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The March Of Technology

This is something of which I was unaware until I saw

Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention - 5. Better Safe Than Sorry

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... han_Sorry/

(At least, I think it's new to me - but at my age I've probably forgotten more stuff than many people ever learned... :( )

Frequency-hopping spread-spectrum invention

Avant garde composer George Antheil, a son of German immigrants and neighbor of [40s film star Hedy] Lamarr, had experimented with automated control of musical instruments, including his music for Ballet Mecanique, originally written for Fernand Léger's 1924 abstract film. This score involved multiple player pianos playing simultaneously.

Together, Antheil and Lamarr submitted the idea of a secret communication system in June 1941. On August 11, 1942, US Patent 2,292,387 was granted to Antheil and "Hedy Kiesler Markey", Lamarr's married name at the time. This early version of frequency hopping used a piano roll to change between 88 frequencies and was intended to make radio-guided torpedoes harder for enemies to detect or jam.

The idea was not implemented in the USA until 1962, when it was used by U.S. military ships during a blockade of Cuba[6] after the patent had expired. Perhaps owing to this lag in development, the patent was little-known until 1997, when the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave Lamarr an award for this contribution.[1] In 1998, Ottawa wireless technology developer Wi-LAN, Inc. "acquired a 49 percent claim to the patent from Lamarr for an undisclosed amount of stock" (Eliza Schmidkunz, Inside GNSS);[7] Antheil had died in 1959.

Lamarr's and Antheil's frequency-hopping idea serves as a basis for modern spread-spectrum communication technology, such as COFDM used in Wi-Fi network connections and CDMA used in some cordless and wireless telephones.[8] Blackwell, Martin, and Vernam's 1920 patent Secrecy Communication System (1598673) seems to lay the communications groundwork for Kiesler and Antheil's patent which employed the techniques in the autonomous control of torpedoes.

Lamarr wanted to join the National Inventors Council, but she was told that she could better help the war effort by using her celebrity status to sell War Bonds. She once raised $7,000,000 at just one event.

For several years during the 1990s, the boxes of the current CorelDRAW software suites were graced by a large Corel-drawn image of Hedy Lamarr, in tribute to her pre-computer scientific discoveries. These pictures were winners in CorelDRAW's yearly software suite cover design contests. Far from being flattered, however, Lamarr sued Corel for using the image without her permission. Corel countered that she did not own rights to the image. They reached an undisclosed settlement in 1999

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamar ... _invention

So if you use a mobile phone, you're making use of this technology - it's there for privacy purposes.
 
I'm not sure how doing it with CGI can be cheaper than using a real puppy. It's not like they're paying the puppy a salary in the Hollywood star league.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I'm not sure how doing it with CGI can be cheaper than using a real puppy. It's not like they're paying the puppy a salary in the Hollywood star league.
No, but they need a whole bunch of them (plus handlers) so the pups don't get tired, and then they have to edit miles of film/tape/digital media to select the images they want, and still maybe have to shoot a lot of it again.

With CGI, you can almost go directly to what you want, once you've input the required parameters for your characters. And the more use you make of your characters, over time, the more economical it becomes.
 
You could literally march in these. (I wonder if the inventor is a Wallace and Gromit fan..?)

Paralysed inventor to sell robotic 'trousers' for $100,000 that let patients walk and even climb stairs
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:53 AM on 4th December 2010

An Israeli entrepreneur has invented robotic 'trousers' that can help paraplegics walk again.
Amit Goffer was paralysed in a car crash in 1997 and immediately set out to invent a device that could replace the wheelchair.

He has invented 'ReWalk': robotic trousers that use sensors and motors to allow paralysed patients to stand, walk and even climb stairs.
The device can help paraplegics to stand and walk - using crutches for stability - when they lean forward and move their upper body in different ways.

The two stone 7lbs device, worn outside of clothing, consists of leg braces outfitted with motion sensors and motorised joints that respond to subtle changes in upper-body movement and shifts in balance.

He founded a company, Argo Medical Technologies, to commercialise it.
After several years of clinical trials in Israel and the United States, units will go on sale in January to rehabilitation centres around the world.

A harness around the patient's waist and shoulders keeps the suit in place, and a backpack holds the computer and rechargeable 3 1/2-hour battery.
When operated, it makes clanging robotic sounds, like the hero of the 1980s cult movie 'Robocop.'

'ReWalk is a man-machine device. The machine cannot walk by itself. The user cannot walk by himself. Only when they are together they can walk,' said Oren Tamari, Argo's chief operating officer.
He said regular usage of the device, which costs about $100,000, would prevent costly complications that often arise in people who can't walk, including pressure sores and urinary, digestive, circulatory, and cardiovascular problems.

