Claesson.org

wooferhound writes "Sophisticated synthesizers and computer-manipulated recordings are increasingly taking over orchestras. Sounding almost like real players, while costing much less, they're especially popular with provincial or touring companies. But until mid-July — when 'West Side Story's' producers announced that a synthesizer was replacing three live violinists and two cellists, or half the orchestra's string section — staff violinist Paul Woodiel thought that at least the classics would be immune to the trend. There are computer programs able to read and play back music scores — a boon to composers who can now hear their work as they write — and software allowing conductors to control the tempo of the machine, in the same way that they direct live players."

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We think Apple's Magic Trackpad marks the beginning of the end of Mac OS X. Other reviewers of the Magic Trackpad touched other subjects. Here are the highlights of what they said.

Ars Technica thought the Magic Trackpad matched perfectly with Apple's Wireless Keyboard:

There's not much in the box besides the trackpad and a manual. The enclosure is made of aluminum with a thin layer of glass on the tracking surface, though you wouldn't know it from the touch. The Magic Trackpad is designed to mirror the functionality and feel of the trackpads built into Apple's MacBook Pros, but to look like a partner to Apple's Wireless Keyboard. The top and bottom align with the keyboard perfectly, and they match each other aesthetically.

Slash Gear discovered some new options in the Trackpad's settings:

Thanks to the new settings pane, however, you can selectively shut off certain gestures if you don't use them, adjust tracking, double-click and scrolling speed (including optional inertia), and change the behavior of three-finger use. Rather than flipping pages, you can set it to drag windows around the screen (a new software update adds the same optional functionality to MacBook trackpads).

CNET found the Magic Trackpad offered limited multitouch for Windows:

Though the wording on the box claims a Mac is necessary, we successfully paired the Magic Trackpad with a Windows PC. Unfortunately, Windows functionality is limited to single-touch and click functions only—we couldn't get multitouch settings such as pinch-to-zoom and tap-to-click to work on the Magic Trackpad. A Windows support download from Apple wouldn't install on a Windows PC, and is intended for Boot Camp users running Windows on their Macs.

MacWorld didn't think you could use the Magic Trackpad on your lap:

One place the Magic Trackpad doesn't sit especially well is on your lap with a keyboard. If you're using Apple's Wireless Keyboard with, say, a Mac mini in your home entertainment system, you'll likely wish for a version of the keyboard with the trackpad permanently attached. I suspect it won't be long before an enterprising third party announces a convenient tray that holds the Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad together.

Engadget managed to make the trackpad register 10 touch points and touched on its usefulness as a HTPC remote:

As you would expect, the trackpad is multitouch and responds to gestures using up to four fingers, though the trackpad registered far more touch points in my testing, even up to all ten of my fingers (tested using the third party Better Touch Tool)...One of the best uses I found for the Magic Trackpad was as a control surface for my HTPC setup. Normally I use something called Air Mouse on my iPhone to control the Mac Mini I have connected to my TV — but the Magic Trackpad did excellent stand-in work for it during my testing.

PC Mag wanted to see it offered with the new iMacs:

Too bad you can't replace the Magic Mouse with the Magic Trackpad in an order for a new iMac, seeing that they cost the same.

hasanabbas1987 writes "It's just been a few months since a 45-gigapixel panorama of Dubai claimed the title of world's largest digital photograph, but it's now already been well and truly ousted — the new king in town is this 70-gigapixel, 360-degree panorama of Budapest. As with other multi-gigapixel images, this one was no easy feat, and involved two 25-megapixel Sony A900 cameras fitted with 400mm Minolta lenses and 1.4X teleconverters, a robotic camera mount from 360world that got the shooting done over the course of two days, and two solid days of post-processing that resulted in a single 200GB file — not to mention a 15-meter-long printed copy of the photograph for good measure. Of course, what's most impressive is the photo itself [Note: requires Silverlight]."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/364dzVsBs2o&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":375,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube","wrap":true,"agegate":false} ); Actually screw it, you can if you want to. Seeing a washing machine have a seizure is totally worth it. [Laughing Squid]

Credit: David M Edwards

http://bestc.am/RM2FE

Google Earth's an incredible (and incredibly useful) piece of software, but there's still something to be said for the good old, three-dimensional globe. This one not only celebrates the brass-detailed spheres of yore but controls Google Earth for good measure.

