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19 Jan 16:06

The NSA knew North Korea hacked Sony because it hacked North Korea first

by Steve Dent
The US government recently took the rare step of directly blaming North Korea for the crippling hack of Sony in retaliation for its satire film, The Interview. But how could it be so sure in the face of doubters, who said another hacking group disgui...
18 Jan 07:55

Syfy's adaptation of 'The Expanse' novels has its first trailer

by Richard Lawler
Tonight Syfy premieres its new series 12 Monkeys (based on the movie of the same name, and bring your Hue lightbulbs), but fans of the genre should also check out this trailer (click here to view it from outside the US) for another new show coming th...
18 Jan 07:54

Elon Musk spills details on SpaceX's $10 billion space internet venture

by Mariella Moon
Elon Musk doesn't only plan to bring the whole world online using a fleet of low-cost communication satellites, he also wants to use the same infrastructure to provide internet on Mars. Months after confirming the new SpaceX project, Musk has finally...
18 Jan 07:54

'Blackhat' bores, but at least gets hacking right

by Devindra Hardawar
What is it about hackers that invariably stumps Hollywood? Even when filmmakers get the details right, as Michael Mann does with Blackhat, his moody exploration of cyberterrorism, they often stumble when it comes to making us actually care about what...
15 Jan 14:38

Project Ara Looks Less Like Vaporware, Launches Spiral 2 Hardware

Project Ara's second dev conference is underway, and the latest prototype, Spiral 2, shows progress.
14 Jan 16:33

‘Humans’ Teaser Trailer: AMC’s Robot Servant Drama

by Angie Han

AMC Humans teaser trailer

Update From Editor Peter Sciretta: AMC has released the first Humans teaser trailer, which you can watch embedded after the jump.

AMC Humans Teaser Trailer

“The upgrade you’ve been waiting for is here.” Okay so the first teaser doesn’t show us much, but I’m still intrigued. Humans is set premieres on AMC sometime in Summer 2015.

Angie Han’s original post from January 12th 2015 follows:

After years of bringing us rotting undead people, AMC is planning to bring us some shiny synthetic people. The cable network has unveiled the first look at its new sci-fi drama Humans, based on the Swedish show Äkta människor (a.k.a. Real Humans, pictured above).

Humans takes place in a world where humanoid robot servants are all the rage. But as anyone who’s ever seen a sci-fi drama could have guessed, these “Synths” don’t stay docile and oblivious for long. Katherine Parkinson, Tom Goodman-Hill, Gemma Chan, and William Hurt star.

AMC unveiled the Humans first look image at its TCA presentation this weekend.

Humans

Here’s the synopsis:

Humans is set in a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a ‘Synth’ – a highly-developed robotic servant eerily similar to its live counterpart. In the hope of transforming the way they live, one strained suburban family purchases a refurbished synth only to discover that sharing life with a machine has far-reaching and chilling consequences.

Parkinson and Goodman-Hill star as the wife and husband of the family. Chan (pictured) is their new Synth, Anita, who seems pliable and servile at first but soon reveals a different side. Hurt plays George, a widower who treats his own outdated Synth, Odi, like a son. Colin Morgan, Rebecca Front, and Neil Maskell round out the cast.

Humans was originally developed for Xbox Entertainment Studios, but after the studio shut down last year AMC stepped in to pick up the project. It’ll play on Channel 4 in the U.K. No premiere date has been announced, but look for the eight-episode first season to air sometime this year.

Between Humans and HBO’s Westworld, we should be getting our fill of sentient humanoid androids on the small screen in 2015. Could a Small Wonder remake possibly be far behind?

The post ‘Humans’ Teaser Trailer: AMC’s Robot Servant Drama appeared first on /Film.

14 Jan 14:57

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14 Jan 14:56

Somewhere in the middle Finally posted my photos from Ireland!...



Somewhere in the middle
Finally posted my photos from Ireland!
https://flickr.com/photos/7239270@N04/sets/72157649773240230
#ireland #usa #flying #tour #fun #travels #trip #Europe #river #flickr

14 Jan 14:34

Camera ownership on Flickr: 2013-2014

by Bhautik Joshi

As has been widely reported over the past few days, we’ve released data for 2013-2014 showing camera ownership trends among Flickr members. With this blog post, we give you more detail about the data and let you parse the minutia.

