Fill in the Blanks: Algorithm Makes Something Out of Nothing

Fill in the Blanks: Algorithm Makes Something Out of Nothing: "A technique known as compressed sensing may change everything from medical imagery to astronomy.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

New Answer to 80-Year-Old Question Makes Computer Modeling 100,000 Times Faster | Popular Science

New Answer to 80-Year-Old Question Makes Computer Modeling 100,000 Times Faster | Popular Science: "A new formula allows computers to simulate how new materials behave up to 100,000 times faster than previously possible, and could drastically speed up innovation relating to electronic devices and energy-efficient cars. Princeton engineers came up with the model based on an 80-year-old quantum physics puzzle.

Llewellyn Hilleth Thomas and Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi first theorized in 1927 that they could calculate the energy of electrons in motion based on how electrons are distributed in a material. Knowing that kinetic energy of electrons in a material helps researchers understand the structure and properties of new materials, as well as how they might respond to physical stress.

But the Thomas-Fermi equation was based on a theoretical gas with electrons distributed evenly, and so it could not work for imperfect real materials. Pierre Hohenberg and Walter Kohn, another Nobel laureate, managed to prove that the Thomas-Fermi equation could apply to real materials in 1964. But they only established the groundwork to prove the equation's existence.

Researchers have tried calculating each atom's energy from scratch to simulate how a material might behave, but simulations beyond just a few hundred atoms bogged down even the most powerful computers. That put a severe limit on the types of materials that researchers could simulate.

By contrast, the Princeton team stuck it out with the Thomas-Fermi equation. They eventually came up with a working model that could predict the kinetic energy of electrons in simple metals. A slight modification also allowed the model to also work for semiconductors, which find use in a wide variety of electronic devices."

-

CNBC’s Burnett reports hearing rumors that Apple could do 4-to-1 stock split

CNBC’s Burnett reports hearing rumors that Apple could do 4-to-1 stock split: "At approximately 2:03pm ET, CNBC's Erin Burnett reported on-air that she is hearing...

"

MacDailyNews - http://www.macdailynews.com/

Think Big: Apple CEO Steve Jobs says Apple’s massive cash horde reserved for bold moves

Think Big: Apple CEO Steve Jobs says Apple’s massive cash horde reserved for bold moves: "Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs said his company has to 'think big' and its $40 billion cash...

"

MacDailyNews - http://www.macdailynews.com/

Skype prepares for HD video calls on Windows

Skype prepares for HD video calls on Windows: "Video calling on Skype has been hit or miss over the years, but with some back-end changes in Skype for Windows 4.2, the company readies its VoIP client for high-def."

CNET News.com - http://news.cnet.com/

iTunes reaches 10 billion song milestone

iTunes reaches 10 billion song milestone: "Apple celebrates hitting 10 billion song downloads by sharing the 20 most-downloaded songs from its popular online music store.




"

Macworld - http://www.macworld.com

Lady Gaga generates 25 percent of Vevo's traffic

Lady Gaga generates 25 percent of Vevo's traffic: "The singer's popularity is helping to drive millions of fans to start-up music video site."

CNET News.com - http://news.cnet.com/

Brainy Crows Finally Stumped by Intelligence Test

Brainy Crows Finally Stumped by Intelligence Test: "Those smart crows that seem to be able to solve all sorts of problems with logic have been stumped by a test. Scientists designed a test that shows the birds do not visualize problems in their heads as was suspected.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Dirty 30s! - The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot

Dirty 30s! - The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot: "This is a formula, a master plot, for any 6000 word pulp story. It has worked on adventure, detective, western and war-air. It tells exactly where to put everything. It shows definitely just what must happen in each successive thousand words.

No yarn of mine written to the formula has yet failed to sell.

The business of building stories seems not much different from the business of building anything else.

Here's how it starts:
"

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Must-Read Comics, as Picked by Wired.com Readers | Underwire | Wired.com

Must-Read Comics, as Picked by Wired.com Readers | Underwire | Wired.com: ""

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iPad SDK Support for Front Facing Camera, Camera Flash, Zoom and Video Conferencing

iPad SDK Support for Front Facing Camera, Camera Flash, Zoom and Video Conferencing: "Unfortunately, we already know how this story ends. Apple introduced the iPad in late January and made no mention of a camera - either on the front or back of the device. So that means no video conferencing or even photos are possible on the first ..."

