Tech Stuff

New: Palm Top

Gadget aims to put 3D person ‘in your palm’

Researchers in Japan are developing a gadget that could enable people to hold a three-dimensional image of someone in the palm of their hand.

They hope the gCubik, which is still at the prototype stage, will later be developed to move in real time and appear to speak.

“The ultimate image we have in mind is having a small person in your palm,” said Shunsuke Yoshida, one of the researchers involved in the study at Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology.

“Suppose you have a picture of your girlfriend smiling on your desk. She could be smiling as a 3D image in a cube,” he told AFP at a recent gathering of imaging researchers here.

Grandparents could use the device — which comes in a 10 centimetre (3.9 inches) cube — to see a 3D image of their grandchild living far away, while business people could view a prototype product from afar and school teachers could use it in science classes, he said.

As usual, much potential for good. And evil.

I’d say the pornography kings are gleeful at the prospects of putting this technology to work for them.

Maybe they’re even funding it! 😯

But how would you envision using it for good?

As one who’s extremely interested in teaching and encouraging and discipling pastors in Mexico through pastors’ conferences and seminars, I could dream of doing multiple simultaneous such seminars with one of these things.

Oh, wait! This can already be done with video.

Besides, I’d rather be there in the flesh.

Anyway, what are your ideas?

Oh, here’s another one: Instead of having them sing to me from my CD player, I could have A Cappella Harmony Quartet sitting between my keyboard and my monitor!

Can You Hear Me?

At least my teenagers aren’t Australians:

More than 70 percent of young Australians show early signs of hearing loss, with loud music played through headphones believed to be a major cause, a survey released Tuesday showed.

The Australian Hearing survey found that tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, was more prevalent among 18 to 34-year-olds than elderly people, even though it is seen as one of the first signs of hearing loss.

[…]

It found that while the elderly were the most likely to experience hearing loss, the next most vulnerable group was teenagers.

Australian Hearing spokesman John D’Arcy said there were responsible steps people could take to minimise the risk of going deaf from loud music.

“Set the volume of your MP3 player at a level that allows you to hear someone at arm’s length without them having to shout,” he said.

Besides our three teenagers, we have four other older children. Including our son-in-law, whose mother is Australian.

To all seven of you (only one of whom reads this blog), take heed!

And to all the rest of you who use headphones, take heed as well.

(You’re welcome.)

Secretly

Well, maybe not anymore. 😀

Study secretly tracks cell phone users outside US

Researchers secretly tracked the locations of 100,000 people outside the United States through their cell phone use and concluded that most people rarely stray more than a few miles from home.

The first-of-its-kind study by Northeastern University raises privacy and ethical questions for its monitoring methods, which would be illegal in the United States.

It also yielded somewhat surprising results that reveal how little people move around in their daily lives. Nearly three-quarters of those studied mainly stayed within a 20-mile-wide circle for half a year.

The scientists would not disclose where the study was done, only describing the location as an industrialized nation.

Researchers used cell phone towers to track individuals’ locations whenever they made or received phone calls and text messages over six months.

If there’s no big uproar from the masses, will “they” do this more and more to us?

Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.

[…]

Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.

I can hardly imagine that plan surviving.

Bilderbergers set to meet in D.C.

The annual secretive gathering of representatives from West European and North American countries, known as the Bilderberg Group, is scheduled to begin [today] in the Washington, D.C., area.

[…]

The Bilderberg Group is an elite invitation-only conference of influential members of the business, media and political communities. Past attendees have included Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

[…]

While the group claims its purpose is to facilitate discussion among Western powers, many see the group as a means toward globalization.

The highly secretive conference is off limits to press, but past reports from sources that have managed to penetrate the high-security venues have stated the meetings emphasize a globalist agenda and dismiss national sovereignty as regressive.

Will the Trilateralists and the Illuminati and the Jesuits and the Rothschilds be there as well? Hey, just asking!

And, in closing, this:

A leading anti-aviation activist has secretly flown to New York to hold meetings with American airport protesters – and see the sights.

Updates on Previous Posts

Flushing the Mission

Toilet troubles on the International Space Station (ISS) could force Russian cosmonauts to return to Earth early, a Russian official told Interfax news agency Tuesday.

