Geek stuff Archive

Theory on Particle Spin Brings Quantum Computing Closer

Eugenia Loli 2006-09-08 Geek stuff 4 Comments

Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have devised a potentially groundbreaking theory demonstrating how to control the spin of particles without using superconducting magnets - a development that could advance the field of spintronics and bring scientists a step closer to quantum computing.

Sci-Fi: a New Kind of OS

Submitted by MHW 2006-08-28 Geek stuff 28 Comments

"Imagine if you will, a world where your ideas and perhaps, even your own creative works became part of the OS of tomorrow. Consider the obvious advantages to an operating system that actually adapted to the needs of the users instead of the other way around. Not only is there no such OS like this, the very idea goes against much of what we are currently seeing in the current OS options in the market."

Latest Advancements in Speech Recognition

David Adams 2006-07-22 Geek stuff 12 Comments

Talking to your computer has been a staple of science fiction since at least the 1960s, but it looks as if it's finally coming within reach. This week saw the release of the first speech recognition software capable of handling continuous speech without the user having to train it in advance, namely Nuance's Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS) version 9. For anyone else who tried IBM ViaVoice or Dragon Dictate a few years ago, found it awkward to get the system used to your voice, and even more awkward to speak in a staccato word-by-word fashion, this is a huge leap forward.

AI Reaches the Golden Years

Submitted by Eugenia Loli 2006-07-17 Geek stuff 22 Comments

"Artificial intelligence is 50 years old this summer, and while computers can beat the world's best chess players, we still can't get them to think like a 4-year-old. This week in Boston, some of the field's leading practitioners are gathering to examine this most ambitious of computer research fields, which at once has managed to exceed, and fall short of, our grandest expectations."

OpenCyc 1.0 Released

Eugenia Loli 2006-07-14 Geek stuff 18 Comments

OpenCyc is the open source version of the Cyc technology, the world's largest and most complete general knowledge base and commonsense reasoning engine. OpenCyc can be used as the basis for a wide variety of intelligent applications. This is release 1.0 of OpenCyc featuring the complete Cyc ontology of over 260,000 terms and their definitional assertions numbering over 1.8 million. OpenCyc requires about 500MB of disk space and performs best with over 512 MB RAM. One GB of RAM is recommended for Cyc when accessed by Java applications.

Replace Your Mouse with Your Eye

Eugenia Loli 2006-07-10 Geek stuff 26 Comments

Computers of the future could be controlled by eye movements, rather than a mouse or keyboard. Scientists at Imperial College, London, are working on eye-tracking technology that analyses the way we look at things. The team is trying to gain an insight into visual knowledge - the way we see objects and translate that information into actions.

Star Trek-Like Cloaking Devices Proposed by Physicists

Thom Holwerda 2006-05-04 Geek stuff 40 Comments

Since all you boys and girls watch Star Trek: "Physicists Nicolae Nicorovici from the University of Sydney, Australia, and Graeme Milton, from the University of Utah, have proposed that devices called superlenses could be used to create a type of cloaking device. Using a principle called 'anomalous localized resonance', superlenses placed very close to a small object could mask its reflected light waves by resonating at the same frequency, much like how noise-canceling headphones mask sound waves by creating a sound that is at the same frequency but inverted in phase."

Quantum Computer Solves Problem, Without Running

Thom Holwerda 2006-02-23 Geek stuff 28 Comments

Ok, this one is just plain scary. "By combining quantum computation and quantum interrogation, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found an exotic way of determining an answer to an algorithm - without ever running the algorithm. Using an optical-based quantum computer, a research team led by physicist Paul Kwiat has presented the first demonstration of 'counterfactual computation', inferring information about an answer, even though the computer did not run." The research team published their results in Nature.

Firm Shows off Flexible Metal Foil Display

Thom Holwerda 2006-02-07 Geek stuff 2 Comments

"A firm is showing off a full colour active matrix OLED display prototype at a show today. Universal Display Corporation, which has had part funding from the US Department of Defence, will talk at the Fifth Annual Flexible Displays and Microelectronics conference in Phoenix today. The firm will show off a four inch diagonal display and demo it running full motion video. The display is .1mm thick, and weighs only six grams, compared to a glass LCD which would weigh about 20-30 grams. The firm said that using a metal foil helps thermal and mechanical durability."