The ReWalk arrives at a boom time for such devices in medicine.
Goffer is paralysed from the neck down, and ReWalk users need their hands and shoulders to operate it and support crutches, so he is not yet able to enjoy his creation.
But he said the company is working on a version for quadriplegics such as himself.

Those who have tested it say the benefit is more than physical.
'When I use the ReWalk I feel like I am maintaining my body. It is like taking a car to the garage ... It feels great,' said Radi Kaiuf, a ReWalk evaluator who was paralysed in 1988 during his Israeli military service.
'I have a 3-year-old daughter. The first time she saw me walking, she was silent for the first few minutes and then she said, `Daddy you are tall.'' It made me feel so good, like I was soaring.' :D

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z178ti3vMD
 
Just the thing for maintaining your ReWalk...

Doctor Who sonic screwdriver could become real device
Doctor Who's trusted sonic screwdriver could become a real-life tool following research being conducted by British engineers.
By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 10:00PM GMT 04 Dec 2010

Engineers have developed a device that is capable of moving and manipulating objects using only ultrasonic sound waves.
They say the technology could eventually lead to devices that can undo screws, assemble electronics and putting together delicate components.

The news will no doubt delight young fans of Doctor Who who have dreamed of owning a sonic screwdriver of their own after watching their hero use the tool to get himself out of many sticky situations.

But while the Doctor’s device can perform a multitude of tasks from cutting, burning, welding, sending signals, controlling the TARDIS, altering mobile phones and healing wounds, the researchers warn their real life sonic screwdriver will have more limited capabilities.

Professor Bruce Drinkwater, an ultrasonics engineer at the University of Bristol, said: “We have developed a device that allows us to use ultrasonic forces to move small objects like biological cells around to sort them or to assemble them.

“We are using quite low forces to do this because we don’t want to damage the objects we are moving, but the technology is definitely real and there is potential to turn it into something like Dr Who’s sonic screwdriver.
“If we can increase the ultrasonic force and create a rotational force, then we could potentially undo screws. Essentially what you are doing is using the ultrasonic sound wave to twirl the air around to create an miniature tornado.”

Professor Drinkwater and his colleagues have created a prototype device, which they have called sonotweezers, that uses ultrasound to move around particular sizes of cells.

Tiny crystals are made to vibrate by passing an electrical current through them, producing an ultrasonic shock wave in the air around them. This shock wave generates a force that can be used to push the cells. The size of the shock wave can be tuned to move cells of different size and so separate diseased cells from healthy ones.

Their device can also be used to separate dangerous material such as anthrax from other powder using the same technique.

Professor Drinkwater claims that by increasing the size of the shock wave and creating a rotational motion, it will be possible to create a kind of ultrasonic “force field” that would have the power to undo screws.
There are already other researchers that are working on creating rotational motion with ultrasound so it can be used to assemble delicate electronic components.

Professor Drinkwater, who is working with The Big Bang Fair, which is aimed at inspiring young people to follow careers in science and engineering, said: “There are a number of things that we can do to increase the force that can be applied.
“We would need to get the air moving extremely fast to apply enough force to a screw, but we could inject a dense gas into the area around the screw head as it would produce more friction.

“It has been the miniaturisation of the technology needed that has allowed us to produce the sonotweezers.
“The sonic screwdriver may still be sometime in the making but ultrasonic technology is already making its mark in the medical and manufacturing arenas with some exciting results.”

...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvan ... evice.html
 
Virgin claims to cross final frontier with TV that taps the internet
Richard Branson unveils set-top box that puts him a terabyte ahead in online television race
Richard Rogers The Observer, Sunday 5 December 2010

Every few years comes a development in the technology that brings moving pictures into our homes invariably accompanied by the promise that this new piece of kit will "change the way we watch TV. Forever!"

So it was with colour, VHS, DVD, plasma screen, Blue Ray, HD, digital recording... Then, to cap it all, came the possibility of watching full-length shows on the internet.

Online television is a genuine game changer in the spirit of "if you can't beat them, join them" that media companies have now decided to embrace. Leading this convergence of web and TV is Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Media this week unveiled a "new generation of set-top box", in partnership with the US clever box TiVo, to go on sale just in time for Christmas.

The new gadget, a snip at £199 plus £32.50 a month, offers viewers an entire terabyte of memory. That's 500 hours, or three solid weeks' worth. :shock: Along with TiVo's "intelligent recommendations engine" which keeps a beady eye on the shows you record in order to suggest similar programmes.

Virgin claims to have crossed the final frontier. With an in-built broadband connection on its own dedicated bandwidth, the new box boasts the ability to connect your TV to the internet. This gives access, through "apps", to the likes of eBay and Twitter, not to mention the web's ever expanding number of on-line catch-up options whose appeal is exemplified by the success of BBC's iPlayer.

