IBM Watson – How to build your own “Watson Jr.” in your basement – “That got me thinking, would it be possible to build your own Watson Jr. question-answering system, something less fancy, less sophisticated, scaled-down for personal use? John Pultorak explained [how to build your own Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) in your basement]. Jay Shafer explains [how to build your own house for $20K]. And a 17-year-old George Hotz figured out a [hack to unlock your Apple iPhone] over the summer in his basement….”

Intel launches high speed Thunderbolt connector – “Chip manufacturer Intel has announced it is to roll out a new technology for connecting computers and peripherals. The system, know as Thunderbolt, promises transfer speeds twice as fast as USB 3.0…”

Transphorm Unveils Efficient Power Module, $38M From Kleiner, Google – “Here comes the biggest cleantech startup launch since Bloom Energy: A company called Transphorm has emerged from stealth on Wednesday afternoon at Google’s headquarters, touting an energy-efficient power conversion module for power-hungry devices from servers to electric car batteries to solar panels, and an enviable $38 million in venture capital from Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Lux Capital….”

How My Smart Phone Got Me Out Of A Speeding Ticket In Traffic Court – “Last year a traffic cop pulled me over while driving home and handed me a speeding ticket. Although nervous and somewhat startled since it was my first time getting caught, I ended up walking out of traffic court a few months later without having to pay a fine or adding a single point to my record. Surprisingly, it was all thanks to my Android-powered smart phone and a little creativity….”

Implanting Artificial Limbs in the Body – “Johnny Matheny, a former commercial baker from Redhouse, Virginia, lost his left arm to bone cancer in 2008. He now wears a hook-style prosthesis strapped onto his chest; he can laboriously open and close the hook and move the arm up and down by flexing certain muscles. But he is avidly awaiting new technology that he thinks will work much better: a surgically implanted device that attaches directly to bone, potentially enabling superior range of movement and more precise control….”

Geneva preview: Aston Martin Virage Volante – “Building on Aston Martin’s tried-and-true VH all-aluminum architecture, the Virage Volante follows the automaker’s recipe for success. It sits low to the ground with a style derivative of the automaker’s post-DB7 offerings, although a front fascia inspired by the more aggressive One-77 helps usher in a new era of style to the company’s two-doors. Like the hardtop, the Volante features the automaker’s signature “swan swing” doors, which rise upwards as they are opened….”

Over two years of Android activations visualized

Despite 861.5 Percent Growth, Android Market Revenues Remain Puny – “You read the headline “Android Market grows a staggering 861.5 per cent”, and you think, “Wow, Android is really on a tear.” But then you look at the fine print, and you realize that Android Market revenues are still barely registering, and that the only reason they grew so much in 2010 was because in 2009 they were nearly non-existent….”

Exclusive: Apple iPad 2 Event Set for March 2 – “To those who care intensely about this kind of stuff–which would be pretty much everyone in the tech ecosystem–Apple will hold its much-anticipated event on March 2, where the tech giant seems poised to unveil a new version of its hugely successful iPad, according to multiple sources….”

IMEC creates flexible microprocessor with organic semiconductors — computational clothing right around the corner – “Organic semiconductors have been teasing us with the possibility of computationally-inclined clothing for years, but until now we could only dream about our pants being the computer. That dream is closer to reality than ever, as researchers from IMEC have created a cheap (potentially 1/10th the cost of silicon chips)…”

In-Chest Sensors Gather Data on NFL Prospects – “For years, the NFL Combine has been vilified as a host for a series of workouts that don’t accurately measure a football player’s impact on the field. Now, one company has potentially changed that with an electronic shirt that tracks everything from heart rate to g force of acceleration….”

Computers Get In Touch with Your Emotions – “Machines that respond to your emotional state could help you focus better on the task at hand.,,,”

The extraordinary face of the Moon – “Sure, that may just look like another full Moon picture, but it’s much more extraordinary than that: it’s one of the highest resolution pictures of the entire near side of the Moon ever compiled!”

Then & Now: The Stunning Speed of Urban Development – “Twenty-one years ago, Dubai was a desert. It sprang up seemingly from nothing into the lively and technologically advanced world-class city that it is today. This is just one example of the dramatic speeds with which cities can change, sometimes rendering their skylines virtually unrecognizable within decades….”

