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  MIT Computer Deciphers Ugaritic, an Ancient Semitic Language

  JP 11:44 am on July 23, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: artificial intelligence lab, centuries bce, computer, gesture interfaces, nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), Regina, Ugaritic

  Filed under: Computers

  The big brains at MIT aren’t just interested in solar cells, robot desk lamps and gesture interfaces; they’re also applying their evolved understanding of tech to decipher ancient languages. The team of Regina Barzilay, an associate professor in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, have created a computer program that successfully deciphered a chunk of Ugaritic, a dead Semitic script dating to the 14th and 12th centuries BCE in what is now Syria.

  An important evolutionary transition from older cuneiform scripts, Ugaritic is an abjad — an alphabet of consonants which requires the reader to supply the vowels. The first re-discovery of the language occurred in 1928, but took years to translate, whereas the software developed by Barzilay and company needed only a matter of hours to decipher the script.

  Continue reading MIT Computer Deciphers Ugaritic, an Ancient Semitic Language

  MIT Computer Deciphers Ugaritic, an Ancient Semitic Language originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Pentagon Appoints First-Ever U.S. Cyberwarfare General

  JP 2:03 am on May 26, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Alexander, computer, Keith Alexander, legal doctrines, nbsp (1,691), Pentagon, Read (1,473), s computer networks, S. Cyberwarfare, Senator Carl Levin, U.S. (109)

  Filed under: Computers, Web

  For the first time in U.S. history, the Pentagon has appointed a general to oversee the country’s cyberwarfare operations. According to the Guardian, four-star general Keith Alexander was appointed Friday to head up the Cyber Command unit. The unit’s job is to orchestrate virtual military operations across worldwide computer networks. In other words, Alexander will work to protect U.S. computer networks from hackers and terrorists, but he also wields the power to unleash a virtual strike against foreign countries and organizations.

  The latter power has some people worried. Senator Carl Levin is concerned that the Pentagon’s legal doctrines have failed to keep pace with the swift advances in cyberwarfare. This could lead to problems down the road in the event that the U.S. military strikes via computer networks. That’s not to mention that routing these virtual military operations through neutral countries could cause or exacerbate international tensions.

  Continue reading Pentagon Appoints First-Ever U.S. Cyberwarfare General

  Pentagon Appoints First-Ever U.S. Cyberwarfare General originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 24 May 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  New Attack Turns PDF Feature Into Liability

  JP 1:50 am on April 11, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: adobe reader, computer, foxit, nbsp (1,691), PDF (2), Read (1,473), security holes (5)

  Filed under: Computers

  

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  The PDF file, along with its dubious companion Adobe Reader, is known for being one of the weak points in a computer’s security. Holes allowing hackers and malware to weasel their ways into a computer are regularly discovered in PDF files and programs. But a new way of highjacking the Adobe and Foxit readers requires no exploiting of holes or bugs; instead, it actually turns an asset of the PDF format into a liability.

  These readers’ incremental update features allow the execution of programs from within a document. While a user does have to agree to let a program run, hackers can manipulate the dialog box (asking the user for permission) to look legitimate. This could then be used to add malicious code to any and all PDFs on a computer.

  Continue reading New Attack Turns PDF Feature Into Liability

  New Attack Turns PDF Feature Into Liability originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Switched Tells You How to Take RAM by the Horns

  JP 12:52 am on January 26, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: computer, computer need, nbsp (1,691), RAM, random access memory, storage room

  Filed under: Computers, Editor’s Picks

  

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  Part of being a good user and consumer is understanding how technology works, why we use it the way we do, and what the barrage of acronyms and PR jargon means. We’re here to help you make sense of it all and give you a better appreciation for how that pile of transistors, pixels, and antennas works together to deliver the conveniences of the modern world to your living room or office.

  What Is RAM?

  We’re sure that you all know RAM stands for Random Access Memory, and that more of it is good. But do you really know what it is, how it works, and why exactly having more of it makes your computer seem to work faster?