Others are hot on Virgin's trail; YouView, a join venture between the BBC, BT, Channel 4 and ITV is expected early next year, while the looming spectre of "Google TV" is already casting a shadow over traditional networks. All in all, aside from the desire to enjoy the immediacy of breaking news and live sport, the notion of watching a show at the time it is transmitted is beginning to look alarmingly quaint. 8)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... tivo-media
 
I have several relatives who spend hours in front of the TV when they have the internet in the house.

I just cant understand it.

Disguising the internet as a telly, I think they will see though that ruse.
 
Kondoru said:
I have several relatives who spend hours in front of the TV when they have the internet in the house.

I just cant understand it.

Disguising the internet as a telly, I think they will see though that ruse.

I spend hours on the telly and the Internet. Telly on and laptop in front of me on a little table - I divide my attention between the screens.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Kondoru said:
I have several relatives who spend hours in front of the TV when they have the internet in the house.

I just cant understand it.

Disguising the internet as a telly, I think they will see though that ruse.

I spend hours on the telly and the Internet. Telly on and laptop in front of me on a little table - I divide my attention between the screens.

I do the same, I'm guessing it is a growing phenomenmennenenen...(whatever), as a couple of weeks ago I took part in a trial with the BBC, where I watched an episode of Autumn Watch that had a tie in web event. Basically, I had to watch the program and be able to access the web at the same time. As the TV prog played, the web page I was directed to also played the prog, a bit like iplayer, but if I hovered my mouse over any of the images of the birds, a small dialogue box opened with some additional info and a hyperlink should I want to read even more. Fairly good as it went, but it did have a few probs when switching between the live aspect of the show and the prerecorded footage.

I now know more about starlings than I ever wanted to :?
 
Modern cars are so sophisticated they're too baffling for the DIY mechanic
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:16 AM on 11th December 2010

The complexity of modern cars has brought the era of the do-it-yourself mechanic to an end, research has revealed.
Sophisticated onboard computers and diagnostic systems mean that the vast majority of car owners are unwilling or unable to do maintenance, such as changing oil, themselves.
Those who do venture under the bonnet of their new vehicle even risk invalidating its warranty.

A survey of 2,000 motorists by Kwik-Fit found that only 6 per cent of owners whose vehicle is three years old or less believe it is simple to service - compared with a third whose car is 11 years old or more

‘Step by step, year by year, as technology has come into modern vehicles, the chances of the DIY mechanic being able to carry out servicing to their car has reduced,’ said David White, the firm’s customer services ­director. ‘Opening the bonnet is like taking the lid off a PC.’

Caroline Ofoegbu of the FIA said the trend is also being driven by the business model of franchise car dealerships, which do not make large profits from the sale of new cars.

She said: ‘Where the profit comes is in the repair and maintenance afterwards because they have access to all the codes and diagnostics necessary to repair the vehicles provided to them by the manufacturers.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z17nenYSyw
 
Interesting and amusing article:

Is JCB phone the toughest mobile in the world? We put it to the test
By Vincent Graff
Last updated at 8:10 AM on 13th December 2010

My biceps resemble a medium-sized mountain range and I swear like a Today programme presenter — in my dreams.
But when I wake up, I realise I’ll never be confused with a tough man, being rather meek and standing at 5ft 3in tall.
If, however, I can’t be big and butch myself, I can at least own a big, butch mobile phone.

You see, I have just taken delivery of the world’s roughest, toughest phone. The JCB Toughphone Sitemaster — yes, the industrial digger people have branched out — claims to be the most resilient mobile in the world.

The company makes some bold claims. Apparently, it can survive underwater for eight hours; can endure heat of 75C and below freezing temperatures of -30C; and is able to withstand extreme vibration and compression.

If the Toughphone were a person, it’d be climbing Everest and swimming the Atlantic.

I like the sound of owning a sturdy phone. My own Apple iPhone is so delicate that I am scared of keeping it in the same pocket as my car keys in case I scratch its touchscreen. If my children get within five metres of it with their mucky hands, I break out in a sweat.

The JCB one is right at the other end of the spectrum — what Jeremy Clarkson would call ‘the most incredible phone in the world’.
Encased in chunky bright yellow and black plastic and rubber, the Toughphone is a little thicker than a standard mobile and only slightly heavier at 130g. But it’s certainly macho.

When you turn it on, you’re greeted with a cartoon picture of a JCB digger. The ‘ring tone’ is the sound of a real JCB revving up. 8)

It’s aimed primarily at people who work outdoors — on building sites or farms — but that’s not to say it doesn’t have any mod-cons. It plays music and videos, offers Bluetooth connectivity to other phones and computers and has an FM radio (though no camera).