How the National Enquirer braoke the John Edwards-Reille Hunter story – “For three long years, ever since the tabloid disclosed that John Edwards was having an affair with his campaign videographer, the paper’s executive editor had been consumed by the story. Levine viewed Elizabeth Edwards as the woeful victim of her philandering husband, her declining health a sad footnote to John’s betrayal. Now Levine was about to take a step that seemed downright ghoulish: asking her to confirm her imminent death….”

How humanity survived for 8000 years on the most extreme islands on Earth – “How humanity survived for 8000 years on the most extreme islands on EarthImagine a life of almost complete isolation, spent on a barren island constantly hit by a mix of volcanoes, tsunamis, and long, brutal winters. For thousands of years, that’s what people have endured on the Kuril Islands, an archipelago stretching from Russia to Japan that just might be the most extreme place humans have ever lived….”

Rahm Emanuel’s rules for victory – “The man who was a precociously powerful Capitol Hill operative in his early twenties, a senior White House aide to Bill Clinton in his early thirties, and a multimillionaire, a congressman, and chief of staff to President Barack Obama in his forties, will spend his fifties running one of the nation’s top cities. It’s an arc that easily qualifies Emanuel as one of the most successful careerists of his generation….”

When Photos Are Painkillers – “Looking at a picture of a loved one can dull physical pain…”

Breastfeeding Mothers Share Milk Over Facebook – “Jessica Elways believes in the benefits of breast milk for her seven month old daughter Penelope, but keeping a steady supply hasn’t been easy. “I work 45 to 50 hours a week. My supply started to dip, and since I work in retail I can’t pump as much during the day,” she said. She needed something other mothers have and turned to the Facebook site “Eats on Feets” to find it…”

Brain Reacts to Cellphones – “Study Finds Region Nearest Antenna Is More Active; Health Implications Unknown…”

Google Offers $5,000 for Best Tax Infographic – “Think you’re good at creating infographics? Then you may want to enter Google’s latest contest. Google is offering a top prize of $5,000 for its Data Viz Challenge, a contest to see who can offer the best visualization of data about where your tax money goes. The contest, announced on Google’s Official Blog today, is based on a website called whatwepayfor.com, which was created by a couple of developers: Andrew Johnson and Lewis Garcia….”

Google grants $2.7 million to IPI to promote innovation in online journalism – “Search and online advertising juggernaut Google announced a couple of months ago that it would be providing some $5 million in grants to non-profit organizations devoted to innovating journalism….”

Extreme Galaxies: Why are Some 300 Times Brighter than the Milky Way? – “Arp 220 is the closest galaxy to the Milly Way with an extreme luminosity, defined as being more than about 300 times that of our own galaxy. Some dramatic galaxies have values of luminosity ten times brighter still. Astronomers are still piecing together the reasons for these huge energy outputs, while sorting out why our own galaxy is so modest….”

iPhone ‘becoming less popular’ – “Rival’s to Apple’s successful iPhone are gaining ground as consumers are increasingly turning to cheaper options….”

Designing the hardware – “Computer chips’ clocks have stopped getting faster. To maintain the regular doubling of computer power that we now take for granted, chip makers have been giving chips more “cores,” or processing units. But how to distribute computations across multiple cores is a hard problem, and this five-part series of articles examines the different levels at which MIT researchers are tackling it, from hardware design up to the development of new programming languages….”

Three Men vs. Fifteen Hungry Lions

Can Social Media Be Used to Foment Corporate Revolutions? – “Can Social Media Be Used to Foment Corporate Revolutions?
Over the last month, we’ve seen that social media can be a powerful tool in assisting revolutions in countries. But can those media be useful in empowering corporate revolutions? The answer is a partial yes — but not in the same way as they are for political revolutions…”

Google Honeycomb OS and Apps: Hands On – “The Motorola Xoom is the first device to use Google’s new Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system. Here’s a look at some of the best elements of the new OS. Since previous versions of Android were designed for 3- to 4-inch lower-resolution displays, anytime a manufacturer tried to use the OS on larger, higher-res displays, there was often screen blank space. Android 3.0 uses every inch of the Motorola Xoom’s 10.1-inch 1280-by-800-pixel display—on the home screen, each corner of the OS has some action…”

Of 4.5M Tablets Sold, 93 Percent Were iPads, Study Find – “Of the approximately 4.5 million tablets sold in the third quarter of 2010, about 93 percent were Apple iPads, according to Wednesday data from ABI Research. Those numbers indicate that media tablets are the “promising new talent” in the tech world, ABI said….”

