Saturday December 31, 2011

iPhone 1983:
Archives Reveal Apple's Early Telephony Experiments

A peek into Stanford University's archives has revealed that Apple experimented with prototype phones as early as 1983.

The company gave its archives to Stanford in 1997 but most of the material has remained private until now.

From Mashable:

The phone was designed for Apple by Hartmut Esslinger, an influential designer who helped make the Apple IIc computer (Apple’s first “portable” computer) and later founded Frogdesign. The 1983 iPhone certainly fits in with Esslinger’s other designs for Apple. It also foreshadows the touchscreens of both the iPhone and iPad.

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Friday December 30, 2011

Supershrink Me:
Junk Food Causes Brain Shrinkage

A diet rich in trans fats from junk food could result in brain shrinkage and eventual dementia, according to new research.

By avoiding these harmful fats and consuming more beneficial omega fatty acids, this shrinkage could be prevented.

From BBC News:

Study author Gene Bowman of Oregon Health and Science University said: "These results need to be confirmed, but obviously it is very exciting to think that people could potentially stop their brains from shrinking and keep them sharp by adjusting their diet."

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 05:50 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Thursday December 29, 2011

Bitcoin powers on despite setbacks

There is a new lease of life for this novel electronic currency popular with the net-savvy crowd.

Yet it remains to be seen as a major competition to conventional method of payments in the coming years.

From Wired

"We thought Bitcoin's value would continue to collapse, but so far that hasn't happened. Instead, after hitting a low of $2 (£1.28), it rose back above $3 (£1.91) in early December, and on Monday it rose above $4 (£2.55) for the first time in two months".

Posted in: Net by bubblejam at 12:22 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Tuesday December 27, 2011

The Big Dipper:
China's GPS Rival Goes Online

China's alternative to GPS, Beidou (meaning Big Dipper), has been activated for trial usage.

As well as civilian uses, Beidou has potential military applications.

From BBC News:

A 2004 study by Geoffrey Forden, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggested that Beidou could be used to target cruise missiles against Taiwan if a war broke out over the territory. Having its own system would protect China against the risk that the US could turn GPS off.

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 09:30 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Monday December 26, 2011

Bum Deal:
Japan Pioneers Biometrics of the Bottom

Biometrics for security such as iris recognition is becoming more commonplace.

The newest variation has been created by Japanese researchers -- a car seat that identifies you by the impression left by your bottom.

From PhysOrg:

They say that traditional biometric techniques such as iris scanners and fingerprint readers cause stress to people undergoing identity checks, while the simple act of getting seated carries less psychological baggage. Their other point is that other technologies such as fingerprint scanning can be compromised when sensor surfaces are unclean, or when there is poor lighting as in iris scanning, contaminating results.

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 01:58 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Saturday December 24, 2011

Adults Only:
Vending Machine That Detects Your Age

When food manufacturer Kraft wanted to distribute samples of a new pudding, they didn't want to attract negative publicity by giving them to children.

To that end, they have introduced a new type of vending machine that uses facial recognition to detect if you are an adult or not.

From Gizmag:

Kraft's goal of course is to ensure its samples are reaching their target demographic, but also hopes the odd machines will draw in consumers as well. According to Charlotte Maumus, PR rep for Kraft:

"Temptations is the first Jell-O dessert made just for adults, so it makes sense that this breakthrough technology dispenses free samples to adults only. Showcasing the future of how consumers could interact with products and sample more easily, if the machine detects a child, it will shut down, asking the child to step away from the machine. But if it detects an adult, then a tasty sample is dispensed."

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 11:42 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Thursday December 22, 2011

Boson and On:
LHC Discovers New Particle, But It's Not The Higgs Boson

Scientists analysing data from the Large Hadron Collider believe that they have discovered a new kind of particle, but it's not a Higgs boson.

The Chi-b(3P) is a boson like the Higgs that combines a beauty quark and its antiquark so that they bind together.

From The University of Birmingham:

Professor Roger Jones, Head of the Lancaster ATLAS group said: ‘While people are rightly interested in the Higgs boson, which we believe gives particles their mass and may have started to reveal itself, a lot of the mass of everyday objects comes from the strong interaction we are investigating using the Chi-b.’

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 09:02 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Wednesday December 21, 2011

Security Through Obscurity:
US Government Advisors Want Flu Research Censored

A panel of scientific advisors to the US government are asking researchers to censor their work into the flu virus.

