Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Facebook Needs Customer Service to Woo Businesses
I had to laugh when I read about Facebook's latest effort to woo businesses . While Facebook wants to look like its well ahead of Google + in the commercial uses of social networking, its track record of dealing with users suggests that businesses should not rely on it.
Of course, when you rely on a free service, you should expect to get what you pay for. But when the free service is provided by a highly profitable company like Facebook, you have to think that at least a modicum of customer service and responsiveness would be in its best interests, especially when it wants to convince people to choose its service over a fast-rising competitor.
I have run into the stone wall of Facebook "customer service" in the past , but that doesn't make it any less frustrating this time around. The current problem arose when I was asked to assist the administrator of a Facebook group for users of a home fitness program that I belong to. The group has more than 30,000 members.
It seems that Facebook is going to shut down groups that were formed under an "old" format. What is this old format and why is it so bad? The old, original format differs from the new format in look and feel, and it lacks an enhanced chat function. That's it. Some groups will be allowed to migrate, while others will not. The criteria used for this decision have not been disclosed. I was informed that the group will be "archived." This gives the admin two choices; 1) let the group be archived, and then "unarchive" the group, for lack of a better term, which reloads the thousands of pictures, discussion strings, posts, etc., but lose all of the 30,000 members, who will have to find the "new" group and rejoin, or 2) start a new group, notify all group members that they need to join the new group, and lose all of the hundreds of thousands of contributions that make the group so valuable.
I tried contacting Facebook, but couldn't find out how to do that as a group admin. Instead, I contacted Facebook through its press e-mail as a Computerworld columnist. The response, when it finally came, was that they would not answer any questions on the matter. The PR person did, however, provide me with a link for contacting Facebook as a regular user, but I never received a response, and neither did the many other people who tried to contact Facebook to support the group. Facebook's attitude appears to be that it can do whatever it wants with anything on its site and not have to explain itself to anyone. I suppose it has that right, but we all have the right in return to say, good luck with that attitude, we'll be going elsewhere.
You might shrug all this off. After all, the group I'm talking about is only intended as a support group for an exercise program. But other groups being archived include cancer support groups, groups devoted to businesses Facebook is trying to recruit away from Google+, groups keeping extended families together, groups supporting computer security research -- really just about every type of interest you can imagine. In talking to various admins, I learned that many of the people in their groups, especially older cancer patients, do not understand the issues and will likely not join new groups. Hundreds of thousands of group members have been affected.
In addition, many people and companies using Facebook for business purposes have been harmed, and probably will be harmed in the future, by random changes in Facebook operations that the company chooses not to disclose or justify.
As I said at the outset, Facebook is a free service, and you should expect to get what you pay for. But Facebook made approximately $2 billion last year. Can it really not afford to hire some people to help people deal with issues like this? It could outsource that customer service to a low-cost company and still have plenty of money on hand.
Facebook isn't the only social network service to refuse to offer its users any semblance of support, even during a security crisis. The hacking of Fox News' Twitter account demonstrates how helpless a company can be when it relies on free social networks. A hacker was able to take control of Fox News' main Twitter account and send out false tweets discussing the assassination of President Obama. Fox News realized it had been hacked, but the false tweets continued for two hours because Twitter would not respond to its pleas for help. If a company as large, powerful and fully lawyered-up as News Corp can be rendered helpless in such a situation, what would happen to the rest of us?
Countless people have had their Facebook accounts hacked , and similar things have happened to Yahoo users, but unless you are Sarah Palin, you don't have a prayer of getting human help. When I tried to help a friend whose Yahoo account had been hacked, I called up and asked for the security department. This is what the customer service representative told me: "We have no security." That is a bracing bit of candor, but if I hadn't had contacts in Yahoo's general counsel's office, I never would have been able to get in touch with people at the company who could actually do something.
I don't know whether the new social network player, Google+, will be any better. Certainly, its unilateral decision to terminate pseudonymous accounts doesn't bode well (there was no way to appeal the decision). At least the competition should keep Facebook on its toes. Nonetheless, a recent incident suggests not only that Google can be equally unresponsive, but also that sometimes even paying for a service is no guarantee of good customer service. After security company HBGary Federal's CEO declared that he would identify several of the leaders of the hacking group Anonymous, Anonymous hacked his email account and that of Greg Hoglund, CTO of parent company HBGary. As Hoglund explained to CSO , company officials could only watch as the Anonymous hackers downloaded gigabytes of mail from their Gmail accounts. HBGary uses the paid version of Gmail. Hoglund was able to reach Google customer service and ask that the accounts be shut down, but, he said, "Google was trying to get me to put a file on my Web site [to authenticate my identity]. You see the chicken-and-egg problem there
Of course, when you rely on a free service, you should expect to get what you pay for. But when the free service is provided by a highly profitable company like Facebook, you have to think that at least a modicum of customer service and responsiveness would be in its best interests, especially when it wants to convince people to choose its service over a fast-rising competitor.
