Category Archives: Tech

Getting to the Root of the … Solution

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The Root Bridges of Cherrapungee

The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they’re extraordinarily strong – strong enough that some of them can support the weight of fifty or more people at a time. In fact, because they are alive and still growing, the bridges actually gain strength over time – and some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunjee may be well over five hundred years old.

Picky, Picky, Picky

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Schneier on Security: Lockpicking and the Internet

Earlier this year, Schlage launched a series of locks that can be opened either by a key, a four-digit code, or the Internet. That’s right: The lock is online. You can send the lock SMS messages or talk to it via a Website, and the lock can send you messages when someone opens it — or even when someone tries to open it and fails.

Sounds nifty, but putting a lock on the Internet opens up a whole new set of problems, none of which we fully understand. Even worse: Security is only as strong as the weakest link. Schlage’s system combines the inherent “pickability” of a physical lock, the new vulnerabilities of electronic keypads, and the hacking risk of online. For most applications, that’s simply too much risk.

The Vast Wasteland, Even Bigger

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My TV died last night, right in the middle of The Daily Show (the 8:00 repeat). One minute Jon Stewart was there, the next, he wasn’t. I’m not lamenting the loss of the TV all that much — it was a mediocre set I got 5 years ago (I had to check my receipts; it seemed more recent, but it was June of ’04) when my last set died.

The one thing I have demanded in each TV is that it be bigger than the previous one. The 26″ set I got after I graduated college gave way to a 29″ set purchased in Canada during my years of hiding, to this recently-deceased 32″ set, a cheap transitional CRT TV I got because I could not afford an HD set; plasmas were too expensive and über-large LCDs were in their infancy. Now, I am ready to take the 40″ HD plunge. Right in time for football season.

New Tool for the Stealth Paparazzi

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Invisible flash takes photos without the glare

Although the dark flash gives a crisp image without disturbing those in the picture, the results have an odd colour balance that looks like a view through a night-vision scope.

To give the pictures more normal hues, Krishnan and Fergus used colour information from a brief, flash-free photograph of the same scene taken quickly after the dark flash image.

The second image is dim and blurry, and so it lacks some of the fine detail of its dark flash twin. However, the researchers use software to combine the sharp detail from the first image with the natural colours from the second image, resulting in a remarkably natural end result.

An Official Denial. Yeah, That'll Work

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Company Denies its Robots Feed on the Dead

In response to rumors circulating the internet on sites such as FoxNews.com, FastCompany.com and CNET News about a “flesh eating” robot project, Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. (Pink Sheets:CYPW) and Robotic Technology Inc. (RTI) would like to set the record straight: This robot is strictly vegetarian.

Sure, it’s vegetarian, now, because you programmed it that way. What happens when it becomes self-aware?

Apollo 11 landing on TV as it aired 40 years ago

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Kottke has set up a way to watch the Apollo 11 landing on TV as it aired 40 years ago

For a more authentic feel,

This is just like real TV…if you miss the appointed time, there’s no rewind or anything…the video is playing “live”. I have not done extensive browser testing so it may not work perfectly in your browser.

Yes, that’s right. In 1969 there was no Tivo, or even VHS/beta for the masses. And there may be technical difficulties.

This Just In: We Went to the Moon

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LRO Sees Apollo Landing Sites

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has returned its first imagery of the Apollo moon landing sites. The pictures show the Apollo missions’ lunar module descent stages sitting on the moon’s surface, as long shadows from a low sun angle make the modules’ locations evident.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, was able to image five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks.

That’s gonna shut the conspiracy nutjobs up. Oh, wait. No, it probably won’t.