  The simplest way to describe RAM is as temporary storage. Any data your computer is currently crunching is loaded into RAM to be processed and read. This includes your operating system, programs being run, and files being accessed. You may be wondering, why, if all of this information is stored on your hard drive, does the computer need to load it into RAM? The issue is speed. Imagine you have a small file cabinet in your office and another, much larger file archive in a storage room. RAM is that small file cabinet, keeping important and immediately needed information on hand. If you had to go down to the storage room every time you needed to read something, you would do your job very slowly. Well, the same is the case with a computer.

  Continue reading Switched Tells You How to Take RAM by the Horns

  Switched Tells You How to Take RAM by the Horns originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Computer Method Catches Fakes by Recreating Famous Works of Art

  JP 12:51 am on January 9, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: art (6), bbc news (4), bruegel the elder, computer, Daniel Rockmore, method, nbsp (1,691), Pieter Bruegel, pieter bruegel the elder, Read (1,473)

  Filed under: Computers

  

  There’s big money to be made from creating and selling imitations of famous paintings. And while counterfeiters are working hard to make the fake indistinguishable from the real thing, researchers are doing just as much to discover new ways to spot a fraud.

  According to the BBC News, a team of scientists at Dartmouth have created a new computer method that could strike a major blow to the imitation art market. It’s called “sparse coding,” and while it might sound complicated, the goal is to break down the artwork to its most simple parts. Using a computer, researchers divide a digital version of the work into 144 squares that line up in 12 columns of 12 rows each. Next, the computer modifies and rearranges the pieces until it finds a way to recreate the work using the most basic — or “sparsest” — parts. Yes, it’s complex (despite its name), but basically, if a work is a fake, the computer won’t be able to recreate it. According to the report that Daniel Rockmore and his team published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the method worked in trials that used paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a 16th century Flemish painter (shown above).

  Continue reading Computer Method Catches Fakes by Recreating Famous Works of Art

  Computer Method Catches Fakes by Recreating Famous Works of Art originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  "Geeks" Discouraging Women From Going Into Computer Science

  JP 12:53 am on December 21, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: computer, computer science graduates, computer science majors, Larry Summers, nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), Science (4), St. Louis, star trek posters

  Filed under: Computers

  

  Pretty much anyone not named Larry Summers would agree that female engineers and computer scientists are just as capable as their male colleagues. So why do women comprise just 22-percent of all computer science graduates? And, more worrisome, why is that figure decreasing? The answer, according to one study, lies in geek culture.

  Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis recently looked into this female paucity, and found that “geeky” work environments played a factor in turning women off from tech jobs. When a test group of females were placed in a workplace designed with stereotypically geeky decor (’Star Trek’ posters, video game boxes, etc.), the majority said they felt less similar to computer science majors than those who were placed in a non-stereotypical environment. To control gender bias, researchers conducted other experiments, including one in which women were given the choice to work at one of two all-female firms, with the only difference being the work environment — again, one with “nerdy” objects and one control environment. About 82-percent of the women, according to MSNBC, chose the non-geeky workplace. When men were introduced into the same experiment, they also opted for the non-nerdy office, but women’s preferences were significantly stronger.

  Continue reading “Geeks” Discouraging Women From Going Into Computer Science

  “Geeks” Discouraging Women From Going Into Computer Science originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Robots and Mobile Machines Constructed From Discarded Drives

  JP 12:55 am on December 13, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: art (6), computer, Don (24), laptop hard drives, Miguel Rivera, mobile machines, nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), Rivera

  Filed under: Computers

  

  Whether it’s the trickle down of a bad economy or simply an effort toward conservation, more and more people are using old electronics to create amazing works of art. To produce these creations, you don’t have to attend art school, but it does help to know your way around a computer.

  Enter Miguel Rivera. According to Wired, he’s a systems administrator and, judging by his art, a little bit of a gear head. Rivera used old hard drives to create small sculptures of cars and motorcycles. His first piece, an attempt at a car, took 33 hard drives and a full weekend to finish. But most impressively, this piece (along with the others), is held together without glue or any other material that’s not from the discarded drives. From there, Rivera moved on to other car designs, motorcycles, and eventually, he built his masterpiece — a standing robot that’s made from 14 laptop hard drives and other assorted computer parts.

