This happened to me but it was about a year ago. I went to check my gmail and it said it had recently been accessed from China. I immediately reset my password on every account that I had everywhere.
I had heard that gmail started notifying people if the account was accessed from china, so I was interested to see what would happen when I went to china for a conference a few weeks ago.
Nothing.
There were no notifications or anything when I got back. I changed my passwords anyway because access to gmail from within china was suspiciously intermittant (monitoring?) while other non-blocked sites were normal.
Someone also wasn' thinking when they made the charger for my Razer wireless mouse USB (I forget the model). When I am using the mouse the PC is on, so the charger is on... but the mouse is not in the cradle. When I stop using the mouse and put it back in the cradle to charge, the PC is off, so the charger is off...
I realise some PCs supply USB power when switched off, but I can't see any BIOS settings to allow it on mine. So I have to use my wireless mouse in wired mode (at least that feature is a good idea).
According to the article, one of the main reasons spark plugs get gummed up is the electrical sparks they are putting out. Electric arcs tend to corrode their endpoints. With a laser, this isn't a problem. Also, the lasers aren't going to try to ignite combustion right in front of them: It's more efficient to ignite it away from them, in the center of the cylinder. Spark plugs can't do that at all.
Plus, of course, any laser capable of igniting a fuel-air mixture reliably in a few nanoseconds can burn through a bit of soot on the way.
But in order to be useful, the lasers will have to be focussed. That means the power will be high at the focal point, but low where it exits the lens/window into the engine. I would have thought that the entry point where the power is low will get dirty very quickly and block the beam.
I work in robotics research in Japan. The popular research topics are completely opposite to the US.
In the US, if you want funding you use keywords like: terrorist, warfighter, IED, surveillance, combat
In Japan you use keywords like: elderly, assistance, safety, entertainment
So we need radiation hardened US robots. After the mess in Fukushima though, I propose to develop a robot to entertain radioactive elderly people while assisting them to drive safely.
One possible, though not perfect, solution would be to provide a choice between 3D and non-3D glasses at the theatre. The non-3D version would be the same glasses but with the blanking/polarisation the same on both eyes instead of opposite. You still have to wear the glasses, but at least those who don't want 3D wouldn't have to have it.
Nuclear reactors represent astonishing capital investments by their builders, and by that I mean the companies, governments and citizens. Japan is dealing with rolling blackouts. This is intolerable in a nation that relies on meeting the demands of the export market. The No.5 and No.6 reactors represent about 2GW of generation capacity they desperately need.
They'll bring those reactors up at some point.
Let me just add that the weather is now cool (still cold up north) and everyone is trying to save power by turning off all unnecessary lights, equipment etc. Even the famous Japanese toilets are turned off in the University of Tokyo where I am (the flush still works, just not the fancy stuff). Even with this effort, there is not enough power.
Looking at past years, there is a HUGE increase in power usage from around June when the weather gets hot, but that is just not going to be possible for the next few years. I really don't know what to expect in summer, but air conditioning may be banned except for hospitals etc (just a guess). It is going to be very very uncomfortable.
I designed a ring and had a test print done in plastic, it was around US$25. I got a quote for the same ring in titanium and it was US$150ish. The cost for a bicycle frame or anything large is huge, but it is great for small things.
Oh another thing, they can print in wax and do lost-wax castings which might be cheaper.
I'm in Tokyo, still occasional aftershocks (7ish hours after). I heard something about one of the nuclear plants not shutting down properly, but not sure of the details. Worst of all (in Tokyo), McDonalds is closed.
It looks much worse in the northern areas of Japan.
I've been learning Japanese lately but my Hiragana is undeveloped. Been lazy with it though, I've had the language course for like a year now and I've gone through about 30 hours of study, with only 14 lessons so far... on average, I've done each twice. I need to pick up the pace; I have no real exposure.
I have found that the only way to make progress in learning Japanese (and probably other languages) is to do a structured course where you are forced to continue at a regular pace once you start. Otherwise you just keep learning a bit, then leave it a while, then forget and re-learn. I have heaps of learning software but I never use it, so don't progress.
