A Laser That Shoots Lightning

Guided lightning bolt travels horizontally, then hits a car.
(Credit: U.S. Army)

Brrzzzt! U.S. Army Checks Out Laser-Based Lightning Tech -- CNet

Future weapon would seek out targets that conduct electricity better than the air or ground that surrounds them.

Earlier this spring, the U.S. Army revealed the existence of a project underway to build a device that could shoot lightning bolts down laser beams to take out a target. Now the military's boffins report success in their first tests.

The technology -- known as laser-induced plasma channel -- is designed to seek out targets that conduct electricity better than the air or ground that surrounds them.

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More News On the U.S. Army's Laser That Shoots Lightning

US army builds lightning bolt laser weapon -- Wired
Army Developing Laser That Shoots Lightning -- CBS
The Power of Zeus, In The Hands Of The U.S Military -- Ubergizmo
U.S. Army weapon shoots lightning bolts down laser beams -- Gizmag
Army tests lightning weapon -- Salon/Global Post
Army looks to strike foes with lightning weapon -- FOX News

What Does A$168,000 Bottle Of Wine Taste Like?

The world’s most expensive wine, Penfolds 2004 Block 42, is housed in 750-ml glass ampoules. Photo: Penfolds

Record-Breaking Wine: What Does $168,000 Taste Like? -- Wired Science

Today, the Australian winery Penfolds announced the world’s most expensive wine sold directly from a winery, eloquently dubbed “2004 Block 42.” The $168,000 wine is a produced from a single vineyard, from what the winery claims are the oldest continuously producing Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world. It will be sold in 12 glass ampoules (above), which look more like something you’d use to kill a vampire than to serve wine. Each holds the equivalent of a standard wine bottle.

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My Comment: This is overpriced wine .... but I must confess that I do like the design of the bottle.

How HyperStealth’s Algorithms Build Better Camo

A mock-up of HyperStealth’s Quantum Stealth technology. Photo: HyperStealth

Discreet by Design: How HyperStealth’s Algorithms Build Better Camo -- Danger Room

Guy Cramer was annoyed by the cost of Canada’s newest military uniform redesign. He’d been interested in camo since the ‘80s, when he wore it as a professional paintballer. He decided he could do better, so Cramer invested in a $100 design program, spent an hour retooling the pattern and posted the critique online.

This was back in 2003, when Cramer was selling plumbing supplies and working on science projects in his free time. A year later, Cramer gets a call from Jordan’s military office. The king, they said, wanted him to redesign the country’s uniforms. Within three months, Cramer whiped them up a new pattern.

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My Comment: I look forward to the day when they can be invisible.

What Did Ancient Humans Eat?

A high-tech dental analysis of a 2-million-year-old hominid from South Africa involving CU-Boulder researchers indicates it had a unique diet that included trees, bushes and fruits. (Credit: Photo courtesy Paul Sandberg, University of Colorado)

Ancient Human Ancestors Had Unique Diet -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2012) — When it came to eating, an upright, 2 million-year-old African hominid had a diet unlike virtually all other known human ancestors, says a study led by the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and involving the University of Colorado Boulder.

The study indicated that Australopithecus sediba -- a short, gangly hominid that lived in South Africa -- ate harder foods than other early hominids, targeting trees, bushes and fruits.

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My Comment: I guess pizza was not around at the time. :)

The Power Of Chess

Chessgames.com

24 Executives Who Are Exceptional At Chess -- Business Insider

Games like bridge, poker, and chess are great for business. These games all use methods that can can be incorporated into the way you view and make business decisions. Chess in particular requires strategic decision-making, concentration, tactics, and evaluation.

Bob Rice, author of Three Moves Ahead: What Chess Can Teach You About Business, wrote: "The more you look at the business world, the more you see that successful companies and the people who run them use chess strategies routinely (whether they know it or not)."

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My Comment: My rating was 2100 when I was 13. Loved the game .... but I drifted into business to make money.

The Pentagon Wants A Reddit Knockoff

Screencaps of several milSuite services. In July, the Pentagon plans to launch Eureka, a Reddit-style forum. Illustration: Army

TIL: The Pentagon Is Building a Reddit Knockoff -- Danger Room

For years, the military has struggled over what to do about social media. One response has been to create dull, Pentagon-controlled versions of popular websites Facebook and YouTube. Now the Pentagon is preparing to launch its own version of Reddit, in another small step in the military’s quest to strip the fun out of everything on the internet.

It’s called Eureka, and it’s supposed to be a rough analogue to the ginormous social news site where users vote on which content rises to the top — or which content falls to the bottom — of user-generated feeds.

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My Comment: Reddit's military forum is here.

A Look At Facebook's Newest Data Center

Over the past seven months, the traffic moving between Facebook’s server has nearly doubled, while the traffic between the servers and the outside world has grown at a far more steady rate. Image: Facebook

Facebook Future-Proofs Data Center With Revamped Network -- Wired Enterprise

When Facebook started work on its new data center in Forest City, North Carolina, the idea was to create pretty much an exact copy of the new-age facility the company had just built in the high desert of central Oregon. “The blueprint we’d put together was pretty good,” says Jay Parikh, the man who oversees Facebook’s entire data center infrastructure. “We felt that all we needed to do was lather, rise, and repeat.”