This analysis goes from the period of January 2013 to mid-December 2014. We estimate camera ownership per-week by only counting a camera once per-account, per-week, to compensate for community members uploading different quantities of photos.

This analysis offers an estimate of camera ownership by brand and cameras all together, and then looks in detail at mobile cameras, mirrorless and DSLR cameras.

Brands

Camera brand ownership on Flickr 2013-2014
Top 5 brands on Flickr, 2013-14

Overall, Nikon and Canon steadily held on to their share of cameras on Flickr. What changed was that the big two smartphone camera manufacturers, Apple and Samsung, which moved up the chart.

Mid-2014 is where most of the significant changes happened. Kodak dropped from 1.5 percent to off the chart entirely, but the biggest change was in the cameras using the Android operating system. In the last 6 months of 2014, Samsung saw growth from 6 percent weekly use, to nearly 15 percent, and both LG and Motorola came on to the scene at nearly 2 percent each, close to their older peer, HTC, which held steady at around 2.5 percent.

Cameras Overall

Top cameras overall on Flickr, 2013-2014

When comparing all the cameras on Flickr, the iPhone 5S, 5, 4S and 4 have consistently been the most popular on Flickr over the past two years. While Nikon and Canon remain very popular, they offer a huge range of individual cameras and the overall popularity of individual models likely is lost in the diversity.

Outside of smartphones, the next most popular cameras are all classic DSLR’s. The full-frame Canon 5D MkII is the next most popular camera outside of smartphones in 2013, but took second place to the Canon 600D (T3i in some locales). Entry to mid-level DSLRS round out the rest of the top 10 (all APS-C) with the exception of the Canon 5D MkIII which makes an appearance at the bottom of the top 10 for 2014.

Mobile Cameras

Mobile camera ownership on Flickr 2013-2014
Top Mobile cameras on Flickr, 2013-2014

For all of 2013 and well into 2014, Apple made up 60% of the mobile cameras owned on Flickr, with, as mentioned earlier, the iPhone 5 taking the biggest share. However, mid-2014 saw a dramatic change, with Android camera phones gaining a 10-15% share of camera usage. Samsung in particular grew strongly, the Galaxy S3 and S4 contributing significantly to the brand’s popularity.

Nokia started out at 8% weekly of the cameraphone share but has been steadily declining, at a bit below 3% weekly at the end of 2014.

Mirrorless Cameras

Mirrorless camera ownership on Flickr 2013-2014
Top Mirrorless cameras on Flickr, 2013-2014

For both 2013 and 2014, the most popular mirrorless camera by far was the Micro 4/3 Olympus E-M5, and by 2014 it was one of two Micro 4/3 format mirrorless cameras in the top 10. The high-end, full-frame Sony A7 took the second spot, followed closely by APS-C contenders Sony NEX-6 and Fujifilm X-E1.

At the start of 2013, there were four big players contributing to mirrorless cameras on Flickr: Sony, at over 35 percent weekly of mirrorless cameras, Olympus at nearly 30 percent weekly, Panasonic at 25 percent weekly, and Fujifilm under 10 percent weekly. Both Panasonic and Olympus started out with a huge variety of cameras and ended 2014 with a smaller share (20 percent weekly for Panasonic and 25 percent weekly for Olympus) and a much smaller variety of cameras. Sony closed out 2014 with a much bigger variety of cameras and a 40 percent weekly share of mirrorless cameras used, while Fujifilm saw a similar growth with models and nearly a 20 percent weekly share of the cameras owned.

DSLRs

Top DSLRs on Flickr, 2013-2014

Within DSLR’s Canon, Nikon and Sony were the top 3 contenders, holding steady at 55% weekly, 40% weekly and a bit less than 5% weekly (respectively) of the DLSR cameras owned on Flickr. The Canon 7D topped was first in 2013 and bumped to second by the Canon 600D in 2014. In 2014 the Nikon D7000 and Canon 60D jockeyed for the next two spots, with the Canon 5D Mark III being the most popular full-frame camera. Not just for professionals, there is a healthy selection of entry-level DSLR’s in the top 10 for both years, Nikon being more popular in this category.