In the first Japanese course I did, the first lesson or 2 were in roman characters to cover the basic structure, then we covered hiragana in one lesson and all following lessons had no roman characters. The following week added katakana. If you actually try (as we were forced to), everyone was able to read (slowly) most hiragana in a week and write them a week later. Same with katakana. Then 5-10 kanji a week after that. If you actually study and use it it's not that hard... but most people just can't be bothered if it can be avoided (me included). Kids probably learn faster partly because they haven't grown so lazy yet.
Well, it would still allow much smaller mirrors to be used, right? So something like a (relatively cheap) 30" mirror with an S-CAM sensor would be able to outperform a much larger telescope with a CCD?
Even if there are optics involved, making the sensor 18000 times more sensitive seems like it would be immensely more helpful than just making bigger optics.
You need a lens/mirror to focus, but the reason they have to be so big is to collect more light. The problem is not so much that the CCD doesn't detect all of the photons, but that there aren't many photons to detect in the first place! A sensor 18000 times more sensitive can still only detect photons that arrive.
The objects being imaged are reeeally far away, so you want to collect light from as large an area as possible to reduce the exposure time you need. A quick google says that some hubble exposures are 11.3 days long. That gives some idea of how dim the images are.
Amazing new paper sensor! Only 4c to manufacture! The size of a dime! 120 micronewton accuracy!
Fine print: Requires precision resistors for the wheatstone bridge, a high resolution ADC, and a microcontroller for minimal calibration. Also a temperature sensor and additional ADC for decent calibration. Sounds like about $3 worth of additional cost minimum.
A 10 second check of digikey shows you can get a *3-axis* MEMS accelerometer (MMA8453QT) in a 3x3x1mm package (MUCH smaller than a dime) for US$2 ($1.12 in 100 qty). So this paper thing is larger, more expensive, and less accurate than MEMS accelerometers. That is besides the problem of sensitivity to humidity, and I expect low bandwidth. An interesting idea, but impractical.
Yes, collecting all the debris in orbit into a single giant ball, then let it drift in orbit, uncontrolled, without thrusters, is a brilliant idea.
A single giant ball drifting in orbit, uncontrolled, without thrusters is much easier to avoid than lots of little balls drifting in orbit, uncontrolled, without thrusters.
Unfortunatly the human eye sees green as the brightest colour. If you're putting filters on the pilot's eyes, he'll be seeing less at night, or in foggy conditions or something similar.
Actually since it is a laser, the wavelength band is very narrow and easy to block without significantly affecting the pilot's vision (even for green objects). An interference filter blocking 532nm (the wavelength of green laser pointers) would be very effective, but expensive to cover the entire cockpit windows.
Perhaps either pilot or copilot should be required to wear laser safety glasses blocking 532nm on landing approach (and other common wavelengths if needed). That would only cost US$200 per plane and would completely get rid of the problem.
TFA shows very zoomed in images of eyes and two large cameras, but they say the system is "half the size of a matchbox". If each camera plus processor is really so small, that's a pretty good system. And they say it can do it at 200 FPS? Thats a lot of image processing.
I suspect they locate the eyes in a low resolution image first then just process the eye regions at 200 Hz, keeping them centred to account for head movement. Otherwise it would be impossible in the matchbox size with current DSPs. Anyone have more details?
Crowdsourcing for this may be a good bit of publicity, but is really just wasting time. A genetic algorithm running on their "simulation" will find the best solution within the accuracy of the parameters very quickly. Run a couple of times to make sure it is the global minimum and you're done.
Their competition has a hard limit on mission duration and the goal is minumum delta-v, so the fitness function is very easy to define. If anyone wants to win the competition, figure out how to write parameters to their simulation and read the delta-v and mission duration, run a GA for a while and you automatically win.
Then they just need to check the temperature of the finger to make sure that it's still alive. It should work: criminals with microwaves can't run away very fast.
Criminals with warm armpits/pockets can still run fast. It only has to stay warm for a few seconds.
Checking for heartbeat/blood oxygen (like the finger clip sensors in hospitals) is more reliable and only needs an additional 2 LEDs.
