Just 4 You

Google teaching computers to mimic human brain

2012-06-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

Google on Tuesday said it was dabbling with getting computers to simulate the learning process of the human brain as one of the unusual projects for researchers in its X Lab.

Computers programmed with algorithms intended to mimic neural connections "learned" to recognize cats after being shown a sampling of YouTube videos, Google fellow Jeff Dean and visiting faculty Andrew Ng said in a blog post.

"Our hypothesis was that it would learn to recognize common objects in those videos," the researchers said.

"Indeed, to our amusement, one of our artificial neurons learned to respond strongly to pictures of... cats," they continued.

"Remember that this network had never been told what a cat was, nor was it given even a single image labeled as a cat."

The computer, essentially, discovered for itself what a cat looked like, according to Dean and Ng.

The computations were spread across an "artificial neural network" of 16,000 processors and a billion connections in Google data centers.

The small-scale "newborn brain" was shown YouTube images for a week to see what it would learn.

"It 'discovered' what a cat looked like by itself from only unlabeled YouTube stills," the researchers said.

"That's what we mean by self-taught learning."

Google researchers are building a larger model and are working on ways to apply the artificial neural network approach to improve technology for speech recognition and natural language modeling, according to Dean and Ng.

"Someday this could make the tools you use every day work better, faster, and smarter," they said.

Dean and Ng conceded that there is a long road ahead, since an adult human brain has around 100 trillion connections.

Google X Lab headed by company co-founder Sergey Brin is known for its work on innovations such as a self-driving car and "Terminator" film style glasses that provide Internet information about what is being seen.

Samsung Galaxy S III sales to hit 10 million in July

2012-06-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Samsung Electronics Co, the world's top mobile phone maker, said on Monday that it expects global sales of the latest Galaxy smartphone to surpass 10 million in July even as it struggles to keep up with demand because of component shortages.

Shin Jong-kyun, president of Samsung's mobile communications business, said the Galaxy S III will hit the 10-million milestone within two months of its launch.

``It has been tough to keep up with demand,'' Shin told reporters.

Samsung's failure to procure sufficient mobile components for its latest smartphone has stoked concerns that its second-quarter smartphone sales could be much lower than expected. Shin said the company expects to resolve the supply issues with mobile components sometime in the next week.

``Despite the tough economic situation in Europe and problems with supplying components for the Galaxy S III, the second-quarter earnings will be better than the first quarter,'' he said.

Shares of Samsung tumbled 4.2 per centon the Seoul bourse on Monday, closing at a four-month low. The benchmark Kospi index fell 1.2 percent.

Samsung began sales of the Galaxy S III in Europe on May 29 and released it in the U.S. last week. In its home market, the company started sales of the latest iteration of Galaxy earlier Monday.

Samsung's sales estimate for the S III reflects robust demand from mobile operators. Unlike Apple Inc., Samsung does not disclose sales figures to consumers.

The South Korean company said the S III will be released by around 300 mobile carriers in 147 countries by the end of July, aiming for an early start before rival Apple announces a new version of the iPhone in the third quarter.

New passenger service to the Moon for $100M

2012-06-22T09:50:00.001-07:00

Excalibur Almaz has announced that it is selling tickets to lunar orbit. The price is $100 million. Your golden ticket will entitle you to a complete astronaut experience.

You'll begin with astronaut training: not just a course on how to make it to the escape capsule in the event of an emergency, but also how to pilot the spacecraft back to Earth in the event that something goes wrong with its onboard navigation. The price includes a ticket to a flight to space aboard the XCOR Lynx suborbital spaceplane, so you'll have already been to space and experienced weightlessness before you board the Excalibur reusable capsule. On the big day you'll ride the Soyuz rocket with your two fellow passengers up from Baikonur to one of the company's two 90-cubic-meter space stations. Once you're aboard the station with your two fellow passengers, an electric thruster will slowly spiral the three of you up to an elliptical orbit around the Moon. After several days you'll spiral back the way you came, re-enter Earth orbit, board a small reusable capsule and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, leaving the station behind you. Home again, home again, time to hire that ghost writer and update your Facebook page with a few new pictures.