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My Comment: Facebook is clearly betting on a long future.

The Ultimate Heatsink?

A Heatsink That Could Be 30 Times More Efficient Than Today's Setups -- Popular Science

Computers get hot. Heat is bad for computers. To whisk it away, we use a combination of heatsinks and fans to snatch heat away from the internals and blast it out of the computer's case. But Sandia has a concept that combines the two in a way that, they claim, increases heat-removing efficiency by up to 30 times.

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My Comment: Smart and innovative .... kudos to the inventors.

Google Creates A "Computer Brain"

There's a certain grim inevitability to the fact that the YouTube company's creation began watching stills from cat videos

Google Creates 'Computer Brain' - And It Immediately Starts Watching Cat Videos On YouTube -- Daily Mail

* 16,000 processors create brain-style 'neural network'
* Network learns by itself to identify cat faces
* Works with pool of 10 million images from YouTube

Google has created an 'artificial brain' from 16,000 computer processors, and sat it down with an internet connection.

There's a certain grim inevitability to the fact that the YouTube company's creation began watching stills from cat videos.

The team, led by Google's Dr Jeff Dean, used the 16,000 processor array to create a brain-style 'neural network' with more than a billion connections.

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My Comment: I am not a "cat person".

Google Expected To Announce An In-House 'Nexus' Tablet

Tomorrow Google is expected to announce an in-house 'Nexus' tablet: To date, the best Android tablets have been models like the Samsung Galaxy Tab (pictured)

Google I/O Conference 2012 Predictions: Tech Giant To Present Its Vision For The Future Of Android And Search Tomorrow -- Daily Mail

Enthusiasts look forward to...

* Google Goggles: A pair of glasses with a built-in 'heads-up' display
* Google Nexus tablet: Google's first attempt at an in-house Android tablet
* Google Assistant: Google's take on Siri voice-controls
* Android@Home: Controlling your house appliances via Android
* Jellybean: The next version of Android's operating system

Google kicks off its annual developer's conference tomorrow - and we will get a glimpse of what Google sees in our future.

The three-day 'Input/Output Conference' is Google's way of keeping developers abreast of what is happening within the company, but it is a good chance for the public to find out what products and services to expect in the year or two ahead.

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My Comment: I wish them luck.

The Man Who Makes Sure That Facebook Remains Up And Running Each Day

Photo: Jay Parikh runs Facebook's infrastructure (Credit: Facebook)

The Man Who Keeps Facebook Humming (Q&A) -- CNet

Jay Parikh is a key person responsible for making sure Facebook remains up and running each day.

Jay Parikh is happy to never get a call from Mark Zuckerberg. Why? It means he's doing his job well. As the vice president of infrastructure engineering at Facebook, Parikh is charged with the enormous task of keeping the machines that run Facebook operating with as few hiccups as possible. As Facebook now approaches 1 billion users, and continues to roll out more features that connect people every which way, that challenge grows. Which is why Parikh, who this morning gave the keynote at the Velocity conference in Silicon Valley, has been hard at work building out Facebook's back-end technology and data centers.

I met up with Parikh at Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., and discussed a range of topics. Here's an edited version:

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My Comment: I suspect that he has Mark Zuckerberg's direct cell phone number .... and vice versa.

The New Crime Wave

Automatic Bank Robbers Making A Killing -- Tech Eye

Don't even need a mask or a shooter just pray to Zeus

The days of masked robbers walking into a bank with a sawn off shotgun have gone the way of the Highwayman.

According to Reuters, a new wave of automated hacking of online bank accounts has lifted $78 million in the past year from customers in Europe, Latin America and the United States.

Insecurity experts working for McAfee and Guardian Analytics said that the weapon of choice is no longer a shooter but one of two families of existing malicious software, Zeus and SpyEye.

Previous versions of the software automate the transfer of funds to money mule accounts controlled by mates.

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My Comment: $78 million may not seem much .... but I suspect that this is just the beginning and that this crime will grow exponentially with time.

MI5 Chief Issues Warnings Of Cyber Attacks

MI5 boss Jonathan Evans has warned that companies in the UK are fending off an 'astonishing' level of cyberattacks. Image credit: Security Service

MI5 Fighting 'Astonishing' Level Of Cyber-Attacks -- BBC

MI5 is battling "astonishing" levels of cyber-attacks on UK industry, the intelligence agency's chief has said.

In his first public speech for two years, Jonathan Evans warned internet "vulnerabilities" were being exploited by criminals as well as states.

The attacks were a threat to the integrity of information, he added.

Mr Evans also warned the London 2012 Olympics was an "attractive target" for terrorist groups, but said security preparations were well under way.

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More News On The MI5 Chief's Report On Cyber Attacks In The U.K.

