synapses

Razer sends PC peripheral settings to the cloud

If you only use one computer for PC gaming, you won't care too much about Razer's new cloud-based game device settings service, Synapse 2.0. For those who bounce around PCs, LAN center customers, tournament gamers, or even those who use both a desktop and a laptop for gaming, Razer's new service could make your life easier.… Read more

The 404 845: Where we're allergic to oxymorons (podcast)

Today's "Not cool, man" segment once again goes to The Huffington Post, this time for rehashing the "Wet Hot American Summer" prequel/sequel rumors that first appeared on the Internet years ago. In other recurring segment news, we enjoyed testing Wilson's music knowledge so much yesterday that we're making it a daily thing, and a listener created a legit name for it too, so stick around for the second half to see if Wilson gets full credit.

We're also chatting today about Microsoft's new Decide.com tech forecasting site, how to DJ using just a Microsoft Kinect and a couple software programs, and an Apple patent that might spell the end of multitouch smartphones in the United States.

The 404 Digest for Episode 845

HuffPo teases 'Wet Hot' sequel/preview. Decide.com forecasts price drops and tells you when to buy technology. What's cooler than an iPad DJ? A Kinect DJ. Apple patent might mean the end of multitouch smartphones in the U.S.

Episode 845 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Human brain has more switches than all computers on Earth

The human brain is truly awesome.

A typical, healthy one houses some 200 billion nerve cells, which are connected to one another via hundreds of trillions of synapses. Each synapse functions like a microprocessor, and tens of thousands of them can connect a single neuron to other nerve cells. In the cerebral cortex alone, there are roughly 125 trillion synapses, which is about how many stars fill 1,500 Milky Way galaxies.

These synapses are, of course, so tiny (less than a thousandth of a millimeter in diameter) that humans haven't been able to see with great clarity what exactly they do and how, beyond knowing that their numbers vary over time. That is until now.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have spent the past few years engineering a new imaging model, which they call array tomography, in conjunction with novel computational software, to stitch together image slices into a three-dimensional image that can be rotated, penetrated and navigated. Their work appears in the journal Neuron this week.

To test their model, the team took tissue samples from a mouse whose brain had been bioengineered to make larger neurons in the cerebral cortex express a fluorescent protein (found in jellyfish), making them glow yellow-green. Because of this glow, the researchers were able to see synapses against the background of neurons.… Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 21: 5 Reasons To Wait for An Android Tablet (podcast)

Steve Jobs attacks, a pre-rooted phone, and 5 reasons to wait for an Android Tablet, All that and more coming up on this week's edition of Android Atlas Weekly for Thursday, October 21st, 2010. Join Justin Eckhouse and guest host, Senior Associate Editor, Nicole Lee for all the Android news of the week.

A misguided rebuttal to Steve Jobs’ Android attack http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20019997-264.html

Revenue for Android beats iPhone on ad network http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20020016-94.html#ixzz130Pbd772… Read more