone bits of code and use it in your own projects and
there is even a curated list of cool snippets…”
Open Source
Hardware
42.
3D-printed, open source
robot Jimmy
http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/21/intel-researcher-debuts-3d-printed-open-source-robot-jimmy/
“Meet Jimmy the 21st Century Robot. The
artificial intelligence, or brains, of the robot is open source. So is the
design and the technical description for printing him out as a 3D object…Jimmy
is the creation of Intel researcher Brian David Johnson, a futurist who has
been toying with the idea of the future’s robots for more than a decade. He is
debuting Jimmy at the Maker Faire do-it-yourself tech expo in New York this weekend.
These robots are going to be…very personal for each creator. “We can come to
see these robots as an extension of ourselves, and that these are platforms to
create as many of them as we can…Our motto is that every robot has a name…”
43.
This field-ready wireless
platform is bringing open-source connectivity to the farm http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/field-ready-wireless-platform-brings-open-source-farm.html “After putting together a better greenhouse
monitor…Louis Thiery…wanted to integrate field-ready sensors with a dedicated
server that could control and monitor them all. The result of his work is
Apitronics, an open source wireless platform with a small dedicated Linux
computer serving as the brain. The Apitronics platform uses "Bees",
which are low-power, Arduino-compatible sensor or actuator devices, and a
"Hive", a small Linux box which networks the Bees together and
gathers and displays data from them, or sends control signals downstream to the
Bees…the basic Bees can be attached to "plugs" including humidity
sensors and a weather station, but additional plugs are being developed…that can
serve as door sensors…or water level sensors, or even controllers and sensors
for field irrigation or aquaponic systems. Because the system uses open source
hardware and software…anyone with Arduino/C++ experience can develop additional
sensors or "hack the Hive itself." And it's not just for farms, either,
as the system could also be applied to other environmental monitoring needs…”
Open Source
44.
Mexico sees its first
open-source village cellphone network http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/16/mexico-sees-its-first-village-cellphone-network/2821643/ “The communications revolution that swept the
globe missed the Zapotec village of Talea de Castro high in the mountains of
southern Mexico, where making any sort of call meant trudging to a community
telephone line and paying what could be a day's wages for a crackly five-minute
conversation. All that has changed, thanks to…simple radio receivers, a laptop
and relatively inexpensive Internet technologies, the people of the village
have leapfrogged into the 21st century by setting up what amounts to their own
mini-telecom company — one capable of handling 11 cellphone calls at a time…Before
it was set up, Talea's 2,500 residents would make their calls from the
"caseta," a house or shop that has a land line and charges a
per-minute fee. There was little privacy, and international calls cost more
than a dollar a minute. It was even worse for incoming calls, which required a
runner to answer and tell townsfolk when someone was looking for them…In just
six months, more than 720 residents have signed up to use the new system. Local
calls made on off-the-shelf cellphones are free, and phoning relatives in Los
Angeles costs just 20 centavos (1.5 cents) a minute. What's more, every
subscriber has a distinct mobile number…”
45.
Coursefork: a new way to
collaborate on open education http://opensource.com/education/13/9/coursefork-education-tool “What if teachers could fork educational
materials just like software developers fork code?...Coursefork, is…not a MOOC,
it's not Moodle, and it's not edX. It's a GitHub for course creation. It's
about building a community. Coursefork is a platform for open-sourcing and
collaborating on educational material. We've built a way to upload course
material, allow others to create copies, modify them for their own use, and
share their improvements both back "upstream" and to the community at
large…”
46.
NotePad++ offers portable
notepad features for programmers http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048848/notepad-offers-portable-notepad-features-for-programmers.html “Notepad++ is a portable notepad that users
like computer programmers will find enormously useful, because it offers
something the regular Notepad doesn't: numbered lines…If you're testing a
program in a language such as Javascript, you’ll get obscure error messages
like “operand missing on line 346”. So, it helps if you know which line the bug
is on, and how to quickly locate that line. If the lines are not numbered, like
in the regular Notepad, you would be sitting there till doomsday, trying to
locate that one elusive little bug…Other smart features include zooming in and
out (handy if you have bad eyesight), macro recording and playback, and tabbed
notes, so you can have multiple notes open in the same window and click back
and forth between them. It also offers
colour syntax coding, which makes reading through programs easier. Notepad++ is
also smaller than Notepad…”
Civilian
Aerospace
47.
Software problem delays
cargo ship arrival at space station http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/09/22/us-space-station-idINBRE98A00420130922 “A software glitch will delay Orbital
Sciences' trial cargo ship from reaching the International Space Station until
Tuesday…The company's Cygnus capsule…had been scheduled to reach the station on
Sunday…six hours before the capsule was due to dock, a computer software
problem caused Cygnus to reject navigation data radioed from the station…Orbital
Sciences said it had found the cause of the data discrepancy and was developing
a software fix. The next opportunity for the capsule to rendezvous and dock
with the station will be on Tuesday…”
48.
