2013/09/24

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 In501 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…”

*****

NEW NET location for 24 Sep 2013 Mtg = Tom's Drive In

NEW NET’s 24 September 2013 meeting will be  from 7 – 9 PM upstairs at Tom's Drive In501 N Westhill Blvd, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA, near Woodman's. Ignore the chain if it's across the stairs -- come on up and join the tech fun!

*****

2013/09/17

NEW NET Weekly List for 17 Sep 2013

Below is the final list of technology news and issues for the Tuesday, 17 September 2013, NEW NET (NorthEast Wisconsin Network for Entrepreneurism and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 PM weekly gathering at Pizza King, 800 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA.

The Weekly Top Ten, (pre-NEW NET, based on potential or immediate impact and/or general tech interestingness)
1.        California school district hires firm to monitor students' social media  http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/14/us/california-schools-monitor-social-media/  “A suburban Los Angeles school district is now looking at the public postings on social media by middle and high school students, searching for possible violence, drug use, bullying, truancy and suicidal threats. The district…is paying $40,500 to a firm to monitor and report on 14,000 middle and high school students' posts on Twitter, Facebook and other social media for one year…school officials…say the purpose is student safety…the district…paid the firm…$5,000 last spring to conduct a pilot project…Among the results was a successful intervention with a student "who was speaking of ending his life" on his social media…two students in the district committed suicide the past two years, said Superintendent Richard Sheehan…Sheehan said…"It's just another avenue to open up a dialogue with parents about safety."…In another recent incident, a student posted a photo of what appeared to be a gun, and a subsequent inquiry determined the gun was fake…The company won't disclose its methods and practices in gathering the students' messages…Geo Listening also monitors whether students are talking about drug use, cutting class or violence. The firm even ascertains whether pupils are using their smartphone during class time…”
2.       Occipital’s New Structure Sensor Turns Your iPad Into A Mobile 3D Scanner  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/occipitals-new-structure-sensor-turns-your-ipad-into-a-mobile-3d-scanner/  “…Occipital just launched a Kickstarter campaign for its very first hardware project: the Structure, a portable 3D sensor that straps to the back of your iPad…The Structure itself is an awfully handsome piece of kit. Small and clad in colored anodized aluminum, it doesn’t look anything like the clunky 3D sensors you may have already been exposed to…The really astonishing bit is how quickly the Structure works in capturing all of this data…in a matter of mere moment he was able to capture a virtual bust of his ever-present marketing director…Scanning the topology of a side room was similarly quick, as was the process of throwing a virtual cat into the mix that would chase after balls that bounced off of 3D interpretations of couches and under coffee tables… “We’re not really just building a device, we’re building a platform,”…the team is going to make the low level data accessible to developers, and make high level APIs available to developers who know nothing about computer vision in a bid to make the Structure as accessible as possible…Looking to buy a new couch? Scan your living room and see if that sucker fits next to your bookshelf. Real estate agents could benefit from easy-to-capture, manipulable models of office spaces and homes…while the Structure is designed to fit on the back of your iPad, ambitious devs can use connect to PCs, Macs, and Android devices thanks to a so-called hacker cable that allows for a standard connection over USB…”
3.       Mobile computers open doors to scientific discovery  http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/09/15/3190334/pdas-hand-held-computers-open.html  “…In its emerging role as a community forum, the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences recently hosted a conference called Mobile Data Collaboration, with a theme of inspiring partnerships between industry and science to solve environmental problems using hand-held technologies. The forum, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was standing-room-only as scientists, consumers, app designers, students and industry came together to discuss the complex challenges of coordinating data gathered by mobile technologies…the USDA hopes to detect invasive species by harnessing citizen scientists to photograph strange insects observed eating their trees or vegetable gardens…the museum is an ideal partner that could expand the audience of users to include K-12 as well as more than 1 million visitors per year. For health-related apps, logical partners include the medical profession and health clinics…Through mobile technologies, young people who learn science predominantly via computer may rediscover the joy of going outdoors…”
4.       Box Launches Box Notes To Take On Google Docs  http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/09/16/box-launches-box-notes-to-take-on-google-docs/  “Box…is moving into applications. The Box Notes application, which is free for Box users, is designed for teams to create documents and collaborate in real-time. The app uses what are called “Note Heads,” which are icons of each user…When people are editing a document, you can see their edits in real-time and the Note Head on the side of the document to indicate who is editing…”It’s a very simple social editing experience around content,” says Aaron Levie, CEO of Box…there are other apps such as Google Docs, Jive…and others that have similar features. Box is different because it’s built on Box’s enterprise security platform. For example, Box is HIPAA-compliant so that companies can collaborate on healthcare documents, which they can’t on other services, Levie says…”  [would you use a docs suite from Box instead of Google Docs? If yes, what should the Box Docs Suite have that Gdocs doesn’t have? –ed.]
