Full-auto Gauss gun "has 3D printed guns running scared"

Daddy like.

3D-printed guns have been making the news a lot recently. That's not to say that they and their creators don't deserve the press — people arming themselves without so much as a permit is pretty terrifying. But whoever it was that said 3D printing was the only way for people to circumvent the law and arm themselves just might not have seen this bad boy.

This fully-automatic Gauss gun, dubbed the CG-42, has a 15-round capacity and can fire an entire clip of ammo in 1.5 seconds. What it fires is almost as frightening as the gun itself, because the CG-42 is armed with nails, side-stepping the need for even the slightest of paper trails.

A Gauss gun, also known as a coilgun, is a battery-operated, electromagnetic linear motor which pulls a projectile forward faster and faster until it exits the weapon's muzzle, no gunpowder required. The CG-42 has a muzzle velocity of 138 feet per second, which doesn't sound like a lot until you see it put a nail right through a laptop's casing. Gauss guns also get more powerful the longer you make them, so a Gauss "rifle" would be capable of much more destruction...

The video at the link won't have anyone trading in their AR-15, but the technology does show a great deal of promise.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.

10 Worst Technology Predictions of All Time

Writing at LaptopMag, Mark Spoonauer offers the following list, which I've summarized here along with some additional commentary.

10. “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” --Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO (April 2007). Talk about a patient board of directors. Under Ballmer's stewardship, MSFT appears to have whiffed on every significant consumer technology trend over the last 10 or 15 years.

9. “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” --Ken Olson, president Digital Equipment Corp (1977). Not long after, DEC was toast, forced into a merger with Compaq to survive.

8. “We’re going to become better than No. 1 (in tablets).” --Eric Cador, senior VP, Hewlett Packard (2010).

7. “Within the next two decades autos will be made with folding wings.” --Eddie Rickenbacker, pilot (1924). Rickenbacker, the famed World War I ace, might have been off by a century or so.

6. “Cellular phones will absolutely not replace local wire systems.” --Marty Cooper, inventor (1981).

5. “In five years I don't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet anymore.” --Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry CEO (2013). Well, he could be right. He still has 'til 2018 to be proven right.

4. “The subscription model of buying music is bankrupt.” --Steve Jobs (2003). At least Jobs course-corrected quickly.

3. "Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop.” --Time Magazine (1966).

2. "Windows Phone will be No. 2 in Smartphones by 2015" --IDC, Gartner, IHS. Well, two years to go.

1. “I predict the Internet in 1996 [will] catastrophically collapse.” --Robert Metcalfe (1995). Metcalfe, one of the inventors of the Internet, appears to have underestimated his own child.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.

Crimson Tide Buys Anti-Gravity Treadmill for Rehab Purposes

Even I might be able to run a mile on this thing.

Alabama Football Team's Anti-Gravity Treadmill Is Star Of New Facility: The Future Of Injury Rehabilitation

...Jeff Allen, UA Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine, said that the program purchased the anti-gravity trainer a year ago to help current NFL running back Eddie Lacy recover from a toe injury...

"We've had this for a year now. We purchased it when Eddie Lacy had his toe injury," Allen explained... "What this allows us to do is take a guy and run them at a lower percentage of their body weight. Theoretically, if you weigh 200 pounds, I can put you in here and set this to run you at what it would feel like to run at 50 pounds."

Manufacturers of this futuristic training device claim professional athletes as well as Olympians have felt its benefits that include a shortened rehab time. Woodway Treadmills even says that its G-Trainer can help ease amputee patients into a new prosthetic limb.

The patient is placed inside a bubble chamber that surrounds his or her lower body but exposes the upper body. Pressurized air lifts the user up, making him or her feel around 20 percent lighter. Those who have used it compare the feeling to running on water or floating.

Don't look for the Woodway at your local gym anytime soon. If your gym has to ask how much it costs...


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech and Science News.

After 20 years in service, the SIM card has been hacked

Sebastian Anthony explains a brilliant attack:

For the longest time, I thought that SIM cards were merely a piece of laminated memory that stored the data that your phone needs to connect to a cellular network (ICCID, Ki, etc.), along with enough space to store a few phone numbers. In actuality, the SIM card in your phone is actually a small computer, with memory, a processor, and even an operating system. As you can see in the diagram below, there is a chip beneath those gold contacts, and on that chip there is a processor, ROM (firmware that stores the OS and SIM apps), EEPROM (which stores your phone book, settings, patches), and RAM (for use by the SIM’s OS and apps). In the photo below of a disassembled SIM card, you can clearly see that this is quite a complex computer chip.

And, unfortunately, like any computer chip that runs an operating system and apps, a SIM card can be hacked. In this case, modern SIM cards run a very simple OS that loads up Java Card — a version of the Java virtual machine for smart cards (of which SIMs are a variety of). Java Card essentially runs small Java applets, and each applet is encapsulated and firewalled (sandboxed) by the Java VM, preventing sensitive data from leaking to other apps. Your phone interacts with these apps via the SIM Application Toolkit (STK) to display information on your screen, and to interact with the outside world. To load apps onto the SIM or to update them, hidden text messages are sent by the carrier, containing over-the-air (OTA) programming in binary form. These messages are signed with a cryptographic key, so that the SIM knows that these messages have originated from a trusted source.

