MIT robotic cheetah

Previous attempts at mechanical quadrupeds have used an internal combustion engine driving a pump & hydraulic system. This is both noisy & inefficient. MIT's effort is all-electric & can hit 10 mph (16 kph) untethered, with a theoretical limit of 30 mph.



http://bgr.com/2014/09/16/mit-robot-cheetah-running/

http://gizmodo.com/mits-robot-cheetah-now-runs-free-without-cables-or-a-le-1634804576

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/mit-cheetah-robot-running / cheetah robot developed MIT Biomimetic Robotics Lab project announced robot walking IEEE International Conference Robotics and Automation ICRA MIT team robot 22 km/h kph 13.7 mph robot energy efficiency real running animals speed second fastest legged robot Boston Dynamics Cheetah The MIT Cheetah Planar Biped MIT Leg Lab MIT Cheetah Boston Dynamics Cheetah sagittal plane roll yaw movement robots running free hydraulics tethered external power source MIT's Cheetah energy efficient efficiency run on-board batteries four 22.2-V lithium polymer batteries transition between trot to a gallop cheetah robot developed MIT's Biomimetic Robotics Lab laboratory lab robot walking on YouTube IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation ICRA MIT team cheetah-inspired robot running energy efficiency MIT Cheetah Boston Dynamics Cheetah sagittal plane roll yaw movement incorporated biomimetic principles Kevlar tendon bones light polyurethane foam core covered high stiffness resin /

Your gadgets will never be secure — chase the hackers instead

Credit: Business Insider

It is fundamental to security that nothing is secure against a sufficiently determined & resourced attack. This applies to computer systems as well as physical security of premises & objects.

Mobile devices have their own peculiar own set of security risks. Smartphone manufacturers are under pressure to match the opposition. This means a shiny new phone with shiny new features, annually. There is not a substantial piece of software in existence without bugs. Some of these bugs are security related. Each new revision brings the risk of new bugs. Occasionally, even a bug-fix release will introduce a new bug.

Public WiFi networks represent a security risk peculiar to mobile devices.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-15/your-gadgets-will-never-be-secure-chase-the-hackers-instead.html

http://www.thewire.com/technology/2014/05/hacker-sabu-freed-from-prison/371649/

http://www.primagames.com/games/watch_dogs/tips/watch-dogs-multiplayer-how-catch-hacker / cyber-security all wrong Israel's intelligence unit patch each hole security experts focus finding puppet masters malware Nadav Zafrir military 8200 unit veterans Israel startup industry cyber defenders tools networks find traces hackers clues International Cybersecurity Conference Tel Aviv University Target hack exposed 40 million credit debit cards Home Depot damage defense pinpointing scripts malware people and the process behind the malware tenacity capacity resources malware have hack hacker hackign hacked game theory Keith Alexander U.S. National Security Agency company country solve hacker problem cyber security virus trojan worm script /

Formula E, Beijing (video)

That's the entire race, above.

For that incident, start watching at the 1:02:30 mark.

Pre race, & background of the event. / video complete race whole race entire race Formula E all electric racing series inaugural Beijing ePrix 2.14-mile street circuit Bird’s Nest stadium races F1 FIA electricity sport electric vehicles EV terrific acceleration pass passing possible tracks with tight corners technology range race organizers identical cars Spark-Renault SRT_01E built French company Spark Racing Technology carbon fiber aluminum chassis Dallara electric powertrain electronics McLaren Electronics Systems Williams Advanced Engineering building 200 kiloWatt battery pack batteries powertrain generate 270 horsepower five-speed paddle shift gearbox fixed gear ratios Michelin 18 inch tires wet dry conditions sound 80 decibel whine full grid 20 cars FIA Formula E strategy street courses dedicated circuits tire wear grip management battery life charge prematurely testing drivers learn knowledge teams construction constructors constructing FanBoost pit stop second fully charged car advances in battery technology battery swaps charging battery Renault Michelin DHL Qualcomm Richard Branson Virgin Racing team Leonardo DiCaprio Venturi team /

Dumpster Project

Why would a university professor decide to live in a dumpster?

Professor Jeff Wilson has a few reasons, but it runs something like: downsizing after a divorce started him thinking about how much do we actually need in a dwelling, the impact of the way we chose to live & the impact of our choices on the planet, the environment & climate.