  Don’t expect to see Rivera’s art on display. “It’s my therapy after a five-day, 12-hour-shift work week,” he says. We’d hardly call spending entire weekends hunched over a table scattered with gutted hard drives therapy (sounds more like punishment). But hey, whatever works. [From: Wired]

  Robots and Mobile Machines Constructed From Discarded Drives originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Computer Company Displays 'Mona Lisa' Made From Motherboards

  JP 9:37 am on November 25, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: California (30), computer, computer parts manufacturer, enormous egg, Leonardo (2), Leonardo Da (2), leonardo da vinci, Mona Lisa (2), nbsp (1,691), Neatorama (2), Palo Alto (6), Read (1,473), Taipei (3)

  Filed under: Computers

  

  There aren’t too many mysteries left out there, but the ‘Mona Lisa’ endures. We still might not know what, exactly, makes her smile, but this recreation of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous ‘Mona Lisa’ sure did put a grin on our faces. According to Neatorama, this piece of art isn’t in a museum. Instead, it’s placed in the lobby of ASUS International, a computer parts manufacturer in Taipei, Taiwain, and is composed entirely of old computer motherboards and the like.

  This got us thinking about other examples of technology and art colliding in wonderful ways. We’ve seen salvaged PCs made into sculptures of biological viruses and an impressive collection of techno-art at Royal Pingdom, but our favorite has to be Palo Alto, California’s enormous egg, constructed of old circuit boards.

  Leonardo could draw, paint, and sculpt, but let’s see him work with circuit boards, hard drives, and other components. The results, we think, might’ve been a little different. [From: Neatorama]

  Computer Company Displays ‘Mona Lisa’ Made From Motherboards originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Maryland Computer Crash Causes Gridlock and Mayhem

  JP 12:56 am on November 7, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Carter (2), computer, computer crash, D.C. (8), fragile lives, Maryland (2), Montgomery County, montgomery county maryland, nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), traffic (3), Washington (15)

  Filed under: Computers

  O, mighty gods of technology! How beholden to you we are! You hold every facet of our lives in your cold, digital paws. And to remind us of just how much control you wield over our fragile lives, you decided to bring all of Montgomery County, Maryland to a standstill this week.

  County technicians are still trying to figure out why a computer that controls all 750 traffic lights in the area crashed around 3 a.m., Wednesday. The computer, which oversees the timing and synchronization of the lights for the entire county, which itself includes several major suburbs of Washington, D.C., dates back to the Carter administration and is in the process of being phased out. But, apparently, the system couldn’t hold onto life any longer and turned the entire county into a sea of glowing brake lights. Thanks to the meltdown, the grid failed to switch into rush-hour mode and, as a result, did not leave individual lights green for long enough to keep traffic flowing.

  Continue reading Maryland Computer Crash Causes Gridlock and Mayhem

  Maryland Computer Crash Causes Gridlock and Mayhem originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  ABCs of Computing: From Apple to Zip

  JP 12:55 am on November 4, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: c isco, computer, Dell Dude, nbsp (1,691), Neatorama (2), Read (1,473), Youtube (21)

  Filed under: Computers

  

  While the computer’s history might not stretch back too far, the ride has been anything but mundane. In fact, so much happened and changed with the computer in such a short span that it’s not always easy to keep track. Organizing alphabetically is a good start, which is exactly what Neatorama did in a recent post.

  The “Alphabet of Computing” breaks down the good, the bad, and the ugly of the machines we love so much — from A is for Apple to Z is for ZIP files, and everything in between. There are things we’d rather forget (like D is for the Dell Dude), and things we’ll never forget (like N is for noob). Trust us, learning this alphabet is much more fun than the one we had to recite in grade school, although this one’s too cumbersome to rhyme quite like we wish. But hey, who wouldn’t like to know when the first tweet was sent (2006), or watch the first video ever uploaded on Youtube?

  Now, we hope you were taking notes because we hear there’ll be an oral exam on this next week. Just remember this rule: I(nternet) before E(-COM), except after C(isco System). Wait, that’s something else… [From: Neatorama]

  ABCs of Computing: From Apple to Zip originally appeared on Switched on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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