Now, German security researcher Karsten Nohl has discovered a way of finding out that all-important cryptographic key. By sending his own OTA SMSes that aren’t signed with the correct key, he discovered that some phones pop up an error message that contains a cryptographic signature. Then, using rainbow tables (a list of plaintext keys/passwords and their encrypted equivalent), Nohl found he could discover the SIM card’s cryptographic key in about one minute. Once he had this key, he could send apps and viruses to the SIM card that can send premium text messages (racking up huge bills), re-route or record calls, collect location data — you name it, with access to the SIM, you can do just about anything.

Nohl estimates that more than 12 percent of mobile phones are vulnerable to the attack. The older DES encryption standard has since been replaced by its stronger cousin Triple DES. Verizon and AT&T say that they're not vulnerable, but if you have an older SIM card it would make sense to get it upgraded. Most carriers will do it for free.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.

The Ominous Facts Regarding Korean Airline Pilots by a Former Instructor

Guest post by retired 747 pilot "Tom" via W.M.


After I retired from [Carrier redacted] as a Standards Captain on the –400, I got a job as a simulator instructor working for Alteon (a Boeing subsidiary) at Asiana. When I first got there, I was shocked and surprised by the lack of basic piloting skills shown by most of the pilots. It is not a normal situation with normal progression from new hire, right seat, left seat taking a decade or two. One big difference is that ex-Military pilots are given super-seniority and progress to the left seat much faster. Compared to the US, they also upgrade fairly rapidly because of the phenomenal growth by all Asian air carriers. By the way, after about six months at Asiana, I was moved over to KAL and found them to be identical. The only difference was the color of the uniforms and airplanes. I worked in Korea for five long years and although I found most of the people to be very pleasant, it’s a minefield of a work environment ... for them and for us expats.

One of the first things I learned was that the pilots kept a web-site and reported on every training session. I don’t think this was officially sanctioned by the company, but after one or two simulator periods, a database was building on me (and everyone else) that told them exactly how I ran the sessions, what to expect on checks, and what to look out for. For example; I used to open an aft cargo door at 100 knots to get them to initiate an RTO and I would brief them on it during the briefing. This was on the B-737 NG and many of the captains were coming off the 777 or B744 and they were used to the Master Caution System being inhibited at 80 kts. Well, for the first few days after I started that, EVERYONE rejected the takeoff. Then, all of a sudden they all “got it” and continued the takeoff (in accordance with their manuals). The word had gotten out...

We expat instructors were forced upon them after the amount of fatal accidents (most of the them totally avoidable) over a decade began to be noticed by the outside world. They were basically given an ultimatum by the FAA, Transport Canada, and the EU to totally rebuild and rethink their training program or face being banned from the skies all over the world. They hired Boeing and Airbus to staff the training centers. KAL has one center and Asiana has another. When I was there (2003-2008) we had about 60 expats conducting training KAL and about 40 at Asiana. Most instructors were from the USA, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand with a few stuffed in from Europe and Asia. Boeing also operated training centers in Singapore and China so they did hire some instructors from there.

This solution has only been partially successful but still faces ingrained resistance from the Koreans. I lost track of the number of highly qualified instructors I worked with who were fired because they tried to enforce “normal” standards of performance. By normal standards, I would include being able to master basic tasks like successfully shoot a visual approach with 10 kt crosswind and the weather CAVOK. I am not kidding when I tell you that requiring them to shoot a visual approach struck fear in their hearts ... with good reason. Like this Asiana crew, it didnt’ compute that you needed to be a 1000’ AGL at 3 miles and your sink rate should be 600-800 Ft/Min. But, after 5 years, they finally nailed me. I still had to sign my name to their training and sometimes if I just couldn’t pass someone on a check, I had no choice but to fail them. I usually busted about 3-5 crews a year and the resistance against me built. I finally failed an extremely incompetent crew and it turned out he was the a high-ranking captain who was the Chief Line Check pilot on the fleet I was teaching on. I found out on my next monthly trip home that KAL was not going to renew my Visa. The crew I failed was given another check and continued a fly while talking about how unfair Captain [redacted] was.

Any of you Boeing glass-cockpit guys will know what I mean when I describe these events. I gave them a VOR approach with an 15 mile arc from the IAF. By the way, KAL dictated the profiles for all sessions and we just administered them. He requested two turns in holding at the IAF to get set up for the approach. When he finally got his nerve up, he requested “Radar Vectors” to final. He could have just said he was ready for the approach and I would have cleared him to the IAF and then “Cleared for the approach” and he could have selected “Exit Hold” and been on his way. He was already in LNAV/VNAV PATH. So, I gave him vectors to final with a 30 degree intercept. Of course, he failed to “Extend the FAF” and he couldn’t understand why it would not intercept the LNAV magenta line when he punched LNAV and VNAV. He made three approaches and missed approaches before he figured out that his active waypoint was “Hold at XYZ.” Every time he punched LNAV, it would try to go back to the IAF ... just like it was supposed to do. Since it was a check, I was not allowed (by their own rules) to offer him any help. That was just one of about half dozen major errors I documented in his UNSAT paperwork. He also failed to put in ANY aileron on takeoff with a 30-knot direct crosswind (again, the weather was dictated by KAL).

