Clipmarks | Technology Clips

Google's New Blog Tracking Service

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:42:50 GMT

clipped by: rj3sp
clipper's remarks: Google launches a new blog search tool which organizes the news covered by weblogs. It divides the posts in categories and shows how many different blogs have written about a particular topic within what period of time.

Clip Source: afp.google.com

Google launches blog tracking service

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Google has launched an enhanced blog tracking service that helps people mine a growing mountain of online commentary for gems worth reading.

The Google Blog Search tool rolled out this week competes with Techmeme, Polymeme, Wikio and other "memetrackers" that sort and organize blog posts into categories.

Clip Source: googleblog.blogspot.com

Today, we're pleased to launch a new homepage for Google Blog Search so that you too can browse and discover the most interesting stories in the blogosphere. Adapting some of the technology pioneered by Google News, we're now showing categories on the left side of the website

Clip Source: blogsearch.google.com

Clip Source: googleblog.blogspot.com

and organizing the blog posts within those categories into clusters, which are groupings of posts about the same story or event.

Clip Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com

Tags: google, blogs, search, news, internet, tools, online

Plants have Inherent Dignity -- Swiss

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:23:43 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: I'm all for respecting life and to not destroy it arbitrarily, but this may go too far.

Clip Source: www.practicalethicsnews.com

The Swiss federal Gene Technology Law stipulates that any scientific research should respect the "dignity of creation". All plant biotechnology grant applications must now state how they take plant dignity into consideration

The guidelines give a fine overview of ethical considerations related to the value of plants in themselves (rather than to humans or in relation to anything else)

The main problem is the lack of clear examples of plants being handled in undignified ways.

One of the few examples given is "terminator technology", modifying plants so that their offspring are sterile. Does this imply that seedless grapes or any of the other commonly used agricultural plants that do not reproduce sexually are an affront to the dignity of creation? Should researchers try to help naturally asexually reproducing species to reproduce in a more dignified manner?

Tags: switzerland, plant dignity, research, ethics

Disease chip.

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:34:34 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: A big advancement that will possibly help also 3rd world societies.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Disease Diagnosis In Just 15 Minutes? Biosensor Technology Uses Antibodies To Detect Biomarkers Much Faster

Scientists have developed a biosensor technology that uses antibodies to detect biomarkers much faster than current testing methods, paving the way for testing for diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis that could be as simple as using a pregnancy testing kit.

The technology was developed through a European collaboration of researchers and commercial partners in a 2.7 million Euro project called ELISHA. It features new techniques for attaching antibodies to innovative surfaces, and novel electronic measurement methods that need no reagents or labels.

The team also believes that the biosensors are versatile enough to test for diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV.

provides results in 15 minutes or less - could be developed into a small device the size of a mobile phone into which different sensor chips could be inserted

simple instrumentation

Tags: health, rapid diagnosis

U.S. Department of Energy: Six Solar Bets

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:26:37 GMT

clipped by: Andrew Gillies
clipper's remarks: Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy gave the nod to six solar companies working on advanced photovoltaic tech. The companies chosen hail from California, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Among them: 1366 Technologies, a company we profiled recently here: http://www.forbes.com/businessinthebeltway/2008/08/19/beltway-solar-vanmierlo-biz-wash-cz_atg_0820beltway.html The dollar amounts here are a long way from staggering, and, as the DOE's press release notes, they are "subject to annual appropriations." At the very least, the win fits 1366's explicit strategy of working with public sector.

Clip Source: energy.gov

September 29, 2008

DOE to Provide Up to $17.6 Million for Solar Photovoltaic Technology Development

1366 Technologies (Lexington, Mass.) is developing a new cell architecture and related processes for low-cost multi-crystalline silicon cells. This project is expected to enhance cell performance by light-trapping texturing and grooves for self-aligned metallization fingers. By improving the light trapping and charge carrier movement within the cell, this project will significantly increase the efficiency of multicrystalline cells. By the end of the project, 1366 Technologies plans to deliver a 19 percent efficient, 15.6x15.6 cm2, multi-crystalline silicon cell with a technology that is applicable across the crystalline silicon cell industry. (Up to $3 million)

