June 17, 2006, 2:07 PM CT

Online Detective for your Kids

Worried about your 12 year old daughter's activity on MySpace.com ? Is she talking to strangers, sharing her pictures or revealing telephone number and home address to predators online ?

If any of these thoughts trouble you, look at KidQuery, a free service that will monitor your child's activity on networking websites and send you daily reports.

KidQuery works with MySpace, MyYearbook, Friendster, Tagged, Hi5, and Xanga. I think you would need the email address of the child using which they registered on these services.

If it sound too complex, get a keylogger software from download.com.........

Posted by: Ethan      Permalink         Source

June 15, 2006, 0:13 AM CT

Controlling The Computer By Thought

Controlling a computer just by thought is the aim of cerebral interfaces. The engineer from Pamplona, Carmen Vidaurre Arbizu, has designed a totally adaptive interface that improves the performance of currently existing devices in, reducing the time needed to become skilled in their operation and enhance the control that users have over the interface. Moreover, as per Ms Vidaurre, the majority of the population is capable of using it.

The results appear in the PhD thesis, Online Adaptive Classification for Brain-Computer Interfaces, defended recently at the Public University of Navarre.

Cerebral interface.

A cerebral interface or brain-computer interface (BCI) allows people with communication problems to relate to their surroundings using a computer and the electrophysiological signals from the brain. The actual interface with which Carmen Vidaurre has worked with is based on electroencephalograms (EEG) of the individual, eventhough there are others that use signals recorded from electrodes fitted directly into the brain.

The user and the interface are highly interdependent "systems" that, up to recently, adapted to each other independently. In the past, when a non-experienced individual started to use a BCI, the systems were unable to supply feedback, i.e. the individual was unable to see the results of their brain patterns on the screen.........

Posted by: Ethan      Permalink         Source

June 13, 2006, 11:54 PM CT

Teach Computers To Perceive Three Dimensions

We live in a three-dimensional world but, for the most part, we see it in two dimensions. Discerning how objects and surfaces are juxtaposed in an image is second nature for people, but it's something that has long flummoxed computer vision systems.

Now, however, scientists in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science have found a way to help computers understand the geometric context of outdoor scenes and thus better comprehend what they see. The discovery promises to revive an area of computer vision research all but abandoned two decades ago because it seemed insoluble. It may ultimately find application in vision systems used to guide robotic vehicles, monitor security cameras and archive photos.

Using machine learning techniques, Robotics Institute scientists Alexei Efros and Martial Hebert, along with graduate student Derek Hoiem, have taught computers how to spot the visual cues that differentiate between vertical surfaces and horizontal surfaces in photographs of outdoor scenes. They've even developed a program that allows the computer to automatically generate 3-D reconstructions of scenes based on a single image.

"The technique provides an approximate sense of the scene, a qualitative grasp of the structure of a scene," said Efros, assistant professor of computer science and robotics.........

Posted by: Ethan      Permalink         Source

June 12, 2006, 11:32 PM CT

Prettier World Of Computer Modeling

Taking issue with the perception that computer models lack realism, a Sandia National Laboratories researcher told his audience that simulations of the nanoscale provide scientists more detailed results - not less - than experiments alone.

The invited talk by Eliot Fang was delivered to members of the Materials Research Society at its recent semiannual general meeting.

Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.

Fang derided the pejorative "garbage in, garbage out" description of computer modeling - the belief that inputs for computer simulations are so generic that outcomes fail to generate the unexpected details found only by actual experiment.

Fang not only denied this truism but reversed it. "There's another, prettier world beyond what the SEM [scanning electron microscope] shows, and it's called simulation," he told his audience. "When you look through a microscope, you don't see some things that modeling and simulation show."

This change in the position of simulations in science - from weak sister to an ace card - is a natural outcome of improvements in computing, Fang says. "Fifteen years ago, the Cray YMP [supercomputer] was the crown jewel; it's now equivalent to a PDA we have in our pocket."

No one denies that experiments are as important as simulations - "equal partners, in fact," says Julia Phillips, director of Sandia's Physical, Chemical, and Nanosciences Center.........

Posted by: Ethan      Permalink         Source

June 11, 2006, 1:32 PM CT

Sanyo PLC-XP57L Portable Projector

Sanyo at the InfoComm show unveiled its new portable XGA projector, the PLC-XP57L which is capable of delivering a brightness of 5500 ANSI lumen and a contrast ratio of 1000 to 1. The new Sanyo projector promises performance, functionality, durability and above all true to life realistic color tones. The projector features three 1.3 inches 1024 by 768 pixels LCD panels, 2 built-in 2-watt stereo speakers and a LNS-S30 projection lens.

The Sanyo PLC-XP57L projector has been designed to continuously work in conjunction with the new SANYO PJ-Net Organizer plus II with a digital LVDS interface and to project realistic vibrant images all the time. It offers true mobility as it can be mounted anywhere be it upside, downside,or any where in between. For the utmost convenience and compatibility the projector includes three separate image inputs (RGB, DVI and BNC). The new projector also features the new Sanyo image processing system which includes Auto Picture Control and Dynamic Auto Gamma Correction and a New Vertical-Horizontal Edge enhancement process. The projector is available now for $9,495.00.........

