Remember CUPP Computing‘s PunkThis board we played with at Computex 2011? It’s now left the confines of its 2.5-inch hard drive form-factor and jumped ship from a standard Asus netbook to a Core i5-equipped Eee Slate EP121, taking residence alongside the tablet’s battery. As a refresher, PunkThis puts a complete ARM-based system into an x86 computer by replacing the SATA HDD with a single core 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 3730 processor, 512MB RAM and WiFi, along with a mini-PCIe socket for SSD storage, plus connectors for the host’s video, audio and USB interfaces. While CUPP computing is still working hard to make PunkThis commercially available for tech-savvy individuals, it acquired Israeli security company Yoggie last July and built this demo machine to attract another kind of customer.

The tablet we tested was running Windows 7 Home Premium and Android 2.3.4 simultaneously, and was equipped with an additional button for switching between x86 and ARM modes. Since the Asus EP121 already uses a mini-PCIe SSD instead of 2.5-inch SATA storage, a prototype PunkThis board was designed to fit alongside a modified battery. Gingerbread didn’t break a sweat supporting both the 1280×800-pixel capacitive touchscreen and pen-based Wacom digitizer thanks to some additional hardware and software tweaks. Beyond the ability to switch between Windows for heavy lifting and Android for improved battery life, it’s possible to use both x86 and ARM side-by-side. Imagine antivirus and firewall software running on the PunkThis board in mission-critical security applications for enterprise, and it’s easy to see where CUPP Computing is going with this. Check out the gallery below and our hands-on video after the break.

Continue reading CUPP’s PunkThis graduates to tablets, earns a degree in security (hands-on video)

CUPP’s PunkThis graduates to tablets, earns a degree in security (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

View original post here:
CUPP’s PunkThis graduates to tablets, earns a degree in security (hands-on video)

E-books are forbidden during takeoff and landing for reasons that don’t seem to add up, and which shift depending on whether you’re asking the FAA, the airlines, or experts. Instead of just picking holes in their rationales, however, Nick Bilton put them to the empirical test, having Kindles and other electronic devices’ EM output measured in the lab. The result? They put out less EM interference than avionics are required by law to withstand:

The F.A.A. requires that before a plane can be approved as safe, it must be able to withstand up to 100 volts per meter of electrical interference. When EMT Labs put an Amazon Kindle through a number of tests, the company consistently found that this e-reader emitted less than 30 microvolts per meter when in use. That’s only 0.00003 of a volt.

“The power coming off a Kindle is completely minuscule and can’t do anything to interfere with a plane,” said Jay Gandhi, chief executive of EMT Labs, after going over the results of the test. “It’s so low that it just isn’t sending out any real interference.”

We always knew that if gadgets were really a threat to avionics, we would not be allowed to bring them into the cabin, period. We know that many travelers just keep on using them anyway on the sly, and don’t get caught. Thanks to Bilton, the bare lie shines through a little brighter. But it leaves the question: why do these institutions insist on clinging to this particular line of security nonsense?

It’s as it the standards in use were defined by some bureaucratic committee in the mists of history, rather than any reasonable application of the science involved.

I always suspected that this was really the uncontrollable metastasis of policies designed to protect their little 1990s racket of in-air phone calls and on-flight entertainments. Though the market for that stuff is dead, the peripheral justifications lumber on in vestigial form. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to have my tinfoil hat steamed.

Disruptions: Norelco on Takeoff? Fine. Kindle? No. [NYT Bits]

Continue reading here:
Report: Kindle produces nearly no electrical interference. FAA: “LALALALALA”

retroworks writes “Shanghai based reporter Adam Minter visits where recycled Christmas Tree lighting goes in China. Visiting Shijao, the town known as the Mecca for Christmas tree light recycling, he finds good news. The recycling practices in China have really cleaned up. Plastic casings, which were once burned, are now recycled into shoe soles in a wet process. Minter concludes that even if you try to recycle your wire in the U.S., the special equipment and processes for Christmas light recycling have been perfected in China ‘to the benefit of the environment, and pocketbooks, in both countries.'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continue reading here:
The Chinese Town Where Old Christmas Lights Go

Lighter planes means less fuel, means less money and, hopefully, lower ticket prices. Carbon fiber reinforcements are a major part of this plan; both Boeing’s latest bird and the double-decker Airbus make liberal use of the light and strong composite. However, they’re not without their own dangers; minute amounts of water can get into the carbon fibers, which then form ice at high altitude, damaging the fiber structures. This sort of miniature damage is — unlike aluminum versions — very difficult to spot. Embarrassingly, the engineers’ best bet to detect the ruined fibers until recently was to tap on the composite structures with a small hammer and listen for a hollow noise that would signpost water damage.