They believe that there are implications for national security if the research is published in peer review journals.

From The New York Times:

“I wouldn’t call this censorship,” Dr. Alberts said. “This is trying to avoid inappropriate censorship. It’s the scientific community trying to step out front and be responsible.”

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 01:33 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Sunday December 18, 2011

Is Shrilk a nature inspired challenge to reign of plastic?

Recently developed at Harvard University this cheap and biodegradable material promises wide applications either in consumer market or medical professions.

Called "Shrilk" as it is made of of protein in silk and chitin (commonly extracted from shrimp shells) it has properties similar to an aluminium alloy but only half the weight and it degrades quickly. One of the many practical uses could be a replacement for ubiquitous plastic bags.

From Wyss Institute

"Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a new material that replicates the exceptional strength, toughness, and versatility of one of nature's more extraordinary substances -- insect cuticle.

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 03:55 AM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Friday December 16, 2011

The Ways Of The Cow

Do cows dig synchronised grazing?

It was one of the challenges of new research on cattle behaviour using hypothetical mathematical model.

From Guardian

"A British-American team of scientists has produced a study called A Mathematical Model for the Dynamics and Synchronisation of Cows."

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 03:10 AM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Wednesday December 14, 2011

Cyber Cold War:
Chinese Hacking Grows 'Exponentially'

China is conducting widespread intrusions into corporate networks around the world, according to recent US intelligence reports.

While the Chinese government denies involvement, the ever growing number of hacker attacks could amount to a new kind of cold war.

From Bloomberg:

“They are stealing everything that isn’t bolted down, and it’s getting exponentially worse,” said Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who is chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Posted in: Net by bubblejam at 09:59 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Thursday December 08, 2011

Earth 2.0:
Planet Capable of Supporting Life Discovered

Astronomers have discovered a planet similar to Earth 600 light years away.

Kepler-22b potentially has liquid water and consequently could support life.

From BBC News:

Kepler 22-b lies 15% closer to its sun than the Earth is to our Sun, and its year takes about 290 days. However, the planet's host star puts out about 25% less light, keeping the planet at its balmy temperature that would support the existence of liquid water.

Posted in: Science by bubblejam at 11:08 AM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Tuesday December 06, 2011

Incroyable:
Greenpeace Activists Breach French Nuclear Power Station

Greenpeace activists have breached security at a nuclear power station located at Nogent-sur-Seine, south-west of Paris.

After scaling the reactor containment building, they draped banners reading 'Hey' and 'Easy'.

From Al Jazeera:

"With this nonviolent action, Greenpeace has shown how vulnerable French nuclear plants are," said Sophia Majnoni d'Intignano, a Greenpeace activist.

Posted in: Politics by bubblejam at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Monday December 05, 2011

Is That All?
26% of IT Staff Peek at Confidential Information

When you work for a company, you could be forgiven for assuming that your personal information is kept confidential.

But a recent survey has revealed that 26% of IT staff have accessed confidential information that they have no right to look at.

From Help Net Security:

Philip Lieberman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lieberman Software said: “Our survey shows that senior management at some of the largest organisations are still not taking the management of privileged access to their most sensitive information seriously. When someone can admit that they have unsupervised, unaudited and unauthorised access to all their colleague’s and superior’s bonus details then the IT security of that organization is seriously flawed.”

Posted in: Net by bubblejam at 06:02 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Sunday December 04, 2011

United Hackers:
Cyberattacks Bring Down Sites Critical of Russian Election

Websites critical of Russia's current elections have been brought down by hacker attacks.

Sites belonging to liberal radio station Moscow Echo and the election monitoring group Golos are amongst those affected.

From AFP:

"Any hacker attack on any resource leads to financial losses, which is essentially the same as stealing," said the chairman of Moscow Echo's board of directors Nikolai Senkevich, adding that Gazprom's media holding "fully supports" the station's concern.

Posted in: Politics by bubblejam at 10:00 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry

Thursday December 01, 2011

Robbing Hood:
Hackers Plan to Redistribute Wealth

Anonymous, the notorious hacking group, are behind a new initiative to take from the rich and give to the poor.

They are teaming up with fellow hackers TeaMp0isoN in an initiative described as Operation Robin Hood.

From InformationWeek:

"In regards to the recent demonstrations and protests across the globe, we are going to turn the tables on the banks," according to a YouTube video uploaded on Saturday, which formally announced #OpRobinHood.

Posted in: Net by bubblejam at 09:11 AM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry