Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Video: Guitar Hero controlled by futbol balls


Football and Guitar Hero may be two great passions for some, and put them together would be a dream. How do I accomplish this? Well, basically you need a copy of the game, many balls, giant sensors for buttons and a projector.

"Football Hero" is the experiment we performed a freestyle team of players in England, sponsored by Umbro and playing "Frets on Fire", a Open Source version of the popular game. Actually they do quite well, reaching an accuracy of 76% in pushing the buttons ... impressive considering that are pushing with footballs.

Asteroid hit the atmosphere and cause explosions in Indonesia


It's 11 o'clock in the morning and suddenly heard an explosion in the sky. A trail of smoke is marked on the blue background of a cloudless day. A bright object falls. Is it a bird? A plane that falls apart? Superman?

Not so. In Indonesia, an asteroid exploded above the atmosphere, causing fear among the inhabitants of Bone in South Sulawesi.

NASA confirmed a report that a meteorite was between 5 and 10 meters in diameter, crashed into the Earth's atmosphere at about 65,000 mph.

The asteroid exploded with a power of 50 kilotons, three times the energy released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb, but as exploded to more than 15 miles high, not damaged, and the piece that survived the impact ended somewhere near the coast (latitude 4.5 South 120 East).

NASA added that such impacts can be expected once between 2 and 12 years on average (though I have lived more than that and do not remember seeing anything like that before). Normally such asteroids do not cause damage, because to effectively impact the Earth, the object should have a diameter of about 25 meters. And if that happens in 2012, at least we'll have Bruce Willis on the planet.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Demand for Linux netbooks does not convince Acer


The demand for netbooks with Linux would not be enough to maintain a supply of equipment "just Linux," said Jim Wong, global president of Acer's IT products. This would explain why the Aspire One, its first netbook including Linux, will be replaced by a new generation that include Windows 7 and Android.

First, it is not surprising that the inclusion of Windows 7, as in the design of this operating system is considered the hardware restrictions that Vista could not stand and forced Microsoft to extend life of Windows XP. But in the case of Android, a Linux-based system, the explanation is that Wang is included for "connectivity built into the system." One explanation is not very lucky, because in the background is a Linux system and what makes the difference are layers, application level, layers that have nothing to do with connectivity.

Jim Wong also pointed to Internet Explorer as one of the main reasons to install Windows 7 with Android. According to him, people have better productivity and a consistent browsing experience with Internet Explorer. IE is still the dominant browser will not change from night to morning. Probably there will be a single operating system and its netbooks than Windows, but that has to be in the future, not today.

The sale of computers with Windows preinstalled always been a headache for users of Linux, as it is very difficult to get a computer without having to pay a license that in many cases not be used. While there are options to return the license by obtaining the money back, the process can be as complex and fraught with obstacles that the final few complete it. While eliminating all traces of Windows on your Linux system for the statistics of a computer manufacturer is more with Windows.

Friday, October 9, 2009

The asteroid Apophis will not collide with Earth in the year 2036


Apophis (aka 99942) is an asteroid with an orbit close to Earth and that according to NASA data, pass near the Earth in the year 2036 (estimated before 2029) and a small collision with another asteroid could divert toward our planet, where they produce an effect greater than 40,000 atomic bombs.

The B612 Foundation made estimates of Apophis path to follow by 2036 if the impact were to occur, resulting in a trajectory of risk that is located in the southern part of Russia, across the Pacific, passing along the coasts of California and Mexico, then continue between Nicaragua and Costa Rica continuing through the Caribbean Sea to cross the northern regions of Colombia and Venezuela, ending its journey in the Atlantic before arriving in Africa.

This asteroid is about the size of 2.5 football fields and April 13, 2036 would have a dangerous approach of just 30,000 miles on our planet.

But to our recent calculations tranquility documented by Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas, astronomers specializing in near-Earth objects at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA have drastically reduced the likelihood that Apophis hits, leaving behind the 2.7%.

"Techniques for computer updated and new data indicate that the probability of an encounter with Earth on April 13, 2036 has dropped from an over 45,000 and only four million," Chesley said.

I just hope that by then the head of Bruce Willis and Leonard Nimoy are kept alive in a jar of liquid H2OGfat to resolve any last-minute error hehehehehehe

China: Gorgeous lesbian internet forest collapse


This is so peculiar that don't even know where to start, but the old saying ... It is more something like a Chinese news agency that published the story in northern Sweden, there is a town of 25,000 inhabitants, although it is not any inhabitant ... are all gorgeous lesbians living in the forests and are loggers.

When you multiply 25,000 Swedish women lesbians, on your head are many results and more of an idea: how to buy a map and take a vacation in Chako Paul, the city of which we speak.

The problem is that with the news, a lot of Chinese - call it dozens or hundreds of millions - jumped on the internet to research interesting tourist destination, in passing collapsing operators of Internet sites in Sweden and tourism entities and government in northern Sweden.

YouTube Reached 1,000 million views a day


View videos online is a hobby installed on Internet culture, and YouTube today after report proves that is making more than 1,000 million daily views.

"This is a great moment in our short history and we owe everything to you," wrote Chad Hurley, CEO and co-founder of the site's official blog.

Although YouTube already has for some time over the 1.000 million views, the announcement was made today as well because they are 3 years from the acquisition by Google.

"Three years after the acquisition, our platform and our business continues to grow and evolve. We are still committed to the same principles we had at the beginning, " Wrote on the post.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Microsoft confirms Hotmail password theft


The internet is an unsafe place by nature, and has been demonstrated in different ways. Many sites have been attacked by those who seek to endanger their safety for some reason that may or may not be related to that site. Usually, social networks like Facebook and services like Twitter are often high profile targets for crackers with very few scruples, but this time the service has been infringed Windows Live Hotmail, the Microsoft e-mail. According to the report which confirms the fact, would have stolen the passwords of several thousands of email accounts, in what would be a major phishing attacks has been seen to date.


