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Sync Your Data without the Cloud

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:17:00 GMT

New software lets you rouse a sleeping PC to retrieve data remotely.

Files on a home computer could soon be accessible from anywhere, even when the computer holding them is switched off, thanks to a prototype file-synching system developed at Microsoft's research labs.

A 'Transparency Grenade' for Would-Be Bradley Mannings

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:22:00 GMT

Conceptual art meets hacking.

In our post-WikiLeaks era, the image evoked by the phrase “whistle blower” isn’t dramatic enough. Bradley Manning did something more than merely blow a whistle. He kind of blew stuff up.

The New, New Nook

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:18:00 GMT

B&N refreshes its barely-months-old tablet.

I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t Barnes & Noble just come out with a Nook tablet a couple of months ago? Indeed it did. It was favorably reviewed.

An iPad MS Office?

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:15:00 GMT

It may or may not exist. But it'd be big.

First The Daily said they had a hands-on with a prototype, and gave us a picture. Then Microsoft (via the Times) said it wasn’t so. Then ZDNet parsed Microsoft’s denial. Then The Daily defended its story. Then Microsoft went mum, but then piped up. Then The Verge called the whole thing World War III.

Experimental Drug Helps Reduce Brain Injury

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

A drug that targets blood vessels in the brain shows promise in animal tests.

It's estimated that five million people in the U.S. suffer from the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI)—which can range from coma to loss of movement to cognitive and behavioral problems. A large percentage of soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan have sustained some form of TBI. Scientists have been searching for years for drugs that could ameliorate the effects of these injuries, but so far, none have been shown to prevent damage or speed healing.

A Leap Forward for Plastic Solar Cells

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

An inexpensive, polymer-based device breaks a record, reaching 10.6 percent efficiency.

A record-breaking polymer solar cell made by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, converts 10.6 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity. The performance of the cell surpasses the previous record, 8.6 percent, set in July of last year by the same group.

The Emerging Science of Connected Networks

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:10:00 GMT

Complexity scientists have made great strides in understanding the behaviour of single networks. Now they want to know what happens when networks become connected to each other

The Mentor Advantage

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Technology startups are booming. But is a shortage of mentors holding some back from success?

When John Hering, CEO and cofounder of Lookout Mobile Security, was featured in BusinessWeek as one of the best young tech entrepreneurs, he told the magazine that the "toughest decision" he ever made as an executive was moving his startup from L.A. to San Francisco.

Tron, HAL, Robocop and Moon Reimagined as a Tortured Romance

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:27:00 GMT

A music video transforms familiar scenes into an unlikely exchange.

Watch this mashup of clips of cinema's most memorable "unfeeling" machines and you'll quickly get the idea that our greatest fear of artificial intelligence is that will treat us just like people do.

Why the Popularity of Some Web Pages Doesn't Fall Over Time

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:10:00 GMT

Unlike many Web pages, the traffic to some sites doesn't fall over time. A new model of Web traffic shows why.

Back in 2005, a group of computer scientists carried out a now-famous study of the way visits to a website fall over time. These guys looked at the traffic to a Hungarian news site and found that it decayed as a power law.

Solar-Panel Giant Poised to Get Even Bigger

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Solar Frontier, which opened the world's largest CIGS solar-panel plant, makes plans for more factories.

One of the world's fastest-growing solar-panel manufacturers, Tokyo-based Solar Frontier, may soon increase production still more with help from its oil-company-funded parent company, Showa Shell Sekiyu.

How Data Storage Cripples Mobile Apps

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The storage in your phone has a bigger effect on your apps than you might think.

The latest smart phones and tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month came with an emphasis on faster processors and compatibility with faster wireless networks. But new research shows that the biggest performance bottleneck with popular smart-phone apps such as Facebook and Google Maps is, in fact, how fast they can read and write a device's data storage. The results suggest that without changing how mobile gadgets store data, the benefits of new networks and processors will be limited.

Algorithm Uses Photo Networks to Reveal Your Hometown

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:10:00 GMT

Computer scientists have developed a simple algorithm that accurately guesses your hometown using the location information of photos uploaded to Flickr

There's growing evidence that if you are part of a social network, the structure of the network itself can reveal important information about you, regardless of what you have published yourself.

DNA Sequencing To Go

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:59:00 GMT

A British startup is commercializing a USB-sized sequencing machine.

Oxford Nanopore says it will begin selling by the end of the year a disposable DNA sequencer about the size of a USB memory stick that can be plugged directly into a laptop or desktop computer and used to perform a single-molecule sensing experiment. The device is expected to sell for $900, according to the company.

Google TV's Revamped YouTube App

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:52:00 GMT

YouTube's quest to rival Hulu and Netflix advances, slowly.

YouTube continues to get a facelift, this time through its app on Google TV. Google announced the YouTube app update this week, explaining that app was faster, smoother, and that it had added a feature it called “Discover,” which allows users to browse YouTube channels by categories.

Self-Driving Tech Veers into Mid-Range Cars

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Sensor technologies once limited to luxury cars are increasingly available in the mass market.

Fully autonomous self-driving cars are still far from the market, but a wide range of features—including sensor systems that warn of lane departures and imminent crashes, and can even apply the brakes if you don't—are rapidly showing up in midmarket cars.

A Very Young CEO

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

At 23, Seth Priebatsch has a life that's all about winning, and not much else.

Seth Priebatsch comes to his office door in bare feet and a wrinkled orange polo shirt. Even at 6 p.m. on a Saturday, this isn't normal garb for the CEO of a company of 100 people. But Shoeless Seth isn't your typical CEO. For one thing, he's 23. For another, his formal title is Chief Ninja.

Cadillac Gets Smart

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:49:00 GMT

Here's two reasons to keep an eye on Caddy's new offering.

With all due respect to Hollywood, actual robot revolutions occur by degrees. For proof of this, we need look no further than the 2013 Cadillac XTS, which uses something called “sensor fusion” to introduce elements of autonomy to the car.

Is Google Wallet Safe?

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:05:00 GMT

A recent security flaw raises questions about mobile payments.

If you’re going to try to revolutionize the way we pay for things, you have to reassure us that your new way is safe. Last week, Google Wallet stumbled a bit in this regard.

Shortmail Shows How Simpler E-mail Is Better

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:40:00 GMT

"Twitter for e-mail" is worth a second look.

Plenty has been written about Shortmail, the "Twitter for e-mail" startup from Baltimore-based 410 Labs, but almost all of it is the usual journalism-by-press-release. Shortmail is one of the few web apps I can remember adopting and finding genuinely useful in the past couple of years, so it deserves a more thorough accounting. Plus, I recently had the chance to talk to Jonathan Julian, one of the developers at 410 labs, and he explained to me some of the logic of Shortmail that I had been missing.