IBM’s Brain-Mimicking Silicon Chips

Didn’t these scientists ever watch Terminator or any other sci-fi movies where the computers gained sentience and proceeded to eliminate humanity?

When the computers rise up and rebel, we all have scientists at IBM to thank:

Each of IBM’s brain-mimicking silicon chips is a few square millimetresin size and holds a grid of 256 parallel wires that represent dendrites of computational “neurons” crossed at right angles by other wires standing in for axons. The “synapses” are 45-nanometretransistors connecting the criss-crossing wires and act as the chips’ memory; one chip has 262,144 of them and the other 65,536. Each electrical signal crossing a synapse consumes just 45 picajoules – a thousandth of what typical computer chips use. […]

In preliminary tests, the chips were able to play a game of Pong, control a virtual car on a racecourse and identify an image or digit drawn on a screen. These are all tasks computers have accomplished before, but the new chips managed to complete them without needing a specialised program for each task. The chips can also “learn” how to complete each task if trained.

[Source]

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Plasticine Tatooine: an Homage to Lesser Star Wars Characters [Pics]

Elliott Quince’s book and website, Plasticine Tattooine, are a “100% unofficial and completely made up collection of intergalactic nonsense featuring some of the more rubbish Star Wars characters sculpted lovingly from plasticine.” It’s an odd niche, to be sure, but one that seems perfect for developing a cult following. That is, if it’s any good. A (satirical) featured review from Quince’s site:

“I’m a big fan of books that feature C-List Star Wars characters made of children’s modelling material so imagine my disappointment when I found out that Play-Doh Dagobah was sold out. Plasticine Tatooine is OK I suppose”

Star Trek Mighty Wallets

The United Federation of Planets may not have any needs for cash in the 24th century, but until then – as Kirk said to his crew in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, “people still use money.”

But where would you put your (primitive) dollar bills? How about the Star Trek Mighty Wallets from the NeatoShop? The indestructible Tyvek wallets are not only geek-chic, they’re also recyclable and eco-friendly.

[$14.95 at the NeatoShop | More neat Star Trek stuff]

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It’sa Me, Maria! [Pics]

Check out deviant bluewolf487 (Beth T.)’s gender-swapping retake on Super Mario. I especially love princes Peach and Daisy (Pete and David?)

[technabob]

Calvin and Hobbes + Game of Thrones [Comic]

“Winter is Coming” by Joel Watson of HijiNKS ENSUE. Watson says he’s been thinking about how to put it together for some time:

I’ve been tossing this Calvin and Hobbes meets Game of Thrones idea around for a while.Originally it was going to be Calvin/Jon Snow and Hobbes/Sam standing atop the wall mirroring the dialog from the final Calvin And Hobbes strip, ending with “Let’s Go Exploring.” As I was doing research for reference images I came across the cover to the Attack… collection and realized it was basically already a scene out of GoT, complete with a White Walker and everything. So there you go. I hope you enjoy it.

Personally, I’d like to see the other concept, too.

[Neatorama]

How Addicted Are You to Your Mobile Phone? [Infographic]

Next time you’re out having dinner with your friends or loved ones, keep track of how long you can go without checking Facebook, Twitter or your email. Can you go the entire dinner without sneaking in a peek at your mobile phone under the table?

If not, then you’re addicted to mobile technology … and you’re not alone (iPhone users are especially addicted):

One-third of all respondents would be more willing to give up sex for a week than their mobile phone.

Of the respondents who indicated they would be more willing to give up sex than their mobile phone for a week, 70% were women.

54% of all respondents would be more willing to give up exercise for a week than their mobile phone.

So what about our guilty pleasures? 55% of respondents would be more willing to give up caffeine for a week than their mobile phone, 63% would be more willing to give up chocolate, and 70% would be willing to forego alcohol.

One in five respondents are more willing to go shoeless than phoneless for a week.

iPhone users (43%) were more likely to say they’d go a week without shoes than Android users (27%) or BlackBerry users (25%).

[Source | Via]

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Teenager Uses Fibonacci Sequence to Improve Solar Panels

How can we make solar panels work up to 50% better? Thirteen-year-old teenager named Aidan Dwyer discovered how trees use math in order to maximize photosynthesis, and thought that it could well be applied towards solar panels:

On a bleak winter hiking trip to the Catskill Mountains, the 7th-grader from New York noticed a pattern among tree branches, and determined (as naturalist Charles Bonnet did in 1754) that the pattern represented the Fibonacci sequence of numbers. Aidan wondered why, and figured it had something to do with photosynthesis.

In a pretty innovative experiment, this intrepid young scientist set about duplicating an oak tree, comparing its sunlight-capturing abilities to a traditional rooftop solar panel array. […] the short story is that his tree design generated much more electricity — especially during the winter solstice, when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky. At that point, the tree design generated 50 percent more power, without any adjustments to its declination angle.

He determined the tree’s Fibonacci pattern allowed some solar panels to collect sunlight even if others were in shade, and prevented branches on a tree from shading other branches.

[Source]

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