Computing

Get pwned at the California Extreme arcade extravaganza

With hundreds of classic arcade games and hard to find pinball machines -- spanning decades of gaming mechanics, design, and artwork -- the California Extreme classic arcade games show will certainly be the place to pwn and be pwned this weekend. Classic arcade consoles including Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Joust -- and even Pong -- will be on display, and all set on free play. The annual gathering of pinball wizards takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara. You might get the high score for the weekend, or even win the tournament -- but the real treat … Read more

Microsoft prototype stylus would work on any device screen

A new stylus in the works from Microsoft could allow for input even on non-touch screens.

Rather than relying on a touch screen, the stylus would use a mounted camera to track both movement and angle across the screen, as described by MIT's Technology Review. By using the camera to capture images from the screen, the stylus could actually count the number of pixels being tracked to determine its position.

The current prototype has received kudos within Microsoft, noted Technology Review, and the company is currently deciding whether to push its development forward with the goal of creating a … Read more

How to detect and fix a machine infected with DNSChanger

On July 9, the FBI will close down a network of DNS servers that many people have been depending on for proper Internet access. These servers were originally a part of a scam where a crime ring of Estonian nationals developed and distributed a malware package called DNSChanger, but which the FBI seized and converted to a legitimate DNS service.

This malware scam has been widespread enough that even third-party companies like Google and Facebook and a number of ISPs like Comcast, COX, Verizon, and AT&T have joined in the effort to help remove it by issuing automatic … Read more

My life as a cyborg

SEATTLE -- It was an unseasonably warm June evening, the kind of day locals rave about because they come so rarely. At 6 p.m., I hopped on my bike for an evening spin.

My heart-rate quickly raced up to 157 beats per minute as I picked up my pace to 14 miles per hour up a gradual rise in the road. At the same time, my blood-glucose level dropped to 62 milligrams per deciliter, low, but not dangerously so for a non-diabetic. All in all, pretty solid data, given that the night before I slept six hours and 21 minutes, waking for brief periods 21 times during the night.

Welcome to my cyborg life. Google has generated tons of press in recent days with its Project Glass, computerized glasses that lets users take pictures and find information. But it's hardly the only company pursuing wearable computing. And while Project Glass won't be commercially available for another two years at the earliest, there are plenty of companies selling devices that consumers can slip into and strap on to collect reams of data about their daily lives.

To get a glimpse of that future, I strapped on a bunch of those gadgets. Here's what I learned.… Read more

U.S. retakes Top500 supercomputer crown

Sequoia, an IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, reached 16.32 petaflops, while previous leader K Computer trailed with 10.5 petaflops, according to the Top500 list. The list was published today at the International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg.

The latest edition of the list, which is published twice a year, shows that Intel is slipping and IBM is recapturing lost ground, while the U.S. is back on top after losing its lead three years ago. New technologies reign, from updated IBM chips to a build of Fujitsu's novel interconnect product.

Intel processors … Read more

How the White House is aiming the X Prize model at big problems

On October 4, 2004, the idea of incentive prizes hit the mainstream when Burt Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites launched SpaceShip One into orbit for the second time and won the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

Since then, prizes like that have become more and more common, and though the X Prizes are still the gold standard, there are now similar competitions from medical research to science to business, and beyond.

Not long ago, however, the U.S. government got into the business (PDF) of using competitions like these to come up with new ways to solve existing … Read more

U.S. Navy turns to Linux to run its drone fleet

Seeming eager to avoid potential malware attacks that could cripple its drone fleet, the U.S. Navy will begin installing Linux to control some of its autonomous flying vehicles.

The contract, which is worth $27,883,883, calls for a "Linux transition on the tactical control system software for vertical take-off (VTOL) unmanned air vehicle ground control stations."

According to The Register, the Navy has just one VTOL drone model, of which it hopes to eventually have 168, Northrop Grumman's MQ-8B Fire Scout, which "has the ability to autonomously take off and land on any aviation-capable … Read more

Milk gone sour? There's an app for that

We all know the feeling of opening up the fridge and grabbing the milk, only to discover that the white liquid has a horrible sour smell indicating it's gone bad. Wouldn't it be great to be alerted about that while at the office so you can stop at the store on the way home?

Now there's an app for that, along with what the developers of a new technology are calling the "milk jug of the future": the Milkmaid. … Read more

Internet powers flip the IPv6 switch (FAQ)

What began as a 24-hour test a year ago will become business as usual on Wednesday as a range of big-name Internet companies permanently switch on the next-generation IPv6 networking technology.

And now there's no turning back.

"IPv6 is being enabled and kept on by more than 1,500 Web sites and ISPs in 22 countries," said Arbor Networks, a company that monitors global Internet traffic closely.

Internet Protocol version 6 has one big improvement over the prevailing IPv4 standard it's designed to supplant: room to grow. However, moving to IPv6 isn't simple, which is … Read more