This Asiana SFO accident makes me sick and while I am surprised there are not more, I expect that there will be many more of the same type accidents in the future unless some drastic steps are taken. They are already required to hire a certain percentage of expats to try to ingrain more flying expertise in them, but more likely, they will eventually be fired too. One of the best trainees I ever had was a Korean/American (he grew up and went to school in the USA) who flew C-141’s in the USAF. When he got out, he moved back to Korea and got hired by KAL. I met him when I gave him some training and a check on the B-737 and of course, he breezed through the training. I give him annual PCs for a few years and he was always a good pilot. Then, he got involved with trying to start a pilots union and when they tired to enforce some sort of duty rigs on international flights, he was fired after being arrested and JAILED!

The Koreans are very very bright and smart so I was puzzled by their inability to fly an airplane well. They would show up on Day 1 of training (an hour before the scheduled briefing time, in a 3-piece suit, and shined shoes) with the entire contents of the FCOM and Flight Manual totally memorized. But, putting that information to actual use was many times impossible. Crosswind landings are also an unsolvable puzzle for most of them. I never did figure it out completely, but I think I did uncover a few clues. Here is my best guess. First off, their educational system emphasizes ROTE memorization from the first day of school as little kids. As you know, that is the lowest form of learning and they act like robots. They are also taught to NEVER challenge authority and in spite of the flight training heavily emphasizing CRM/CLR, it still exists either on the surface or very subtly. You just can’t change 3000 years of culture.

The other thing that I think plays an important role is the fact that there is virtually NO civil aircraft flying in Korea. It’s actually illegal to own a Cessna-152 and just go learn to fly. Ultra-lights and Powered Hang Gliders are Ok. I guess they don’t trust the people to not start WW III by flying 35 miles north of Inchon into North Korea. But, they don’t get the kids who grew up flying (and thinking for themselves) and hanging around airports. They do recruit some kids from college and send then to the US or Australia and get them their tickets. Generally, I had better experience with them than with the ex-Military pilots. This was a surprise to me as I spent years as a Naval Aviator flying fighters after getting my private in light airplanes. I would get experienced F-4, F-5, F-15, and F-16 pilots who were actually terrible pilots if they had to hand fly the airplane. What a shock!

Finally, I’ll get off my box and talk about the total flight hours they claim. I do accept that there are a few talented and free-thinking pilots that I met and trained in Korea. Some are still in contact and I consider them friends. They were a joy! But, they were few and far between and certainly not the norm.

Actually, this is a worldwide problem involving automation and the auto-flight concept. Take one of these new first officers that got his ratings in the US or Australia and came to KAL or Asiana with 225 flight hours. After takeoff, in accordance with their SOP, he calls for the autopilot to be engaged at 250’ after takeoff. How much actual flight time is that? Hardly one minute. Then he might fly for hours on the autopilot and finally disengage it (MAYBE?) below 800’ after the gear was down, flaps extended and on airspeed (autothrottle). Then he might bring it in to land. Again, how much real “flight time” or real experience did he get. Minutes! Of course, on the 777 or 747, it’s the same only they get more inflated logbooks.

So, when I hear that a 10,000 hour Korean captain was vectored in for a 17-mile final and cleared for a visual approach in CAVOK weather, it raises the hair on the back of my neck.


Hat tips: W.M. and BadBlue News

The Mars Rover That Just Won't Die

Interesting article by William Herkewitz at Popular Mechanics, via BadBlue Car News:

The rover rolls its way across a barren red sea. It has just finished a geologic survey of Mars's massive Endeavor crater–finding more proof of the planet's watery past–and already has its eyes set on the next landmark.

No, this isn't Curiosity, the $2.5 billion dollar extra-planetary playboy that landed last August. This is Opportunity, its older, meeker, and pared-down cousin. By most measurements, Opportunity is less impressive. Well, with one exception: It will not die.

Opportunity is just a month shy of its 10-year launch anniversary, and the rover is still active. The mobile geologist has now survived its original stated mission length of 90 Martian days by three dozen times over (though that initial timeframe was charitably conservative). It has also far outlived the intended lifespan of its parts, its identical twin Spirit, and the expectations of everyone involved in the project.

"We've been on borrowed time for a while," John Callas, the project manager of the NASA Opportunity mission, said at a press conference today. "I don't think there's anyone on this planet that would have imagined this rover lasting this long when we started ten years ago." What makes Opportunity's lifespan so bizarre is that robot has always been just a step away from crisis. Many NASA projects, including the new Curiosity rover, have been engineered to be chock-full with redundant back-up mechanisms. When there's no hope of traveling to Mars to fix vital parts that break, engineers often double down on engines, processors, and other important machinery with backup system. This is usually a good move: When you have a million parts, each with a one-in-a-million chance of breaking, failure is almost assured.