MI5 boss: Cyber spies, web-enabled crooks threaten UK economy -- The Register
MI5 chief: Massive cybercrime wave putting businesses at risk -- ZDNet
MI5’s cyber-attack warning -- The International News
MI5 chief: Cyber terror threat to UK companies is on an 'industrial scale', as he reveals one firm lost £800m -- This Is Money
MI5 chief: Cyber attack threat is "astonishing" -- Tech Eye
MI5 Chief Warns of 'Astonishing' Levels of Cyber Attacks -- International Business Times

Another Reason Why Coffee Is Good For You

New research shows a possible benefit from coffee consumption, but like with so many other things we consume, it really depends on how much coffee you drink, the researchers say. (Credit: © RTimages / Fotolia)

Moderate Coffee Consumption Offers Protection Against Heart Failure, Study Suggests -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2012) — While current American Heart Association heart failure prevention guidelines warn against habitual coffee consumption, some studies propose a protective benefit, and still others find no association at all. Amidst this conflicting information, research from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center attempts to shift the conversation from a definitive yes or no, to a question of how much.

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My Comment: Two cups a day is what keeps me going.

Juliet Marine’s “Ghost” Ship

GHOST ship (image: Juliet Marine Systems)—Supercavitating ship from Portsmouth, NH-based Juliet Marine Systems

Juliet Marine’s “Ghost” Ship Emerges from Stealth Startup, Gears Up for War -- Xconomy

About an hour north of Boston, in a city by the sea, there’s a project underway to reinvent the marine industry. More specifically, the marine defense industry.

Imagine a boat that moves through the water differently from any other boat in existence. It uses “supercavitation”—the creation of a gaseous bubble layer around the hull to reduce friction underwater—to reach very high speeds at relatively low fuel cost. Its speed and shape means it can evade detection by sonar or ship radar. It can outrun torpedoes. Its fuel efficiency means it has greater range and can run longer missions than conventional boats and helicopters.

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My Comment: A fascinating story .... read it all.

H1N1 Death Toll May Be 15 Times Higher Than Previously Reported

An Algerian doctor prepares a vaccine dose against the H1N1 flu in 2009 in a hospital in Algiers. CNN

Swine Flu Outbreak 15 Times Deadlier Than Thought, Study Finds -- MSNBC/MyHealthNewsDaily

The number of people who died of swine flu during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic may be about 15 times higher than originally calculated, according to a new study.

Researchers now estimate that 284,500 people worldwide died of infection from the H1N1 virus, commonly called the swine flu, between April 2009 and August 2010. At the time, 18,500 deaths had been laboratory-confirmed as being due to swine flu, according to the study from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was expected that the original number would be revised upward, the researchers said.

In estimating the true number of deaths, the researchers gave a range of 151,700 to 575,400.

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More News On Reports That The Swine Flu Outbreak Was 15 Times Deadlier Than Thought

2009 swine flu outbreak was 15 times deadlier: study -- Reuters
Swine Flu Deaths May Have Been 15 Times Higher Than Reported -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Global H1N1 death toll may be 15 times higher than previously reported -- CNN
Swine flu likely claimed quarter of a million lives: study -- AFP
Swine flu pandemic killed 15 times more than thought -- New Scientist
H1N1 Swine Flu May Have Killed 15 Times More Than First Said -- ABC News
Swine flu death toll could be as high as 600,000, say experts -- Scotsman

The Most Amazing Tall Buildings Of The Year

Flickr/paul_bica

Architects And Engineers Say These Are The Most Amazing Tall Buildings Of The Year -- Business Insider

In 2011, 88 new towers over 200 meters (656 ft.) high were built in the world--a record number, compared to the 32 new towers built in 2005. There are another 96 new towers slated for completion this year, with China being the biggest builder.

But with so many new additions to skylines around the world, which buildings are the best?

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My Comment: Certainly different .... and certainly distinct.

Are The Sea Levels Rising?

California Sea Levels Flickr/Qfamily

Sea Level Rising Rapidly on Both Coasts, Could Even Flood San Francisco Airport in a Decade -- Popular Science

The Northeast U.S. has been taking the brunt of rising sea levels not just in the country but in the world, with waters rising three to four times faster than the global average, according to new data. But that doesn't spare the West Coast; in a decade, rising sea levels could flood the San Francisco International Airport.

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My Comment: In other-words .... do not buy waterfront property.

Original Recipe For Jack Daniel's Found

The history of Jack Daniel's is a mystery because the distillery's early records were destroyed in a courthouse fire Photo: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Original Recipe For Jack Daniel's Found In Welsh Book Of Herbal Remedies -- The Telegraph

The original recipe for legendary American whiskey Jack Daniel's has been discovered in a book of herbal remedies in Wales, it has been claimed.

Businessman Mark Evans, 54, was researching his family history when he discovered the recipe in a book of herbal remedies.

It was written in 1853 by his great-great grandmother who was called Daniels and was a local herbalist in Llanelli, South Wales.

Her brother-in-law left the Welsh town at about the same time to move to Lynchburg Tennessee where the Jack Daniel's distillery was opened three years later.

