Google hat mit seinem Projekt zur Entwicklung fahrerloser Autos einen wichtigen Meilenstein erreicht. Wie der Internetkonzern per Blog-Meldung wissen lässt, haben die selbstfahrenden Hightech-Vehikel mittlerweile insgesamt mehr als 300.000 Meilen (rund 482.803 Kilometer) zurückgelegt, ohne in einen einzigen Unfall verwickelt gewesen zu sein.
Bis alle Swisscom-Kunden in Frauenfeld wieder am Netz sind, dauert es möglicherweise bis Mittwoch. Die Arbeiter mussten zuerst den Beton aus der Baugrube entfernen und die Baustelle sichern, bevor die Reparatur des beschädigten Kabels in Angriff genommen werden konnte.
Der US-amerikanische IT-Riese Hewlett-Packard (HP) baut sein Portfolio an All-in-One-PCs aus und stellt zwei Lösungen speziell für den Business-Einsatz vor. Die Modelle HP Compaq Elite 8300 und HP Compaq Pro 6300 sollen Kosten, Platz und Energie sparen können. Das Elite 8300 ist optional mit Touch-Funktion erhältlich.
Informatiker des Darthmouth College haben ein biometrisches Armband entwickelt, das die passive Identifikation seiner Träger ermöglicht. Durch Messung des elektrischen Widerstandes des Körpers können Nutzer von Computern, Mobiltelefonen und anderen Systemen zweifelsfrei erkannt werden.
New Yorker Tüftler haben einen Aufsatz für das iPhone 4 und 4S entwickelt, mit dem das Apple-Smartphone zur 3D-Kamera wird. Den Machern zufolge erlaubt die "3DCone" in Verbindung mit der zugehörigen App sowohl Foto- als auch Videoaufnahmen.
Um ihre Logistik zu beherrschen, können jetzt auch KMU verstärkt SCM-Funktionen (Supply Chain Management) aus der Cloud nutzen, die ihnen bislang aus Kostengründen nicht zugänglich waren.
Die Hoffnung des insolventen Fotopioniers Kodak auf einen erträglichen Bieterwettstreit um seine Patente hat sich laut einem Zeitungsbericht bisher nicht erfüllt. Alle bis zum Wochenende eingegangenen Gebote lägen deutlich unter 500 Millionen Dollar, schrieb das „Wall Street Journal" am Samstag.
In Frauenfeld ist bei Bauarbeiten eine Telefon- und Internetleitung von Swisscom beschädigt worden. Als Folge davon konnten und können hunderte Personen nicht mehr telefonieren und ins Internet einsteigen. Der Ausfall sollte bis heute, Sonntag, behoben sein. Wer allerdings für den Ausfall haftet, ist bis dato unklar.
Im Rahmen eines Pilotversuchs ist der Kanton Aargau seit einem halben Jahr in den neuen sozialen Medien Facebook und Twitter vertreten. Jetzt zieht der Kanton eine positive Zwischenbilanz dieser Aktivitäten und möchte das Angebot weiterführen und dazu noch weiter ausbauen.
Google kümmert sich auch im Jenseits noch gut um seine Mitarbeiter. Stirbt ein Angestellter des Suchgiganten, erhalten hinterbliebene Ehe- oder Lebenspartner zehn Jahre lang Schecks in der Höhe von 50 Prozent des letzten Gehalts des Verstorbenen.
ananyo writes "The highest possible resolution images — about 100,000 dots per inch — have been achieved, and in full-colour, with a printing method that uses tiny pillars a few tens of nanometres tall. The method could be used to print tiny watermarks or secret messages for security purposes, and to make high-density data-storage discs. Each pixel in these ultra-resolution images is made up of four nanoscale posts capped with silver and gold nanodisks. By varying the diameters of the structures (which are tens of nanometres) and the spaces between them, it's possible to control what colour of light they reflect. As a proof of principle, researchers printed a 50×50-micrometre version of the 'Lena' test image, a richly coloured portrait of a woman that is commonly used as a printing standard (abstract). Even under the best microscope, optical images have an ultimate resolution limit, and this method hits it."
dgharmon writes "New research (PDF) shows that Intellectual Ventures is tied to at least 1,300 shell companies whose sole purpose is to coerce real companies into buying patent license that they don't want or need. Those who resist the "patent trolls" are dragged into nightmarish lawsuits."
First time accepted submitter amiller2571 writes "The eyes of the technology world are focused on the epic patent struggle between Apple and Samsung — the latest iteration of Apple's frantic legal battle against everything Android. The iPhone maker has also brought suits against Android device manufacturers HTC and Motorola. Apple has faced criticism for its endless lawsuits designed to stunt competition from Google's Android, but a quick look at Android device shipments in the second quarter of 2012 reveals a key number that suggest Apple is right to worry." Spoiler alert: the number the article focuses on is 68 — as in, the 68 percent of the smart phone market in this year's second quarter that consisted of Android phones.
hessian writes "Microsoft isn't exactly known for its underground hacker culture, but a recent effort to give its employees more slack is generating some wild experiments. Last summer, Microsoft completed a redesign of one of its original buildings on campus — Building 4, where Bill Gates' office used to be — into a laid-back workshop where staff can tinker with things. It's open to anyone, anytime, and it's got everything from a hardware workshop to an actual working garage door. If it doesn't sound to you like something Microsoft would normally do , the Garage's motto will really shock you: 'Do epic s--t.'"
redletterdave writes "For about a year, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble were almost completely alone in the 7-inch tablet market. It was nice while it lasted. The past few months have seen Google and Microsoft unveil their 7-inch tablet offerings — the Nexus 7 and Microsoft Surface, respectively — and it looks like Apple is about ready to get into the mini tablet game, too. If Apple releases its first 'iPad Mini' next month, what can Amazon and Barnes & Noble do to keep the Cupertino colossus at bay, as well as the other new competitors in the 7-inch tablet game?"