US Army invests in 'thought helmet'

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:58:41 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: Strange future tech. The Army 'assures' us that they don't have plans for reading minds, but it would not take much to realize that is the direction they are going with this.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

The US Army has recently awarded a five-year $4 million contract to researchers from the University of California at Irvine (led by UCI´s Mike D´Zmura), Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Maryland to study the concept. It will likely be a decade or two before the thought helmet becomes a reality, but the rough technology is already under investigation. Researchers have been working on other brain-computer interfaces, such as Emotiv Systems´ brain-wave headset for video games, which is expected to be available commercially next summer.

At the moment, the thought helmet concept consists of 128 sensors buried in a soldier´s helmet.

Elmar Schmeisser, the Army neuroscientist overseeing the program, reassures that the technology will not allow mind-reading. As he explains, since every user has to be trained with the system, it would be impossible to use the technology against an individual´s will and without their cooperation.

Tags: psytech, us army, thought technology

Greatest Invention of the Century: Free Energy from The Keppe Motor

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:16:00 GMT

clipped by: infopunk
clipper's remarks: The Keppean Scalar Motor that captures energy from the air has the ability to save our planet from pollution, provide free electricity and eliminate our global reliance on petroleum. Watch the videos in this clip to learn more.

Clip Source: www.stop.org.br

Clip Source: www.keppemotor.com

Brazilian scientists have announced the development of a breakthrough new motor that they hope will soon power everything from cars to industrial equipment. Just like solar panels capture energy from the sun, the Keppe motor captures essential or scalar energy from the so-called “vacuum” of space – which it turns out is no vacuum at all.

Actually, all motors do this, but the prevailing scientific theory doesn’t recognize it. Technology today is still locked into trying to get energy from material and this outmoded process actually blocks the capturing of the free energy found in space. As a result, motors today are much less efficient than they should be.

As non-renewable energy sources dwindle fast, massive environmental damage and global warming continue unchecked and electrical bills and oil prices skyrocket, the revolutionary — and completely green — Keppe Motor ushers in a new era of sustainable, clean and inexpensive technology.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Keppe Motor - Part 1/3

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Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Keppe Motor - Part 2/3

[Video]

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Part 3/3

[Video]

Clip Source: www.stop.org.br

"World needs a vacation from US"

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:42:35 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: He called for immediate technology transfer from the West to the Third World, to allow development based on clean technology — stressing the need to “reject intellectual property rights”.

funds should not be distributed through the World Bank, which was trying to regain legitimacy by portraying itself as a “climate bank” while continuing to push fossil-fuel-driven development.

Confronting global poverty and climate change means confronting US power.
“I don’t think the world needs US leadership”, he said. “They should be more humble.”

Whether the US achieves its goals “is where we, as civil society come in”, Bello said, suggesting that, by making intervention costly for the US, civil society could encourage a “new US isolationism”.

The struggle is, he stressed, global. “The world needs a vacation from the messaianism of the US … A few decades of a self-absorbed US would be very good for the world.”

Clip Source: www.greenleft.org.au

Walden Bello: ‘World needs a vacation from US’

Speaking at the inaugural Ted Wheelwright Memorial Lecture for the Sydney University Department of Political Economy on September 1, Filipino anti-globalisation activist and academic Walden Bello, founding director of Focus on the Global South, contrasted the recent Beijing Olympics with the US Democrats national convention.

He said that “despite the glitter of both”, the one reflected that China had “had a few bad centuries but was back on its feet” while the other reflected that the US was in a “10-year downward spin that would only get worse under continued Republican rule”.

Imperial overreach

Having failed to learn the lesson of its defeat in Vietnam, that it takes “more than heavy firepower to control a country”, the US had exposed its weakness in its wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.

China

“China was one of the main beneficiaries of the Bush administration’s adventuring”

Redistributing wealth and power

Technology Doesn’t Dumb Us Down. It Frees Our Minds.

