Charles Babbage's 5-Ton Calculator Comes to Life
Nathan Myhrvold, the former CTO of Microsoft, has added an extremely cool looking 19th-century mechanical calculator to his collection. Charles Babbage was the designer of the 5-ton machine but it was too complex to build in 1849. It does work and it gives you an idea of how advanced and intricate machines would have become if it had not been for computer power. You can learn more about complex difference engine with 8,000 separate parts in this Wired video and article. Wired explains what the machine can do.
It works. The five-ton bronze, steel and cast iron contraption is operated by a crank handle and can calculate the results of elaborate trigonometric and logarithmic functions with 31 digits of precision. What's more, it has a printer which stamps the results of its calculations on paper and on a plaster tray, which could be used to create lead type for printing books of mathematical tables.
Device Mimics a Spider's Spinneret
The BBC reports that scientists have created a device that spins silk like spiders. The device mimics a spider's spinneret.
A device that partially mimics the process by which spiders produce fine, yet super-strong, silks has been built.
It could help produce a new generation of tough, lightweight materials for use in medical equipment, for example.
A simple method for manufacturing strands of artificial gossamer has long been coveted as - weight for weight - it is five times stronger than steel.
Writing in the journal PNAS, the German team says their work sheds light on how
spiders produce their unique materials.
"We can observe the initial steps of fibre formation, which was not possible before," explained Sebastian Rammensee of the Technical University of Munich and one of the authors of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science's paper.
This is a step toward artificial spider silk but so far none have been able to match nature. The article says the genetic engineering is currently out as an option because it has proven to be too costly.
Chumby Raises $12 Million The makers of the Chumby - a widget-powered alarm clock type of device - have raised $12.5 million in funding reports CenterNetworks.
Chumby Industries (love the name), makers of the Chumby Internet connected device, have picked up $12.5 million in Series B funding today. The lead investor was JK&B Capital, and other participants included existing venture investors, Avalon Ventures, Masthead Venture Partners and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. The company notes that the financing will be used to accelerate growth of the company, and expand and broaden the Chumby Network to other screen-based Internet connected devices. The device ain't cheap; it will run you about $200.
$200 is probably more than people want to spend for an alarm clock but the Chumby does much more than an ordinary alarm clock. Chumby can run any of the widgets created for it. You can have Chumby display a typical alarm clock type of view or you can stream photos, get sports scores or receive weather updates. You can find all the Chumby widgets at Chumby.com.
Here's the welcome video you get with widget-playing Chumby. It is far from the only Chumby video on YouTube - many more here.
The Hawaii Chair
G4TV's Olivia Munn rides a Hawaii Chair in this video clip. The Hawaii Chair is a strange chair from Perfect USA that attempts to combine the hula dance with an office chair. They also claim you can lose weight with the chair. Here's the actual description of the chair from Perfect USA.
The Perfect Hawaii Chair combines the ancient art of the Hula with patented 2,800 RPM Hula motor to create an easy-to-use waistline slimming and fat burning aerobic workout exercise machine that take the work out of your work.
Ellen Degeneres also has trouble with the Hawaii Chair -- see here. Good luck accomplishing anything on that chair.
The SEO Rapper: Design Coding
The Poetic Prophet (AKA The SEO Rapper) is back with a new marketing rap. In this rap he describes how web standards and proper design can affect the ranking and conversion of pages on your site.
Here's an excerpt from the rap's lyrics.
tag your look and feel on a separate style sheet
better results with xml and css
now you making progress, a lil closer to success
describe your doctype so the browser can relate
make sure you do it great or it won't validate
check in all browsers, I do it directly
gotta make sure that it renders correctly
some use IE, some others use Flock
some use AOL, I use Firefox
title everything including links and images
don't use italics, use emphasis
don't use bold, please use strong
if you use bold that's old and wrong
when you use CSS, you page will load quicker
client satisfied like they eating on a snicker
they stuck on your page like you made it with a sticker
and then they convert now that's the real kicker
make you a lil richer, your site a lil slicker
Tasty Blog Snack has posted the complete lyrics here.
Long Range Acoustical Device Deters Enemies
The Long Range Acoustical Device is a device that uses high-intensity sounds to deter enemies. It sounds annoying just in this video. It is hard to imagine how awful it would be up close. You can read more about the device on War is Boring on on Wikipedia. The AP says there are 1,000 of these LRADs deployed by the military in Iraq.