John Knight is the tinkerer behind the project, which he calls the Electromagnetic Geospacial Globe and Remote View with Obligatory Goggles, using RFID tags and Touchatag reader to control Google Earth. Knight is presenting the set at today's Maker Faire Detroit, but you can see a video of it in action here.

Sure, it looks a little slow to respond now, but give it a break, it runs on steam. [Flickr via Make]

astroengine writes "After repeated calls from NASA to wake up Mars Exploration Rover Spirit from its low-energy hibernation mode, mission control is beginning to realize the ill-fated robot may never wake up again. After getting stuck in a sand trap in Gusev Crater and then switching into hibernation in March, rover operators were hopeful that the beached Spirit might yet be saved. Alas, this is looking more and more unlikely. In a statement, NASA said: 'Based on models of Mars' weather and its effect on available power, mission managers believe that if Spirit responds, it most likely will be in the next few months. However, there is a very distinct possibility Spirit may never respond.'" Related xkcd strip, in case the headline wasn't anthropomorphic enough for you.

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Do you have more than one account at Java.Net? If so, please read on.

As announced by Ted Farrell back in February, Java.Net.next will use the Kenai infrastructure.  For the most part we are trying to make the transition as painless as possible but there will be some changes here and there.  Sometimes new features will be added; sometimes some may be dropped.  One specific point is about usernames and email addresses.

Currently, Java.Net allows for multiple usernames with the same email address (login is done only via the username), but Kenai does not (you can login with username or email).  We are considering using the Kenai approach for the new implementation of Java.Net and want your feedback on how that would affect you.

I asked Kevin if he could run a poll on this, and he kindly did. If you are interested, please go vote.

Copying the questions here:

• I only have one account at Java.Net
• I have multiple accounts at Java.Net and each has a different email address
• I have multiple accounts at Java.Net with the same email address but I can change that
• I absolutely need to have multiple accounts at Java.Net with the same email address
• I don't have a java.net account
• I don't know
• Other

Real-time tactics evolve with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Blizzard's long in the making sequel to one of the most beloved, bestselling sci-fi strategy games of all time. Oh, so you've heard of it, then?

Three distinct races, the displaced humans known as Terrans, the ancient, mystical alien Protoss, and the insect-like Zerg horde, are (still) embroiled in an intergalactic war. Billions die as the Zerg swarm reawakens from hibernation four years after the events of 1998's StarCraft: Brood War. In StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, players will largely experience the Terran side of this story under the command of Jim Raynor, hero of the original StarCraft and now enemy of the imperial Dominion forces. Raynor and his faithful crew of Raiders hop from planet to planet searching for artifacts that may end the Zerg's reign of terror and that of its leader, the Queen of Blades.

Of course, that's just a small slice of what StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has to offer. In addition to the lengthy story-driven campaign mode, there's a deep multiplayer component, a revamped Battle.net matchmaking and social service, plus a robust game mode editor.

Was it all worth waiting more than a decade to play?

Loved

As Good As Sci-fi Space Opera Gets: StarCraft II's single-player campaign story engages and satisfies—even if we only peek at a third of this game's arc in Wings of Liberty. After waiting far too long to revisit the heroic Terran marshal Jim Raynor, the tragic Ghost-turned-Zerg queen Sarah Kerrigan, and their respective conflicts with the sleazy Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, it was StarCraft II's single-player campaign that I anticipated most. It does not disappoint. The story meanders as Blizzard dispenses some missions that serve as tutorials, some as experience-awarding filler, but it never loses sight of its looming climax. Raynor's crew and shipmates always have something interesting to say about their situation, some insight that will flesh out their character. Wings of Liberty's story blends humor, tragedy, mystery and intrigue into something worth playing through, ending on a thrilling note. The expansion StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm cannot come soon enough.

Fine Mission Design: Over the course of Wings of Liberty's 29 campaign missions—I actually wound up playing through 26 of them to reach its end—rarely does a mission feel rehashed. Some worlds are flooded with lava every few minutes, some spawn unstoppable armies of zombie-like Zerg at night, some require stealthy gameplay and demand careful unit management. Almost all are memorable and filled with alluring bonus objectives and challenging, elective achievement-based skill tests. There are no duds.

Decisions, Decisions: As Wings of Liberty's story progresses, the player is faced with some hard choices. With whom should Jim Raynor ally himself? Who to trust in this war in which billions of lives may be lost? Blizzard was more than effective in making me second guess each pivotal decision. While the interactive portions of StarCraft II's story may have been conflicting, choosing which research items and troop upgrades best suit my play style was much easier. While collecting relics and earning cash by taking jobs, Raynor will be given the chance to evolve his troops, buildings, vehicles and ships in compelling new ways. The impact of these decision making moments makes Wings of Liberty playing through more than once (or at least saving your game frequently).

Adventure Lite: I'd hesitate to label the in-between moments spent on the Battlecruiser Hyperion an adventure game or a role-playing game. It's not that deep, But clicking around Raynor's spaceship environment was a treat. Speaking with non-player characters and surveying the ship's armory, lab and cantina was infinitely better than the alternative from the original StarCraft. Instead of watching talking heads explain why Planet X needed to be infiltrated, rich characters engaged in conversation, exposing aspects of their personality that made them memorable.

The Campaign Remix: There are creative unit and ability additions in the single-player campaign that can't be experienced elsewhere. Familiar units from the original StarCraft that were left on the cutting room floor, like the Terran Medic and Firebat, are alive and well here. The addition of specially powered Mercenary troops that players can hire further lends StarCraft II's story-driven side a feeling of looking at the director's cut of the game. It can be a little unsettling to play through Wings of Liberty's campaign and then dive into multiplayer, where your tech tree and tactics will need to be relearned, but the wild variety here is an enlightening look at the chances Blizzard was willing to make.

Old Units, New Tactics: Some StarCraft standbys appear virtually unchanged in the sequel, like the gruff Terran Marine and the Zerg Hydralisk, essential to any army. But small changes to these units and bigger alterations for new or evolved ones open up exciting new tactical opportunities. Chokepoint strategies are rendered less useful by the Terran Reaper and Protoss Colossus, which essentially ignore terrain. The Zerg Infestor, which can possess enemy units, and the tactic of moving Zerg units that remain cloaked underground wildly changes how old units must be employed. Tried and true tactics, like Zerg rushes and micro-managed Terrans Siege Tanks, can still work, but players will be required to think differently about how they're employed. StarCraft II may not go far enough in shaking up the formula, but its less obvious changes can have substantial impact.

3v3, No Waiting: Getting into a multiplayer game of StarCraft II is smooth, streamlined and speedy. It's also fair, thanks to matchmaking rankings that have resulted in closely contested matches more often than blowouts. StarCraft II's interface for finding, creating and joining a versus game is easy for those who just want to hop into a skirmish, but also customizable enough that playing on the map of your choosing with the Battle.net friends of your choosing is a snap. Browsing custom games and player-created maps is straightforward, making it simple to get in, get out, a deliver your opponent a "GG."

Play It Again, Jim: A far more helpful tool for improving one's StarCraft II's game than its tutorials and player guide are post-match stats and replays. After a win or defeat, players can save replays of matches to review another player's build order or understand how they built their tech tree. This is a great tactical equalizer and should be explored by new players thoroughly.

