Wednesday, June 22, 2011

From the B.I.N. # 2

The Pentagon finally starts to move into the future of cyberwarfare. Now they have guidelines:
  --http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110622/D9O0SERG0.html

Scientists create blobs of cooled light particles.
  --http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/new-kind-of-light-created-in-physics-breakthrough

New Japanese machine takes the super computer lead, and they're not even done building it. The "K" will rise from 8.16 petaflops to reach 10 petaflops once it is at full power.
  --http://news.techworld.com/data-centre/3286946/japan-builds-worlds-most-powerful-supercomputer/

Scientists grow rat organs in mice, and are ready to try growing human organs in pigs. Don't mix up that bacon!
  --http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8584443/Pigs-could-grow-human-organs-in-stem-cell-breakthrough.html

Micro drones are on their way.
  --http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/world/20drones.html?_r=3

Chart of current drone in use by the US military:
  --https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/06/19/world/drone-graphic.html?ref=world

Apple to decide when you are allowed to use the video camera on new iPhones. Forget recording that favorite band of yours.
  --http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3641676/Apple-to-ban-iPhone-gig-filming.html

Obama: Libya isn't a war. Because flying aircraft over a country and dropping bombs on people isn't war as long as there are no troops on the ground and the targets can't return fire effectively. According to Obama's arguments, he could nuke a country off the map without Congressional approval.
  --https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/us/politics/16powers.html?_r=4

Monday, June 13, 2011

Bizarre / Interesting / Newsworthy (BIN # 1)

From the B.I.N. for this week, I give you the following articles:

In China, genetically modified cows produce human breast milk. It will be sold in stores within three years. Other cows modified are resilient against mad cow disease, and yet other beef cattle are genetically modified to produce more nutritious meat.
  --http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/china-genetically-modifying-cows-to-produce-human-breast-milk-20110608-ncx


Matt Stutzman, a man born with no arms, still has none. But what he does have is a qualification for the National U.S. Olympic team in archery. Yep. Armless archery.
 --http://www.newtondailynews.com/articles/2011/06/06/r_sxx109pfrlwa_cpzlzx6rw/index.xml


A mother in the UK has volunteered to donate her womb to her infertile daughter, to be transplanted so that the daughter can have a daughter (or son) of her own. If successful, Sara could conceive and carry a child in the same womb she herself was born from.
  --http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/13/uk-mother-agrees-donate-womb-daughter


I don't care so much about the game aspects of this, but the voice controls  in "Ghost Recon: Future Soldier" is really rather impressive. As shown in the video near the bottom of the article, even with another demo blasting near by, the Xbox (via Kinect) was able to pick up almost every voice command given by the both the interviewer and interview-y. It's still not as good as you've seen on the Enterprise, but it sure is getting close.
  --http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/kinect-integration-in-ghost-recon-future-soldier-hands-off-vi/