Celebs Go Crazy For the Macbook Air TechCrunch reports that Charlie Rose recently took a bad fall and unwisely decided to fall on his face instead of risking damage to the MacBook Air he was carrying. You can see he looks quite bruised up in the screen capture on the right.
Viewers of the Charlie Rose show tonight were stunned to see the normally composed Rose looking like he'd just been in a bar fight. He has a very bad black eye and a bandage over part of his forehead. I contacted the show's producers to hear what happened. Earlier today, they said, Rose tripped in a pothole while walking on 59th Street in Manhattan. He was carrying a newly purchased MacBook Air and made a quick (but ultimately flawed) decision while falling: sacrifice the face, protect the computer. "In doing so, he pretty much hit the pavement face first, unfortunately," they said.
BuzzFeed found that Rose isn't the only one crazy for the Macbook Air. Lily Allen clutches tightly on to one with a grumpy look as if she will clobber anyone who tries to take it. John Mayer says the Macbook Air is really as cool as it looks. Martha Stewart has also blogged about her Macbook Air calling it a "technological thing of beauty."
Big Dog Robots Treks Through Ice and Snow
Here's the latest video of Big Dog, the quadraped robot army mule from Boston Dynamics that carries gear. Big Dog even treks through the ice and snow with no trouble - well Big Dog slips a lot but he stays upright. Big can even jump. Boston Dymanics says Big Dog runs at 4 mph, climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, and carries a 340 lb load. It would be nice if they would give him a head so he would not look quite so creepy.
Regular Visitors Far More Valuable Than Search Visitors
The New York Timesreports on a new study that measured the value of search engine click-throughs based on whether or not the people who clicked over would purchase something. Paid links edged out organic (unpaid) search clicks.
A recent study by Engine Ready, an Internet marketing company, analyzed 18.7 million visits over two years to Web sites run by 27 of the company's roughly 500 clients. The study found that paid listings had a slight edge over "organic," or unpaid, search results: visitors who clicked on paid links were 17 percent more likely to buy something, and they spent about 18 percent more on each order.
However, both types of search engine visitors were crushed by the people that bookmark a website or just type in the URL - a website's regulars.
But neither of these is the most valuable kind of Web site visitor. That honor goes to the people who arrive at a site by typing its Web address directly into their browsers or clicking on a bookmark. Such visitors, who tend to be repeat customers, linger the longest, spend the most money, and are the most likely to "convert" to buyers, doing so on 3.3 percent of their visits. On average, their visits are worth $5.69 apiece.
The very best type of visitor to have is someone who bookmarks your website, visits regularly or subscribes to your feed. That isn't a surprise but it is interesting to see that this study valued these types of visitors nearly three to four times over those from search engines.
Here's the break down from the study the Times described:
Google Completes DoubleClick Acquisition
Google announced on the Google Blog today the completion of the DoubleClick acquisition. At one time DoubleClick was considered the leader in online advertising. Several years ago nearly all of the top websites used DoubleClick software to rotate advertisements and sell banner ad inventory. In the Google Blog post Google talks about combining their advertising network with DoubleClick's display ad serving products.
Advertisers and publishers who work with us have long asked that we complement our search and content-based text advertising with display advertising capabilities. DoubleClick gives Google the leading platform for display advertising, enabling us to rapidly bring advances to the market in technology and infrastructure that will dramatically improve the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies.
As the combination of Google and DoubleClick delivers better, more relevant display ads, we're also looking forward to delivering an improved online experience to users. Because user trust is paramount to the success of our business, users will continue to benefit from our commitment to protecting user privacy following this acquisition. And our scale and infrastructure mean that users will also be spending less time waiting for web pages to load. Ultimately, we believe that by combining our advertising network with DoubleClick's display ad serving products, and by investing resources in the display ad business, we will be able to help publishers and advertisers generate more revenue. That in turn will fuel the creation of even more rich and diverse content for Internet users everywhere
DoubleClick has some very powerful banner management software that Google could share with its AdSense pulbishers. It will be interesting to see if they end up sharing this technology with their publishers and how it will all play from a publisher's perspective. The mention offering more tools for publishers in a post on the AdSense blog. You can read more discussion about the acquisition on Techmeme and Megite.
