tennessee

AT&T to test Text-to-911 service in Tennessee

Mobile phone users across the country may one day be able to text 911 call centers.

AT&T has been given the go-ahead by the state of Tennessee to kick off a trial of a Text-to-911 service across the state. Using the state's new Emergency Service IP Network (ESInet), the test will let AT&T subscribers send text messages to Tennessee 911 call centers.

Dialing 911 by phone is still the preferred way to get help as quickly and easily as possible. But the trial phase would try to add texting to the 911 system as another … Read more

High-speed laser sets sights on cancer

Pew pew! From disc drives to sci-fi shooters, we live in a world full of laser beams. And a special laser made waves in the world of medical research this week. Developed by laser applications researchers from the University of Tennessee's Space Institute, it could one day find use as a weapon against cancer.

Known as a femtosecond laser, the high-speed light pulses at one-quadrillionth of a second; when fine-tuned, the powerful beam can be used by doctors to detect, map, and nullify cancerous tumors. … Read more

GM to invest $61 million in Spring Hill assembly plant

General Motors has announced it will invest $61 million to update equipment in its Spring Hill, Tenn., assembly plant and retool the facility.

According to the automaker, the plant is being retooled for new products and will be capable of producing a variety of products. The investment will also create 594 hourly jobs and 91 salaried positions.

The Spring Hill plant will begin production of the Chevrolet Equinox in the second half of 2012. Power train and stamping operations for the Chevrolet Traverse are still operating at the plant.

GM will also invest $183 million for midsize vehicles to be … Read more

The 404 837: Where what have trees ever done for me? (podcast)

We're thinking about replacing Jeff with Joey Kaminski on a permanent basis. This is the third and final show with our guest host, and we're wrapping up the week with the final word on Weinergate, Facebook's new facial recognition and Happening Now tools, a drug that erases bad memories, and Will.I.Am.Forgetting.Lyrics.

The 404 Digest for Episode 837

Facebook quietly rolls out new facial recognition tool. Facebook testing real-time "happening now" feed. New drug can erase bad memories. Tennessee bans posting "offensive" images online. Will.I.Am forgets his lyrics, reads them off cell phone.

Episode 837 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Is China a supercomputer threat? (Q&A)

With China expected to officially take the supercomputer performance crown next month, I asked an expert about the state of supercomputing in the U.S. and whether China poses a long-term threat to the United States' current preeminence in supercomputing.

Nvidia announced yesterday that its chips are powering the "Tianhe-1A" Chinese supercomputer that achieved 2.507 petaflops, beating a U.S.-based system that is currently ranked No. 1 on the June Top500 list of the fastest supercomputers in the world. The Chinese system is a unique hybrid design that uses approximately 7,000 Nvidia graphics chips along with 14,000 Intel Xeon CPUs. The graphics chips are what give the system the extra oomph to catapult it into the top supercomputer spot.

I spoke with Jack Dongarra, university distinguished professor at University of Tennessee's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and part of a group from the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, and Georgia Tech that recently purchased a hybrid system. It is important to note that Oak Ridge houses the supercomputer, dubbed "Jaguar," cited above that is currently ranked No. 1 in the world based on the Top500 June list: it is not a hybrid system.

Q: Does Oak Ridge have anything analogous to the Chinese hybrid system? Dongarra: Oak Ridge has a small version of a machine that is hybrid in nature. So, this is an acquisition that just took place...out of a grant from the National Science Foundation. It involved Oak Ridge National Labs, University of Tennessee, and Georgia Tech. But it's much, much smaller than the Chinese system. The machine is in place and testing is being carried out at Oak Ridge. A node has two Intel Westmere chips and three Nvidia Fermi boards. There are… Read more

The 404 665: Where we don't need no Mighty Eagle (podcast)

We're back again with another episode of The 404 Podcast, and for once, Wilson is pissed. It seems the only thing he cares about these days is Angry Birds. Rovio Mobile, creator of the addictive game is introducing a new character into the fold that can be purchased to get players through some of the more difficult levels in the game.

The Mighty Eagle can be purchased in gameplay, but Wilson considers the all-powerful bird an unnecessary cheat that almost ruins the fun of accomplishing an otherwise difficult, but entertaining goal.

For those who play the game, the Mighty Eagle is basically a God-mode trick that lets you clear any one level instantly. Check out Rovio's Mighty Eagle video and judge for yourself.

Moving on to more serious(ly obvious) news, stop using FourSquare and Facebook Places to broadcast your extended absence from home! The recent scourge of location-based check-in services like Facebook, FourSquare, and Twitter are a burglar's dream come true, and that's exactly what a ring of three techy criminals used to rob 18+ homes in New Hampshire.

Fortunately for the homeowners, the criminals were even bigger idiots than the posters- they stole a large amount of fireworks from one of the homes, so police were advised to listen for loud noises around the neighborhood. Sure enough, the criminals couldn't resist lighting off a few explosions, and an off-duty officer pounced on the scene and apprehended the men. The moral of the story, if it weren't clear enough by now, is think before you post, dummy.

So Chattanooga has the fastest Internet in the country now, but nobody really cares except Wilson, so we move onto the next story, a compelling question: Are action video gamers better decision makers?

Researchers at the University of Rochester claim that gamers (of first person shooters) possess extrasensitive "probabilistic inference" qualities that stem from long hours of wandering around deep level mazes and making mundane navigation decisions. So everyone can sleep soundly knowing that there are plenty of folks walking around with exception abilities to make decisions on their aggressive tendencies.

There's a few more stories in today's show rundown, not to mention a bromantic Calls From the Public and more thoughts on the New Jersey Transit quiet cars we brought to your attention yesterday. Great show today!

Episode 665 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

IBM touts Smarter Buildings push

IBM is hoping to use technology to create greener, smarter buildings.

Big Blue announced Monday that it will team up with partners and customers to venture into the next phase of its Smarter Planet initiative: Smarter Buildings. The goal is to help buildings, manufacturing plants, and other facilities consume less energy and water and make them easier to operate.

Announced Monday, one of IBM's new partnerships is with Johnson Controls, a manufacturer of products that optimize energy use in buildings. The two plan to combine Johnson's energy-efficient technologies with IBM's Tivoli software to offer customers a way … Read more

U of Tennessee blocked P2P sites before RIAA law

Truth be told, the state of Tennessee didn't need a lot of prodding from the recording industry to pass a law that requires universities and colleges to filter for unauthorized music downloads.

Remember, Tennessee is the home of Nashville, country music, and Elvis. Some of the music industry's largest music publishers are based there. Some schools were apparently eager to comply with copyright protection. The University of Tennessee at Knoxville began blocking access to BitTorrent and file-sharing sites for possibly the last month, said D.J. Donahue, a graduate research assistant at the school.

"I have been … Read more

RIAA win: Tennessee to police campus networks

Tennessee has agreed to filter computer networks for unauthorized music downloads at the state's colleges and universities.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen signed into law a bill designed to thwart music piracy at the state's campuses, the Recording Industry Association of America said on its Web site.

The bill requires Tennessee public and private schools exercise "appropriate means" to ensure that campus computer networks aren't being used to download copyright material via peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, the RIAA said.

"Upon a proper analysis of the network," the RIAA continued, "those institutions are required to … Read more