NEW NET Weekly List for 22 Oct 2013

Below is the final list of issues for the Tuesday, 22 October 2013, NEW NET (NorthEast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 PM weekly gathering upstairs at Tom's Drive In, 501 N. Westhill Blvd., Appleton, WI, USA, near Woodman's. Ignore the chain if it's across the stairs; come on up and join the tech fun!

The Weekly Top Ten, (pre-NEW NET, based on potential or immediate impact and/or general tech interestingness)

1.        Apple gives away Mac software, unveils iPad Air  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/22/us-apple-ipad-idUSBRE99L0ZK20131022  “…Apple Inc on Tuesday took the wraps off a slimmer faster tablet called the iPad Air and said it will give away Macintosh operating and work software free to its users, challenging Microsoft Corp's near-stranglehold on personal computing…it also unveiled a new line of Mac notebooks and computers. Its Mac OS and iWork software suite, which compete with Microsoft's Excel, Word and other applications, will now be offered free to all users…”

2.       Square Cash lets anyone with a debit card send money instantly over email  http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/15/4842518/square-cash-send-money-over-email-iphone-android  “What if sending money was as simple as sending an email? That’s the premise of Square Cash, launching today for all debit card users in the US, using any email service. To use Square Cash, all you do is compose an email to a friend, type the amount you way to pay in the subject title, and cc cash@square.com. If it’s your first time using the service, you’re directed to Square’s website where you type in your debit card number — and you’re done. There are no accounts to create, apps to download, friends to add, surcharges to pay, or bank account numbers to look up…”

3.       SpaceX Retires Grasshopper, New Test Rig To Fly in December  http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/37740spacex-retires-grasshopper-new-test-rig-to-fly-in-december  “Space Exploration Technologies…has retired its Grasshopper prototype, a 10-story, first-stage Falcon 9 rocket the Hawthorne, Calif., company used to develop and test vertical landing technologies. In its place, SpaceX plans a December debut of a new test rig, known as Falcon 9R, and a new test site at Spaceport America in New Mexico…The upgraded prototype will have nine Merlin 1D engines compared with Grasshopper’s single motor, bringing the company closer to its long-term goal of developing reusable rockets…”

4.       Intel says hardware bargains to multiply this fall: $99 tablets, $299 Haswell laptops  http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/15/intel-says-hardware-bargains-to-multiply-this-fall-99-tablets-299-haswell-laptops-349-2-in-1-hybrids/  “Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich…expects bargains galore this holiday season as computermakers take advantage of the latest Intel Haswell and Bay Trail microprocessors. Krzanich…expects $99 tablets, $299 Haswell laptops, and $349 2-in-1 hybrid tablets and laptops…Krzanich said that touchscreen-based laptops based on Haswell processors, which have twice the graphics capability and 50 percent better battery life than previous versions, will be the mainstay of holiday PC offerings…”

5.        Google joins Wall Street's $1,000 club  http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/18/google-1000-a-share/3007805/  “…Google's stock jumped $122.61, or 14%, to $1,011.41 Friday after the Internet company showed just how lucrative collecting and selling consumers' personal data to the highest bidder can be. Google is now the fourth company trading on a major exchange to have a stock price of $1,000 or more. The reason behind Google's stock's latest move higher came…when the…company reported a profit of nearly $3 billion during the third quarter, up 36% from a year earlier…”

6.       Ingenious Zipper Design Lets You Zip With One Hand  http://www.fastcodesign.com/3019897/ingenious-zipper-lets-you-zip-with-one-hand  “I’m a grown man, and zippers can still be tough…Apparel maker Under Armour has a solution. Starting this November, its clothing will include the Magzip, an ingenious zipper that magnetically clasps automatically and still provides just enough leverage for you to zip up one-handed if you need to…As engineer Scott Peters watched his uncle develop myotonic dystrophy, a condition notorious for attacking the strength and coordination of one’s appendages, he saw first-hand how manipulating buttons can impossible task, and even aligning the box and pin of a zipper can become daunting…we put a few magnets on a zipper, and of course that didn’t work so well.”…But Peters believed in the idea, playing with magnets on zippers for months before…his idea attracted the attention of a neighbor who happened to be an accomplished mechanical engineer…Together, they took on the problem in the only way it could be--constant iteration… “We had to figure out the combination of mechanical design so it self-aligns and easily locks itself in place, enabling you to zip with one hand…”

7.        The Makerbot Digitizer Is Nearly Magic  http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/17/the-makerbot-digitizer-is-nearly-magic/  “When I was a kid I was amazed by advances in technology. I went to a friend’s house when I was in fifth grade and his father had a PC…with a built-in hard drive…As a kid who grew up with tapes and later floppy disks, this was close to magic. A few years later I got a dot-matrix printer and Print Shop…Fast-forward further and I was using a…desk top publishing app…Then I mastered CDs, made DVDs of my wedding, and fired up a 3D printer that could churn out copies of my head…Now we have real magic…It’s not always perfect nor is it quite consumer-ready but the $1,400 Makerbot Digitizer is one of the coolest things I’ve seen this decade. The Digitizer is essentially a turntable, a webcam, and some lasers…To scan you simply load up the Digitizer software – an excellent, intuitive system that should be a model for all 3D printer and scanner makers – and…calibrate the system…Nine minutes later you have a scan…The process is addicting. When you put one object on you want to put another and another. Sharing these objects is an amazing feeling – it’s essentially the equivalent of dot-matrix teleportation…”

8.       Toddlers on touch screens: parenting the 'app generation'  http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2013/1020/Toddlers-on-touch-screens-parenting-the-app-generation  “…The first generation to use digital technology almost from birth are now toddlers. Parenting the 'app generation' involves handling new developmental challenges…after Fang Chang bought his first iPad, he and his wife noticed something about their toddler son and the high-tech tablet: Kyle, then 2 years old, was not only fascinated by the device, but he was shockingly proficient with it. "Within 10 minutes he was mastering it," Mr. Chang recalls. "He knew how to use the home button, how to open apps…between 2010 and 2012, the number of iPad users in the United States jumped from 11.5 million to 54 million, with millions of others using the Kindle Fire, the Google Nexus, or Samsung Galaxy…nonprofit Common Sense Media released a study…showing that 39 percent of all children ages 2 to 4 had used some sort of mobile touch-screen device at home, whether a smart phone, iPod Touch, or tablet…these tablets are here to stay," Chang says. "This is the wave of the future. This is how kids are going to be interacting…”