Students at USC attempt
to launch rocket into space http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-usc-rocket-lab-space-20130920,0,2123551.story “…student engineers from the University of
Southern California's Rocket Lab in Los Angeles say they are trying to make
history Friday evening by sending a student-built rocket into space. By the
time the rocket motor burns out in about 13 seconds, it will have gone from
zero to six times the speed of sound, or 4,500 miles per hour. If they succeed
in getting the aptly named "Traveler" to reach the 62-mile mark,
these young engineers will be the first group of students to successfully
launch a rocket into space, representing the culmination of several years of
work since USC alum Ian Whittinghill dreamed up the idea as a freshman in 2003.
Over nearly a decade, several generations of students have devoted countless
hours to the goal, sometimes 40 or 50 per week, outside of their classwork…Whittinghill,
the son of the founder of Whittinghill Aerospace LLC, spent much of his youth
immersed in rocket science. When he came to USC, he began to see how all the
classes were teaching key bits of information that could be used to design and
build such a craft on campus…Whittinghill persuaded some professors, including
Dan Erwin, now chairman of the department of astronautical engineering, to
submit a proposal for funding and space. “I was asking for what I thought were
outlandish things,” Whittinghill said. To his surprise, his fledgling Rocket
Lab got $160,000 in initial funding and some dedicated workspace…”
Supercomputing
& GPUs
49.
Graphics acceleration can
bring 10X speedup to Java http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/22/graphics-acceleration-can-bring-10x-speedup-to-java/ “An IBM executive said today that graphics
processing unit (GPU) acceleration is coming to the Java programming
environment. That could improve processing performance as much as 10-fold for
Java-related computing…Java and GPUs will open up a world of opportunities for
faster web performance…Speedups vary greatly when Java programmers take
advantage of existing GPU compute libraries, based on Nvidia’s CUDA programming
environment. Those speedups range from 2X to 48X faster…IBM will enable IBM
runtimes for server-based GPU accelerators and explore acceleration in ordinary
workloads under existing applications programming interfaces…this will allow
millions of Java developers to accelerate a broad range of applications using
GPU accelerators – and achieve speedups that will dramatically improve the
capabilities of the applications. Plus, the acceleration will fuel a new
generation of Java-based enterprise applications that would not have been
possible without GPUs…”
50.
HP, Nvidia team up for
GPU Centre of Excellence http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/09/23/hp-nvidia-gpu/1
“HP and Nvidia have officially opened a
joint GPU Technical Centre of Excellence in Grenoble, France, as part of a
joint initiative aimed at further boosting the acceptance of GPU-based
high-performance computing (HPC) systems. For many workloads, graphics processing
units (GPUs) offer considerable advantages to traditional central processing units…GPU-accelerated
systems have been taking over the TOP500 list of supercomputers in recent
years, but it's something HP and Nvidia believe could go still further…The goal
of this collaborative GPU Technical Centre of Excellence is to enable perennial
solution improvements and facilitate the adoption of HP systems based on Nvidia
Tesla GPUs for HPC. The facility provides researchers with remote access to an
HP cluster platform comprised of 10 ProLiant SL250s, SL270s and ML350p Gen 8
servers, each of which includes integrated Nvidia Tesla GPU accelerator boards
along with a smaller number of Nvidia Grid GPU boards for GPU virtualisation
experiments…”
Trends &
Emerging Tech
51.
Top Ten
Trends from Boomer Technology Circles Summit http://www.accountingweb.com/article/top-ten-trends-boomer-technology-circles-summit/222393 “…Boomer Consulting identified the following…trends
from the BTC Summit that accounting firm leaders should consider: 1. Remote
workers…several firms are reducing office space requirements to less than 200
square feet per employee due to the remote workforce and staff working outside
the office…2. Electronic signatures…3. Growth in advisory services…4. Talent
development…6. Mobile devices…8. Desktop video conferencing…”
52.
A Digital
Future: K-12 Technology by 2018
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/a-digital-future-k-12-tec_b_3930632.html “…The… New Media Consortium Horizon Report
details six up-and-coming technologies in the next five years for K-12
classrooms…Mobile learning. Tablets and smartphones in the classroom are no
longer a matter of "if," but "when, and how quickly?"…Cloud
computing. When it comes to greater educational collaboration, cloud computing
has unlimited potential…Learning analytics…Learning analytics is the education
industry's response to "big data"…Open content: The rise of MOOCs, or
massive open online courses, in terms of college learning is having a
trickle-down effect on K-12 education…3D printing…will allow K-12 students to
create tangible models for their ideas…Virtual laboratories: These Web
applications give students the chance to perform physical science experiments
over and over, from anywhere with Internet access…”
*****
posted by myDigitechnician at 24.9.13
|
0 comments