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:12:23 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Paul Saffo, the futurist, says he could divide the technology world into two kinds of people: engineers and natural scientists. He says the world outlook of the engineer is by nature optimistic. Every problem can be solved if you have the right tools and enough time and you pose the correct questions. Other people, who can be just as scientific, see the natural order of the world in terms of entropy, decline and death.
Those people aren’t necessarily wrong. But the engineer’s point of view puts trust in human improvement.
But over the course of human history, writing, printing, computing and Googling have only made it easier to think and communicate.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Technology Doesn’t Dumb Us Down. It Frees Our Minds.

EVERYONE has been talking about an article in The Atlantic magazine called “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

It is hard to think of a technology that wasn’t feared when it was introduced. In his Atlantic article, Mr. Carr says that Socrates feared the impact that writing would have on man’s ability to think. The advent of the printing press summoned similar fears. It wouldn’t be the last time.

When Hewlett-Packard invented the HP-35, the first hand-held scientific calculator, in 1972, the device was banned from some engineering classrooms. Professors feared that engineers would use it as a crutch, that they would no longer understand the relationships that either penciled calculations or a slide rule somehow provided for proficient scientific thought.

It freed engineers from wasting time on mundane tasks so they could spend more time creating.

Many technological advances have that effect

attention becomes the valued commodity

Tags: technology, society

Water for gas technology

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:34:52 GMT

clipped by: CarLover

Clip Source: www.waterforgas.net

Amazing Water for Gas Technology

This new water for gas technology includes a simple to install DIY water container that breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen called brown gas. These gases are then fed into the engine’s manifold. The energy produced by the fired hydrogen gas combines with gasoline to create much higher fuel efficiency.

CLICK HERE to see how you can modify your car!

Tags: water for gas, water 4 gas, water for gas technology

US Army Invests in 'Thought Helmet' Technology for Voiceless Communication

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:20:02 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: For people concerned about the ethics of the technology, Elmar Schmeisser, the Army neuroscientist overseeing the program, reassures that the technology will not allow mind-reading. As he explains, since every user has to be trained with the system, it would be impossible to use the technology against an individual´s will and without their cooperation.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

In the future, soldiers may be communicating silently with sophisticated "thought helmets."

The devices would harness a person´s brain waves and transmit them as radio waves, where they would be translated into words in the headphones of other soldiers.

It will likely be a decade or two before the thought helmet becomes a reality, but the rough technology is already under investigation.

Soldiers would need to think in clear, formulaic ways, which is similar to how they are already trained to talk. The key challenge to making the system work is a software system that can read an electroencephalogram (EEG) generated by the sensor data, and pick out when a soldier is thinking words, and what those words are.

Tags: brain, neural interfaces

Porn in High Definition - Not So Good

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:03:25 GMT

clipped by: wurdzgurl

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 21 — The XXX industry has gotten too graphic, even for its own tastes.

Pornography has long helped drive the adoption of new technology, from the printing press to the videocassette. Now pornographic movie studios are staying ahead of the curve by releasing high-definition DVDs.

“The biggest problem is razor burn,” said Stormy Daniels, an actress, writer and director.

The pornographers’ progress with HD may also be somewhat slowed by Sony, one of the main backers of the Blu-ray high-definition disc format. Sony said last week that, in keeping with a longstanding policy, it would not mass-produce pornographic videos on behalf of the movie makers.

The studios said their experience using the technology gives them an advantage in understanding how to cope with the mixed blessing of hypercrisp images. Their techniques include using postproduction tools that let them digitally soften the actors’ skin tone.

“I tell the girls to work out more, cut down on the carbs, hit the treadmill,” he said.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

“I’m having my breasts redone because of HD,” she said.

That’s not necessarily good, said Savanna Samson, an actress who last December directed her first movie, “Any Way You Want Me.” During a scene in which she played a desperate housewife, she ran into a problem: the high-definition camera revealed she had a tiny ill-placed pimple.

“We kept stopping and trying to hide it. We put on makeup and powder, but there was no way,” Ms. Samson said. Finally, they tried another approach: “We just changed positions,” she said.

Tags: pornographay, techonology, high-definition, dvd

Star trek, tracked inside school :)

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:04:24 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Researchers at the Technology-Enhanced Learning Research Group (TEL) are designing new learning environments using interactive multi-touch desks that look and act like a large version of an Apple iPhone.