5.        13 Hacks to Improve Your Google Search  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/15/13-hacks-to-improve-your-google-search.html  “…even Google can be juiced up with a few simple tricks…when it comes to muddling through the ever-expanding sprawl of the Internet, you can never have too many tricks…Set Timers…Wildcard…Similar To…Flight Times…Search a Website…Exclude Words…Convert Units…Either/Or…Search a Date Range…Translate…Global Timepiece…Find New Content…Track Packages…”
6.       Disney develops 'magical' device to make fingertips sing  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24031948  “…Disney has developed a device to transmit sound through the human body. The Ishin-Den-Shin technology uses a standard microphone to record audio and then converts it into an inaudible signal transmitted through the body of the person holding the microphone. When they touch someone's earlobe, an organic speaker is formed and the sound becomes audible, effectively whispering a message into that person's ear…It records sounds through a device fitted to the microphone that creates a "modulated electrostatic field" around the user's skin. "When touching another person's ear, this modulated electrostatic field creates a very small vibration of the earlobe…As a result, both the finger and the ear together form a speaker…The inaudible signal can be transmitted from body to body, using any sort of physical contact…”
7.        Twitter files papers to go public with IPO  http://www.technologyreview.com/view/519276/twitter-plans-to-go-public/  “Twitter…submitted paperwork for a planned public offering of stock. The company disclosed that it had filed the documents via a Tweet…A Twitter IPO could be the most anticipated technology stock offering since Facebook went public in May 2012, and things could get just as complicated…Earlier this year, Twitter was valued by some investors at $9.8 billion. But it could be worth much more than that now…Twitter has become more aggressive about advertising on the site…Twitter has played an increasingly important role as a source of news and information, including in countries roiled by protests and uprisings, where the service is used by organizers…It is blocked in China. An IPO will increase pressure on Twitter to raise revenues from advertising—and use technologies to track what people are doing, saying, and watching. That could bring it into conflict with some users…”
8.       Neuroscience for the People: Bring DIY Science to the World  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mcb80x/neuroscience-for-the-people-bring-diy-science-to-t  “…MCB80x is an open-source, free Neuroscience course that is launching as part of HarvardX -- an initiative to put Harvard courses online, augmented by the latest technology that the web has to offer, free for the world to explore. Part of our course is DIY science experimentation. We’ve partnered with Backyard Brains, who create open-source hardware kits for neuroscience experiments, to be able to provide as many students as possible with SpikerBox kits…We use the SpikerBox kits in our course to demonstrate fundamental concepts and we invite students to join in.  All of the money we raise on Kickstarter will go towards buying kits for as many registered MCB80x online students…as possible. Our goal is simply this: we want to create a community of citizen scientists with you and engage the public with scientific methods and practice…”
9.       AutoDesk Releases An Electronics Simulator Called 123D Circuits  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/10/autodesk-releases-an-electronics-simulator-called-123d-circuits/  “Hardware hacking often seems like black magic to the uninitiated, which is why 123D Circuits is so cool: it allows you to learn electronics using a virtual Arduino board and breadboard without blowing up capacitors or burning yourself with solder on your work table. Created by AutoDesk, 123D Circuits is part of the company’s “sandbox” initiative that offers simple 3D simulators, 3D printing apps, and other tools for beginners and advanced users to take part in the Maker movement…as an entry-level system for creating circuits as well as electronics design collaboration this thing looks pretty good. You can even print your own PCBs using designs made in the app and it supports Arduino programming using a built-in code editor. The service is free and upgraded accounts are available for $12 and $25 a month…”
10.     Private Spacecraft 'Go' for 1st Space Station Launch  http://www.space.com/22816-private-spacecraft-cygnus-cleared-launch.html  “A commercial cargo capsule has been cleared for its debut flight on Wednesday (Sept. 18), a liftoff that will blast the robotic vessel on a demonstration mission to the International Space Station. The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft, which is built by aerospace firm Orbital Sciences, passed its launch readiness review and is now set to lift off Wednesday from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia…”
The ‘net
11.      How to download streaming media and watch it anywhere, anytime  http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048278/how-to-download-streaming-media-and-watch-it-anywhere-anytime.html  “Subscribing to Hulu Plus or Netflix is a great deal—until you find yourself on a less-than-perfect Internet connection. Perversely, your streaming media library is most valuable in places where you can’t access the Internet…you can use third-party software and a few tricks to download streaming video from Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix. Now you can watch your entertainment on your terms…Hulu doesn’t provide an official download option. Viewers who want to record streaming movies and TV for later enjoyment should try RTMPDumpHelper, a free utility designed to download media that you’re streaming via RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol, which Hulu uses)…on Windows you can simply download RTMPDumpHelper and the RTMPDump Toolkit, unzip both into one folder, and then open the RTMPDumpHelper program…During my testing, RTMPDump never successfully attached itself to Chrome…I eventually gave up and opened Firefox, which RTMPDump readily recognized…even after RTMPDump was hooked into my browser, about a third of the time the program failed to notice that I was streaming a new video from Hulu…Of all the methods I used, RTMPDump produced usable video the fastest…The problem is, most streaming sites—including Netflix, the biggest name in streaming video—don’t use RTMP…the only reliable method I could find to get a copy of a Netflix stream was to record it from the screen. Plenty of programs, including free options such as CamStudio, will let you record both the audio and the video from your computer screen as it plays…the files produced when you perform screen capturing are typically huge…before I tweaked all the settings in CamStudio, my sample videos exceeded 200MB for just 30 seconds of footage. You’ll need to experiment to figure out the optimal balance of recording size and quality for you and your available storage…”