MacRumors - http://www.macrumors.com

External Link: Macintosh Past and Future With Jim Rea

External Link: Macintosh Past and Future With Jim Rea: "Jim Rea's ProVUE Panorama was one of the first ready-to-market applications when the Macintosh premiered in 1984, and it's still going strong. Hear and see Jim reminiscing at Macworld Expo about those early days, with some hints about the upcoming Panorama 6, in this short pair of YouTube videos from TUAW. It's just like having lunch with Jim, but without the food!

'

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WebCrossing Neighbors Creates Private Social Networks
Create a complete social network with your company or group's
own look. Scalable, extensible and extremely customizable.
Take a guided tour today <http://www.webcrossing.com/tour>

'

Copyright © 2010 Matt Neuburg. TidBITS is copyright © 2010 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

"

TidBITS - http://www.tidbits.com/

TinkerTool 4.0 monkeys with Snow Leopard

TinkerTool 4.0 monkeys with Snow Leopard: "The tool to expose hidden preferences receives an upgrade for OS X 10.6, providing checkbox access to many features not in System Preferences.




"

Macworld - http://www.macworld.com

Capturing atomic images via ultrafast X-ray pulses

Capturing atomic images via ultrafast X-ray pulses: "The Linac Coherent Light Source at Stanford University produces ultrafast pulses of X-rays powerful enough to make images of single molecules."

CNET News.com - http://news.cnet.com/

Suspect claimed terrorists killed mother, her boyfriend

Suspect claimed terrorists killed mother, her boyfriend: "

Gabriel Morris'told an ex-girlfriend's father that'terrorists had killed his mother and her boyfriend, and that he shot and killed one of the terrorists, according to court documents.'The man'told police he gave Morris a semiautomatic handgun and his car, a Ford Taurus.

"

KPIC - News - Local & Regional - http://www.kpic.com/news/local

Review: Riveting 'Heavy Rain' Murder Story Is Big Leap for Games

Review: Riveting 'Heavy Rain' Murder Story Is Big Leap for Games: "By pushing the possibilities of what a videogame can be, this sprawling story about a serial killer points the way toward the deeply immersive future of interactive gaming.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Why Ladies-Only Species Don't Need Men

Why Ladies-Only Species Don't Need Men: "Some animal species don't need men to reproduce. Now, scientists have discovered how one all-female species uses some genetic tricks to keep their genomes robust without the valuable chromosomal mixing of sexual reproduction.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

In the Future, One CF Card Will Hold 200 Years' Worth of Porn

In the Future, One CF Card Will Hold 200 Years' Worth of Porn: "The latest version of the CompactFlash standard raises the theoretical memory capacity of the little cards from 137 GB to a whopping 188 petabytes. What will we do with all that portable storage?

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Legendary designer Alan Kay says Apple iPad will rule the world

Legendary designer Alan Kay says Apple iPad will rule the world: "Alan Kay is one the greatest minds in the history of computing...

"

MacDailyNews - http://www.macdailynews.com/

Twitter, Facebook use up 82 percent

Twitter, Facebook use up 82 percent: "Time spent on social-networking sites shoots up 82 percent in December, compared with a year earlier, according to a new Nielsen study."

CNET News.com - http://news.cnet.com/

Christmas cellphones with built-in access.

10.6: Easily create spoken iTunes tracks from any text

10.6: Easily create spoken iTunes tracks from any text: "If you'd like to take any block of text and have it easily transferred as spoken text to your iPhone or iPod, I found this feature is now built in to Snow Leopard as a Service.

To use this feature, first enable it in System Preferences » Keyboard » Keyboard Shortcuts » Services. In the left-hand column, select Services, then scroll down to the Text section in the right-hand window and enable 'Add to iTunes as a Spoken Track.' Add a keyboard shortcut, too, if you wish by clicking in the space adjacent to this services' name.