Clarifications

This article has been updated to correct an error where certain camera types were under-counted.


14 Jan 14:32

Why Are Bagpipes a Part of Funerals?

by hodad

Remembrance Wreaths Placed At Arlington National Cemetery - Drew Angerer/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Drew Angerer/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Question: Why are bagpipes a part of funerals, especially firefighter and police funerals?

Answer: The history of funeral bagpipes is a fairly simple (though very sad) one. In traditional Celtic cultures, including both the Irish and Scottish cultures, bagpipes were an important part of a traditional funeral. After the Great Potato Famine of the mid-1840s, Irish immigrants came to the United States in huge numbers. Due primarily to racism and xenophobia, Irish people were often allowed to apply for only the most dangerous and difficult jobs, including the jobs of firefighter and police officer.

Work-related deaths for firemen and cops were not uncommon, and when one or more of these deaths would occur, the Irish community would hold a traditional Irish funeral, including the mournful bagpipes. Over the years, this tradition spread to firefighters and police officers who were not of Irish descent.

So if it's an Irish tradition, why are the Scottish bagpipes used?

In short, it's because the Scottish highland bagpipes are significantly louder than the traditional Irish uillean pipes. Though it's likely that either or both types of pipes were used at funerals in the 1800s, the Scottish highland pipes are now almost universally used.

Where do they find bagpipers to play at firefighter and police officer's funerals?

Fire and police departments in most major cities have a special brigade, usually as a division of an Irish fraternal group called The Emerald Society, who learn to play bagpipes and drums for the very purpose of honoring their fallen comrades. In some places, civilians may be members of the pipe and drum band, but generally, the members are active or retired firefighters and police officers.

Original Source

14 Jan 08:30

Finished Dronecraft Carrier Launches Model Airplanes

by Kelsey D. Atherton
In November, the flight of a drone from another drone was an ephemeral thing. Recorded on video the entire event lasted less than half the duration of the Wright Brother’s…
13 Jan 14:24

The UK wants to essentially ban all secure communications

by Nick Summers
In the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron has called for stronger legislation against secure forms of communication. Encryption wasn't specifically mentioned, instead the Conservative party leader reaffirm...
12 Jan 16:13

More millennium bug terror could hit Linux thanks to a leap second

by Chris Merriman
More millennium bug terror could hit Linux thanks to a leap second

One small leap for clocks, one giant pain for mankind


12 Jan 15:31

For The Second Time Ever, A Cyberattack Causes Physical Damage

by Kelsey D. Atherton
The terrifying specter of a future of cyberattacks is that someday, a malicious actor will reach through the internet and cause real, tangible, physical harm. It sounds like a Hollywood plot: a computer is compromised, and suddenly the machinery of a factory is broken. Yet despite the panic, until recently there's only been one such confirmed case. That was Stuxnet, an American-made virus which disrupted an Iranian centrifuge used to enrich uranium in the late 2000s. Then, last month, Germany published a report of another cyberattack turned physical: a furnace at a steel mill that wouldn’t…
12 Jan 15:22

The Computer That Taught Itself To Bluff

by Andrew Rosenblum
Practice makes perfect, even if you happen to be a piece of artificial intelligence. That was the premise of an experiment led by Michael Bowling of the University of…
12 Jan 15:22

CES 2015: Bitdefender's Box Could Protect Your Precious Internet Of Things

by Lindsey Kratochwill
It's almost comical what can be connected to the Internet today. At CES, they've got it all: washing machines, dog tags, cars. With all that connection comes both benefits…
12 Jan 15:17

Have We Found Alien Life?

by Corey S. Powell
Popular Science. Kenneth Nealson is looking awfully sane for a man who’s basically just told me that he has a colony of aliens incubating in his laboratory. We’re huddled…
12 Jan 15:13