But then they can still peel off your finger print skin and hold it under their finger in the sensor. You still end up with a sore finger at the minimum.
you americans thing your so smarter with these stuffs. china is rolling you all, grow a brain. Balloons? china has superior sensors for this and you think this is for stealing this? Dust! we look behind and you fight everyone when we are winning and you do not know. so weak.
Yeah, China's superior sensors don't even need tri-coloured LEDs! Chinese air is so "advanced" that they only need the red one!
I've never really understood the complaints about eBay sniping. Set your maximum bid at the actual maximum that you want to pay. Whether someone snipes or not, if your bid is the highest you will win. If it's not, you won't.
You are right in principle, but...let's say I see something now and decide I'll pay $50 max for it. If it sells for $50.01, well damn, I would have paid $50.01. I might not have paid $60, but one cent more?
It's really hard to find the exact to-the-penny point where your "no, I won't pay that" mode is tripped. Virtually everyone will pay a few cents more than their maximum bid - and hence, snipers flourish and cause angst. It's not a case of paying 20% more - that's obvious - it's a case of paying.001% more. Most people can't focus their "maximum that you want to pay" that finely.
Whenever I bid on ebay, I choose my maximum bid, then add a couple of dollars and a random amount of cents to avoid this. Eg if I would pay about $50, I put a bid for say $53.72. Most people bid whole numbers or the next minimum increment above, so by adding a small "snipe margin" you avoid being irritated. If the final price is higher than this, well the price is higher than you wanted to pay anyway so no problem.
Slashdot Mirror
This happened to me but it was about a year ago. I went to check my gmail and it said it had recently been accessed from China. I immediately reset my password on every account that I had everywhere.
I had heard that gmail started notifying people if the account was accessed from china, so I was interested to see what would happen when I went to china for a conference a few weeks ago.
Nothing.
There were no notifications or anything when I got back. I changed my passwords anyway because access to gmail from within china was suspiciously intermittant (monitoring?) while other non-blocked sites were normal.
This is what happens when you try to keep addicts from their fix.
Oh really? You mean there are existing safety standards for new technology?
And here I thought it was just the engineer's conservative estimates...
Well since the train designs are stolen^H^H^H similar to the Japanese and German high speed trains, there must be relevent safety standards.
Someone also wasn' thinking when they made the charger for my Razer wireless mouse USB (I forget the model). When I am using the mouse the PC is on, so the charger is on... but the mouse is not in the cradle. When I stop using the mouse and put it back in the cradle to charge, the PC is off, so the charger is off...
I realise some PCs supply USB power when switched off, but I can't see any BIOS settings to allow it on mine.
So I have to use my wireless mouse in wired mode (at least that feature is a good idea).
According to the article, one of the main reasons spark plugs get gummed up is the electrical sparks they are putting out. Electric arcs tend to corrode their endpoints. With a laser, this isn't a problem. Also, the lasers aren't going to try to ignite combustion right in front of them: It's more efficient to ignite it away from them, in the center of the cylinder. Spark plugs can't do that at all.
Plus, of course, any laser capable of igniting a fuel-air mixture reliably in a few nanoseconds can burn through a bit of soot on the way.
But in order to be useful, the lasers will have to be focussed. That means the power will be high at the focal point, but low where it exits the lens/window into the engine. I would have thought that the entry point where the power is low will get dirty very quickly and block the beam.
I work in robotics research in Japan. The popular research topics are completely opposite to the US.
In the US, if you want funding you use keywords like:
terrorist, warfighter, IED, surveillance, combat
In Japan you use keywords like:
elderly, assistance, safety, entertainment
So we need radiation hardened US robots. After the mess in Fukushima though, I propose to develop a robot to entertain radioactive elderly people while assisting them to drive safely.
One possible, though not perfect, solution would be to provide a choice between 3D and non-3D glasses at the theatre. The non-3D version would be the same glasses but with the blanking/polarisation the same on both eyes instead of opposite. You still have to wear the glasses, but at least those who don't want 3D wouldn't have to have it.
