Tag: computers

Photo of the Day: Planetary Disk Drive

More photos here.

This could be big!…er…small!

Spintronics+plasmonics=spinplasmonics: A University of Alberta research team has combined two fields of study in nanotechnology to create a third field that the researchers believe will lead to revolutionary advances in computer electronics, among many other areas. Dr. Abdulhakem Elezzabi and his colleagues have applied plasmonics principles to spintronics technology and created a novel way to …

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Searching out search engines

This week’s CBC Radio Web column… ********* Have you ever heard yourself say, “Let me Google that?” Probably. Google is by far the most popular search engine on the World Wide Web–so popular many people never think of using anything else. But Google isn’t the only way to search for things on the Web. Just …

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Computers can now recognize faces…

…more accurately than humans can.

"Shipwrecked and abandoned"

This ties in nicely with the earlier post of my CBC column on virtual worlds: Warren Ellis searches for signs of life in Second Life. Lots of people have had lots to say about the recent hype surrounding Second Life, but very few have addressed the basic experience of the world — that you’re incredibly …

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From MUD to MOO to a whole Second Life

This week’s CBC Web column… *** The search for new worlds to visit isn’t confined to the crew of Star Trek’s U.S.S. Enterprise, nor does it necessarily involve outer space. These days, you can find all the strange worlds you could ever want to visit right on your computer–worlds populated with other visitors from the …

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"I always feel like somebody’s watching me…", Part 2

Actually, this sounds like a great idea: Bluetooth-capable vital signs monitors that keep in touch with a central computer via your cellphone, so you can carry on with your life while resting assured that those pesky symptoms that tend to crop up and then vanish before you can see a doctor–and never seem to reoccur …

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"I always feel like somebody’s watching me…"

A Cambridge University security researcher has demonstrated the ability to read text and capture images from flat-screen displays…through as many as three intervening walls. Well, that’s unnerving.

Plugging computer memory into the brain

Researchers have created computer chips that can talk to the brain, chips which could revolutionize the way we think about thinking, and how we treat various neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s: “It’s the type of science that can change the world,” says Richard H. Granger, Jr., a professor of brain sciences who leads the Neukom Institute …

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How realistic are combat computer games?

Here’s an interesting interview on that topic with Dr. Malcom Davis, a lecturer in Defence Studies with the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London. Dr. Davis says current games certainly have some realistic elements, but: I think that consumer military simulations are never going to be totally realistic because ultimately people don’t really die …

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A better alternative to Wikipedia?

I hope it works out. As I like to say (and I don’t think I’m the first), “Wikipedia is a very useful tool. Sometimes it’s even right.” Here’s the nascent rival: Citizendium. It’s Wikipedia with real names…and experts.

If you enjoy Google Earth…

…but you’re tired of looking down on everyone, trying looking up instead, via WikiSky. From New Scientist Space Blog: The site features a map of more than half a billion astronomical objects. You can navigate around it easily by clicking and dragging the map and using a zoom-in/zoom-out sidebar. You can also search on specific …

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