Posted by: Ryan      Permalink         Source

June 11, 2006, 9:09 AM CT

Thumb Button Operation

It locks in the index finger, operates the button with the thumb, it is the mouse of mini- size.

As for tread, barely vertical 2.3cm× side 2.7cm and microminiature.

In [purezen], in travel, the screen of the personal computer must be operated in the narrow space, when, it is optimum, it is the economical space mouse.

After use, collecting the cable, it can fold to the compact, even in the travelling bag is not bulky.........

Posted by: Ryan      Permalink         Source

June 6, 2006, 11:44 PM CT

Supercomputers To Transform Science

New insights into the structure of space and time, climate modeling, and the design of novel drugs, are but a few of the a number of research areas that will be transformed by the installation of three supercomputers at the University of Bristol.

At peak performance the multi-million pound high performance computers (HPCs) will carry out over 13 trillion calculations per second. That is equivalent to the entire population of the world working simultaneously on hand-held calculators for about three hours.

"This initiative puts Bristol at the forefront of high performance computing", said Professor David May, Head of Computer Science. "The HPC impact will be enormous - right across all disciplines - turning data into knowledge. It will influence both research and teaching. Universities that understand this will be the most competitive in the 21st century".

The University today announced the award of the contract to install the computers to a consortium led by ClusterVision, working with IBM and ClearSpeed Technology. The largest of the three HPCs will be one of the fastest University research computers in the UK, and is expected to be one of the top 100 computers of its type in the world.

Dr David Newbold, physicist, explained how the new HPC cluster will allow the University's physicists to be amongst the first to examine results from the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle collider which is set to provide new insights into the structure of space and time and the origin of mass.........

Posted by: Ethan      Permalink         Source

June 4, 2006, 1:34 PM CT

Computerized Chair for Stargazers

Here is a computer-controlled chair to make skygazing more comfortable. This motorized chair allows stargazers and amateur astronomers to lie down comfortably to view the night sky with binocular. To gaze the complete sky you need not take turns yourself. The computer-controlled motor in the chair turns it a full 360 quietly and smoothly.

A miniature joystick built into the binocular mount guide this movement. A rechargeable battery that provides up to four evenings use per charge powers the joystick. To add to the comfort, the chair is so made that subtle body movements control the chair's recline.

To find an ideal position for viewing the sky, you will need a minimal effort to sit up or recline by leaning slightly forward or backward. The precise counterweight system allows you with this advantages and comforts, enjoying gazing the sky with full concentration. Sized 34? h x 26? w x 48? l, the amazing stargazers' chair costs $1,999.95.........

Posted by: Ethan      Permalink         Source

June 3, 2006, 1:39 PM CT

Windows Vista Beta 2 Overview

My good friend Kurt Hutchinson has kicked out a great write-up for Ars Technica on Microsoft's second beta of Windows Vista. This update to the Windows line has been in the planning and production stages for a long time, and it's nice to finally get to play with a stable copy that's fairly close to what the final version is going to be.

The developers have thrown in new graphic effects and a slew of bells and whistles designed to make the Windows experience capable of competing with Apple's OS X in beauty pageants. Vista has had quite a bit of brand new coding put in, even including native support for cutting edge hybrid hard drives that haven't made it to the market yet.

We're finally seeing a total update for Microsoft's desktop security protocols. User Account Control (UAC) has been implemented for tightening up the account privileges assigned to normal users and the default firewall package has been seriously beefed up to include packet filtering. The plan is that this will finally be a copy of Windows that the power user can trust and the novice can enjoy.........

Posted by: Ethan      Permalink         Source

June 2, 2006, 6:43 AM CT

Pushing the Boundaries of Search

As per the "Live Labs Manifesto" of Gary William Flake Ph.D., the Internet operates in a manner fundamentally unlike anything that has ever preceded it. It is a world where "something small and intangible - a better algorithm - can massively increase global utility and welfare".

Microsoft Live Labs is a partnership between MSN and Microsoft Research that takes a holistic approach toward applied research for Internet-enabled products and services. The partnership brings together people with a variety of skills and perspectives to foster research programs, incubate entirely new inventions, and improve and accelerate new Web-based technologies.

This week Flake - head of Live Labs and a Microsoft technical fellow - and his team are announcing 12 winners of a new Live Labs request for proposals (RFP) entitled "Accelerating Search in Academic Research." The RFP aims to identify bold, innovative and new approaches to information retrieval, data mining, machine learning and human/computer interactions, with the ultimate goal of creating new technologies that can drastically change the way we interact with the Web and its vast array of resources.

Recipients of the Live Labs grants are posing some of the most compelling questions in search technology today. Even if the user gets relevant results, can he or she trust that information? How can a search tool get the best data from the Web? What's happening on that part of the Web that's "below the surface," that's not being crawled today? How can user behavior help predict economic or social changes?.........

Posted by: Ethan      Permalink         Source