Now whenever you have a block of text highlighted, Control-click on it and choose Add to iTunes as a Spoken Track from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can press your defined keyboard shortcut, or get to the command from the Services menu item. The quality of the speech is quite acceptable!

[...


"

Mac OS X Hints - http://www.macosxhints.com

Bloom box: An energy breakthrough?

Bloom box: An energy breakthrough?: "K.R. Sridhar of secretive Bloom Energy shows '60 Minutes' his company's little power-plant-in-a-box, already in use by Google and eBay."

CNET News.com - http://news.cnet.com/

Marijuana use by seniors goes up as boomers age

Marijuana use by seniors goes up as boomers age: "Pot-smoking among 55- to 59-year-olds has more than tripled since 2002

"

Salon - http://www.salon.com/?source=rss&aim=/

Five Reasons Why Chatroulette is Addictive, and Worth a Try

Five Reasons Why Chatroulette is Addictive, and Worth a Try: "Everyone (from the mainstream media to celebrities) is obsessing over Chatroulette, the website that randomly connects users via one-on-one videochat with strangers around the world. Why is it so addictive? As Wired’s resident Chatroulette expert (I’ve been using the service since it was created in late 2009), I think I know why.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

The iPhone app for instant booty calls

The iPhone app for instant booty calls: "PinPointsX strives to satisfy the vast need for two people to engage in sex as immediately as possible. At its core is a Passion Map of the user's current location."

CNET News.com - http://news.cnet.com/

Photoshop, a software industry fixture, turns 20

Photoshop, a software industry fixture, turns 20: "Adobe Systems' image-editing software is ubiquitous enough to become a verb. But as Photoshop exits its teens, it faces some new challenges."

CNET News.com - http://news.cnet.com/

Twitterrific: Minor update for Twitterrific for Mac (3.2.2) now available - http://bit.ly/3KTmVg Version history - http://bit.ly/1kjEJy

Twitterrific: Minor update for Twitterrific for Mac (3.2.2) now available - http://bit.ly/3KTmVg Version history - http://bit.ly/1kjEJy: "Twitterrific: Minor update for Twitterrific for Mac (3.2.2) now available - http://bit.ly/3KTmVg Version history - http://bit.ly/1kjEJy"

Twitter / RoseburgMacGuy with friends - http://twitter.com/RoseburgMacGuy/with_friends

Meebo instant messaging app comes to iPhone

Meebo instant messaging app comes to iPhone: "Almost a year after it was first shown to the public, Meebo has finally released their own iPhone app to communicate to others through services such as AIM, Windows Live IM and Yahoo IM.




"

Macworld - http://www.macworld.com

Winston man gets 10 years for child porn

Winston man gets 10 years for child porn: "

A Winston, Ore., man will serve 10 years in federal prison for possessing over 16,000 pictures and 300 videos showing 'sadistic and masochistic' child pornography.

"

KPIC - News - Local & Regional - http://www.kpic.com/news/local

Television Will Soon Watch You (for Instructions)

Television Will Soon Watch You (for Instructions): "You will soon be able to wave your hands in the air to change the channel, now that French 3-D gesture-capture firm Softkinetic-Optrima inked a deal with chipmaker Intel. Eventually, camera-equipped set-top boxes will let us participate by way of an avatar in exercise shows and 3-D movies.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist - The Barnes & Noble Review

The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist - The Barnes & Noble Review: "Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) only wrote eight stories, but they are among the glories of German, and world, literature. "

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Feb. 17, 1972: VW Beetle Outruns Model T

Feb. 17, 1972: VW Beetle Outruns Model T: "It took half a century before any car sold more than Ford's pioneering Tin Lizzy. Nothing like it has happened since."