Nuclear reactors represent astonishing capital investments by their builders, and by that I mean the companies, governments and citizens. Japan is dealing with rolling blackouts. This is intolerable in a nation that relies on meeting the demands of the export market. The No.5 and No.6 reactors represent about 2GW of generation capacity they desperately need.
They'll bring those reactors up at some point.
Let me just add that the weather is now cool (still cold up north) and everyone is trying to save power by turning off all unnecessary lights, equipment etc. Even the famous Japanese toilets are turned off in the University of Tokyo where I am (the flush still works, just not the fancy stuff). Even with this effort, there is not enough power.
Looking at past years, there is a HUGE increase in power usage from around June when the weather gets hot, but that is just not going to be possible for the next few years. I really don't know what to expect in summer, but air conditioning may be banned except for hospitals etc (just a guess). It is going to be very very uncomfortable.
How is this not fraud?
Titanium printing is extremely expensive though.
I designed a ring and had a test print done in plastic, it was around US$25.
I got a quote for the same ring in titanium and it was US$150ish.
The cost for a bicycle frame or anything large is huge, but it is great for small things.
Oh another thing, they can print in wax and do lost-wax castings which might be cheaper.
I'm in Tokyo, still occasional aftershocks (7ish hours after).
I heard something about one of the nuclear plants not shutting down properly, but not sure of the details.
Worst of all (in Tokyo), McDonalds is closed.
It looks much worse in the northern areas of Japan.
Has the amount of lawyering we need risen by so much (taking the place of common sense)?
In the US, yes.
I've been learning Japanese lately but my Hiragana is undeveloped. Been lazy with it though, I've had the language course for like a year now and I've gone through about 30 hours of study, with only 14 lessons so far... on average, I've done each twice. I need to pick up the pace; I have no real exposure.
I have found that the only way to make progress in learning Japanese (and probably other languages) is to do a structured course where you are forced to continue at a regular pace once you start. Otherwise you just keep learning a bit, then leave it a while, then forget and re-learn. I have heaps of learning software but I never use it, so don't progress.
In the first Japanese course I did, the first lesson or 2 were in roman characters to cover the basic structure, then we covered hiragana in one lesson and all following lessons had no roman characters. The following week added katakana. If you actually try (as we were forced to), everyone was able to read (slowly) most hiragana in a week and write them a week later. Same with katakana. Then 5-10 kanji a week after that. If you actually study and use it it's not that hard... but most people just can't be bothered if it can be avoided (me included). Kids probably learn faster partly because they haven't grown so lazy yet.
Maybe next year will be the year of the linux desktop...
Well, it would still allow much smaller mirrors to be used, right? So something like a (relatively cheap) 30" mirror with an S-CAM sensor would be able to outperform a much larger telescope with a CCD?
Even if there are optics involved, making the sensor 18000 times more sensitive seems like it would be immensely more helpful than just making bigger optics.
You need a lens/mirror to focus, but the reason they have to be so big is to collect more light. The problem is not so much that the CCD doesn't detect all of the photons, but that there aren't many photons to detect in the first place! A sensor 18000 times more sensitive can still only detect photons that arrive.
The objects being imaged are reeeally far away, so you want to collect light from as large an area as possible to reduce the exposure time you need. A quick google says that some hubble exposures are 11.3 days long. That gives some idea of how dim the images are.
Amazing new paper sensor!
Only 4c to manufacture!
The size of a dime!
120 micronewton accuracy!
Fine print:
Requires precision resistors for the wheatstone bridge, a high resolution ADC, and a microcontroller for minimal calibration. Also a temperature sensor and additional ADC for decent calibration. Sounds like about $3 worth of additional cost minimum.
A 10 second check of digikey shows you can get a *3-axis* MEMS accelerometer (MMA8453QT) in a 3x3x1mm package (MUCH smaller than a dime) for US$2 ($1.12 in 100 qty). So this paper thing is larger, more expensive, and less accurate than MEMS accelerometers. That is besides the problem of sensitivity to humidity, and I expect low bandwidth. An interesting idea, but impractical.