Reflecting its target market, there’s also a torch, a laser pointer and a tool that translates measurements from centimetres to inches. If there’s no power point nearby, it has a wind-up charger, too. :D

But the main purpose of this phone is to be tough. So I decided to put it to the test?.?.?.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z17zBAYI7E
 
Cloud Computing - marching the wrong way?

Google's ChromeOS means losing control of data, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman
New cloud computing OS released by Google is plan to push people into 'careless computing', warns free software advocate

Google's new cloud computing ChromeOS looks like a plan "to push people into careless computing" by forcing them to store their data in the cloud rather than on machines directly under their control, warns Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the operating system GNU.

Two years ago Stallman, a computing veteran who is a strong advocate of free software via his Free Software Foundation, warned that making extensive use of cloud computing was "worse than stupidity" because it meant a loss of control of data.

Now he says he is increasingly concerned about the release by Google of its ChromeOS operating system, which is based on GNU/Linux and designed to store the minimum possible data locally. Instead it relies on a data connection to link to Google's "cloud" of servers, which are at unknown locations, to store documents and other information.

The risks include loss of legal rights to data if it is stored on a company's machine's rather than your own, Stallman points out: "In the US, you even lose legal rights if you store your data in a company's machines instead of your own. The police need to present you with a search warrant to get your data from you; but if they are stored in a company's server, the police can get it without showing you anything. They may not even have to give the company a search warrant."

Google gave ChromeOS a "soft" launch last week, showing off aspects of the software and providing developers and some journalists with Cr-48 laptops set up to run it, while saying that it won't be widely available until mid-2011.

Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, praised it in a blogpost: "For me, these announcements were among the most important of my working life – demonstrating the real power of computer science to transform people's lives. It's extraordinary how very complex platforms can produce beautifully simple solutions like Chrome and Chrome OS, which anyone can use from the get-go – as long as you get it right," he wrote. "As developers start playing with our beta Cr-48 Chrome OS computer, they'll see that while it's still early days it works unbelievably well. You can build everything that you used to mix and match with client software—taking full advantage of the capacity of the web."

But Stallman is unimpressed. "I think that marketers like "cloud computing" because it is devoid of substantive meaning. The term's meaning is not substance, it's an attitude: 'Let any Tom, Dick and Harry hold your data, let any Tom, Dick and Harry do your computing for you (and control it).' Perhaps the term 'careless computing' would suit it better." :twisted:

He sees a creeping problem: "I suppose many people will continue moving towards careless computing, because there's a sucker born every minute. The US government may try to encourage people to place their data where the US government can seize it without showing them a search warrant, rather than in their own property. However, as long as enough of us continue keeping our data under our own control, we can still do so. And we had better do so, or the option may disappear."

The accountability of cloud computing providers has come under close focus in the past fortnight after Amazon removed Wikileaks content from its EC2 cloud computing service, saying that the leaks site had breached its terms and conditions, and without offering any mediation in the dispute.

etc...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/bl ... an-warning
 
View linked page for the graphs:

A brief history of gadgets
By Michael Blastland, GO FIGURE - Seeing stats in a different way

Not so long ago, most people did not possess a phone. Any phone. And remember when video recorders were a must-have? At a time of year when tech takes centre stage, take a trip down memory chip lane.

The season of goodwill is sandwiched, like it or not, by things: must-haves, latest crazes, always-wanteds, gadgets and treats and consumer goodies, first as gifts, then the sales.

Sorry for Go Figure's materialist turn, but it just happens that for 40 years, surveys have tracked Britain's saturation by consumer durables.

And even - maybe especially - with words like bankruptcy and debt in the air, it's worth reminding ourselves of a few material facts.

Like the two thirds of people in 1970 with no phone: no mobile - there weren't any - and no home phone either. You used a red box down the road, if it worked. In the next 20 years, phone ownership hit 90% and peaked at 95%.

But are its days numbered as the techno whirligig brings changes? Read on. For here, in graphics, is the last 40 years in the history of stuff.

First, the meteoric take up of new-tech: mobile phones, DVDs, satellite and digital TVs, home computers and internet connections, from nowhere 10 or 15 years ago to 70%, 80% even 90%. Breathtaking.

The charts show the percentage of people with access to or use of various consumer durables. The gap is when the survey changes from once every five years to yearly, making the lines appear steeper from 1970-95 than from 95 to present.

Next, those home comforts and conveniences now taken for granted - by all but a few. Microwave ovens took off so fast, that a question about whether you had one wasn't asked until 1995.

Less meteoric, but still rising: the car or van, tumble drier and dishwasher. (The fastest growth in cars has been in two and three-car households).