And the Jack Daniel's website states the founder of the distillery was from Wales.

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My Comment: Ice tea spiked with Jack Daniels .... a deadly combination.

A Cure For Balding Men?

Balding Men Offered Hope Of Waking Their 'Sleeping' Hair -- The Telegraph

Scientists have discovered that hair follicles in people who are balding are trapped in a "sleeping" state and are now developing a new treatment to combat baldness.

It sounds more like an explanation that would be used by nursery children than respected scientists, but researchers have found that rather than losing their hair altogether, people who are going bald are suffering from "sleeping" hair follicles.

Trichologists have discovered that hair follicles on the scalp can become trapped in a resting state where they do not grow new hair, leading to thinning.

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My Comment: Faster please.

The Ultimate Zombie Gun

The Perfect Piece For The Zombie Apocalypse: Shop Owners Create The Perfect Rifle (With NINE 30-Round Magazines) To Take On The Undead Hordes -- Daily Mail

The Zombie Apocolypse will hit us all one day. That's basically a fact.

But whether it comes today - or 28 Days Later - these two shop owners from Jonesboro, near Atlanta, will be ready to deal with any of the area's Resident Evil when the undead finally arrives.

They have created the ultimate zombie gun - mounted with nine 30-round magazines, four flashlights, three lasers to pinpoint out their lumbering targets, and three different sightings so they can pick off their targets from 100, 200 or 300 yards away.

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My Comment: Where do I put the bayonet?

Are U.S. Drones Vulnerable To Terrorist Hijacking?

EXCLUSIVE: Drones Vulnerable To Terrorist Hijacking, Researchers Say -- FOX News

A small surveillance drone flies over an Austin stadium, diligently following a series of GPS waypoints that have been programmed into its flight computer. By all appearances, the mission is routine.

Suddenly, the drone veers dramatically off course, careering eastward from its intended flight path. A few moments later, it is clear something is seriously wrong as the drone makes a hard right turn, streaking toward the south. Then, as if some phantom has given the drone a self-destruct order, it hurtles toward the ground. Just a few feet from certain catastrophe, a safety pilot with a radio control saves the drone from crashing into the field.

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My Comment: It looks like the Iranians figured out this trick when they brought down this top secret U.S. drone last year.

A Successor To The Concorde?

Artist's impression of the new supersonic commercial passenger aircraft which will fly at speeds of 2,500 mph

The Race To Build A Successor To Concorde: Boeing, Gulfstream and Nasa Join Forces To Create A Supersonic Jet Capable Of Flying From London To Sydney In FOUR HOURS -- Daily Mail

Aircraft enthusiasts are waiting with growing anticipation for the unveiling of plans for a supersonic jet that may be able to fly London to Sydney in just four hours.

U.S. builders - helped by the Nasa space agency - will reveal the prototype successors to Concorde at the Farnborough air show next month.

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My Comment: Being cooped up in an airplane for more than 4 hours has always been a pet peeve for me. Cutting that down to a quarter of the time will get no objections from me. But .... I suspect that the ticket prices will be expensive.

The Future Of Vehicles?

Unique features: No emissions, there is storage space in both the boot and the bonnet, and the Tesla can be fully charged up for the cost of £6.40

The Future Of Vehicles? PayPal Founder Unveils 'Tesla' Electric Car Which Accelerates Faster Than A BMW And Travels 300 Miles On A Top-Up Of £6.40 -- Daily Mail

Elon Musk, the creator of the Tesla Model S electric car, has already revolutionised the world twice.

He co-founded PayPal, one of the staple payment methods on the internet, then founded the Space X rocket project, which launched last month and made him the first commercial operator in space.

Now his electric car attempts a motor revolution - packing as it does an electric engine that can do 0-60 in a silent 4.4 seconds, two 'boots' as there is no engine in the bonnet, and 300miles between charges - which, when it comes, only costs £6,40.

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My Comment: With these cars at a price range between at $49,900 (£31,500) and $84,900 (£54,000) .... they are not going to be cheap.

Will Microsoft Build It`s Own Windows Phone 8?

Microsoft May Build Own Windows Phone 8 -- Information Week

Microsoft might rile its hardware partners again by developing and bringing to market its own Windows Phone 8 smartphone.

Microsoft has had a big week. On Monday, it revealed the Surface tablet, a Windows 8 device that the company will manufacture itself. On Wednesday, Microsoft showed off the core features of Windows Phone 8, a significant leap forward for the platform that should boost its appeal to consumers, businesses, and developers alike. Both announcements enjoyed a warm welcome and demonstrated that Microsoft clearly has a long-term strategy in play that will coalesce in the coming months.

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My Comment: Microsoft certainly has the resources and means to produce a smartphone .... but will they? My gut tells me yes.

Remembering Alan Turing, The Father Of The Computer

Remembering Alan Turing At 100 -- Endgadget

Alan Turing would have turned 100 this week, an event that would have, no doubt, been greeted with all manner of pomp -- the centennial of a man whose mid-century concepts would set the stage for modern computing. Turing, of course, never made it that far, found dead at age 41 from cyanide poisoning, possibly self-inflicted. His story is that of a brilliant mind cut down in its prime for sad and ultimately baffling reasons, a man who accomplished so much in a short time and almost certainly would have had far more to give, if not for a society that couldn't accept him for who he was.