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Chat with Facebook friends within iChat | E-mail and Internet | Mac OS X Hints | Macworld

Chat with Facebook friends within iChat | E-mail and Internet | Mac OS X Hints | Macworld: "Alternatively, you can just follow the instructions right here:

In iChat, open Preferences, and go to the Accounts tab. Click the plus sign at the bottom of the window to add a new account.
Select Jabber Account from the Account Type drop-down menu.
Enter your_username@chat.facebook.com in the Account Name field, and enter your Facebook password in the Password field. Replace your_username with your Facebook username, obviously.
Click the triangle next to Server Options to reveal those settings. Enter chat.facebook.com in the Server field, and 5222 in the Port field. Make sure the Use SSL box is not checked.
Click Done.
"

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Make Your Laptop a Home Entertainment Hub

Make Your Laptop a Home Entertainment Hub: "There's a wealth of high-def video available on the web these days on Hulu, Comedy Central, Netflix, Vimeo and YouTube. To watch this stuff on your full-size HDTV instead of your laptop's 13- or 14-inch screen, you're going to need a way to hook your computer up to your TV.

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Cool Products at Macworld Expo 2010

Cool Products at Macworld Expo 2010: "Microvision ShowWX Laser Pico Projector -- Imagine a small device, about the size of an iPhone, capable of projecting high resolution video as large as a 100-inch television set. The Microvision ShowWX projector uses scanning lasers to project colorful images on any surface. By using laser projection instead of alternative technologies like LCDs, the images are always in focus with a wider color range than other pico (extremely small) projectors. The projector includes a number of connectivity options, including an iPhone/iPod cable, and runs between 90-120 minutes on battery. It's not hard to imagine the day when these are included in our mobile devices, although the lack of flat, white surfaces in the world might be a little limiting. It's due in March 2010.

"

TidBITS - http://www.tidbits.com/

Expo: FastMac turns iPhone into unversal remote | Entertainment & HDTV | iPhone Central | Macworld

Expo: FastMac turns iPhone into unversal remote | Entertainment & HDTV | iPhone Central | Macworld: "The simplest of those is an LED flash that synchronizes with the iPhone’s camera; similar products we’ve seen include an LED light that you must turn on and off manually. You also get a 1300mAh battery that lets you watch video for up to 15 hours, listen to audio for up to 50 hours, or talk on the phone for up to 20 hours.

But the big appeal of the iV Plus is that it includes an infrared transmitter and receiver that, together with a custom iPhone app, lets your iV Plus-clad iPhone act as a universal remote control for your home entertainment system.

Much like Logitech’s Harmony line of unversal remotes, the iV Plus's custom app lets you browse an extensive database of AV products: receivers, CD players, Blu-Ray players, DVD players, TiVos, cable boxes, the Apple TV, and so on. Once you’ve chosen your devices, each gets its own screen with the appropriate buttons for controlling the device. Also like a Harmony remote, you can create tasks, which are specific combinations of devices to be used together. For example, a ‘Watch DVDs’ task might include your TV, DVD player, and home-theater receiver; pressing the Watch DVDs button would automatically turn on your TV, DVD player, and home theater system, and then switch the TV and receiver to the DVD input.

However, unlike most universal remotes, there’s no complicated codes to enter, nor do you need to connect the remote to your computer and use a complicated setup utility to configure devices and tasks. The iV Plus’s iPhone app provides simple, scrolling lists of devices; to add a device, you simply tap the device's name on the screen. The company plans to regularly update the app's database with additional devices; the app can download updated device lists via the Internet. (If one of your AV components isn’t listed, the app can manually learn the component’s remote commands using the iV Plus’s infrared receiver.)

FastMac has taken advantage of the iPhone's interface to provide two other unique software features. First, you can configure the onscreen button layouts, for both individual devices and for tasks. The app provides a library of sliders, dials, buttons, and switches you can drag around the screen, letting you create a remote-control interface as complex—or as simple—as you like.

The second is that FastMac has licensed TV listings for the app, letting you browse listings and search for particular channels and shows. If you can’t remember which of your 200 stations is ESPN Classic, you just type ESPN and then tap the ESPN Classic item in the search results; the iV Plus sends the appropriate command to your TV or cable box to change the channel. Or you can type the name of a TV show, and then tap the show name in the results screen to change to that channel.

"

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Veoh finally calls it quits: Layoffs yesterday, bankruptcy filing soon

Veoh finally calls it quits: Layoffs yesterday, bankruptcy filing soon: "Veoh, one of several well-funded start-ups that have tried and failed to cash in on the Web video boom, is finally calling it quits."

