Tag: technology

How To Lose $172,222 a Second For 45 Minutes

An anonymous reader writes “Investment firm Knight Capital made headlines in 2012 for losing over $400 million on the New York Stock Exchange because of problems with their algorithmic trading software. Now, the owner of a Python programming blog noticed the release of a detailed SEC report into exactly what went wrong (PDF). It shows how a botched update rollout combined with useless or nonexistent process guidelines cost the company over $172, 000 a second for over 45 minutes. From the report: ‘When Knight used the Power Peg code previously, as child orders were executed, a cumulative quantity function counted the number of shares of the parent order that had been executed. This feature instructed the code to stop routing child orders after the parent order had been filled completely. In 2003, Knight ceased using the Power Peg functionality. In 2005, Knight moved the tracking of cumulative shares function in the Power Peg code to an earlier point in the SMARS code sequence. Knight did not retest the Power Peg code after moving the cumulative quantity function to determine whether Power Peg would still function correctly if called. … During the deployment of the new code, however, one of Knight’s technicians did not copy the new code to one of the eight SMARS computer servers. Knight did not have a second technician review this deployment and no one at Knight realized that the Power Peg code had not been removed from the eighth server, nor the new RLP code added. Knight had no written procedures that required such a review.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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How To Lose $172,222 a Second For 45 Minutes

The ultimate tablet comparison chart, with the new iPads

Today Apple unveiled significant updates to both of its tablets: the iPad was reborn as the slimmer, lighter iPad Air , and the flagship iPad mini is now available with a densely packed retina display. Below we have the numerical breakdowns of some of the most popular tablets, all of them recent releases that will be competing with Apple’s entries. A handful of iPad minis with retina display, in silver and space gray. 7-8 Inch Tablets iPad mini (2nd gen) Nexus 7 Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 Kindle Fire HDX 7 Screen size (in) 7.9 7.02 7.0 8.0 7.0 Screen type IPS IPS TFT TFT IPS Resolution  2048×1536 1920×200 1024×600 1280×800 1920×1200 PPI  326 323 170 189 323 Dimensions (in) 7.87×5.3×0.29 7.87×4.48×0.34 7.4×4.37×0.39 8.26×4.87×0.29 7.3×5.0×0.35 Weight (lb)  0.73 0.64 0.666 0.692 0.688 Camera (front) 0.9MP 1.2MP 1.3MP 1.3MP 0.9MP Camera (back) 5MP 5MP 5MP 5MP none Processor Apple A7 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex A9 1.5 GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 RAM  unknown 2GB 1GB 1.5GB 2GB Storage options  16/32/64/128GB 16/32GB 8/16GB 16/32GB 16/32/64GB Battery size (mAh)  unknown 3950 4000 4450 4550 Estimated battery life (hours)  10 9 8 11 11 OS iOS 7 Android 4.3 Android 4.1.2 Android 4.2.2 Fire OS 3.0 Mojito Starting price  $399 $229 $179.99 $279.99 $229.99 The retina iPad mini now bests all of its competitors in pixel density at 323ppi, barely edging out Google’s latest Nexus 7 . It ties the Galaxy Tab 8.0 for thinness, though it’s the heaviest of the bunch (the 4G LTE version is still a hair heavier, at 0.75 pounds). The iPad mini with retina falls to the middle of the pack for battery life, and its front-facing camera is among the lowest in resolution. For the rear-facing camera, it appears the tablet gods have decided the 5MP shall be the number of the counting of megapixels for this generation. Per usual, Apple has been tight-lipped about both the mini’s and Air’s internals, save to say that they are both packing a version of Apple’s 64-bit A7 processor. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments        

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The ultimate tablet comparison chart, with the new iPads

Coca-Cola and Dean Kamen Team-Up Will Provide Fresh Drinking Water for Millions Via Kiosk