New Security Camera Uses T-Rays to See Under Clothes
Reuters reports that a new camera can see under people's clothes from up to 25 meters away. A company called ThruVision has created the device that uses "passive imaging technology" to identify objects by the Terahertz or T-rays they emit. T-rays are natural electromagnetic rays emitted by all objects. Wikipedia has an informative entry on terahertz radiation. ThruVision's T-500 camera uses T-rays to identify objects such as a hidden knife a person may be carrying.
The high-powered camera can detect hidden objects from up to 80 feet away and is effective even when people are moving. It does not reveal physical body details and the screening is harmless, the company says.
The technology, which has military and civilian applications and could be used in crowded airports, shopping malls or sporting events, will be unveiled at a scientific development exhibition sponsored by Britain's Home Office on March 12-13.
"Acts of terrorism have shaken the world in recent years and security precautions have been tightened globally," said Clive Beattie, the chief executive of ThruVision.
"The ability to see both metallic and non-metallic items on people out to 25 meters is certainly a key capability that will enhance any comprehensive security system."
This is certainly going to increase privacy concerns as these cameras start being used places. On the plus side at least it doesn't blast people with dangerous x-rays like the all too revealing full-body x-ray scanner that was being considered for U.S. airport at one point in time.
Chinese Hackers Claim Pentagon Hack
With a message that no website is 100% safe Chinese hackers living in an apartment claim to have hacked a number of websites including the Pentagon. CNN reports these hackers claim to be sometimes secretly funded by the Chinese government.
In fact, they say they are sometimes paid secretly by the Chinese government -- a claim the Beijing government denies.
"No Web site is one hundred percent safe. There are Web sites with high-level security, but there is always a weakness," says Xiao Chen, the leader of this group.
"Xiao Chen" is his online name. Along with his two colleagues, he does not want to reveal his true identity. The three belong to what some Western experts say is a civilian cyber militia in China, launching attacks on government and private Web sites around the world.
If there is a profile of a cyber hacker, these three are straight from central casting -- young and thin, with skin pale from spending too many long nights in front of a computer.
The hackers that CNN talked to also claims to run a hacker website that has 10,000 members. The site offers hacking tools and tricks. If these hackers are for real and they are trying to steal secrets from the Pentagon's website then hopefully the U.S. Military's elite hacker crew will be ready to fire back.
The curved iView pictured above is Designer Nuno Teixeira's vision of what a wrap-around style iMac might look like. It looks like a great idea for a gaming computer. The Yanko Design blog has more photos here. They also say, "The likelihood this will ever be made? 0%, the likelihood I would really like one of these? 100%" Yes, this beautiful curved iMac probably isn't something we can expect to ever see unfortunately.
Freezing Gives Hackers Temporary Access to DRAM Data
An article on MSNBC says that encrypted hard drives may become accessible to hackers with the use of a burst of cold air. The article cites a new Princeton University report. Princeton's research found that freezing a DRAM chip will give a hacker temporary access to computer memory.
Freezing a dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chip, the most common type of memory chip in personal computers, causes it to retain data for minutes or even hours after the machine loses power, the report found. That data includes the keys to unlock encryption. Without freezing, the chip loses its contents within seconds.
Hackers can steal information stored in memory by rebooting the compromised machine with a simple program designed to copy the memory contents - before the computer has a chance to purge sensitive data, according to the study.
Laptops left in hibernation or sleep mode, or simply not turned off at all, are the most vulnerable to the new type of attack.
"These risks imply that disk encryption on laptops may do less good than widely believed," according to the report, which was published this week by researchers from Princeton, the Electronic Frontier Foundation digital rights group, and Wind River Systems software company. "Ultimately, it might become necessary to treat DRAM as untrusted, and to avoid storing sensitive confidential data there, but this will not be feasible until architectures are changed to give software a safe place to keep its keys."
The researchers were able to freeze the memory chips with by spraying an "upside-down canister of multipurpose duster spray" directly onto them and then using memory-imaging tools to read the data on the chips.
You can read more about the research project here and you can see a YouTube video below.
Study Links Heavy Cell Phone Usage to Salivary Gland Cancer
The BBC reports (via Techmeme) that a new study from Isreal has linked heavy cell phone usage to increased risk of cancer of the salivary gland.
