Meet DustCart: The intelligent 'bin on wheels' robot that will come to pick up your rubbish when you call

By Niall Firth

A resident in the Italian town of Peccioli gets to grips with DustCart during the trial


It might seem like something out of a 1960s, Jetsons-style vision of the future.
But this handy little robot could end the row over fortnightly bin collections once and for all.

Researchers have developed an intelligent robot that can navigate itself around a city’s streets and collect resident’s rubbish on demand.

An EU-funded project has resulted in a human-sized robot, called DustCart, that balances on a Segway base and can navigate itself to stop outside your door when summoned.

Professor Paolo Dario, the coordinator of DustBot said: 'We've taken the very best and most advanced robotics components to build DustCart which solves a very real problem for waste authorities across Europe,' explains Professor Dario.

'Yes, it is a bin on wheels – there's the drawer in which you place your bag of rubbish or recycling – but there's a lot more to the robot than that.'


The robot is able to guide itself around narrow streets


The robot is mounted with cameras and other sensors so it can 'see' where it is going. It scans the path ahead and processes the information to avoid stationary objects.

It also picks out moving objects like pedestrians or bikes ad quickly computes their trajectory and alters its course to avoid a collision.

The visual images are also relayed to a control centre where human operators can check everything working properly and are able to intervene if necessary.

DustCart uses a clever triangulation system to navigate its way to a resident's home by interacting with wireless networks.

The network can pinpoint the robot, calculate optimal routes between pick-ups, and communicate this information to the robot.

Professor Dario said: 'It is the dream of every robotics research to develop a fully automated and intelligent system but we have chosen a different approach.

‘Here, we have a smart robot in a smart environment; the robot 'talks' to its surroundings and the surroundings communicate back. This means the robot has access to a lot more information and computing power.'

DustCart has three levels of intelligent control. First there are the autonomous, built-in systems including motion sensing, obstacle avoidance and user-interface functions including speech recognition.

It also uses 'intelligent' data processing to help it navigate it through the streets.

Finally, a human control centre monitors operations, but only intervenes in an emergency - if someone tries to steal the robot, for example - or where the technology fails.


Two DustCart robots sits eitherside of their counterparts DustClean and who is a street cleaner


Professor Dario said: ‘We have substantial information on the performance of the system and its safety. We have had no major failures yet and no safety breaches. The robot is supervised through CCTV.

‘And we also have insurance, which basically means that the insurer is satisfied that the robot is safe to use on the streets.'

In May, DustCart entered a two-month period of service in the small town of Peccioli in Italy – around 100 households being served by two DustCart robots.

The DustCart has performed demonstrations in six European locations, plus two in Japan and one in South Korea.

The developers say that if upcoming trials prove successful then a working commercial model could be available by the end of this year.



source: dailymail

History in the making: U.S. space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on final mission

By Anny Shaw

Lift off: The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis blasted off this evening in what is expected to be its final mission


The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis blasted off last night on what is expected to be its final mission.

Carrying six crew members, the space shuttle left the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 7.20pm on its last historic journey.

The shuttle should reach its destination - the International Space Station (ISS) - which was orbiting 220 miles over the South Pacific at the time of lift off on Sunday.


*** Scroll down for video ***


All aboard: Atlantis Commander Ken Ham, right, smiles as he holds a viewing mirror reflecting pilot Tony Antonelli as the crew prepares for launch


More than 40,000 people gathered on roads nearby the NASA base and on the beaches of Florida's Space Coast, keen to witness history in the making.

The six astronauts - all men - waved and shook their fists as they headed to the launch pad this morning.

Aware of the significance of the task ahead of them, the crew said they were keeping focused on the job in hand.


Historic moment: Atlantis rocketed into orbit for the first time in 1985. This will be its 32nd trip and the 132nd shuttle flight overall


'In a lot of ways you can't afford to get too distracted,' Ken Ham, who will command Atlantis, told the BBC.

'This is the kind of thing that's going to hit all of us after the mission, when we realise what part in history we played. I think the space shuttle is the single most incredible machine humanity has ever built.'

The crew is led by Ken Ham, who will command an all-veteran flight crew including pilot Tony Antonelli, and mission specialists Michael Good, Garrett Reisman, Piers Sellers and Steve Bowen.


On a mission: The 12-day journey will see Atlantis delivering a Russian module to the ISS, as well as batteries and a communications antenna


Spectacle: More than 40,000 people gathered on roads nearby the NASA base and on the beaches of Florida's Space Coast, keen to witness history in the making


The men were given substantial breakfasts this morning, with three of them feasting on steaks and chips, one eating a cheeseburger and the other two filling up on sandwiches.

The 12-day mission will see Atlantis delivering a Russian module to the ISS, as well as batteries and a communications antenna.

Atlantis rocketed into orbit for the first time in 1985. This will be its 32nd trip and the 132nd shuttle flight overall.


Stand by: Atlantis stands ready for lift off this evening before its historic journey


On their way: Aware of the significance of the task ahead of them, the crew said they were keeping focused on the job in hand


NASA has been asked to concentrate its efforts on developing space shuttles that can reach more distant targets and to hand over missions to and from the ISS to private companies.