The Lure of Achievements: I love achievements as a learning tool—the game regularly encourages you to play it on harder difficulties—and StarCraft II's virtual rewards do an expert job of making playing smarter more rewarding. The campaign and challenges become more appealing to revisit thanks to numerous achievements across game types and dozens of unlockable avatars and decals.

Hated

The 12 Year Half-Step: For all of its polish, its technical accomplishments and its masterfully told sci-fi story, there's an inescapable feeling of StarCraft II being stuck in time. While still thrilling, the gameplay side of StarCraft II feels less innovative than it does derivative. That's more of a product of the original StarCraft's ingenuity, which was dazzling for its remarkable balance between three distinct races and its massive, species spanning story. Wings of Liberty is also a harsh reminder that the majority of StarCraft II's story is yet to be told, an even more painfully long wait to see this chapter unfold.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty comes with its share of nits, including its lack of true local area network play, its demands for an internet connection to play—though campaign and solo missions can be played offline—and its comparatively tame progression in terms of real-time strategy gameplay. The rest of what Wings of Liberty brings to the table far outweighs those pesky complaints. It's stuffed with a great story, nearly limitless gameplay opportunities and a finely balanced, competitive playing field.

The greatest thrills, after the impact of Wings of Liberty's powerful story has sunk in, remain online. Other players are crafting unique maps and experiences with StarCraft II's Galaxy Map Editor, pumping out mods that turn the strategy game into a shooter, a platformer, a kart racer and more. Other players are simply waiting for a competitive or cooperative challenge, ready to surprise you with new attacks and counterattacks, frustrating and impressing you with their ingenuity.

StarCraft II is still a game of micromanagement, build speed and base management, playing with and against forces you're mostly familiar with in a theater of war that certainly feels less fresh than it did in 1998. But Blizzard has polished that classic real-time strategy gameplay to a brilliant shine, offering a single and multiplayer experience that is unmatched. The long wait was worth it, if only to kick off another long wait to see how StarCraft II ultimately ends.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was developed by Blizzard and published by Activision Blizzard for the PC and Mac on July 27. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played single-player campaign to completion on Normal difficulty, played half of the game's Challenges and played dozens of multiplayer matches in the multiplayer beta and final versions of the game.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

An anonymous reader writes with news that security experts from Spider Labs released a kernel level rootkit for Android devices at DefCon on Friday. "As a proof of concept, it is able to send an attacker a reverse TCP over 3G/WIFI shell upon receiving an incoming call from a 'trigger number.' This ultimately results in full root access on the Android device." The rootkit was developed over a period of two weeks, and has been handed out to DefCon attendees on DVD.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Credit: Andreas Guther

http://bestc.am/ykq

Comments are closed down at the moment due to website migration ....

The University of Central Florida has developed a full-body motion-control video game that promotes abstinence. It lets tween girls control avatars that are placed in social situations that may lead to making out and, gasp, sex.

In order to play the game, teen girls will wear motion capture suits that track their actions and translate it to the screen. They'll presumably be placed in a virtual world where sleazy guys and sparkly vampires approach them to make out and pressure them to have sex. The girls can then earn points "for particular social skills that they develop", which to me means, keep your legs and mouth shut to level up.

I'm not saying it's not going to work, but...it's probably not going to work. A video game, even one that cost $434,000 to develop, won't teach kids the reality of sex. [My Fox Orlando via CrunchGear]

destinyland writes "For the first time, the majority of cell phones are accessing data services — 53 percent, compared to only 42 percent last year, according to a new study by Validas. And each user downloads an average of 145.8 MB per month (the average was just 96.8 MB per month in 2009). The heaviest users are Verizon smartphone owners, averaging 428 MB per month (338 MB on average for iPhone users). In fact, Verizon users were twice as likely as iPhone users to exceed both 500 MB and 2 GB each month."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This is artist Jamie Martin's Cybernetic Autonomous Remote Barricade police robot, equipped with armor, impulse cannons, and smoke screens. If that sounds like a bad idea, Martin's one step ahead of you; he made this video of it going rogue:

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/BFEC4RKXFug&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":375,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube","wrap":true,"agegate":false} );

Martin did all of the design, modeling and animation for the C.R.A.B. and imagined this history of its creation:

The advanced robotics technology behind the C.R.A.B.'s artificial intelligence have been secretly developed over the past 12 years as a joint venture between weapons manufacturer Dalton/Stanley and megacorporation Omni Consumer Products.