I have run into the stone wall of Facebook "customer service" in the past , but that doesn't make it any less frustrating this time around. The current problem arose when I was asked to assist the administrator of a Facebook group for users of a home fitness program that I belong to. The group has more than 30,000 members.
It seems that Facebook is going to shut down groups that were formed under an "old" format. What is this old format and why is it so bad? The old, original format differs from the new format in look and feel, and it lacks an enhanced chat function. That's it. Some groups will be allowed to migrate, while others will not. The criteria used for this decision have not been disclosed. I was informed that the group will be "archived." This gives the admin two choices; 1) let the group be archived, and then "unarchive" the group, for lack of a better term, which reloads the thousands of pictures, discussion strings, posts, etc., but lose all of the 30,000 members, who will have to find the "new" group and rejoin, or 2) start a new group, notify all group members that they need to join the new group, and lose all of the hundreds of thousands of contributions that make the group so valuable.
I tried contacting Facebook, but couldn't find out how to do that as a group admin. Instead, I contacted Facebook through its press e-mail as a Computerworld columnist. The response, when it finally came, was that they would not answer any questions on the matter. The PR person did, however, provide me with a link for contacting Facebook as a regular user, but I never received a response, and neither did the many other people who tried to contact Facebook to support the group. Facebook's attitude appears to be that it can do whatever it wants with anything on its site and not have to explain itself to anyone. I suppose it has that right, but we all have the right in return to say, good luck with that attitude, we'll be going elsewhere.
You might shrug all this off. After all, the group I'm talking about is only intended as a support group for an exercise program. But other groups being archived include cancer support groups, groups devoted to businesses Facebook is trying to recruit away from Google+, groups keeping extended families together, groups supporting computer security research -- really just about every type of interest you can imagine. In talking to various admins, I learned that many of the people in their groups, especially older cancer patients, do not understand the issues and will likely not join new groups. Hundreds of thousands of group members have been affected.
In addition, many people and companies using Facebook for business purposes have been harmed, and probably will be harmed in the future, by random changes in Facebook operations that the company chooses not to disclose or justify.
As I said at the outset, Facebook is a free service, and you should expect to get what you pay for. But Facebook made approximately $2 billion last year. Can it really not afford to hire some people to help people deal with issues like this? It could outsource that customer service to a low-cost company and still have plenty of money on hand.
Facebook isn't the only social network service to refuse to offer its users any semblance of support, even during a security crisis. The hacking of Fox News' Twitter account demonstrates how helpless a company can be when it relies on free social networks. A hacker was able to take control of Fox News' main Twitter account and send out false tweets discussing the assassination of President Obama. Fox News realized it had been hacked, but the false tweets continued for two hours because Twitter would not respond to its pleas for help. If a company as large, powerful and fully lawyered-up as News Corp can be rendered helpless in such a situation, what would happen to the rest of us?
Countless people have had their Facebook accounts hacked , and similar things have happened to Yahoo users, but unless you are Sarah Palin, you don't have a prayer of getting human help. When I tried to help a friend whose Yahoo account had been hacked, I called up and asked for the security department. This is what the customer service representative told me: "We have no security." That is a bracing bit of candor, but if I hadn't had contacts in Yahoo's general counsel's office, I never would have been able to get in touch with people at the company who could actually do something.
