Day: February 1, 2012

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From The UberReview: Homing Bullets Are a Scary Idea

Whoa!! That is just pure craziness!!! o.O
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Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have successfully created a self-guided bullet prototype that is able to home in on a laser-designated target from more than a mile away.

The laser-guided bullet looks more like a small missile or dart than a conventional bullet. Regular bullets are held on course by their spin. The laser-guided bullet uses fins instead, so it doesn’t spin, it flies and its trajectory can be altered via the fins mid-flight.

The magic happens on board the bullet itself. An optical sensor collects information and relays it to an 8-bit central processing unit, which controls the electromagnetic actuators that adjust the fins. According to researchers Red Jones and Brian Kast, the tiny size of the bullet actually makes this feat relatively easy to perform (the bullet is more easily controllable than a cruise missile).

As far as precision goes, there is no comparison. Over a range of half-a-mile, a conventional bullet might be off target by as much as 10 yards. The laser-guided bullet will spread by as much as eight inches.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[PhysOrg via Geekosystem]

from The UberReview

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From The UberReview: Android Malware Attack Hits Five Million Users


Symantec has announced that 13 apps from three developers contain a malicious segment of code called Android.Counterclank. The apps have found there way onto as many as five million phones.

The malware steals user info and runs ads and is reportedly very difficult to remove. On January 16, one user wrote the following review “Deal & Be Millionaire”:

The game is decent … but every time you run this game, a ‘search icon gets added randomly to one of your screens. I keep deleting the icon, but it always reappears. If you tap the icon you get a page that looks suspiciously like the Google search page.

The affected apps, many of which have appeared in the Android Market, are published by iApps7, Ogre Games and redmicapps.

Counter Elite Force
Counter Strike Ground Force
CounterStrike Hit Enemy
Heart Live Wallpaper
Hit Counter Terrorist
Stripper Touch girl
Balloon Game
Deal & Be Millionaire
Wild Man
Pretty women lingerie puzzle
Sexy Girls Photo Game
Sexy Girls Puzzle
Sexy Women Puzzle

If you have downloaded and installed any of the games, there is a pretty simple solution.
1. Make sure you have your address book synced with Gmail.
2. Delete any files related to the malware from your SD card.
3. Install Astro File Manager.
4. Open Astro File Manager and backup applications
5. Restore your phone to its factory settings.
6. Re-install Astro File Manager
7. Browse your SD Card contents and reinstall any of the apps that you need from /mnt/sdcard/backups/apps.

The beauty of Android is that it is really easy to get back to where you were before things went horribly wrong. [Gizmodo]

from The UberReview

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From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: Video: SpaceX Test-Fires Its New Super-Powerful Capsule Engines

SuperDraco’s Could One Day Allow Propulsive Landings on Other Planets SpaceX

SpaceX’s dream of fielding a spacelaunch system that is completely reusable is inching forward with the successful test-firing of its new SuperDraco engine. The powerful new SuperDraco will be installed in the side walls of the next-gen Dragon spacecraft and provide up to 120,000 pounds of axial thrust, enabling not only on orbit maneuvering, but emergency escape from the rocket tower should something go awry during launch.

The Draco engines currently used on the Dragon spacecraft allow the robotic resupply capsule to maneuver on orbit and orient itself during reentry, but SpaceX has bigger plans for a system that will one day be able to return all elements–including rocket stages–to Earth intact for reuse in later missions. That’s a tall order and a long way off. But the SuperDraco is a step in that direction.

More powerful than the Draco, the eight SuperDracos that will reside in the side walls of the Dragon can essentially propel the Dragon capsule on their own, making it possible for astronauts on board to abort at any time during a launch and separate from the rocket–that is, the controlled explosion–hurling them skyward. That’s a huge advantage over previous launch abort systems, which could only be triggered successfully during the first few minutes of a launch.

They can also be restarted multiple times and can be used repeatedly, meaning they wouldn’t have to be completely re-serviced each time a capsule went into space. During the recent tests at SpaceX’s Rocket Development Facility in Texas, the SuperDraco underwent full thrust firings, full duration firings, and a series of deep throttling demos, passing each test, we’re told, with flying colors. We’re still a ways away from that space capsule that can navigate itself back to the launchpad under its own propulsive force but as the video below shows, we’re getting there.

[SpaceX]

from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now

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From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: Amazonian Rainforest Fungus Eats Polyurethane, Potentially Solving a Big Landfill Problem

Plastic Bags in Landfill Samuel Mann via Flickr

To the multitude of arguments for protecting rainforest biodiversity, here’s a new addition: An Amazonian fungus could eat our most durable landfill waste. A group of students from Yale found the fungus during an expedition to Ecuador and learned it breaks down polyurethane.

This plastic is one of those modern chemical compounds found in so many products, it’s pointless to count – from Spandex to garden hoses, for a start – and it is prized for both its flexibility and rigidity. The problem is that like many other polymers, it does not break down readily. This means it persists in landfills, as Fast Company points out. It burns pretty well, but that releases carbon monoxide and other gases into the atmosphere, so it’s a nonstarter in most situations. Something that can degrade it naturally would be a better solution.

The fungus called Pestalotiopsis microspora can subsist on a diet of polyurethane alone, and do so in an anaerobic environment, according to the researchers who found it. The Yale team isolated the enzyme that enables this fungus to do its work and noted it could be used for bioremediation.

It’s odd to think of a microorganism eating up a durable synthetic material, but this would not be a first, by a long shot; bacteria and fungi can break down lots of things. A bacterial species called Halomonas titanicae is eating the RMS Titanic, for instance. We just need to know where to find these hungry species – and the rainforest is a good place to look.

[Fast Company[

from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now

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From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: Video: People Flying, Superhero Style, Over New York City

New York Finally Gets Its Real-Life Superheroes

Viral marketing agency Thinkmodo has been bringing sci-fi to life in the skies over New York City for the past couple of weeks, so if you thought you saw something out of the ordinary in the past few days–like perhaps a few people lazily looping around the skyline like superheroes–no need to adjust your medication. To promote an upcoming film, the agency custom built three remote controlled aircraft shaped like humans and put them in the air over New York and New Jersey.

The three main characters in 20th Century Fox’s upcoming film Chronicle have the ability to fly, so Thinkmodo thought the best was to build hype around the film would be to create some “flying people” sightings around NYC. So far, so good. Local news stations picked up the story, and a video the team released documenting the campaign (see it below) has garnered well more than half a million hits as of this writing.

Viral marketing can be so absolutely boring, but a gnarly RC airplane hack for the sake of sci-fi? Consider our hats tipped.

[YouTube]

from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now

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From Engadget: German court denies Apple request for preliminary ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1N and Galaxy Nexus sales

German court denies preliminary ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1N and Galaxy Nexus You win some, and you lose some, right, Apple? Hot on the heels of its latest victory in Dusseldorf keeping the Galaxy Tab 10.1 out of Deutschland, Apple was denied similar satisfaction in Munich today. Bloomberg’s reporting that the Munich Regional Court denied Cupertino’s motion to exclude Sammy’s 10.1N and Galaxy Nexus from store shelves due to infringement of a touchscreen patent granted last year. While details of the ruling itself are scarce, the judge apparently rejected Apple’s overtures because the patent in question is likely invalid due to the market presence of the same technology before the patent was granted. Of course, the 10.1N’s not out of the woods yet, as next week the aforementioned court in Dusseldorf will pass judgmenton Sammy’s reworked slate. So, pop some popcorn folks, these legal fireworks are far from over.

 

from Engadget