The results of their historical collaboration has been to produce the most advanced robotic defence system ever constructed, featuring next-generation weaponry and armour protection. The C.R.A.B. is set to pave the way for all future Police and Military automaton technology from here onwards, and will be found on patrol in the public domain very soon.

It sure is a good thing the C.R.A.B. is just a concept, right?! Then again, he did say that its A.I. was developed in secret...[Jamie Martin via io9]

Credit: Jomar Galvez http://www.myclickingpen.com

http://bestc.am/dzSua

josath writes "Texas Instruments' flagship calculator, the Nspire, was hacked to allow user-written programs earlier this year. Earlier this month, TI released an update to the OS that runs on the calculator, providing no new features, but only blocking the previous hack. Now, just a few weeks later, Nleash has been released, which defeats this protection. The battle rages on as users fight for the right to run their own software on their own hardware."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

You may think that this already there, but so far you was only able to set a single dataset (ZFS filesystem or ZFS emulated volume) into read-only. This PSARC case proposed such an mode-of-operation for the complete zpool. According to the documentation of this case, the following steps are done to reach the read-only-ness. 1). pool is loaded but transaction processing is disabled
2). all filesystems and zvols are mounted in read-only mode
3). any intent-log replays are deferred (any pending synchronous writes will be replayed once the pool is imported read-write)

Putting the right kind of strain on a patch of graphene can make super-strong pseudo-magnetic fields, a new study says. The finding sheds new light on the properties of electromagnetism, not to mention the odd properties of graphene.

When graphene is stretched to form "nanobubbles," the stress causes electrons to behave as if they were subject to huge magnetic fields, the size of which have never been seen in a lab before. The study is published today in the journal Science.

Michael Crommie, a senior scientist in the Materials Sciences Division at Berkeley Lab and a physics professor at the University of California-Berkeley, says this is a completely new effect that has no counterpart in any other condensed matter system.

Since scientists began studying magnetic fields more than 100 years ago, no one has been able to sustain big magnetic fields for very long. The record is 85 tesla — a measurement of electromagnetism named for Nikola Tesla — and it only lasted a few thousandths of a second. Make it stronger than that, and the magnets blow themselves apart.

But in Crommie's study, electrons inside carbon atoms behaved as if they were subjected to 300 tesla. It has to do with the way graphene is constructed, which leaves one out of every four valence electrons free to hop around. The other three electrons form tight hexagonal chains. When graphene sheets are strained — for instance, when they're rolled up into carbon nanotubes or stretched into nanobubbles — the bond lengths between atoms change, and electrons hop differently.

The effect is so strong that it works at room temperature. Berkeley Lab's news site has a more detailed description here.

The finding could lead to better electronic and magnetic devices, Crommie says. Controlling where electrons exist and how they move is an essential feature of all electronic devices, he notes.

"New types of control allow us to create new devices, and so our demonstration of strain engineering in graphene provides an entirely new way for mechanically controlling electronic structure in graphene," he says.

[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]

Popular Science is your wormhole to the future. Reporting on what's new and what's next in science and technology, we deliver the future now.

eldavojohn writes "Gizmodo's got an interesting scoop on a list of IPs acquired from Peer Block revealing who is downloading the Facebook user data torrented this week: Apple, the Church of Scientology, Disney, Intel, IBM and several major government contractors just to name a few. The article notes that this doesn't mean it's sanctioned by these companies or even known to be happening, but the IP addresses of requests coming to one of the users' machines match to lists of IP blocks for each company."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.