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More News On Alan Turing

Alan Turing, the father of the computer, is finally getting his due -- Washington Post
Alan Turing 100: Visionary, war winner ... game maker? -- The Register
Alan Turing: the short, brilliant life and tragic death of an enigma -- The Guardian
Centenary of the birth of WWII code breaker Alan Turing -- BBC
Happy 100th birthday, Alan Turing -- MSNBC
The Enigma of Computing's Lost Genius -- Wall Street Journal
Alan Turing: The experiment that shaped artificial intelligence -- BBC
How to Pass the Turing Artificial Intelligence Test -- Wired Science
LEGO Turing Machine Is Simple, Yet Sublime -- Underwire
What was Alan Turing's greatest contribution? -- BBC
Alan Turing: Is he really the father of computing? -- BBC

The Move To Limit Freedom On The Web Picks Up

A global concern: Protesters from the Anonymous India group in Mumbai of hackers wear Guy Fawkes masks as they protest against laws they say gives the government control over internet usage

The Battle For Internet Freedom: Russia Tells U.N. During Secret Talks That It Wants To Be Able To censor The Web To Repress Political Opposition -- Daily Mail

* Russian President Vladimir Putin 'wants there to be centralised control of the internet'
* U.S. vows to block any proposals at U.N. Internet conference involving 170 countries
* Global web treaty will be first revision to rules in 20 years
* 'Leaks' website set up to make treaty negotiations transparent

Russia wants the ability to censor the internet - but the U.S. plans to stonewall the plans at a U.N. conference later this year.

Russia says it wants wants the right to block access where it is used for 'interfering in the internal affairs, or undermining the sovereignty, national security, territorial integrity and public safety of other states, or to divulge information of a sensitive nature'.

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My Comment: This is not surprising. The last thing that an authoritarian government wants is the free flow information .... and the internet is one massive flow of information.

How Camera Tech Is Revolutionizing Surveillance

A photograph of the Seattle skyline taken with the Aware-2 camera. (Duke University Imaging and Spectroscopy Program / June 20, 2012)

New Gigapixel Camera May Revolutionize Photography, Surveillance -- L.A. Times

Say cheese: Engineers have created a new camera with the capability of capturing over a gigapixel of data, a resolution that is significantly better than normal human vision.

Pixels represent individual points of data in an image, so the more pixels in a single image, the more details can be resolved within that image. The average retail camera currently captures only about 8 to 10 megapixels. The resolution of the gigapixel camera is at least 100 times better than that, and the researchers say their design may eventually be able to capture 50 gigapixels at once.

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My Comment: How times have changed. This tech would have been treated as Top Secret a few years ago .... today .... if you have the money .... anyone can get one.

The Apple - Google War

Why Apple Is Going “Containment” Not “Thermonuclear” Against Google In iOS 6 -- Search Engine Land

I keep hearing people talking about Apple finally going “thermonuclear” on Google with the forthcoming iOS 6 mobile operating system. No, it hasn’t. In fact, there are good reasons why it can’t, though Apple is certainly exercising a much more subtle and smart containment strategy.

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My Comment: Steve Jobs is gone .... and Apple is a different company that is not looking for conflict .... but something else.

Why Bird Flu Research Is Dangerous

Image: The H5N1 virus could mutate to a deadlier form and spread to humans

Bird Flu 'Could Mutate To Cause Deadly Human Pandemic' -- BBC

The H5N1 bird flu virus could change into a form able to spread rapidly between humans, scientists have warned.

Researchers have identified five genetic changes that could allow the virus to start a deadly pandemic.

Writing in the journal Science, they say it would be theoretically possible for these changes to occur in nature.

A US agency has tried unsuccessfully to ban publication of parts of the research fearing it could be used by terrorists to create a bioweapon.

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My Comment: This info should make any potential bio-terrorist happy .... they now have the blue print to cause a pandemic.

U.S. Cyber Weapons Are Being Revealed

We’re Slowly Starting to See U.S.’ Cyber Weapons -- Defense Tech

For years now, Defense Department officials have refused to discuss the details of the Pentagon’s offensive capabilities in the cyber arena, even as they railed against all the cyber attacks against the United States’ ever-vulnerable networks.

It seems however, that the Pentagon is happy to let actions speak for it. Earlier this spring, news reports emerged saying that it was indeed the U.S. and Israel who were behind the Stuxnet worm that famously wreaked havoc on Iran’s attempts to enrich uranium for its nuclear program. That worm was designed to make its way accross copmuter networks around the globe before infiltrating the specific type of Seimens-made SCADA computer that controlled the speeds at which Iran’s uranium enrichment centrifuges spun at. Once inside said computers, the infamous worm reprogrammed the centrifuges to spin at the wrong speeds where they would wreck the enrichment process.