And finally, what's on the way out?

Videos - no surprise - from must-have to antique in about 20 years. That CDs are already hinting at decline is the effect, I guess, of personal MP3 players.

But home phones? For years, I thought of these as the mark of a materially rich nation, the measure of consumer access to goodies. Then came cell phones. Time makes recent ups and downs clearer: the home-phone peak now begins to look as if it passed 10 years ago. :shock:

For a while, the home phone will be part and parcel of many an internet connection.

But will we, one day soon, watch the Christmas comedy repeats and, in a scene when the phone rings - Ha! It's stuck to the wall by a wire. Hilarious! - wonder how those pre-mobile primitives managed?

For those who hate the innovation trip, here's Go Figure's suggested Christmas reading: The Shock of the Old - Technology and Global History Since 1900, by David Edgerton, an eye-opening history that takes numbers seriously.

And for those who hate the materialism altogether: Merry Christmas. :D

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12058944
 
I find the use of English in that article clumsy and convoluted.

For example, this bit -

The season of goodwill is sandwiched, like it or not, by things: must-haves, latest crazes, always-wanteds, gadgets and treats and consumer goodies, first as gifts, then the sales.

Sorry for Go Figure's materialist turn, but it just happens that for 40 years, surveys have tracked Britain's saturation by consumer durables.

Had to read those sentences several times before I understood them. What's wrong with using clear English?

Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation! :lol:
 
Gadgets.

Is that what like those Traditional people in Japan have?

You know, the Pray-O-mat (access to at least half of the eight million Gods garunteed) and the automatic sword polisher?

Not to mention the Virtual cha no ryu experience??

And the Giant Robots??

Nope, I have none of those.
 
Kodachrome last remaining film roll developed in Kansas

The final roll of Kodachrome film, a widely-lauded quality colour film, is to be developed in Kansas on Thursday.
Kodak announced it was discontinuing the iconic film in 2009, after competition from digital cameras caused a large sales decline.

Kodachrome is difficult to process, requiring expert handlers, and Dwayne's Photo in Kansas is the sole remaining developer.
The last film to be developed was shot by the owner, Dwayne Steinle.

Kodachrome film is renowned for its exceptional rendering of colour, vivid images and archival longevity. For many years, it was the preferred brand for print media.
Created in 1935, it was the first commercial film to successfully shoot in colour.
Kodachrome was also used for motion pictures.

Dwayne's Photo has been inundated with requests for developing, many from photographers who had been hoarding the coveted film for years.

One customer picked up 1,580 rolls of film used solely to shoot railroad engines. The nearly 50,000 slides cost $15,798 (£10,200) to develop.

BBC photo editor Phil Coomes has been documenting his own final days with Kodachrome, as well as collecting reader photographs on his BBC blog.

One of Kodachrome's most famous admirers is National Geographic's Steve McCurry, the photojournalist who captured the world's attention with a haunting 1984 cover photograph of Sharbat Gula, an Afghan refugee girl with stunning green eyes.
Ms Gula, whose identity remained unknown for many years, did not see the image until a documentary film crew located her in 2003.

Although Mr Steinle developed his own Kodachrome roll last, Kodak gave the final roll it produced to Mr McCurry.
With just 36 frames to use, he travelled to India to photograph a tribe on the verge of extinction.

Mr McCurry also shot images of New York, Kansas and actor Robert DeNiro in a journey filmed as a documentary by National Geographic.
He hand-delivered the last roll to Dwayne's Photo earlier this year.
"I wasn't going to take any chances," he told the New York Times.

The National Geographic film is likely to air in spring 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12095771
 
Schoolboy uses GPS technology to track down mother's £230 phone after it was stolen in nightclub
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:48 PM on 17th January 2011

A schoolboy used GPS technology to track down his mother’s expensive new mobile phone to the thief's house after it was stolen in a nightclub.

Gemma Richardson, 32, was devastated when her new £230 smartphone disappeared after she placed it on a bar while she bought a drink at 1.30am.
She returned home without the HTC Wildfire phone and assumed it was gone for ever when nobody handed it in to staff at The Grand nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Mother-of-three Mrs Richardson told her son Kristen, 12, what had happened when she woke up on Sunday morning.
But he was able to come to the rescue because he had earlier downloaded a Lookout Mobile Security app on her android phone, enabling him to find where it was.

Kristen used his mother’s laptop to log on to her free Lookout account that he had set up and was able to display a map showing the location of the phone.
He used the phone’s built-in sat-nav technology to locate it within four metres of a detached house in a village about ten miles away near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
Kristen then looked up the address on Google Street View and was able to find a picture of the house.