It is expected Atlantis will be given to a museum once it has been retired, although it will remain on standby after its mission to the ISS in case astronauts on November's Endeavour flight should need rescuing.

President Barack Obama has announced a new exploration policy that would take humans further than the ISS, beyond the Moon and even to Mars.


Final mission? The space shuttle sits on its launch pad early this morning



source :dailymail

The virtual battles where soldiers can't die: MoD trains Army to fight using sophisticated video games

By Claire Bates

Captain Terry Newton from the Royal Tank Regiment shows how the training system works at the MoD centre in Bristol. It can simulate a variety of terrains faced by troops in the Middle East


Poised with his rifle in the searing heat of the Afghan desert, a British soldier suddenly has to dive for cover as he comes under enemy fire.

However, despite the bullets whizzing all around he is in no real danger ... because he's sitting in an Armed Forces base in Bristol 3,500 miles from the front line.

Although this might seem like fun and games it is a serious part of the pre-deployment training for troops heading into the combat zone.

Called Op JCOVE, the virtual system made only for the Armed Forces runs on PCs and laptops and allows soldiers to experience a wide range of scenarios both in patrol vehicles and on foot.


JCOVE at work: Soldiers roam around realistic terrain and can work in teams using a multi-player option


Out on the frontline: Royal Marine Commandos on the ground in Helmand, Southern Afghanistan


Before they 'head out' into the computer combat zone on their laptops they are briefed on the scenarios they might face.

The system simulates various types of terrain found in the Middle East and arms the 'gamers' with virtual versions of the latest British equipment. Each player has a life bar and face enemy characters that are responsive and 'free-thinking'.

The soldiers interact with each other during the game and if one of them 'dies' during the exercise the others will carry on. Once it is over their mistakes are examined.

Captain Terry Newton, who fought in Afghanistan last year, said: 'JCOVE is a fantastic tool to build up the basics for going on operations.

'The verbal communications we would use and the drills we would do for example to call in a rescue helicopter can be mimicked on this system.


Soldiers from 1 Rifles try out the training system that lets them practice various drills they will need to know once they get sent to the frontline


Concentrating hard the soldiers try out the gaming system. After each exercise they talk through what they can improve in how they tackled the situation


'One of the main benefits is that the modern generation of soldiers are very used to computer consoles so they pick up on the simulation and treat it like a rehearsal very quickly.

'And for the younger soldiers who may not have been on operations before it is a relatively relaxed way to build up their confidence, build up their verbals.'

The JCOVE system even has characters dressed as Afghan civilians who enter a building, pick up a weapon and come out as Taliban.

Captain Newton said: 'This obviously reflects reality. When you're in Afghanistan the Taliban don't wear a uniform. You can only distinguish them once they have a weapon and are firing at you.

'We let a soldier run through the scenario, pause it and if he's made a mistake take him back let him redo it again. So when he gets on operations he can do things instinctively.'

John Brookes, JCOVE project manager, added: 'Originally this system just looked a vehicle convoy operations, now with the upgraded VBS2 software we can focus on more dismounted operations.

'We made sure as much UK kit as possible was represented within the software.

'It can do foot patrols, section attacks, 'call-for' fires, almost anything you can think of as a military exercise can we represented within the system.'

The system is also used by the U.S Army and Marine Corps and other Nato members.

The software manufacturer Bohemia Interactive, have developed a pared-down version of the game called JCOVE Lite for the British public.

It was paid for by the Ministry of Defence to give people, particularly potential recruits, an idea of how the British military trained for combat.



source: dailymail

Tattoo-removing lasers used to lift dirt from great works of art

Art conservationists cleaned the two angels on the left with traditional restoration methods. They cleaned the one on the right using an advanced laser technique, which produced better results


A laser technique that removes unwanted tattoos has been used to clean several famous works of art, including wall paintings.

The technique removes material from a solid surface by vaporising it with a laser beam. Called laser ablation, it can lift dirt without damaging the underlying surface.

Long used to preserve stone sculptures and metal artifacts, it has now been applied to the delicate wall paintings of the Sagrestia Vecchia and the Cappella del Manto in Santa Maria della Scala, Italy.

Dr Salvatore Siano and Renzo Salimbeni from the Applied Physics Institute-CNR in Italy, described the results in the journal of the American Chemical Society.

Dr Siano said: 'This is a more delicate situation than metals or stone as the pigment is much more fragile.'

The pigments of paintings endure laser light better than they do the corrosive and damaging chemicals that have been traditionally used to clean them.

Different lasers are used for different paintings because the frequency and the duration of the pulses affect how localised areas are heated.

In some cases a long heating can be harmful while a short heating is detrimental in others.

The technique was also used on masterpieces like Lorenzo Ghiberti's gilded bronze panels Porta del Paradiso and Donatello's bronze David.

'This was the first time a well recognised masterpiece was treated with laser cleaning,' Dr Siano said.

The team also reported encouraging results of laser cleaning underwater for materials that could deteriorate if exposed to air.


source: dailymail

Why A BlackBerry Outage Is Good For You

By Brad Miles
Lifestyle Correspondent

It’s a common enough scenario: Your buddy just got a new home theater system complete with a gigantic LCD screen, and he invites you over to watch the game and bask in the HD glow of his new setup.

