Tag: bbc

US officially reduces its internet oversight

After lengthy delays and no small amount of political opposition , it’s official: the US has given up a key aspect of internet oversight. As of October 1st , the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (the outfit that manages the domain name system) is no longer under the watch of the US’ National Telecommunications and Information Administration. ICANN is now a private, non-profit organization that will take its input from academics, companies, governments and the public. While the American government didn’t really wield its influence, it no longer has that option. The handover follows an unsuccessful last-minute attempt by four states’ Republican attorneys general to block the transition . A federal judge shot down their temporary injunction request, which centered around the notion that the US was “giving away government property” and required Congressional approval to give up ICANN. The attorneys echoed their party’s worry that reducing US control would open the internet to greater censorship by countries like China and Russia. They were also concerned that the shift could threaten US government domains like .gov and .mil. Proponents of the transition argue that the move is not only harmless, but might avert a far worse outcome. They say that censorship-heavy countries don’t have any more power over the internet than they did before, especially since ICANN will still operate out of Los Angeles. If anything, a privately-managed domain system reduces the pressure to relinquish control to the United Nations, where China and Russia would have some influence. There’s also a fear that continued American oversight would encourage countries to set up their own domain systems and fragment the internet. In practice? Barring surprises, you shouldn’t notice a difference at all. The NTIA did little more than rubber-stamp ICANN’s actions — this is more of a formality than a practical change, at least in the near term. It’s an acknowledgment that the internet has been decentralized for decades, and that no one country has a claim to it. Via: BBC Source: ICANN

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US officially reduces its internet oversight

Alan Turing’s groundbreaking synthesizer music restored

Alan Turing is known for a few small achievements, like helping end World War II , laying the groundwork for modern computers and developing the ” Turing test ” for machine intelligence. You may not be aware, however, that he paved the way for synthesizers and electronica by inventing the first computer-generated musical tones. A pair of researchers from the University of Cantebury have now restored the first-ever recording made from Turing’s “synthesizer.” Turing figured that if he rapidly played clicking sounds at set intervals, the listener would here them as distinct tones corresponding to musical notes. For instance, playing the click on every fourth cycle of a computers’ CPU produces a “C” tone, exactly like a modern synthesizer. He tested that theory on his Manchester Mark I, one of the world’s first programmable computers. Instead of making music, he used the tones to indicate computing operations like completed tasks and memory overflow errors (meaning he also invented notification sounds). Turing knew that he could program songs on his “synth, ” but had no interest in doing it. Luckily, talented programmer and musician Christopher Strachey got his hands on the Manchester Mark II’s operating guide, which was, by the way, the world’s first computer manual. Using that, he coded God Save the Queen , the longest program ever at the time. The next morning, he played it back to surprised onlookers at the lab, including Turing, who was uncharacteristically thrilled, saying “good show.” The BBC recorded it later in 1951, along with two other songs: Baa Baa Black Sheep and Glenn Miller’s In the Mood . However, the researchers found that the notes had shifted in pitch because of the crude recording equipment used. The key to correcting it, as it turned out, was in the pitches that the computer couldn’t play. For instance, rather than playing a true G at 196 Hz, it could only do a decidedly sharp 198.41 Hz. Knowing that, the team adjusted the playback to match those frequencies. They also filtered out noises and used pitch-correction software to edit out the fluctuating “wobble” in the recording. The result is a clean version of the synthesizer, which sounds like a cross between a viola and electronic bagpipes. While the music isn’t great, it is a small way to “hear” the genius of Turing. Like Nicolas Tesla, he was far too big for his time and suffered greatly for it, committing suicide at the age of 41. Via: The Guardian Source: Sound and Vision Blog

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Alan Turing’s groundbreaking synthesizer music restored

Cyborg locusts with tattooed wings can sniff out bombs

“Men, bring out the sniffer locusts.” That’s something a bomb squad chief could say in the future, thanks to a team of engineers working to turn the insects into cyborgs that can be sent anywhere to sniff out explosives. It won’t be an easy feat — the researchers, who hail from the Washington University in St. Louis, will have to equip the insects with several pieces of technology. Good thing they have a powerful backer: the Navy. Team leader Baranidharan Raman has received a three-year $750, 000 grant from the Office of Naval Research to make his dreams a reality. Raman has been studying how the bug processes smell for years now. He and his team found that locusts can identify particular scents, such as those they’re trained to detect, even in the presence of other odors. Raman believes the cyborg bugs will be much more effective than robots, because their antennae have a ton of natural sensors. “Why reinvent the wheel? Why not take advantage of the biological solution?” he asked. “That is the philosophy here. Even the state-of-the-art miniaturized chemical sensing devices have a handful of sensors. On the other hand, if you look at the insect antenna, where their chemical sensors are located, there are several hundreds of thousands of sensors and of a variety of types.” To turn ordinary locusts into bomb-sniffing machines, the engineers plan to implant an electrode into their brains to hijack their antennae and read electrical activity. Since operators need to get whatever info the bugs collect, the researchers are also developing a tiny backpack that can transmit data. The receiver’s red LED lights up in the presence of explosives, while the green LED lights up in the absence of any. Finally, the engineers plan to tattoo the bugs’ wings with biocompatible silk that can convert light into heat. A laser, probably installed on the backpack, will allow an operator to control the cyborg bug. Focus the laser on the left wing to make the insect go left, and vice versa. It will function much like a remote-controlled drone. If Raman and his team don’t hit a snag along the way, they could be testing the first prototypes within a year’s time and could be done within two. Via: BBC Source: Washington University in St. Louis