9.       What's the future for Google's plunging $12.7bn AdSense business?  http://www.zdnet.com/analysis-whats-the-future-for-googles-plunging-12-7bn-adsense-business-7000022145/  “Google's latest quarterly financial report shows problems in its AdSense network, which was responsible for 29% of last year's $43.7 billion in revenues…Not only has yearly growth come to a stop but AdSense revenues have shrunk every quarter this year…The continuing plunge in AdSense is in sharp contrast to robust 20% revenue growth in 2012, which outpaced AdWords' growth of 19%…”

10.     Oculus Rift Team Working to Stop the Motion Sickness  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425987,00.asp  “The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is a real trip for anyone who straps it on…Complaints about motion sickness while riding a virtual roller coaster or traipsing through a far-off land made of pixels has inspired Oculus VR to make some changes…"There are a lot of challenges, like resolution," Brendan Iribe, head of Oculus VR…As part of the next incarnation of the Rift prototype, Oculus is expected to boost its current 640-by-800 resolution to 720p. Eventually, the headset will run in full 1080p HD…"I've gotten sick every time I've tried [Rift]," Iribe admitted, adding that it only takes a couple of minutes in a virtual world before he feels ill. But the company seems to have fixed the issue, at least for Iribe. "In the last couple weeks, I've tried a prototype internally where I did not get sick for the first time, and I stayed in there for 45 minutes," he said …”

The ‘net

11.      40% Of YouTube Traffic Now Mobile, Up From 25% In 2012, 6% In 2011  http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/17/youtube-goes-mobile/  “…YouTube…is quickly going mobile, with small screens making up 40% of its traffic now compared to 25% last year…In 2011, just 6% of YouTube traffic came from mobile…Facebook doesn’t share what total percentage of usage comes from mobile, but 41% of its ad revenue comes from phones and tablets, up from 30% in Q1 2013…”

12.     Walmart Moves to Amazon Turf  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/technology/to-catch-up-walmart-moves-to-amazon-turf.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0  “A plucky Silicon Valley company, forced to compete for talented engineers, is trying it all — recruiting billboards on Highway 101; workplace perks like treadmill workstations and foosball tables; and conference rooms named after celebrities…The name of that arriviste company? Walmart. The country’s largest retailer, which for years didn’t blink at would-be competitors, is now under such a threat from Amazon that it is frantically playing catch-up by learning the technology business…The two retail behemoths…are battling over e-commerce…They want to control not just Internet shopping but all shopping. Even as Walmart pours money into technology, Amazon is building a physical presence across the nation…they believe the future of commerce is not just stores and not just online but a combination of the two…Amazon is a much bigger player online, with $74.4 billion in revenue expected for 2013. While Walmart’s total revenue is close to $500 billion, it has said it expects just a fraction of that, $10 billion, in e-commerce revenue…Amazon has been building warehouses throughout the United States as it tries to expedite its shipping and conquer online grocery delivery. It has had lockers at stores like 7-Eleven for about a year, though in September, RadioShack and Staples stopped participating in the program. Abroad, Amazon has moved even faster with services like same-day delivery and groceries…”

13.     Builders of Obama's health website saw red flags  http://news.yahoo.com/builders-obamas-health-website-saw-red-flags-070429400.html  “…programmers building the Obama administration's showcase health insurance website were growing increasingly stressed…Others rewrote computer code over and over to meet…last-minute requests for changes from the government or other contractors…a review of technical specifications by The Associated Press found a mind-numbingly complex system put together by harried programmers…Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said…her agency is also bringing in more experts and specialists…"This new infusion of talent will bring a powerful array of subject matter expertise and skills, including extensive experience scaling major IT systems," she said. "This effort is being marshaled as part of a cross-functional team that is working aggressively to diagnose parts of HealthCare.gov that are experiencing problems, learn from successful states, prioritize issues, and fix them." Project developers for the health care website…saw red flags for months…Obama offered no explanation for the failure except to note that high traffic to the website caused some of the slowdowns…The online system was envisioned as a simple way for people without health insurance to comparison-shop among competing plans offered in their state, pick their preferred level of coverage and cost and sign up…The government spent at least $394 million in contracts to build the federal health care exchange and the data hub…The administration acknowledged that a planned upgrade to the website had been postponed indefinitely and that online Spanish-language signups would remain unavailable, despite a promise to Hispanic groups that the capability would start this week… the government tweaked the website's home page so visitors can now view phone numbers to apply the old-fashioned way or window-shop for insurance rates without registering first …”

14.     Amazon increases free shipping minimum to $35  http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/22/4865994/amazon-free-super-saver-shipping-minimum-increases-to-35  “Amazon has offered free shipping to US customers for over a decade now on all eligible orders above $25, but that's changing today as the online retailer bumps up its minimum order requirement to $35. Amazon notes that this is the first time it's increased the order requirement for its "Free Super Saver Shipping" option in more than 10 years, and that members of the $79 per year Prime service will still receive free shipping on all orders…”

Security, Privacy & Digital Controls

15.     New effort to fully audit TrueCrypt raises $16,000+  http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/new-effort-to-fully-audit-truecrypt-raises-over-16000-in-a-few-short-weeks/  “For nearly a decade, TrueCrypt has been one of the trusty tools in a security-minded user’s toolkit. There’s just one problem: no one knows who created the software. Worse still, no one has ever conducted a full security audit on it…Matthew Green, a …cryptography professor at Johns Hopkins University…is one of people leading the charge to setup the audit…Green, along with North Carolina-based scientist Kenn White, set up two online fundraisers…”

16.     Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service  http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/10/experian-sold-consumer-data-to-id-theft-service/  “An identity theft service that sold Social Security and drivers license numbers — as well as bank account and credit card data on millions of Americans — purchased much of its data from Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus…an underground service called Superget.info…marketed the ability to look up full Social Security numbers, birthdays, drivers license records and financial information on millions of Americans…the data being resold by Superget.info…matched data sets produced by…USInfoSearch.com….Info Search CEO Marc Martin said the data sold by the ID theft service was…obtained…via Court Ventures…Court Ventures described itself as a firm that “aggregates, repackages and distributes public record data, obtained from over 1,400 state and county sources.”…Court Ventures was purchased by…Experian, one of the three major consumer credit bureaus….the proprietors of Superget.info had gained access to Experian’s databases by posing as a U.S.-based private investigator…Experian portrays themselves as the databreach experts, and they sell identity theft protection services…Experian acknowledged…Martin’s story and said it had worked with the Secret Service to bring a Vietnamese national to justice in connection with the online ID theft service…”