After the requisite couple of minutes spent being impressed by his new system, you settle in for some quality uninterrupted sports watching -- but he won’t shut up about the “killer feature set” of his new obsession. “Just check this out for a sec,” he keeps saying, and yet another dialog box pops up at the bottom of the screen. You’re very tempted to tell him to shut up; can’t a guy just watch the game? The image quality is awesome, yes, in the end it’s all about the game, not the gadget -- right? We’re beginning to worry that for some guys, that distinction is getting blurred.

What really matters? Hint: not iPhone apps

Enjoying an experience -- whether it’s the thrill of watching the one-handed catch that leads to a touchdown win or finding the nearest beer store without the help of your iPhone -- is lately getting overwhelmed by our obsession with the gadgets that are meant to help us. And over time, we’re concerned that our increased reliance on these gadgets will erode our resourcefulness, or at the very least our ability to enjoy the simplest pleasures of manhood -- like a long stretch of undisturbed football on TV, or the confidence you have in your innate sense of direction.

We’re going to get right to the point here: You need to be able to function without your smartphone, GPS and home theater. If you can’t, you’re not much different than a baby who cries when his pacifier is taken away. We’re encouraged to think that as men, being proficient with tech is crucial – and it is. But, when the chips are down, who cares how many e-mails you can bang out on your BlackBerry while waiting for your latte to be ready? The skills that really matter are those that come into play when the network is down.

The legendary plastic saxophone concert
In May of 1953, the legendary jazz saxophone player Charlie “Bird” Parker, along with four other celebrated musicians, were scheduled to play a concert at Massey Hall (Toronto, Canada). Parker was a heroin addict, and, in a characteristic move, he pawned his saxophone in the days leading up to the show in order to get money for drugs. He showed up in Toronto without a horn, and given that it was evening, all of the music stores were closed. He and his band combed the city for something for Parker to play, and they finally found a plastic Grafton sax – hardly the instrument for the job.

Nonetheless, Bird played the plastic sax like his life depended on it, and the resulting live recording (released under the name The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall) is often cited as one of the best live jazz recordings ever made.

Now, we’re not trying to glorify heroin addiction, but the fact remains that few musicians today operate with such resourcefulness as that shown by the Quintet that night.

take control of your resources
There’s something impotent about obsessive control, whether it takes the form of getting just the right image quality on your flat-screen or shaving that last 30 seconds off your commute with the help of your GPS. Next time you’re in a new city, we encourage you to go GPS-free; next time your smartphone dies, try taking a couple of days off to see how you handle the challenge. It might take a day or so to get used to, but you’ll feel like a human, and the inconvenience might just bring about some unexpected brilliance.


source: askmen

Would YOU be happy to take the 'naked' body scan?

By Vanessa Allen

Fears over airport security could leave millions of passengers facing the indignity of a 'naked' body scan and paying higher fares to fund it.

Hi-tech body scanners can see through clothes to detect hidden weapons or explosives such as those used in the failed Christmas Day plot.

They produce an anatomical image of passengers' bodies, including breasts and genitalia, and have been attacked as too intrusive. Critics have described them as a 'virtual strip search'.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the Government was looking at the use of the full body scanners, but admitted there were cost and privacy issues.

The scanners are on a year's trial at Manchester Airport, where security officers have already been banned from using them on children following warnings that the images could break child pornography laws which outlaw the creation of images of youngsters.

The machines cost £80,000 each, meaning it would cost millions to install them in all
of Britain's airports. Inevitably the cost would be handed on to passengers through higher air fares.

But security experts have said they would speed up safety checks by quickly revealing any concealed weapons or explosives.

Dutch airport authorities said yesterday that they would make the new scanners mandatory after syringe bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board his flight from Amsterdam to Detroit without the explosive sewn into his underwear being detected.

Heightened security ordered by the U.S. in the wake of the failed bomb plot has
caused massive delays on both sides of the Atlantic, as airports struggle to cope with the new measures.

The machines would speed up checks as they eliminate the need for passengers to take off their shoes, belts, coats and scarves and would reduce the number who were then subjected to 'pat-down' searches.

Instead, the fully-clothed passenger steps between two screens and is instructed to stand with fingers touching the sides of the head, to provide a clear image of the body.

The machine performs a simultaneous front and back scan using electromagnetic waves, similar to a low-level X-ray.

According to the manufacturer, Rapiscan, passengers can be scanned safely up to 5,000 times a year. They say a dental X-ray produces 20,000 times more radiation.

The scans show every contour of the body, including intimate areas, and also reveal body piercings, colostomy bags, false limbs and even breast enlargements.

Airport security officers inspect the images in a separate office, away from the scanner, to reduce the potential embarrassment for passengers.

If the scan is clear the whole process should take around 20 seconds, and the image is then deleted. If security officers see anything suspect, the passenger is searched.

Officials have said the images cannot be stored or captured, but the scheme has led to fears that scans of celebrities could be leaked on to the internet.

Civil rights campaigners have expressed fears that the scans are too intrusive and could prove offensive, particularly for Muslim women. Security officers at Manchester have been warned not to scan under-18s over fears that the legislation could lead to them facing criminal charges.

There have been no known terrorism arrests at Manchester since the trial began in October. It is not known if the machines have been used to detect other offences at the airport.

