Last minute geek

1. Microsoft is back at it with new touch-less input patent
(English/Neowin)

Years after the cancellation of its efforts for a "3D touch" smartphone, Microsoft has obtained a new patent for a technology that could sense and track a user's body without actual touch input. Read ...

2. The Queen’s Nazi shame, JonBenet’s killer found, and Owen Wilson’s baby mama revealed, in this week’s dubious tabloids
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... the excellent advice given by “America’s Top Psychic Healer” Tony Leggett, to the reader in the ‘National Examiner’ who writes: “Dear Tony: I see evil spirits and can’t sleep. They touch me, too. Do you ...

3. Scientists reprogram T Cells to target autoimmune diseases
(English/engadget)

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco have uncovered a gene-editing technique which could provide safer treatments for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. The breakthrough ...

4. NAND the beat goes on: Samsung to fling out 96-layer 3D NAND chip
(English/TheRegister)

QLC will take SSD capacity to another level Samsung has added another regiment to its fast disk destruction army, announcing 90+ layer 3D-NAND chip manufacturing, with 1Tbit and QLC (4-level cell) chips ...

5. Autobus elettrici: Mercedes presenta eCitaro
(Italiano/Ecoblog)

Il Gruppo Daimler ha presentato ieri a Francoforte in anteprima mondiale il suo autobus elettrico eCitaro. Un mezzo 100% a batteria che, però, ha già in mente l'integrazione delle celle di... Read all ...

6. This device lets me work in mosquito-free bliss
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... I’ve killed 12 of the buggers since I sat down to work, just over an hour ago. On days like this, I break out my Thermacell and set it up inside. A Thermacell is a device (they pack the technology into ...

7. Facebook, addio al drone elicottero Tether-tenna
(Italiano/webnews)

Dopo Aquila, Facebook sospende anche Tether-tenna, il drone elicottero che avrebbe dovuto portare il servizio cellulare in situazioni di emergenza. The post Facebook, addio al drone elicottero Tether-tenna ...

8. Surface Andromeda potrebbe non essere davvero morto
(Italiano/GadgetBlog)

In questi giorni si sono rincorse molte voci sul futuro del Surface Andromeda e sulla possibilità che Microsoft avesse deciso di cancellare il progetto. In origine, questo innovativo dispositivo... Read ...

9. How to assess The Federalist Papers' authorship with statistics
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... with the nearest mean, serving as a prototype of the cluster. This results in a partitioning of the data space into Voronoi cells. For our example we’ll have 68 observations (papers) into 2 clusters (2 ...

10. Cancelled in Crawley? At least your train has free Wi-Fi now, right?
(English/TheRegister)

Why your connection is as slow as the service itself Wi-Fi has been creeping its way on to UK trains over the last few years as the government seeks to deal with the issue of mobile dead-zones by getting ...

11. Tired sysadmin plugged cable into wrong port, unleashed a 'virus'
(English/TheRegister)

And then his colleagues pulled an all-nighter failing to fix it Who, me?  Welcome once more to “Who, me?”, in which Reg readers ‘fess up to messes they made in the pursuit of IT excellence.… Read all ...

12. Surface Andromeda, i fan di Microsoft lo vogliono
(Italiano/webnews)

Una petizione chiede che Microsoft non cancelli il progetto del Surface Andromeda, l'innovativo dispositivo mobile caratterizzato da un doppio schermo. The post Surface Andromeda, i fan di Microsoft lo ...

13. What’s old is new again in this week’s fact-challenged tabloids
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... of Scott Peterson,’ in 2008, claiming he admitted the killing during visits to his San Quentin prison cell. It’s also the same claim made a year later by Peterson’s cellmate, James Soares, who was the ...

14. And in current affairs: Rogue raccoon blacks out city power grid after shocking misstep
(English/TheRegister)

Bright spark trash panda wanders into substation – watt happened next is electrifying Folks relying on mains-powered alarm clocks had an excellent excuse for turning up late for work on Friday in Seattle ...

15. Charter's mobile plans also limit your mobile data usage
(English/Neowin)

Following in Comcast's footsteps, Charter's new mobile plans also limit your usage of mobile data, but the company won't even provide the option to get HD video over the cellular network. Read more... ...

16. The Overlook Hotel: A "sequel" to The Shining
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

The Overlook Hotel is a deeply creepy and strange "sequel" to The Shining made entirely from clips from myriad horror films. Directed by Antonio Maria Da Silva who is best known for the excellent edit ...

17. Police called on state representative for canvassing while black
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... resident thought she was acting suspiciously "going door to door and spending a lot of time typing on (her) cell phone after each house." She praised the deputy who responded for being professional, ...

18. Your Samsung smartphone is sharing photos without your permission
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Do you own a Samsung smartphone? Do you take photos with said phone? Congratulations, there’s an excellent chance that your handset is randomly firing off those pictures you’ve snapped to folks on your ...

19. Study: HPV tests more effective at finding precancerous cells in women than a pap smear
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... papillomavirus (HPV,) instead of simply screening for abnormal cells, can be a whole lot more effective at determining whether a woman is at risk of developing cervical cancer. The real kicker here is ...

20. The EU's looming copyright disaster, explained by a progressive computer scientist
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Ray Corrigan (previously), a campaigning computer scientist at the UK's Open University, has an excellent explainer on the EU's disastrous copyright directive on the progressive academic group blog Crooked ...

21. DIY Li-ion Capacity Tester !
(English/instructables)

When it comes to building the battery packs, Li-ion cells are one of the best choices without the doubt. But if you get them from old laptop batteries then you might want to do a capacity test before building ...

22. Classic WTF: Common Sense Not Found
(English/WTF)

... Just have him fill out a service request and I’ll deploy it.” “Excellent! Thank you!” Bill jumped up with pleasant surprise, and left the cube. A few days later, Mike was completely unsurprised ...

23. Cuban "Technological Sovereignty" - a Walled Garden Strategy?
(English/CircleID)

... but I want to add two miscellaneous tidbits — kind of a PS: 1. If you go to the Internet portal of Cuba's intranet, you see links to toDus and Apklis. Both are broken, but the Apklis link is to ...

24. The Martian is $3 in the Kindle edition today
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Andy Weir's excellent book, The Martian, about a Robinson Crusoe on Mars, is available today on Kindle for just $3. Read all  ...

25. Bankrupt Aussie Hells Angel scoops £750k lottery jackpot
(English/TheRegister)

From a remand prison cell, no less A bankrupt and imprisoned Australian Hells Angel has somehow won a million-dollar lottery ticket.… Read all  ...