Mrs Richardson, an area manager for beauty products firm Body Shop at Home, called the police to pass on the information.
Officers later visited the house and found a 21-year-old man who admitted having taken the phone when he was in the nightclub.
He handed the phone to the officers who then went back to Felixstowe and returned it to a delighted Mrs Richardson.

She decided that she did not want to press charges against the thief after hearing that he had never been in trouble with the police before.
Instead she agreed to settle the matter by accepting a letter of apology from him.

Mrs Richardson said: 'I had only bought my new phone two weeks earlier and my son said he was a bit worried about me losing it.
'He told me that he was downloading some sort of technology so he could keep track of it - but I didn’t really take any notice of what he was saying.
'I just put my phone on the bar when I was buying a drink in the nightclub and then when I looked down it had gone.
'I felt really stupid and thought I would never see it again.
'When I told Kristen in the morning, he said, "Don’t worry mum, I’m going to track it down for you".
'A couple of seconds later he announced it was in this house in a village.

'He was able to send out a message to make the phone scream which must have shocked the guy who had taken it.
'He also discovered that this chap had deleted 173 of my contacts from the phone and added the numbers of a couple of his mates.
'I called the police and an officer came round.
'He was just amazed when Kristen told him how he had tracked down the phone and he even had its latitude and longitude position.

'The police went to see this guy and at first asked him if he had been in the nightclub the night before.
'He admitted he had and he was asked if he had picked up a phone - but he denied it.
'The officer then told him about the technology which had tracked the phone down to his address.
'He then came clean and produced the phone, saying he had been intending to take it back.

'I think this chap was gobsmacked that he had been found with the phone.
'It certainly shows how brilliant the technology is.

'I decided not to press charges after hearing he had never been in trouble before. All I wanted was my phone back.
'He did offer to apologise to me in person, but I said it would be enough to get a letter from him.
'The police were just mesmerised when Kristen showed them how the system worked. It is a brilliant tool.
'When I got the phone back, Kristen just pressed a button and it instantly restored all my contacts and my pictures.'

A Suffolk Police spokesman said: 'The technology was a very effective way of leading officers to the house where the phone was.

...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1BNbAjTCF
 
Clever lad.
But why oh why did his mother give him a girl's name?
 
It's exotic. :roll:

:lol:

I'd like that app for my iphone but it seems it's only for Androids. :(
 
Mythopoeika said:
Clever lad.
But why oh why did his mother give him a girl's name?

Kristen is a boy's name. Kristin is a girls' name. Admittedly, there do seem to be a lot of non-Scandanavian parents who apparently don't know the difference.
 
Dr_Baltar said:
Mythopoeika said:
Clever lad.
But why oh why did his mother give him a girl's name?

Kristen is a boy's name. Kristin is a girls' name. Admittedly, there do seem to be a lot of non-Scandanavian parents who apparently don't know the difference.

Yep - do a Google and most of the Kristens are female...and most likely American.
It's quite simply amazing how many American women have men's names.
I guess it's so they can avoid being discriminated against.
 
Nah, it's because they speak American.

It could be said it's a development of language. Equally, it could be said it's about literacy.

I may have said this before, but it still exemplifies a point.

I spent some time living in Arkanss and met a woman called Whyvon. A few months later I had the chance to see her name written down,

It was Yvonne.

It turns out, that her mother went through one of those baby name books, having never heard the name Whyvon, so thought it might be a good name for her daughter.
 
Sort of 'Back to the Future'...

The iPad app dug out of a Cornish tin mine
The wizardry of the iPad and other modern gizmos appears to know no bounds. But few could have foreseen them being responsible for a revival of the Cornish mining industry.
By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor 11:30PM GMT 10 Feb 2011

In a remarkable partnership of old and new, Cornwall's tin mines are poised for a return to their glory days thanks to the global demand for indium.
Large deposits of the rare element, which is used in the liquid crystal displays on televisions, laptops, smart phones and Apple's iPad, have been found at South Crofty, near Redruth.

The owners of the tin mine, the last to operate in Britain, are confident that, if their initial tests are proved correct, they will be able to start digging out millions of pounds of indium, alongside zinc, copper and gold.
Hopes are high that indium mining could create hundreds of jobs in a region hit hard by the demise of an industry that dates back more than 2,000 years. Some even predict a modern-day gold rush.

South Crofty closed in 1998 after the price of tin collapsed. However, it was bought by a group of investors in 2006, hopeful that the recovery in global commodity prices would see a return to profitable mining.

Copper prices in particular have shot up to such an extent that thieves will go to extreme lengths to get hold of it. For the past five years, locals have had their hopes raised and dashed that the mine might reopen, but explorations earlier this month discovered that rock deep underground contained significant amounts of indium, which until now has only been found in China, Canada and parts of continental Europe.

