You might remember the tortured screams of a 56k modem handshake and the soothing drone of television static, but those sounds don’t exist in the wild anymore, and there’s an increasing number of children, teens, and soon adults who will never know the once pervasive tech sounds of the past. Granted, that’s because we’ve moved on to bigger and better things, but what kind … Read More → "Museum Of Endangered Sounds preserves outdated tech noises for posterity"

The emerging field of telepresence and telerobotics has produced some fairly out-there forms to carry out their functions, and researchers at Yamagata University in Japan don’t seem to have any problem pushing that envelope. Their concept: a telepresence robot that quite literally is that voice in your ear, that angel (or devil) on your shoulder. The MH-2 (for “miniature humanoid”) is a remotely controlled robot that lives on your shoulder and conveys a person’s gestures and movements from a distance.
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A new type of computer malware, described as “the most sophisticated cyberweapon yet unleashed”, has been uncovered in computers in the Middle East.

Antivirus researchers and software manufacturers in Russia, Hungary and Ireland uncovered Worm.Win32.Flame.

They also believe it may have infected machines in Europe.

Dr. Boldizsár Bencsáth, from the Laboratory of Cryptography and Systems at Budapest University, says the computer virus was most likely to be a state-sponsored cyberweapon, used as a tool for international espionage.
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Astronomers recently discovered a new asteroid as it passed surprisingly close to the earth this week. The asteroid was dubbed 2012 KT42 and passed a mere 14,000 km above the planet’s surface. That was close enough to cause damage to some satellites, but no damage occurred.
via SlashGear

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Step 1, naturally, is to be in Manhattan.

I’m in New York City today and Scientific American contributing editor Steven Ashley was kind enough to reminded me that my visit is coinciding with Manhattanhenge—a twice-a-year event when the sun lines up with Manhattan’s street grid. This year, there will be a Manhattanhenge on May 29/30 and another on July 11/12.

You’ll note that Manhattanhenge does not actually … Read More → "How to experience Manhattanhenge"

A British company called Surrey Satellite Technology has developed a new nanosatellite that integrates technology from Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect. That Xbox technology allows the nano satellite to dock with another satellite while orbiting the planet. The satellite is called STRaND, which means Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Development.

< … Read More → "British STRaND satellite uses Kinect technology"

Most people associate vacuum tubes with a time when a single computer took up several rooms and “debugging” meant removing the insects stuck in the valves, but this technology may be in for a resurgence with news that researchers at NASA and the National Nanofab Center in South Korea are working on a miniaturized “vacuum channel transistor” – a best-of-both-worlds device that could find application in space and high-radiation environments.

Vacuum tubes, or thermionic valves, have almost disappeared from our day-to-day life, save for some purist sound rigs and high-power radio base stations. Their replacement – solid-state transistors – … Read More → "The return of the vacuum tube?"

After making history last Friday by becoming the first private spacecraft to ever reach the International Space Station (ISS), SpaceX’s Dragon capsule was successfully boarded by ISS astronauts the following morning. The interior of the craft was reportedly in good condition, and according to astronaut Don Pettit, it smelled like a new car.
via Gizmodo

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CPU Wars is a Top-Trumps-style game whose play-tokens are cards bearing the likeness and specifications of various CPUs (what else?) through the ages, from 8088s up to contemporary 64-bit multicores. It was produced with the help of a successful Kickstarter, and is now available as a normal object of commerce, with regular expansion packs.
via Boing Boing</ … Read More → "CPU wars: top trumps with CPUs"

Not many folks I know enjoy having to receive an injection. Mostly this has to do with the fact that they don’t like needles. Needles can leave bruises, aren’t the most accurate of tools and involve piercing our protective layer of skin to even work. But that all might change soon with Massachusetts Institute of Technology‘s development of an incredibly accurate jet-injection device. Welcome to the future.
via < … Read More → "MIT develops jet-injection device to replace needles"