Jeremiah Cornelius writes with a note that on Thursday of this week "The Electronic Privacy Information Center posted a brief and detailed notice about the removal of a petition regarding security screenings by the TSA at US airports and other locations. 'At approximately 11:30 am EDT, the White House removed a petition about the TSA airport screening procedures from the White House 'We the People' website. About 22,500 of the 25,000 signatures necessary for a response from the Administration were obtained when the White House unexpectedly cut short the time period for the petition. The site also went down for 'maintenance' following an article in Wired that sought support for the campaign."
LinuxOnEveryDesktop writes "Stephen Pakbaz designed a custom Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory Rover set, complete with PDF build instructions and parts lists. There's a dearth of official LEGO sets to do with Curiosity, but if the Cusoo listing gets to 10,000 votes that could change..." I like the idea of LEGO asking for public input, but find it slightly annoying that they require registration to do it; an anonymous "thumbs-up" would be nice.
00_NOP writes "Venn diagrams are all the rage in this election year, but drawing comprehensible diagrams for anything more than 3 sets has proved to be very difficult. Until the breakthrough just announced by Khalegh Mamakani and Frank Ruskey of the University of Victoria in Canada, nobody had managed to draw a simple (no more than two lines crossing), symmetric Venn diagram for more than 7 sets (only primes will work). Now they have pushed that on to 11. And it's pretty too."
Hugh Pickens writes "Forbes Magazine reports that employee benefits of Google are among the best in the land—free haircuts, gourmet food, on-site doctors and high-tech "cleansing" toilets are among the most talked-about but the latest perk for Googlers extends into the afterlife. 'This might sound ridiculous,' says Google's Chief People Officer Laszlo Bock, 'But we've announced death benefits at Google.' Should a U.S. Googler pass away while under the employ of the 14-year old search giant, their surviving spouse or domestic partner will receive a check for 50% of their salary every year for the next decade. Even more surprising, a Google spokesperson confirms that there's 'no tenure requirement' for this benefit, meaning most of their 34 thousand Google employees qualify."
wrekkuh writes "BitTorrent, Inc, the company who owns the freeware (but closed-source) BitTorrent client uTorrent, has announced that it will be updating its popular client with 'Featured Torrents.' In a post on uTorrent's forum, the company explained, 'This featured torrent space will be used to offer a variety of different types of content. We are working towards bringing you offers that are relevant to you. This means films, games, music, software ... basically anything that you will find interesting.' In the Q&A portion of their announcement, the company adds 'There is no way to turn in-client offers off.* We will pay attention to feedback, and may change this in the future.' (*The Plus version of the BitTorrent client does not include these ads)."
wiredmikey writes "A new malware intelligence system developed at Georgia Tech Research Institute is helping organizations share threat intelligence and work together to understand malware and cyber attacks. Dubbed "Titan", the system lets members submit threat data and collaborate on malware analysis and classification. Unlike some other systems, members contribute data anonymously so no one would know which specific organizations had been affected by a specific attack. Titan users also get reports on malware samples they have submitted, such as the potential harm, the likely source, the best remedy, and the risks posed by the sample. The analysis is based on what GTRI researchers learn by reverse-engineering the malware. The project currently analyzes and classifies an average of 100,000 pieces of malicious code each day and growing. While other information sharing initiatives have been launched, many are by vendors, which sometimes sparks concern that the vendor may have some bias, and may be pushing a certain product. Not the case with Titan."
hypnosec writes "Want to trace the source of virus that has infected your computer? Researchers at a Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland have the answer. The scientists have devised software capable of tracing computer viruses back to their source. Beyond computer viruses, the software can also trace terror suspects, rumor-mongering and even infectious diseases back to their source. Pedro Pinto, one of the researchers, explained that the algorithm works by going through information in a reverse direction back to the original source. He said, 'Using our method, we can find the source of all kinds of things circulating in a network just by "listening" to a limited number of members of that network.' The team tested their software on a known data maze to check if their research actually pinpoints the individuals behind the 9/11 attacks and they were able to pin-point three suspects, out of which one was the master mind behind the attacks."
An anonymous reader writes "Today the source code to the Rootbeer GPU Compiler was released as open source on github. This work allows for a developer to use almost any Java code on the GPU. It is free, open source and highly tested. Rootbeer is the most full featured translator to convert Java Bytecode to CUDA. It allows arbitrary graphs of objects to be serialized to the GPU and the GPU kernel to be written in Java." Rootbeer is the work of Syracuse University instructor Phil Pratt-Szeliga.
An anonymous reader writes "As we (very gradually) move away from feudal, leader-based forms of governance to collaborative and open source governance, some interesting new issues arise. The biggest is usually user authentication: how can we avoid sock-puppets and spammers from overtaking the voting process? Enter the concept of the streetwiki, an ingenious system for having humans validate their physical neighbors. Bleeding-edge social organization meets ancient validation protocol."
SternisheFan snips this news from Tech Radar: "The Surface tablets that Microsoft will start selling on 26 October at Microsoft Stores (and in temporary 'holiday stores' in twelve US cities including New York) are only the first of a planned family of Windows devices and Surface 2.0 is already under development. Although Microsoft corporate communications chief Frank Shaw said recently that calling Surface 'our new family of PCs built to be the ultimate stage for Windows' was no more than 'literary licence' and that there was nothing more than the two tablets already announced, the Surface team is 'currently building the next generation' of 'devices that fully express the Windows vision' — according to more than a dozen job adverts posted on the Microsoft Careers site between June and August."