12.     How to test your home Internet connection speed  http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048594/how-to-test-your-home-internet-connection-speed.html  “Testing your Internet connection's performance is a straightforward exercise. You don't need any extra software—all you need is a computer with a Web browser…For best results, you want to use a wired connection…that way, you don't have to worry about interference and performance fluctuations that can occur while you're on Wi-Fi…If you're stuck using Wi-Fi…do what you can to minimize interference…double-check to make sure your computer isn't downloading something in the background…Ookla's Speedtest.net is the go-to site to test your Internet connection; all you need is a Web browser…Speedtest.net will check both your download and upload speed…MegaPath (formerly Speakeasy) also offers a speed test, as well as what it calls Speed Test Plus, which tries to test the quality of your connection in addition to its raw speed…If you want to track your connection's performance on a more ongoing basis, consider installing a utility like NetSpeedMonitor: This free tool for Windows XP, Vista 7, and Server 2003 lives in your taskbar, and will give you information on your connection's upload and download speeds…”
13.     Outlook.com's long-overdue IMAP support  http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048652/heres-how-to-use-outlook-coms-long-overdue-imap-support.html  “More than a year after Microsoft introduced its revamped, modern-style webmail service, Outlook.com finally—finally!—supports IMAP. The IMAP protocol allows standalone email clients to access messages stored on a remote mail server, meaning any changes you make to your inbox appears on other devices, too; if you mark a message as read on your PC's email client, for example, it shows as read on your phone, too. That's pretty handy in a multi-device world, and IMAP is a veritable email staple of most client software…”
14.     How to look alive and professional in Web video meetings  http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048057/i-was-a-webcam-zombie-how-to-look-alive-and-professional-in-web-meetings.html  “We all know webcam zombies—people who may look normal walking down the street, but who, when they sit in front of a webcam, look ghastly…I didn’t know I was one, until a colleague sent me a screenshot of how I looked online…Here are the steps I took to come back from the undead…It starts with getting dressed. Take your cues from the folks you’re meeting with, and dress accordingly…steer clear of tops with stripes or checks, which can blur and be a distraction on-camera…I tell people to make sure that their space looks professional, but personal and utilized…Relying on natural light can be tricky on-camera, because it tends to lighten the background and make the foreground—where you sit—darker. The solution is to use lamps to create lighting that looks natural even though it isn’t…”
15.     The cows connected to the internet  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23932259  “A farm in Essex has begun connecting its cows to the internet so the farmer can detect when they become ill. The Cow Tracking Project uses data collected from radio positioning tags to monitor the herd's behaviour. If an animal starts acting differently the farmer can locate it to make sure it has not become lame or picked up an infection. It is the first time the technology has been used on a dairy herd in the UK and it could change the way farmers look after their animals…the technology could also be used in the future in the healthcare sector, to monitor the movement and routines of elderly people…”
16.     Bing gets a new logo and modern design  http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/17/4737390/new-bing-logo-design-features-screenshots  “Microsoft's Bing search engine is getting a new look…Bing is dropping its curly blue logo for a modern design that closely matches the rest of Microsoft's recently redesigned product branding. "The logo, obviously, is a big deal for us…explains Microsoft's Lawrence Ripsher, a design lead for Bing’s User Experiences, in an interview with The Verge. After "literally dozens" of color experiments, Microsoft has selected an orange Bing logo that's almost golden in its appearance…Bing has also been overhauled and rewritten from the ground up to support a new responsive design that adapts across PC, tablet, and phone. The result, available in preview here, combines some existing features that were buried away in the old design, and some new features that help surface information a lot better…”
Security, Privacy & Digital Controls
17.     Security of Java takes a dangerous turn for the worse  http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/security-of-java-takes-a-dangerous-turn-for-the-worse-experts-say/  “The security of Oracle's Java software framework, installed on some three billion devices worldwide, is taking a turn for the worse, thanks to an uptick in attacks targeting vulnerabilities that will never be patched…The most visible sign of deterioration is in-the-wild attacks exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities in Java version 6…The version, which Oracle stopped supporting in February, is still used by about half of the Java user base…Malware developers have responded by reverse engineering security patches issued for Java 7 and using the insights to craft exploits for the older version. Because Java 6 is no longer supported, those same flaws will never be fixed…”
18.     “Internet of Things,” where even lights aren’t hacker safe  http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/08/philips-hue-lights-malware-hack/  “Weaknesses in a popular brand of light system controlled by computers and smartphones can be exploited by attackers to cause blackouts…vulnerabilities in the Hue LED lighting system made by Philips are another example of the risks posed by connecting thermostats, door locks, and other everyday devices to the Internet so they can be controlled by someone in the next room or across town. While the so-called Internet of Things phenomenon brings convenience and new capabilities to gadgets, they come at a cost. Namely, they're susceptible to the same kinds of hack attacks that have plagued computer users for decades…"Lighting is critical to physical security…Smart lightbulb systems are likely to be deployed in current and new residential and corporate constructions…the ability of an intruder to remotely shut off lighting in locations such as hospitals and other public venues can result in serious consequences…Imagine the power of a remote botnet system being able to simultaneously cause a perpetual blackout of millions of consumer lightbulbs," Dhanjani wrote…"As consumer [Internet of Things] devices permeate homes and offices, this scenario is increasingly likely in the near future…”
