Technology
Weekend Diversion: Be Safe, Be Free!
Posted by Ethan on August 19, 2012 
“If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom.” -Dwight Eisenhower One of the greatest feelings is the freedom to travel, whether by your own power or a mechanical motor, far faster than your own legs can take you. Kimya…
iMac Weather Menu Bar App Thingie
Posted by Greg Laden on August 13, 2012 I am now using an iMac for a lot more than I ever used a Mac of any kind before, and in so doing I’m discovering some interesting software. I will therefore be telling you about it, because it is much more interesting than telling you about what I had for lunch or dinner. (Having…
Publishing with Apple’s iBook Author
Posted by Greg Laden on August 7, 2012 I am making a couple of iBooks. I’ve already produced three of them, but you can’t see them because they were experimental and they have been mercifully deleted. I found three or four problems (mainly with my own design and understanding) that I’ll tell you a little about below. There are things to consider when…
Curiosity Rover Landed OK On Mars
Posted by Martin R on August 6, 2012 The Curiosity rover / Mars Science Laboratory has landed safely on Mars and is returning data! So now we have two rovers on Mars again, Opportunity and a new one of unprecendented size and instrument sophistication. Curiosity has a laser gun that allows it to measure emission spectra at a distance, an instrument that allows…
Curse the appearing ghost menus
Posted by Greg Laden on July 31, 2012 Do you know what I’m talking about? They are everywhere. Here are a few places you can find them: In recent WordPress installs, in the comment management section, the menu that gives you “save, edit, spam” etc choices is invisible until you move your cursor near it. In Unity, all the menus are invisible until…
The 3 blind mice can now see light
Posted by Dr. Dolittle on July 27, 2012 By injecting the eyes of blind mice with a chemical called AAQ, Dr. Richard Kramer and colleagues at UC Berkeley and the University of Washington have found that the animals are able to detect bright light. When these treated mice were exposed to an LED lamp, they actually turned and ran away from the light.…
On becoming a cyborg
Posted by Frank Swain on July 26, 2012 First: the backstory. I’m slowly going deaf. No one knows why. First doctor blamed rock’n’roll. Next one blamed my genetics. I’m still waiting for video games and teen sex to be indicted. They all agree that it’s irreversible. Just shitty luck. Today I went to have some phones fitted – something I’ve been putting off…
Mars Orbiter Adjusts, Rover Gets Twitter Account
Posted by Greg Laden on July 24, 2012 Curiosity Rover is now tweeting its stuff. Things are going to get pretty exciting over the next few days as the space ship comes in for a landing on the Planet Mars. Meanwhile, the Mars Orbiter has made positional adjustments that will facilitate sending information back about the 15 minutes of terror. NASA’s Mars Odyssey…
Watchmaker builds 24.65 hour clock for Mars scientists
Posted by Frank Swain on July 24, 2012 
Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NPR both have features on watchmaker Garo Anserlian, who designed a special watch that keeps time with Martian solar days. Snip: The martian day is longer than Earth’s, but this minimal variance can amount to physical and mental fatigue. Every day, team members are reporting to work 39 minutes later…
look at the resolution of that thing
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson on July 24, 2012 This week I was treated to an impressive illustration of the power of modern security technology. I was passing through Reagan National Airport, having been deflected from my previous schedule (which had originally included a stay at the hotel complex in Aurora, CO last thursday night – serendipitously I had cancelled the reservation and then…
