Computer scientist cracks mysterious 'Copiale Cipher'

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="These are pages from the "Copiale Cipher," a mysterious cryptogram, bound in gold and green brocade paper, that was finally cracked by an international team of cryptographers."][/caption]

The manuscript seems straight out of fiction: a strange handwritten message in abstract symbols and Roman letters meticulously covering 105 yellowing pages, hidden in the depths of an academic archive. Now, more than three centuries after it was devised, the 75,000-character "Copiale Cipher" has finally been broken.

The mysterious cryptogram, bound in gold and green brocade paper, reveals the rituals and political leanings of a 18th-century secret society in Germany. The rituals detailed in the document indicate the secret society had a fascination with eye surgery and ophthalmology, though it seems members of the secret society were not themselves eye doctors.

"This opens up a window for people who study the history of ideas and the history of secret societies," said computer scientist Kevin Knight of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, part of the international team that finally cracked the Copiale Cipher. "Historians believe that secret societies have had a role in revolutions, but all that is yet to be worked out, and a big part of the reason is because so many documents are enciphered."

To break the Copiale Cipher, Knight and colleagues Beáta Megyesi and Christiane Schaefer of Uppsala University in Sweden tracked down the original manuscript, which was found in the East Berlin Academy after the Cold War and is now in a private collection. They then transcribed a machine-readable version of the text, using a computer program created by Knight to help quantify the co-occurrences of certain symbols and other patterns.

via Computer scientist cracks mysterious 'Copiale Cipher'.

Worlds First Flying Ball Drone Unveiled By Japan’s Ministry of Defence

The Research Department at Japan’s Ministry of Defence has this week unveiled their new creation which is apparently the the world’s first spherical flying machine, and immediately reminded me of the flying ball drone from Star Wars. The flying ball drone has been designed to hover like a helicopter, and take-off and land vertically from any terrain. The benefit of the ball shape allows the craft to fly forward at high speed using wings, which a helicopter can’t do. Watch the video after the jump to see it in action and its features explained.

“Because the exterior is round, this machine can land in all kinds of attitudes, and move along the ground. It can also keep in contact with a wall while flying. Because it’s round, it can just roll along the ground, but to move it in the desired direction, we’ve brought the control surfaces, which are at the rear in an ordinary airplane, to the front.”

“In horizontal flight, the propeller provides the propulsive force, while the wings provide lift. For the machine to take off or land in that state, it faces upward. When it does so, the propeller provides buoyancy. At that time, too, the control surfaces provide attitude control. After landing, the machine moves along the ground using the control surfaces and propeller.”

The flying ball drone costs around $1500 to make and weighs just 350g and measures 42 cm in diameter and is constructed from commercially available parts.

via Worlds First Flying Ball Drone Unveiled By Japan’s Ministry of Defence

Apple alums give home thermostats a new twist

Nest Labs, a startup founded by former Apple engineers, hopes to do for home thermostats what their former employer did for smartphones -- make them hip and intuitive. The startup came out of stealth mode on Tuesday to unveil the Learning Thermostat, which can be taught to maintain its owners' precise comfort level after a week or less of use, saving energy lost through manual adjustment.

"We created the world's first learning thermostat," Nest vice president of marketing Erik Charlton said while giving AFP an early look at the device. "You interact with it for a few days and it programs itself to your schedule," he said. "You don't have to touch it again."

Nest co-founder Tony Fadell is a former senior vice president of the Apple division behind iPods and iPhones. Fellow co-founder Matt Rogers was a lead iPod software engineer working with Fadell at Apple.

via Apple alums give home thermostats a new twist.

OCZ releases world's first terabyte 2.5-inch SSD

If you're like me, you're waiting for storage capacities to increase and prices to decrease before ditching the traditional platter-based hard drive and jumping on the SSD (solid-state drive) train to take advantage of lower power consumption and faster boot up and access times. Having already released the world's first 3.5-inch 1 TB SSD in 2009, OCZ has now removed the capacity hurdle for laptops with the release of the world's first 2.5-inch SSD that is available in capacities up to 1 TB.

OCZ will offer its new SSDs from November 1st 2011 in capacities of 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities. The company hasn't released pricing details, but Computer World is reporting the new drives will be priced from US$1.10 to $1.30 per gigabyte. Looks like I'll be waiting for a little longer yet to make the switch.

via OCZ releases world's first terabyte 2.5-inch SSD.