Yes, collecting all the debris in orbit into a single giant ball, then let it drift in orbit, uncontrolled, without thrusters, is a brilliant idea.
A single giant ball drifting in orbit, uncontrolled, without thrusters is much easier to avoid than lots of little balls drifting in orbit, uncontrolled, without thrusters.
Think of the Will Smith movie version of "I, Robot" where the robot cooks an apple pie from scratch. That's what you need.
The robot first created the universe?
I must have missed that bit.
Unfortunatly the human eye sees green as the brightest colour. If you're putting filters on the pilot's eyes, he'll be seeing less at night, or in foggy conditions or something similar.
Actually since it is a laser, the wavelength band is very narrow and easy to block without significantly affecting the pilot's vision (even for green objects). An interference filter blocking 532nm (the wavelength of green laser pointers) would be very effective, but expensive to cover the entire cockpit windows.
Perhaps either pilot or copilot should be required to wear laser safety glasses blocking 532nm on landing approach (and other common wavelengths if needed). That would only cost US$200 per plane and would completely get rid of the problem.
Nobody cares about the guy putting together a kit.
The interesting thing is that you can buy a kit that allows you to build a (basic) 3D printer, and that there are photos of the printer hardware.
Many people on slashdot would be very happy to have a 3D printer.
I wonder how well it copes with head movement.
TFA shows very zoomed in images of eyes and two large cameras, but they say the system is "half the size of a matchbox". If each camera plus processor is really so small, that's a pretty good system. And they say it can do it at 200 FPS? Thats a lot of image processing.
I suspect they locate the eyes in a low resolution image first then just process the eye regions at 200 Hz, keeping them centred to account for head movement. Otherwise it would be impossible in the matchbox size with current DSPs.
Anyone have more details?
Crowdsourcing for this may be a good bit of publicity, but is really just wasting time.
A genetic algorithm running on their "simulation" will find the best solution within the accuracy of the parameters very quickly. Run a couple of times to make sure it is the global minimum and you're done.
Their competition has a hard limit on mission duration and the goal is minumum delta-v, so the fitness function is very easy to define.
If anyone wants to win the competition, figure out how to write parameters to their simulation and read the delta-v and mission duration, run a GA for a while and you automatically win.
Then they just need to check the temperature of the finger to make sure that it's still alive. It should work: criminals with microwaves can't run away very fast.
Criminals with warm armpits/pockets can still run fast. It only has to stay warm for a few seconds.
Checking for heartbeat/blood oxygen (like the finger clip sensors in hospitals) is more reliable and only needs an additional 2 LEDs.
But then they can still peel off your finger print skin and hold it under their finger in the sensor. You still end up with a sore finger at the minimum.
you americans thing your so smarter with these stuffs. china is rolling you all, grow a brain. Balloons? china has superior sensors for this and you think this is for stealing this? Dust! we look behind and you fight everyone when we are winning and you do not know. so weak.
Yeah, China's superior sensors don't even need tri-coloured LEDs!
Chinese air is so "advanced" that they only need the red one!
I've never really understood the complaints about eBay sniping. Set your maximum bid at the actual maximum that you want to pay. Whether someone snipes or not, if your bid is the highest you will win. If it's not, you won't.
You are right in principle, but...let's say I see something now and decide I'll pay $50 max for it. If it sells for $50.01, well damn, I would have paid $50.01. I might not have paid $60, but one cent more?
It's really hard to find the exact to-the-penny point where your "no, I won't pay that" mode is tripped. Virtually everyone will pay a few cents more than their maximum bid - and hence, snipers flourish and cause angst. It's not a case of paying 20% more - that's obvious - it's a case of paying .001% more. Most people can't focus their "maximum that you want to pay" that finely.
Whenever I bid on ebay, I choose my maximum bid, then add a couple of dollars and a random amount of cents to avoid this. Eg if I would pay about $50, I put a bid for say $53.72. Most people bid whole numbers or the next minimum increment above, so by adding a small "snipe margin" you avoid being irritated. If the final price is higher than this, well the price is higher than you wanted to pay anyway so no problem.