Coca-Cola is known the world over for producing its sugary (or fructose-y) namesake beverage. But in keeping with the ever-greening times, they now hope to form a secondary reputation as a provider of safe, clean drinking water. In Heidelberg, South Africa, Coke recently launched their first EKOCENTER , a 20-foot shipping container meant to serve as a retail kiosk, community center and social hub in impoverished rural areas. To draw bodies, each EKOCENTER is loaded up with a Slingshot , a water purification machine invented by Dean Kamen. Segway inventor Kamen’s Slingshot is amazing. Taking up as much space as a small refrigerator, the thing can run on cow poop and uses no filters, yet can turn any water source into potable water–cranking out up to 1, 000 liters a day. And it can run for five years without even requiring any maintenance! The Slingshot was more than a decade in the making, and with Coca-Cola’s backing and global distribution network, is well-positioned to make a significant impact on global health through the EKOCENTER. And in addition to the Slingshot functionality, each container contains solar cells that can be used to power charging points or refrigeration for medicine. Following the South African launch, Coke plans to get the containers into 20 countries in need by 2015, getting safe drinking water into the mouths of millions. (more…)

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Coca-Cola and Dean Kamen Team-Up Will Provide Fresh Drinking Water for Millions Via Kiosk

Ethernet’s 400-Gigabit Challenge Is a Good Problem To Have

alphadogg writes “As it embarks on what’s likely to be a long journey to its next big increase in speed, Ethernet is in some ways a victim of its own success. Years ago, birthing a new generation of Ethernet was relatively straightforward: Enterprises wanted faster LANs, vendors figured out ways to achieve that throughput and hashed out a standard, and IT shops bought the speed boost with their next computers and switches. Now it’s more complicated, with carriers, Web 2.0 giants, cloud providers, and enterprises all looking for different speeds and interfaces, some more urgently than others. … That’s what the IEEE 802.3 400Gbps Study Group faces as it tries to write the next chapter in Ethernet’s history. … ‘You have a lot of different people coming in to the study group, ‘ said John D’Ambrosia, the group’s chair, in an interview at the Ethernet Alliance’s Technology Exploration Forum in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday. That can make it harder to reach consensus, with 75 percent approval required to ratify a standard, he said.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ethernet’s 400-Gigabit Challenge Is a Good Problem To Have

A Major Breakthrough in Bringing the Sense of Touch to Prosthetic Limbs

Prosthetic limbs have gotten more lifelike — and also more useful — recently. But how do you let people feel what they’re touching? Recently, scientists have developed a number of supersensitive artificial skins, but the goal of restoring sensation has remained elusive. That is, until now. Read more…        

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A Major Breakthrough in Bringing the Sense of Touch to Prosthetic Limbs

The World’s Fastest Wi-Fi Makes Google Fiber Look Like Dial-Up

Everybody hates wires, but if you want crazy speed, they’re the way to go. But maybe not anymore. A team of German scientists have developed record-setting Wi-Fi that cooks right along at 100 Gigabits per second . You know, like Google Fiber but times 100. Read more…        

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The World’s Fastest Wi-Fi Makes Google Fiber Look Like Dial-Up

Red Bull May Have Invented A Secret New Hybrid Technology

At the Singapore Grand Prix two weekends ago, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won by an unbelievable 32 second margin over his closest rival. Seriously, it’s unbelievable. Now F1 experts believe that Red Bull Racing’s F1 engineers may have invented a new kind of traction control that links the car’s hybrid engine to its suspension — but no one knows for sure. The whole world is stumped. Read more…        

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Red Bull May Have Invented A Secret New Hybrid Technology

Disney’s Paper Generators Could Power Interactive Books of the Future

Disney has developed a new technology that allows you to generate energy by simply rubbing or touching a piece of paper. This is something the world needs because, you know, everything will require a level of interactivity in the future—even old-fashioned paper books. Read more…        

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Disney’s Paper Generators Could Power Interactive Books of the Future

Feds Seize Silk Road, Everybody’s Favorite Illegal Drug Website

Once upon a time, you could sign on to Silk Road and buy everything from LSD to Moon Rock molly with Bitcoin. That time is now over because the FBI along with a few other federal agencies have seized the domain and shutdown the drug-dealing site. The only question is, what took them so long? Read more…        

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Feds Seize Silk Road, Everybody’s Favorite Illegal Drug Website

The Space-Based Internet Relay That Will Torch Google Fiber Has Launched

With an average global broadband connection speed of just 3.1 Mbps, the internet has become one enormous bottleneck for those that send large amounts of data across it. At that speed, a 100 GB file would take around three days to transfer completely, eons too long in a digital era measured by millisecond pings. But a new double-duty satellite launched yesterday could cut that transfer time to just 90 minutes. Read more…        

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The Space-Based Internet Relay That Will Torch Google Fiber Has Launched