The BentProp Project has spent years finding American soldiers who went missing in the Pacific during World War II, but available technology has limited its success. Team members have frequently had to scan wide areas themselves, slowing down their efforts to find downed aircraft and unexploded bombs that might hide human remains. However, the outfit’s searches have just taken a big step forward after it got cutting-edge drones from both the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Delaware. BentProp can now automate much of its scanning, and CNET notes that the organization’s latest expedition found two Navy airplanes . That’s a breakthrough for a group that only occasionally makes a big discovery. The biggest breakthrough this year was underwater . Instead of towing a side-scanning sonar device behind a boat, BentProp used Remus robots that generated 3D sonar maps of search areas on their own. If the machines found clues to a wreck, a diver with a GoPro action camera could provide visual proof. The team also has a better idea of where to look in the first place; it now uses accurate LIDAR imagery and statistical models to determine where aircraft went down. On both land and sea, BentProp used 3D Robotics octocopter drones equipped with both GoPros and infrared cameras. The machines both mapped environments and picked out heat signatures from metal that might represent still-active bombs. While the team still had to comb ground sites with metal detectors, the drones gave workers a better idea of where to begin. Searches are still slow, and there’s no certainty that the efforts will be completely successful. Stephen Ballinger, whose Cleared Ground Demining group has been working with BentProp, tells CNET that it’s unlikely we’ll completely prevent old explosives from threatening both MIA recovery efforts and local residents. However, the newer technology could give lost soldiers’ families some closure sooner than expected — and it might just save a few lives in the process. [Image credit: Greg Bishop, Flickr ] Filed under: Robots Comments Via: CNET (1) , (2) , (3) Source: BentProp

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Drones help find World War II’s missing soldiers

Seeing an error message on your Samsung phone, tablet or Smart TV today? You’re not alone, as the Samsung.com website appears to be down and owners worldwide have reported anything from error messages to being unable to access apps on their smart TVs. Reports have spread on Twitter, mostly from a community news site called Wikitree , that a fire at a Samsung SDS building in Gwacheon, South Korea is the culprit. We’ve contacted Samsung but haven’t heard anything back yet, and while some of its social media pages have noted the outage, there isn’t an official explanation posted. Update : Naturally now that we’ve mentioned it, the outage that lasted several hours appears to have ended around 6:15AM ET. The same users who were having problems with their smart TVs and phones seem to have full access again. A Samsung SDS blog post confirms the fire and subsequent outage, while apologizing for the inconvenience. The big question left? Why a fire at one location seemed to have such a wide ranging affect on the company’s devices and services. 오늘 ICT 과천센터 화재로 심려를 끼쳐 드려 사과드립니다. – ICT story (@ICTstory) April 20, 2014 Photo of Yonhap showing materials of Samsung SDS building is falling off because of fire, . pic.twitter.com/E1gzO9t3ff – Jaehwan Cho 조재환 (@hohocho) April 20, 2014 Samsung’s website been down for 3+ hours, and this is the global site. Things are normal, I assume? – Evan Hindra (@evanhindra) April 20, 2014 헐. 과천 삼성 SDS 건물에 불났네. 사상자가 없었으면 좋겠는데. pic.twitter.com/uwefIMgDI1 – Joshua (@shbaik82) April 20, 2014 @SamsungUK the smart hub is down. Is there really no support or information?!! – Cromerty York (@Cromerty) April 20, 2014 #Fail http://t.co/aTeVEzEaDJ is down, all ‘Smart’ devices – TV, Bluray – boned. Obv the internet is down if http://t.co/xDtqnPOYIq is down! – Ed S (@iMiMiMx) April 20, 2014 @Micko3 Hi! Thanks for reaching out. We are currently looking into this. We’ll let you know once we have the information. ^Jonah – Samsung Support USA (@SamsungSupport) April 20, 2014 Filed under: Cellphones , Home Entertainment , HD , Mobile , Samsung Comments Source: Wikitree , Samsung.com , Is It Down Right Now? , ICT Story

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Samsung data center fire causes outage, errors on smart TVs and phones (update: fixed)