Excalibur Almaz has based its business around a fleet of Soviet spacecraft purchased by its somewhat-legendary founder, Art Dula of Houston, Texas, who has been involved with several other successful space companies. The age of the thirty-year-old spacecraft means very little; most current Russian spacecraft date from the Soviet-era and they are considered to be among the safest and most reliable spacecraft ever built. Space launches are very public, and Mr. Dula's fleet was built during a time when any public failure meant dire consequences not only for the cosmonaut but also for anyone connected with the failure (people who make mistakes still die, but from "stress"). Because of their stout engineering, old Soviet launchers and spacecraft have consistently excellent safety records.

Several years ago Dula procured two Almaz space stations, designed for Soviet military reconnaissance, and four very stout reusable return capsules along with their escape systems. The space stations are closely related to the Zvezda and Zarya modules on the Russian side of the International Space Station, and although the reusable return vehicles have never been flown manned, they have been extensively tested. For the last seven years the new company has been quietly working on the equally expensive tasks of filling out paperwork and engineering.

A myriad of licenses were necessary to bring the equipment out of Russia and on to the Isle of Man, an aerospace hotbed where Excalibur Almaz is based. Eventually the collection of stations and reusable return vehicles arrived at their new home, and EA began their refurbishment with modern off-the-shelf parts from the various space industry catalogs. The spacecraft received new solar arrays, environmental controls, flight controls, and communications equipment. The kitchen, crew quarters, exercise rooms, storage racks, laboratory, and telescope are all being brought up to date. On the outside, the craft are receiving electric and hypergolic thrusters. The Excalibur Almaz paint scheme is a glossy white, devoid of Soviet insignia.

The Soviet spacecraft by themselves were not enough to build a complete system. Excalibur Almaz has also contracted with the manufacturers in Russia and the Ukraine for more of the stock pieces. They asked aerospace giant EADS Astrium in Europe to do preliminary designs for an intermediate propulsion stage with new passenger and cargo modules based on the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). They struck a Space Act Agreement with NASA in order to learn how to meet US space agency standards for carrying crew to the space station. For marketing studies, EA went to Futron Corporation, a company which specializes in aerospace markets and knows the space tourism industry well.

Futron told them that launch prices were currently too high for profitable operations in Low Earth Orbit. "I stress that we were quite surprised to find that we can't operate at a profit in Low Earth Orbit right now," said Mr. Dula at the ISDC 2012 conference last month. "That takes government subsidy. There aren't enough customers in LEO. There are more customers that are interested in going beyond LEO for a purely commercial system."

"Beyond LEO" meant the Moon, and as it happens mathematics has made getting to the Moon a little easier than it was during the Apollo era. For low-energy lunar transfer orbits EA went to Dr. Ed Belbruno, a mathematician who specializes in celestial mechanics, and to Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena. Orbits were found that would allow the station to use electric propulsion to slowly make its way into lunar orbits. EA contracted with US-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) for phasing studies, the adjustment of a spacecraft's time-position along its orbit. Plans eventually came together for three different lunar missions. One of them is a lunar cycler orbit based on work done by former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, an old friend of Mr. Dula's.

The first mission begins in low Earth orbit and involves an elliptical lunar flyby, good for tourists who want to see the Moon up close through a window instead of a telescope. The second requires the station to travel up to a circular lunar orbit on a slow low-energy trajectory, where it waits for a crew on a high-energy spacecraft such as an Orion space capsule riding on a ULA Centaur upper stage. The crew vehicle docks with the station and can stay for a month or two. It then does a high-energy return and re-enters the atmosphere.

The third mission is the lunar cycler orbit, wherein the space station flies to the Moon on a low-energy trajectory and gets a gravity boost out of the plane of the ecliptic, up and over the Earth instead of around it. The Moon rotates around and catches the spacecraft two weeks later on the other side, catching the spacecraft and returning it to where a new crew or supply ship can dock with it. The two-week cycles could last quite a long time before the station would need to be refueled.

For now, the only man-rated vehicle capable of launching the small "taxi" vehicles, with their launch escape systems and reusable return capsules, are Soyuz rockets. The Chinese Long March is also the right size and man-rated, but U.S. technology export rules forbid it. In the near future other vehicles could be or will be man-rated, so there will be more choices. The stations themselves will probably go up aboard Russian Proton rockets, for which they were designed, but they could also go up on many other launchers. Excalibur Almaz also has a six-person vehicle, essentially a scaled up version of their 3-person capsule, approaching its Critical Design Review.

