Google Unveils Knowledge Graph, Takes Search to Next Level
Google is ready to change the way we look at search. Today they introduced a redesign to search results that provides you context on what you searched for, rather than the string you submitted.
The idea is this: when you search for a piano, you aren’t looking for the word “piano,” but an acutal piano. “Piano music” would be looking for piano music, not a generic string.
Searching for things, however, requires knowledge of what those things are. And for all Google’s vast archives, its computers still had no conception of what a piano was, or what it related to.
Google...
Google Releasing Nexus Line, Using Multiple Manufacturers
Hot on the heels of Google getting back into hardware distribution (you can now buy the Galaxy Nexus off of the Play store) comes the news that Google is planning to release a whole line of Nexus devices next cycle, made by several different manufacturers.
Every device would, of course, be running stock Android. and each would presumably get premium placement on the Play Store.
While the story comes from the Wall Street Journal, the actual details are still quite sparse. There is no mention of what manufacturers will be making the hardware, though I think it is safe to...
Electric Imp Takes the 'Internet of Things' Mainstream
Today a new startup came out of stealth mode. Called Electric Imp, they have developed a line of products designed to connect anything and everything together. and they might finally take the internet of things into the mainstream.
Electric Imp sells a series of small microcomputers that resemble SD cards. In them is a Wifi antennae and a processor. You plug them into other circuits that Electric Imp also sells, which do various things. One was designed to measure water level, for example.
By breaking the processing out of the sensors, you get a product that can...
Yes, Gadgets Work Under your Skin
A team from Autodesk, a company known more for their design software than their hardware research, wanted to know the answer to a fairly simple question: if you embedded existing technologies like button, bluetooth, LED’s, and a touch sensor work if they were embedded underneath the skin?
It turns out, yes. Every single one of them works as if they were on top of the skin, rather than under it. Skin proved to be of little hindrance to bluetooth, and embedded (quite literally, in this case) devices could maintain a connection with little trouble. They were even able...
China Breaks Teleportation Record 97 Kilometers
China has managed to teleport a quantum state 97 kilometers. That breaks the standing teleportation record of 16 kilometers by 81 kilometers. This is big, big news for communications.
Teleportation in the real world hardly resembles teleportation on television. For one thing, there is much less glitter. For another, real teleportation is all about transferring information and synchronizing particles. It might not seem as sexy, but quantum teleportation like this could revolutionize global communications.
The idea is simple: when one photon at one point is changed, another photon at the other end also changes. Technically no...
Intel Releases Roadmap, Developing 5 nm Chips
Intel is working on shrinking the processor to sizes never before seen, or so says their new roadmap.
Currently in production are 22 nm chips. The next generation that is in development is a line of 14 nm chips, and Intel is working on developing manufacturing methods for producing 10 nm, 7 nm and 5 nm chips. At 5 nm, the transistor gates are approaching the size of a strand of DNA.
The 22 nm chips, codenamed Haswell, are expected to go on sale sometime next year. But Intel has already started outfitting its facilities in Oregon, Iowa and...
SpaceX Dragon Mission FINALLY Approved by NASA
This is it, folks. SpaceX has finally been given the go ahead to launch the Dragon capsule towards the International Space Station. After months and months of delays, which we now know were the result of NASA not being comfortable with the craft flying near the ISS without having intimate knowledge about it, SpaceX will be launching May 19th.
In case you are wondering what all the hoopla is about, this will mark the first time that a commercial spacecraft--one not created by a government body or a nation--will dock with the ISS. Hell, it will be the...
Humans Experience World in Snapshots, not Continuity
We like to think that we see the world as it is, a constantly shifting place of possibilities. But new research shows that our brains perceive a series of disconnected moments--snapshots, as it were--that are then interpreted as a continuous stream of information.
