Topic: Drone - on March 2, 2012 at 12:36:00 PM CET
Robot Quadrotors Perform James Bond Theme
Flying robot quadrotors perform the James Bond Theme by playing various instruments including the keyboard, drums and maracas, a cymbal, and the debut of an adapted guitar built from a couch frame. The quadrotors play this "couch guitar" by flying over guitar strings stretched across a couch frame; plucking the strings with a stiff wire attached to the base of the quadrotor. A special microphone attached to the frame records the notes made by the "couch guitar".
These flying quadrotors are completely autonomous, meaning humans are not controlling them; rather they are controlled by a computer programed with instructions to play the instruments.
Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science is home to some of the most innovative robotics research on the planet, much of it coming out of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab.
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Topic: GOOGLE - on March 2, 2012 at 12:33:00 PM CET
'We don't know if Google is operating outside EU law Plus: 'It's within our lifetime. It's going to happen'
This was the week in which Mobile World Congress landed in Barcelona, producing reams of smartphone and fondleslab news, views and shiny gadgets - including waterproof mobes, which are of particular use to Brits since apparently nearly one in ten of them take their phones into the shower.
These featured alongside new Sony phones, emerging after the firm's divorce from Ericsson, and a glimpse into the mind of top Googler Eric Schmidt, which included a near future of robot cars and Star Trek-esque holodecks.
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Topic: DRUGS - on March 2, 2012 at 10:00:00 AM CET
Hasch statt Oliven – Ideen gegen die Krise
Klingt skurril, ist es auch: Das spanische Dorf Rasquera will Marihuana anbauen lassen, um damit den kommunalen Haushalt zu sanieren. Ganze 1,3 Millionen Euro Schulden hat das 900-Seelen-Dorf in der Provinz Tarragona angehäuft. Jetzt soll Land an eine Pro-Cannabis-Initiative aus Barcelona zum Hanfanbau verpachtet werden.
Bürgermeister Bernat Pellissa rechnet vor: “Der Vertrag läuft 24 Monate und das bringt also 54 000 Euro pro Monat, das sind in zwei Jahren 1,3 Millionen Euro.
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Topic: DRUGS - on March 2, 2012 at 9:53:00 AM CET
Tarragona village votes for the creation of a Marihuana plantation
The Town Hall is granting land for the growth of the crop which will generate both an income and jobs.
The village in Tarragona has voted to grant land for the cultivation of Marihuana. In what is thought to be the first case of its type in Spain, the Town Hall in Rasquera, Tarragona, voted on Wednesday to go ahead with the scheme which is promoted by a smokers association who will exploit the land and grow the marihuana for their own use and to make it available for therapeutic ends.
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Topic: NEWS - on March 2, 2012 at 9:50:00 AM CET
Den Maya geht ein Licht auf
Anmerkung der Redaktion: In einer früheren Version des Artikels war von mehreren Fotos die Rede, auf denen der Lichtstrahl zu sehen gewesen sein soll. Das ist falsch. Er ist offenbar lediglich auf einem der Bilder zu erkennen. Wir bitten, den Fehler zu entschuldigen.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on March 2, 2012 at 9:43:00 AM CET
Zemlin praises $25 Linux computer: a Windows license costs more than four Raspberry Pis
In a blog post written this morning, Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin praised the Raspberry Pi foundation's $35 Linux computer, which met tremendous demand when it launched this week. In his blog post, Zemlin discussed the important role that the Linux platform plays in enabling innovation around low-cost computing.
The Raspberry Pi foundation launched with the aim of building an inexpensive system that could be used to teach computer programming to young students. They developed a pair of bare ARM boards priced at $25 and $35 that include a 700Mhz ARM11 CPU and a 256MB of RAM. The devices are roughly the same size as a deck of playing cards.
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Topic: NASA - on March 2, 2012 at 9:39:00 AM CET
Stolen NASA Laptop Had Space Station Control Code
NASA had 5,408 computer security lapses in 2010 and 2011, including the March 2011 loss of a laptop computer that contained algorithms used to command and control the International Space Station, the agency's inspector general told Congress Wednesday.
