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Video CAPTCHA

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 12:38:14 +0000

There is a new type of captcha coming out called NU Captcha. (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) It’s based on using video instead of that fuzzy text we all learned to hate. The video is designed to be much easier to read and much more difficult for robots.

The video captcha consists of scrolling text that is easy to read. It might say something like “type the red text” . While you are watching white and red text scroll past the screen. According to Mashable

“In recent years, some of the CAPTCHAs humans has been asked to solve, however, have been ridiculously illegible. Most of us have at least once had to pause at the end of a web form to squint at a CAPTCHA that looked more like a yarn squiggle than an actual string of characters. That’s where NuCaptcha aims to make a difference.”

Check out the actual video captcha here.

BIOS being replaced by UEFI

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:31:42 +0000

According to an article at Tom’s Hardware BIOS is being phased out by UEFI.

The new click universal extensible firmware interface (UEFI) is going to be replacing BIOS by Q4 of this year.

The improved system is designed to improve some of the fall backs of the current aging BIOS system that has been in all most all PC for many years.

It will not be compatible with all system and it’s not as easy as flashing your current BIOS and updating to the new standard. Many boards will not support the new technology.

Motherboard manufacturers are also holding off on the new technology because of the resources needed to make the change. There’s also a customization issue: UEFI doesn’t support every board. Manufacturers who design unique features and technologies for their products–those that only communicate with BIOS–may not function with UEFI installed. Designs will eventually need to be re-worked to incorporate the new interface.

Read the article here.

Watch out Jeopardy viewers, there’s a new guy in town

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:28:53 +0000

The engineers at IBM created a computer called “Watson” which plans on using artificial intelligence (AI) to beat it’s human competitors.
According to the article at Dvice.com “IBM has been working on developing something like it for well on three years now, and now the company feels that the machine is nearly ready for prime time. Literally — called “Watson,” the Q&A supercomputer is scheduled to appear on Jeopardy! this fall.”

I can’t wait to see how this computer performs. I thought Google was a good “answer machine”. Wait until this new technology comes into our homes.

Future refridgerator?

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:32:18 +0000

Could this be the next fridge? No moving parts. Weird Gel that holds the goods? This thing is pretty radical. I don’t know if could make it in today’s market. Here some info on the future fridge.
“This is Russian designer Yuriy Dmitriev’s take on the future of the humble refrigerator. Forget everything you know about fridges with shelves and doors and cooling. You don’t need any of that. You just need a creepy green gel.

So, what is that stuff? The Electrolux blog which lists Dmitriev’s concept as one of 25 semifinalists for this year’s Electrolux Design Lab contest describes it as a “biopolymer gel,” or more specifically a “non-sticky, odorless gel.” You simply plunge whatever you want to keep fresh into the mass of your Bio Robot fridge and it’ll stay where you left it until you come back.”
Read the rest of the article here.

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/06/in-the-future-r.php

Laptop Battery that last 30 years

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:15:10 +0000

Imagine a laptop battery that doesn’t need charged, lasts for 30 years. By the way it doesn’t get hot and is non toxic when it runs out! That’s what the research labs of the Air Force have developed. According to an article on dodevice.com it’s true, I’ll believe it when I see it hit the market. Which according to dodevice.com should be in the next two years.

…. They invented a special betavolic power cell that is built from semiconductors with the use of radioisotopes as energy sources. Radioactive material ends up decaying over time and as a result it emits beta particles. They transform into electric power that can power laptops for previously unimagined periods of time: years. To make it even more interesting, such batteries can be very small. We have a non-thermal reactions so there is also no risk of over-heating and when the battery runs out of power it is non-toxic. It was stated that such batteries might be available to the public in around 2 years. Well, in two years we might have a laptop revolution on our hands.

Read the full article here

http://www.dodevice.com/2007/10/02/one-laptop-battery-that-lasts-30-years-without-recharge/