12:37 PM
Special forces is looking to put next-generation loudspeakers on their UAVs:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/08/killer-drones-to-get-sound-system/
The DoD's budget for classified programs in FY 2010 is $35.8 billion, with 80% going to the Air Force:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/08/pentagon-secret-budget-tops-35-billion/
The Marines have narrowed the candidates down to two possibilities for UAVs that can deliver supplies to isolated outposts in Afghanistan by next year. The UAV has to be able to hover at high altitudes and deliver 10 tons of supplies across 150 miles in a day. This would be a huge step forward in the supplying of the troops in Afghanistan and eliminate the dangerous and costly supply caravans:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/13/jarhead_robochopper_finals/
Video released for the "nano air vehicle", which is a UAV the size of a large insect. It can climb and descend vertically and the remote control can direct it to fly sideways left and right as well as forwards and backwards:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17608-hover-no-bother-for-flapping-nano-aircraft.html
Nice feature article about how MIT is using iPhones to control UAVs:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/08/mit-makes-iphone-app-for-controlling.html
Article about how the US military's goal is to have autonomous robots control other autonomous robots, with no human interaction at all. I find this technology interesting and a little worrisome...but maybe I saw one too many movies like the Terminator when I was a kid:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/08/robot-three-way-portends-autonomous-future/
Alion was awarded a contract worth up to $49 million for modeling and simulation support for SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic:
http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail_B.asp?ID=22387&NID=284998
Livermore Lab researchers have sealed nanowire transistors in a membrane that is similar to those that surround biological cells. This can be a breakthrough for numerous medical applications:
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23157/
NASA apparently doesn't have the funding needed to spot asteroids that pose a threat to Earth. Congress assigned NASA the mission 4 years ago, but never gave the funding to build the necessary telescopes...so, I guess we'll just have to cross our fingers:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jqerprVvSYifDjHqC9vGQk0uFZ1wD9A1IEQO1
British explorer claims to have found a huge system of caves, chambers and tunnels below the Pyramids of Giza--the explorer says this is the lost underworld of the pharaohs:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/13/caves-giza.html
These clever researchers figured out that an ordinary camera flash can transform an insulator into a conductor! Currently toxic chemicals or high-temperature treatments are used to turn graphite oxide into graphene, but these researchers found that a camera flash instantly heated up graphite oxide and turned it into graphene:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2009/08/Materials-Camera-Flash-Turns-Graphite-Oxide-Into-Graphene/
Researchers beat the world record for packing the most tetrahedra into a volume. This breakthrough in a new way to efficiently pack solids is a key part of the mathematics behind error-detecting and error-correcting codes used to store information on CDs and compress data for transmission:
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S25/00/22A50/index.xml?section=topstories
It looks like Cheney is ready to throw Pres. Bush under the bus...he says that the "statute of limitations has expired" for many secrets. Cheney seems to be upset that Bush showed independence during his second term that Cheney didn't see coming:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203306.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter
Ericsson's CTO *really* attacked WiMAX, saying that it isn't a real 4G technology and that they only call it that because they are four years late for 3G. He points out that there are 400 million people using 3G (HSDPA/WCDMA) today and five years from now there still will only be 70 million people using WiMAX, so economies of scale will make LTE cheaper. He also said that LTE will be the standard for large companies like Verizon and AT&T. Ericsson is opening a new division that will be headquartered in San Jose (nice for the Silicon Valley job market) that will do R&D focused on the convergence between mobile broadband and the Internet:
http://gigaom.com/2009/08/12/wimax-not-really-4g-ericsson-cto/
Clearwire added 25,000 customers in Q1 of this year, but only 12,000 customers in Q2 even though they added markets during that quarter. Clearwire's stock dropped 17.8% in afternoon trading yesterday after an analyst downgraded its stock:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Clearwire-downgraded-on-apf-1468145574.html?x=0&.v=1
Sprint is going to add 17 new WiMAX markets by the end of this year, including Maui and Austin:
http://www.telecoms.com/13782/sprint-to-roll-out-wimax-in-17-more-markets
HTC has shipped 1 million Magic phones (basically the G2, its second Android-based phone). T-Mobile already shipped 1 million G1 phones:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-htc-has-shipped-1m-magic-units/2009-08-13?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Feature on what has been happening with Muni-WiFi:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/after-flameout-muni-wifi-quietly-hanging/2009-08-12
Judge in a patent infringement case says that Microsoft cannot sell Microsoft Word in the US, but appeals or work-arounds mean that consumers are unlikely to be affected for a long time:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/intellectual-property/injunction-microsoft-word-unlikely-halt-sales-324
For a full anti-Microsoft commentary, this article discusses Microsoft's problems for PC and smartphone users:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/mobile-applications/in-mobile-and-desktop-microsoft-advances-rear-491?source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_2009-08-13
North Carolina football players swallowed a pill that will measure their core body heat for two days--the pill has a battery, thermometer and radio:
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/unc/story/1643757.html
Man was arrested after trying to run away from police who stopped him because he was riding a bicycle with a 3-foot-long alligator on his shoulders! He left his bicycle and the alligator behind while trying to get away from police, but he was caught. I'm not shocked that he had drug paraphernalia in his possession...I'll bet if they gave him a drug test they would have found something in his system:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/12/ap/strange/main5238296.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesHeadlines
It is amazing to me that a week of Letterman repeats got more viewers than a week of new Conan O'Brien shows:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/08/13/late-show-with-david-letterman-repeats-draw-more-viewers-than-conan-originals/24709