Explained Professor Gregor Thut of the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology:
“Rhythms are intrinsic to biological systems. The circadian rhythm, with its very slow periodicity of sleep and wake cycles every 24 hours has an obvious, periodic effect on bodily functions. Brain oscillations – the recurrent neural activity that we see in the brain – also...
Kodak had a Nuclear Reactor and Uranium in its Basement
Kodak had a nuclear reactor in the basement of its Rochester, NY building. It was filled with 3.5 pounds of enriched uranium. Yes, it is a perfectly fine reaction to ask “what the hell?”
What’s more, they apparently never told anyone about it. The Rochester government was completely ignorant of it, as were the fire department, police department, etc. Kodak even admits that they never actually mentioned having it there. That does beg the question though: where did this thing come from, and why didn’t Kodak tell anyone about it?
Fortunately Kodak’s purpose for the device wasn’t...
Pebble Tied to Twine, Smartwatch Linked to Everyday Objects
Two popular Kickstarter projects have now been tied together. Twine, an initiative to make everyday objects able to communicate wirelessly with computers, has now managed to tie its hardware to the Pebble smartwatch.
We have talked about the Pebble before. It is a record-setting smart watch that ties to your smartphone and is capable of pulling and pushing data back and forth. We’ve seen examples of it used for controlling music, as a bike computer, for run tracking, and more.
Twine, meanwhile, is something completely different. It is a platform of sensors that tie themselves remotely to your...
Scientists Split Water for Less; Cheap Hydrogen on the Way
Hydrogen fuel is often touted as the future of automobiles, but it suffers from one very troubling problem: actually getting hydrogen is exceedingly difficult. But scientists might have finally managed to create a nanomaterial capable of breaking water down into hydrogen and oxygen using common, easily obtained metals.
Water does not like to be broken apart. We can do it, but the two most common methods either release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere or requires platinum, a rare earth metal that there just isn’t that much of on this planet.
Platinum acts as a catalyst for the water. When...
Iranian Fatwa Against Anti-Censoring Tools Censored
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not a fan of the internet. Under his leadership the nation has embarked on an attempt to destroy the internet as the rest of the world knows it. currently the country employs filtering tools not unlike those in China, but significantly more extreme.
Some industrious citizens who weren’t happy about this created tools to bypass these restrictions. the Supreme Commander wasn’t happy about this, so he issued a fatwa against the programs, outlawing their use. In what can only be described as a wonderfully ironic event, though, it is...
FoxConn Lets Slip Apple iTV Preparations
So we might have been a bit early in the iTV speculation. That’s okay! It looks like the hardware might finally be coming, and fairly soon. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou let slip an interesting tidbit at a news conference in Shanghai: the company is already “making preparations for iTV.” Note that that doesn’t mean manufacturing has begun.
At its best, that means that Foxconn is assembling the necessary equipment to manufacture the mythical Apple device. However there’s a lot of leeway in his words. It could also simply mean that Foxconn is getting...
Mirage Table from Microsoft Research Brings AR to Life
Microsoft Research is home to some of the best technology hacks on the planet, but this one might just take the cake. Combining a stereoscopic 3D projector, a Kinect, and a curved screen, the Mirage Table manages to seamlessly blend the real world with the virtual.
How it works The Mirage table has a curved screen which a projector projects on. The curved screen curves around where the head should be, as if it were a sliver of a sphere centered around the user’s head. This allows for some truly compelling 3D effects, in addition to fixing some perspective...
Apple Dropping Google Maps, Making its Own
What with all the squabbling, we’ve known this was coming, but its still nice to hear it confirmed. Apple will be dropping Google Maps from iOS in version 6 of the operating system, relying instead on a home-grown solution.
What’s more, the system looks like it will be quite impressive, hosting immersive 3D thanks to C3 technologies, a mapping company it bought last year (check out this impressive video of the Hoover Dam as rendered by their tech).
This is a rumor, but so far it is a rumor that has been confirmed independently by two sources with excellent Apple...
| Template by