In the quest to map the brain, many scientists have attempted the incredibly daunting task of recording the activity of each neuron. Gero Miesenboeck works backward — manipulating specific neurons to figure out exactly what they do, through a series of stunning experiments that reengineer the way fruit flies perceive light.
Officials Turn Down Hologram World Cup
A Japanese bid to bring the football World Cup to stadiums around the world via holograms has been rejected.
Soccer’s governing body FIFA today announced that the 2022 finals will take place in Qatar. Japan was one of the bids for that tournament that reached the final vote.
As part of a presentation to voters, Junji Ogura, who led the Japanese bid, promised that matches would be relayed live from the original stadium to arenas worldwide. Each game would be filmed with 200 cameras, with the resulting images beamed onto special 3D holographic screens on the pitch in each arena.
While Howard Stringer, the chairman of Sony, said the proposal was “not science fiction — it’s science fact”, other technology experts seemed sceptical such a system could be ready within 12 years. The most common take is that the concept itself would work, but without 3D glasses it would be difficult to set up suitable viewing positions for thousands of spectators. Even if that were possible, it would require crowd members to remain in one position and not move their heads, something that would be tricky enough for 90 minutes but would be almost impossible once you add in excited reactions to events in the game.
Another Japanese proposal was to give fans handheld devices that allowed them to talk to other spectators around the world using automated translation. That’s another idea where the principle seems feasible, but the sheer logistics of dealing with millions of people might be trickier.
The winning Qatar bid isn’t quite so futuristic, but has some appeal to engineering geeks. Given the climate in the region, the idea is to build “carbon-neutral” stadia that are powered via solar panels, with some of the electricity used for much needed air conditioning.
Meanwhile, because the small country won’t need 12 large capacity stadia after the tournament, it plans to build modular arenas. After the event, the upper tiers will be removed, disassembled, and shipped to developing nations where they will be reformed as single-tier stadia.
Featured Short Film: The Arctic Circle of Greed
An Arctic inhabitant is fascinated by the sudden appearance of a mysterious box.
Paper jams, security problems, user error… What are the biggest annoyances about managing printing problems at the office?
As a Sysadmin and do-it-all kind of IT guy, I unfortunately still have to manage printers at the office on a daily basis. And the one thing that probably annoys me the most about managing printers is the user factor. How many time do I get called to fix paper jam issues, or just to troubleshoot a job that doesn’t come out because the user chose the wrong paper format? These thing happen daily, even though we, noble IT staff, try to teach administrative clones how to solve these issues themselves.
But what about you guys? What are the biggest annoyances you face when managing printing problems at the office? Paper jams? Security problems? User errors? We’d love to hear all about YOUR problems, so be sure to let us know about them in the comments section below!
Jogging + Juggling = Cure For Cancer
During the 2008 race for the cure, Jason Tan of Team Catch it Early, had heard of “Joggling” which mixes the already difficult task of juggling with jogging and decided that for the race he would Joggle to raise money to fight cancer. I salute his dexterity, and hope he doesn’t try it with knives anytime soon.
TMNT Argue Over Pizza [Video]
[Via Dorkly]
Harry Potter Dog Cosplay [Pics]
Yeah, I know, this is a very sorry excuse for a post, but what the heck, who here doesn’t love dogs AND Harry Potter?
Hit the jump for the rest of the pictures.
Harry Potter Toilet Seat and Cover [Pic]
AWESOME: Kinetic Typography Animation [Video]
Quick, everybody check this awesome kinetic typography animation featuring Jonathan Coulton’s Shop Vac song before it gets taken down for trademark abuse!
[Via Reddit]
What happens to an employee’s digital files when they leave the company? What about yours – do you take yours with you?
Today dear readers, we’ve got a quick question to ask you: What happens to an employee’s digital files when they leave the company where you work at? What about yours – do you take yours with you?
We’d love to hear all about it, so be sure to let us know by leaving a comment in the comments section below. This post is part of an experiment we’re doing with a few blogs and the Six Apart community, so we’d really appreciate your participation. Thanks!