17.     How to build the ultimate PC security suite for free  http://www.pcworld.com/article/2050339/how-to-build-the-ultimate-pc-security-suite-for-free.html  “…If you’re connected to the Net, you really are a potential target. But that doesn’t mean you need to shell out cash for a premium security suite…you can cobble together a DIY security suite of your own that provides most of the protection that the boxed options do, at none of the cost…AVG Free topped the charts in our most recent free antivirus roundup…For even lower-friction free antivirus protection, you could rely on Microsoft’s built-in Windows Defender…Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free…scan-on-demand program focuses on “zero day” threats rather than common offenders…If you’re deeply worried about Web threats, consider installing Google’s Chrome, which beat all comers in security…Secunia Personal Software Inspector—a program that keeps all of your installed software up-to-date—is…one of the most important pieces of the safety puzzle for any patched-together security system…strong password management is a must…I prefer KeePass, a free, open-source password manager that works across a wide array of devices and packs a random password generator…CCleaner mimics the auto-tuning tools in premium security suites and keeps your PC running lean and mean. And Belarc Advisor scans your system to provide a high-level…view of your PC’s potential security holes…”

Mobile Computing & Communicating

18.     Automatic Link: Realtime Driving Feedback  http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/18/automatic-link-review-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-realtime-driving-feedback/  “…I’ve never thought of myself as the…aggressive road warrior…but Y Combinator-backed Automatic’s Link dongle begs to differ. It’s been plugged into my car for the better part of two weeks now, dutifully tracking all my hard stops, all my hasty starts at green lights, and all the times I’ve…pushed the car a bit too hard….the Link dongle…accelerometer means that it can detect sudden stops and starts, and there’s a tiny speaker built into the that audibly alerts you in those moments. Consistently slamming your brakes isn’t doing your car any favors, but the dongle is much more sensitive than that — seemingly normal stops can trigger the alert which sort of forces you to reconsider how normal your driving really is. The dongle also beeps at you when you’re too quick off the line…In the end, you’re left with a gadget that’s capable of giving you realtime driving feedback while you tool around town…”

19.     Datawind’s Sub-$50 Android Tablet Hitting The UK Soon  http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/18/datawinds-sub-50-android-tablet-hitting-the-uk-soon-next-gen-device-matches-ipad-specs-on-paper/  “…Datawind Aakash…promised to deliver a full-featured Android device for just under $50 a couple of years back…Datawind CEO Suneet Tuli revealed…the company has shipped around 1 million low-cost tablets, with plans in the pipeline…those plans include introducing its low-cost hardware in the west for the first time, via retail sales to kick off in the UK by the end of the year. Four different models of the Aakash (called the UbiSlate now…) will be available to UK buyers, starting at £29.99 for the UbiSlate 7Ci (Aakash2), and ranging up to £99.99 for the UbiSlate 3G7…the company’s upcoming Aakash4, which has a processor and RAM that actually exceeds the current iPad’s on paper (with a 1.5GHz dual-core A9 processor, and 1GB of RAM), will be available as well, and will be branded as the UbiSlate 7CZ. The Aakash4 represents a major technological leap forward…made possible by continued downward pressure on the pricing of components used in smartphone and tablets, and by Datawind’s ownership of its own LCD panel and touch screen production…”

20.    Nokia Unveils Its First Tablet  http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304402104579150821489127330  “Nokia Corp.  took the wraps off its first tablet device and a pair of supersize smartphones, representing…the latest attempts…to better compete with Apple Inc.  and Samsung Electronics Co. in the months before its handset business is acquired by Microsoft Corp…Lumias run exclusively on Microsoft's mobile software, and have been the best-selling Windows handsets…Lumia sales have…eclipsed the 8 million sales mark in the June-through-September period…Shipments of tablets are expected to grow more than 50% this year…according to Gartner…Less than 2% of these tablets will be running Microsoft's Windows operating system, while Google's Android and Apple's iOS each have approximately 49% market share…Nokia's tablet, dubbed Lumia 2520, is equipped with a 10-inch screen and will run Windows RT…”

Apps

21.     10 of the best multi-platform password manager apps  http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/10/06/10-of-the-best-multi-platform-password-managers-for-ios-android-and-the-desktop/  “…there’s a whole range of password managers out there…we’ve waded through a load of them and picked the best of the bunch…Dashlane…RoboForm…mSecure Password Manager…1Password…LastPass…Keeper…DataVault Password Manager…Norton Identity Safe…SplashID Safe Password Manager…oneSafe…”  http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/124283-password-managers-explained-the-best-apps-available-and-why-you-need-one  “…Two of the more critically acclaimed apps in recent years include 1Password and LastPass…A few other password managers are KeePass, RoboForm, Password Genie, PasswordSafe, Dashlane, SplashID Safe, mSecure, DirectPass, Norton Indentity Safe and Aurora…”

22.    Augmented Reality Apps: Making the Case for Smart Eyewear  http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/10/augmented-reality-apps-making-the-case-for-smart-eyewear/  “The publicity around Google Glass has helped stir attention for the market potential of wearable technology…Google Glass is merely the biggest player in what is quickly becoming the next big technological trend…As the consumer tech world awaits the advent of wearable tech…will augmented reality (AR) apps define the future of smart eyewear?...AR related apps…are designed to add an extra layer of information or experience to that which is being seen…Consumer AR applications are dominating the gaming industry…opening the door to a new hybrid virtual/real construct. Wearables can provide a more immersive user experience…Enterprise deployments of AR-enabled applications include stock picking in warehouses, virtual manuals and sales demonstrations that allow consumers to see products in their own home before purchasing…Ultimately…the AR industry vision is to become an invisible utility as the bridge between the digital and physical worlds merges seamlessly…”

SkyNet

23.    25 tips and tools to make Google Drive better  http://www.infoworld.com/slideshow/122661/25-tips-and-tools-make-google-drive-better-228176#slide1  “…With the right combination of tools, settings, and know-how, you can turn Drive into a lean, mean, productivity machine…Here are 25 ways to crank up the power and send Google Drive into overdrive…Go offline…Add Drive to your hard drive…Crank up your sync…Drag and drop files…Insert images easily…Search for links…Keep track of changes…Take some shortcuts…full-screen document editing…Get organized…Start sharing…Envelopes for Google Docs…Get a new view…Google Drive's conversion capability…Google Docs can translate your documents…Google Docs Research…Turn Drive into a fax machine…drag and drop your saved signature…quick-create button for Google Docs…Chrome extension called Save to Google Drive…Search outside of Drive…Use Drive to create public forms…Gantter for Google Drive…project scheduling…connect your Drive account to other online services…”

