Archives

Tags

  • 14Sep
    Gone are the days when search engines provided mostly textual information, a list of 10 blue links that invite you to find the answers on your own. Search engines are now focused on extracting useful information from web pages and surfacing data in interesting ways.

    In June, Google launched Squared, a Labs project that generates lists of entities related to your query and finds values for the associated attributes. Search for [dog breeds] and you'll find a list of breeds, suggestive images, information about the average weight and the country of origin.

    Bing, Microsoft's search engine, has just launched a similar feature: visual search. It's just an early demo and it requires Siverlight, but it looks more impressive than Google Squared. Probably because Microsoft built the interface around images and used the attributes to refine the results.

    "Visual Search allows you to quickly scroll through the galleries or do a one-click refinement using the quick tabs on the left, which are specifically relevant to the type of results you are browsing through," mentions Bing's blog.


    Bing's visual galleries are more polished than the results generated by Google Squared, but Bing only shows galleries for a small number of queries like "popular TV shows" or "world leaders" and the information is obtained from structured data sources.

    It remains to be seen if Microsoft manages to extend the visual search engine and dynamically generate results for any query. For now, you can play with the demo galleries.


  • 14Sep

    The Xbox 360 is many things: games console, media streamer, DVD player (and, in some cases, an expensive paperweight with a shiny red ring.) But now it’s got a new role: predicting heart problems.

    Researchers in Britain are using the console’s graphics chip (pictured, courtesy of Flickr user avalonstar) to power parallel processing: splitting a task between multiple processors running simultaneously. They say it could be an extremely economical alternative to using clusters of computers.

    Staff at the University of Warwick are investigating Cardiac arrhythmia, a group of conditions which causes abnormal electrical activity in the heart. It involves the way signals are carried to stimulate the myocardium muscle, which causes the heart to contract and expand, thus pumping blood.

    The researchers need to be able to simulate the way these signals move around damaged cells. But the sheer number of possible combinations of routes means a single standard PC processor would take so long to cover every outcome as to make the task impractical.

    Traditionally in such circumstances researchers would use a bank of networked computers to carry out the task. However, Dr Simon Scarle tells the BBC his team has been able to alter the code controlling the Xbox graphics processor, which is designed for the parallel processing needed to produce 3D graphics; the chip now calculates chemical levels in the modeled heart cells.

    According to Scarle, the modification of the code was a major task, but technically quite simple and well worth the effort given the cost savings. He says using multiple Xbox chips is theoretically possible but they’d have to be connected through the internet rather than directly wired.

    This isn’t the first time the powers of consoles have been harnessed for traditional computing tasks. Late last year, security researchers used a barrage of 200 PS3s to demonstrate that it was physically possible to crack the encryption system used by Verisign to verify secure websites.

    Related posts:

    1. Original Xbox Games Coming to the Xbox 360
    2. AMD Brings Xbox 360 Tech to Handhelds
    3. Researchers reproduce the human clarinet player in kilobyte form


  • 14Sep
    Google Maps saves the most recent 100 locations typed in the search box so you can easily retrieve them. If you want to migrate to a different Google account or you'd like to view the locations in Google Earth, Bing Maps or another mapping service, you can now export the saved locations to a KML file.

    In addition to exporting the locations, Google Maps also lets you import a KML file that includes a list of placemarks.


    This is just one of the many Google features that prevent data "lock-in". Google has a Data Liberation team "whose singular goal is to make it easier for users to move their data in and out of Google products". It's a great initiative from a company that has always encouraged competition. If Blogger is no longer your platform of choice, you can migrate your data to WordPress or a different service. If Gmail is frequently down, has a poor spam filter or it's no longer your favorite webmail service, you can auto-forward your mail to a different service and fetch the existing messages using POP or IMAP.

    "Many web services make it difficult to leave their services - you have to pay them for exporting your data, or jump through all sorts of technical hoops -- for example, exporting your photos one by one, versus all at once. We believe that users - not products - own their data, and should be able to quickly and easily take that data out of any product without a hassle," explains Google's public policy blog.

    Further reading:

    * DataLiberation.org
    * Google's public policy blog
    * This blog's In/Out label


  • 14Sep

    By Natania Barron
    Contributing Writer, [GAS]

    VacuumpumpOne of the biggest draws about steampunk technology, for me, is that much of it actually existed in some form or another. Last night, through the joy of Twitter, I discovered the endless wonder of GoogleBook’s expansive Popular Mechanics archive, and spent far too long ogling the various inventions and purported world-shattering technologies from the turn of the last century.

