Google has finally whittled down the more than 150,000 ideas submitted as part of its Project 10^100 to 16 themes that will compete for $10 million in funding.It’s taken far longer than Google had originally anticipated, but the results of the company’s 10th anniversary project to solicit ideas that could change the world are ready for inspection. Google is asking the public to vote on the most worthy of the 16 “idea themes” that it has identified from the submissions it has received over the past year.Google had originally planned to choose individual ideas, but was “overwhelmed” by the number…
Business
Google announces Project 10^100 themes
Tech Support
Technological Growth In Utah
Utah may be a comparatively small state (population wise) but there are some interesting things going on there. Utah technology companies are starting to grow, and there are three major universities in the area that produce a lot of qualified individuals that can jump right into those businesses. Technology and education are inseparable, and as one begins to reach a higher level, so will the other.
One of the major schools in the area is the University of Utah, which has developed a strong reputation for its technological and scientific curriculums. There is also Brigham Young University, which has a…
Tech Support
IT Consulting Services & Agile Method of Product Development
There are many QA methodologies that are used in the software industry. Out of all the methodologies that support a proactive development environment, agile methodology is one that stands out for its easy adaptation to new client requirements. One of the most useful benefits of using the agile methodology is the high quality products it is able to deliver at the end of project completion.
Agile methodology is able to provide complete visibility into each and every step of the development process. This way, the client organization is able to understand the implementation process and also have complete control over…
Business
Insurance companies gained Rs 41k crore on bourses in a yr
The global financial crisis might have created an upheaval in the local stock markets, but domestic insurance companies gained a whopping Rs 40,942 crore in the bourses during the one-year period between August 21, 2008 and August 21 this year. During the period, the market capitalisation of bank stocks held by insurance companies increased 103.2% to Rs 43,097 crore on August 21, 2009, from Rs 21,212 crore recorded in the year-ago period. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) had the highest holding of 81.2% among the 17 insurance companies. It was followed by ICICI (ICICIBANK.NS : 824.6 0) Prudential Life Insurance Co…
Business
Retail majors bet big on business intelligence
Branded retail giants in the Rs 40,000-crore organised retail sector are betting big on adopting business intelligence (BI) software as a service (SAAS) model on monthly rent basis. With the move, the retailers plan to discontinue expensive software licences such as SAP, Oracle and Business Object. This is to counter a major challenge on how to save the time and cost in implementing BI solutions as a cost-effective measure, according to retailers and industry experts. Sunil Mehta, chief executive officer, Next Retail India Ltd from the belt of Videocon Industries Ltd (VIDEOIND.NS : 233.75 -2.4) said , “We first need…
Hack
Direct-to-PCB inkjet printing
Full Spectrum Engineering has offered up a tutorial for their inkjet direct PCB kits that repurpose direct-to-CD capable inkjet printers (such as the Epson R280) to print etch-resistant ink straight onto copper clad board. This is easier and less error prone than some iron-on methods, especially for two-sided boards. Just print (no need to reverse the design), dry on a hot plate or in a toaster oven for a couple minutes, and your board’s ready for etching!
Homebrew methods exist for all of this, but for those who would rather move ahead with their design than spend time scrounging for the required bits, the…
Hack
Simple, low-tech attack on Credit Unions
The National Credit Union Administration is warning all Credit Unions about malicious hackers and a low tech attack by mailing branches CDs with malware on them.
Using a somewhat dated but still effective Social Engineering attack, a package designed to look as though it was mailed by the NCUA is sent to the branch. The package contains CDs with the attacker’s malware on it, and an accompanying letter (PDF) which informs the branches, ironically, about phishing scams. The letter directs the personnel to review the “training material” on the enclosed CD. Once branch employees proceed as directed, the malware…
Facebook
David Recordon Leaves Six Apart, Joins Facebook
After working closely with Facebook over the past few months, David Recordon has left Six Apart to join the fast growing social platform with the title “Senior Open Programs Manager”. While the title may be a bit ambiguous, it’s clear that he’ll be working with Luke Shepard and others to help integrate open standards into Facebook. Earlier this year when I spoke with Recordon, he appeared pretty excited about Facebook’s continued opening of the platform.
This hire comes with news of others as Spencer Ante reports. According to Ante, Arturo Bejar “will soon join as a director of engineering from…
Hack
Reverse engineering USB drivers
When [Jespersaur] purchased a Luxeed LED keyboard, he was disappointed to find that the drivers were not open source and didn’t support all the features he wanted. His solution? Hack the drivers that come with it, and implement his own. In his article, he gives a basic rundown of beginning reverse engineering by multiple methods and a brief introduction to libusb. For the Linux drivers, check out [Kurt Stephens]’s site, where he supplies a link to the source code, instructions on building it, and a tutorial on sending commands to the keyboard.
Hack
EEVblog: the Electronics Engineering video blog
Have you ever wanted to see what it’s like inside of a PCB assembly factory? Have you ever wondered how digital storage oscilloscopes work? If so, be sure to check out the EEVblog podcast. The Electronics Engineering video blog podcast, hosted by [Dave Jones], was created for anyone interested in learning more about electrical engineering. While some knowledge of electronics definitely helps, [Dave]’s thorough explanations and firsthand knowledge in the field of electrical engineering make the video blog easily accessible to beginners in the field. The EEVblog covers a wide range of electronics related topics, offering everything from multimeter…
Facebook
Facebook Announces FriendFeed Acquisition
Facebook has announced this afternoon the acquisition of FriendFeed. For those unaware of the FriendFeed service, it enables users to publish stories just as Facebook does with feeds imported from around the web and open APIs for all information passing through the system. One interesting note about FriendFeed is the team’s remarkable ability to scale their application effectively without error.
The team has also developed a fairly robust search tool. The 12 person team has been building some pretty impressive technologies and while growth has not been as large as Twitter, the company has done an amazing job at building…
Hack
Review: The Manga Guide to Electricity
“The Manga Guide to Electricity”, part of “The Manga Guide” series by No Starch Press, is a novel approach to the old problem of getting over the initial mental block when trying to learn electronics.
We decided to compare this book to another introductory text: “Getting Started in Electronics” by [Forrest M. Mims]. [Mims]‘ book is a handwritten masterpiece of electronic literature. The writing style is friendly and concise, the examples are simple, and the drawings are excellent. It also makes sure to keep the learning process as application based as possible. Unlike other books, it doesn’t bog the…