A reusable reentry vehicle was displayed at the Royal Aeronautical Society's Third European Space Tourism Conference in London, where Mr. Dula made another presentation yesterday. It has now been shipped back to the company headquarters on the Isle of Man, where it will wait for the first three customers.

Another war for water begins between Tamil Nadu and Kerala

2012-06-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

The Kerala government's plan to construct a dam across River Siruvani has created a fresh row between Tamil Nadu and Kerala, who are already fighting each other in court over the Mullaperiyar Dam.

The issue this time is Kerala's move to build a dam in its Palakkad district, across the river Siruvani that supplies drinking water to Coimbatore across the border. The river originates in Tamil Nadu on the western ghats and passes through Kerala's Pallakad district before flowing into Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district.

Tamil Nadu says the construction of a dam upstream would mean Coimbatore's water supply would be affected.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has written to the Prime Minister to advise Kerala to not proceed with the project. She says there is "apprehension that Coimbatore and its adjoining areas dependent on Siruvani for their drinking water needs, will be totally affected if Kerala is allowed to build the dam". This she adds is also in "violation of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal".

Ms Jayalalithaa argues that the Tribunal has allocated only 2.87 TMC ft of water to Kerala for the Attapadi Irrigation Scheme" against Kerala's claim of 4.5 TMC ft of water. She says that the governments of Kerala and Karnataka and Tami Nadu have all asked the Supreme Court for clarification and till a verdict is reached, no plans to alter the current arrangement should be implemented

Kerala's Irrigation Minister P J Joseph says the project is crucial for the areas around Attapadi which receive scanty rain and where " tribals starve with no scope for agriculture". He says the dam "would provide drinking water for tribals, irrigate around 5000 acres and also help generate electricity".

Bollywood News: Criminal case filed against SRK

2012-06-20T00:10:00.001-07:00

The troubles surrounding superstar Shah Rukh Khan's Wankhede brawl just don't seem to end. Now, lawyer-cum-activist Indrajeet Singh Bhatia filed a private criminal complaint against SRK at a local court in Indore, Madya Pradesh, for his alleged involvement in the fracas at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai last month.

Bhatia filed the case on Tuesday under section 200 of CrPc (examination of complainant) in the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Sangeeta Tiwari. Admitting the complaint, the court posted the matter to July 9.

Bhatia also insisted that the court book Shah Rukh under sections 294 (obscene acts and songs), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 499 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier, the Mumbai Police on May 17 had registered a non-cognisable offence against SRK and three others in connection with the May 16 incident involving them and officials of the Mumbai Cricket Association at Wankhede Stadium.

Mohanlal launches his book Hridhayathinte Kaiyoppu

2012-06-19T10:43:00.001-07:00

Mohanlal launched his book, Hridhayathinte Kaiyoppu, which is a collection of his blogs, recently.

"These are a collection of 34 blogs, which I wrote in my own hand writing," said the actor. The event saw his close friends from the industry,Priyadarshan, Sathyan Anthikad, Ranjith and writer Balachandran Chullikad as chief guests.

Microsoft's 'Surface' tablet aims for productivity

2012-06-19T00:22:00.002-07:00

Microsoft unveiled a new tablet computer, Surface, that attempts to take advantage of one of the few criticisms of Apple's iPad that it is better for consuming content than creating it.

The software maker said Monday that its device will attach to a removable rubberized keyboard that also acts like a book cover. CEO Steve Ballmer said Surface will be an entertainment device ``without compromising the productivity that PCs are uniquely known for.''

Microsoft Corp.'s broadside against the iPad is a dramatic step to ensure that its Windows software plays a major role in the increasingly important mobile computing market.

``They are saying it's a different world now and are trying to put the sexy back into the Microsoft brand,'' said Gartner Inc. analyst Carolina Milanesi.

Microsoft is linking the Surface's debut with the release of its much-anticipated Windows 8 operating system, which has been designed with tablets in mind. The company hasn't specified when Windows 8 will hit the market, but most analysts expect the software to come out in September or October.

One version of the Surface, which won't go on sale until sometime in the fall, is 9.3 millimeters thick and works on the Windows RT operating system which was made for tablets that run on low-power chips designed by British chipmaker ARM Holdings PLC.

It comes with a 0.7-millimeter thick kickstand to hold it upright and a 3-millimeter-thick touch keyboard cover that snaps on using magnets. The device weighs under 1.5 pounds.

The size is similar to the latest iPad, which is 9.4 millimeters thick and weighs 1.3 pounds.