When the trial ends in ten months, the Government will decide if the scanners should be used nationwide.

In the scheme, passengers can opt not to have a full body scan and to go through a traditional metal detector and 'pat-down' search instead.

But critics have questioned how useful an 'optional' search is, and whether it would be feasible if the scanners are installed permanently.

The Home Secretary said the Government would weigh the privacy and cost issues against national security.


source: dailymail

Captured on Google's Street View: Moment man collapses in middle of busy New York road

By Anny Shaw

Google's Street View roaming cars with cameras strapped to their roofs have become known for snapping unsuspecting people leaving shops, entering churches or, at worst, kissing someone they should not be.

But one of Google's camera cars captured a far more disturbing scene in New York.
A man is pictured collapsed in the middle of a busy road on the junction of Park Avenue South and East 29th Street. A newspaper lies strewn by his head

Passersby are also caught on camera looking shocked and concerned for the injured man, who lies metres away from the wheels of a passing car.

Google Street View is an application designed to provide web-surfers panoramic views of famous landmarks and tourist highlights in cities across the world.

Series of photographs are stitched together to allow web-users to click on a specific address to see a street level picture of that spot, or to take a virtual tour further around the neighbouring streets.

The images are updated every year.
The cars have attracted criticism for invading privacy. Earlier this year residents of Broughton in Buckinghamshire joined forces to see off a Street View car that arrived in their village to take photographs for the website.

So far Google have not responded to a request for comment.

Mystery solved? Norway's spiral light display 'was down to a failed Russian Bulava missile test'

By Will Stewart

New evidence emerged today that a mysterious spiral light display which appeared in the dark skies over Norway yesterday morning was caused by an embarrassing failed test launch of a jinxed Russian missile.

The Bulava missile was test-fired from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine in the White Sea early on Wednesday but failed at the third stage, the Russian military confirmed today.

New video also emerged today showing a simulation of what would happen if such a missile were to fail - video that bore an uncanny resemblance to the light display seen in the Norwegian sky.



The video, a 3-D simulation of what may have occurred to produce the light display, was put together by a British engineer named Doug Ellison. Ellison runs the forum unmannedspaceflight.com.

On YouTube, Ellison, who is an animator and multimedia producer for a medical firm in Leicester, described the video as 'a set of rendered views using 3DS Max to produce a coarse simulation of what may have occurred to produce the beautiful formation in the sky over Norway'.

'Once I saw the photos, and knowing a fair amount about space flight, the cause of the beautiful pattern seemed quite obvious to me,' he told the MailOnline.

'Trying to explain it in layman's terms is quite hard, so I used some basic animation tools to try and emulate the effect.

'I bolted two virtual particle emitters onto a small box - spun the box, then moved it at speed and low and behold, the spiral pattern, and the trail behind, both emerged as a result.

'The people in northern Norway are lucky to have been in the right place, at the right time!'

The confirmation of a test launch emerged despite earlier reports denying a missile launch yesterday.



The military did not confirm, however, that the failed test launch was behind the mysterious spiral lights that have baffled millions since they were spotted - though, as the new video today showed, it appears increasingly likely.
The mystery began when a blue light seemed to soar up from behind a mountain in the north of the country. It stopped mid-air, then began to move in circles. Within seconds a giant spiral had covered the entire sky.

See video showing part of the light display, and a simulation showing how the display may have been created below
Then a green-blue beam of light shot out from its centre - lasting for ten to 12 minutes before disappearing completely.

Onlookers describing it as 'like a big fireball that went around, with a great light around it' and 'a shooting star that spun around and around'.

Yesterday a Norwegian defence spokesman said the display was most likely from a failed Russian test launch.




The military did not confirm, however, that the failed test launch was behind the mysterious spiral lights that have baffled millions since they were spotted - though, as the new video today showed, it appears increasingly likely.
The mystery began when a blue light seemed to soar up from behind a mountain in the north of the country. It stopped mid-air, then began to move in circles. Within seconds a giant spiral had covered the entire sky.

See video showing part of the light display, and a simulation showing how the display may have been created below
Then a green-blue beam of light shot out from its centre - lasting for ten to 12 minutes before disappearing completely.

Onlookers describing it as 'like a big fireball that went around, with a great light around it' and 'a shooting star that spun around and around'.

Yesterday a Norwegian defence spokesman said the display was most likely from a failed Russian test launch.




Tromsō Geophysical Observatory researcher Truls Lynne Hansen agreed, saying the missile had likely veered out of control and exploded, and the spiral was light reflecting on the leaking fuel.

Last night Russia initially denied it had been conducting missile tests in the area.
However this morning the military reversed its stance, admitting that a missile had indeed been launched from the White Sea. Test firings are usually made from the White Sea, close to the Norwegian Arctic region.

Kommersant newspaper reported today that a test-firing before dawn on Wednesday coincided with the light show in the northern sky.

It also emerged today that Russia last week formally notified Norway of a window when a missile test might be carried out.

This included a seven hour period early on Wednesday at the time when the lights were seen.
The submarine Dmitry Donskoy went to sea on Monday, ahead of the test, and some reports suggest the vessel is now back in port.

A Russian military source said today that 'the third stage of the rocket did not work'.