Researchers looked at 500 Israelis who had developed the condition and compared their mobile phone usage with 1,300 healthy controls.
Those who had used the phone against one side of the head for several hours a day were 50% more likely to have developed a salivary gland tumour.
The research appeared in The American Journal of Epidemiology.
Numerous studies have focused on the risk of tumours among those who use mobile phones, and overwhelmingly found no increased cancer risk.
But researchers at Tel Aviv University say these have tended to focus on brain tumours, and often did not include long-term users.
In the past cancer studies have linked or found no link between cell phones and brain cancers. A long-term study is currently underway. Other studies have linked cell phone usage to infertility. Another study said cell phones are very dirty - even dirtier than a toilet seat.
Valentine's Day is for Gadgets
Tech gadgets aren't topping the list of Valentine gifts according to this report but that doesn't mean they are not on want lists. Reuters reports in the video below that gadgets are hot for Valentine's Day. They talked to Natalie Del Conte - senior editor of CNET TV - and she says gadgets are becoming more androgynous. Delconte also says the iPod Nano, LG Venus mobile phone, and digital picture frames are some of the gizmos ranking high on V-Day gift lists. She may be on to something here because many of the gadget manufacturers came out with pink or red versions of their items - such as the Red Zune from Microsoft and the pink iPod Nano form Apple.
Microsoft Finds Yahoo's Rejection Unfortunate
Earlier today Yahoo rejected Microsoft's offer saying it was too low - that it undervalues Yahoo. Some Flickr users were probably hoping this would be the end of it but InfoWorld reports that Microsoft finds it "unfortunate" that Yahoo has not embraced their "fair" offer.
In a statement, Microsoft said it's "unfortunate" that Yahoo "has not embraced" its proposal to combine the two companies, and the rejection of the offer "does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal."
The company also hinted that it may take the offer directly to Yahoo's shareholders, a move that could result in a hostile takeover.
"As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo's shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal," Microsoft said in its statement.
Earlier Monday, Yahoo formally rejected Microsoft's bid to acquire the company in a half-stock/half-cash purchase, saying it undervalued Yahoo.
InfoWorld also said that Yahoo may be rejecting the offer in an effort to elicit a higher bid from Microsoft. A hostile takeover could be a difficult and costly maneuver for Microsoft to attempt. You can see the press release of Microsoft's response here. InfoWorld isn't the only source noticing the potential of a hostile move by Microsoft - see here and here. The Register'sheadline reads, "Microsoft rejects Yahoo! rejection." Still more discussion here on Techmeme.
Flickr Outrage at Possible Microsoft Yahoo Acquisition Tech blogs are buzzing with the possibility of Microsoft acquiriing Yahoo (see here, here, here, here, here and here). Yahoo owns many different companies that operate somewhat independently of the main Yahoo website. One of those websites is the popular Flickr photosharing website. Wired's Compiler reports that at least some of these users are going to be very unhappy should Microsoft manage to acquire Yahoo. The photograph on the right from Flickr user Gnal shows that at least some Flickr users are unhappy with the prospect of a Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo and thereby of Flickr.
A small but vocal minority on Flickr are already staging online protests at the prospect of a Microsoft takeover. Flickr is one of several popular Web 2.0 websites owned by Yahoo that loyal users fear will suffer under Microsoft ownership.
As soon as the news hit the wires that Microsoft is proposing a $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, Flickr users began posting anti-Microsoft images, satirical "Flickr Live" logos and announcing they will abandon Flickr if it falls into Microsoft hands, fearing such a move would mark the beginning of the end.
"Well then, I'm outta here!" announced one Flickr user who goes by the name Judland.
While Microsoft has established its dominance on the desktop, its web properties lag behind those of Yahoo and others.
When it comes to building or acquiring hip, community-focused websites, Microsoft has fumbled where Yahoo has thrived. Last year, Microsoft tried its hand at a community site to compete with Flickr by adding photo-sharing capability to its Windows Live web service. But Windows Live Spaces doesn't have the cutting-edge user interface or the Web 2.0 cache that Flickr has. It also doesn't have the closely-knit community of passionate users that makes Flickr so successful.