The team observed how students and teachers interact in classes and how Information Communications technology (ICT) could improve collaboration. They then set about designing an interactive classroom solution called 'SynergyNet' to reflect TEL's aims of achieving active student engagement and learning by sharing, problem-solving and creating
IT in schools is an exciting prospect - our system is very similar to the type of interface shown as a vision of the future in the TV series Star Trek!

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

SynergyNet framework, a multi-touch environment

[Video]

Tags: learning, technology

Breathtaking NanoArt!

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:27:52 GMT

clipped by: infopunk
clipper's remarks: See more high resolution images set to music on the home page...stunning!

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

NanoArt is a new art discipline at the art-science-technology intersections. It features nanolandscapes (molecular and atomic landscapes which are natural structures of matter at molecular and atomic scales) and nanosculptures (structures created by scientists and artists by manipulating matter at molecular and atomic scales using chemical and physical processes). These structures are visualized with powerful research tools like scanning electron microscopes and atomic force microscopes and their scientific images are captured and further processed by using different artistic techniques to convert them into artworks showcased for large audiences.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

NanoArt 2007 Online Contest Winners:

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Teresa Majerus

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Chris Robinson

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Renata Spiazzi

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

David Hylton

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Pran Mukherjee, Eleanor Howe, and Mark Stock

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Teja Krasek

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Steven Pollard

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Serge Ntamack

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Han Halewijn

Clip Source: nanoart21.org

Jack Mason

Tags: art, electron microscope, science, technology

How to Overcome Your Hatred of Star Trek: The Original Series

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:45:27 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: trekphobia.blogspot.com

For many of us born long after the final episode of the original Star Trek series was aired, the legendary first crew of the USS Enterprise is still somewhat of a mystery to us.

In fact for many of us in the next generation, the late sixties television show with it's campy aliens, cheesy effects, and hokey acting is an affront to everything we hold dear in world of Picard's Enterprise.

However, half the fun of being a Trek fan is filling your brain with the useless minutiae of chronology, character biography, and technology. Once you start down the rabbit hole as a newly blossoming trekkie, one thing becomes very apparent, very fast: you're going to have to watch some episodes of Star Trek.

Here now, is a guide to abandoning your Next Generation sensibilities and dipping your toes into the world of green skinned space babes, and ridge-less Klingons.

1. Sex(ism)

2. The Music

3. Lame Special Effects

4. Outdated Technology

5. James Tiberius Kirk

Tags: tv, television, star trek

Minority Report is being materialized

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:08:39 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "The inventors of the technology claim the system can distinguish between people’s memories of events they witnessed and between deeds they committed"

“As we enter more fully into the era of mapping and understanding the brain, society will face an increasing number of important ethical, legal and social issues raised by these new technologies,” Mr. Greely, the Stanford bioethicist, and his colleague Judy Illes wrote last year in the American Journal of Law & Medicine."

Interesting article. Raises many questions;
a) the easiest one is is it valid? why easiest because it can be one day answered, at least i assume so.
b) if it is valid, should we use it? where is the line of privacy? should there be a line as such?
i find it fundamentally challenging the human conceptual descriptions of what is self, identity, society and its relation.

Fascinating. what do you think?

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

India’s Novel Use of Brain Scans in Courts Is Debated

The new technology is, to its critics, Orwellian

Others view it as a silver bullet against terrorism that could render waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods obsolete

Some scientists predict the end of lying as we know it

India has become the first country to convict someone of a crime relying on evidence from this controversial machine

a brain scanner that produces images of the human mind in action and is said to reveal signs that a suspect remembers details of the crime in question

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

a judge explicitly cited a scan as proof that the suspect’s brain held “experiential knowledge” about the crime that only the killer could possess

sentencing her to life in prison.

The suspect sits in silence, eyes shut. An investigator reads aloud details of the crime — as prosecutors see it — and the resulting brain images are processed using software built in Bangalore

when the crime’s details are recited, the brain lights up in specific regions

Tags: news, neuroscience, crime, technology, ethics