I don't know whether the new social network player, Google+, will be any better. Certainly, its unilateral decision to terminate pseudonymous accounts doesn't bode well (there was no way to appeal the decision). At least the competition should keep Facebook on its toes. Nonetheless, a recent incident suggests not only that Google can be equally unresponsive, but also that sometimes even paying for a service is no guarantee of good customer service. After security company HBGary Federal's CEO declared that he would identify several of the leaders of the hacking group Anonymous, Anonymous hacked his email account and that of Greg Hoglund, CTO of parent company HBGary. As Hoglund explained to CSO , company officials could only watch as the Anonymous hackers downloaded gigabytes of mail from their Gmail accounts. HBGary uses the paid version of Gmail. Hoglund was able to reach Google customer service and ask that the accounts be shut down, but, he said, "Google was trying to get me to put a file on my Web site [to authenticate my identity]. You see the chicken-and-egg problem there
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Scientists Develop E-ink To Replace Books, Newspapers
Scientists at Sony have developed an electronic version of ink, currently used in the E-Reader, that enables thousands of books to be carried around in one portable, energy-efficient case. Ink movement is possible because of millions of transparent, liquid-filled spheres sandwiched between a plastic film. Positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles float inside the spheres, depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic. Either the black or white particles move to the front of the spheres, forming crisp patterns of black and white.
Newspapers can be cumbersome, books can take up space, and computer screens can be difficult to read. But now a unique technology may revolutionize the way we read.
E Ink Imaging Film is electronic paper that is currently used in the Sony Reader. Thousands of titles, pictures and audio files can be downloaded into one portable, leather-bound case.
"The, the broadest, most dramatic application is electronic publishing -- the ability to have an entire library in a single electronic book," Michael McCreary tells DBIS. He's a physical organic chemist at E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, Mass.
Once an E Ink page is displayed, the Reader uses virtually no power until the page is turned and, unlike a computer screen, can be read in bright light.
"Basically, the way it works is by moving "ink" around," McCreary says.
Ink movement is possible because of millions of transparent, liquid-filled spheres sandwiched between plastic films. Positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles float inside the spheres, depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic. Either the black or white particles move to the front of the spheres, forming crisp patterns of black and white.
E Ink scientists are now developing ways to revolutionize the newspaper industry. Consumers would hold a paper-like display but be able to download an infinite number of stories.
"In addition to being immediate, it can be customized to you," McCreary says. "Every newspaper doesn't have to be the same."
The Sony Reader can store and display documents like Adobe PDF files, blogs, RSS feeds, photos and e-books. Scientists are also working on ways to use E Ink in supermarket shelf labels and signs along the highway. Its low-level power consumption is also making E Ink popular in cell phones and watches.
BACKGROUND: Sony Reader is a new electronic book device that uses a new display technology called electronic ink. Developed by E-Ink, a company based in Cambridge, Mass., the display provides a natural reading experience with no backlight, unlike reading standard computer screens. Other prospective uses for electronic ink include displays on credit cards that won't break when they are bent; fresh food shelf labels where the price can change throughout the day; and watch and cell phone displays.
HOW IT WORKS: Sandwiched between layers of plastic film are millions of transparent, nearly microscopic liquid-filled spheres about the diameter of a human hair. Inside these "microcapsules" float even tinier black and white particles; the black particles are negatively charged while the white particles are positively charged. Depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic film, either the black or white particles rise to the top of the spheres, forming patterns of black and white. For instance, when a negative electric field is applied, the white particles rise to the top, while the black particles are pulled to the bottom of the spheres. The surface will appear white at that spot. When a positive electric field is applied, the black particles rise to the top, and the white particles are pulled to the bottom, so the surface appears dark in that spot.
BENEFITS: The E-Ink technology is reflective, so it uses almost no power; even large displays will use a minimum amount of electricity. So the Sony Reader need not be turned off; it can be set aside just as one would do with a printed book. The current page remains on the screen without draining any battery power. In fact, a single charge is good for 7,500 page turns. The screen is easily readable outdoors. And E-Ink can be used to coat almost any surface, so it is ideal for flexible display applications. Also, studies have shown that users reported increased readability and minimal eyestrain compared to other electronic book technology.
Read more: http://goo.gl/7uVJV
Newspapers can be cumbersome, books can take up space, and computer screens can be difficult to read. But now a unique technology may revolutionize the way we read.
E Ink Imaging Film is electronic paper that is currently used in the Sony Reader. Thousands of titles, pictures and audio files can be downloaded into one portable, leather-bound case.
"The, the broadest, most dramatic application is electronic publishing -- the ability to have an entire library in a single electronic book," Michael McCreary tells DBIS. He's a physical organic chemist at E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, Mass.
Once an E Ink page is displayed, the Reader uses virtually no power until the page is turned and, unlike a computer screen, can be read in bright light.
"Basically, the way it works is by moving "ink" around," McCreary says.
Ink movement is possible because of millions of transparent, liquid-filled spheres sandwiched between plastic films. Positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles float inside the spheres, depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic. Either the black or white particles move to the front of the spheres, forming crisp patterns of black and white.