“It’s true, we have a problem with the flushing system. This is a serious matter,” warned Vladimir Solovyov, chief ground control official for the Russian section of the ISS. “In such circumstances there’s even the possibility of an emergency departure from the station.”

The main ISS toilet broke down last week, forcing the crew, two Russians and one American, to use back-up facilities.

The US shuttle Discovery delivered spare parts Monday, as well as an extra seven astronauts. Repairs are scheduled on Thursday and Friday, Solovyov said, Interfax reported.

Just so the facilities don’t back up. 🙄

And I would expect faster service from the plumbers if the parts arrived on Monday! 😯

Especially if the number of tenants went from three to ten.

But maybe the plumbers are out and about on other service calls.

I suppose, though, that the same folks who delivered the parts also brought along a PortaPotty their own facilities to share with the ISS crew.

Polygamist sect clarifies marriage policy

“The church is clarifying its policy on marriage,” said Willie Jessop, a spokesman for the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He told reporters the church would advise FLDS families “neither request nor consent” to the marriage of underage girls, though he stopped short of saying the church ever violated the law.

“In the FLDS church, all marriages are consensual. The church insists on appropriate consent,” he said.

The change in policy comes after a Texas judge issued an order Monday allowing parents of hundreds of children seized from the sect to begin picking up their kids.

[…]

The logistics of retrieving the remaining children may not be so simple, though, since some parents have children at different facilities across the state.

Under the judge’s order, the Department of Family and Protective Services will still have the right to visit and interview the children.

These unannounced visits could entail medical, psychological and psychiatric examinations, and the parents must not intervene.

Also under the order, the parents must attend and complete parenting classes. The families must remain in the state of Texas and notify the department within 48 hours of any trips more than 100 miles from their homes.

FLDS Mother and child reunited

LifeLock Finally Loses One

For several weeks now, I’ve been meaning to sign up with LifeLock. (After all, Rush and Sean and Mike have. 🙄 )

Security Boss Tempts Fate, Pays Price

A criminal has successfully answered a security firm chief’s challenge to steal his identity — and it could be a particularly costly defeat. Todd Davis of Californian company LifeLock was so confident of his fraud prevention service that he published billboards and filmed TV adverts displaying his own social security number. (It’s 457-55-5462 in case you were wondering.)

[…]

However, Davis recently admitted that one criminal succeeded. Davis doesn’t appear to have lost out financially, but beyond the obvious corporate embarrassment, he could now pay a hefty price in civil court. Customers in at least three states are suing the company, saying that Davis should not have continued guaranteeing they’d be safe from identity theft after he knew — from personal experience, no less — that the system was fallible.

It’s not known for certain how the Texas-based hacker stole Davis’ identity, but he used his social security number to borrow $500 from an online payday loan site. Davis didn’t get the alert that LifeLock is supposed to produce because the lenders didn’t run the application through one of the three leading credit bureaus. The first he knew of it was when the firm approached him to demand repayment.

The case backs up criticism that the protection offered by firms such as LifeLock is limited. It doesn’t cover incidents such as a job applicant using a stolen social security number, or an arrested criminal using someone else’s details to keep their own identity secret.

That problem is at the heart of a separate lawsuit against LifeLock which argues the firm’s much-publicized $1 million guarantee against losses is misleading. The guarantee only covers failures in LifeLock’s service and doesn’t cover all types of identity theft, even though customers may have signed up under the impression they do.

I still plan to get LifeLock, even so.

The Vista from this View Point

Maybe XP stands for eXtra Precious?

New Study Reveals Developers Prefer XP

In a market where software developers are always looking for the cutting edge, a recent survey revealed that newer is not always better. It turns out that developers prefer writing programs for older Windows operating systems, such as XP, to the newer Vista.

[…]

In the second section, a whopping 49% of developers indicated that they wrote for XP, while only 8% focused their energies on Microsoft’s much-hyped Vista.

[…]

What this study seems to suggest is that if developers are reluctant to write for Vista, consumers should take note. An operating system that gives developers pause may indicate dark clouds on the horizon for Vista.

Before buying a new computer (Dell, Lenovo, and others), ask for XP instead of the pre-installed Vista.

Above all, love God!