Science & Technology News – Page 681

Analysis, Photo Perspectives, Science & Technology News, sports

SportVU: Missile tracking technology that will remake the NBA

June 20, 2012

Kevin Durant’s closely guarded attempts happen all over the court.

SportVU technology was originally developed to track missiles. Now, the systems hang from the catwalks of 10 NBA arenas, tiny webcams that silently track each player as they shoot, pass, and run across the court, recording each and every move 25 times a second. SportVU can tell you not just Kevin Durant’s shooting average, but his shooting average after dribbling one vs. two times, or his shooting average with a defender three feet away vs. five feet away. SportVU can actually consider both factors at once, plus take into account who passed him the ball, how many minutes he’d been on the court, and how many miles he’d run that game already.

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Food, Great Videos, Robots, Science & Technology News

Robotic chefs of the future

June 20, 2012

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8fTrbknOB4&hd=1[/youtube]

Sushi Bot

The plot of the movie “I, Robot” may not come true anytime soon, but there has been a proliferation of robots creeping into our daily lives. Namely, in the kitchen. (Videos)

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Analysis, Business, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Legal medical marijuana shops do not boost drug use in teens: Colorado study

June 19, 2012

There is no correlation between an uptick in recent teen drug use and the increased availability of pot.

Teen pot use has not been boosted by the surge in outlets for legal medical marijuana, according to a new study by economists at University of Colorado Denver and other colleges.

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Analysis, Business, Internet, Science & Technology News

The Slow Web Movement

June 22, 2012

Jack Cheng: One of the better spots to enjoy a bowl of ramen noodles here in New York is Minca, in the East Village. Minca is the kind of place just out of the way enough that as you’re about to get there, you start wondering if you’ve already passed it. A bowl of noodles at Minca isn’t quite as neatly put together as those of other ramen establishments in the city, but it is without a doubt among the tastiest. There’s a home-cooked quality to a bowl of noodles at Minca. And there’s a homey vibe to the restaurant. Minca is a good place to meet a friend and sit and talk and eat and drink, and eat and talk and sit and drink some more.

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Analysis, New Discoveries, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

New silicon battery technology could store 9x as much energy as lithium ion batteries

June 22, 2012

Washington State University Professor Grant Norton

Most batteries today are lithium ion batteries, and employ carbon as the anode. Other materials perform much better than carbon, and could substantially increase battery capacity. Tin anodes could potentially triple energy density, and silicon anodes might be able to hold 9 times as much charge as carbon. Such advances could lead to tablet computers and laptops that run for days before battery depletion, and to miniature, battery powered UAVs able to remain aloft for up to an hour.

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Analysis, Brain, Food, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Your brain on diet soda: How artificial sweeteners trick your brain

June 18, 2012

Sugar substitutes used in diet beverages actually change how our brains’ reward areas work.

There are some major loopholes in the New York soda ban measure that critics have pointed out. For example, convenience stores would still be free to sell large, sugary drinks. Also exempt from the bill are sweetened alcoholic beverages. Researchers that Mayor Bloomberg cited think the whole thing might backfire. But the biggest omission in the New York soda ban has to do with an entirely other class of fizzy, sweetened drink: diet sodas.

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Analysis, Business, Historical Perspectives, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The Curse of Infrastructure

June 15, 2012

Futurist Thomas Frey: Every time I drive to the office there are 11 separate stoplights along my route. Based on some cosmic luck-of-the-draw, two thirds of the stoplights will either be red or green, and the time it takes me will vary from 12 to 22 minutes.

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Analysis, Business, facebook, Human Behavior, Internet, Science & Technology News

What Facebook knows about us and what will it do with all that data?

June 15, 2012

Facebook’s insights on human behavior can give them new ways to cash in on our data—and remake our view of society.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, has said in public that if Facebook were a country its 900 million members would make it the third largest country in the world.

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Analysis, Science & Technology News

Does the U.S. need more scientists and engineers?

June 14, 2012

“Our problems are not caused by a shortage of scientists and engineers.”

Recently, Slate published an article on science and technology education in the U.S. The title: “America Needs More Scientist and Engineers.”

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Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Startup scene is thriving in Omaha, Nebraska

June 14, 2012

Omaha, Nebraska

Bob Grinnell, the owner of the building where a former furniture factory once occupied in North Downtown Omaha, Nebraska explains to Eric Markowitz of Inc.com, how this factory, The Mastercraft, takes its name from the furniture brand that had originally inhabited the space. The furniture company opened in 1941 and manufactured furniture for the better part of the 20th century. But 10 years ago, the furniture business failed and investors in Iowa bought the company. The building was abandoned.

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Analysis, Education, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Biggest challenge for colleges isn’t price, it’s students’ attention

June 14, 2012

As colleges try to deliver more education at the same price, schools will move into the crowded and distractable world of the Web.

Last year, the University of Phoenix enlisted renowned Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen to record a lecture. The university reserved a harbor-view room for Christensen and populated it with young people, so that the camera operators could record their reactions.

Before he began to speak, Christensen noticed that the audience appeared unusually engaged and attractive.

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Business, Internet, Science & Technology News

ICANN reveals new top-level domain name applications

June 14, 2012

The list includes: .tattoo, .ketchup, and .mormon.

The list of new generic top-level domain names that have been applied for and can then be owned has been revealed by ICANN. There are 1,930 new domain names –with tech titans like Amazon, Apple, and Google in the mix–and they’re going to change how the Internet works.

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