Yahoo has made several high profile social media acquisitions including Flickr, del.icio.us, BuzzTracker and MyBlogLog. You can see a few other graphics on Flickr about an acquisition on Flickr here, here, here and here.
Music Labels Deny Signing Qtrax Deals Qtrax is a new free ad-based music p2p service claming to have 25 million songs from all the major labels. However, the BBC reports that three major record labels don't see it that way.
Three major record labels have denied signing deals allowing their music to feature on a new file-sharing service offering unlimited free downloads.
The service, Qtrax, boasted it would carry up to 30 million tracks from "all the major labels".
But Warner, EMI and Universal all say they have not licensed their music.
Qtrax said it expected an agreement to be reached with Warner and that terms had been agreed with the others even if deals had not been formally signed.
Qtrax claims signed agreements with the label are still coming.
Gizmodo calls the news rumor smashed and shows an angry picture of the Hulk. Engadget says that it's probably too good to be true. There's more discussion here on Techmeme.
Amazon's MP3s are not free but they claim to be the only retailer currently offering DRM-free MP3s from all four major record labels.
Meg Whitman Stepping Down as Ebay Chief Meg Whitman is stepping down as the CEO and Chairman of eBay. She certainly did a terrific job running eBay. She will step down on March 31, 2008. Whitman joined eBay in March 1998. At the time, eBay was a U.S.-only, auction-based trading site with 500,000 registered users, just 30 employees, and $4.7 million in revenue. Today, the company has hundreds of millions of users worldwide, more than 15,000 employees and nearly $7.7 billion in revenue.
"Meg's passion for all things eBay changed the world," said Pierre Omidyar, Founder of eBay and Chairman of the Board. "With humor, smarts and unflappable determination, Meg took a small, barely known online auction site and helped it become an integral part of our lives. We're all enormously grateful that Meg dedicated herself to stewarding eBay through its 10 most formative years."
eBay's Board of Directors voted unanimously to elect John Donahoe President and CEO. Donahoe came to eBay in February 2005 from Bain & Company, where he had served as worldwide managing director since 1999. For nearly three years, Donahoe has been President of eBay Marketplaces, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the company's global revenues. In this role, Donahoe has been responsible for the growth of eBay and its other ecommerce businesses around the world, and during the time he has managed this business unit, both revenues and profits doubled.
"During the last three years, John and I have worked very closely together to arrive at this day, and we'll continue to work together through the transition," said Whitman. "I'm extremely confident in John's skills and the abilities of John’s veteran management team. eBay and its millions of users are in great hands as they head into the future."
Omidyar added, "John is a great choice to lead eBay. He understands our community and is committed to continuing Meg's legacy. The Board and I look forward to supporting John as he takes eBay into the future."
In addition, eBay announced that Rajiv Dutta, currently the President of PayPal, has been named Executive Vice President of eBay Inc. and will also replace Donahoe as President of eBay Marketplaces. Dutta, who will report to Donahoe, has also been elected to the eBay Board of Directors.
eBay has also acquired PayPal, StubHub and Skype under Meg's leadership. More discussion of her exit can be found here on Techmeme.
DreamHost Issues Goofy Apology After Billing Error
DreamHost made a big error and overcharged many of its customers. They blogged a somewhat humoroues apology that included Homer Simpson.
The end to this story is that of course, I'm very very sorry, we're very very sorry, and I'm sure you're very very sorry this happened. I really am. I understand the sort of problems that an unexpected large charge to your credit card (or worse yet, your debit card) can cause. If the tone of this blog post seemed a little light, I apologize I don't mean to offend and I realize how serious an issue this is. I've been up since 3:50am trying to undo the damage and maybe I'm a little shell-shocked.
A new service is running right now (in parallel on all the controllers) that fixes all those future charges, re-enables your account if it was erroneously suspended, and if your credit card was automatically rebilled, refunds the payment automatically. You don't have to contact us or your bank, and you'll get an email when your account is finished fixing up. It's going to take several more hours to complete. There are (or were, after this incident) a lot of you these days!
Looking through the hundreds of comments it is clear that some of the people found the apology was amusing. However, it made other people more angry.
The makers of the Chumby - a widget-powered alarm clock type of device - have raised $12.5 million in funding 
TechCrunch 
Meg Whitman is stepping down as the CEO and Chairman of 