19.     Surreptitiously Tampering with Computer Chips  https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/09/surreptitiously.html  “…you can tamper with a logic gate to be either stuck-on or stuck-off by changing the doping of one transistor. This sort of sabotage is undetectable by functional testing or optical inspection. And it can be done at mask generation -- very late in the design process -- since it does not require adding circuits, changing the circuit layout, or anything else. All this makes it really hard to detect. The paper talks about several uses for this type of sabotage, but the most interesting -- and devastating -- is to modify a chip's random number generator. This technique could…reduce the amount of entropy in Intel's hardware random number generator from 128 bits to 32 bits…I have no idea if the NSA convinced Intel to do this with the hardware random number generator it embedded into its CPU chips, but I do know that it could…”
Mobile Computing & Communicating
20.    Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa CPUs will be able to use all eight cores at once  http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/samsungs-exynos-5-octa-will-be-able-to-use-all-eight-of-its-cores-in-q4/  “Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa, the chip which powers the international version of the Galaxy S 4 and a few other upcoming Samsung products, has eight ARM CPU cores. Four of these are based on the high-end Cortex A15 architecture and are used for more intensive tasks, while the other four are based on the slower but more power-efficient Cortex A7 architecture. These cores work together using an ARM-developed feature called big.LITTLE. Up until now, only four of those eight cores could be used at one time, but Samsung announced…that…starting in the fourth quarter of 2013, Exynos 5 Octa systems-on-chips (SoCs) will be able to use all eight CPU cores at once. All four A15 cores and all four A7 cores will be able to execute code at the same time…”
21.     Three highlights of the Moto X, Google’s first real smartphone  http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_24092654/review-three-highlights-moto-x-googles-first-real  “The Moto X, billed as the first real Google phone because it is the first smartphone that Motorola built from the ground up after the company was acquired by the online search giant in 2012, offers three stand-out features…To start, the Moto X handles voice commands better than any phone before it. Rather than having to push a button to activate the feature, a user simply speaks the phrase "OK Google Now" to wake up the phone. To place a call, a user would say "OK Google Now, call (person's name)." The phone can be trained to respond only to the owner's voice…the so-called touchless control feature offered by the Android Jelly Bean-powered Moto X is far more useful than Apple's Siri…Second, the Moto X's battery life is remarkable. Under light use — limited Web surfing, game play and text messaging, and an occasional phone call — the phone endured two and a half days without a charge before the battery level fell below 15 percent. It easily lasted through the day under typical daily usage, which includes fetching and writing e-mails and heavy mobile Web browsing…Lastly, the phone's appearance is customizable…consumers can design the look of the Moto X by picking among 18 colors for the backplate and seven for the accents, such as the power and volume buttons. The front of the phone comes in white or black…”
22.    The greatest mobile threats  http://blogs.computerworld.com/mobile-security/22815/greatest-mobile-threats-and-android-malware-isnt-one-them  “Self-interest is behind a lot of the mobile malware reports from anti-virus vendors…pushing its latest research on malicious software raising havoc on Android smartphone users, usually in Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation or Asia…the threat to people outside the affected regions are small…just 5% of smartphones and tablets globally have security tools installed…"There has yet to be -- and probably never will be -- a massive worm, virus or Trojan."…So what are the greatest threats? Well, corporate employees are definitely one of them…market research firm uSamp found that more than 40% used their mobile devices to share documents using cloud services…despite corporate policies prohibiting the practice. The firm estimates that data leaked to unsanctioned services costs U.S. companies $2 billion. Theft or employees losing smartphones are also major threats,..More than a third of mobile devices are either lost or stolen…Terminated employees are also a major threat…Ad-supported apps, such as games, are also a big problem, when downloaded by employees…Use of insecure public Wi-Fi networks also makes the list of greatest threats…”
Apps
23.    Smartphone apps track and reward shoppers  http://www.myrecordjournal.com/southington/southingtonnews/1995581-129/smartphone-apps-track-and-reward-shoppers.html  “Before entering stores such as Best Buy, Target or Macy’s, Kelly Smith makes sure to turn on her smartphone’s GPS. She’s looking for “kickbucks,” the points she wins by entering stores associated with the cell phone application Shopkick. Scanning the barcode of items she’s interested in once in the store also earns her Shopkick points, which she can redeem for merchandise or discounts. In return for gift cards, discounts and other rewards, brick -and-mortar stores associated with Shopkick draw traffic and get valuable information about customer’s shopping habits…Information-gathering technologies under consideration or in use include heat maps of stores showing where customers were and what they touched, as well as cell phone tracking programs that tell retailers what route customers are most likely to take through a store…”
24.    Smartphone app opens new bank accounts with a snap  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/sep/12/mitek-mobile-banking-account-opening-app/  “Mitek Systems, which makes software that lets users deposit checks by snapping pictures with their smartphone cameras…has found another personal finance chore that can done using smartphone cameras instead of keypads: Opening a new account…The app lets consumers take a picture of the front and back of their driver’s licenses to apply for new bank accounts…The company expects to sell the technology to banks, which would use it to serve tech-savvy customers. They also could use it to target lower income customers who may not have a computer at home but likely own a smartphone…The company also has camera-based apps for paying bills and transferring money between accounts. And its technology is used by Progressive Insurance to provide insurance quotes via smartphones…”
SkyNet
25.    Google Creative Coder Turns Raspberry Pi Into A Web Development Platform  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/12/google-creative-labs-launches-coder-to-turn-raspberry-pi-into-a-basic-web-development-platform/  “Coder…is an open source tool that allows you to easily turn a Raspberry Pi into a basic web server with a web-based development environment. The tool…is meant to be an environment for educators and parents to teach kids “the basics of building for the web.” Setting Coder up should only take 10 minutes. The project, the team argues, gives learners a private platform for building a web program. For those who already know to code, though, it’s also a nifty platform to play and provides a cheap sandboxed environment for experimenting with new ideas…”