Über Dumpster — early concept sketch
Credit: Dumpster Project

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/the-simple-life-in-a-dumpster/379947/

http://dumpsterproject.org/the-dumpster/ / make yourself comfortable fully furnished 33 square foot house dumpster project large cargo container tiny house perfect symbol present themes waste consumption imagination turning goal the new one percent 1 % Professor Dumpster spending one year in a dumpster six 6 feet x 6 feet size average new American home Professor Dumpster use 1% water energy create waste average American home innovative systems develop development developed water filtration climate control waste reduction creative collaboration greater international design and education community need to live comfortably intense central Texas climate average summer temperature high 90s ninety degrees dumpster evolution dumpster camping average American dumpster home uber über dumpster phase camping tent trash can technologies old school methods meeting basic needs water will Austin town lake Huston-Tillotson campus phase two plugged into electrical water grid electricity appliances washing machine dryer hot water heater baseline water power comfortable home utility closet 1% energy use water use 10 cubic yards experiment dialogue concept living with less green campus initiative Huston-Tillotson University Austin Texas mobile house educational tours final analysis dumpster project grand experiment /

First Formula E race today, Saturday 13 September 2014 – update

Update: video of the entire event.

Formula One has gone hybrid, so, time for a pure electric open-wheel formula. Enter Formula E.

Times (Beijing local):
Practice 1 — 08:15
Practice 2 — 10:30
Qualifying — 12:00
Race — 16:00

Race time in other time zones:
18:00 Australian EST
10:00 Berlin
09:00 London
04:00 US Eastern
01:00 US Pacific

In this first year, it will be a one-make formula, with all teams running Spark-Renault SRT_01E cars. Spark Racing Technology will build the cars, with components supplied by a who's who of F1:

● chassis — Dallara
● powertrain & electronics — McLaren Electronics Systems
● battery pack — Williams Advanced Engineering
● tyres — Michellin — 18 inch, with a single formulation for both wet & dry conditions

Figures for the size of the battery pack are hard to find, but 28 kWh (kilo Watt hours) has been suggested. Whatever the size, after 25-30 minutes, the battery pack will be exhausted. Drivers will swap to a second car for the remainder of the race. Battery swapping was dismissed on safety grounds, & recharging was considered to be too slow.

http://www.fiaformulae.com/en.aspx

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/formula-e-electric-racing/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIA_Formula_E_Championship

Android apps

FIA Formula-e
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=biz.app4mobile.app_6b298a09239143eb9b292d9ea5e0b342.app

FIA Formula E Championship
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.qtproject.FE360

iPhone app

FIA Formula-e
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fia-formula-e/id870131263?mt=8 / Formula E all electric racing series inaugural Beijing ePrix 2.14-mile street circuit Bird’s Nest stadium races F1 FIA electricity sport electric vehicles EV terrific acceleration pass passing possible tracks with tight corners technology range race organizers identical cars Spark-Renault SRT_01E built French company Spark Racing Technology carbon fiber aluminum chassis Dallara electric powertrain electronics McLaren Electronics Systems Williams Advanced Engineering building 200 kiloWatt battery pack batteries powertrain generate 270 horsepower five-speed paddle shift gearbox fixed gear ratios Michelin 18 inch tires wet dry conditions sound 80 decibel whine full grid 20 cars FIA Formula E strategy street courses dedicated circuits tire wear grip management battery life charge prematurely testing drivers learn knowledge teams construction constructors constructing FanBoost pit stop second fully charged car advances in battery technology battery swaps charging battery Renault Michelin DHL Qualcomm Richard Branson Virgin Racing team Leonardo DiCaprio Venturi team /

Towelroot app makes it easy to root Galaxy S5 & other locked Androids

Credit: geohot/LifeHacker

To root or not to root, that is the question ...

Several years ago, I had the first Android phone released, the HTC G1, which I rooted within days of purchase. At that time, it seemed the best course, as the stock G1 had a number of unnecessary restrictions, including no pinch to zoom & no WiFi hotspot.

Now I have a Samsung Galaxy S4, unrooted. Why no root? For me, the benefits are no longer there. Among other things, pinch to zoom & WiFi hotspot are both standard.

Some of the restrictions in stock devices are security measures. However, this can be fall down if a vendor is slow in releasing a security update.

