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SAN FRANCISCO – Previously hidden writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes are being uncovered with powerful X-ray beams nearly 800 years after a Christian monk scrubbed off the text and wrote over it with prayers. Over the past week, researchers at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park have been using X-rays to decipher a fragile 10th century manuscript that contains the only copies of some of Archimedes' most important works. The X-rays, generated by a particle accelerator, cause tiny amounts of iron left by the original ink to glow without harming the delicate goatskin parchment. “We are...

Scofflaws could hack the smart cards that access electronic parking meters in large cities around the United States, researchers are finding. The smart cards pay for parking spots, and their programming could be easily changed to obtain unlimited free parking. It took researcher Joe Grand only three days to design an attack on the smart cards. The researchers examined the meters used in San Francisco, California, but the same and similar electronic meters are being installed in cities around the world. "It wasn't technically complicated and the fact that I can do it in three days means that other people...

Sorry for the vanity, folks . . . but I'm looking for some advice from knowledgeable Freepers about an on-board GPS unit for my vehicle. I've checked out various models and have come across a few that look worthwhile, but there are a couple of minor things I haven't found in them and I'm wondering if these features are even available. I just have a couple of questions for anyone who has knowledge and experience with these: 1. Any preferences for a certain brand (Garmin, Magellen, etc.)? 2. Anything I should be looking for in terms of well-known flaws in...

Russia's launch of Sputnik in 1957 triggered a crisis of confidence in the U.S. that helped drive the creation of a space program. Now, Russia is comparing the U.S.'s achievements in supercomputing with theirs, and they don't like what they see. In a speech on Tuesday, Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, criticized his country's IT industry almost to the point of sarcasm for failing to develop supercomputing technology, and urged a dramatic change in Russia's use of high-performance computing. Medvedev, at the opening address of a Security Council Meeting on Supercomputers in Moscow, told attendees that 476 out of the 500...

Would you be happy to hear that advances that could save your or your loved ones lives are being deliberately held back, in order to satisfy governmental demands to reduce spending on the care we all receive?

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study challenges the traditional view that patents foster innovation, suggesting instead that they may hinder technological progress, economic activity and societal wealth. These results could have important policy implications, because many countries count on patent systems to spur new technology and promote economic growth.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--If you're in charge of what is thought to be one of the most powerful, influential and important megachurches in the United States, if not the world, how do you make sure that your message is reaching the largest possible audience? To Brady Boyd, the lead pastor at the New Life Church here, the famous, 10,000-plus member nondenominational church that's directly across Interstate 25 from the It's not that the New Life Church is light years ahead of anyone else--in fact, it may well even be slightly behind some other churches--but to Boyd the key is that he...

Arthur C. Clarke’s epic 2001: A Space Odyssey was released shortly before I left for Vietnam. My wife and I saw it in New York City, and it mesmerized us. No, not the fantasy about the lunar monolith beeping toward Jupiter or the insanity of Keir Dullea, in his best role ever, trying to complete the mission alone after the HAL 9000 computer (voice of Douglas Rain) has killed everyone else aboard Discovery One because it decided that they were a threat to the mission; not the absurdity of Dullea surviving several seconds unprotected in the vacuum of frozen space;...

The first half of 2009 is over and after your summer vacation, you might want to start gearing up for the new distro releases. Once again open source proved that developers collaborating all over the world deliver constant platform improvement. Let’s see what they have in store for us this time.KSplice – Rebootless Kernel UpgradeOne of the arguments I use often when talking about the advantages of using Linux is the fact that you do not have to reboot when installing or upgrading software. Most of the time. Almost every Linux user knows you have to restart your system after...

Synopsis ... chock full of GE products

The following is a copy of a report written by Matthew Robson, a 15-year old schoolboy, for Morgan Stanley on how he and his friends consume media. ... Internet Every teenager has some access to the internet, be it at school or home. Home use is mainly used for fun (such as social networking) whilst school (or library) use is for work. Most teenagers are heavily active on a combination of social networking sites. Facebook is the most common, with nearly everyone with an internet connection registered and visiting >4 times a week. Facebook is popular as one can interact...

Benedict XVI returns to the principal themes of his social encyclical reaffirming the need for a global commitment to development, to eliminate "social inequality and structural injustices that are no longer tolerable." The social question has become an "anthropological” issue which implies a way of conceiving man in truth, body and soul. Prayers for Honduras and a farewell ahead of holidays in Les Combes (Aosta Valley). Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "The absolutism of technology, which finds its clearest expression in certain practices contrary to life�, could "draw dark scenarios for the future of humanity": Benedict XVI returns to warn against...