House Vote Blocks Gas With E15 Ethanol; Will Senate Follow? – “The amendment bars the EPA from spending any money allocated this fiscal year to implement the terms of what was called its E15 waiver. Sullivan maintained that the EPA “completely ignored calls from lawmakers, industry, environmental and consumer groups” to address “important safety issues” related to E15….”

The Pros And Cons of Carny Culture – “There is something magical about a traveling carnival. Every summer ushers the show back into town for hot evenings spent playing games, going on rides, swilling ice cold beer, and eating ridiculously good, albeit greasy food. One of the other great attractions at the carnival are the workers that travel with the show. These people are known as carnies; they live a different life, a life less traveled. Carnies hold an interesting place in our imaginations because they have formed a culture that is purely their own. Rugged types with missing teeth and prison style tattoos stand in front of game booths egging you on to win the big prize for your girlfriend. They are the people that walk past you unfazed by the loud music, bright lights, and deep-fried everything. Their skin is weathered from spending long days out in the hot sun, and they feel at home out on the road. While this life may not be ideal for many, there are some that wear the title of carny on their sleeve, and with pride….”

Google Recipe View: Recipe surfers’ new best friend – “If you’re an avid but impatient cook like me, you probably browse multiple recipes online, and then mash ‘em up when you’re in the kitchen. Consulting multiple recipes is almost always beneficial, but it can be annoying. Google’s new Recipe View helps in that department….”

Blogging Is Dead Just Like the Web Is Dead – “Blogging is on the decline, according to a New York Times story published this weekend — citing research from the Pew Center’s Internet and American Life Project — and it is declining particularly among young people, who are using social networks such as Facebook instead. Pretty straightforward, right? Except that the actual story said something quite different: even according to the figures used by the New York Times itself, blogging activity is actually increasing, not decreasing. And as the story points out, plenty of young people are still blogging via the Tumblr platform, even though they may not think of it as “blogging.” What blogging is really doing is evolving….”

Space shuttle Discovery begins final flight – “Space shuttle Discovery is poised to make its last flight. NASA began fueling its most traveled shuttle shortly after sunrise Thursday, and the shuttle launched on time, at 4:50 p.m….”

Humans Stink More Than Other Animals – “Pungent body odor from sweaty adult human skin is unique in the animal kingdom. Humans turn out to be particularly smelly because odors are released from nearly every part of the body while other species living on us are simultaneously emitting odors too….”

In The World: Turning old oil into new mileage – “Brazilian trash pickers gain an inexpensive way to fuel their vehicles using leftover cooking oil….”

10 things your gym won’t tell you – “Not all health clubs are problem-plagued, but don’t be surprised if yours is filled with illness-causing bacteria, employs a poorly trained staff and makes it expensive to quit….”

Foreign Mercenaries in the Middle East: A Brief History – “While the protests convulsing Bahrain and Libya this past week occurred in vastly different contexts – and will likely produce very different results – both were met with conspicuously swift crackdowns. And in both cases, reports suggest the Libyan and Bahraini regimes deployed foreign fighters and mercenaries against their own citizens, lethal clashes that left scores wounded and many dead….”

Most ridiculously awesome steadicam shot ever

10 Everyday Foods That Can Affect You Like Drugs – “Everybody knows there are certain natural substances that you can eat or smoke to feel awesome or weird, depending on your perspective. But what about ordinary foods that deliver these same mood-altering or even consciousness-warping effects? We’ve got ten foods that go straight to your head….”

New Volvo pedestrian detection system brakes for you – “Swedish vehicle manufacturer Volvo’s goal is that by 2020 nobody should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo and their cars should not seriously injure or kill other road users or pedestrians. To help achieve this aim the company has developed a detection system for cars that can detect pedestrians, predict when they might move in front of the vehicle and automatically apply the brakes if the driver does not…”

[[[Interesting Reading #692 – 32 hour laptop battery, 2012 McLaren MP4-12C, 3,000 Mile Oil Change Myth and much more!]]]

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