Toshiba bites Apple with 498 ppi display

As soon as Toshiba announced its 6.1-inch Liquid crystal display (LCD) panel last week, bloggers and tech news sites were noting the numbers and poking at mobile display monarchs Apple. Toshiba's new display packs a 2560x1600 resolution with a 1000:1 contrast ratio. The display works out to 498 pixels per inch (ppi).

"Astounding," “staggering,” and "Prepare to have your eyes melted," were some of the reactions. Reports hastened to compare display numbers with those from Apple.

Suddenly Apple's "retina display" iPhone 4/4S smartphones of 326 ppi was a less exciting feat. Adjectives like "razor sharp" were usurped from Apple's gate and replanted at Toshiba's. Among other bragging points is the fact that Toshiba’s display can show 16.7 million different colors. Toshiba describes the display technology as based on processing techniques with low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistors (TFT) on glass substrates and other fabrication techniques that Toshiba has cultivated over the years.

Toshiba credits its LTPS technology as the enabler of advancements like the new LCD display. Low temperature poly silicon makes possible higher pixel density, which in turn makes text and images more readable. That’s especially useful in smaller device screens like handhelds and portable diagnostic equipment, as well as for larger screens, says Toshiba.

via Toshiba bites Apple with 498 ppi display.

The Defusable Alarm Clock

The Defusable Clock is a fully-functional alarm clock just like you’d expect (a normal beeping alarm, snooze alarm, etc.). But at any time you can press the big red button to start a scary countdown sequence exactly like bombs in Hollywood movies. There are 4 wires across the top of the clock. You have 10 seconds to choose the correct wire to cut: one wire stops the countdown and saves the day, two have no effect, and one will “detonate” the device immediately. These role of each wire is randomly assigned when the detonate button is pressed, so it’s a new challenge every time. Also, the wires are attached with screw terminals, so you can replace them easily. If you don’t want to actually cut the wires, you can just pull them out of the screw terminals if you keep the screws a little loose.

The microcontroller is an ATmega328 with the Arduino bootloader, so this clock is programmable with the Arduino IDE. The ATmega328 is certainly more powerful than needed for a clock, but this device has lots of inputs/outputs, and ATmega328 chips are now about the same price as the older ATmega168. It keeps very accurate time and requires a simple 9V “wall wart” power adapter. A special alarm mode lets you even use the countdown sequence as the alarm and require it to be defused when you wake up in the morning. What a stressful way to start the day!

via Project Lab.

MIT-developed radar sees through concrete walls up to eight inches thick

MIT researchers have developed radar technology that provides real-time video of what is happening behind solid concrete walls measuring four to eight inches (10-20 cm) thick. Just like any other radar, the device emits radio waves that bounce off objects and then analyzes the return signal, but to give it its X-ray spec capabilities, the newly developed radar technology disregards the 99.9975 percent of the signal that returns to the radar after bouncing off the wall and amplifies the remaining 0.0025 percent of the signal that makes it through. This amplified signal is then used to generate a real-time, video "image" of targets on the other side, providing a potentially valuable tool for urban combat situations.

via MIT-developed radar sees through concrete walls up to eight inches thick.

Digital textbooks open a new chapter

With thanks to Deskarati far east reporter - Tom Robb

South Korea, one of the world's highest-rated education systems, aims to consolidate its position by digitising its entire curriculum. By 2015, it wants to be able to deliver all its curriculum materials in a digital form through computers. The information that would once have been in paper textbooks will be delivered on screen.

South Korea's Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ju-Ho Lee, said that his department was preparing a promotion strategy for "Smart Education", focusing on customised learning and teaching. The project, launched during the summer, will involve wireless networks in all schools to allow students to learn "whenever and wherever", as well as an education information system that can run in a variety of devices including PCs, laptops, tablets and internet-connected TVs.

He said the government would support an open content market containing a variety of learning materials, aimed at keeping up quality while keeping down costs.

"Smart Education will change how we perceive textbooks," said Mr Lee.

"The transfer from the traditional paper textbooks to digital textbooks will allow students to leave behind their heavy backpacks and explore the world beyond the classroom."

via Digital textbooks open a new chapter.

Holodesk prototype puts life in computers

A research project at Microsoft Research Cambridge has brought forth a prototype called Holodesk, which lets you manipulate virtual objects with your hand. You literally "get your hands on" the virtual display. According to the official description from its creators, there is at work a "novel real-time algorithm for representing hands and other physical objects" allowing physically realistic interaction between real and virtual 3-D objects.

