Archive for the 'IT' Category
Nikola Tesla – Google Celebrates
• July, 2009Nikola Tesla – Google Celebrates Nikola Tesla, the inventor and pioneering electrical engineer, is being honoured by Google with a special logo to mark the 153rd anniversary of his birth. The search engine is celebrating July 10 with a logo featuring purple sparks of electricity leaping from the letter “g”, which is drawn in the shape of his famous Tesla Coil transformer. It pays tribute to the Serb born scientists, who is best known for several revolutionary contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism…
Camera grid to log number plates
• June, 2009Camera grid to log number plates .::. <<video>> A national network of cameras and computers automatically logging car number plates will be in place within months, the BBC has learned. Thousands of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras are already operating on Britain’s roads. Police forces across England, Wales and Scotland will soon be able to share the information on one central computer. Officers say it is a useful tool in fighting crime, but critics say the network is secretive and unregulated. Kent’s Chief Constable, Michael…
Russian scientists operate computer with the power of mind
• June, 2009Russian scientists operate computer with the power of mind 15.04.2009 Russian scientists now can use the power of mind to give commands to a computer. A system of electrodes shaped in a helmet and a special program reads the impulses of the brain and transforms them into symbols on the computer screen. A person wearing the helmet will be able to type texts and control mechanical devices by means of mere thinking. The equipment can be helpful to people of limited physical abilities. “A paralyzed…
Gene-engineered viruses build a better battery
• May, 2009Gene-engineered viruses build a better battery By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON – Researchers who have trained a tiny virus to do their bidding said on Thursday they made it build a more efficient and powerful lithium battery. They changed two genes in the virus, called M13, and got it to do two things: build a shell made out of a compound called iron phosphate, and then attach to a carbon nanotube to make a powerful and tiny electrode. Such an electrode could…
Now ‘Big Brother’ targets Facebook
• April, 2009Now ‘Big Brother’ targets Facebook Wednesday, 25 March 2009 Minister wants government database to monitor social networking sites Millions of Britons who use social networking sites such as Facebook could soon have their every move monitored by the Government and saved on a “Big Brother” database. Ministers faced a civil liberties outcry last night over the plans, with accusations of excessive snooping on the private lives of law-abiding citizens. The idea to police MySpace, Bebo and Facebook comes on top of plans to store information…
Cloaking device may make cell phone static vanish
• March, 2009Cloaking device may make cell phone static vanish By Julie Steenhuysen A new light-bending material has brought scientists one step closer to creating a cloaking device that could hide objects from sight. Beyond possible military applications, it also might have a very practical use by making mobile communications clearer, they said on Thursday. “Cloaking technology could be used to make obstacles that impede communications signals ‘disappear,’” said David Smith of Duke University in North Carolina, who worked on the study published in the journal Science.…
Google quietly declares email war on Yahoo
• February, 2009Google quietly declares email war on Yahoo By Jennifer Martinez and David Lawsky Many people have sent an email while angry, exhausted, inebriated or just by mistake that they later regretted. Now, Google has a way to help protect you (and others) from such a faux pas. As part of its quest to attract users to its Gmail service, the Internet search company has introduced dozens of features, including one that, after a certain time, makes a user solve a math problem before sending an…
Google Earth dives under the sea
• February, 2009Google Earth “Beneath the Surface” BBC Google has lifted the lid on its first major upgrade to its global mapping software, Google Earth. Google Ocean expands this map to include large swathes of the ocean floor and abyssal plain. Users can dive beneath a dynamic water surface to explore the 3D sea floor terrain. The map also includes 20 content layers, containing information from the world’s leading scientists, researchers, and ocean explorers. Al Gore was at the launch event in San Francisco which, Google hopes,…
French fighter planes grounded by computer virus
• February, 2009French fighter planes grounded by computer virus Kim Willsher in Paris French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims. The aircraft were unable to download their flight plans after databases were infected by a Microsoft virus they had already been warned about several months beforehand. At one point French naval staff were also instructed not to even open their computers. Microsoft had warned that the “Conficker” virus, transmitted through Windows, was attacking…
Robot wars: The rise of artificial intelligence
• January, 2009Robot wars: The rise of artificial intelligence By Steve Connor Friday, 19 December 2008 They can entertain children, feed the elderly, care for the sick. But warnings are being sounded about the march of robots The robots are not so much coming; they have arrived. But instead of dominating humanity with superior logic and strength, they threaten to create an underclass of people who are left without human contact. The rise of robots in the home, in the workplace and in warfare needs to be…
MS offers peek through Windows 7
• December, 2008MS offers peek through Windows 7 By Rory Cellan-Jones Technology Correspondent, BBC News, Los Angeles Microsoft has unveiled the latest version of its Windows operating system. It promised that it will deliver a better experience for users when it arrives sometime late next year. Windows 7 follows Vista, which Microsoft claims has been a success, but which has been subject to fierce criticism from a number of users. The system was demonstrated at the company’s Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. Senior vice-president Steven Sinofsky…
Social services ‘set up CCTV camera in couple’s bedroom’
• December, 2008Social services ‘set up CCTV camera in couple’s bedroom’ By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs Correspondent Social workers set up a CCTV camera in the bedroom of a couple with learning difficulties in order to monitor their behaviour, a new report claims. Council staff are said to have spied on the young parents at night as part of a plan to see if they were fit to look after their baby, who was sleeping in another room. The mother and father were forced to cite the…
Web spies monitor activists online for police, attorney-general
• December, 2008Web spies monitor activists online for police, attorney-general AAP November 26, 2008 A PRIVATE intelligence company has been engaged by police to secretly monitor internet and email use by activist and protest groups, a report says. The company was hired to monitor and report on the internet activities of anti-war campaigners, animal rights activists, environmental campaigners, and other protest groups, Fairfax Media reported. It was hired by Victorian Police, the Australian Federal Police and the federal Attorney-General’s department. The Melbourne-based firm has for the past…