observations on how technology and culture collides
Patrick Kane from Livingston, Scotland has been fitted with the new Touch Bionics prosthetic hand. The new i-limb ultra revolution has a powered thumb rotation along with multiple grip patterns, which enables users to perform daily activities more easily than with previous prosthesis.
Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
(via martinhekker)
Bear with me on this one. I don’t own any Apple devices but couldn’t resist sharing a bit of geeky humor on the iOS Maps fiasco.
Watch the first couple of minutes of the following, then wait a week:
Then BAM! This hits.
This is the first time I’ve really understood what a hypercube is. View the same way as you would Magic Eye images.
Hypercube
Computer animation from 1965 demonstrating the concept of the 4D ‘Hypercube’, which could be viewed as a stereogram - video embedded below:
From AT&T Archives:
Two of the earliest three-dimensional computer graphics films. The films’ creator, A. Michael Noll, programmed the computer (most of this work in the Labs was done on an IBM 7094) to generate the correct stereoscopic imagery, and these images were printed side-by-side, frame by frame. They’re intended for freeviewing in 3D — i.e. the three-dimensional image is created when one views the film while cross-eyed — no special devices required. Of course, the time/movement elements bring the film into the fourth dimension.
More info here
Watching the Mars Curiosity Landing. Nice job all!
(start at 32 sec.)
“Under laws specifically passed for the London Games, the brand army has rights to enter shops and business premises and bring courts actions and fines up to £20,000….Even pubs can’t have signs displaying brands of beer that are not official sponsors.”
This has become ridiculous. Like, ridiculously bad.
The gentleman in the photo above is using a specialized WiFi antenna to track shut down unauthorized personal hotspots. Anyone know any of the tech details?
I don’t bring it up often, but I’m a Penn State alumnus – I’ve spent eight years (from ‘02 through ‘10) in State College, first as a student, student representative, then staff and have thus acquired more than a fair understanding of politics at the university. The time I’ve spent there has become an important part of my life.
While a committee chair in Undergraduate Student Government and a student representative to the University Faculty Senate, I authored a formal request for the university to support a project known as the Penn State Wiki “to contain articles relating to peer advising, class descriptions, student organizations, and other topics as deemed important.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a degree of animosity towards the proposal among members of Penn State’s central administration. It was clear from an early state that it was going to be an uphill battle—at one point administrators refused meetings, despite clear student interest in the project. Then–Provost, now–President Rodney Erickson ultimately made a decision that “there would be no wiki.” Full correspondence and press coverage is archived on the Internet Archive.
I’m proud of the meetings I organized around the project and the level of media attention garnered. A few months later I was on my way to Wikimania 2006 where I would start a career in open video.
The formal request passed with overwhelming majority votes not just through Undergraduate Student Government (USG) but also through the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments; although USG was replaced by another organization support for the Penn State Wiki remains the official position of the undergraduate student body.
I remain hopeful that the project can begin in earnest again as Penn State starts on the process of reflection on how a modern university should operate.
SO COOL
(video embedding disabled by BBC)
Zwolnij is apparently Polish for “yo, hey you, slow down!” Tablice translates to “license plates.” Thus, “delete the entire database of stored plate numbers.” No word if this exploit worked or if it was just an attempt.
Besides warning drivers to slow down, the system checks that all plates passing through are in good legal standing. Obscured or missing plates are flagged as “suspicious vehicles” subject to pull-over.
Related: it’s possible to hack smartcars.
r03:
Urban SQL injection. WIN!
Image stills from ROFLcon III. View the entire set on Flickr.
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