The Bulava, despite being crucial to Russia's plans to revamp its weaponry, is becoming an embarrassment after nine failed launches in 13 tests, prompting calls for it to be scrapped.

In theory, it has a range of 5,000 miles and could carry up to ten nuclear weapons bound for separate targets.

A previous failure in July forced the resignation of Yury Solomonov, the director of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology which is responsible for developing the missile.

However, he is now working as chief designer on the jinxed project.
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was flooded with telephone calls after the light storm yesterday morning.
Totto Eriksen, from Tromsø, told VG Nett: 'It spun and exploded in the sky,'

He spotted the lights as he walked his daughter Amalie to school.

He said: 'We saw it from the Inner Harbor in Tromsø. It was absolutely fantastic.

'It almost looked like a rocket that spun around and around and then went diagonally down the heavens.

'It looked like the moon was coming over the mountain, but then came something completely different.'

The lights appeared to be unconnected with the aurora borealis, or northern lights, the natural magnetic phenomena that can often be viewed in that part of the world.
Celebrity astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard said he had never seen anything like the lights.

He said: 'My first thought was that it was a fireball meteor, but it has lasted far too long.
'It may have been a missile in Russia, but I can not guarantee that it is the answer.'

Air traffic control in Tromsō claimed the light show lasted 'far too long to be an astronomical phenomenon'.

See video showing part of the light here, and a simulation showing how the display may have been created below






source: dailymail.co.uk

The show Dinosaurier

An actor performs during the show Dinosaurier Im Reich der Gigangten (Dinosaurs - In the empire of giants) during a dress rehearsal in Berlin, December 10, 2009. The 15 dinosaurs puppets up to 11 metres high and 17 metres long are partially remote driven in this show running from today until December 13 in the German capital.








photo: Reuters

'Fake fingerprint' Chinese woman fools Japan controls

All foreigners are fingerprinted when they arrive in Japan

A Chinese woman managed to enter Japan illegally by having plastic surgery to alter her fingerprints, thus fooling immigration controls, police claim.

Lin Rong, 27, had previously been deported from Japan for overstaying her visa. She was only discovered when she was arrested on separate charges.

Tokyo police said she had paid $15,000 (£9,000) to have the surgery in China.

It is Japan's first case of alleged biometric fraud, but police believe the practice may be widespread.

Japanese police suspect Chinese brokers of taking huge sums to modify fingerprints surgically.

Local media reports said Ms Lin had undergone surgery to swap the fingerprints from her right and left hands.

Skin patches on her thumbs and index fingers were removed and then re-grafted on to the matching digits of the opposite hand.

Japanese newspapers said police had noticed that Ms Lin's fingers had unnatural scars when she was arrested last month for allegedly faking a marriage to a Japanese man.

The apparent ability of illegal migration networks to break through hi-tech controls suggests that other countries who fingerprint visitors could be equally vulnerable - not least the United States, according to BBC Asia analyst Andre Vornic.


source: news.bbc.co.uk

Japan launched its fifth spy satellite

An H-2A rocket carrying a spy satellite lifts off from a space center on the southern island of Tanegashima, on Saturday Nov. 28, 2009. Japan launched its fifth spy satellite Saturday in a bid to boost its ability to independently gather intelligence, the government said.










credit photo: AP

Mars Rover 'Spirit' Has Amnesia. Again

By Tariq Malik

NASA's Mars rover Spirit is suffering a new bout of amnesia, one that comes after months of being stuck in deep Martian sand.

The 6-year-old rover's latest memory lapse occurred Oct. 24 and came more than six months after a series of four other amnesia events earlier this year. During the events, the plucky rover failed to record science observations in the part of its flash computer memory that stores information overnight when other systems are powered down.

"We still don't have information about what causes these amnesia events," said rover project manager John Callas at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., in an update.

In the latest event, Spirit did not use its flash memory between Oct. 24 and Oct. 27. The rover does have an alternate memory system in which to store data, but must beam that information home to Earth before entering an overnight sleep period, mission managers said.

Callas said engineers are weighing Spirit's amnesia problem to determine how it may affect day-to-day operations for the long term. Aside from the memory glitch, the rover is in good health and communicating with Earth.

"If they are intermittent and infrequent, they are a nuisance that would set us back a day or two when they occur. If the condition becomes persistent or frequent, we will need to go to an alternate strategy that avoids depending on flash memory," Callas said. "We would only get data collected the same day and any unsent data from an earlier day would be lost. The total volume of data returned by the rover is expected to be about the same."

Meanwhile, the new memory lapses will likely further delay NASA's efforts to extricate Spirit from its Martian sand trap. The rover has been mired in deep sand since April, unable to move.

An independent team of robotics experts is currently reviewing recent NASA tests that used a ground-based version of Spirit to come up with escape plan for the stuck rover on Mars. NASA has mounted a "Free Spirit" campaign to come up with ways to free its beloved rover.
NASA launched Spirit and its robotic twin Opportunity in 2003 on a mission to explore Mars. The rovers landed in different parts of the planet in January 2004 and spent more than five years roving across Mars and uncovering clues to the planet's watery past.