E Ink scientists are now developing ways to revolutionize the newspaper industry. Consumers would hold a paper-like display but be able to download an infinite number of stories.
"In addition to being immediate, it can be customized to you," McCreary says. "Every newspaper doesn't have to be the same."
The Sony Reader can store and display documents like Adobe PDF files, blogs, RSS feeds, photos and e-books. Scientists are also working on ways to use E Ink in supermarket shelf labels and signs along the highway. Its low-level power consumption is also making E Ink popular in cell phones and watches.
BACKGROUND: Sony Reader is a new electronic book device that uses a new display technology called electronic ink. Developed by E-Ink, a company based in Cambridge, Mass., the display provides a natural reading experience with no backlight, unlike reading standard computer screens. Other prospective uses for electronic ink include displays on credit cards that won't break when they are bent; fresh food shelf labels where the price can change throughout the day; and watch and cell phone displays.
HOW IT WORKS: Sandwiched between layers of plastic film are millions of transparent, nearly microscopic liquid-filled spheres about the diameter of a human hair. Inside these "microcapsules" float even tinier black and white particles; the black particles are negatively charged while the white particles are positively charged. Depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic film, either the black or white particles rise to the top of the spheres, forming patterns of black and white. For instance, when a negative electric field is applied, the white particles rise to the top, while the black particles are pulled to the bottom of the spheres. The surface will appear white at that spot. When a positive electric field is applied, the black particles rise to the top, and the white particles are pulled to the bottom, so the surface appears dark in that spot.
BENEFITS: The E-Ink technology is reflective, so it uses almost no power; even large displays will use a minimum amount of electricity. So the Sony Reader need not be turned off; it can be set aside just as one would do with a printed book. The current page remains on the screen without draining any battery power. In fact, a single charge is good for 7,500 page turns. The screen is easily readable outdoors. And E-Ink can be used to coat almost any surface, so it is ideal for flexible display applications. Also, studies have shown that users reported increased readability and minimal eyestrain compared to other electronic book technology.
Read more: http://goo.gl/7uVJV
Scientists Develop E-ink To Replace Books, Newspapers
Scientists at Sony have developed an electronic version of ink, currently used in the E-Reader, that enables thousands of books to be carried around in one portable, energy-efficient case. Ink movement is possible because of millions of transparent, liquid-filled spheres sandwiched between a plastic film. Positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles float inside the spheres, depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic. Either the black or white particles move to the front of the spheres, forming crisp patterns of black and white.
Newspapers can be cumbersome, books can take up space, and computer screens can be difficult to read. But now a unique technology may revolutionize the way we read.
E Ink Imaging Film is electronic paper that is currently used in the Sony Reader. Thousands of titles, pictures and audio files can be downloaded into one portable, leather-bound case.
"The, the broadest, most dramatic application is electronic publishing -- the ability to have an entire library in a single electronic book," Michael McCreary tells DBIS. He's a physical organic chemist at E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, Mass.
Once an E Ink page is displayed, the Reader uses virtually no power until the page is turned and, unlike a computer screen, can be read in bright light.
"Basically, the way it works is by moving "ink" around," McCreary says.
Ink movement is possible because of millions of transparent, liquid-filled spheres sandwiched between plastic films. Positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles float inside the spheres, depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic. Either the black or white particles move to the front of the spheres, forming crisp patterns of black and white.
E Ink scientists are now developing ways to revolutionize the newspaper industry. Consumers would hold a paper-like display but be able to download an infinite number of stories.
"In addition to being immediate, it can be customized to you," McCreary says. "Every newspaper doesn't have to be the same."
The Sony Reader can store and display documents like Adobe PDF files, blogs, RSS feeds, photos and e-books. Scientists are also working on ways to use E Ink in supermarket shelf labels and signs along the highway. Its low-level power consumption is also making E Ink popular in cell phones and watches.
BACKGROUND: Sony Reader is a new electronic book device that uses a new display technology called electronic ink. Developed by E-Ink, a company based in Cambridge, Mass., the display provides a natural reading experience with no backlight, unlike reading standard computer screens. Other prospective uses for electronic ink include displays on credit cards that won't break when they are bent; fresh food shelf labels where the price can change throughout the day; and watch and cell phone displays.