24.    Google Adds Handwriting Support To Gmail, Docs  http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/22/4866366/google-docs-gmail-add-handwriting-support  “Google is bringing handwriting recognition to both Google Docs and Gmail to make entering non-Latin characters a lot easier. The support launches in Docs today for over 20 languages, and in Gmail today for over 50 languages, both including Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, and Russian…The update comes as part of a long-running series of changes that Google has been implementing to support handwriting…”

25.    Google is readying second Google Glass version for 2014  http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/124392-google-is-readying-second-google-glass-version-for-2014-will-be-cool  “…Google is preparing a second version of Google Glass for 2014…Google has already confirmed 2014 will be the year Google Glass is released to the public. It's not clear if Project Glass that developers…have had…hands-on over the past few months will be the version released at first, or if the second version touched on by Jepsen will be the version that heads out to the masses.  “You become addicted to the speed of it, and it lets you do more - fast and easily,” Jespen said…it sounds like style will have a major place in the product when it reaches customers in 2014…”  http://www.dvice.com/2013-10-15/google-x-team-already-losing-sleep-over-google-glass-2  “…Google X has been working with fashion-conscious eyewear retailer Warby Parker…The running hypothesis concerning this partnership is that Google Glass 2 will more resemble traditional eyewear or at least feature a design which could be considered chic…In the near future, your wearable tech could establish your image just as much as your clothes — and maybe more…”

General Technology

26.    Windows 8.1 Is the First Rough Draft of ‘One Microsoft’  http://techland.time.com/2013/10/17/windows-8-1-is-the-first-rough-draft-of-one-microsoft/  “…Today, Microsoft is releasing Windows 8.1, a free update arriving slightly less than a year after Windows 8 did…it polishes up a lot of things about Windows 8 that needed polishing…Windows 8.1, more than most Windows updates, is a preview of where the whole Microsoft mothership is headed….Windows 8…radically new user interface …blew up three decades of Windows conventions in favor of something more modern and touch-centric…the world is still figuring out how to react to it…the single most significant thing about 8.1 may be the way it deeply embeds multiple Microsoft products — like SkyDrive, Bing and Xbox — into the Windows experience…it’s also among the first tangible results of “One Microsoft,” the company’s attempt to behave like a single focused, fast-moving team…”

27.    Why Does Windows Have Terrible Battery Life?  http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2013/10/why-does-windows-have-terrible-battery-life.html  “…I can't wait for the iPad 5 this week…and my Surface Pro 2 should arrive this week too…I like to use the Surface Pro to predict where tablet performance ought to be for everyone in 2 to 3 years. I think of it as an iPad 7. My main complaint with the Surface Pro is the incredibly lackluster battery life…WiFi web browsing battery life, arguably the most common user activity there is on a computer these days, goes…to 6.7 hours on the Surface Pro 2…the 2013 MacBook Air…which spec-wise is about as close as we can get to the Surface Pro 2…has…over 11 hours of battery life browsing the web on WiFi…the Air is somehow producing nearly two times the battery efficiency of the best hardware and software combination Microsoft can muster…The Windows light usage battery life situation has not improved at all since 2009. If anything the disparity between OS X and Windows light usage battery life has gotten worse…We're at a loss to understand why Windows' terrible – and worsening! – idle battery life performance isn't the source of far more industry outrage…”

28.    Telemarketing laws change tomorrow: Here’s what you need to know  http://pandodaily.com/2013/10/15/telemarketing-laws-change-tomorrow-heres-what-you-need-to-know/  “…Starting October 16, the Federal Trade Commission will begin implementing new rules to its Telephone Consumer Protection Act to better handle mobile calls and texts from telemarketing robo-dialers…this means that people can only receive robo-calls and messages if they have given the companies express written consent beforehand…According to statistics from anti-telemarketing app PrivacyStar, telemarketers call the average US citizen two to three times a day. In addition, spam SMS messages have surpassed 4.5 billion. These new rules give people more power to act. Acting can mean filing direct complaints with the FTC, suing the telemarketing companies, or employing anti-robo-calling apps like PrivacyStar…His law firm has taken on many anti-telemarketing cases. According to him, plaintiffs can receive anywhere from $500 to $1,500 per call …”

29.    Million-Year Data Storage Disk Unveiled  http://www.technologyreview.com/view/520541/million-year-data-storage-disk-unveiled/  “Back in 1956, IBM introduced the world’s first commercial computer capable of storing data on a magnetic disk drive. The IBM 305 RAMAC used fifty 24-inch discs to store up to 5 MB…Today…it’s not difficult to find hard drives that can store 1 TB of data on a single 3.5-inch disk. But despite this huge increase in storage density and a similarly impressive improvement in power efficiency, one thing hasn’t changed. The lifetime over which data can be stored on magnetic discs is still about a decade…Jeroen de Vries at the University of Twente in the Netherlands and a few pals…have designed and built a disk…able to store data for 1 million years…”

Leisure & Entertainment

30.    Conductive Ink Turns Paper Into Musical Instruments  http://www.wired.com/design/2013/10/conductive-ink-turns-paper-into-musical-instruments/  “…as we increase our focus on technology, it usually means we decrease the time children spend…with old fashioned tools like paper, paint and scissors. But…A new project from Italian startup MusicInk is combining technology and tactile art making to create a new way to teach children the basics of music. MusicInk…is a prototype kit that turns paper into functioning, noise-making instruments through conductive paint and an Arduino. The kit comes with a set of stencils that children use to paint various instruments onto a piece of paper using the carbon paint from Bare Conductive, the same paint that was used in Calvin Harris’ human instrument video for “Humanthesizer.” There’s a guitar with strings, a trumpet, drum, and piano key…every time a child taps a drum, pushes down on a trumpet’s valve or strums a guitar, a musical sound, all recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is emitted. The controller box holds up to 12 electrodes, so a group of children can be playing instruments simultaneously, like a paper-made orchestra. “Children’s reactions are extraordinary,” say the designers. “It’s beautiful to see their amazed face when they realize they can play a simple piece of paper …”