EADS, which depends on carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) for its own Airbus fuselage, has now created an ultrasonic gun that can detect this damage. This sonic screwdriver is able to detect and visualize these invisible problems by bouncing sound off the plane’s surface and, well, it’s like that hammer test, but a heck of a lot more precise. The company hopes to ready the device for regular use by the end of next year.

Ultrasonic screwdriver sniffs out carbon fiber damage, planes book a check-up with The Doctor originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 01:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | New Scientist | Email this | Comments

Excerpt from:
Ultrasonic screwdriver sniffs out carbon fiber damage, planes book a check-up with The Doctor

Leave it to the Fighting Irish to take a stab at solving the world’s energy woes. Notre Dame researchers have successfully developed solar cells that can be easily painted on to any conductive surface. Imagine, for a moment, applying this solution to your home rather than attaching solar panels to the roof. The paint mixture incorporates quantum dots of titanium dioxide, which is then coated with either cadmium sulfide or cadmium selenide, and is then suspended in mixture of water and alcohol to create a spreadable compound that’s capable of generating electricity. While its efficiency isn’t currently much to crow home about — which hovers around one-percent — scientists are now actively pursuing ways to improve this aspect while making a more stable compound. Most importantly, the paint can be made cheaply and in large quantities, which suggests that even if efficiency remains in the doldrums, it may be a very worthwhile pursuit. Touchdown Jesus is already watching the video after the break.

Continue reading Notre Dame heralds paint-on solar cells, wants to smear your home with its goop (video)

Notre Dame heralds paint-on solar cells, wants to smear your home with its goop (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhysOrg | Notre Dame | Email this | Comments

Read More:
Notre Dame heralds paint-on solar cells, wants to smear your home with its goop (video)

Let’s face it, 3D movies are amazing but there are times when you’ll walk away with a killer headache. A group of researchers at IMEC believes that holographic video might be the best way around this problem and has been working on a means of constructing holographic displays by shining lasers on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) platforms capable of moving up and down like small, reflective pistons. Here’s the cool part: each pixel would have a spring-like mechanism attached to it that could be moved by applying voltage to it. In the first stage of the technology, a laser is bounced off a MEMS-less chip containing an image, the diffracted light interfering to create a 3D picture. From here, the team can adjust the image by replacing pixels with small, mirrored platforms that can alternate their direction to create a moving projection. It gets technical after this, but you can take a gander at the video after the break for a full demo and explanation.

Continue reading IMEC working with holograms, mirrored pixels to prevent 3D movie headaches

IMEC working with holograms, mirrored pixels to prevent 3D movie headaches originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | IEEE | Email this | Comments

More:
IMEC working with holograms, mirrored pixels to prevent 3D movie headaches

Billed as an “active stylus” for the iPad, the iPen can be recognized by the tablet even when the tip hovers above the display. Allowing for improved stylus accuracy, but also facilitating an on-screen cursor. More »

Read More:
The First iPad Stylus With an On-Screen Cursor [Video]

An anonymous reader writes “The high profile hacks to Sony’s systems this year were quite costly — Sony estimated losses at around $200 million. Their insurance company was quick to point out that they don’t own a cyber insurance policy, so the losses won’t be mitigated at all. Because of that and all the other notable hacking incidents recently, analysts expect the cyber insurance industry to take off in the coming year. ‘Last October, the S.E.C. issued a new guidance requiring that companies disclose “material” cyber attacks and their costs to shareholders. The guidance specifically requires companies to disclose a “description of relevant insurance coverage.” That one S.E.C. bullet point could be a boon to the cyber insurance industry. Cyber insurance has been around since the Clinton administration, but most companies tended to “self insure” against cyber attacks.'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Link:
Cyber Insurance Industry Expected To Boom

Looking for more functionality from your body armor? This Kevlar gauntlet packs enough gadgetry to make Batman proud—and by proud, I mean envious. More »

View the original here:
The Armstar Gauntlet Could Have Been Made by Wayne Enterprises [Security]

smitty777 writes “Congress has recently authorized the use of offensive military action in cyberspace. From the December 12th conference on the National Defense Authorization Act, it states, ‘Congress affirms that the Department of Defense has the capability, and upon direction by the President may conduct offensive operations in cyberspace to defend our Nation, Allies and interests, subject to: (1) the policy principles and legal regimes that the Department follows for kinetic capabilities, including the law of armed conflict; and (2) the War Powers Resolution.’ According to the FAS, ‘Debate continues on whether using the War Powers Resolution is effective as a means of assuring congressional participation in decisions that might get the United States involved in a significant military conflict.'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continued here:
U.S. Congress Authorizes Offensive Use of Cyberwarfare