Towelroot is a special case with respect to security, because it makes use of a vulnerability in many Android devices. The same vulnerability may be exploited by a piece of malware. Paradoxically, the best way to protect yourself against this exploit right now, is to exploit it yourself by rooting using Towelroot.

Executive summary:

http://lifehacker.com/towelroot-roots-android-kitkat-devices-in-one-tap-no-p-1592226618

Excellent coverage of the issues:

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/06/26/towelroot-app-makes-android-rooting-easy/

Official XDA thread:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2783157

Geohot's Towelroot site:

https://towelroot.com/

How does Samsung feel about it?

https://www.samsungknox.com/en/blog/samsung%E2%80%99s-official-response-%E2%80%9Ctowelroot%E2%80%9D / Samsung Galaxy phones S5 Towelroot iOS Apple ecosystem strictures iOS jailbreak jailbreaking Apple imposed prison sentence Android Androids vendor imposed system lockdown root rooting granting root access superuser administrator privileges approved unapproved open source operating system OS open ecosystem devices Google Nexus 7 devices popular researchers testers developers security reasons root access by default physical access phone unlock bootloader replace vendor supplied operating system Android Debug Bridge ADB via USB install software grant root access risks of rooting risk unlocked device install firmware bug bugs buggy recovery recovered recover bricking brick device mobile complete and utter vendor firmware reset factory reset Nexus 7 device vendor open source Android core layer of proprietary software limits access device good security reasons well implemented anti-root lockdown anti root infect virus malware software reading your contact list listening in on phone calls using the webcam intercepting SMS text posting to social media sites dialling dialing premium rate phone numbers malware extensive digital harm reputation bank balance why root because it's there non-security-related lockdowns restrictions on network access imposed by the vendor Wi-Fi access point WiFi hot spot hotspot access backup back-up back up otherwise inaccessible files APKs application packages software bought paid for installed remove unwanted apps bloatware) vendor own commercial reasons apply security updates vendor tardy providing security lockdowns often pitched vendor-imposed controls less secure prevent apply applying security fixes fix numerous benefits of rooting system administrators workplace policy company owned devices should not be rooted BYOD bring your own device prevent users connecting rooted devices business network rooted device well informed user safer faster more useful vulnerable hackers malware data security risks Towelroot no-reboot-required exploit Sophos Anti-Virus detects Andr/TowRoot-A Elevation of Privilege EoP exploit physical access to the device reboot Towelroot covert convenient quick security hole used covertly EoP purposes attacker GeoHot George Hotz author Towelroot vulnerability exists in Android kernels dated before 03 June 2014 Android 4.4.2 or earlier vendor Android update protect yourself exploits /

What is humanity's real problem — climate change or peak oil?

Answer: neither — they just aspects of a bigger problem that includes our still-expanding population.

World population passed 7 billion late in 2011 or early in 2012¹. Around one third of those 7 billion live in varying degrees of wealth, with more than enough food. Indeed, the dietary habits of the wealthy third are characterised by growing incidence of obesity & overweight. This is the same third that is largely responsible for climate change, & will be most affected by peak oil.

Of the remaining two thirds, many have a reasonable standard of living & enough to eat. Some though, live in poverty with malnutrition & famine a constant threat. You've seen the photos.

World population is expected to pass 9 billion around 2050¹. I.e. two billion more than we can't feed now.

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-09-02/why-peak-oil-refuses-to-die
_______________
¹ World population
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population / fears imminent peak decline world oil production environmental problem oil supplies planet Earth petroleum resources peak-oil debunk extracting extract extraction resources affordable oil industry costs of production very high oil prices resources tight oil Arctic oil ultra-deepwater oil bitumen deep water US economy recession $20 per barrel oil $100 per barrel oil industrialized countries response oil producers liquid hydrocarbons industry apologists environmentalists global warming climate change carbon dioxide monoxide CO2 greenhouse effect fossil fuel energy transition substitution efficiency low-carbon energy sources solar wind nuclear use energy smarter electrify transport battery powered cars electric vehicle EV battery LiIon lithium ion anthropogenic climate change environmental issue humanity humanity transition to renewable energy politics regulation climate campaigners electricity sector variability wind solar power energy storage capacity redundancy grid upgrades /