31.     It's NaNoWriMo Time  http://www.dailypress.com/entertainment/books/writers-block-blog/dp-writers-block-tidewater-authors-join-nanowrimo-20131018,0,6325257.post  “Novelists, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is upon us. The annual competition to complete a 50,000-word novel in a month begins Nov. 1 and runs through Nov. 30…preparation is key to success, so sharpen your pencils or flex your fingers…Most area libraries make space available for writers to meet to work together…The Hampton Public Library (HPL) is offering help…including"four networking events in the month of November for participants...to come into the library, take a break from writing, and network with other writers …”  http://www.publicopiniononline.com/local/ci_24308775/chambersburg-library-offer-nanowrimo-workshops  “…For the first time, the Grove Family Library in Chambersburg will offer workshops and "write-ins" at the library for National Novel Writing Month…"Libraries are in the literacy business," said Joan Peiffer, director and librarian at Grove Family Library. "So, naturally, programs geared toward the development of literacy are a perfect fit for us."…A workshop held on Monday helped some participants get familiar with the website and go over plotting strategies. The upcoming Oct. 21 workshop will focus on character development …”

32.    After 32 months at the top, Xbox 360 dethroned by PlayStation 3  http://news.yahoo.com/32-months-top-xbox-360-dethroned-playstation-3-175027813.html  “…With the next console generation right around the corner and several analysts predicting Sony’s PlayStation 4 will have the upper hand this time around, Microsoft’s run at the top in the U.S. market has come to an end prematurely. The company’s current-generation Xbox 360 console had been the top-selling home video game console in America for 32 consecutive months…but that unbelievable streak came screeching to a halt in September as the PS3 pulled ahead. “PS3 was the top selling console this month, breaking the 32-month streak of the Xbox 360 leading console hardware sales from January 2011 to August 2013…The PS3’s success this month was largely driven by sales of the ‘PS3 SYSTEM SUPER SLIM 500GB GRAND THEFT AUTO V BUNDLE’ demonstrating how Grand Theft Auto V can shake things up on in hardware as well as software…”

33.    End of the line for Nintendo’s Wii  http://news.yahoo.com/end-line-nintendo-wii-211059791.html  “Nintendo’s best-selling home console to date, which moved over 100 million units, has finally been retired…Nintendo has updated its Japanese product page for the Wii with a short phrase which translates to “production ended.” Some consoles live much longer lives than the Wii, such as the PlayStation 2 — which has been through several redesigns since its release in 2000 — but Nintendo has decided to cap off its previous generation by shutting down production of the Wii all together. Nintendo will refocus entirely on its very successful portable platforms and the year-old, flailing Wii U…”

Entrepreneurism and Technology

34.    Planting A Startup Garden  http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/17/planting-a-startup-garden/  “We’re less interested in deal-making than getting things going…Those are the words of Rick DeVos, founder and CEO of the Michigan-based Start Garden, a $15 million investment fund…Here, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, sitting equidistant from Detroit and Chicago, lives this vibrant investment fund that is committed to the region. Financed by the DeVos family of Amway fame, Start Garden is more than just a general investment fund. It’s a fund that’s trying to cultivate a startup ecosystem where there isn’t one…Start Garden opened its doors in downtown Grand Rapids in April 2012. It’s Rick’s second go at accelerating the area’s startups…he founded Momentum in 2008…“It took us longer than it should to figure out that Y Combinator and TechStars have worked really well in their communities because of their location,” Rick said. “We couldn’t take it out of those places and put it here and expect it to work…We struggled to find five decent applications in those days. There would be crickets at demo nights. But we would rustle up a bit of money for our companies.”…Along with traditional venture capitalist funding, Start Garden runs a program that puts $5,000 into an idea every week through a crowdsourced system. Then, once a month, it runs an Update Night in which each of these companies attempts to get an additional $20,000 in seed funding through a sort of pitch-off competition …”

35.    How Dragon Innovation’s “Kickstarter for hardware” aims to change consumer tech  http://pandodaily.com/2013/10/18/from-prototype-to-production-how-dragon-innovations-kickstarter-for-hardware-aims-to-change-consumer-tech/  “Scott Miller’s early days in the hardware world were a tinkerer’s dream. In the mid-90s, he worked on MIT’s first “robofish,”…Then Disney Inc. decided…it was really into robots, so it hired him and 12 colleagues to operate an independent startup office out of Boston…After a stint in China, he became known as one of those “fixers” that venture capitalists would call when their hardware portfolio company needed help. In recent years…we’re in a hardware revolution…Ironically, the movement has been fueled by Kickstarter, a site that wants little to do with the buying and selling of gadgets…This Fall, Miller jumped into the mix in with his own answer to Kickstarter, launching a hardware-specific crowdfunding platform called Dragon Innovation…large corporations…get complacent, and scrappy young innovators see an opportunity to build something disruptive and cool. Robots. Drones. 3D printing. Wearables…As many…hardware projects grappled with these issues, Kickstarter experienced a backlash…Kickstarter made stance…crystal clear…that Kickstarter Is Not a Store…Kickstarter wants to be known for its contributions to creative fields like art, film and music, not the commerce and gadget industries…Dragon Innovation launched with eight campaigns in August…With each campaign, Miller’s team does a “deep dive” to forecast and vet the product and team. That typically takes four weeks. The biggest piece of the forecasting puzzle is China. In some cases, it makes more sense to manufacture the products in the US. But generally, successful hardware companies need to partner with a Chinese manufacturer…The site takes no kickbacks, so its companies can work with any factory out of the 100-plus factories which Dragon has relationships with…”

36.    Steve Blank explains why accelerators should mimic “Moneyball”  http://pandodaily.com/2013/10/15/steve-blank-explains-why-accelerators-should-mimic-moneyball/  “Steve Blank has given a lot of presentations in his day. But he says he’s never experienced anything quite like what happened a few weeks ago…Every person in the audience had access to copies of his slides…But the minute he opened up one particular slide, half of the crowd took out their smartphones to snap a photo of it. “I realized it must be a pretty good slide,” Blank says…The slide outlined Blank’s theory on data-driven startup investing…using a tool called the Investment Readiness thermometer. He believes…the current model for connecting startups from accelerators with investors — demo days — is broken…because they’re predicated on getting teams funded by giving snazzy presentations…It has nothing to do with what the startups learned in the accelerator program…He draws inspiration from the Michael Lewis book, in which Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane uses data and analytics to predict which baseball players would perform the best…Blank’s other inspiration is a “technology readiness level” thermometer…The thermometer measures how advanced a project is. A project at level zero is a theory. A level one project might have a prototype working in a lab. A level nine project is ready to be launched on a spacecraft…”