Holodesk does its magic with the help of an optical see-through display plus Kinect camera. The illusion is that the user is directly touching and maneuvering 3-D graphics. According to the project notes, a virtual image of a 3-D scene is rendered through a half-slivered mirror and spatially aligned with the real world for the viewer.

A Holodesk video shows the user looking down on a pane of glass at virtual but very realistic-looking balls and other shaped objects. His hands are positioned underneath the glass and they move in such a way that you think the user is actually moving real objects around. He scoops real balls into cups, or so it seems. The video as a whole is a deft rendering of how the virtual and real meet. While Holodesk is not the only 3-D interaction experiment out there, observers say it stands away from the pack, with its use of optical devices called beam-splitters and a graphic processing algorithm, in providing a life-like experience.

via Holodesk prototype puts life in computers

Drama-filled 2011 World Solar Challenge continues

Four days into the 2011 World Solar Challenge and things have proven even more challenging than usual for the participants. Teams have had to contend with huge road-hogging trucks, cars catching alight and bushfires that saw the race route closed by police, leaving the top three teams cooling their heels at an unscheduled stop at the end of day two while both the vehicles and the participants recharged their batteries.

After a relatively uneventful first day of racing, day two was a day of high drama with the three race leaders, Tokai, Nuon and the University of Michigan, forced to call it a day at Wauchope after police closed the Stuart Highway in both directions between Ti Tree and Wauchope due to bushfires - apparently the work of arsonists - burning across the road. The road closure resulted in the three leading teams - Tokai, Nuon and the University of Michigan - spending the night at Wauchope, while, the remainder of the field spent the night 100 km (62 miles) further north at Tennant Creek.

More here Drama-filled 2011 World Solar Challenge continues.

New record voltage for organic solar cells opens the tech to consumer electronics

Molecular Solar Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. They have achieved and demonstrated a record voltage for organic photovoltaic cells that means these highly flexible, low cost solar cells can now be devolved for commercial uses in a wide range of consumer electronics.

The Company's most recent advance in the development of its organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell technology is the realisation of cells with open-circuit voltages in excess of 4 volts for the first time. Molecular Solar's research team believe this is a record for an OPV device. Dr Ross Hatton, Research Director of the company commented:

"This is an important advance. We are now very close to having highly flexible organic photovoltaic cells that will be capable of delivering electrical energy at a voltage suitable for recharging lithium ion batteries that are widely used in portable consumer electronics. Remarkably, this high voltage is achieved using a cell with only 4 junctions (sub-cells)''.

University of Warwick researcher Professor Tim Jones, who is Chief Technology Officer of Molecular Solar, added: "The first generation of organic photovoltaics will be exceptionally well matched to consumer electronics applications. The advantage of Molecular Solar's high voltage cells is that a single cell can be used with no requirement to connect multiple cells in series for these applications, saving manufacturing cost. ''

via New record voltage for organic solar cells opens the tech to consumer electronics.

Bristly particles could be boon for powerplants

Sometimes, a simple decision to try something unconventional can lead to a significant discovery.A well-known method of making heat sinks for electronic devices is a process called sintering, in which powdered metal is formed into a desired shape and then heated in a vacuum to bind the particles together. But in a recent experiment, some students tried sintering copper particles in air and got a big surprise.

Instead of the expected solid metal shape, what they found was a mass of particles that had grown long whiskers of oxidized copper. “It was sort of serendipitous,” says Kripa Varanasi, d’Arbeloff Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. “We got this crazy stuff, particles covered in nanowires,” he says.

The resulting process could turn out to be an important new method for manufacturing structures that span a range of sizes down to a few nanometers (billionths of a meter) in size. “You go in one step from solid spherical powder to very complex structures,” says Christopher Love, a mechanical engineering graduate student who is lead author on the paper. “The process is very simple, and the structures are durable,” he says. These new structures could be used for managing the flow of heat in various applications ranging from powerplants to the cooling of electronics.

via Bristly particles could be boon for powerplants.

Fighter jet training dome shows 360-degree view

The word "simulation" can never be taken lightly in preparing fighter-jet pilots for combat. Training needs to provide simulated experiences that can bring the pilot closer to the scenarios to come. That requires state of the art systems including state of the art visuals. A new immersive 360-degree flight simulator from Barco has been introduced as an important step up in flight training.

The Barco R-360 flight simulation dome is introduced by the company as the first flight simulator to give trainee pilots a full unobstructed 360 degree view of the world.