HOW IT WORKS: Sandwiched between layers of plastic film are millions of transparent, nearly microscopic liquid-filled spheres about the diameter of a human hair. Inside these "microcapsules" float even tinier black and white particles; the black particles are negatively charged while the white particles are positively charged. Depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic film, either the black or white particles rise to the top of the spheres, forming patterns of black and white. For instance, when a negative electric field is applied, the white particles rise to the top, while the black particles are pulled to the bottom of the spheres. The surface will appear white at that spot. When a positive electric field is applied, the black particles rise to the top, and the white particles are pulled to the bottom, so the surface appears dark in that spot.
BENEFITS: The E-Ink technology is reflective, so it uses almost no power; even large displays will use a minimum amount of electricity. So the Sony Reader need not be turned off; it can be set aside just as one would do with a printed book. The current page remains on the screen without draining any battery power. In fact, a single charge is good for 7,500 page turns. The screen is easily readable outdoors. And E-Ink can be used to coat almost any surface, so it is ideal for flexible display applications. Also, studies have shown that users reported increased readability and minimal eyestrain compared to other electronic book technology.
Read more: http://goo.gl/7uVJV
Newspapers can be cumbersome, books can take up space, and computer screens can be difficult to read. But now a unique technology may revolutionize the way we read.
E Ink Imaging Film is electronic paper that is currently used in the Sony Reader. Thousands of titles, pictures and audio files can be downloaded into one portable, leather-bound case.
"The, the broadest, most dramatic application is electronic publishing -- the ability to have an entire library in a single electronic book," Michael McCreary tells DBIS. He's a physical organic chemist at E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, Mass.
Once an E Ink page is displayed, the Reader uses virtually no power until the page is turned and, unlike a computer screen, can be read in bright light.
"Basically, the way it works is by moving "ink" around," McCreary says.
Ink movement is possible because of millions of transparent, liquid-filled spheres sandwiched between plastic films. Positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles float inside the spheres, depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic. Either the black or white particles move to the front of the spheres, forming crisp patterns of black and white.
E Ink scientists are now developing ways to revolutionize the newspaper industry. Consumers would hold a paper-like display but be able to download an infinite number of stories.
"In addition to being immediate, it can be customized to you," McCreary says. "Every newspaper doesn't have to be the same."
The Sony Reader can store and display documents like Adobe PDF files, blogs, RSS feeds, photos and e-books. Scientists are also working on ways to use E Ink in supermarket shelf labels and signs along the highway. Its low-level power consumption is also making E Ink popular in cell phones and watches.
BACKGROUND: Sony Reader is a new electronic book device that uses a new display technology called electronic ink. Developed by E-Ink, a company based in Cambridge, Mass., the display provides a natural reading experience with no backlight, unlike reading standard computer screens. Other prospective uses for electronic ink include displays on credit cards that won't break when they are bent; fresh food shelf labels where the price can change throughout the day; and watch and cell phone displays.
HOW IT WORKS: Sandwiched between layers of plastic film are millions of transparent, nearly microscopic liquid-filled spheres about the diameter of a human hair. Inside these "microcapsules" float even tinier black and white particles; the black particles are negatively charged while the white particles are positively charged. Depending on how the electrical charge is applied to the plastic film, either the black or white particles rise to the top of the spheres, forming patterns of black and white. For instance, when a negative electric field is applied, the white particles rise to the top, while the black particles are pulled to the bottom of the spheres. The surface will appear white at that spot. When a positive electric field is applied, the black particles rise to the top, and the white particles are pulled to the bottom, so the surface appears dark in that spot.
BENEFITS: The E-Ink technology is reflective, so it uses almost no power; even large displays will use a minimum amount of electricity. So the Sony Reader need not be turned off; it can be set aside just as one would do with a printed book. The current page remains on the screen without draining any battery power. In fact, a single charge is good for 7,500 page turns. The screen is easily readable outdoors. And E-Ink can be used to coat almost any surface, so it is ideal for flexible display applications. Also, studies have shown that users reported increased readability and minimal eyestrain compared to other electronic book technology.
Read more: http://goo.gl/7uVJV
Friday, February 25, 2011
New Technology for Cheaper, More Efficient Solar Cells !!
The sun provides more than enough energy for all our needs, if only we could harness it cheaply and efficiently. Solar energy could provide a clean alternative to fossil fuels, but the high cost of solar cells has been a major barrier to their widespread use.
Stanford researchers have found that adding a single layer of organic molecules to a solar cell can increase its efficiency three-fold and could lead to cheaper, more efficient solar panels. Their results were published online in ACS Nano on Feb. 7.