Opportunity, however, lacks this redundancy. The reason is that it landed ballistically Mars, like a bullet surrounded by giant airbags (unlike Curiosity's the Mission Impossible-style "seven minutes of terror" descent.) To help it survive its landing, Opportunity was built light—stripped down to its essential equipment. "We have a single processor." Callas says. "A single power supply," When those die, Mars will lose an explorer and gain a monument. "If we have a solder joint that breaks, its game over," Callas says. "It's just instant death. … That said, the batteries are in shape, there's been no indication of anything [wrong]."

Considering all that could go wrong on a mission to Mars, the fact that Opportunity is still going strong after a decade is nothing short of amazing.

Stuxnet, the first known cyber-weapon, found to have been introduced into Iran years earlier than originally thought

Symantec recently released a fascinating report on an early version of Stuxnet that it dubs version 0.5. It too appears to have been specifically developed to sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities by targeting the centrifuges hat perform uranium enrichment.

• Stuxnet 0.5 is the oldest known Stuxnet version to be analyzed, in the wild as early as November 2007 and in development as early as November 2005.
• Stuxnet 0.5 was less aggressive than Stuxnet versions 1.x and only spread through infected [Siemens Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)] Step 7 projects [which control centrifuges].
• Stuxnet 0.5 contains an alternative attack strategy, closing valves within the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, Iran, which would have caused serious damage to the centrifuges and uranium enrichment system as a whole.


The success of Stuxnet 0.5 remains unknown. However, the chart in figure 4 references uranium enrichment production at Natanz to key milestones of Stuxnet development. Interesting events are dips in feed or production amounts and lower levels of production given the same or greater feed amounts (shown as gaps between the two lines).

...When Symantec first disclosed details about how Stuxnet affected the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used for uranium enrichment in Natanz, Iran, we documented two attack strategies. We also noted that the one targeting 417 PLC devices was disabled. We have now obtained an earlier version of Stuxnet that contains the fully operational 417 PLC device attack code.

After painstaking analysis, we can now confirm that the 417 PLC device attack code modifies the state of the valves used to feed UF6 (uranium hexafluoride gas) into the uranium enrichment centrifuges. The attack essentially closes the valves causing disruption to the flow and possibly destruction of the centrifuges and related systems. In addition, the code will take snapshots of the normal running state of the system, and then replay normal operating values during an attack so that the operators are unaware that the system is not operating normally. It will also prevent modification to the valve states in case the operator tries to change any settings during the course of an attack cycle.


...This version of Stuxnet extensively fingerprints the target system to determine whether it is in the right location before it will activate the payload. To make this determination, Stuxnet checks if the infected system is running Step 7 software and parses the symbol table of the target system. The symbol table holds identification labels for each physical device in the target system. For example, each valve, pump, and sensor will have a unique identifier. The symbol labels loosely follow the ANSI/ISA-5.1 Instrumentation Symbols and Identification standard, which is used in piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&ID)...

...During fingerprinting, Stuxnet keeps a counter for each device that matches the expected configuration. Once the counter surpasses a particular threshold, Stuxnet considers the system that is being fingerprinted to match the target system configuration and will inject the attack PLC code...

...Similar to version 1.x of Stuxnet, the 417 PLC device attack code consists of a state machine with eight possible states. The states conduct an attack by closing valves within six of the possible 18 cascades...

• State 0 – Wait: Perform system identification and wait for the enrichment process to reach steady-state before attacking (approximately 30 days).
• State 1 – Record: Take peripheral snapshots and build fake input blocks for replaying later.
• State 2 – Attack centrifuge valves: Begin replaying fake input signals. Close valves on most centrifuges with the exception of the initial feed stage valves.
• State 3 – Secondary pressure reading: Open valves in the final stage of a single cascade to obtain a low pressure reading.
• State 4 – Wait for pressure change: Wait for desired pressure change or time limit. This can take up to two hours.
• State 5 – Attack auxiliary valves: Open all auxiliary valves except valves believed to be near the first feed stage (stage 10). Waits for three minutes in this state.
• State 6 – Wait for attack completion: Waits for six minutes whilst preventing any state changes.
• State 7 – Finish: Reset and return to state zero.

By closing almost all valves except the initial feed stage valves, UF6 will continue to flow into the system. This act alone may cause damage to the centrifuges themselves. However, the attack expects the pressure to reach five times the normal operating pressure. At this pressure, significant damage to the uranium enrichment system could occur and the UF6 gas could even revert to a solid.

Whether the attack succeeded in this manner or not remains unclear. Even if the attack did succeed, the attackers decided to switch to a different strategy, of attacking the speed of the centrifuges themselves instead, in Stuxnet 1.x versions.