26.    Google Drive for Android gets an interface makeover  http://www.techhive.com/article/2048662/google-drive-for-android-gets-an-interface-makeover.html  “Google has given its Drive application for Android…a new interface and a few other subtle features that makes it a little more useful on a mobile device. The company didn't detail much about the app update…But once you get the app downloaded and installed, it's like unearthing a prize from the bottom of a cereal box. Google Drive now features a bright white interface, dubbed Holo Light. There is also a new Create button embedded on the bottom menu bar that displays quick action buttons for creating a new document, uploading a file, or scanning in a photo or document. Swiping downward freshres your Drive with new files. Spreadsheets have also received a boost with the ability to merge and split rows and column in spreadsheets, or freeze them to segregate them out and do separate data work on the same spreadsheet…”
27.    Google’s Patent Search Engine Expands Global Footprint With Support For China, Germany, Canada  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/googles-patent-search-engine-expands-global-footprint-with-support-for-china-germany-canada-wipo/  “…Google is making a move to expand the capabilities of its patents search engine, google.com/patents – often one of the first stops for entrepreneurs in search of information on existing patents…it has broadened its footprint to now include four new patent agencies: China, Germany, Canada and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)…Google…Patent Search has seen steady improvement. Last year, for example, Google launched the  Prior Art Finder and added support for European Patent Office (EPO) patents…the company is taking advantage of Google Translate to aid with support for multiple languages, which will at least give searchers a rough idea as to what a patent’s text may say, though…they’ll need a native speaker to fully understand the details of patents written in other languages…”
28.    Google is done selling the Nexus 4 in the US  http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/16/4738980/google-play-nexus-4-sold-out-not-coming-back  “The Nexus 4's run in Google Play is now over…Google's online storefront sold out of the 16GB version of the flagship phone in the US, and a trusted source with knowledge of the company's plans tells The Verge that this marks the end for the LG-built device. Google has no plans to bring it back in stock in any storage size…Last week, Google sold out of its remaining 8GB Nexus 4 inventory after a clearance price cut. Google's decision to stop selling the Nexus 4 comes amid rumors that it and LG will team up for a follow up Nexus smartphone, possibly called the Nexus 5…”
General Technology
29.    Seagate to Ship 5TB HDD in 2014 using Shingled Magnetic Recording  http://www.anandtech.com/show/7290/seagate-to-ship-5tb-hdd-in-2014-using-shingled-magnetic-recording  “…According to Seagate, its latest 1TB platter 3.5" drives have shrunk read/write heads as small as they can physically go. Similarly, tracks on those platters are placed as close together as physically possible. Pushing areal density is important to increase overall capacities…but if we're at physical limits today then it's time for some architectural changes to push capacities going forward. Seagate's solution is something it calls Shingled Magneting Recording (SMR)…Track size is traditionally defined by the size of the write heads, as they are larger than the read heads. The track width is larger than necessary from the perspective of reading data back in order to decrease the chances of reading data from adjacent tracks…SMR shrinks the guard space between tracks and allows tracks to overlap one another, like roofing shingles. Although data is written to the entire width of the track, a smaller/trimmed portion of the track (the width of the read head) is all that the drive cares about. By allowing tracks to overlap, areal density can continue to scale without further shrinking the size of the heads…The increase in platter density will allow Seagate to ship a 4 platter/5TB drive next year…”
30.    Latest XPRIZE competition takes on ocean acidification  http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/09/latest-xprize-competition-takes-on-ocean-acidification/  “…the XPRIZE Foundation is now offering people the chance to bring home a considerable cash prize…to develop a better pH sensor for monitoring ocean acidification…In 2010, environmental advocate Wendy Schmidt donated $1.4 million for a competition to build a better oil cleanup system following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico…Schmidt was so pleased with the results that she is putting up $2 million to help address a global marine environmental threat: ocean acidification. Ocean acidification is caused by increasing atmospheric CO­2, which dissolves into ocean water. This process lowers the pH of ocean water and decreases the concentration of carbonate ions—making it harder for organisms to build calcium carbonate shells…Temperature and salinity measurements are routinely made by an army of autonomous ARGO floats drifting around the ocean. But pH measurements have to be made carefully in a lab setting. That means that all our data comes from work aboard research vessels or at the research stations that carry out long-term monitoring. A large expansion of this sort of monitoring is a prohibitively labor-intensive and costly proposition…”
31.     Beestar Launches With Ultra-Precise Quantified Self  Location And Activity Trackers  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/10/beestar-launches-with-ultra-precise-quantified-self-device-aimed-at-pro-sports/  “…Beestar is launching to offer one of the most precise location and activity trackers in the world…the technology provided by Beestar is embeddable in almost any type of sports equipment, from tennis rackets to ski equipment…most professional sports teams and clubs have proprietary systems that cost exorbitant amounts to track the progress of each player’s speed, agility and strength, and most only work during the games or matches themselves. Beestar implements this same service, with more accuracy, in a single, multifunctional device called the Quasp. The Quasp precisely measure acceleration patterns, reactivity in change of direction and sports team tactic quantification through highly accurate location tracking. As opposed to usual GPS offerings that only measure within 3-5 meters of the target, the Quasp can locate the target at the centimeter level…”
32.    Robo-mate exoskeleton under development in Europe  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24048567  “…Twelve research institutions from seven European countries are involved in the Robo-mate project, which hopes to test a robotic suit that can be worn by factory employees within three years…the machine could reduce the number of work-related injuries…Manufacturers including Italian carmaker Fiat and the French vehicle recycler Indra are working with the teams…The project aims to address the fact that many manufacturing tasks are difficult to automate. For example Indra has to deconstruct many different types of car, and at present humans, rather than robots, are the only ones capable of handling the complexity of the choices involved. Because of the weights involved, this can put staff at risk of developing medical problems. "People have to manipulate parts or components that weigh more than…22lb…”