That view is via thirteen or fourteen 10 megapixel projectors. These projectors bathe the structure in light. Lasers are used to calibrate the projectors. The trainee pilot inside the dome experiences the virtual flight with the benefit of having a 360 degree, unobstructed view of surroundings. Pilots can look in any direction to find the resolution is so good that they can spot aircraft from 12 miles away.

Via  Fighter jet training dome shows 360-degree view

Nissan doubles power density with new Fuel Cell Stack

One area of energy storage that appears to be moving towards viability quicker than battery technology at present is the hydrogen fuel cell. Nissan Motor yesterday revealed its next generation Fuel Cell Stack (2011 Model) for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV).

Through improvements to the Membrane Electrode Assembly and the separator flow path, Nissan has improved the power density of the Fuel Cell Stack to 2.5 times greater than its 2005 model, and in so doing has created a world's best 2.5 kW per liter power density.

The cost of the 2011 model Fuel Cell Stack has been reduced to one sixth of the 2005 model.

via Nissan doubles power density with new Fuel Cell Stack.

Remembering Ada Lovelace, the World's First Programmer

This year, on October 7th, we remember Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron who in the mid-19th century wrote the world’s first machine algorithm for Charles Babbage’s analytical engine. That basically means that yes, she was, in fact, the world’s first computer programmer.

Programming back then wasn’t as simple as knowing a computer language, however — Babbage’s machine was essentially a gigantic analog calculator programmed entirely using physical “punch cards.” These cards — which would be used as the de facto method of computer interface all the way through the 1950’s — represented the most fundamental form of data, ones and zeroes, and engineering even the simplest of mathematical operations was a challenging and mentally taxing task.

Fortunately, Lovelace was a brilliant mathematician. From 1842-1843, Lovelace devised a method of calculating Bernoulli numbers using Babbage’s machine. It was an achievement so impressive that Babbage himself called her “The Enchantress of Numbers.”

via Remembering Ada Lovelace, the World's First Programmer

Japanese scientist unveils 'thinking' robot

Robots that learn from experience and can solve novel problems -- just like humans -- sound like science fiction. But a Japanese reasearcher is working on making them science fact, with machines that can teach themselves to perform tasks they have not been programmed to do, using objects they have never seen before.

In a world first, Osamu Hasegawa, associate professor at the Tokyo Insitute of Technology, has developed a system that allows robots to look around their environment and do research on the Internet, enabling them to "think" how best to solve a problem.

"Most existing robots are good at processing and performing the tasks they are pre-programmed to do, but they know little about the 'real world' where we humans live," he told AFP. "So our project is an attempt to build a bridge between robots and that real world," he said.

The Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network, or "SOINN", is an algorithm that allows robots to use their knowledge -- what they already know -- to infer how to complete tasks they have been told to do.

SOINN examines the environment to gather the data it needs to organise the information it has been given into a coherent set of instructions. Tell a SOINN-powered machine that it should, for example: "Serve water". Without special programmes for water-serving, the robot works out the order of the actions required to complete the task. The SOINN machine asks for help when facing a task beyond its ability and crucially, stores the information it learns for use in a future task.

via Japanese scientist unveils 'thinking' robot.

Apple releases iPhone Micro USB Adapter to comply with EU standard

To cut down on the amount of mobile phone chargers relegated to the garbage after a phone upgrade, in 2009 the European Commission reached a voluntary agreement with 14 major smartphone manufacturers who committed to providing a standardized charger based on the micro-USB connector that is compatible with all models of data-enabled mobile phones. Apple was one of the manufacturers that signed on to the agreement and has now delivered with the appearance of the Apple iPhone Micro USB Adapter in the company's U.K. online store.

The Apple iPhone Micro USB Adapter will sync and charge all iPhone models from the iPhone 3G on. It costs GBP8 (approx. US$12.45) from the U.K. Apple Store but buyers will have to source their own micro USB cable.

via Apple releases iPhone Micro USB Adapter

"The Human Brain Will Be Computer Simulated by 2020"

Reverse-engineering the human brain so we can simulate it using computers may be a reality by 2030. It would be the first step toward creating super computers that are more powerful than the human brain by being networked into a cloud computing architecture to amplify their processing capabilities powered by intelligent algorithms, says Ray Kurzweil, artificial intelligence expert and author of The Singularity is Near.

