03.21.07
Posted in Technology at 10:08 am by bobbyjoe
It has taken 120 years but the worlds best mathematicians and computer scientists have mapped out a 248-dimension mathematical structure, knows as E8. Solving E8 is seen as a major step in the study of symmetry, a mathematical field important to our understanding of the origins of the universe. (Image: John Stembridge, based on a drawing by Peter McMullen)
The calculation of the structure takes about 60 gigabytes of space on a computer, or enough space to hold about 15,000 songs in MP3 format. It took 18 researchers from the United States and Europe four years to produce the E8 calculation and 77 hours for a U.S. supercomputer called Sage 77 to provide the solution
E8 is the most complex Lie group known, a 453,060 by 453,060 matrix that exists only in abstract mathematics. Because of its large size, solving its structure was not possible until computing power could improve, according to Jeffrey Adams, the project leader and a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland.
“E8 was discovered over a century ago, in 1887, and until now, no one thought the structure could ever be understood,” said Adams in a statement. “This groundbreaking achievement is significant both as an advance in basic knowledge, as well as a major advance in the use of large-scale computing to solve complicated mathematical problems.”
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03.19.07
Posted in Technology at 10:06 am by bobbyjoe
PureDepth Inc. has developed some new displays that won them a deal with International Game Technology Inc., the world’s largest maker of slot machines.
Puredepth CEO Fred Angelopoulos demonstrates a 3-D image of a slot machine. The Silicon Valley startup has signed a deal with International Game Technology, the world’s largest maker of slot machines.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press)
Industry experts say a realistic digital video display is the final hurdle that will completely digitize one-armed bandits. The new displays by PureDepth and others — set to debut this year — could profoundly change the $85 billion US gambling industry and how it’s regulated.
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03.15.07
Posted in Technology at 3:23 pm by bobbyjoe
Aviv Raff, an independent researcher from Israeli, found a vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer that could let someone “easily conduct phishing attacks”. Phishing is a technique in which criminals try to trick people into disclosing sensitive information such as online banking names and passwords and is often conducted through e-mails.
Raff publicly disclosed the vulnerability in a post on his blog on Wednesday.
When a person going to a web page cancels that navigation, its URL (universal resource locator) or address is passed on to a so-called browser resource page on the computer called “navcancl.htm.”
That resource creates a link so the user can reload or refresh the page of the site they were trying to visit. It is possible for an attacker to “inject” a script into the generated “refresh the page” link, which would be executed when the user clicks on it, Raff wrote.
“To perform a phishing attack, an attacker can create a specially crafted navcancl.htm local resource link with a script that will display a fake content of a trusted site,” Raff wrote.
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03.13.07
Posted in Technology at 10:28 am by bobbyjoe
Google has been slapped with yet another lawsuit! This time it comes from the multimedia giant Viacom at the tune of $1 billion US. Viacom claims that there is approximately 160,000 unauthorized clips of its programming that has been viewed 1.5 billion times.
“YouTube is a significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others’ creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google,” Viacom said in a release.
“Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws,” the New York-based company said.
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03.09.07
Posted in Technology, Software at 12:11 pm by stark
It seems like Wikipedia may finally be getting sick of all the spamming and false information being posted on their highly popular online encyclopedia. According to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, a new policy is under consideration that may require contributors to confirm credentials before adding to the site. This comes on the heels of the recent EssJay scandal.
The user, who went under the pseudonym “essjay,” described himself in an online profile as a “tenured professor of theology” and said he taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in the subject. He also said he held a bachelor of arts in religious studies, a master of arts in religion, doctorate in philosophy in theology and a doctorate in canon law. But it wasn’t true. Essjay was actually Ryan Jordan, a 24 year-old from Kentucky, who revealed his true identity when he joined Wikia Inc., the for-profit company run by Wales that seeks to use the community content model to make money.
An interesting move by the company to say the least, but at the end of the day, even a beginner web user could find the proof they need to pass these tests, is this added layer going to help anything?
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03.05.07
Posted in Technology, Environment, World at 3:22 pm by bobbyjoe
Ever wonder what happens to that old PC you put in your trash on garbage day? Well it probably ends up in your local municipal land fill allong with over 80% of the estimated 133,000 PC’s discarded each day in the United States. In addition to PCs the bulk of nearly 2 million tons of our e-waste comes from TVs. “The computer industry is ramping up its campaign against electronic waste, a dangerous byproduct of technology’s relentless expansion.”
ROSEVILLE, California (AP) — This is where computers go to die a green death.
Inside Hewlett-Packard Co.’s cavernous recycling plant in the Sacramento suburbs, truckloads of obsolete PCs, servers and printers collected from consumers and businesses nationwide are cracked open by goggled workers who pull out batteries, circuit boards and other potentially hazardous components.
The electronic carcasses are fed into a massive machine that noisily shreds them into tiny pieces and mechanically sorts the fragments into piles of steel, aluminum, plastic and precious metals. Those scraps are sent to smelting plants, mostly in the Sacramento area, where they are melted down for reuse.
Discarded computers, TVs, radios, batteries, cell phones, and other gadgets contain a stew of toxic metals and chemicals.
Computers are cracked open by workers who pull out batteries, circuit boards and other potentially hazardous components.
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03.01.07
Posted in Technology, Videos, Microsoft at 5:12 pm by stark
An interesting look and comparison of Microsoft Vista’s AERO interface and Ubuntu Linux’s BERYL interface. It sure looks like Microsoft (and Apple for that matter) has a long way to go. Why don’t these big companies hire some of the talent behind BERYL for their next release?
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02.26.07
Posted in Technology, Web Design at 10:42 am by stark
If you’re just starting out with your web design business, one of the hardest things to figure out is just what exactly to charge your customers. Well, worry no more with this step by step checklist that practically builds you an invoice right before your eyes. I particularly like the fact that a lack of Photoshop knowledge, drives the price through the roof 
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It has taken 120 years but the worlds best mathematicians and computer scientists have mapped out a 248-dimension mathematical structure, knows as E8. Solving E8 is seen as a major step in the study of symmetry, a mathematical field important to our understanding of the origins of the universe. (Image: John Stembridge, based on a drawing by Peter McMullen)