Leisure & Entertainment
33.    Sony Smart Stick to challenge Google Chromecast dongle  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24125352  “Sony has confirmed plans to launch a dongle to add apps and other smart-TV features to its televisions. It will compete against a similar new product, Google's Chromecast. It will offer access to online content including video streams, music and games…Sony told Variety the Smart Stick would cost $150…Google's plug-in is being sold in the US for $35…the Smart Stick is designed to do away with the need for a separate cable as it can be plugged directly into a TV's mobile high-definition link (MHL) socket…”
34.    Your Board Game Is In My Video Game: Tangible Play Mixes The Real And Virtual  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/10/your-board-game-is-in-my-video-game-tangible-play-mixes-the-real-and-virtual/  “What do you get when you put a pair of board gaming geeks who have worked at NVIDIA, Google, LucasArts, and Ubisoft together in the same room? It probably looks like Tangible Play…this lean startup aims to mix augmented reality, animated graphics, and audio with traditional board game elements…“In terms of social mission – we really think that we are connecting people through games,”…We asked ‘How can we bring the long lasting engagement of iPad games to physical games?’” said Scholler…Sharma used his computer vision experience to build a working prototype that could use the iPad camera to recognize objects and help play games… “The big innovation of tangible play is the elegant design of iPad accessory and extremely sophisticated computer vision / AI software that works with the accessory. It basically enables the development of whole new category of apps. We decided to focus on games right now but in future it will enable all sort of applications…”
35.    Valve CEO Says Linux Is The Future Of Gaming  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/16/valve-ceo-gabe-newell-says-linux-is-the-future-of-gaming-hints-at-steambox-announcement/  “Valve CEO and Founder Gabe Newell said Linux is the future of gaming…As proof of Linux’s bright future, Newell pointed to Steam, the company’s online platform. Since it launched last spring, developers have created 198 games on it. He said it points to a future in which games will be nodes in a connected economy where the vast majority of goods and services will be created by individuals not companies. The reasons for Linux’s rosy future dates back to the age when PC vendors ruled with proprietary technologies. By blocking competitors, open systems emerged and the proprietary hardware became less relevant…proprietary systems create friction, which slows things down. For example, he…it took Valve six months to get an update approved by Apple for an iPad game. That’s antithetical to the open environments that come with Linux-based environments…”
36.    Gigabyte's tiny new gaming PC is smaller than an Xbox controller  http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/11/4718084/gigabytes-tiny-new-gaming-pc-is-smaller-than-an-xbox-controller  “…what if you want a gaming PC that can fit in your hand? That's where the Gigabyte Brix II comes in…Earlier this year, the company introduced the Brix lineup of tiny barebones computers that fit potent laptop processors in incredibly small cases, just 4.5 inches on a side. Now, the company's updating the lineup with new Haswell procesors…the particular 65W chips Gigabyte is using include the very best Iris Pro graphics that Intel has to offer…For somewhere in the $499–$599 range, the Brix II comes with HDMI and Mini DisplayPort output, four USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, built in Wi-Fi, and a 3.5mm audio jack in the front. But here's the catch: since it's a bare-bones system, you have to supply your own memory, 2.5-inch hard drive, and operating system…the company has a whole lineup of similarly sized Brix computers on tap, starting at just $199…and even a version with a built-in projector for $699…”
Entrepreneurism and Technology
37.    Greylock’s Will Invest $1 Billion 14th Fund In The “Many Any’s”  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/10/greylock-14/  “…Greylock…today announces its $1 billion 14th fund…The $1 billion fund will focus on early stage startups like its last fund where 120 of the 140 or so investments were in seed or A rounds…Greylock has invested about half of its $1 billion 13th fund that closed in 2011…they’ll be looking for startups that espouse two huge trends in technology startups: The Many Any’s - An anywhere, anytime, anyhow Internet is emerging thanks to mobile devices and innovative marketplaces. Suddenly, you can get on-demand taxis, places to sleep, and professional services from wherever you are…The Enterprise Cloud…”
38.    News Curation Platform Paper.li Raises Further $2 Million  http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/paper-li/  “…Paper.li, has raised further funding: $2 million…which brings total funding to date to $7 million, will be used to…deploy what Paper.li is describing as a new “semantic analysis engine” that will offer curators additional content discovery and filtering capabilities…Paper.li enables anybody to create their own “online newspaper” by curating interest-based content shared via social media (Twitter, Facebook, and G+), or pulled in from YouTube or blogs and other online content. The result is a nicely designed “Web digest”, says co-founder Lambelet…“Paper.li lets you build your personalized newspaper with content coming from sources you trust.” he explains…Paper.li claims 3.7 million monthly users who are curating over 50 million articles daily, in 7 languages, no less. Lambelet tells me the concept of creating an online newspaper powered by the interest-graph is resonating with small enterprises, agencies, and consultants who use the service to produce a Web digest for their community, customers or prospects…”
39.    Yahoo relaunches ecommerce app platform Lexity as Yahoo Commerce Central  http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/09/16/two-months-later-yahoo-relaunches-ecommerce-app-platform-lexity-as-yahoo-commerce-central/  Yahoo today announced it has rebranded and relaunched Lexity as Yahoo Commerce Central. The company is calling the new service “your one-stop shop for simple, affordable, and effective tools for your store.” Yahoo acquired ecommerce app platform startup Lexity at the end of July. The company claimed it would keep all of Lexity’s products and services, and so far it is keeping that promise…”
Design / DEMO