Defense adviser says new threats challenge dominance that the U.S. has taken for granted American military dominance is eroding in the face of an ascendant Chinese power, hostile states like Iran and the spread of sophisticated weapons and technology to militant groups, and the Pentagon must reassess its long-term strategy, according to a top defense analyst recently appointed to review Defense Department policy. In a Foreign Affairs journal piece published this month, titled "The Pentagon’s Wasting Assets," Andrew Krepinevich argues that the Pentagon needs to better prepare for this new world order by rethinking U.S. global advantages largely taken for...

It's the year 2030. As a soldier enters a crowded marketplace, sensors mounted on his helmet automatically scan faces in the crowd, identifying a known insurgent; a cursor in the heads-up display highlights the target and cues the weapon, which can be set to stun or kill; a simple voice command unlocks the trigger. Aided by "smart drugs," enhanced with prosthetics, and protected by a lightweight suit of armor, this soldier of the future possesses near super-human capabilities and weapons that would make even Iron Man jealous. He's suited up in an "exoskeleton" - essentially a Storm Trooper-esque external shell...

Peter Hughes of Highway Energy Systems Ltd. is an electrical and mechanical engineer responsible for many sustainable technological innovations. He spent years as an environmental consultant to the United Nations. Hughes developed ways to use solar-powered cooking at night for third world countries, and ways to force water into arid climates. But none of his accomplishments is as impressive as his most recent innovation. The electro-kinetic road ramp, or as he refers to it, his “prized jewel in the crown,” is already making an impact in the UK and will soon be coming to the United States. In development for...

The CrunchPad, a simple touch-screen computer for Web-browsing only, is nearing reality with a company formed to oversee its manufacture. A dream product of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, the CrunchPad is designed to be "dead-simple," in Arrington's words. With just a half gigabyte of RAM, a 4 GB solid state drive and no physical keyboard, the device isn't capable of much besides running Firefox on Linux. In addition, the CrunchPad will have a single button for powering on and off, and will include headphone jacks, one USB input, low-end speakers, a microphone and a Web cam. The idea is to sell it for...

Researchers made progress enabling a computer to teach itself British Sign Language by analyzing video footage. The scientists from the University of Oxford and University of Leeds first programmed a machine vision algorithm so the computer could identify the shapes of hands in the video. From New Scientist: Once the team were confident the computer could identify different signs in this way, they exposed it to around 10 hours of TV footage that was both signed and subtitled. They tasked the software with learning the signs for a mixture of 210 nouns and adjectives that appeared multiple times during the...

AN ILLUSION device that makes one object look like another could one day be used to camouflage military planes or create "holes" in solid walls. The idea builds on the optical properties of so-called metamaterials, which can bend light in almost any direction. In 2006, researchers used this idea to create an "invisibility cloak" that bent microwaves around a central cavity, like water flowing around a stone. Any object in this cavity is effectively invisible. Now a group of researchers has gone a step further. "Invisibility is just an illusion of free space, of air," says Che Ting Chan, a...

It sounds like something from a science fiction movie: Sensors are surgically inserted in the brain to understand what you're thinking. Machines that can speak, move or process information — based on the fleeting thoughts in a person's imagination. But it's not completely fictional. The technology is out there. A researcher in Wisconsin recently announced the ability to "think" updates onto the Twitter website. Locally, researchers at Washington University have developed even deeper ways of tying humans and computers together. For Eric Leuthardt, 36, a neurologist at Washington University Medical School, it's about taking our relationship with computers to the...

Beating up your friends, family, boss, coworkers, celebrities, etc, etc has never been more fun! FaceFighter is one of those games that seems extremely gimmicky, and turns out to be extremely hilarious and fun. Appy, the guys behind AppyNews, are putting their facial integration technology to good use with this game, which lets you fight against anyone who you can find a picture of (online or elsewhere), or take a picture of with your iPhone camera. I’ll start with the best part of FaceFighter… adding faces! The setup is extremely simple, and the game allows you to either take a...

Washington - The video gave substance to what seemed so far away. We saw the look in her eyes as they went lifeless. We heard the sounds of her friends and family as they begged her to hold on. And she became the personification of the struggle for democracy in a country where voices for freedom are quelled. Her name was Neda Agha-Soltan, and without Twitter we might never have known that she lived in Iran, that she dreamed of a free Iran, and that she died in a divided Iran for her dreams. Neda became the voice of a...