Surface has a screen that measures 10.6 inches diagonally, compared to 9.7 inches for the iPad, but it comes in the 16:9 aspect ratio, which is suited to watching video in the widescreen format. The iPad's screen size ratio is 4:3.

Microsoft said the Surface's price tag will be similar to the iPad, which sells for $499 to $829, depending on the model.

A slightly thicker version still less than 14 millimeters thick and under 2 pounds will work on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 Pro operating system and cost as much as an Ultrabook, the company said. The pro version comes with a stylus that allows users to make handwritten notes on documents such as PDF files. It will be released about three months later.

The touch keyboard resembles the lightweight ``Smart Cover'' that Apple Inc. sells for $38, but comes with a full QWERTY keyboard. It is rigidly flat instead of foldable. A slightly thicker keyboard with depressable keys will also be available.

Although the Surface looks like an elegant device, Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps criticized Microsoft for not using attention focused on Monday's announcement to highlight some of the reasons that it might be a better option than the iPad.

Matrimonial sites becoming new crime spot

2012-06-17T22:35:00.001-07:00

Wedding portals have become one of the most lucrative venues for new age con artistes to loot people. Cyber Crime sleuths say that hundreds of youngsters are falling prey to the sweet talk of these highly 'educated' con artistes and losing a lot of money.

In the last one year, Cyber Crime sleuths recorded two cases where con artistes successfully used matrimonial sites to dupe people. The recently arrested B Tech graduate B Ravi Kishore duped 54 women by posing as an IIT graduate with a Master's degree from University of California.

His predecessor, V Deepti Reddy, who was arrested by CID sleuths in 2011, lured high earning professionals by posing as an MBBS graduate. "Though there are many such instances, only a handful of the victims approach the police as the media attention might further dampen their chances of getting a suitable partner," a CID official said.

CID sleuths who investigated both these cases found striking similarities in the modus operandi of the two criminals and the profiles of their victims. The victims in both these cases were high earning professionals, mostly software engineers, doctors, architects and management professionals.

Despite being well educated, none of the victims bothered to verify the genuineness of the profiles of the accused and police believe that the not so easily available 'suitable' partner is the reason behind it. The victims were blinded by the polished English and well respected professional life of the accused.

"Kishore, who worked in a BPO earlier, used to talk to the victims with an American accent. So, the victims never bothered to cross check his claims of being a Microsoft employee with degrees from IIT Mumbai and University of California," CID additional SP, U Ram Mohan, said.

To further push the victims into trusting him, Kishore always used to travel in a hired AC cab and meet the victims at five star hotels only. "In reality, Kishore used to share a flat with some others at Miyapur in the city outskirts and he just had two pairs of formal wear," the investigating officer said. None of the 54 women whom he befriended through his profile on the matrimonial site knew his actual residential address but he successfully exploited 22 of them.

Same was the case with Deepti Reddy who borrowed money from just over 20 people by befriending them through her doctor profile on a matrimonial site. Deepti was already married twice before she posted her profile on the website and she has two children, police said. Deepti took lakhs of rupees from several of her prospective grooms, whom she never met personally, by saying that the money is for performing surgeries on poor children.

As there are lakhs of educated youth registered on these matrimonial sites, CID sleuths have suggested some steps to identify such con artistes:

Always verify the profile details of the individual before becoming close to that person. Employment verification can be easily done by calling up the concerned company or by paying a personal visit.

Don't give money to people with whom you become friends through online profiles even if they emotionally blackmail you.

Do not indulge in online chatting, dating or get emotionally involved with people without verifying the truthfulness of their claims.

None of the victims bothered to verify the genuineness of the profiles of the accused and police believe that the not so easily available 'suitable' partner is the reason behind it.

Apple Wants to Blow Google Away With the New iOS Maps

2012-06-16T23:53:00.003-07:00

Since 2005, the dominant maker of digital maps has been Google. Developers, companies and users rely on Google Maps to look up locations, see snapshots of the world and get turn-by-turn directions. Even Apple has always relied on Google Maps for its iOS products, such as the iPhone and iPad. That is no longer the case. Apple has created its own maps program for iOS and it is looking to blow Google out of the water.