The Disappearance Of The Instruction Manual

by Mark Svenvold
In the late 17th century, the printer Joseph Moxon published Mechanick Exercises, the first guide to printing in any language. It had been nearly 240 years since the debut of Gutenberg’s press, and books had proliferated. There were Bibles, of course, along with lots of schlocky literature, some porn, and guides to everyday topics—how to polish jewels, how to cast a spell against your enemy. But Moxon’s manual was subtly different. It rang with a decidedly DIY tone and suggested that readers could learn a new trade, at home, in their spare time. To someone in 17th-century Europe, this was…
12 Jan 15:07

Toshiba's Virtual Fitting Room doesn't have menswear

by Sean Cooper
Toshiba was demoing its Virtual Fitting Room at CES this year. The premise is simple: Stand in front of a large display while your image is projected on it. Using a Kinect for motion tracking, Toshiba's software is able to superimpose various outfits...
12 Jan 14:12

A detailed examination of the Selfie Brush (iPhone 6 edition)

by Daniel Cooper
Historically, if you wanted someone to know what you looked like after you'd died, you hired a portrait artists to work for weeks recreating your face in agonizing detail. With the advent of video conferencing, however, the forward-facing camera went...
12 Jan 14:10

Watch the Beautiful Hoopoe in Slow Motion Flight

by RJ Evans

The hoopoe is a beautiful, exotic looking bird which is found across three continents.  It is distinctive to say the very least – a pair of striking black and white wings, a long and elegant beak and a pink-brown body topped with a magnificent crest.  This lovely clip from The Life of Trees by Polish wildlife filmmaker Artur Homan catches this magnificent creature in slow motion flight – and it will take your breath away.
12 Jan 14:10

Laundry Basket Cat

by RJ Evans

If you never quite seem to get your aim right when throwing things in to your laundry basket then this might be the solution.  Get yourself a cat like this one.  Simply place cat in laundry basket and then begin to throw your clothes. 

Laundry Basket Cat will ensure their safe arrival at their final pre-wash destination by leaping out and retrieving your errant (and flying) socks, shirts and sundries.  Cat-tastic!
09 Jan 23:14

AI program can beat any human in a poker game

by Mariella Moon
A team of software developers and poker researchers from the University of Alberta have developed a program that can completely demolish their fellow humans in a game of Texas Hold 'em. They named the artificial intelligence "Cepheus," and it's so go...
08 Jan 10:33

Pro-Russian cyberattacks bring down German government websites

by Jon Fingas
The digital war over Ukraine isn't about to cool down any time soon. A group of pro-Russian hackers calling itself CyberBerkut is taking credit for cyberattacks that brought down German government websites, including those for Chancellor Angela Merke...
08 Jan 10:33

Dyson's new vacuums don't need you to clean the filter

by Jon Fingas
Sure, your vacuum cleaner might not need a bag anymore, but you're probably still cleaning or replacing its filter every now and then to make sure you're sucking up as much dirt as possible. You shouldn't have to if Dyson's new Cinetic Science vacuum...
08 Jan 10:26

Guitar Hero (image via bzdug)



Guitar Hero (image via bzdug)

07 Jan 09:22

You can play 2,400 classic DOS games in your web browser

by Jon Fingas
If you're a PC gamer of a certain age (cough), you've probably lamented that many of the titles you played as a kid are hard to use on modern systems without downloading emulators or waiting for special re-releases. Well, it just got a lot easier to ...
06 Jan 13:12

UKIP disappears from the internet as website goes tits up

by Carly Page
UKIP disappears from the internet as website goes tits up

Here's hoping it doesn't get fixed


06 Jan 13:10

First Look: VIKINGS Season 3

by theTVaddict
Perfectly times to coincide with the news that VIKINGS Season 3 returns on Thursday February 19th, History has released a slew of new media including photos, key art, teasers and press release. See for yourself, after the jump. Press Release: Season three of HISTORY’s hit scripted drama series VIKINGS returns on Thursday, February 19 at […]
06 Jan 12:36

LG built a baby washing machine to sit beneath its regular ones

by Daniel Cooper
Picture the scene: you're doing your laundry, separating silken "intimates" from your jeans, but you don't have enough time to wash both before you go out. You fall to the floor and beat the ground with your fists, cursing your inability to plan ahea...