During the day yesterday emerged in the network the alarming news that the safety of over ten thousand mail accounts Windows Live Hotmail would have been compromised due to a phishing attack. Phishing has different ways to express themselves, but one of the most common is the creation of a replica of the home page of a mail service, through which users try to enter without realizing that this is a fake site. Simply enter the email address, password, and press the button to enter, these data are automatically collected to complete a list that can contain a huge number of addresses "kidnapped" along with their passwords.


At first there was speculation that someone had managed to hack the main portal to Windows Live Mail, but Microsoft has denied this outright. There has been no breach of security at the actual site of Hotmail, which would confirm the theory of phishing campaign against Microsoft's service. While it is within the margin of success by phishers, the situation appears more serious. Apparently only a fraction of the list containing email addresses beginning with the letters a and b. Hotmail has 500 million users, so that a base of ten thousand accounts does not appear to be somewhat too broad, but if the list extends to other letters of the alphabet, we would be talking about over a hundred thousand mail accounts compromised.

Fortunately, this is easy to solve for the average user. You only need to enter your Hotmail account and change the password. Now that has been exposed, the mastermind behind this action should take it more in stride, knowing that many of the stolen passwords will no longer be useful in the coming days. Another extra in the way that can protect users is looking version of the page with enhanced security. In that case, use the HTTPS protocol and the connection is at least somewhat safer. If you visit the Hotmail site, you will see access to the bottom of the box for the password. Get used to using it, there's nothing wrong with that.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Video: Boeing laser weapon developed by hitting the nerve



The construction of laser weapons by the United States government seems to be increasingly close to becoming a reality. Recall that the government instructed the Boeing company to develop this technology, a program now exceeding twelve years of hard work.

In August this year, a series of tests that were successful, of which only now have released some videos that show the degree of effectiveness of this technology.

In the video we can see how this weapon gives a target located on the bonnet of a van, with an impressive degree of accuracy if we consider that the beam is being sent from a C-130 Hercules.

Originally the development of this technology was intended as a defense system to destroy enemy missiles in flight, but surely after seeing how effective technology in many other applications will be thinking not so defensive.

Sony achieved important advances in wireless power transmission


Several companies are working on developing the technology that enables wireless transmission of energy, without which so far have certainty when it will be ready to be made available to users.

One of the companies that are more advanced in this matter is Sony, which just introduced a new prototype that manages to convey with 60 Watt of power for a distance of 50 cm, while maintaining an efficiency of 80% continuously.

To achieve this they developed a system based on magnetic resonance imaging, with which it is possible to maintain efficiency in the transfer even when the sender and receiver are aligned (in fact it is not a problem when there are metal objects between the two).

In order to improve the distance obtained with this prototype would be used for energy equipment dealers, which would be achieved by powering equipment on greater distances.

Friday, October 2, 2009

See through walls using wireless signals


Perhaps you hide your thoughts with an aluminum cap, but you can not hide from wireless networks that can reveal your location, even behind a wall.

Researchers at the University of Utah say that the way ranging signals from a wireless network can reveal the movement of a person behind closed doors. Joey Wilson and Neal Patwari have developed a technique called CT images based on the variance radio waves "that processes the signals to show signs of movement. Even the idea has been tested on a wireless network of 34 nodes using the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless standard, the standard for wireless personal area networks with low rates of data transmission, such as ZigBee.

The basic idea is simple. The signal strength at any point in a network is the sum of all paths of radio waves can take to reach the receiver. Any change in the volume of space through which signals pass, for example, caused by the movement of a person, causes the signal strength varies.

Patwari Wilson and say they were able to locate moving objects in the room less than a meter. The team said that there is great potential for improving its system, increasing accuracy and reducing the number of nodes, especially if the system is used with GPS networks, Wi-Fi or cellular networks.

A major benefit is cost, military systems regulated through walls display can cost up to 100 thousand dollars.

This means that the concept of Vision 3D Sonar Batman: The Dark Knight was not entirely unreasonable.

Amazon will pay $ 150,000 US dollars for deleting a homework


Remember that Amazon had the bad idea to remotely wipe the books "1984" and "Animal Farm" a lot of Kindles in the United States without permission from the people who had bought (ironically to George Orwell).

Well, a boy named Justin Gawronski had to do homework on "1984" and had his notes listed on the Kindle, along with the book. One day he woke up and bam! Amazon had eaten their work. So Justin could not think of anything better to sue the company.

Before the court could settle the matter, Amazon agreed with lawyers for Justin through which paid USD $ 150,000, and pledged that he will not delete e-books to its customers.

In any case the agreement indicates that some of these USD $ 150,000 will go to charity. The deal must be approved by a U.S. court, but good news for Kindle users (and the kid who pocketed a lot of dollars through their work lost).

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Six Apart presents TypePad Motion


Perhaps some of you remember the Pownce, Twitter that attempt by the creators of Digg, and its uncertain future in the hands of Six Apart. As we now know that the service ended and the use that gave the new owners. The name of the new service is simply TypePad Motion.

Motion is basically TypePad Pownce, but integrated with the rest of the Six Apart and services focused entirely on companies and brands who want to keep their image but also have a web presence, bringing together in one place Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu and others. A major differentiator is that community members can interact by posting notes, photos, audio and video clips, all with microblogging tools we already know.

In fact we are not seeing anything new, but the proposal from Six Apart is offering us an all-in-one, where we do not have to worry about anything else except use it. Of course, all this in exchange for a monthly fee. Prosperity? Do not enter the bulk of the population, but surely companies, actors and singers are the preferred customers of TypePad Motion.