    While there are a myriad of fascinating pieces in these early issues, one stood out to me in particular. The title: Forty Minutes from Chicago to Milwaukee: Mail and Express to be Hurled Through a Pneumatic Tube at 120 Miles an Hour.

    From the article:

    From Chicago to Milwaukee in a straight line is 84 1/4 miles. The fastest trains consume two hours in making the trip. It is now proposed to transmit mail and express matter between the two cities in 40 minutes. A pneumatic tube, 18 inches in diameter, conveying up to 500 pounds, is to be constructed; should it prove successful one more means of rapid communication will be available, and other large cities connected.

    So, basically this is an enormous version of what we still see used today in banks for transfer from your car to the teller, except stretching almost 90 miles, and entirely underground. According to the article, the cost of the proposed project was in the neighborhood of $5,000,000 (approximately $28m in today’s dollars, using the Consumer Price Index). That’s no small chunk of change.

    As with much of the articles in the publication, there’s a certain wonder hidden behind the matter-of-fact delivery. You can tell the writer loves the numbers, the distances, the promise of this invention. And of course, I couldn’t help but notice the aesthetic of the device carrier as mentioned in the piece:

    The carriers do not travel on wheels or rollers, but are covered with block felt which is as hard as rock, and fastened with brass caps and screws. It is expected the felt will last several months.

    Not only were our Edwardian ancestors also on a quest for continually better–and stylish–rapid communication, but they may have one-upped us even today. At least, according to a recent article on BBC News, a local broadband provider in South Africa was outpaced by a carrier pigeon over a mere 60 mile distance. It took the bird four hours to make the trip.

    Related posts:

    1. Is electronic mail stressing you out?
    2. Father’s Day Gift for the Technophobe? Snail (E)Mail.
    3. Spam is now 83% of all e-mail


  • 14Sep
    Dion Almaer
    @ajaxian Luckily you got the better half, and hopefully next time I won't time it with a baby ;)
  • 14Sep
    Dion Almaer
    It is so weird not to be at The Ajax Experience this year. I hope you are all having a great time lads and lasses!
  • 14Sep
    Dion Almaer
    Go Fitz! Google introduces DataLiberation.org: Liberate your data! http://bit.ly/1399KJ (via @dglazkov)
  • 14Sep
    Dion Almaer
    RT @voodootikigod: The mentioning of Server JS is very high at #tae
  • 14Sep

    Photo 18Good morning, Geeksaresexy.net readers! I wanted to take a moment just to say hi and introduce myself. So here goes!

    The Basics: My name is Natania and I’m a geek. I’m also a mom, a wife, and a writer. I’ve been a geek since I was a kid, and thankfully embraced it about halfway through high school. A life without Monty Python and Star Wars quotes just isn’t worth it, y’know?

    The Cred: As I said, I’ve been a geek for a long time. I’m a fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek (yes, you can be both), I knit and crochet, I love steampunk, I’m a girl gamer (current games: Beatles RockBand and, of course, WoW), I play D&D 4e (currently a level 10 striker paladin) and am a collector of random trivia and marginalia. Other random stuff: I studied medieval literature in graduate school, I’m obsessed with Arthuriana, I love ukuleles, I’ve been using a Mac since before they were cool, and I know far too much about the Old West. That about covers it.

    The Pitch: My personal interests are all over the place, but some of the things you can probably expect for me include anything that has to do with steampunk, news on maker culture and cons, book suggestions and reviews, girly gadgets, geek fashion, geeky crafts, and geekery in general.

    I’m really excited to part of the Geeks crew here, and look forward to sharing my geeky interests with you all!

    Related posts:

    1. Another new contributor …
    2. Happy Star Wars Day!
    3. Star Wars Inspired Love Letter


  • 14Sep

    Performed by They Might Be Giants and directed by Feel Good Anyway, this animated, upbeat ode to the periodic table of elements and how they form our world, appears on the new TMBG kids’ album “Here Comes Science.”

    Related posts:

    1. New Element in Search of a Name
    2. Charge your gadgets with the SOLo Solar Lounge Table
    3. Cool Animated Infographic: Growing Up