CCTV, RFID tags and GPS-enabled phones are among the technologies that can be used to keep track of your movements. Big Brother is watching you: CCTV cameras have become one of the most contentious pieces of technology in public use The furore around the Chinese government’s Green Dam software has raised the issue of the way modern technology is used to monitor our daily lives. Here, we list seven of the technologies that can be used to keep track of your movements. CCTV Censorship of the web is futile, says Google CEO China accuses Google of spreading ‘vulgar content’ Closed-circuit...

The Force can be with anyone now. Later this summer, anybody anywhere will have the ability to physically move stuff with their minds like characters do in "Star Wars." No joke. A new toy that harnesses the same technology doctors use to monitor brain waves will arrive in stores in August. The toy moves when it senses a change in the user's brain-wave patterns.

Wal-Mart Stores is striding into the market for electronic health records, seeking to bring the technology into the mainstream for physicians in small offices, where most of America’s doctors practice medicine. Wal-Mart’s move comes as the Obama administration is trying to jump-start the adoption of digital medical records with $19 billion of incentives in the economic stimulus package. The company plans to team its Sam’s Club division with Dell for computers and eClinicalWorks, a fast-growing private company, for software. Wal-Mart says its package deal of hardware, software, installation, maintenance and training will make the technology more accessible and affordable, undercutting...

Teenagers, Gratitude, and a Culture of Affluence Holland, MI. Like many readers, or perhaps more accurately, like many readers with children, I read with great interest Mark Mitchell’s piece on “Cultivating Gratitude [1].” As the father of three children I have long made such cultivation a central concern, but must confess only middling success in the endeavor. One of the central difficulties we face as parents is the paucity of tools we bring to the task. One of our main tools is the use of rhetoric, but at a certain point – oh, let’s say the teenage years – parental...

ecurity sites are warning web users to beware fake Twitter invites in their email inboxes. The reports, based on an alert on Wednesday from Symantec, say the emailed invites come with a malicious attachment which, if downloaded, harvests email addresses from your computer and copies itself to removable drives and shared folders. The emails carry the subject line “Your friend invited you to twitter!”, while the sender’s address is spoofed as “invitations@twitter.com”. Unlike a typical Twitter invite, however, the email contains no invitation link: instead it carries the attached file Invitation Card.zip, tempting the receiver to download it. The attachment,...

Six years after he got the idea and bought the streamliner, Jesse James has set the world record for hydrogen-powered speed. Late afternoon on June 16, James flew across the windswept dust of El Mirage dry lake bed in the California desert and tripped the lights at 199.712 mph. That was 14 mph faster than the previous record of 185 mph, set in Germany by BMW in its hydrogen-powered H2H. "This, I honestly believe, is world-changing," James said of the emissions-free race car. "We can't rely on gasoline forever. I'm paying it forward." The whole deal was for the season-ending...

Five days after the transition to all-digital television, WUSA, the area's CBS affiliate (Channel 9), and WJLA, the ABC affiliate (Channel 7), have disappeared from screens around the region. The stations were the only two in the Washington area to move their digital signals from UHF to the VHF frequencies they once used for their analog broadcasts... LaRochelle received the stations perfectly before the digital transition on Friday, when all full-power stations permanently turned off their analog signals. But now, "they don't even register after a rescan," he said, although he is able to receive Baltimore's ABC channel... The sudden...

Tehran's authoritarian leaders clearly were caught off-guard. They had managed to take down the telephone system opposition supporters used for texting but for some reason were slow to eliminate other social media. As open defiance of the election results broke out, citizen journalists used new media to spread the word. And the whole Web was watching.

The long-awaited switch from analog to digital TV took place last Friday, and if you're like most people, you weren't aware of it. But if you are poor and/or stupid, you've probably had a rough weekend. "Nearly 700,000 calls were received by a federal hot line this week from people confused about the nationwide switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts that occurred Friday. About a third of the calls were about federal coupons to pay for digital converter boxes." Does that really say, "federal coupons for digital converter boxes?" "The largest volume of calls came from the Chicago area..."...

What maybe the Second Iranian Revolution illustrates the power of social networking sites like twitter, blogs, youtube and flickr. They have completely superceded the MSM as the best source of information. In fact on twitter, CNN is being excoriated for it lack of coverage - #cnnfail The Iranian government belatedly has realized the power of these sites and attempting to cut the internet, cellphones, and satellite dishes. I'm stunned by the courage of some of these people who are trying to get inform people on what happening in iran. Here's a list of some of what's available out there http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran...