40.    Ten Global Finalists for GE Open Innovation Jet Engine Bracket Design Quest  http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/09/17/ge-unveils-the-ten-global-finalists-for-its-open-i/  “GE selects ten finalists from nearly 700 global design entries representing 56 countries…This design Quest invited individuals, companies and institutions to redesign loading brackets found on jet engines using 3D printing. A critical component of a jet engine, brackets support the weight of the engine during handling and must withstand significant vibrations during flight. Additive manufacturing has the potential to reduce the weight of a single aircraft engine by one thousand pounds and drive substantial reduction in fuel consumption. The Quest combines the power of additive manufacturing with open innovation and seeks design solutions which will not only reduce the bracket weight but also improve its strength and performance…”
41.     Explore design language marrying technology to create products  http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-08-31/news/41642231_1_philippe-starck-design-language-bottle-design  “Ever wonder why the natural world looks so different from the manmade world? Most natural forms are too complex to describe in simple mathematical terms. In order to achieve repeatability, predictability and precision, most often than not, one resorts to extremely simple geometry in the objects that are mass manufactured. Artists and designers ac ross the world inspired by nature have challenged technology; continuously evolving what is popularly known as Organic Design. Designers such as Ross Lovegrove and Philippe Starck have explored new design language marrying technology and material science to create striking products…non-geometric 'organic' shapes have been made possible through Computer Aided Design…Such software is universally available to designers through low cost-high end computing capability and software. Ironically, going back to nature for inspiration for products that are mass manufactured is aided by technology that uses complex mathematics made accessible through simple software…Their idea is to 'not simply mimic nature, but instead learn from the intricate, all-encompassing interplay of her elements'…”
DHMN Technology
42.    My time at a singularity conference  http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/09/random-access-memories-my-time-at-a-singularity-conference/  “I'm…watching a man who is not a man…the man sits comfortably in an Aeron desk chair, hair falling into his eyes as he gazes idly about the room…The emcee of the Global Future 2045 conference…introduces him as Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro…He's a leading expert in the creation of lifelike robots…the man looks around at the crowd and begins to speak. "In order to investigate humans, we need to have a test bed. I am the test bed," he says. "The professor is using myself to study the Hiroshi likeness…Now, let's welcome professor Ishiguro." With that, the professor himself strides onto the stage and the "man" in the chair is revealed as Ishiguro's hyperrealistic robotic doppelgänger…If the conference organizer, Russian multimillionaire Dmitry Itskov, has his way, robots like Ishiguro's will make us immortal—perhaps as soon as 2045…Itskov's 2045 Initiative…has set itself the goal of transferring "an individual's personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier." The side effect of that ability to transfer personalities would be that one never has to die with a body…”
43.    MIT Researchers Unveil A New, Smarter Way To 3-D Print  http://www.fastcodesign.com/3017552/a-pair-of-mit-researchers-unveil-a-new-smarter-way-to-3-d-print  “3-D printing has become the rallying cause for a rising generation of designers, engineers, and architects. There seems to be few limits to what the technology can do or what range of products it can spawn, from lampshades to lunar bases…however, it’s easy to neglect one key factor: Printing capabilities are directly wedded to the size of one’s printer. As home printers become more readily available, the size of their printing beds shrink. Any budding designer with a desktop 3-D printer can create an intricate scale model of the Millennium Falcon, but what about something as straightforward yet functional as a chair? It simply won’t fit inside the printing box. MIT-based researchers…teamed up to tackle this very problem…the pair conceived of a whole new way to do 3-D printing. Hyperform is a new strategy for designing and printing large objects irrespective of a printer’s bed size. So not only can you print out that chair at home, you can also print a table, bed frame, and everything else you need to furnish a bedroom…By merely folding the object you want to print, you can jig it to fit into a small-scale printer…When the object is exhumed from the printer bed, it doesn’t at all resemble its final shape. Rather, it’s a dense cluster of thin but sturdy polymer links packaged in a three-dimensional puzzle that can be intuitively assembled. The chains are programmed with multidirectional notches, so that they can be latched together at right angles. Assembly is quick because each chain can only bend in the way it's designed to, thus removing a large obstacle that plagues most 3-D-printing ventures…”
Open Source Hardware
44.    Intel says open source 3D printed robots are coming  http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2294483/intel-says-open-source-3d-printed-robots-are-coming  “3D printed, open source robots that are going to bridge the gap between technology and humanity are on their way, according to Intel…"We've been doing this thing called science fiction prototyping... using science fiction inside of Intel,"…"One of the things we started thinking about, around ten years ago, was - if we can turn anything into a computer, what if we come up with a new brand new robot?...Using 3D printing, using open source hardware and software... anyone can build a robot that is completely open source, where the design files are free and the AI is open and everyone and anyone can start writing apps for the robot…So as we begin to make these robots and design and build them, we begin to see these robots as extension of ourselves and allow them to go off and interact with other people, [and] with other robots…”
45.    Open SBC runs Android and Linux on quad-core Rockchip  http://linuxgizmos.com/open-sbc-runs-android-and-linux-on-quad-core-rockchip/  “Radxa is accepting preorders for a compact, open, Android- and Linux-ready single board computer based on a 1.6GHz quad-core Rockchip RK3188 SoC. The $89 and $69 Radxa Rock and Rock Lite SBCs offer up to 2GB RAM and 8GB flash, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet connectivity, real-world ports for HDMI, Ethernet, USB, and S/PDIF…Shenzhen China startup Radxa is another open SBC project from CubieBoard founder Tom Cubie. Whereas the latest CubieBoard2 is based on the dual-core, Cortex-A7 Allwinner A20 system-on-chip, the Radxa Rock moves up to Rockchip’s quad-core SoC clocked at 1.6GHz…”
Open Source
