engineering

Google has acquired the final pending patent applications for Cuil, a defunct search engine once touted as a Google challenger.

Cuil's last seven pending patents were acquired by Google with an execution date of February 4, 2011, according to a blog post at SEO By The Sea, but weren't recorded at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office until last week. The record reportedly does not reveal the financial terms of the transfer, but SEO By The Sea notes that Cuil co-founder Anna Patterson returned to Google in 2010.

The patents focus mostly on search interfaces, such as … Read more

When multitasking in OS X, sometimes the programs you are using might output notification sounds or otherwise use the OS X audio system in ways that could interfere with your other tasks.

If you increase the volume to watch a movie while you have Mail open in the background, then when you receive a new message, Mail will output a loud New Mail sound. While you can disable Mail's notification sounds or quit the program, you might wish to keep it open and hear when the Mail arrives, but just not as loud.

Other similar scenarios might also benefit … Read more

Big surprise, Google continued to reign over all other U.S. search engines in January with 66.2 percent share, according to data released today by market researcher ComScore.

Not only did Google overshadow all other engines, it also managed to take some of Yahoo's traffic and grow by 0.3 percentage points.

Yahoo did not have it easy last month--users' searches decreased by 0.4 percent putting it at 14.1 percent share. It was the only search engine not to increase share or at least keep the status quo in January.

Over the last year, Yahoo's … Read more

According to a report by the New York Times, nearly 25 percent of the traffic handled by search engine Wolfram Alpha comes from Siri, Apple's voice-controlled personal assistant software.

Apple announced a partnership with Wolfram Alpha in October when it released the iPhone 4S and introduced Siri. Wolfram Alpha differs from other search engines in that its results are based on data curated by Wolfram Alpha, not on algorithms attempting to sort the Web like Google or Bing.

Despite early criticism of Wolfram Alpha's self-described "computational knowledge engine," including its initial focus on mathematical and scientific … Read more

Pop quiz, tough guy: How do you make VW/Audi's direct-injected, turbodiesel engines better? If you answered "add another turbo," then congratulations. You're now ready to work for Audi's R&D department!

Okay, so I'm sure that Audi's engineers are a bit more qualified than that, but "adding another turbo" is exactly what they did with the advent of the new BiTDI 3.0 V-6 engine. The new engine, which will find its way under the hood of diesel-powered A6 and A7 Sportback models in the U.K. market, features … Read more

Within five years, soldiers who suffer facial burns could have their faces regrown by wearing intelligent biomechanical masks, according to research out of the University of Texas at Arlington.

Eileen Moss of the university's Automation & Robotics Research Institute is collaborating with the U.S. Army and Northwestern University to build a prototype Biomask equipped with tiny sensors and actuators.

Under conventional treatment, damaged tissue is removed and replaced with grafts. The procedure, however, can sometimes produce speech problems, deformities, and scarring; it can require multiple operations.

The Biomask consists of a rigid, face-shaped shell and covering flexible polymer layers that contain arrays of electrical and mechanical components. … Read more

Journalists and engineers could come together to shape the future of news thanks to a new joint Columbia-Stanford media innovation institute funded by Cosmopolitan Editor Helen Gurley Brown.

The David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation will be an East Coast/West Coast collaboration. Housed at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City and Stanford's Engineering School in Palo Alto, Calif., the institute is thought to be a first of its kind initiative aimed at helping the foster a new era of communication between the editorial and technical sides of news organizations.

The … Read more

Is there a paint color called "crack in the bridge?"

There could be one day, if Scottish researchers continue to make progress on a low-cost smart paint that could detect microscopic faults in structures such as bridges, wind turbines, and mines.

The paint, under development at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, is made of highly aligned carbon nanotubes, which can carry an electrical current, and a recycled waste product known as fly ash that's usually produced during coal combustion.

When mixed, the paint takes on a cement-like property that makes it hardy and particularly useful in areas where the weather can make regular safety monitoring difficult.

"There are no limitations as to where it could be used, and the low-cost nature gives it a significant advantage over the current options available in the industry," Mohamed Saafi, chair of the university's department of civil engineering, said in a statement. "The process of producing and applying the paint also gives it an advantage, as no expertise is required and monitoring itself is straightforward." … Read more

What would you do if you found a bag of white powder tucked neatly into the textbook you just bought on the Amazon Marketplace?

If you're smart, you'd take it to the police like Sophia Stockton, a junior at a university in Kansas who discovered something similar in the pages of a history book called "Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives and Issues."

While we're on the topic of narcotics, don't forget to tune into President Obama's Q+A on Google+ Hangout tonight at 5:30 p.m. ET, live from the West Wing of … Read more