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Games

Submission + - Madden picked the packers before the season starts (wired.com)

Submitted by Just_Say_Duhhh
Just_Say_Duhhh writes: Before the NFL Season started, the guys at EA Sports simulated the entire season using Madden 2011. The sim told them the Packers would win the Super Bowl. If only we had listened. What's even more interesting is that according to the article, they've picked the winner 6 of the last 7 years. Make that 7 out of 8!

Submission + - Rep Anna Eshoo writes on Broadband, Net Neutrality (sfgate.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Anna G. Eshoo, a California Democrat representing parts of Silicon Valley has written an opt-ed defending net neutrality and pushing the administration to take more steps to speed up U.S. broadband
AI

Submission + - RoboEarth - a web for robots (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: A world wide web for robots? It sounds like a crazy idea but it could mean that once a task is learned any robot can find out how to do it just by asking RoboEarth. You use the web to find out stuff, including where you are and how to do something so why not robots.
Shades of SkyNet? Surely not.....
Apple

Submission + - NFL Teams Considering iPads To Replace Playbooks (cnet.com)

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes: Pete Walsh, technology head for the Dallas Cowboys, says he and other teams are considering iPads and other tablets as a replacement for paper playbooks, saving about 5,000 pages of printouts per game. Not only is it a huge savings in paper, but a lost iPad might also be remotely wiped to prevent a team's plays falling into the wrong hands. One concern is security and whether or not a tablet could be wirelessly hacked.

Submission + - I guess Anonymous isn't Anonymous anymore? (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apparently some small security firm has been able to determine the real identity's of several key Anonymous hackers which is resulting in a ton of arrests.

Submission + - Electronics in flight - danger or distraction? (ieee.org)

Submitted by another similar
another similar writes: IEEE Spectrum has a blog post revisiting the debate on whether electronic devices pose a risk to flight avionics spurred by a NY Post article about Arianna Huffington's refusal to power down her Blackberry during takeoff. The post points out that the EU removed their ban on cell phone use in 2007 and the likelihood of significant non-compliance daily in the US — and curiously planes haven't been falling from the sky at a similar rate. While the potential exists for there to be a problem, it would appear the risk is low. Ever bent the rules? Is an app for landing commercial jets somewhere in our future?
Apple

Submission + - WikiLeaks App removed from Apple Store (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: An 'unofficial' WikiLeaks App which contained published documents from the Cablegate leaks has been withdrawn from the Apple App Store.

The $1.99 App created by developer Igor Barinov has been removed from sale without explanation despite the fact that all of the information contained in it is publicly available.
News

Submission + - The 57 Lamest Tech Moments of 2010 (technologizer.com)

Submitted by harrymcc
harrymcc writes: When it comes strange blunders, failed dreams, pointless legal wrangling, and other embarrassments, the technology industry had an uncommonly busy 2010. I compiled a list of the most notable examples--including the lost iPhone prototype, the short life of Microsoft's Kin, the end of Google Wave, the McAfee security meltdown, a depressingly long list of lawsuits over mobile patents, and much more.
Google

Submission + - Google rolls out Chrome 7

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Google on Tuesday released a new stable version of its internet browser, Chrome 7. The latest update is part of Google's promise in July to release a new stable version of Chrome about every six weeks.Chrome 7 comes with hundreds of bug fixes, an updated HTML5 parser, the File API, and directory upload via input tag. It is available in the stable and beta channels for Windows, Mac, and Linux. “The main focus was the hundreds of bug fixes”, Jeff Chang, a Google product manager, wrote in a blog post.

Submission + - Batteries smaller than a grain of salt

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Lithium-ion batteries have become ubiquitous in today's consumer electronics — powering our laptops, phones, and iPods. Research funded by DARPA is pushing the limits of this technology and trying to create some of the tiniest batteries on Earth, the largest of which would be no bigger than a grain of sand. These tiny energy storage devices could one day be used to power the electronics and mechanical components of tiny micro- to nano-scale devices.
Earth

Submission + - Boeing 747 Recycled into a Private Residence

Submitted by
Ponca City
Ponca City writes: "Nicholas Jackson writes in the Atlantic about a woman who requested only curvilinear/feminine shapes for her new home and has purchased an an entire Boeing 747-200, transported it by helicopter to her 55-acre property in the remote hills of Malibu and after deconstructing it, is having all 4,500,000 pieces put back together to form a main house and six ancillary structures including a meditation pavilion, an animal barn, and an art studio building. "The scale of a 747 aircraft is enormous — over 230 feet long, 195 feet wide and 63 feet tall with over 17,000 cubic feet of cargo area alone and represents a tremendous amount of material for a very economical price of less than $50,000 dollars," writes Architect David Hertz. "In researching airplane wings and superimposing different airplane wing types on the site to scale, the wing of a 747, at over 2,500 sq. ft., became an ideal configuration to maximize the views and provide a self supporting roof with minimal additional structural support needed." Called the "Wing House," as a structure and engineering achievement, the aircraft encloses an enormous amount of space using the least amount of materials in a very resourceful and efficient manner and the recycling of the 4.5 million parts of this “big aluminum can” is seen as an extreme example of sustainable reuse and appropriation. Interestingly enough the architects had to register the roof of the house with the FAA so pilots flying overhead would not mistake it as a downed aircraft."
Hardware

Submission + - Black Silicon Used for Surveillance? (xconomy.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For the past decade, "black silicon" has been touted as a way to make super-sensitive image sensors and ultra-efficient solar cells. That's because the material---silicon wafers treated with sulfur gases and femtosecond laser pulses---is much better at absorbing photons and releasing electrons than conventional silicon, at least over certain wavelengths. In 2008, Harvard spinoff SiOnyx went public with its plans to commercialize black silicon, in a series of exclusives in the New York Times and Xconomy. But what happened to those plans? Today SiOnyx revealed in another exclusive that it has raised new venture financing from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and other big investors. It also has formed a key strategic partnership to scale up manufacturing of black silicon---and go after markets in security, surveillance, automotive, consumer devices, and medical imaging.
Open Source

Submission + - US Elections Dominated by Closed Source. Again.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Another American election is almost here, and while electronic voting is commonplace, it is still overwhelmingly run by closed source, proprietary systems. It has been shown that many of these systems can be compromised (and because they are closed, there may be holes we simply cannot know about). Plus they are vulnerable to software bugs and are often based on unstable, closed-source operating systems. By the inherent nature of closed software, when systems are (optionally!) certified by registrars, there is no proof that they will behave the same on election day as in tests. The opportunities for fraud, tampering and malfunction are rampant. But nonetheless, there is very little political will for open source voting, let alone simple measures like end-to-end auditable voting systems or more radical approaches like open source governance. Why do we remain in the virtual dark ages, when clearly we have better alternatives readily available?

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