Information & Applied Knowledge

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

First 3D Movies From a Single Pixel Camera

Single pixel cameras are revolutionising imaging. Now researchers have built one capable of tracking a moving object and creating a 3D film of its motion

October 8, 2013

Single pixel cameras are taking the world of imaging by storm. These counterintuitive devices have the ability to photograph an entire scene in 3D and at a resolution of choice using a single pixel. Some versions do not even need a lens. These resultant images are entirely free of the optical aberrations that lenses can introduce; indeed the entire scene is always in focus.

Today, Gregory Howland at the University of Rochester in New York State and a few pals take this new technique even further. These guys have built a single pixel camera capable of making 3D images, used it to create a video images and even to track a moving object for the first time.

Companies are developing powerful engines that can run on natural gas together with diesel.

By Kevin Bullis on October 8, 2013

Technology that allows diesel engines to instead run primarily on natural gas could provide a economical way for railroads and shipping companies to shift their vast transportation systems over to natural gas.

Such a shift could lower greenhouse gas emissions, since natural gas when burned emits 15 to 20 percent less carbon dioxide than diesel. It could also save shippers money and lower the cost of shipped goods, since the natural gas boom in the United States has made natural gas far cheaper than diesel (see “Natural Gas Changes the Energy Map”).

A guide for marketers

By MIT Technology Review Custom on October 7, 2013 | In partnership with Digilant

The allure of ad technology is simply the promise that, at long last, we can present the right online ad, with the right message, to the right person. For the right price.

Big Data lets us identify audiences more accurately, calculate their value, and send them customized messages instantly. This is a boon to marketers and publishers.

But it has also become something of a headache.

The crowded field of players is frustrating to navigate. And because marketers are now under pressure to reorient their strategy toward targeted, data-driven customers, they have to actually understand all of the new ad technologies out there.

“No one can afford not to know the technology, because it’s technology and analytics together that will determine if the process is working,” says Ed Montes, CEO of Digilant, a marketing technology company.
Many of the ad technology companies are training media buyers to use to use their management platform and then analyze and bid on their own.

“Teaching people to fish is better for the ecosystem than selling fish,” says Brian O’Kelley, CEO of AppNexus, a large ad exchange.

An understanding of technology is also essential for publishers who want to be paid what they are worth. Only by understanding the technology can a publisher give marketers valuable specifics such as when and where an ad was posted, and the demographics and geographical distribution of the people who viewed it.

“The thing I hear from a lot of people is that the situation would be a lot better if the system were a lot simpler—more transparent about who does what, who gets paid what for what, and who contributes what looks like success,” says Tom Hespos, founder of Underscore Marketing, which develops, manages, and measures media programs for health and wellness brands.

Ultimately, marketers and publishers want to maximize ROI on advertising. And now they have tools of which previous generations of ad men and women could only dream.

But the trick is to understand how the ad technology industry can translate the digital breadcrumbs left by consumers into real-world results.

Navigating Planet Ad Tech is a new report that breaks down and demystifies the players in the ad technology sector, clearly communicating their value propositions, business models, and histories to help marketers ask the right questions.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/519991/navigating-planet-ad-tech/

Can Oculus Rift Turn Virtual Wonder into Commercial Reality?

Oculus Rift has heavyweight developer support, and millions of dollars of crowdsourced investment. But many of the old challenges to this new technology remain.

By Simon Parkin on October 7, 2013

“This technology is going to revolutionize the way we live, learn, work, and play.”

Palmer Luckey’s tone is evangelical, persuasive, and also somehow familiar. His ardent belief that virtual reality headsets are set to alter humanity’s technological horizons is reminiscent of 1990s, when the film Lawnmower Man painted in somewhat crude pixels a vision of the future in which virtual reality (VR) dominated life. The vision quickly disappeared, not only from our movie screens but also from our cultural understanding of where technology might be taking us. Although for a few short moments our world seemed poised to retreat into the dark realms of possibility inside a helmet lined with tiny screens, soon enough that came to be seen as little more than the stuff of science fiction, like flying cars and ubiquitous jetpacks.

With no hope for climate legislation, all Obama can do is wait for EPA regs. No wonder his climate adviser is leaving.

Kevin Bullis
October 7, 2013

Several news outlets are reporting that Obama’s top climate adviser, Heather Zichal, is stepping down in the next few weeks. She’s been advising Obama since 2008, and took over the top climate and energy post from Carol Browner in 2011.

It’s not at all remarkable that she’s leaving–professionals can rotate through Washington pretty quickly, and it looks like her best days may already be behind her.

Zichal’s main accomplishment is helping to craft the energy plan that President Obama announced in June. Part of the plan has to do with promoting innovation, but with Congress in deadlock, as evidenced clearly now by the government shutdown, there’s little chance that the White House would have much chance with new legislation, such as for promoting R&D.

Other than that, the plan basically involves waiting around for EPA to issue regulations on power plants (see “Will Obama’s Climate Policy Spur New Energy Technologies?” and “Obama Orders EPA to Regulate Power Plants in Wide-Ranging Climate Plan”). Not much action there. It will take years, especially for the regulations on existing power plants. So it’s not surprising she’s leaving now to find something else to do.

A White House statement confirmed the reports, but did not say what Zichal is planning next.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/519986/obama-climate-adviser-leaves-presumably-for-something-less-hopeless/

Where The Health Dollars Go

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http://www.technologyreview.com/news/519981/infographic-most-expensive-health-care-technology/

Monday, October 7, 2013

Algorithm Writes People’s Life Histories Using Twitter Stream

If you tweet about your life, a new algorithm can identify your most significant events and assemble them into an accurate life history, say the computer scientists who built it

Emerging Technology From the arXiv

October 7, 2013

Twitter allows anyone to describe their life in unprecedented detail. Many accounts provide an ongoing commentary of an individual’s interests, activities and opinions.

So it’s not hard to imagine that it’s possible to reconstruct a person’s life history by analysing their Twitter stream.

But doing this automatically is trickier than it sounds. That’s because most Twitter streams contain news of important events mixed up with entirely trivial details about events of little or no significance. The difficulty is in telling these apart.