While engineers try to free Spirit, its robotic twin Opportunity is headed toward a giant Martian crater called Endeavour. Earlier this month, Opportunity spotted a Martian meteorite dubbed Shelter Island on the heels of another space rock find — called Block Island — in September. The rover used its onboard instruments to study both meteorites.

Initially built for a 90-day mission, the two rovers have received repeated life extensions. Spirit is the older of the two rovers and has spent five years and nine months exploring Mars.


source: foxnews.com

Defriending can bruise your 'digital ego'

By Breeanna Hare, CNN

(CNN) -- If you harbor a bit of angst over Facebook friend requests gone unanswered, a surprise "defriending" or being deserted by your Twitter followers, you're not alone.

Elaine Fogel has amassed more than 500 connections on LinkedIn, a professional networking Web site, by extending invites to those who appear to fit her wide array of career interests.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, people just say yes," she said.

But then came "this one woman" who Fogel encountered on one of the 40-plus discussion groups she belongs to on LinkedIn. The woman offered interesting opinions, so Fogel sent her an invitation to join her network.

"She sent an e-mail saying, 'I only connect with people I know, and hopefully our paths will cross one day,' " said Fogel, of Phoenix, Arizona, her voice still carrying notes of disbelief. "I read that, and I said, 'Oh, my God, I've been rejected.' "

Fogel echoes other users who have felt the twinge of hurt and surprise from social media rejection. Some may think hers is an overreaction -- it happened online, with a woman she didn't know -- but recent research shows that our "digital egos" can bruise as easily as we do in person. In fact, rejection online may have the potential to sting even more.

"People tend to think that these relationships are trivial and not very deep, but this is what we're moving towards, having a lot of our communications play out over the Internet," Purdue University social psychologist Kip Williams said. "That's the way it's becoming; this is how we interpret our worth. People care how many [online] friends they have."

Or, increasingly, how many Twitter followers they have. This year, a third-party service launched Qwitter, which allows Twitter users to determine who's stopped following them and which tweet may have turned them off.

Experts say rejection on social networks can hurt worse than an in-person snub because people are usually more polite face-to-face than they are online.

"I think the thing that is often clearly worse online is when it's relatively anonymous, and people use that as a cover and are more cruel than they would be otherwise," said Jean Twenge, a San Diego State psychologist who has studied the way social networking affects personality development.

Online rejection also doesn't lessen the physical reaction we have to emotional pain.

"Pain is divided into two components," said Baldwin Way, a UCLA researcher who studies the way human brains respond to social rejection.

"If you put a red-hot poker on your arm, one part of your brain says, 'This pain is on your arm,' and the other part says, 'Ow, that hurts' and is less concerned with where it is and more concerned about the emotional meaning of it," he said. "That [second] part also seems to be activated when someone's left out or excluded and rejected."

To Way's surprise, that neurological reaction holds true even when the rejection comes in a digital form, lacking the real-world body language, vocal intonations and other aspects that can influence the way rejection is perceived and felt.

"If you'd asked me a few years ago if you'd get the same effect online as you would in person, I'd say no way," Way said. "I thought doing something in person would have stronger effects than doing something online, but interesting data has come out in the last few years that show mental representations are just as powerful as the real thing."

These data include Williams' "cyberball" studies, which ask a participant to play a virtual ball-tossing game with two other icons. In one study group, the participant plays the game for the entire six minutes, but in the second group, he or she is included for only a fraction of that time and then ignored. The second group reports feelings of anger and lower levels of self-esteem.

Whether participants believe they're playing with humans doesn't appear to affect their feelings of rejection.

"Even when people get rejected by the computer, they feel bad," Twenge said.

Kenneth Loflin, a student who participated in Williams' study, got so frustrated by his fellow players that he gave the computer screen an offensive gesture.

"I'm a people person, and I like people to like me," he said.

The study also affected the way Loflin interacts online. Out of the 1,200 friends he has on Facebook, 400 of them he doesn't really know, many of them being friends of friends.

"I thought about defriending them, but I didn't want them to feel how I felt" during the "cyberball" game, Loflin said.

By contrast, Bruce Hammond doesn't have a problem giving the rejection slip to Facebook hangers-on.

"For the most part, the people that I'm defriending are the people that I don't have a relationship with: the people I haven't talked to in 15 years," said Hammond, 30, of Chicago, Illinois. "I don't let someone know if I'm going to defriend them. I just do it."

Similarly, Hammond doesn't expect any of his Facebook contacts to let him know before giving him the ax. If someone rejected him in real life, he would ask why the person felt that way, but when the relationship is online, his thinking changes.

"If I come on [Facebook] tomorrow and see I have 425 friends instead of 426, I'm not going to go through my list and see who did it and be upset with them," he said.

Cecilia Sepp, a Washington, D.C.-area consultant, said she avoids the issue entirely by limiting her online network to about 100 friends.

"I don't have a problem with defriending because I don't accumulate [enough] to have a high number," Sepp said.

"When I first heard that defriending was beginning on social networks, it was through a blog post by someone who was shocked that this person had defriended them because they didn't understand why," she said. "The person wanted to know had they done something, had they said something, should they ask, 'What did [I] do?' "

Sepp believes that online "defrienders" should extend the courtesy that Fogel's LinkedIn rejecter gave her: an e-mail explanation.

