Video game-inspired remote labs could prevent scientific fraud
Scientific error doesn’t always come from botched equations or faulty theories but bad behavior, too — sometimes scientists crack under pressure and contaminate their results by crafting fraudulent, retrospective hypotheses or cherry-picking data to verify a bias. It’s a constant problem within the scientific community, but researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Stanford Universities may have stumbled upon an unconventional solution: video games. Specifically, EteRNA, an educational game that teaches players to design RNA molecules online.
Although EteRNA is presented as an RNA matching game, it actually teaches players the rules of RNA and has them construct molecule designs that can later be tested in a real lab. Underneath the game, however, the system is highly resistant to most forms of scientific fraud. “We registered more than 150,000 participants who contributed in excess of 2 million human-hours to EteRNA,” explains Adrien Treuille, assistant professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon. “That means there were a lot of eyes, a lot of people looking over each other’s shoulders as hypotheses were developed and experimental results evaluated. Everything is out in the open.”
When viewed as an online lab, the game is so transparent that it makes fraud extraordinarily difficult. It also allows parties that weren’t involved in creating a theory to test it, removing the temptation of the team to manipulate results to validate their own work. The team admits that setting up online labs is potentially expensive, but it’s within the reach of most major research facilities.
[Image credit: Getty]
Source: PhysOrg
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Life after Sony: Vaio shows off hybrid laptop prototype
Lenovo proved that its possible to buy an unwanted business (PCs) from a giant company (IBM) and turn it a massive success. After buying Sony’s portable PC business, Vaio is hoping for the same and just revealed its first prototype: a 12.3-inch hybrid tablet that would cost at least 200,000 yen ($1,800). This is its first prototype created without any Sony influence (though it still sells Sony’s current models) and the Japanese company has shown it’s taking a completely different tack than Lenovo.
Rather than compete in a crowded market — which sunk Sony — Vaio is courting illustrators, photographers and other pros. That would explain the price and specs: a 12.3-inch 2,560 x 1,704 (3:2) pen-enabled display, stylus and Intel Haswell quad-core CPU with Iris graphics. Vaio told the WSJ that it’s following Panasonic’s lead in Japan by offering high-end, durable models that the right users are willing to pay for. It’s going to test that theory soon, but in Japan only for now — the first all-new products are set to arrive in May of next year.
Filed under: Laptops
Via: WSJ
Source: Vaio
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Apple’s own stats show iOS 8 upgrades have slowed to a crawl
Despite the introduction of custom keyboards, Notification Center widgets and lots more, Apple users aren’t taking to iOS 8. According to stats displayed on the company’s developer portal, the proportion of iPhone and iPad owners currently running the latest version on their devices stands at 47 percent, only an increase of 1 percentage point from two weeks ago. By this point last year, iOS 7 uptake was already hovering around 60 percent, according to analytics firm Fiksu. We can only speculate, but it seems likely a combination of very large install files, the bungled point updates, and the dropping of iPhone 4 support could be reason enough for many users to stick with what they know, for now. Or maybe they’re just paranoid.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple
Source: Apple Developer
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LG G Watch R release date is set for October 14th, but only in South Korea for now
With the Motorola Moto 360 currently owning a monopoly on the circular smartwatch arena, it was only a matter of time before its main competitor, the LG G Watch R, stepped into the ring. We’ve been wondering when the LG G Watch R release date was going to come and LG has today confirmed it itself that the wearable will be launching on October 14th. Now before you ready your money to throw, there is one catch – the LG G Watch R is only going to be launching in South Korea on that date. Don’t get too disappointed though as many other regions will likely get the device soon after, probably before the end of October, though that hasn’t yet been specified by LG.
The LG G Watch R was somewhat of a surprise release at IFA 2014 last month, particularly seeing as it had only launched its maiden Android Wear wearable, the LG G Watch, just two months prior. In fact, if you look at the stat sheet of the G Watch and the G Watch R, they will look very similar, the primary difference of course being the completely circular display – something even the Moto 360 lacked because of its ambient light sensor. And contrasting its Android Wear and indeed, all smartwatch, brethren, the LG G Watch R actually looks the most like a mainstream watch, something that may work in their favour when it goes global. No pricing has yet been confirmed.
What do you think about the LG G Watch R release date? Are you hoping to get one? Let us know your thoughts.
Source: LG via TalkAndroid
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RomoCart turns your living room into a video game
Looking for something new to do with your iPhone-powered Romo robot? Well, you could always use it to turn your living room into a race track. Ken Kawamoto and Tomoaki Akitomi have paired the remote controlled phone-charger with a pico projector and an RGB depth sensor to turn their living room into an augmented reality video game — a two-car racer inspired by Mario Kart. RemoCart, as it’s called, isn’t a particularly fast paced racer (the Romo is pretty slow), but it has all the hallmarks of the classic Nintendo game: cars, a race track and special items and weapons that can turn the tide mid-race.