Though it was used in the Second World War to coat high-grade bearings in aircraft, demand has taken off in recent years because of its use in liquid crystal displays. It can be plated on to metal and evaporated on to glass, forming a mirror as good as that made with silver but with more resistance to atmospheric corrosion.

Kevin Williams, the managing director of Western Union Mines, which owns South Crofty, said: "It is a very significant discovery because there is no other UK producer of indium. In fact, very few countries in the world do produce it in any big way." Western Union Mines originally hoped to find commercial quantities of zinc and applied for planning permission for modern processing facilities. It currently employs 60 workers and recently laid off 16 due to delays in securing investment. But it now hopes to employ up to 400 staff within two years.

John Webster, Western United Mines' chief operating officer, said: "We found up to 1,000g of indium per tonne in some assays, but generally the average has been about 100g per tonne which is about one kilo every ten tonnes.
"Each kilo is worth about £500 and we estimate we will mine between 250,000 to 400,000 tons per year in the first phase."

George Eustace, the local Conservative MP, said: "This is an exciting time. It may be too early to call it a modern-day gold rush, but let's hope it's an indium rush. Demand for this element keeps growing.
"This would be a state of the art facility and help resurrect mining in Cornwall."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -mine.html

Also see:
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Ra ... ticle.html
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
rynner2 said:
Sort of 'Back to the Future'...
Now, that is quite ironic. They've been mining for metallic minerals down there in Cornwall since the early Bronze Age.
True. The DT follows up with this:

Cornwall gold rush: history of 3,500 year-old local mining industry
South Crofty near Redruth, Cornwall – on the site of the last tin mine to operate in Britain – has discovered valuable deposits of a very rare element used in televisions, laptops and new smart phones such as the iPhone. Here are some facts about the Cornish mining industry.
By Andrew Hough 7:15AM GMT 11 Feb 2011

* The Site consists of the most authentic and historically significant surviving components of the Cornwall and west Devon mining landscape from the period 1700 to 1914.

* There are ten Areas in the site whose landscapes represent former mining districts, ancillary industrial concentrations and associated settlements.

* Tin streams of Cornwall and Dartmoor were the basis for an industry which supplied almost all the needs of western Europe during the medieval period.

* True underground mining is first documented in the Crown-operated silver mines of the Bere Alston peninsula during the late 13th century.

* In the early 16th century, when the tin gravels of west Cornwall were approaching exhaustion, tinners were forced to turn to the parent lodes.

* By the 1720's Cornwall was producing 6000 tons of copper ore a year and in the next two decades this was to double.

* Tin and copper production in the area was of "world significance" during the first half of the 19th century.

* The landscape has been formed and shaped by a combination of climate, geology, natural features and human activity.

* Much of the area is a gently sloping plateau of metamorphosed rock underlain and punctuated by granite intrusions.

* The granite forms a central spine, 240-300m (787 feet-984 feet) above sea level in the west to more than 400m (1312 feet) in the east, which manifests itself at the surface by rough upland.

* The valleys are often quiet havens for wildlife, supporting reedbeds, wet willow carr, marshes, ancient woodlands, saltmarshes and mudflats.

* Cornwall now has more derelict land than any other county in England, with 12 per cent of the total national resource at 4,888 ha.

* In July 2006 select mining landscapes across Cornwall and west Devon were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... ustry.html
 
Revealed: 'Star Trek' scanner that can measure damage to your body from smoking and junk food
By Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 8:24 AM on 16th February 2011

In Star Trek, Dr McCoy was able to diagnose patients in an instant using his trusty ‘tricorder’.
Now a real-life equivalent has been developed, giving medics the ability to tell within seconds just how healthy – or unhealthy – you are.
The handheld device, the size of a computer mouse, gauges the damage that bad habits such as smoking or a fondness for junk food are having on the body.

It is hoped that the read-out, which takes as little as 30 seconds, will shock people into leading healthier lifestyles, in the same way as standing on the bathroom scales jolts many into a diet. A version suitable for home use could be on sale by this summer for as little as £175.

A similar gadget already exists in the realm of TV science-fiction – the ‘tricorder’ used to diagnose and treat illness in the crew of the Starship Enterprise.
Its real-life counterpart creates a ‘fingerprint’ of a person’s lifestyle by shining a beam of light at their body, collecting the reflected light and analysing it for information on which wavelengths have been absorbed. This allows it to measure levels of health-boosting antioxidants in the skin.
Antioxidants are credited with warding off a host of diseases and keep ageing at bay by mopping up free radicals – dangerous oxygen molecules produced when food is turned into energy.
Existing techniques for measuring antioxidants in the skin all require small samples to be cut away.