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My Comment: And what we have seen .... I suspect .... is just the tip of the iceberg.

Three New Biodefense Centers In The U.S.

Photo: Texas A&M University moves to the forefront of the US biodefense effort (credit: Texas A&M University)

U.S. Launches Three Biodefense Centers -- Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today awarded contracts for the creation of three new centers tasked with responding to the threat of future pandemics and biological attacks, Nature News Blog reports.

Based in Maryland, North Carolina and Texas, the three “Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing” are the first tangible result of a review concluded by HHS in 2010.

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My Comment: Pandemics, biological attacks .... this has all been known for a very long time. But why the rush to build the centers now?

A History Of Tetris

Tetris: Can A Cold War Classic Evolve For The Touchscreen? -- The Verge

The game couldn't be simpler. One of seven shapes falls from the sky. As the "Tetrimino" inches down the screen, the player rotates it and moves it into place among other similar objects. Build a horizontal line across the board and the entire thing vanishes. Create four lines at once, and they all disappear as the gamer earns massive points. Rotate, drop, explode. Rinse, wash, repeat. Again. And again. And again. A simple and repetitive task, but one that's beautiful when performed correctly.

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My Comment: A sad confession .... I wasted many hours of my life playing this game.

U.S. Air Forces Launches Secret US Spy Satellite

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launches the classified NROL-38 spy satellite into orbit from Space Launch Complex-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Wednesday. Liftoff occurred at 8:28 a.m. EDT. The national security satellite will be used by the National Reconnaissance Office. Patrick H. Corkery/United Launch Alliance

Shhh — Air Forces Launches Secret US Spy Satellite -- MSNBC/Space.com

Few details are offered up on clandestine national security mission for NRO.

A new U.S. spy satellite launched into orbit Wednesday, kicking off a clandestine national security mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.

The NROL-38 reconnaissance spacecraft lifted off at 8:28 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket. It marked a milestone flight for the rocket company, a partnership between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

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More News On Today's 'Secret Launch' Of A US Spy Satellite

Secret military satellite heads into space -- CNet
US military launches new satellite into space -- AFP
NRO satellite lifts off from Cape Canaveral -- Air Force Times
Classified military satellite lifts-off from Cape Canaveral -- Examiner
Classified US satellite successfully orbited -- Flight Global

Voyager 1 Moves Ever Closer To The Solar System's Edge

Voyager 1 One of the two identical Voyager probes, as photographed by NASA. NASA

Voyager 1, Moving Ever Closer To Solar System's Edge, Hit By Rapidly Increasing Amounts of Cosmic Rays -- Popular Science

It's perched on the very edge of the solar system, and new data is the strangest yet.

For at least a year now, NASA has been waiting with bated breath for Voyager 1 to pass through the boundary of our solar system and become our first emissary to the stars. It’s been cruising the edge for some time, but when it finally leaves forever, it won’t be a satisfyingly clear punch-through — so it’s hard to say exactly when this will happen. Or happened. Now the spacecraft is in another strange new zone, where the influx of cosmic particles has been ramping up by the week.

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My Comment: Yup .... one can say that we are now exploring the stars.

100 Greatest Discoveries In Physics (Video)

Has The Higgs Boson Particle Been Found?

Photo: A disk full of silicon sensors that sits as an endcap on ATLAS, one of the LHC experiments searching for the Higgs boson. Peter Ginter/ATLAS collaboration/CERN

Physics Community Afire With Rumors of Higgs Boson Discovery -- Wired

One of the biggest debuts in the science world could happen in a matter of weeks: The Higgs boson may finally, really have been discovered.

Ever since tantalizing hints of the Higgs turned up in December at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists there have been busily analyzing the results of their energetic particle collisions to further refine their search.

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My Comment: I guess we will find out in a few weeks.

Welsh And Cornish Are The 'Purest Britons'

Those in south east and central England were described by Donnelly as "a real genetic cocktail", with parts of their DNA matching the pre-Roman population, Anglo-Saxon and the Danish Viking settlers. Photo: ROBERT HARDING PICTURE LIBRARY

Welsh And Cornish Are The 'Purest Britons', Scientists Claim -- The Telegraph

Natives from Wales and Cornwall could hold the title for the "purest" Britons, a scientific study suggests.

Scientists drew up a map of the British Isles revealing the genetic ancestry of people from different rural areas across the UK.

After extensive DNA surveying, they found that Welsh and Cornish people were among the most genetically distinct groups in the country.

One theory for the difference in their DNA is that they are a "relic" population, tracing their ancestry back to the tribes that colonised Britain after the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago.

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My Comment: A lot has happened in 10,000 years.

Robots Get A Feel For The World

Like the human finger, the group's BioTac® sensor has a soft, flexible skin over a liquid filling. (Credit: USC)

Robots Get A Feel For The World: Touch More Sensitve Than A Human's -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (June 18, 2012) — What does a robot feel when it touches something? Little or nothing until now. But with the right sensors, actuators and software, robots can be given the sense of feel -- or at least the ability to identify different materials by touch.