Claims of bias against women in academic science have been greatly exaggerated. Meanwhile, men are becoming the second sex in American higher education.In 2006 the National Academy of Sciences released Beyond Bias And Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering, which found “pervasive unexamined gender bias� against women in academic science. Donna Shalala, a former Clinton administration cabinet secretary, chaired the committee that wrote the report. When she spoke at a congressional hearing in October 2007, she warned that strong measures would be needed to improve the “hostile climate� women face in university science. This “crisis,�...

The high-tech industry is planning to amplify its opposition to a tax proposal by the White House. On June 5, about a half-dozen tech trade associations discussed strategy for stopping a tax hike on multinational corporations, which would come if the Obama administration succeeds in changing a law that allows companies to defer taxes on overseas revenue of their subsidiaries. ..... That has led to a lobbying blitz out of Silicon Valley. This week, at least three tech trade associations are flying in executives from their member companies for meetings with lawmakers and White House aides. They will lobby against...

The next Silicon Valley? You're kidding, right? Google the phrase, and you'll find an archive of old stories with titles like "India likely to be the next Silicon Valley," "Could the next Silicon Valley be in a developing country?" "Is Vietnam the next Silicon Valley?" Or my favorite: "Could Silicon Valley be the next Detroit?" Long the preeminent high-tech center in North America and the world, Silicon Valley saw unrivaled success that has proved very tough to clone or import. The Valley has done a great job over the years of attracting and retaining global talent and local capital, and...

RECIFE, Brazil – An Air France memo to its pilots about the crash of Flight 447 says the airline is replacing flight-speed sensors in all its medium- and long-haul Airbus jets. Air France declines to comment on the memo obtained by The Associated Press, saying it is for pilots only. Airbus says the matter is part of the probe into the crash that killed 228 people flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The memo sent Friday says Air France has been replacing instruments known as pitot tubes and will finish in "coming weeks." It does not say when it...

School of Future Shock by: Alana Goodman, June 05, 2009 At Philadelphia’s School of the Future (SOF), textbooks have been replaced with laptops and high schoolers are taught core curriculum through technology-based programs like YouTube and instant messenger. SOF is a charter school in the Philadelphia School District serving mostly low-income students, and was created through a 2006 partnership with the Microsoft Corporation. But the school, once hailed as “the next big thing” by National Public Radio, is struggling to live up to these high expectations. SOF’s original goals were to supply each student with a laptop computer that he...

One and only one thing allows most Americans today to live better than 19th Century kings (literally): It is what too many of us today label “greed.” But Barack Obama condemns greed! How could it have accomplished good things? Has Barack Obama or any politician like him ever brought you any technology that is of any use to you? No. But I will tell you who did: “Greedy” investors who risked their own money in companies headed by “greedy” CEOs who worked hard throughout their lives with an eye to the top spot, and who in turn hired “greedy” engineers...

Few places in Virginia are as draining to the soul and as numbing to the buttocks as the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles. And yet, until recently, smiling was still permitted there. No more. As part of the DMV's effort to develop super-secure driver's licenses and foolproof identification cards, the agency has issued a smile ban, directing customers to adopt a "neutral expression" in their portraits, thereby extinguishing whatever happiness comes with finally hearing one's number called. The driver's license photo, it seems, is destined to look like a mug shot. DMV officials say the smile ban...

Researchers at Haifa's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have discovered six different crystal forms - instead of the one known until now - of TATP (acetone peroxide), an organic explosive that takes the form of a white crystalline powder with a distinctive acrid smell. The discovery, said the Technion, will make it possible to develop better technologies for detecting the explosive, which is used by terrorist organizations around the world.

Remember when the swine flu panic began to build ? The day after President Obama urged the flu-worried masses to stay calm, Joe Biden went rogue announcing he has urged family members to avoid airplanes and subways. Biden, told NBC's "Today" show that he'd tell family members to avoid traveling in "confined spaces." "It's not just going to Mexico. If you're any place in a confined aircraft and one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That's me. I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway."...

Today, artificial intelligence, once the preserve of science fiction writers and eccentric computer prodigies, is back in fashion and getting serious attention from NASA and from Silicon Valley companies like Google as well as a new round of start-ups that are designing everything from next-generation search engines to machines that listen or that are capable of walking around in the world. A.I.’s new respectability is turning the spotlight back on the question of where the technology might be heading and, more ominously, perhaps, whether computer intelligence will surpass our own, and how quickly. The concept of ultrasmart computers — machines...