37.    Subscriptions may be the way of the crowdfunding future  http://pandodaily.com/2013/10/14/the-neverending-story-subscriptions-may-be-the-way-of-the-crowdfunding-future/  “Crowdfunding is growing up. It’s been three and a half years since Kickstarter kickstarted the trend…The first wave of newborn platforms — Indiegogo, and the like — were all about one-time donations…The next wave of crowdfunding platforms is about ongoing donations. Platforms will let people make small payments on a reoccurring basis to a philanthropy, an artist, or another organization…I came across one platform that did this…and then a second…and then a third and a fourth…Subscription crowdfunding has arrived…”

38.    Public/Private Partnership to Launch Entrepreneur Co-Working Space  http://utahpulse.com/index.php/features/business/365-public-private-partnership-to-launch-entrepreneur-co-working-space  “A coalition of successful business owners, city officials, educators and resource providers are joining forces to create Outlier Labs, a network of mentors, resources, and a co-working space…the goal of Outlier Labs (www.outlierlabs.com)  is to help nurture home-grown businesses as well as attract outside talent into the area. “We will help create opportunities for entrepreneurs to network, share ideas, and spotlight new startups that are trying to attract attention from the business and investor community,”…Outlier Labs also intends to act as a connector for local entrepreneurs where they can tap into resources from other organizations…It will contain co-working space with high speed internet, conference rooms and classrooms…The space will be open 24/7…”

39.    Be a coworker, not a coffeeshopper  http://www.boston.com/business/innovation/blogs/inside-the-hive/2013/10/07/coworker-not-coffeeshopper/C2adUKikZKLsLO9vTk7gVO/blog.html  “You are proud to be able to work from anywhere…With your computer, phone, and notebook over your shoulder, you can manage clients from anywhere in the world. As a digital laborer and part of the growing mobile workforce, you have discovered the secret of career freedom: Working from a laptop provides the enjoyable opportunity to sit wherever you like as long as there is Internet, coffee, and a place to plug in your power cord…That is, until a loud bus, howler monkey, or ten-decibel talker interrupt your most important call of the day…This is no way to work…For the same monthly cost of a latte and pastry per day, freelancers and employees can commit to building their career by choosing to graduate into an urban and suburban coworking space—a place comfortable like a coffee shop with the tools needed to build a business…A place with meeting rooms, comfortable chairs, and the focused energy of others who have found a way to work with freedom while executing projects and delivering results…”

Design / DEMO

40.    16 Mind-Blowing Designs That Digital Fabrication Made Possible  http://www.fastcodesign.com/3020016/16-mind-blowing-designs-that-digital-fabrication-made-possible  “…It won’t before long before art school curricula include 3-D printing, CNC machining, and digital knitting…Until now, no major museum exhibit has focused exclusively on the many areas of 21st-century creativity made possible by the advanced methods of computer-assisted production known as digital fabrication. Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital opens today at the Museum of Art and Design in New York…This cream of the futuristic crop challenges our assumptions about what's possible in art, design, architecture, fashion, sculpture, furniture, and transportation…On view is Softkill Design’s prototype for a 3-D printed house…Zaha Hadid’s “liquid glacial smoke coffee table” mimics cloudless water…It appears on the verge of dissolving into a puddle at any second. Nike’s Vapor Laser Talon cleat sounds like it’s from Star Wars and might as well be; it’s made by Selective Laser Sintering technology, uses the sport’s first 3-D printed plate--the bottom part of the shoe that includes the cleats--and is designed to make you run like a velociraptor. Lucas Maassen and Unfold’s wiggly Brainwave Sofa, modeled after a brain scan, fuses modern neuroscience breakthroughs with digital fabrication. Other highlights include…Iris Van Herpen’s 3-D printed “digital escapism” dresses…”

41.     Custom Design 3-D Printed Glasses For $299  http://www.fastcodesign.com/3019703/specs-to-your-specs-custom-3-d-printed-glasses-for-299  “…Until we can produce goods in materials other than plastic, the notion of say, 3-D printed shoes is going nowhere, because who can lust over a pair of yellow plastic boots the way they would a pair in leather. But eyewear is different, and a fledgling company called Protos has taken notice…eyewear makers--including industry darling Warby Parker--pretty exclusively craft their frames out of plastic. It follows suit that 3-D printing…is a boon to anyone who wants bespoke frames…“We’re making an experience where instead of someone going into an eyewear specialist, you go online and take two pictures of yourself,” explains James Peo…Peo, who owns a chain of eyewear stores, can then style a pair of frames that best fits the customer’s unique arch, eyebrow, and bone structure…Protos asks users to fill out a questionnaire. “Who do they identify more with? Johnny Depp, Buddy Holly, Steve Jobs?”…Shoppers can also choose between moods, such as classic, hipster, and incognito. The Protos team mashes that information together with the measurements and sends the customer three designs. Each pair is built from a proprietary material that’s lighter than acetate, stronger than titanium, and at $299, a fraction of the usual bespoke price tag…”

DHMN Technology

42.    Asda to offer 3D printing in store  http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/10/asda-3d-printing  “UK supermarket chain Asda is trialling a new in-store 3D printing service that allows shoppers to scan and replicate anything in ceramic…the service offers 3D scanning that takes about 2 minutes to fully scan the surface of an object. It uses a special scanning camera that captures the contours and shape of the object, while identifying up to 6m different colours for accurate replication. "Anything can be scanned – including people, pets and even cars – and the models can be produced in full colour, white or a bronze-style coating,"…Once a virtual 3D model has been scanned into the system, it is then sent off to a specialist 3D printer to be recreated in ceramic, with options for a white, full-colour or bronze-style print. The 3D model is recreated by spraying ceramic fluid in thin layers that are each allowed to set before laying down the next, building up a solid object. Prices start at £40 for an 8in figurine, which can be printed and ready to be picked up in-store with next week's shopping. The models can be scaled to whatever size the customer wants…”

43.    Hackathon tackling education reform  http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/06/3674088/hackathon-tackling-education-reform.html  “For Garrett Johnson, the co-founder of SendHub.com in Silicon Valley, running hackathons for education is personal…he and his team put together free hackathons around the nation…that look for solutions to improve education . On Friday, Liberty Hackathon: Reforming Education is coming to Venture Hive…There, South Florida’s engineering and startup community will combine forces with students, teachers and education advocates to build applications that improve Florida’s education system…These could be apps that help teachers improve their skills, teach students to study more productively, make schools safer, or better connect the stakeholders in the educatonal system…We are hosting Liberty Hackathon: Reforming Education in Miami in order to promote disruptive innovation at the important intersection of education and technology,” says Johnson…”  http://lincolnlabs.com/hackathons/miami.html 