Researchers at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering published a study June 18 in Frontiers in Neurorobotics showing that a specially designed robot can outperform humans in identifying a wide range of natural materials according to their textures, paving the way for advancements in prostheses, personal assistive robots and consumer product testing.

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My Comment: This has many real world applications.

A Mystery At The Bottom Of The Baltic Sea

Hefty trajectory: The Swedish diving team noted a 985-foot flattened out 'runway' leading up to the object, implying that it skidded along the path before stopping but no true answers are clear

Pictured: The UFO-Shaped Object Found At The Bottom Of The Baltic Sea... Covered In Soot, With 'Little Fireplaces' And Lying At The End Of A 1,000ft Runway -- Daily Mail

* Object is raised about 10 to 13ft above seabed and curved at the sides like a mushroom
* It has a 60 metre diameter with an egg-shaped hole leading into it from the top
* Hole is surrounded by an strange rock formation that expedition team can not explain
* Stones are covered in something 'resembling soot' which has baffled experts

Sceptics expected that a deep-water dive would debunk the slew of extra-terrestrial theories surrounding an unidentified object sitting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

But the Swedish expedition team that took the plunge surfaced with more questions than answers - and certainly no solution to its origins.

The divers found that the object, which some have likened to the Millennium Falcon because of its unusual round outline, was raised about 10 to 13ft above the seabed and curved in at the sides, giving it a mushroom shape.

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My Comment: I am always skeptical when I read UFO stories like this one .... but I will confess that sometimes they are fun to read on the oft-chance that maybe there is a surprise just waiting to be discovered.

No Rules For Cyber-Robot Wars

Rules For Robot-War -- Irfan Husain, DAWN

DOES the deployment of a computer virus by one state against another constitute an act of war? In this wired world, sabotaging a country’s computer systems through malware, or a piece of computer code designed to cause damage, is surely an offensive action equivalent to firing a missile at an enemy.

But thus far, international law has not kept pace with technology, and states can and do use these unseen weapons to further their agendas. Thus, malware like Stuxnet and Flame have apparently been launched against Iranian computers by American and Israeli experts to slow down its nuclear programme and to spy on its leaders.

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My Comment: I have been commenting regularly that as cyber attacks become more sophisticated and targeted, it will only be a matter of time before we experience a cyber 9/11 attack that will incapacitate critical computer networks (i.e. travel, banking, etc.) as well as critical infrastructures (electrical, water, etc..) that are dependent on computer networks.

When that day happens .... the debate on rules for cyber attacks and the consequences of launching one will then start.

Western Officials Are Acknowledging That The U.S. And Israel Did Launch A Cyber Attack Against Iran's Nuclear Facilities

Kaspersky Lab

U.S., Israel Developed Flame Computer Virus To Slow Iranian Nuclear Efforts, Officials Say -- Washington Post

The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected critical intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage attacks aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort.

The massive piece of malware was designed to secretly map Iran’s computer networks and monitor the computers of Iranian officials, sending back a steady stream of intelligence used to enable an ongoing cyberwarfare campaign, according to the officials.

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More News On The U.S. - Israeli Cyber Attack Against Iran's Nuclear Facilities

U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus: newspaper -- Reuters
US, Israel made Flame virus to thwart Iran: report -- AFP
Israel, US collaborated in creation of Flame virus to slow Iran's nuke efforts, report says -- FOX News
Flame virus confirmed as U.S.-Israeli plan -- UPI
Report: US, Israel designed Flame computer virus against Iran -- The Hill
Confirmed: Flame created by US and Israel to slow Iranian nuke program -- Ars Technica
U.S., Israel, developed Flame #thecircuit -- Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post
How Flame virus has changed everything for online security firms -- John Naughton, The Guardian

More News On The Super-Computer Wars

The Sequoia: This grey slab is just part the most powerful computer on the planet, and will be used in nuclear power research, with perhaps a game or two of chess on the side

U.S. Reclaims Top Spot In Super-Computer Wars With Machine That 'Can Do More In An Hour Than The World's Population Working Non-Stop For 320 Years' -- Daily Mail

* IBM's 'Sequoia' beats Japan's 'K machine', running 1.55 times faster while being 15 per cent more energy efficient
* Computer - which is nearly 300,00 times faster than machines from 20 years ago - will be used for nuclear studies

In the super-computing league table, the U.S. has reclaimed 'top spot' from Japan.

IBM's Sequoia computer, which is 1.55 times faster than Japan's previous record-breaker, the Fujitsu K Computer, was installed and switched on at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

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My Comment: Impressive speeds .... and they are still getting faster.

The USB Stick That Deletes All Viruses

Fix Me: Stick the USB key into your PC and it will stop Windows from loading - and scan your computer for errors

The USB Stick That You Plug Into Your Computer - And Then It Deletes All The Viruses -- Daily Mail

Getting a virus cleaned off your computer can be a burden at the best of times.

But now a new USB stick aims to make it far easier by giving you the same tools as the professionals - and all you have to do is plug it in.