"These incidents spanned a wide continuum, from individuals testing their skill to break into NASA systems, to well-organized criminal enterprises hacking for profit, to intrusions that may have been sponsored by foreign intelligence services seeking to further their countries' objectives," Inspector General Paul Martin said in written testimony before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee investigations panel.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on March 2, 2012 at 9:36:00 AM CET
Die Zukunft des Internet in den Händen der UNO
Aus den USA sind Warnrufe zu vernehmen, dass auf einer kommenden Konferenz der Internet Telecommunition Union (ITU) die Freiheit des Internet massiv gefährdet wäre. Die Kassandrarufe sind zwar gemischt mit einer gehörigen Portion von Eigeninteresse und richten sich vermutlich an den falschen Adressaten. Völlig von der Hand zu weisen sind sie jedoch nicht.
Diese Woche begannen in Genf diplomatische Verhandlungen zu den „International Telecommunication Regulations“ – einem völkerrechtlichen, weltweit geltenden Vertrag, der den Betrieb und die Abrechnung internationaler Telekommunikationsdienste umfasst. Seit dessen Verabschiedung im Jahr 1988 hat sich die Telekommunikationswelt dramatisch verändert: Viele der ehemaligen staatlichen Telekombetreiber sind inzwischen privatisiert, eine Vielzahl von Wettbewerbern tummelt sich auf dem Markt. Vor allem aber hat das Internet die Marktstrukturen völlig verändert. Ende des Jahres soll deshalb auf der Konferenz WCIT-12 der Vertrag in trockene Tücher gebracht werden.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on March 2, 2012 at 9:35:00 AM CET
ACTA: EU-Parlament stellt sich Kritik
Fast vier Stunden lang diskutierten Kommissionsvertreter und Parlamentarier heute Nachmittag mit internationalen Rechtsprofessoren und einer Hundertschaft von ACTA-Kritikern.
"Auf den Stufen sitzen ist aus feuerpolizeilichen Gründen leider nicht erlaubt" - so eröffnete der Vorsitzende des parlamentarischen Handelsausschusses (INTA), Vital Moreira, den Workshop über das umstrittene ACTA-Abkommen. 20 Minuten vor Beginn war die öffentliche Veranstaltung im Europaparlament bereits ausgebucht, die vielen anderen Interessierten aus der Zivilgesellschaft wurden in einen Raum mit Live-Übertragung geleitet.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on March 2, 2012 at 9:33:00 AM CET
Suchergebnisse von Anti-SOPA-Blogs von Rechteindustrie zensiert
Am vergangenen Wochenende wurden zwei SOPA- und PIPA-kritische Blogbeiträge von Techdirt und Torrentfreak aus den Google-Suchergebnissen ausgeschlossen. Die Sperrung erfolgte aufgrund eines (falschen) Hinweises des US-Contentverwerters Armovore.
Durch die im “Digital Millennium Copyright Act” (DMCA) vorgeschriebene “Notice and Takedown”-Politik müssen in den Vereinigten Staaten Webseiten mit urheberrechtsverletzenden Inhalten von Suchmaschinenanbietern ohne weitere Überprüfung gesperrt werden. Die Inhaber der Seiten werden über die Streichung aus den Suchergebnissen nicht unterrichtet.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on March 2, 2012 at 9:30:00 AM CET
'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation
One of the striking features of the demonstrations against ACTA that took place across Europe over the last few weeks was the youth of the participants. That's not to say that only young people are concerned about ACTA, but it's an indication that they take its assault on the Internet very personally -- unlike, perhaps, older and more dispassionate critics.
As sometimes happens, a text has been floating around that captures rather well the spirit of that generation. It was originally written in Polish, and released under a liberal cc-by license; there are now a number of translations. As its author, Piotr Czerski, wrote in an email to Techdirt, its origins were quite humble:
I was asked by the journalist from local newspaper to write a text explaining difference between "analog" and "digital" generations. I thought that I should write something more: text, which can offer some kind of self-identity for all this different people protesting against ACTA. So I used the poetics of manifesto.
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