44.    Autodesk CEO Carl Bass Thinks The Future Of Hardware Startups Extends To The Moon And Beyond  http://fayetteadvocate.com/archives/11786/2013/10/18/autodesk-ceo-carl-bass-thinks-the-future-of-hardware-startups-extends-to-the-moon-and-beyond/  “Autodesk isn’t a startup, but in a lot of ways, the graphics software giant is behaving like one – and helping pave the way for a new generation of hardware entrepreneurs in the process. CEO Carl Bass…sees a world where there are new kinds of companies, ones that aren’t only tackling previously impossible hardware projects, but ones that are tackling huge hardware problems…there are also now startups with fewer than 10 people and…modest amounts of funding who are literally going for moonshots – Moon Express…is a California startup aiming to build a robot that can perform missions to Earth’s natural satellite…“I think it’s as certain as people using Google Docs, and file sharing…I think within a year or two, [cloud-based 3D design] will look like Google Docs does today, where you have an entire portion of the population that uses Google Docs and Dropbox, instead of Microsoft Office and FTP sites…I still understand where the desktop apps are useful; that’s just not my use-case. I tend to work on small projects where collaboration and access to my information everywhere is really important…”

45.    Brigades helps communities build better websites  http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Brigades-helps-communities-build-better-websites-4908253.php  “Outside of San Francisco, government officials are often suspicious when groups of unknown programmers with paramilitary titles set out to "hack" them. So when John Whitlock, the co-captain of something called the Code for Tulsa Brigade, tried to get his town's bus schedule onto Google maps, the transit authorities there said he should mind his own business and stay off their website…Started as a nonprofit organization to improve the way governments use the Web, Code for America has become a community and social identity for programmers and their allies across the country. Brigades, such as Code for Tulsa and Code for Chattanooga, are impromptu volunteer units with an array of goals - from getting public records online to live-mapping the movements of fire trucks - which share a philosophy that better websites can make for better government…Zach Vruwink, who was elected mayor of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., at age 24, wanted to hire someone to develop social media strategy for the city. "The staff was like, 'Whoa, whoa, we don't know. Why aren't we hiring someone for the street department - we have potholes!' " he said. "It's been a challenge."…”  http://www.kyforward.com/our-government/2013/10/15/lexington-is-one-of-10-cities-nationwide-chosen-for-2014-code-for-america-program/  “Lexington is one of 10 local governments nationwide chosen to be part of the 2014 Code for America program, where local governments team with civic-minded technology experts to improve government service…“Each of these 10 governments has a remarkable commitment to innovation and is supported by forward-thinking and dedicated staff. This top-notch combination of Fellows and governments ensures a productive year and long-lasting partnerships.”…the Fellows will explore new approaches to resolving local challenges by building computer applications to engage the community and collaborate with other local governments. Over the past three years, the Fellowship program has produced more than 75 web apps in collaboration with 20 municipal governments. Each year-long fellowship project…is funded through a combination of local government resources and community matching grants and donations from a number of foundations, companies, and individuals…The 10 governments for the 2014 program were selected from a pool of 50 applicants. In addition to Lexington the governments are: Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Denver; Long Beach, Calif.; Mesa, Ariz.; State of Rhode Island in partnership with the City of Warwick, R.I.; San Antonio, Texas; and San Juan, Puerto Rico…”

Open Source Hardware

46.    10 Awesome Open Source Hardware and Design Projects  http://www.shareable.net/blog/10-awesome-open-source-hardware-and-design-projects  “The Open Source hardware and design community is on fire these days. Apart from the projects that eventually already gained worldwide recognition such as Open Source Ecology, DIYDrones, Arduino, and RepRap, many fantastic projects hold great promise…In this post, we’ll mention 10 amazing projects that have potentially revolutionary impacts…A relevant wave of innovations is coming to the architecture and construction market. The most mature project…is…the Wikihouse Project…to allow anyone to design, download, and print CNC-milled houses and components, which can be assembled with minimal formal skill or training…Domeorama is an outstanding community sharing site where tens of dome designs and junctions are featured in open source…Open Desk initiative…dubs itself to be “about local making” and effectively wants to be a platform to publish open source furniture designs that can be made locally…Fab Hub, OpenDesk, and Wikihouse are, at least partially, all expressions of the 00:/ strategy and design practice that seems fated to leave a huge footprint in the history of open design and architecture…SketchChair is a free, open-source software tool that allows anyone to easily design and build their own digitally fabricated furniture…OpenROV is an amazing project that allows you to build a submarine rover and explore the underwater world for less than one thousand dollars…OpenPilot Community can count on a very active forum and an impressive list of Airframes to be used with the open source software platform. If you just want to be a little more ambitious, you can drop the drones and jump on a real open source hardware airplane. Indeed, that’s the mission of Maker Plane, a project…to create innovative and game-changing aircraft, avionics, and related systems and the transformational manufacturing processes to build them. As a result of this aim, aircraft can be built with consistent, repeatable, and highly accurate processes which create safer flying at lower cost…La Paillasse is an open space for DIY biohacking in Paris…it is opening the doors of biohacking to a growing number of people…”

47.    Crowdsourcing DIY Tools for Sustainable Farming  http://news.yahoo.com/hacking-fields-crowdsourcing-diy-tools-sustainable-farming-194329541.html  “For some farmers, the fate of a tractor or combine can make or break an operation. But with their high price tag and narrow application, these massive tools don’t always have a place on smaller, diverse farms. But a DIY weed-torching flamethrower? That just might be worth the time and money for mid-sized organic operations. Louis Thiery…has been working behind the scenes at farms all over the country, developing plans for tools that small farmers really need through a site called Farm Hack.The website seeks to create solutions to farming problems that don't involve the what Farm Hack calls the "top-down chemical, capital and energy-intensive machines” of Big Ag. What Theiry and others in the Farm Hack community strive to invent are cheap, adapatable tools that make sense on small farms…”

Open Source

48.    VirtualBox 4.3 Lets You Run Many Cutting-Edge Platforms at Once  http://ostatic.com/blog/virtualbox-4-3-lets-you-run-many-cutting-edge-platforms-at-once  “It's been interesting to watch which components of Sun Microsystems' portfolio of products--many of which were open source projects--Oracle has chosen to embrace or abandon since its acquisition of Sun. One project that it hasn't jettisoned is VirtualBox, which has just arrived in a new version 4.3. The popular hypervisor is now tuned to work with operating systems that have just arrived, including Windows 8.1 and Mac OS X 10.9 ( "Mavericks" ), and it's also tuned to work smoothly with Linux distros. The new version also supports multi-monitor setups…”