Professor of chemical engineering Stacey Bent first became interested in a new kind of solar technology two years ago. These solar cells used tiny particles of semiconductors called "quantum dots." Quantum dot solar cells are cheaper to produce than traditional ones, as they can be made using simple chemical reactions. But despite their promise, they lagged well behind existing solar cells in efficiency.
"I wondered if we could use our knowledge of chemistry to improve their efficiency," Bent said. If she could do that, the reduced cost of these solar cells could lead to mass adoption of the technology.
Bent discussed her research on Feb. 20, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.
In principle, quantum dot cells can reach much higher efficiency, Bent said, because of a fundamental limitation of traditional solar cells.
Solar cells work by using energy from the sun to excite electrons. The excited electrons jump from a lower energy level to a higher one, leaving behind a "hole" where the electron used to be. Solar cells use a semiconductor to pull an electron in one direction, and another material to pull the hole in the other direction. This flow of electron and hole in different directions leads to an electric current.
But it takes a certain minimum energy to fully separate the electron and the hole. The amount of energy required is specific to different materials and affects what color, or wavelength, of light the material best absorbs. Silicon is commonly used to make solar cells because the energy required to excite its electrons corresponds closely to the wavelength of visible light.
But solar cells made of a single material have a maximum efficiency of about 31 percent, a limitation of the fixed energy level they can absorb.
Quantum dot solar cells do not share this limitation and can in theory be far more efficient. The energy levels of electrons in quantum dot semiconductors depends on their size -- the smaller the quantum dot, the larger the energy needed to excite electrons to the next level.
So quantum dots can be tuned to absorb a certain wavelength of light just by changing their size. And they can be used to build more complex solar cells that have more than one size of quantum dot, allowing them to absorb multiple wavelengths of light.
Because of these advantages, Bent and her students have been investigating ways to improve the efficiency of quantum dot solar cells, along with associate Professor Michael McGehee of the department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Read More: New Technology for Cheaper, More Efficient Solar Cells
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Out of Mind, out of Sight: Blinking Eyes Indicate Mind Wandering
Cognitive neuroscientist Daniel Smilek, of the University of Waterloo, studies how people pay attention -- and don't. For this study, he was inspired by brain research that shows, when the mind wanders, the parts of the brain that process external goings-on are less active. "And we thought, OK, if that's the case, maybe we'd see that the body would start to do things to prevent the brain from receiving external information," Smilek says. "The simplest thing that might happen is you might close your eyes more."
So, Smilek and his colleagues, Jonathan S.A. Carriere and J. Allan Cheyne, also of the University of Waterloo, set out to look at how often people blink when their mind wanders.
Fifteen volunteers read a passage from a book on a computer. While they read, a sensor tracked their eye movements, including blinks and what word they were looking at. At random intervals, the computer beeped and the subjects reported whether they'd been paying attention to what they were reading or whether their minds were wandering -- which included thinking about earlier parts of the text.
Source Out of Mind, out of Sight: Blinking Eyes Indicate Mind Wandering
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Astronomers Release the Largest Color Image of the Sky Ever Made !!
This image provides opportunities for many new scientific discoveries in the years to come," exclaims Bob Nichol, a professor at the University of Portsmouth and Scientific Spokesperson for the SDSS-III collaboration.
The new image is at the heart of new data being released by the SDSS-III collaboration at 217th American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle. This new SDSS-III data release, along with the previous data releases that it builds upon, gives astronomers the most comprehensive view of the night sky ever made. SDSS data have already been used to discover nearly half a billion astronomical objects, including asteroids, stars, galaxies and distant quasars. The latest, most precise positions, colors and shapes for all these objects are also being released.This is one of the biggest bounties in the history of science," says Professor Mike Blanton from New York University, who is leading the data archive work in SDSS-III. Blanton and many other scientists have been working for months preparing the release of all this data. This data will be a legacy for the ages, explains Blanton, as previous ambitious sky surveys like the Palomar Sky Survey of the 1950s are still being used today. We expect the SDSS data to have that sort of shelf life," comments Blanton. The image was started in 1998 using what was then the worlds largest digital camera a 138-megapixel imaging detector on the back of a dedicated 2.5-meter telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, USA. Over the last decade, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has scanned a third of the whole sky. Now, this imaging camera is being retired, and will be part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian in recognition of its contributions to Astronomy.
Source Astronomers Release the Largest Color Image of the Sky Ever Made
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)