One can only hope that Stuxnet badly wounded the Iranian nuclear effort.


Related:

• Stuxnet In Pictures: The Cyber-Weapon Said to Target Iran's Nuclear Infrastructure

• All the President's Leaks

• The 5 Most Amazing Details of the Stuxnet Cyberbomb

Possibly the Most Diabolically Cool Station Wagon Ever

Executive Summary: Daddy like.

Everyone knows that the Chevrolet Corvette is offered in both a coupe and convertible version - quite usual body versions for a sports car. In the past few months, however, another body version has become famous: the shooting brake. While we are pretty sure Chevy will never offer a shooting brake Corvette, the guys over Callaway have developed such a model.


Even crazier is that, if the company will have enough orders for it, the new AeroWagon - as it is being called - will be put into production. Callaway is currently taking orders for the model and announced the modifications will cost about $15,000.

The car’s rear hatch will be made of carbon-fiber structural components, which were developed using Callaway’s proprietary Resin Transfer Molding process. This way it will be both lightweight and strong. Callaway also announced that its new model will exceed 200 mph, making us believe it will use something different than the standard 450-horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8 engine seen in the new Stingray.

Because every American family needs a station wagon capable of 200 mph.


Hat tip: BadBlue Car News.

WHOA: Mobile Apps Business Expected to Be Double the Size of the Entire Movie Industry... This Year

I really had no idea that revenues from the mobile app business will hit about $25 billion this year -- roughly double the revenue of every movie theater in America.

...The global apps business is expected to make $25 billion in revenue this year, up 62% from a year ago, according to Gartner. To put that in perspective, movie theaters sold less than half that dollar amount at the box office in 2012.

And we have a ton of apps to choose from: Apple’s store now has about 800,000 apps, compared with 700,000 on Google GOOG -0.28% Play, 125,000 on Windows and 70,000 for Amazon.

Yes, business is booming. But it’s also unpredictable. About 63% of the apps used daily now differ from those used daily a year ago. Our attention span is so short these days – and the competition is so fierce – that we soon move on to the latest and greatest app.

On average, we only focus on about eight apps at a time. And we use these apps more than you might think: The average smartphone user spends two hours a day with apps, more than double the time spent two years earlier...

...Where did we find all this free time?

It’s hard to say exactly — if you look at the following graphic, the amount of time watching television and surfing the Web is flat in the past couple of years. Of course, we often have apps running in the background, like music-streaming apps, allowing us to multitask.

So consumption of apps is catching up to television viewing – some might say that’s a good thing, that apps are more productive than watching “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

...But, as the following graphic shows, productivity apps capture just 2% of our time. Rather, games are stealing the most of our attention...

...43% of our time is spent catapulting angry birds at pigs and fighting monsters...

Thinking about developing your own mobile app? Have at it, but recognize that the odds are long.


Only five of the top 250 app publishers in the Apple Store are "virgins", the rest are reported to be veteran development shops. Electronic Arts, for instance, has dozens of bestselling apps and a marketing budget to match.

But a single good idea -- likes Tetris or Angry Birds, for instance -- can change the game. In truth, it's never been easier to write a software bestseller.

Curiosity Takes a Panoramic Self-Portrait

Very cool.

This remarkable self-portrait of NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover includes a sweeping panoramic view of its current location in the Yellowknife Bay region of the Red Planet's Gale Crater. The rover's flat, rocky perch, known as "John Klein", served as the site for Curiosity's first rock drilling activity. At the foot of the proud looking rover, a shallow drill test hole and a sample collection hole are 1.6 centimeters in diameter. The impressive mosaic was constructed using frames from the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Mastcam. Used to take in the panoramic landscape frames, the Mastcam is standing high above the rover's deck. But MAHLI, intended for close-up work, is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. The MAHLI frames used to create Curiosity's self-portrait exclude sections that show the arm itself and so MAHLI and the robotic arm are not seen...

There's also an interactive version of this panoramic series.

Stunning new electronic eyewear -- Google Glass -- nears its debut #IfIHadGlass

Google's electronic eyewear -- dubbed "Google Glass" -- is nearing a milestone beta release for developers (or is it alpha, I always forget).

Google ... announced a promotion in which people who share interesting ideas about what to do with the device get the chance to become a "Glass Explorer," who can then pre-order a $1,500 prototype. The application deadline is February 27.

I offered up several ideas including one with a simulated picture:

#ifihadglass I would automatically recognize QR codes and project previews of web pages in their stead (now w/pic: 4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Tx-3lcdVOA/U… )

— Doug Ross (@directorblue) February 20, 2013

In other words, Glass would offer up semi-transparent views of the pages/content represented by QR codes in magazines, on posters, etc. -- helping to bridge the physical to the virtual world. If you like the idea or some of my other ones, please consider retweeting!

The Infiniti Q50 -- the forthcoming replacement for the G37...