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Cyborg locusts with tattooed wings can sniff out bombs

London adopts e-paper signs for real-time bus schedules

Picture the scene: it’s raining and you’re waiting for a night bus in London, with very little charge on your phone. Wouldn’t it be great if the bus stop had some up to date arrival times? So you didn’t have to pull out your phone and refer to Citymapper or Google Maps? Transport for London (TfL) is now trialling e-paper displays at a small number of bus stops which show timetables, route maps and real-time travel information. The screens are roughly the same size as a conventional bus stop sign — equivalent to three A4 sheets of paper, stacked on top of one another — and include some colourful buttons for illumination and page switching. The hope is that the new displays will be both readable and environmentally friendly. Like a Kindle, they should be readable in bright sunlight and require less power than a conventional full-colour screen. TfL says they can be charged from a solar panel too, and retrieve bus arrival information over 3G. For now, it’s only available in one location, near Waterloo Bridge, although the plan is to introduce a further three in Parliament Square, Piccadilly Circus and Sloane Square next month. They’re be trialled until the autumn — a full roll-out would probably be too expensive, but this should give TfL a better idea of its future viability. Via: BBC

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London adopts e-paper signs for real-time bus schedules

Toshiba to cut 6,800 jobs following accounting scandal

The fallout from Toshiba’s accounting scandal is hitting in force, and it’s not pretty. The Japanese company has announced that it will take a $4.5 billion loss and cut 6, 800 jobs, or about 30 percent of its total consumer electronics workforce. Although some of the losses can be chalked up to a tight market, Toshiba took a serious hit after admitting it lied about profits for nearly six years. As part of the restructuring, it will sell off its TV and washing machine factories to Hong Kong partner Skyworth. The company recently sold its image sensor business to Sony and stopped building TVs for the US market. Toshiba is still far from being out of the woods. To further streamline operations, the company wants to combine its PC operations with Fujitsu and Vaio, and may join forces with Sharp — which is also stumbling — in the appliance business. In addition, former executives may face criminal charges, and Toshiba hasn’t yet accounted for the cost of the 2011 tsunami on its nuclear business. In total, the company employees nearly 200, 000 workers. Via: BBC Source: Toshiba

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Toshiba to cut 6,800 jobs following accounting scandal

Raspberry Pi Zero sells out within 24 hours

(credit: Wired) The Pi Zero—the new £4 Raspberry Pi —has sold out in under 24 hours. The Raspberry Pi Foundation says that around 20,000 individual Pi Zeroes have been sold in the last day, along with a further 10,000 copies of the MagPi  magazine which had a Pi Zero on the front. “You’d think we’d be used to it by now, but we’re always amazed by the level of interest in new Raspberry Pi products,” said Eben Upton, the founder of the foundation. “Right now it appears that we’ve sold every individual Zero we made… people are scouring the country for the last few Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury and Smiths branches that haven’t sold out [of the MagPi magazine],” Upton told Wired . Upton said they are producing more Zeroes “as fast as we can” at its factory in Pencoed, Wales, but didn’t specify when more stock would be available. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Raspberry Pi Zero sells out within 24 hours

Miners Just Unearthed This Huge Diamond—the Largest To Be Found in 100 Years

Imagine putting this thing on a ring. You’re looking at the biggest diamond to be found in the last 100 years, which was discovered in a mine in north-central Botswana. Read more…

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Miners Just Unearthed This Huge Diamond—the Largest To Be Found in 100 Years

Startup uses ultrasound chirps to covertly link and track all your devices

Silverpush, a startup that’s just received $1.25M in venture capital, uses ultrasonic chirps that are emitted by apps, websites, and TV commercials to combine the identities associated with different devices (tablets, phones, computers, etc), so that your activity on all of them can be aggregated and sold to marketers. (more…)

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Startup uses ultrasound chirps to covertly link and track all your devices

NY Times Passes 1M Digital Subscribers

HughPickens.com writes: Many news organizations, facing competition from digital outlets, have sharply reduced the size of their newsrooms and their investment in news gathering but less than four-and-a-half years after launching its pay model the NY Times has increased coverage as it announced that the Times has passed one million digital-only subscribers, giving them far more than any other news organization in the world. The Times still employs as many reporters as it did 15 years ago — and its ranks now include graphics editors, developers, video journalists and other digital innovators. “It’s a tribute to the hard work and innovation of our marketing, product and technology teams and the continued excellence of our journalism, ” says CEO Mark Thompson. According to Ken Doctor the takeaway from the Times success is that readers reward elite global journalism. The Wall Street Journal is close behind the Times, at 900, 000, while the FT’s digital subscription number stands at 520, 000. “These solid numbers form bedrock for the future. For news companies, being national now means being global, and being global means enjoying unprecedented reach, ” says Doctor. “These audiences of a half-million and more portend more reader revenue to come.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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NY Times Passes 1M Digital Subscribers