Touch screens that touch back, head freezing meme, skype 3G, and much more geek news of the week.
“Evidence published a decade ago, giving birth to the belief of a connection between vaccines and autism, has been deemed outright ‘fraudulent,’ according to an editorial published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal.”
The [American Academy of Pediatrics|http://www.aap.org/] has compiled [a list of studies on vaccines|http://www.aap.org/immunization/families/faq/vaccinestudies.pdf] for you to learn more in detail about the medicine involved.
Weirdest Meme Ever? Google this number: 241543903, then click images
We’ve talked about this for a few days now, and it appears that it’s starting to become official. The latest update of Skype for iPhone shows a couple of great improvements that iPhone users have been waiting to see.
In this digital age, our fingers have learned to love touch screens. They provide an easy, intuitive way to navigate our devices to make them do our bidding. But so far, our fingers haven’t felt any love in return. All glass screens feel the same — they take, but as far as the sensory experience goes, they don’t give back.
The closest you get to finger feedback with most touch screens today comes from mechanical actuators that vibrate the screen when your fingers touch it. You feel a slight vibration, but nothing more.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Flickering ceiling lights are usually a nuisance, but in city offices in St. Cloud, they will actually be a pathway to the Internet.
The lights will transmit data to specially equipped computers on desks below by flickering faster than the eye can see. Ultimately, the technique could ease wireless congestion by opening up new expressways for short-range communications.
The first few light fixtures built by LVX System, a local startup, will be installed Wednesday in six municipal buildings in this city of 66,000 in the snowy farm fields of central Minnesota.
The LVX system puts clusters of its light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, in a standard-sized light fixture. The LEDs transmit coded messages — as a series of 1s and 0s in computer speak — to special modems attached to computers.
A light on the modem talks back to the fixture overhead, where there is sensor to receive the return signal and transmit the data over the Internet. Those computers on the desks aren’t connected to the Internet, except through these light signals, much as Wi-Fi allows people to connect wirelessly.
“Nick Pack, a UK based developer who proudly calls himself a warranty voiding expert has managed to port Gingerbread aka Android 2.3 on to a jailbroken iPhone 3G.”
“A member of parliament in Iceland who is also a former WikiLeaks volunteer says the US justice department has ordered Twitter to hand over her private messages.”
“California’s SB 1411, which adds a layer of criminal and civil penalties for certain online impersonations, goes into effect starting today. The consequences include a fine of up to $1,000, and/ or up to a year in jail. So don’t go and do something crazy like impersonate Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Facebook. There may be consequences.”
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