Personally, I would take a rain-check on the reported hybrid and diesel nonsense:

Feast your eyes upon the all-new 2014 Infiniti Q50. Say what you will about Infiniti's new Q and QX naming system, but after looking at the new Q50 unveiled today at the Detroit Auto Show and checking out its feature list, we're having a hard time coming up with any additional criticisms. The highlights of the Q50, which goes on sale this summer in the US, include the eye-catching design, innovative cabin technology and a fuel-efficient hybrid model.

The Infiniti G has always had a focus on leading-edge styling, and its replacement is no different... Compared to the current G Sedan, the Q50 is longer, wider and lower than its predecessor, and it's also more aerodynamic with a drag coefficient of just 0.26, putting in between the Chevrolet Volt (0.28) and the Toyota Prius (0.25).

...There are also numerous apps that come preloaded into the system, and a new i-Key feature allows the car to recognize up to four different keys, allowing each driver to customize as many as 96 vehicle settings. As for the rest of the interior, it gets the same styling we've come to expect from Infiniti.

The base engine for the Q50 is carried over from the G37 with a 3.7-liter V6 producing 328 horsepower and 269 pound feet of torque, but the big news in the powertrain department is the addition of a hybrid model. Using a similar system to what is now known as the M35h (soon to go by the Q70 name), the Q50 Hybrid is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 paired to a 50 kW motor and compact lithium ion battery to give a total power output of 354 hp. Fuel economy estimates were not released for the hybrid, but in the M35h, this system is rated at 27 mpg city and 32 mpg highway; being newer and lighter, we wouldn't be surprised to see much better numbers for the Q50 version. Both versions of the car use a seven-speed automatic with rev matching, and the Q50 will come standard with rear-wheel drive and offer all-wheel drive as an option. Additional powertrains will eventually be added for global markets, but these have not been announced either.

A separate report last week confirms that the G37 Coupe will be replaced with a Q50 iteration, but photos of said configuration are scarce indeed.


Hat tip: BadBlue Car News.

SCHWING: Audi R8 Spyder

Maybe the president could redistribute an Audi R8 Spyder to some deserving young blogger.

...the V8 I drove is still the 424bhp 4.2-litre V8 - and that certainly didn't need to change. Personally I've always preferred it to the mellifluous 518bhp V10, which although more powerful, doesn't quite have the raw, raucous engine note and savage response of the V8. Audi claims a 0-62mph time of 4.5secs for the S Tronic V8, against 3.6secs for the V10, but I always thought Audi cheekily skewed those figures to make the V10 look good...

...No changes have been made to the all aluminium double wishbone suspension, the heavily rear biased 4wd system, nor the 43:57 weight distribution. The R8 is an effortlessly rewarding car to drive. It pootles about majestically, suspension so supple and accommodating, but has the ability to raise its hackles and change its personality in a split second. I'm still not sure that even a 911 does this better. What you discover on a good road is a car that's pin-point accurate, with lovely feelsome steering and body control that's rock solid, yet utterly placid. Accusations of blandness are ludicrous, they only come because of the ease with which the R8 goes about its business...

Daddy like.


Hat tip: BadBlue Car News.

HOLY CRAP: Inventor builds tiny, super-accurate mechanical crossbow you can wear on your... wrist

A mechanical crossbow with the "accuracy of a laser"? Daddy like.

Last October, after hurting his knee playing hockey, Patrick Priebe was holed up in his apartment near Cologne, Germany, with nothing to do. He was sitting at his computer, staring at his keyboard, when the “Y” key caught his eye. Priebe didn’t see a letter. To him, it looked like a crossbow. Immediately he knew what his next project would be.

For years, the German lab technician had built laser weapons, including a working Iron Man–style palm-fired blue-diode laser. After all those futuristic gadgets, he wanted to make a completely mechanical contraption. Priebe doesn’t draw up designs for his projects; he just starts tinkering. In his home shop, he cut some bars from an aluminum sheet and fastened together a Y-shaped frame that fit perfectly over the back of his hand.

Next he gathered more aluminum, copper, and brass sheeting. He ordered steel wire usually used in model planes, carbon-fiber tubing for the arrow shafts, and a few cylinders of low-friction Teflon plastic. He cut out two pieces of flexible spring-steel to act as the bow and stretched the steel wire between them for the string. Using a lathe, he shaped pieces of brass for the arrowheads, glued them to the carbon-fiber tubes, cut a groove down the center of one of the Teflon bars, and placed it in the center of the crossbow.

...To fire, he pulls back the wire, hooks it around a brass block, and places an arrow in the groove. When he flicks the thumb trigger, the brass block drops, the wire pops forward, and the arrow flies.

Priebe can use the crossbow to pierce soda cans, smash lightbulbs, and tag apples. And although his creation isn’t the smallest crossbow in the DIY world, none match its mix of power and accuracy, quick reload and ability to fire one-handed. Still, he has no plans to use it, not even for home security...

The video demonstrates that the bow is not, at present, a high-powered weapon, but you can see the possibilities.

Countdown to Democrats trying to outlaw such devices in 3... 2...