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/08/killer-drones-to-get-sound-system/
The DoD's budget for classified programs in FY 2010 is $35.8 billion, with 80% going to the Air Force:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/08/pentagon-secret-budget-tops-35-billion/
The Marines have narrowed the candidates down to two possibilities for UAVs that can deliver supplies to isolated outposts in Afghanistan by next year. The UAV has to be able to hover at high altitudes and deliver 10 tons of supplies across 150 miles in a day. This would be a huge step forward in the supplying of the troops in Afghanistan and eliminate the dangerous and costly supply caravans:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/13/jarhead_robochopper_finals/
Video released for the "nano air vehicle", which is a UAV the size of a large insect. It can climb and descend vertically and the remote control can direct it to fly sideways left and right as well as forwards and backwards:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17608-hover-no-bother-for-flapping-nano-aircraft.html
Nice feature article about how MIT is using iPhones to control UAVs:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/08/mit-makes-iphone-app-for-controlling.html
Article about how the US military's goal is to have autonomous robots control other autonomous robots, with no human interaction at all. I find this technology interesting and a little worrisome...but maybe I saw one too many movies like the Terminator when I was a kid:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/08/robot-three-way-portends-autonomous-future/
Alion was awarded a contract worth up to $49 million for modeling and simulation support for SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic:
http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail_B.asp?ID=22387&NID=284998
Livermore Lab researchers have sealed nanowire transistors in a membrane that is similar to those that surround biological cells. This can be a breakthrough for numerous medical applications:
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23157/
NASA apparently doesn't have the funding needed to spot asteroids that pose a threat to Earth. Congress assigned NASA the mission 4 years ago, but never gave the funding to build the necessary telescopes...so, I guess we'll just have to cross our fingers:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jqerprVvSYifDjHqC9vGQk0uFZ1wD9A1IEQO1
British explorer claims to have found a huge system of caves, chambers and tunnels below the Pyramids of Giza--the explorer says this is the lost underworld of the pharaohs:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/13/caves-giza.html
These clever researchers figured out that an ordinary camera flash can transform an insulator into a conductor! Currently toxic chemicals or high-temperature treatments are used to turn graphite oxide into graphene, but these researchers found that a camera flash instantly heated up graphite oxide and turned it into graphene:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2009/08/Materials-Camera-Flash-Turns-Graphite-Oxide-Into-Graphene/
Researchers beat the world record for packing the most tetrahedra into a volume. This breakthrough in a new way to efficiently pack solids is a key part of the mathematics behind error-detecting and error-correcting codes used to store information on CDs and compress data for transmission:
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S25/00/22A50/index.xml?section=topstories
It looks like Cheney is ready to throw Pres. Bush under the bus...he says that the "statute of limitations has expired" for many secrets. Cheney seems to be upset that Bush showed independence during his second term that Cheney didn't see coming:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203306.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter
Ericsson's CTO *really* attacked WiMAX, saying that it isn't a real 4G technology and that they only call it that because they are four years late for 3G. He points out that there are 400 million people using 3G (HSDPA/WCDMA) today and five years from now there still will only be 70 million people using WiMAX, so economies of scale will make LTE cheaper. He also said that LTE will be the standard for large companies like Verizon and AT&T. Ericsson is opening a new division that will be headquartered in San Jose (nice for the Silicon Valley job market) that will do R&D focused on the convergence between mobile broadband and the Internet:
http://gigaom.com/2009/08/12/wimax-not-really-4g-ericsson-cto/
Clearwire added 25,000 customers in Q1 of this year, but only 12,000 customers in Q2 even though they added markets during that quarter. Clearwire's stock dropped 17.8% in afternoon trading yesterday after an analyst downgraded its stock:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Clearwire-downgraded-on-apf-1468145574.html?x=0&.v=1
Sprint is going to add 17 new WiMAX markets by the end of this year, including Maui and Austin:
http://www.telecoms.com/13782/sprint-to-roll-out-wimax-in-17-more-markets
HTC has shipped 1 million Magic phones (basically the G2, its second Android-based phone). T-Mobile already shipped 1 million G1 phones:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-htc-has-shipped-1m-magic-units/2009-08-13?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Feature on what has been happening with Muni-WiFi:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/after-flameout-muni-wifi-quietly-hanging/2009-08-12
Judge in a patent infringement case says that Microsoft cannot sell Microsoft Word in the US, but appeals or work-arounds mean that consumers are unlikely to be affected for a long time:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/intellectual-property/injunction-microsoft-word-unlikely-halt-sales-324
For a full anti-Microsoft commentary, this article discusses Microsoft's problems for PC and smartphone users:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/mobile-applications/in-mobile-and-desktop-microsoft-advances-rear-491?source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_2009-08-13
North Carolina football players swallowed a pill that will measure their core body heat for two days--the pill has a battery, thermometer and radio:
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/unc/story/1643757.html
Man was arrested after trying to run away from police who stopped him because he was riding a bicycle with a 3-foot-long alligator on his shoulders! He left his bicycle and the alligator behind while trying to get away from police, but he was caught. I'm not shocked that he had drug paraphernalia in his possession...I'll bet if they gave him a drug test they would have found something in his system:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/12/ap/strange/main5238296.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesHeadlines
It is amazing to me that a week of Letterman repeats got more viewers than a week of new Conan O'Brien shows:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/08/13/late-show-with-david-letterman-repeats-draw-more-viewers-than-conan-originals/24709
1 Response to "LOTD for August 13"
August 13, 2009 at 1:02 PM