May 21, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Is America Premodern or Postmodern?A highly complex society, staffed by the inept, can be terrifying. By Victor Davis Hanson During the last 20 years, science and a growing economy gave Americans the most sophisticated and leisured lifestyle in history. We inexpensively call or e-mail anywhere in the world. With online shopping and banking, Americans acquire and spend electronically — without seeing those with whom we do business. Taxes are filed over the Internet, and stocks are bought and sold daily online. But with such ease and reliance on computers comes ever-increasing vulnerability. Brilliant engineers...

Somewhere, anywhere, on any given day, there are are a few guys in a garage working on the next big thing. In many cases that the garage is in Israel. The country that brought you the technology for instant messaging, cell phones, etc. has now come up with the next big thing its called CamSpace. CamSpace turns any PC with a web cam into a "WII." It is a software that can track objects in real-time using any standard webcam and the program tracks in three dimensions. The program was designed not to use tons of RAM. Read More about...

Blog: Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Iran, China Ink $17 Billion In Deals Asadollah Asgarowladi, director of the Iran-China trade bureau, has said that China has signed 18 economic contracts, worth $17 billion, with Iran in the areas of technology, engineering, infrastructure, and trade. Iran's Press TV reported that in 2008 there was $29 billion in trade between the two countries. Source: Press TV, Iran, May 18, 2009 Posted at: 2009-05-18

Technology in all of its forms - social networks, smartphones, the Web, instant messaging, on-line gaming - is a net loss for today’s young people. At least according to one group of Silicon Valley 8th graders. “It’s bad for us, but it sure is fun,” says Eric Bautista, 13, one of the students in Sister Jolene Schmitz’s junior high school class at Resurrection School in Sunnyvale, California. Admittedly, this informal survey offers, at best, only anecdotal evidence. Still, it is pretty shocking that a group of young teenagers, all of them technologically very astute, and living in the very heart...

"This new geospatial information system for the US military mixes maps, 3D, units positioning, UAV video, radar, infrared, and satellite imaging into a single, fully interactive realtime tactical surface." "Called Global Situational Awareness the system seamlessly puts together geographical information and schematics with material from countless sources in the battlefield: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, AWACs, satellites, ground-level radar, reconnaissance units... anything that is connected to the battle grid will be mixed into one single tactical plan. The result of this advanced information merging system—for a lack of a better term—is then shown in a touch display, which is used by the...

THE plasma TV isn't dead yet -- but it looks like it's not long for this world. Like the Betamax videotape format and laser disc DVD before it, the plasma TV set -- the favorite of techies -- is losing out to the more popularly priced LCD TV. Pioneer and VIZIO -- the nation's No. 2 set maker -- say they're abandoning the plasma business. With a 22 percent sales drop in the first quarter of 2009 compared to last year -- when the sale of flat-screen TVs overall is sky rocketing -- "the writing is kind of on the...

The Conficker Internet virus has infected important computerized medical devices, but governmental red tape interfered with their repair, an organizer of an antivirus working group told Congress on Friday. Rodney Joffe, one of the founders of an unofficial organization known as the Conficker Working Group, said that government regulations prevented hospital staff from carrying out the repairs. Joffe, who also is the senior vice president for the telecom clearinghouse Neustar, told a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that over the last three weeks, he and another Conficker researcher identified at least 300 critical medical devices from a...

An "electronic nose" developed by NASA scientists to monitor air quality on the Space Shuttle Endeavor may also be used to detect the difference between normal and cancerous brain cells. Neurosurgeons with the City of Hope Cancer Center and scientific researchers from the Brain Mapping Foundation and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both in California, used the device to investigate the role of cellular odors in cellular trafficking, brain cancer metastasis, stem cell migration, and the potential of the device for use in brain imaging, according to a press release. The device, which will be installed in the International Space Station,...

Authorities at Mexico City's international airport said they have installed 10 heat-imaging cameras to catch any departing or arriving passengers with flu symptoms. Those passing through the facility were also first being asked to feel out a health questionnaire, spokesman Victor Mejia said on Thursday. The cameras showed passengers in colours corresponding to heat coming off parts of their body, he said, adding: "If the image is yellow, orange or red, doctors will take them to a third check point." There, a quick test would be carried out to see whether the passenger should be taken to hospital for an...