KINECT PLUS PROJECTOR: On-The-Go Touch Interface

For all of its well-publicized stumbles, one of Microsoft's major victories is the Kinect, which turns the human body into a user interface. While it's been used primarily for Xbox video games, the Kinect technology package can do considerably more.

The OmniTouch project—a joint project between Microsoft Research and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University—mounts a rig containing small pico projector and a Kinect-like 3D scanner on the user’s shoulder...

...The projector displays graphical images onto virtually any surface, while the 3D scanner’s depth-sensing capabilities transform the projection into an interactive, multi-touch-enabled input—and, thanks to some technical trickery, there’s no special calibration or training required.

You can imagine such a system projecting a full-sized QWERTY keyboard on a random flat service to allow faster keying on, say, a tablet computer.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.

The 5 Most Mind-Blowing 3-D Printed Objects Of 2012

The 3-D printing revolution is in its infancy, but you can sense the promise from some of the coolest builds of 2012.

5. ...Luc Fusaro’s 3-D-printed running shoe [is a] custom-fabricated concept that can theoretically shave 3.5 percent off a sprinter’s time--enough to change his or her position on the medal podium. Using a nylon polymer powder and an additive manufacturing process known as selective laser sintering, Fusaro can turn a 3-D scan of an athlete's foot into a custom-fitting, bare-bones athletic shoe with no extraneous material and a super-lightweight structure...

4. ...a Japanese exhibit provid[es] a glimpse of the photo booth of the future. Rather than providing the usual short reel of head shots, this imaging booth takes 3-D scans of visitors and then turns that data into a 3-D printed figurine. It’s you, in three dimensions...

3. ...At a New York hacker conference back in July, a German security consultant known only as “Ray” made something of a mockery of one of law enforcement's most important accoutrement: the handcuff. Using plastic handcuff keys that he printed from CAD files on a 3-D fabricator, he wowed the crowd be easily popping open sets of cuffs designed by multiple European security firms...

2. ...A University of Southern California professor has devised a layered fabrication method he calls Contour Crafting that he believes could be used to print entire buildings. Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis isn’t the first person to suggest 3-D printing structures like this, but his method is novel in that it would also add plumbing, electrical wiring, and other infrastructure as the structure is built, layer by layer, from the ground up...

1. ...then there’s Defense Distributed, a.k.a. the Wiki Weapon Project, the initiative cooked up by a University of Texas Law student and some of his buddies to 3-D print a working firearm...

One of the impacts of this new technology: some believe that "regulation or banning of firearms... will soon be impossible."


Hat tip: BadBlue Car News.

GOOD NEWS: Verizon plans to monitor your activities -- laughing, sleeping, singing, playing with pets -- inside the home for better ad targeting

What could possibly go wrong with Verizon monitoring your every move inside your own home?

Verizon has filed a patent application for targeting ads to viewers based on information collected from infrared cameras and microphones that would be able to detect conversations, people, objects and even animals that are near a TV.

If the detection system determines that a couple is arguing, a service provider would be able to send an ad for marriage counseling to a TV or mobile device in the room. If the couple utters words that indicate they are cuddling, they would receive ads for "a romantic getaway vacation, a commercial for a contraceptive, a commercial for flowers," or commercials for romantic movies, Verizon states in the patent application.

For years, technology executives have discussed the possibility of using devices such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 Kinect cameras to target advertising and programming to viewers, taking advantage of the ability to determine whether an adult or child is viewing a program. But Verizon is looking at taking targeted advertising to a new level with its patent application, which is titled "Methods and Systems for Presenting an Advertisement Associated with an Ambient Action of a User."

Similar to the way Google targets ads to Gmail users based on the content of their emails, Verizon proposes scanning conversations of viewers that are within a "detection zone" near their TV, including telephone conversations.

"If detection facility detects one or more words spoken by a user (e.g., while talking to another user within the same room or on the telephone), advertising facility may utilize the one or more words spoken by the user to search for and/or select an advertisement associated with the one or more words," Verizon states in the patent application.

Verizon says the sensors would also be able to determine if a viewer is exercising, eating, laughing, singing, or playing a musical instrument, and target ads to viewers based on their mood. It also could use sensors to determine what type of pets or inanimate objects are in the room.

"If detection facility detects that a user is playing with a dog, advertising facility may select an advertisement associated with dogs (e.g., a dog food commercial, a flea treatment commercial, etc.)," Verizon writes in the patent application.

Several types of sensors could be linked to the targeted advertising system, including 3D imaging devices, thermographic cameras and microphones, according to the patent application...

Creepy doesn't begin to describe this "innovation".

WAVOSAUR: A Tiny, Free Audio Editor

When it comes to software, no two words make the heart grow fonder than: (a) "tiny" and (b) "free".

A portable, full-featured audio editor that supports ASIO and VST FX in a mere 225KB download? Wavosaur is tight programming and then some. But despite its tiny footprint, this free audio editor has tons of features so you can change bit rates, convert, create and apply volume envelopes, cut, dice, slice, detect beats, normalize, and much more.