The FixMeStick supposedly finds the files which other anti-virus programmes miss by using powerful anti-virus software normally used by computer technicians.

All users have to do is put it into a USB slot on their PC and it will do the rest.

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My Comment: The firm that manufactures this tech is in Montreal .... and I live in Montreal. I guess I should pay them a visit and report more later.

Australian Aboriginal Rock Art Is 28,000 Years Old

Art on the ceiling of the shelter Narwala Gabarnmang. Credit: University of Southern Queensland

Aboriginal Rock Art Is 28,000 Years Old -- Cosmos/AFP

SYDNEY: Aboriginal rock art found in remote Australia has been dated at 28,000 years old, experts have said, prompting new speculation that indigenous communities were among the world's most advanced.

Archaeologists picked up the fragment in inaccessible wilderness in Arnhem Land in the country's north a year ago, and recent carbon dating of its charcoal drawing has placed it among some of the oldest art on the planet.

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My Comment: Early man was not so backwards after-all.

The World's Oldest Cave Art

A look inside the Altamira Cave in northern Spain

Red Dot Becomes 'Oldest Cave Art' -- BBC

Red dots, hand stencils and animal figures represent the oldest examples yet found of cave art in Europe.

The symbols on the walls at 11 Spanish locations, including the World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo have long been recognised for their antiquity.

But researchers have now used refined dating techniques to get a more accurate determination of their ages.

One motif - a faint red dot - is said to be more than 40,000 years old.

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My Comment: Just think about it .... art that has survived 40,000 years old.

Playmates On The Moon?

NASA Astronauts Brought Playmates To The Moon -- Discovery News

When NASA sent its Apollo astronauts to the moon, it sent them with "cheat sheets" -- wrist checklists attached to their suits that outlined the main stages of surface activities for each extravehicular activity (EVA).

But like all flight hardware, crews didn't train with their real checklists; they trained with a copy and only signed off on the unassembled flight version. Assembling the checklist fell to the backup crew, and also gave them a great opportunity to sneak practical jokes into the mission.

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My Comment: Boys will be boys.

Swarms Of Cyborg Insect Drones Are The Future Of Military Surveillance

Fingertip: The US Air Force unveiled insect-sized spies 'as tiny as bumblebees' that could not be detected and would be able to fly into buildings

Is That Really Just A Fly? Swarms Of Cyborg Insect Drones Are The Future Of Military Surveillance -- Daily Mail

The kinds of drones making the headlines daily are the heavily armed CIA and U.S. Army vehicles which routinely strike targets in Pakistan - killing terrorists and innocents alike.

But the real high-tech story of surveillance drones is going on at a much smaller level, as tiny remote controlled vehicles based on insects are already likely being deployed.

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My Comment: This is impressive tech, and an indication on what the future in surveillance will be all about.

How A Hard Drive Works In Slow Motion

Is This The 'iPad Killer' At Last?

Is This The 'iPad Killer' At Last? Microsoft Unveils New Surface Tablet Designed To Work With Windows 8 -- Daily Mail

* Microsoft Surface will use same Windows 8 operating system as PCs
* Comes with built-in stand and keyboard to replicate experience of laptop
* Company refuses to reveal price of tablet or confirm exact release date


Microsoft has unveiled the tablet computer which it hopes will topple Apple's iPad from its pedestal at the top of the market.

The 'Microsoft Surface' is specially designed to work with the firm's new Windows 8 software.

The company, which is still the market leader in computer operating systems, is counting on customers returning to the familiarity of Microsoft despite Apple's continuing 'cool' factor.

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My Comment: I like the keyboard and the size of the screen .... unfortunately .... it lacks Apple's app store.

Is This What The End Of World Will Look Like?

Awesome Mushroom Storm Cloud Dominates Skyline Over Beijing And Sparks Fresh 'End-Of-The-World' Fears -- Daily Mail

To the untrained eye, it could have been the first signal of the end of the world as nuclear war broke out.

But instead of anything sinister, the giant mushroom cloud spotted in the skies over the Chinese capital last week was simply a brilliant showcase of the wonder of nature.

The huge cloud, which appeared on Thursday, gradually took the shape of an explosion from an atomic bomb.

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Update: Giant mushroom cloud forms over Beijing (PHOTOS & VIDEO) -- Yahoo News

My Comment: I saw one of these cloud accumulations in the north of Quebec on a camping trip a few years ago .... it is awesome .... and ominous.

The Story Behind The Paper Clip

The Perfection Of The Paper Clip -- Slate

It was invented in 1899. It hasn’t been improved upon since.

The paper clip is something of a fetish object in design circles. Its spare, machined aesthetic and its inexpensive ubiquity landed it a spot in MoMA’s 2004 show Humble Masterpieces. This was a pedestal too high for design critic Michael Bierut, who responded with an essay called “To Hell with the Simple Paper Clip.” He argued that designers praise supposedly unauthored objects like the paper clip because they’re loath to choose between giving publicity to a competitor and egotistically touting their own designs. Bierut might be right about his colleagues’ motives, but he’s wrong about the paper clip: It’s not all that simple.

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