Professor Jürgen Lademann, of the Charité medical school in Berlin, said: ‘Everybody wants beautiful skin.
‘Smoking, alcohol consumption and lack of sleep abuse the antioxidants in the skin because of free radical formation.
‘We have developed a non-invasive, protective system where the reflected light contains information about the level of antioxidants.’ The scanner takes as little as 30 seconds to rate a person’s antioxidant level between one and 10. Changes in diet and lifestyle are also quickly picked up.

The professor said: ‘If you decide to change your lifestyle and eat salad tonight, you will see a small increase in the antioxidant reading tomorrow. If you eat salad every day, your reading will be higher still after three or four days.’

The device is being tested on 50 secondary school pupils in the hope that it will encourage them to address bad habits.
Professor Lademann, who admits to changing his own lifestyle after taking the test, said: ‘We expect that the behaviour of the students will change when they are quickly made aware of their own physical reaction to certain behaviours.’

The results mainly relate to the health of the skin. However, antioxidants are credited with many benefits, from slowing the ageing process to cutting the risk of ailments including heart disease and Alzheimer’s. And cancer specialists may find the device useful when monitoring the side-effects of chemotherapy.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1E6tkWyz3

(One typo corrected: invasive, not evasive!)
 
Computer puts human supremacy in jeopardy
By David Usborne, US Editor
Thursday, 17 February 2011

There aren't many quiz shows where the stakes are high for anyone but the participants but in the special episodes of Jeopardy! on American television this week, the hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money are very much an afterthought. The real prize: humanity's continued supremacy in the ongoing struggle to preserve our status against computers. And, last night it was confirmed: man has been trumped by machine.

For the human race it might be the moment to concede that even when it comes to the kind of questions that seem to require an intuitive sense of meaning, computers have us licked. Probably the only people truly delighted by the result will be staff at IBM, which made Watson. For three nights this week the little box – not so little because it is backed up off stage by large servers with 15 terabytes (about 15,000GB) of RAM – has been the star guest in sitting rooms all over America. It is a clash of silicon versus synapses of a kind not since the same company's Deep Blue took on Gary Kasparov at chess in 1997.

Deep Blue won 14 years ago (although Kasparov had won against an earlier version of the machine) and Watson has not disappointed on Jeopardy!, a show that has been a staple on America's primetime schedules for 47 years. For the occasion the producers brought in the two most successful human contestants ever, Ken Jennings, who had the longest winning streak on the show at 74, and Brad Rutter, who has won the most money from it – $3.2m (£2m).

With a format that requires general knowledge on every imaginable topic with an answer in the form of a question (say, Q. Mount Everest A. What is the highest mountain in the world?), Jeopardy! would seem to present a particular challenge to a computer. A wide range of factual knowledge is abetted often by what one might call educated guesses. The very human facets of hunch and instinct are in order.

Last night, facing certain defeat at the hands of a room-sized IBM computer, Jennings was forced to concede to a bigger brain. "I for one welcome our new computer overlords," he wrote on his video screen. 8)

It took a team of 25 computer scientists at IBM four years to come up with Watson. While the television show is mostly about entertainment, the high ratings for Jeopardy! this week also point to our long-held fascination with the notion that machines one day might be vested with artificial intelligence and begin to expand the kinds of tasks they can do.

On Tuesday night, Watson bungled what some saw as a relatively easy question asking which "US city" has its largest airport "named for a Second World War hero; its second largest, for a Second World War battle"? The monotone voice of Watson should have asked "What is Chicago?" but instead said "What is Toronto?"

"Humanity, do not despair just yet!" cried Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy!, talking about the mistake.

In another facet the two human champions can grab a question by interrupting intuitively and buzzing to take the question whereas Watson will only buzz when it has an answer: speed versus certitude. Mr Trebek says: "It can never ring in too early and lock itself out. Last night and the night before the guys locked themselves out nine times by trying to anticipate."

tech details, etc...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 17157.html

This story creates an interesting synchronicity for me: I'm currently reading a Linda Farstein book, and one of her regular characters likes to bet against his colleagues as to who can get the last Jeopardy question right! :D
 
Well, that's nice. They've built a big calculating machine that can calculate and speak, possible questions to grammatical and linguistic, answers. But, the calculating machine still neither, 'knows' the answers, nor 'understands' the questions.

They've a way to go before one of these calculators shows even the self awareness of a sentient slime mould, IMHO.
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
But, the calculating machine still neither, 'knows' the answers, nor 'understands' the questions.
Is that the answers that are the questions, or the questions that are the answers? ;)

(I've only come across Jeopardy in Farstein's books - we should have it over here.)
 
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