Despite taking its name from the Kickstarter-sourced robot, RomoCart’s magic is mostly handled by its projector and depth camera. Not only does the RGBD camera keep track of the player’s Remos, it also maps out solid objects in the play area. This data is used to automatically create a race track on the floor’s open space. The projector also animates items on the play field, which can interrupt player control of the Remo to create the effect of being “hit” with a weapon. It’s a neat project, but right now it’s also unavailable — but the team promises to release the source code as soon as it can “find the time.”
Source: Kawalabo
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Cult classic Vib-Ribbon will finally land in North America tomorrow
Back in 1999, that little vectorized rabbit thing (Vibri, if you want to get specific) bounded across televisions in Japan and Europe in a quirky little PlayStation title called Vib-Ribbon, Now, 15 years later, gamers in North America are finally getting a chance to steer her through an array of trippy musically generated levels… as long as they have a PS3 or PS Vita. Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Shawn Layden wrote in a blog post today that the cult classic would go live in the PlayStation Store tomorrow (no firm price just yet), and that the PS3 version retains the game’s original hook: you’ll be able to pop in an audio CD, and the game will automagically create a level from each track. Alas, you won’t be able to play the game if you splurged on a PlayStation 4, though Layden was quick to point out that your time will soon come. Bummer, but hey: it’s not like you’re going to have to wait another 15 years, and you can peer beyond the jump to see what exactly you’ll have to look forward to.
Via: Joystiq
Source: PlayStation Blog
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Livestream’s new iPhone app lets you broadcast GoPro adventures without a PC
Typically, streaming live footage from an action camera requires a PC to provide the internet connection. That’s not exactly an option when you’re flying off a cliff in a wingsuit. Livestream just made it a lot easier to share your adventures with the world, however. Its newest iOS app now lets you broadcast video from GoPro Hero cameras anywhere you have a good data connection; so long as you can fit an iPhone in your pocket, your friends can see that thrilling BASE jump or bike ride in real-time. There’s no word of GoPro support on Android, but it won’t be surprising if there’s a corresponding update before long.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Via: CNET
Source: Livestream Producer Blog, App Store
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Data-saving Opera Mini browser to land on Samsung Gear S watch
While Tizen’s smartphone future remains foggy, it’s slowly gaining street cred in the wearable space courtesy of Samsung’s smartwatches and their handful of apps. The latest brand to help push this young ecosystem is none other than Opera, who is bringing its Mini browser to the Gear S due later this year. Of course, it’d be impractical to squint at a two-inch touchscreen all day long, but Opera Mini does offer a major advantage: its renowned data compression technology that can shrink web pages to as little as one-tenth of their size, thus making more efficient use of the Gear S’ integrated 3G connectivity. As an icing on the cake, this app also offers private browsing mode and a “Smart Page” that aggregates social updates plus the latest news. Opera Mini will already be available for download by the time the Gear S hits the stores.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Samsung
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Nexus 6 and Nexus 5 Comparison! Nexus 9 Gets Leaked! – ManDroid Daily
Monday is in the bag, and the Mandroid Daily is here. Over the weekend a nifty little video that compares the Nexus 5 to the Nexus 6 surfaced, so you can finally determine if the size will bother you if you are coming off of the N5. The Nexus 9 made by HTC also got leaked out today, and it just looks like someone took a rolling pin to a Nexus 5. Anyways, enjoy the Daily!
Android News
Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 comparison
Nexus 9 leaks
Yahoo may buy Snapchat
New Moto G wallpapers
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Samsung’s Q3 profits drop 60 percent from last year to under $4 billion
At this time last year, Samsung was enjoying a record operating profit of $9.6 billion for its third quarter and shipping Galaxy phones seemingly as fast as it could make them. Now? The company announced its operating profit for the period will be down to between $3.6 and $4 billion, which would be its fourth straight quarter of declines. Of course, that’s nothing to sneeze at but it represents a drop of 60 percent in just a year. We don’t have specific sales stats, but industry analysts mentioned by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg see its phone sales squeezed at the high-end by Apple’s latest iPhones, and at the low end by numerous Chinese competitors like Xiaomi and Lenovo. Samsung’s next steps — after launching the new Galaxy Note 4 — include growing its businesses making memory chips, processors and displays. Samsung announced today that it’s building a new $14.7 billion chip plant in Korea — maybe it can get prices of the next Galaxy Alpha down enough to get sales back on a growing track.
Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD, Mobile, Samsung
Source: Samsung
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AIVAnet 