"You have no facial expression online; you have no tone of voice online; it's very easy to misinterpret phrasing in an e-mail. You have to be very careful about your wording and be more explicit with people when you're making or removing connections," Sepp said. "That's why it's so important to connect with people that you actually know."


source: CNN.com

Internet domain names set to appear in non-Latin scripts

CNN) -- The group that controls top-level domain codes for Internet addresses is poised to permit non-Latin language codes for the first time in its history.

"It's the single biggest change in 10 or 15 years," said Rod Beckstrom, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

The board of directors of the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will vote on the proposed protocol for Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) -- those represented by local language characters -- Friday at its meeting in Seoul, South Korea.

The change, which has a target implementation date of November 16, would allow Web addresses in Cyrillic, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese and others.

"This is one of the most exciting developments for the users of the Internet globally in years," said Beckstrom. "IDNs will enable the people the world over to use domain name addresses in their own language."

Beckstrom said support for the change is strong around the world and that all objections had "been handled."

"So I think it's just extremely probable, and we're really excited to move forward with that," he said.

And if, as expected, it does move forward, it means that Web surfing is about to get easier for about half of the world's 1.6 billion Internet users.

"There are over 40 million users in the Arab world," said Wael Ghanim, Google's product and marketing manager for the Middle East and Africa, "and this number is expected to increase in the coming days, which in turn makes the Arabic language one of the strategic languages through which a lot of companies, for instance Google, are interested in."

But some worry that the change could lead to more miscommunication.

"If Korean is used during the international communication, foreigners won't be able to understand and won't be able to read it well enough, so there could be some problems in communication," said South Korean Internet user Chang Yong-woong.

But others see the IDNs opening the Internet to a much broader population.

"If they can make this technology work, and people can use their own language to enter in addresses, I think that that would really expand the practical applications of the Internet," said Chinese Internet cafe owner Zhang Zhiming.

"People from different walks of life and different age groups could get more engaged with it."

One question that has not yet been resolved, however, is how people in countries that use the Latin script will be able to access Web sites with Korean, Hindi or Arabic domain names.

ICANN doesn't have an answer to that, but is confident a new technology will fill that gap soon.


source: CNN.com

The 20 Fastest Growing Facebook Apps: Mostly Social Games, As Usual

This past week was typical, in terms of which Facebook applications we saw gain the most users. Social games of various genres continued to gain millions of users. Similar to past weeks and months, Zynga’s virtual farming game FarmVille grew by 5.11 million monthly active users to reach 46.0 million, and the company’s role-playing mobster game Mafia Wars grew by 2.05 million to reach 23.2 million. They came in at number two and number four on our top 20 list.

However, number one goes to RockYou’s Birthday Cards, a full-featured virtual card-giving application. It was gradually declining over the last few months, started growing at the end of August, and reached around nine million users as of the first week in this month. Since then, it has for whatever reason found the curve in the hockey stick of growth: The app has gained 5.23 million MAUs in just the past seven days to reach 16.3 million.

Top Gainers This Week




Number four, Your Indian Name!, has seen even sharper growth, and quite abruptly at that. The app translates your name into Hindi, and lets you very easily post that information to your Facebook wall. It grew from 265 users to 4.13 million by the weekend (there may be a problem with the data here). The app’s creator, AppSphere Inc, has 57 total applications by our count.

Seven apps in total gained more than a million users. At number five was My Fishbowl, made by TwoFishes Interactive. The virtual aquatic life game had been slowly growing from nothing in early August, until September 15 when it hit its stride, er, stroke. It grew by 1.57 million to reach 3.30 million MAUs. Keep an eye on this one.

At number six was Causes, one of the only non-game apps on the list. It grew by 1.50 million to reach a stately 30.2 million MAUs. At number seven was Playfish’s Restaurant City, the virtual restaurant game grew 1.29 million to reach 14.4 million.


source: insidefacebook.com

Facebook Settling in to New 150,000 sqft Headquarters

facebook brought all its employees together into one building back in May, after having the various groups that comprise the company scattered throughout downtown Palo Alto. Now, architecture blog ArchDaily has given a glowing review of the new building, highlighting some of the details that make Facebook’s new offices unique.

The 150,000 sq. ft. building was once a high-tech manufacturing facility, and many of the original materials were re-purposed or recycled. The redesign is the first completed under the 2008 Palo Alto Green Building Ordinance. Designers Studio O+A polled employees throughout Facebook and kept everyone updated through photos and posts on the progress of the redesign.



The overall flow of the building is very relaxed and inviting, with executive offices located centrally to provide better access to all employees. The rest of the facility is mostly open work spaces and seating and congregation areas. Employees are encouraged to move furniture as they see fit, write on some walls and add art where needed.



Overall, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that he wants to be careful that the new building doesn’t give employees the feeling that the company has “arrived,” but instead left the new offices relatively plain.

“I want to remind people…we’re way closer to the beginning than the end,” he recently said.


source : www.insidefacebook.com

First Look: Argentinian Developer 3happybytes Reaching 26 Million Facebook Users

As Facebook has grown around the world in the last couple of years, international developers have taken a deeper interest in building applications on its platform. We’ve already covered a big one out of Hong Kong, called 6 Waves, but there are many others. Most notably, we’ve recently discovered a company called 3happybytes out of Argentina — a country that has been seeing a boom in web technology recently.