It's also very fast in applying those edits and non-destructive, which means you may undo your actions without reloading the original file.. What Wavosaur doesn't do is reverb, chorus, flange, and compress, etc. Instead, the program relies on VST effects plug-ins (Virtual Studio Technology, a standard from industry heavyweight Steinberg) for FX. That's no doubt part of the reason it's so efficiently-sized. You can find download links and listings of many free VST effects plug-ins on the Wavosaur website if you've none of your own.

Though somewhat Windows 95 in appearance, Wavosaur is extremely easy to use, fast, and efficient. Don't let shape-consciousness deter you... The Wavosaur interface is efficient, though a bit old-school in appearance. You can dock the numerous toolbars at the top or bottom of the editor window or detach them to float. It isn’t particularly pretty, but it gets the job done quite nicely.

Wavosaur is impressive, and for straight audio editing, it's amazingly powerful. Download it, even if it's just to see how small you can go when you write tight code.

If you do any audio work, PC World has the details and a download link.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.

GOOGLE THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET: Says Mobile War is Over and Android Has Defeated Apple

Interesting analogies drawn by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt:

Google (GOOG) Chairman Eric Schmidt believes the war between Android and Apple’s (AAPL) iOS is just about over and his side has won. In an interview with Bloomberg, the former CEO said that the current mobile battle is similar to the computing war that took place more than 20 years ago between Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple. The executive notes that Google is “winning that war pretty clearly now.”

...Schmidt’s words aren’t without merit; Android has seen explosive growth since its debut and controlled nearly 70% of the market this year. In fact, the operating system has been projected to dominate the smartphone market over the next four years while continuing to eat away at Apple’s tablet market share.

The Chairman’s comparison to Microsoft of the 1990s is fairly accurate. Windows was able to conquer the operating system space because of the strong support it had from a variety of manufacturers, while Apple refused to license OS X. Google has taken an approach similar to Microsoft’s, but rather than licensing the software it gives it out freely. This has helped the Android operating system see unprecedented growth.

“The core strategy is to make a bigger pie,” Schmidt said. “We will end up with a not perfectly controlled and not perfectly managed bigger pie by virtue of open systems.”

If taking shots at Apple wasn’t enough, the executive also jabbed the world’s largest social network, calling Google+ a “viable competitor to Facebook.” While Google’s social networking site has had its fair share of success, topping 500 million total users in a little over 14 months, it is no match for Facebook’s one billion monthly active users.

My prediction is that Google will continue to nibble away at Facebook, cable companies and wireless providers. This will prove extremely healthy for consumers because the latter two industries desperately need the benefit of robust competition.


Hat tips: Image via The Android Invasion, Story via BadBlue Tech News.

SCIENTISTS CREATE ARTIFICIAL BRAIN WITH 2.3 MILLION SIMULATED NEURONS: The Progressive Left Hardest Hit

By my estimation, 2.3 million neurons bests the average progressive by a factor of, oh, about 2.3 million.

...Instead of the tour de force processing of Deep Blue or Watson’s four terabytes of facts of questionable utility, Spaun attempts to play by the same rules as the human brain to figure things out. Instead of the logical elegance of a CPU, Spaun’s computations are performed by 2.3 million simulated neurons configured in networks that resemble some of the brain’s own networks. It was given a series of tasks and performed pretty well, taking a significant step toward the creation of a simulated brain.

Spaun stands for Semantic Pointer Architecture: Unified Network. It was given six different tasks that tested its ability to recognize digits, recall from memory, add numbers and complete patterns. Its cognitive network simulated the prefrontal cortex to handle working memory and the basal ganglia and thalamus to control movements. Like a human, Spaun can view an image and then give a motor response; that is, it is presented images that it sees through a camera and then gives a response by drawing with a robotic arm.

...And its performance was similar to that of a human brain. For example, the simplest task, image recognition, Spaun was shown various numbers and asked to draw what it sees. It got 94 percent of the numbers correct. In a working memory task, however, it didn’t do as well. It was shown a series of random numbers and then asked to draw them in order. Like us with human brains, Spaun found the pattern recognition task easy, the working memory task not quite as easy.

The important thing here is not how well Spaun performed on the tasks – your average computer could find ways to perform much better than Spaun. But what’s important is that, in Spaun’s case, the task computations were carried out solely by the 2.3 million artificial neurons spiking in the way real neurons spike to carry information from one neuron to another. The visual image, for example, was processed hierarchically, with multiple levels of neurons successively extracting more complex information, just as the brain’s visual system does. Similarly, the motor response mimicked the brain’s strategy of combining many simple movements to produce an optimal, single movement while drawing.

Why do I say that this development has the progressive left running scared? Two reasons.

First off, Spaun doesn't think President Obama will pay its mortgage.

And second, unlike progressives, Spaun learns from the past. And all of human history refutes the Left's Statist Utopian delusions, yet they refuse to heed the counsel of the world's greatest philosophers, economists and legal thinkers.

In a battle of wits between Spaun and the average progressive, my bet is on the machine.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.