“The singular criticism of the singularity is that brain is too complicated, too magical and there’s something about its properties we can’t emulate,” Kurzweil told attendees at the Singularity Summit over the weekend reported wired.com. “But the exponential growth in technology is being applied to reverse-engineer the brain, arguably the most important project in history.”

Reverse-engineering some aspects of hearing and speech has helped stimulate the development of artificial hearing and speech recognition, says Kurzweil. Being able to do that for the human brain could change our world significantly, he said. The key lies in decoding and simulating the cerebral cortex — the seat of cognition. The human cortex has about 22 billion neurons and 220 trillion synapses.

"A supercomputer capable of running a software simulation of the human brain doesn’t exist yet. Researchers would require a machine with a computational capacity of at least 36.8 petaflops and a memory capacity of 3.2 petabytes — a scale that supercomputer technology isn’t expected to hit for at least three years," according to IBM cognitive computing researcher Dharmendra Modha. By next year, IBM’s ‘Sequoia’ supercomputer should be able to offer 20 petaflops per second peak performance, and an even more powerful machine will be likely in two to three years.

More here "The Human Brain Will Be Computer Simulated by 2020".

New device to generate electricity from human breathing

One of the biggest hurdles facing the developers of biological implants is coming up with a power source to keep the implanted devices ticking. We've seen various technologies that could be used instead of traditional batteries (which require the patient to go under the knife so they can be replaced) such as wireless transmission of power from outside the body, biological fuel cells that generate electricity from a person's blood sugar, and piezoelectric devices that generate electricity from body movements or the beating of the heart. Now researchers have developed a device that could be used to generate electricity from a patient's breathing.

The device created by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison relies on the piezoelectric effect - whereby an electrical charge accumulates in certain materials in response to mechanical stress. But instead of relying on body movements to create the mechanical stress, the UW-Madison team's device uses low speed airflow like that caused by normal human respiration to cause the vibration of a plastic microbelt engineered from a piezoelectric material called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).

"Basically, we are harvesting mechanical energy from biological systems. The airflow of normal human respiration is typically below about two meters per second," says Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Xudong Wang who created the device along with postdoctoral researcher Chengliang Sun and graduate student Jian Shi. "We calculated that if we could make this material thin enough, small vibrations could produce a microwatt of electrical energy that could be useful for sensors or other devices implanted in the face," said Wang.

via New device to generate electricity from human breathing.

R.I.P. Steve Jobs

Asia's biggest tech fair opens in Japan

Smartphones detecting bad breath and radiation, twistable remote controls and a super-thin tablet computer were just some of the gadgets on show at Asia's biggest tech fair in Japan Tuesday. Around 600 firms unveiled their innovations at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (Ceatec) technology exhibition in Chiba, near Tokyo, which is expected to draw 200,000 visitors during its five-day run, organisers said.

Japan's Toshiba showcased what it calls "the world's thinnest and lightest" tablet computer, equipped with a 10.1-inch display that is just 7.7 millimetres (0.3-inch) thick and weighs 558 grams (19.5 ounces).

Electronics parts maker Murata Manufacturing unveiled devices using a newly-developed transparent organic film that can deliver instructions via twisting motions or pressure. One of its gadgets, a light-powered plate called the Leaf Grip Remote Controller, has no buttons but is instead operated by the user bending and twisting it.

via Asia's biggest tech fair opens in Japan.

Exotic glass speakers

Greensound Technology made its first appearance at IFA this year and alongside its Serac series speakers, the company was showcasing its latest offerings - the Luno and Cube subwoofer. Like all Greensound's creations, the Luno speakers are made from a pane of glass - this time curved slightly - that isn't just for show but actually vibrates to produce the sound that is projected from both sides to deliver "360 degree sound."

The floor standing Luno speakers are the most compact offering from Greensound to date, standing at 106.7 cm (42 in) tall with a base measuring 45.7 cm (18 in) wide and 45.7 cm deep, and a weight of 36 kg (79 lb). The company says this makes them ideal for hotel rooms, small suites, waiting rooms, medium-sized homes and - naturally - yachts. The accompanying Cube subwoofer is even more compact, measuring 45.7 x 45.7 x 20 cm (18 x 18 x 8 in) and weighing 18 kg (39.6 lb).

The glass speakers can be lit with optional colored LED lighting, while digital transmitters that plug into an amplifier's speaker output and operate wirelessly at 5 GHz do away with the need for running cabling around the room - or yacht. However, the speakers will still need to be plugged into a power outlet.

via Greensound Technology expands exotic glass speaker line-up.