49.    The Navy’s newest warship is powered by Linux  http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/the-navys-newest-warship-is-powered-by-linux/  “When the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) puts to sea later this year, it will be different from any other ship in the Navy's fleet in many ways. The $3.5 billon ship is designed for stealth, survivability, and firepower, and it's packed with advanced technology. And at the heart of its operations is a virtual data center powered by off-the-shelf server hardware, various flavors of Linux, and over 6 million lines of software code…In the past, you couldn't just put off-the-shelf computer systems aboard a ship for mission critical tasks—when I was aboard the USS Iowa, we had to shut down non-tactical systems before the guns were fired because the shock and vibration would crash systems hard. So typically, individual computer systems are ruggedized. But that adds heavily to the cost of the systems…The design of the Zumwalt solves that problem by using off-the-shelf hardware—mostly IBM blade servers running Red Hat Linux—and putting it in a ruggedized server room. Those ruggedized server rooms are called Electronic Modular Enclosures (EMEs), sixteen self-contained, mini data centers built by Raytheon…”

Civilian Aerospace

50.    Virgin Galactic Wants To Do Moon Cruises  http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/18/virgin-galactic-wants-to-do-moon-cruises-replace-the-concorde-for-terrestrial-travel/  “…In the near term, Virgin Galactic wants to do its star tourist thing…but it has also already signed up NASA as the first client for space science missions, and there’s a chance to launch satellites into orbit in the same way that they launch aircraft…But there’s also opportunity in world travel, once economies of scale come into play and the cost of running these flights goes down…something like the Concorde…could arise from Virgin Galactic, but one that takes the concept of flying high in the atmosphere to take advantage of lower air resistance…the Virgin Galactic model of manned spaceflight would allow aircraft to leave earth’s atmosphere, which makes travel far more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and far, far faster. Travel time from London to Sydney, for instance, would take around two or two-and-a-half hours. Beyond even that, there’s a desire to build cruise ships that could operate as orbital hotels, taking people up for longer stretches, and even potentially allowing for tourist voyages to the moon and back. This seems completely impossible now…but Virgin Galactic is pursuing this as a very real long-term goal…”

51.     Boarding Soon: A Balloon to the Stratosphere?  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/science/space/boarding-soon-a-balloon-to-the-stratosphere.html?_r=0  “…A new space tourism company named World View unveiled its plans on Tuesday to loft passengers to the stratosphere as early as 2015, not by rocket but by giant balloon. Price: $75,000…“This is a very gentle flight that will last for hours aloft,” said Jane Poynter, World View’s chief executive. She said the cabin would be about the size of that of a private jet, and would have a " superbly comfortable, luxurious interior where you can get up and stand upright and move around and go back to the bar and get a drink.”…World View’s balloon and capsule, with six passengers and two crew members, would take about an hour and a half to reach altitude and then drift for a couple of hours before the balloon was jettisoned and the capsule would glide back to Earth beneath an inflated parasail…”

Supercomputing & GPUs

52.    Graphics Chips Help Process Big Data Sets in Milliseconds  http://www.technologyreview.com/news/520021/graphics-chips-help-process-big-data-sets-in-milliseconds/  “New software can use the graphics processors found on everyday computers to process torrents of data more quickly than is normally possible, opening up new ways to visually explore everything from Twitter posts to political donations. Known as MapD, or massively parallel database, the new technology achieves big speed gains by storing the data in the onboard memory of graphics processing units (GPUs) instead of in central processing units (CPUs), as is conventional. Using a single high-performance GPU card can make data processing up to 70 times faster. Right now the prototype technology is being demonstrated on tweets; it can show how a meme is propagating in real time on regional or world maps…”

53.    Nikola to Take Computerized Chess to Next Level  http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-10-15/nikola_to_take_computerized_chess_to_next_level.html  “The NIKOLA super computer chess engine is based on NVIDIA's CUDA technology and designed to outperform current and future solutions. Developed by CPUTER, the AI machine employs a huge number of GPUs and uses complex algorithms that have a dynamic parallel computing architecture…The number of possible positions in chess is between 10^43 and 10^47 with the 10^123 for the game-tree complexity…Nikola is a last generation supercomputer chess engine based on CUDA technology developed by NVIDIA…Nikola's main goal is to become the undisputed and absolute king among chess engines ever developed on our planet…Nikola will use RDMA, or direct memory access, which allows interaction from the memory of one computer into that of another without involving either one's operating system…Nikola will allow uniting all chess computers with CUDA supported cards of the world into one gigantic cluster for this purpose…Up to now there are no more than 6 or 7 men databases available in the world. Nikola's goal is to include 32 men databases, which will allow it to benefit from the direct parallel storage architecture…Albert Einstein introduced time and space wormhole in order to quickly connect two points in the universe. Nikola will use a "wormhole algorithm" (patent pending) and other massively parallel approaches in its computing model as a shortcut between black and white figures in order to solve a mystery of chess game's middle game in a matter of a few seconds…”

Trends & Emerging Tech

54.    6 Technology Trends Forming an Alliance between Customer Service & Higher Education  http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/6-technology-trends-forming-alliance-customer-service-higher-education-0651468  “…Emerging and converging trends in technology are…forcing the hand of traditional higher education institutions to innovate their service, support and communication on an almost immediate basis, a parallel shared by big brands that are reeling to adapt to the always-connected consumer. The six major technology trends below have formed an unlikely alliance between campus support and customer service: 1. Supporting Generation Next…2. Looking to the Cloud…3. The Burgeoning BYOD Movement…4. Satisfying the Eternal Quest for Knowledge…5. Maintaining a Social Reputation…6. Making a Big Deal about Big Data…”

55.     Journalism tech trends  http://www.netnewscheck.com/article/29719/personalized-vid-wearables-top-tech-trends  “If Amy Webb's predictive powers hold, journalism in 2014 will be prodded by wearable technology, drones, smart virtual personal assistants and anticipatory computing…anticipatory computing hit the top of her list…Webb also touts smart virtual personal assistants like Donna, Osito and Tempo…personalize…video…MOOCs…could be a natural news organization fit…Screenless computing will also be on the rise next year…Other hardware such as 3D printers, including a very nascent 3D printing pen…Drones will also start factoring more into journalism…” [see the slide show in the article – ed.]

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