Apple is not only trying to replicate maps for iOS, it is trying to redefine it. Whether or not it has done so will be up for debate, but the new maps program demoed during Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference keynote today looks impressive. Siri, Apple’s erstwhile digital assistant, has been integrated into the new product and can help you navigate or tell you how long it will be until you arrive at your destination. By integrating Siri into its own maps product, Apple has just created what will be one of the most popular hands-free mobile navigation systems in the world.

Apple’s new maps will do just about everything you would expect from a maps application. It has turn-by-turn navigation, traffic view and crowd-sourced data with incident reports that can reroute information in case you get stuck. Just like Google Maps, Apple is building 3D renditions of cities and has a “Flyover” feature that will show an aerial view of buildings and landscapes.

Flyover is one of the most interesting aspects of Apple’s new maps, as it can show the user a 3D rendition of certain structures. For instance, want to take a closer look at the Empire State Building? Pin it in Apple’s maps and isolate it from the rest of the picture. Apple has built 3D models of cities across the world to feature in its new maps offering.

Apple’s goal in creating a new maps application has several motivations. Foremost, it wants to cut Google out of the iOS experience, and one of the biggest ways to do so is to cut off access to one of Google’s most important products. Apple has integrated Yelp into its maps and has a listing of 100 million local businesses in its maps product. By tying its maps to a database not controlled by Google, Apple is striking a blow right at the heart of Google’s revenue source: local search, referral and advertising. Apple also wants to create a better-looking product than Google, and the first shots of Apple’s maps show that it can challenge the search giant in aesthetics, especially with the 3D rendering and flyover.

In the end, all that Apple has really accomplished is replicating functionality that was already provided on all iOS devices. While Apple maps are interesting, they are not a groundbreaking development in the history of innovation. Apple’s decision to create maps is all about business, not necessarily the users or the user experience. Apple has entered a market long dominated by other companies, such as AOL (which owns Mapquest), Nokia and Google. All of those companies make comparable services, and Apple, despite its best efforts, will have trouble making a product that will blow the incumbents out of the water. Maps plus Siri? Awesome-looking maps and 3D renditions? Great for Apple’s marketing department but not exactly delivering a new era of innovation.

Apple to users: New Mac Pro coming in 2013

2012-06-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Apple is reportedly claiming that it will update Mac Pro, the company's full-fatdesktop that is largely used by audio and video professionals, next year. According to a report by Forbes, Apple is working on a redesign ofMac Pro and the new models will show up sometimes next year.

Mac Pro has gone without a technology update for nearly two years now. While there was speculation that Apple would announce an update to the computers at this year's WWDC, it did not happen. Instead, Apple informed customers on its website that the Mac Pro could be now bought with a faster processor and tagged it 'new'. But, when the customers realized the new processors belong to Intel's Westmere series, which was launched in 2010, and backlash began, Apple removed the 'new' tag.

Mac Pro computers are mostly used by people who produce multimedia content to earn their living. For the last few months, these users are clamouring for better hardware, including the current-generation processors and better graphics cards, in Mac Pro. There is even a group called We Want New Mac Pro on Facebook, which has received over 18,000 likes so far.

"Hello Apple. We are the creative community and we are looking for a little clarity on one of our favorite products. The Mac Pro tower. Is that too much to ask?" the group creator Lou Borella says on the Facebook page.

The processors used in the current generation Mac Pro are based on Nehalem architecture that was released by Intel in 2008. Similarly, it has graphics cards like HD 5770 and HD 5870, which were released by AMD in 2010, and are not even sold by the company in the retail market anymore. The current Mac Pros also lack features like Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 that can help professional users move data between devices faster. Incidentally, the new MacBook Pro laptops have these features.

After the WWDC two days ago Andy Hertzfeld, a computer engineer who was part of the team that worked original Mac computer in the late 1970s, blasted Apple for neglecting Mac Pro. Hertzfeld, who now works for Google, wrote on his Google+ page, "The specifications for the 'new' Mac Pro had hardly changed, except for a tiny, inconsequential processor clock bump. Still no Thunderbolt, still no USB 3.0, no SATA III or RAM speed improvements -- it seems like it's stuck in time in 2010. The only thing that's still high-end about it is the bloated price."

While some Mac Pro users have migrated to Windows computers, for many that is not an option. Most of the professional users buy Mac Pro because they work with Apple programs like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, which are considered best in the industry. "Final Cut Pro 8 and (new) Mac Pro please! I really don't want to move to Windows and ( Adobe) Premier," a Mac Pro user recently wrote at the We Want New Mac Pro page.