Technobriefs
April 14, 2007
RIAA helps DNC alienate voters: Democrats lie down with dogs, can they help but wake up with fleas? Good call for alienating anyone under 30 who uses computers and likes music. Cory Doctorow is on top of his game here: DNC appoints RIAA shill to run Public Affairs for convention and RIAA shill's greatest hits. Speaking of the association everyone loves to hate, I gotta love any commentary, like this one from the NYT, that describes policies of the major record labels and the RIAA as shortsightedness and boneheadedness: Spinning Into Oblivion.
Natural science news: several items on brain science: Study reveals "Robin Hood impulse" in human nature, Getting Dirty May Lift Your Mood and Stop Signs: Study Identifies 'Braking' Mechanism In The Brain. A news perspective on cell lines: Female Stem Cells Work Better, According To New Study. What is a tree-hugger to do?: Tree-Planting Could Add to Warming. Wet exoplanet: Signs of water seen on planet outside solar system. New markets for entertainment software: Orangutans play video games at Zoo Atlanta.
Chembots to kegbots: DARPA Seeks Shape-Shifting War Robots call for ChemBots and Dartmouth Snow-Bot Hauls People, Kegs. New work on computer vision: Easy on the eyes ("a computer can now recognize classes of things as accurately as a person can").
Technobits: Microsoft Is Dead --- Silicon Valley seeks to revamp wireless industry --- Google Earth maps atrocities in Darfur , Darfur Crisis Comes To Google Earth --- Google Launches MyMaps, lets users create own maps --- PS3 Cell chip tapped for medical imaging --- Ease-of-use crisis: Designers or 'feature creeps'? --- OLEDs now and then: Toshiba says to make large OLED color TVs by 2009, Sony says to sell ultra-thin OLED TVs this year --- M.A.R.S. Floating Wind Generator Expected in 2010 this seems like a pretty elegant design for a wind turbine --- more on modern chainmail (previously, via) --- fun/challenging 3d construction puzzles: Building Houses 2 (#1 is particularly tricky!) via Math is congruent with fun! --- the 8-bit tie was a April Fools joke at ThinkGeek, but morphed into a real product by popular demand.