46.    Audacity 2.0.4 released  http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/news/audacity-2-0-4-released  “…we love Audacity at Linux User…it’s an amazing tool for any kind of audio editing or manipulation. Audacity 2.0 has been a great upgrade to the software, and this tradition is continued in the latest minor update to the software. Audacity 2.0.4 has a new reverb effect based on Freeverb, new navigation commands such as Go to Selection Start, and better alignment tools for multiple tracks…”
47.    Thunderbird v.24 Is Days Away  http://www.thepowerbase.com/2013/09/thunderbird-24-days-away-mozilla-gets-back-work/  “Thunderbird, the mysteriously abandoned (sort-of) open source mail client makes its return on September 17th.  Faithful users have been marooned on version 17, receiving only maintenance tune-ups along the way, but that’s all set to change. So, what’s changed? In the Compose window, ctrl/cmd + and ctrl/cmd – now change the zoom setting rather than the font size…Lots of fixes and improvements to the chat…Emails can now be sent to IDN based email addresses…LDAP passwords are correctly saved agai…”
Civilian Aerospace
48.    The design firms pioneering space suit fashion  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23947790  “Final Frontier Design wants to be the number one space suit designer for commercial space flights…It is based in a tiny studio in Brooklyn Navy Yard that can barely fit co-founders Ted Southern and Nikolay Moiseev, two assistants, and a few tables…Mr Moiseev, a former space suit designer for Zvezda, Russia's national space suit supplier, left his home country to strike out in the US. He has tried on and tested almost every space suit ever designed, and was responsible for designing the suits worn by cosmonauts on Mir, the former Russian space station, and the crew of the current International Space Station…”
49.    Rocket Girls aim higher  http://cw.ua.edu/2013/09/17/rocket-girls-aim-higher/  “For the last three years, the University of Alabama Rocket Girls have represented UA at NASA’s University Student Launch Initiative, one of the most challenging, high-caliber competitions in rocketry for university students…Now in their fourth year together, the team’s goals include establishing a Tuscaloosa chapter with the National Association of Rocketry. Creating a local NAR chapter will provide the team with better opportunities to inform Tuscaloosa about rocketry through events such as community rocketry workshops and a local launch site in Tuscaloosa…Part of competition in the USLI required the Rocket Girls to reach out in the local community, particularly to middle school students…“The outreach is a wonderful thing. Rockets are cool. They shoot off fire, and they go high. It’s highly visible, and it’s a good lead into the junior high and high school groups…”
Supercomputing & GPUs
50.    Supercomputer boosted with graphic processors  http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/archive_articles/130911_piz_daint_su/index_EN  “The supercomputer “Piz Daint”, which has been in operation at the national supercomputing centre (CSCS) since April, is presently being extended with graphic processing units (GPU) from processor manufacturer NVIDIA. In this extension, one of two conventional processor (CPU) located on a compute node is being replaced by a GPU. Compared to a conventional CPU, the GPU has reduced functionalities that are optimized for numerical calculations. In simple terms, this enables the GPU to compute much faster, while saving energy… The benefit of this new system should go primarily to climate scientists, geoscientists, chemists, as well as materials and nano-scientist…initial tests revealed that a climate simulation on Piz Daint runs over three times faster and reaching the solution with seven times less energy consumed as compared to CSCS’ current flagship supercomputing system “Monte Rosa”. The latter runs with conventional CPUs that have been upgraded less than two years ago. Even compared to the exclusively CPU processors previously available in “Piz Daint”, the hybrid system with the GPU processors is expected to run almost three times more energy-efficiently than with CPUs only…”
51.     Ice-Repellant Materials One Step Closer  http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-09-12/ice-repellant_materials_one_step_closer.html  “Scientists at GE Global Research are using the multi-petaflop Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to study the way that ice forms as water droplets come in contact with cold surfaces. They are working to develop "icephobic" materials that prevent ice formation and accumulation…The researchers were awarded 80 million CPU hours on Titan…Modeling and simulation are crucial to help narrow down potential candidates, but…the computational technique – molecular dynamics – is notoriously time-consuming…Retooling their application to run on GPUs was another big step. The team achieved a 5x speedup by converting their code to run on Titan's GPU accelerators…”
Trends & Emerging Tech
52.    6 Emerging Trends In Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship  http://www.forbes.com/sites/rodebrahimi/2013/08/28/6-emerging-trends-in-silicon-valley-entrepreneurship/  “…As an entrepreneur, it’s difficult to track trends without getting caught up in them…Here are the recent entrepreneurial trends from Silicon Valley: 1. Products And Platforms For Engineers…2. Technical Teams (Still) Rule The Valley…3. “Big Data” And Machine Learning…4. Automated Personal Finance…5. The “Sharing Economy”…6. Better Communities And Support For Entrepreneurs…”

53.    Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy  http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies  “The relentless parade of new technologies is unfolding on many fronts…Not every emerging technology will alter the business or social landscape—but some truly do have the potential to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work, and rearrange value pools…Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute, cuts through the noise and identifies 12 technologies that could drive truly massive economic transformations and disruptions in the coming years…applications of the 12 technologies discussed in the report could have a potential economic impact between $14 trillion and $33 trillion a year in 2025…Examples of the 12 disruptive technologies include: Advanced robotics—that is, increasingly capable robots or robotic tools, with enhanced “senses,” dexterity, and intelligence—can take on tasks once thought too delicate or uneconomical to automate…Next-generation genomics…advancing energy-storage technology could make electric vehicles cost competitive, bring electricity to remote areas of developing countries, and improve the efficiency of the utility grid…”  http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/dotcom/Insights%20and%20pubs/MGI/Research/Technology%20and%20Innovation/Disruptive%20technologies/MGI_Disruptive_technologies_Executive_summary_May2013.ashx  “…Mobile internet…Automation of knowledge work…The Internet of Things…Cloud technology…Advanced robotics…Autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles… Next generation genomics…Energy storage…3D printing…Advanced materials…Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery…Renewable energy…”

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