Honda’s Robot Ready for Office Chores

Eugenia Loli 2005-12-13 Geek stuff 18 Comments

Only last year, Honda Motor's now-familiar humanoid robot, Asimo, was learning how to run and avoid tripping over obstacles. Now, the 5-year-old droid is ready to take on simple office work, greeting visitors and fetching refreshments.

NEC Develops Ultra-Thin Battery for Mobile

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-10 Geek stuff 5 Comments

NEC has developed an ultra-thin, flexible, rechargeable battery capable of re-charging in just 30 seconds, the company said on Thursday. The new battery has been dubbed ORB, for Organic Redical Battery, by NEC, because it uses an organic radical polymer as its cathode.

The Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Wall

Submitted by Hakime Seddik 2005-10-26 Geek stuff 3 Comments

"Scientists at UC Irvine have completed the world's highest-resolution grid-based display for visualizing and manipulating massive data sets. The Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Wall (HIPerWall) is a room-sized display that measures nearly 23x9ft (7x2.7m). The HIPerWall system, consisting of 50 flat-panel tiles, provides a total resolution of 200 million pixels (2x that of the 2nd best), bringing to life terabyte-sized data sets. Each panel, with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels, is powered by a dual-processor 2.7GHz G5 node, with nVIDIA 6800 Ultra DDL graphics, that has access to an initial storage capacity of 10 terabytes."

Keeping Pace with Robots

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-05 Geek stuff 4 Comments

The robots are among us, but they're not exactly the stuff of science fiction. At least, not yet.

NASA Develops Trek-Like Speaking Computer

Submitted by Eugenia 2005-06-25 Geek stuff 30 Comments

NASA will soon be installing a new voice-activated computer system on the International Space Station that bears a striking resemblance to Star Trek's computer system. Called Clarissa, the system will initially be able to support about 75 individual commands, which can be accessed using a vocabulary of some 260 words.

The end of the ‘blind’ computer soon?

Submitted by Williams Paquier 2005-06-04 Geek stuff 33 Comments

Computers can do a lot of things today: connect to the internet or do text editing or any other productivity task. They can play music, display or retouch photos, play movies. Produce realistic 3D graphics. But it's still 'blind', it has no idea of your existence, your emotions, the objects you are interacting with. Observer is about to end this era. Have a look at the videos presented in the movies section to understand the potential offered by Observer.

Life on Mars? Could be, but how to tell?

Eugenia Loli 2005-03-29 Geek stuff 28 Comments

The landscape looked lifeless. But satellite images from orbit identified geological formations containing minerals that microbes sometimes like to nestle in, and scientists dispatched a small rover to look at the rocks up close.

BrainGate plugs brains into computers

Eugenia Loli 2005-03-25 Geek stuff 50 Comments

A Foxborough, Mass., company has developed technology that plugs a human brain into a desktop computer, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Rise and Evolvement of the Machines

Eugenia Loli 2004-12-31 Geek stuff 17 Comments

Systems architect and engineer Judith Myerson explains the ins and outs of wireless robots: their components, their shortcomings, and how they can interact in a competitive or cooperative team within professional environments. Learn how smarter robots can relieve us of the most tedious -- and dangerous – tasks.

Definition of Today’s Geek!

Guest post by Adam & Terry Levinstein 2004-12-07 Geek stuff 29 Comments

This document has been created for those who do not have a clear definition of "today's geek". So if you are a geek, or think you may be a geek, sit back, relax, grab your bottle of Bawls and your Tux pillow and join us on this ride. For everyone else, please pay attention so we can embrace the geek in you.

Opinion: Ignorance of the Geek

Guest post by Kevin Russo 2004-12-07 Geek stuff 37 Comments

Geek is defined by Dictionary.com as 'A person who is single-minded or accomplished in a scientific or technical pursuit'. Many of us either acknowledge ourselves as computer geeks or are labeled by Friends, Family, and/or Colleagues as the such. This is not a condescending statement and should not be taken in a negative connotative way. It is in fact an admiration of our technical skills and abilities.

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