The company’s suite of applications currently reaches 26.7 million monthly active users, making it the fifth largest Facebook developer by portfolio-summed MAUs, according to our AppData analytics service. Certainly, as with every other developer on the list, some users have installed more than one app made by the company, so its monthly unique visitors is likely lower.

The company was founded earlier this year by Walter Souto, Javier Pelitz, and Fabian Muller. However, its web site only lists an email address.

So, what sort of apps does the company make? Very simple ones, from what we’ve seen. We’ve just started tracking the company, so our historical data is limited. Still, three of the company’s apps are among the fastest growing on the Facebook Platform. One, Friend of the Day, has quickly surged to nearly six million MAUs over the last few days. You simply install the app and it automatically tells you who your top friend is that day — it apparently decides from among your friends at random. Another app, Enemy of the Day, is basically the same concept. Install the app and find out who the company has randomly decided is your top enemy. It has grown from 5.67 million three days ago to 6.56 million today.

A third is called Death’s Time. It rather humorously randomly decides on a date and manner of death for you. Personally, it predicts that I will die on April 18, 2024, at 10:23 am. The cause of my death? “Motorcycle accident while dressed as Elvis.” Sounds plausible. Other people seem to be amused, too. It has grown from 9.9 million MAUs three days ago to 10.9 million today.


For all of these apps, and presumably the five others, you are asked to post the results — your top friend, your top enemy, your cause of death — on your wall, as well as on the wall of your friend or enemy. The simple, sensationalistic nature of these apps, combined with the ease of sharing your activities in them with your friends, appears to be driving the company’s growth.

Certainly, these apps are not as elegant as some of the games or utilities coming out on the platform today. They are more reminiscent of the early days, years ago, when nearly every developer was making simple, spammy apps. Still, perhaps the company can convert all of these users into something more sustainable. For now, it appears to be making money from a wide variety of remnant ad networks, quizzes, and the like. Perhaps, one day, it will grow into a more complex gaming company and start doing what many others already are — offering virtual goods that people are willing to pay for.


source: insidefacebook.com

Facebook Settles Beacon Case: No More Beacon, But There’s a $9.5M “Privacy Fund

Facebook tried to create a new form of advertising in 2007 with the launch of Beacon. In conjunction with a number of big-name brands, Beacon automatically tracked Facebook users’ actions on other sites, then displayed that information to their friends back on Facebook. The program is now officially dead.

A class-action lawsuit filed in 2008 has been settled today. There are two parts. One is that Beacon, as it has been, will be fully shut down — only a few accounts are still open and those will be closed. The other part is that Facebook will, from our understanding, fund an independent foundation to the tune of $9.5 million. The foundation will itself fund projects and initiatives that promote privacy, safety, and security causes.


The case was settled, not lost by Facebook. Here’s what a company spokesperson told me when I asked for more detail:

While we don’t admit any wrongdoing in this matter, we did want to get the episode behind us. And, we were particularly interested in an agreement that creates a foundation that has value for all users rather than just a few individuals.

The settlement has not yet been approved by the judge, and the case was just filed. It took place in the Northern District of California part of the US District Court, San Jose Division. We’ll update with a link to the settlement when it becomes available.

The original filing described some elements of Beacon that were particularly troublesome to the plaintiffs, per the original lawsuit. From that filing, via Justia:

Plaintiffs alleged that Defendant Facebook, Inc. and Defendants Facebook Beacon Activated Affiliates (i.e., Blockbuster, Inc., Fandango, Inc., Hotwire, Inc., STA Travel, Inc., Overstock.com, Inc., Zappos.com, Inc. and Gamefly, Inc.) violated their privacy.

More on the original lawsuit, via CNET:

If the user was not a member (of Facebook), Facebook still obtained the notification from the Facebook Beacon Activated Affiliate. Information regarding user activities was sent in real time to a third party Web site–one which was not open or active in the user’s browser, and one which, in many cases, the user may never even have visited or heard of.

Facebook’s side of the story is that the company made a number of adjustments to Beacon in the weeks and months following the launch that met many user demands. This case was filed long after much of the outcry about Beacon had ebbed.

Future plans

I asked about the impact of this ruling on Facebook’s current efforts to share data with third-parties, including Facebook Connect. Here was the response.

Beacon was about our users’ actions on third-party sites. Facebook Connect is about using Facebook infrastructure to give users significant control over how they extend their Facebook identity on the web, and share their experience back to friends on Facebook

More statements, these from Barry Schnitt, Facebook’s Director of Policy Communications.

We learned a great deal from the Beacon experience. For one, it was underscored how critical it is to provide extensive user control over how information is shared. We also learned how to effectively communicate changes that we make to the user experience. The introduction of Facebook Connect – a product that gives users significant control over how they extend their Facebook identity on the Web and share experiences back to friends on Facebook – is an example of this. We look forward to the creation of the foundation and its work to educate Internet users on how best to control their privacy; engage in safe social networking practices; and, generally, enjoy themselves more online by having knowledge that gives them a greater sense of control. We fully expect the foundation to team with other leading online safety and privacy experts and organizations that have been working diligently in these fields.


source: www.insidefacebook.com