CNET News.com - http://news.cnet.com/

Shoot. That's too bad. I got all my Yu Yu Hakusho's there.

Shylock, My Students, and Me: An essay by Paula Marantz Cohen on 30 years of teaching The Merchant of Venice | The American Scholar

Shylock, My Students, and Me: An essay by Paula Marantz Cohen on 30 years of teaching The Merchant of Venice | The American Scholar: "While Shakespeare now draws me more than ever before, one work in particular draws me most. This is The Merchant of Venice. For me, this extraordinary play grows increasingly subtle and supple with time. It continues to excite me with its language, its depth of character, and its philosophical, political, spiritual, and pedagogical implications. Looking back over my years of teaching the play, I see that the way it has been received by my students is an index to how our society has changed. I also see how much the play continues to push against established readings and to challenge even the most seemingly enlightened perspectives. The Merchant of Venice is both a mirror of our times and a means of transcending the bias of our times. It teaches how to teach.

"

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Hulu Working on iPhone App?

Hulu Working on iPhone App?: "

Hulu is the poster child for what's missing in mobile Safari for iPhone OS. Hulu is a streaming video service owned by major networks that lets you watch new and old TV shows and movies, with a mandatory requirement to view ads. It requires Adobe Flash.

Since the iPad was announced - see 'The iPad Arrives,' 27 January 2010 - one of the biggest debates about the device's future marketshare and efficacy is its lack of Flash support. John Gruber explained before the iPad launch the background of why Apple won't support Flash.

Flash can be used for many purposes, and Flash drives all kinds of interactive games, multimedia content, and esoteric purposes - as well as horrible restaurant sites - all over the world.

But the single biggest use of Flash embedded in Web pages is to play video, most of which is already encoded in H.264, part of the MPEG4 set of standards, which Apple uses for nearly all its audio and video purposes.

With YouTube, for instance, Flash acts just as a wrapper for H.264 video. YouTube has a pilot project that allows H.264 video to play using the in-progress HTML5 rendering standard. YouTube users view over 12 billion videos each month, or about 40 percent of all online video watching in the United States. (HTML5 doesn't yet and will likely never specify a particular video format; H.264 patent, fee, and licensing issues prevent its use in projects like Firefox and Chrome that release all their source code.)

But Hulu is an edge case: the site needs a wrapper, even though it's 'just' playing video. Where YouTube can use JavaScript to overlay ads on top of a standard video player on whatever browser video is playing, Hulu relies on commercial revenue to operate. Its custom Flash player doesn't let you skip commercials; a standard video player would let you skim back and forth unless a TV show or other video were broken into multiple pieces that loaded only in sequence. That would be annoying and reduce usage.

It should come as no surprise that Hulu would develop an iPad-specific app - TechCrunch reports a 'rumor...from an industry insider,' which is hardly definitive, but the idea is logical. Hulu should make itself available on every major platform.

Hulu feeds out just 3 percent of U.S. online video, over a billion videos in December 2009, but it's the largest single site for legal licensed streaming TV viewing. The other network sites, like Fox, Viacom, and Turner Network each have just about one-third Hulu's traffic.

I can't imagine Hulu taking sides in a technology war, when Flash is a delivery mechanism, not a religious commitment. The recent change in AT&T's rules for applications that work over its 3G network provide more impetus for Hulu. AT&T says it's now fine for apps to stream video over 3G, so long as they conform to new rules. Slingbox is the first firm approved to use the new guidelines; Hulu might be among the next batch.

Given that the average Hulu user watches about 23 videos per month, according to comScore, an iPhone OS app could dramatically expand Hulu's reach. I wonder if Hulu would restrict an app to the iPad - perhaps due to processing power limits - when there are tens of millions of U.S. iPhone and iPod touch users also eager to join in.

'

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THE MISSING SYNC: Take it with you! The Missing Sync makes
it easy to synchronize contacts, calendars, notes, photos
and more from your Mac to your BlackBerry, HTC, Treo,
iPhone and other phones. <http://www.markspace.com/bits>

'

Copyright © 2010 Glenn Fleishman. TidBITS is copyright © 2010 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

"

TidBITS - http://www.tidbits.com/