India’s Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad recently used an HIV-prevention conference to say that homosexuality is a Western-imported disease that’s spreading rapidly in India. Oh great. This should do wonders for the country’s gay population. So how is Azad making up for his comment? By denying he said it. CONTINUED » Permalink | Post a comment | Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Queerty Discovery Date : 05/07/2011 18:11 Number of articles : 3
Continue reading …Prototype glasses use video cameras, face recognition to help people with limited vision
July 6, 2011 No Comment
We won’t lie: we love us a heartwarming story about scientists using run-of-the-mill tech to help people with disabilities, especially when the results are decidedly bionic . Today’s tale centers on a team of Oxford researchers developing sensor-laden glasses capable of displaying key information to people with poor (read: nearly eroded) vision. The frames, on display at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, have cameras mounted on the edges, while the lenses are studded with lights — a setup that allows people suffering from macular degeneration and other conditions to see a simplified version of their surroundings, up close. And the best part, really, is that the glasses cull that data using garden-variety technology such as face detection, tracking software, position detectors, and depth sensors — precisely the kind of tech you’d expect to find in handsets and gaming systems. Meanwhile, all of the processing required to recognize objects happens in a smartphone-esque computer that could easily fit inside a pocket. And while those frames won’t exactly look like normal glasses, they’d still be see-through, allowing for eye contact. Team leader Stephen Hicks admits that vision-impaired people will have to get used to receiving all these flashes of information, but when they do, they might be able to assign different colors to people and objects, and read barcodes and newspaper headlines. It’ll be awhile before scientists cross that bridge, though — while the researchers estimate the glasses could one day cost
Continue reading …An iPhone app designed to track down Taliban positions and call in covering fire if necessary is being offered for sale on iTunes. US Army captain Jonathan Springer says he came up with the idea for the app—which is being marketed to hikers as well as soldiers—after two…
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(Video Link) My favorite thing about this video is how relaxed the one on the left looks, while the one on the right is so excited to be alive. Via Laughing Squid Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Neatorama Discovery Date : 01/07/2011 16:05 Number of articles : 5
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Eight former officers accused of conspiring to pervert course of justice after wrongful convictions The case against eight former police officers accused of conspiring to “mould, manipulate, influence and fabricate evidence” after the murder of a woman who was working as a prostitute has been opened. One of the former officers is also charged with lying under oath during the trials of five men who were accused of murdering Lynette White in Cardiff in 1988. Two civilians are also in the dock at Swansea crown court accused of lying during those trials. The case, which is believed to be the biggest trial of police officers in British legal history, could last six months. White, 20, was stabbed to death at a flat in the docks area of Cardiff in February 1988. Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi and Tony Paris were convicted of her murder in 1990 but freed on appeal in 1992. Two other men, cousins Ronnie and John Actie, were acquitted. The former police officers, Graham Mouncher, Richard Powell, Thomas Page, Michael Daniels, Paul Jennings, Paul Stephen, Peter Greenwood and John Seaford, deny conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Mouncher, a former detective inspector, also denies two charges of perjury. The two civilians, Violet Perriam and Ian Massey, each deny two charges of perjury. According to the charge sheet read out to the jury, the eight former officers made up evidence “relevant to the investigation of the murder of Lynette White” and the “alleged culpability” of the five men arrested over the killing. Perriam is accused of falsely claiming that she saw John Actie and others at or near the scene of the murder. Massey is alleged to have falsely claimed that Tony Paris had confessed to involvement in White’s murder. Mouncher allegedly lied in court about offering to assist Massey with parole as an inducement. After the jury was sworn in, the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, warned it not to take notice of media reporting of the current trial or historic ones. He also told them not to talk about the case with their family or with anyone else via Facebook or Twitter. Nick Dean QC, prosecuting, said aspects of the case were unusual and complex. He told the jury that a trial of four others accused of conspiring to pervert the course of justice was likely to follow this one. It had not been possible to try them at the same time for practical reasons. The trial continues. Crime Police Wales Cardiff Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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News of the World publisher seeks to defuse row by claiming editor was in Italy at time teenager’s mobile phone was hacked News International is planning to relieve the pressure on its beleaguered chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, by claiming she was on holiday when a mobile phone belonging to Milly Dowler was hacked into in 2002 by the News of the World, the paper she edited at the time. The Guardian understands that the company has established that Brooks, News of the World editor from May 2000 until January 2003, was on holiday in Italy when the paper ran a story which referred to a message that had been left on the teenager’s phone. The article, which was about a message left by an employment agency on the murdered schoolgirl’s mobile, was published on 14 April 2002. News International also believes Brooks was away in the two weeks following the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham. It is thought that mobile phones belonging to the parents of the two girls were targeted in the days following their death. That is likely to focus attention on Andy Coulson, who was Brook’s deputy at the time, and would normally have edited the paper in her absence. Coulson replaced Brooks as editor in early 2003 and has always maintained that he was unaware of any phone-hacking activity by the News of the World. News International declined to comment. On Tuesday night it passed a file to Scotland Yard which is thought to contain evidence that Coulson sanctioned payments to police officers. Coulson resigned as News of the World editor in January 2007, after Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for intercepting the voicemail messages of members of the royal household, saying he accepted responsibility for what had happened but knew nothing about it. He resigned again as Cameron’s director of communications in January this year, maintaining that he was unaware of phone hacking by the News of the World but saying continuing coverage of the scandal “has made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role” . News International is also investigating whether any News of the World journalists took cash that was meant to be paid to police officers in exchange for tip-offs and stories, and pocketing some of it themselves. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News International News of the World Andy Coulson Rebekah Brooks James Robinson guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Kathy Griffin to Michele Bachmann: Were You Born A Bigot Or Did You Grow Into It?
July 6, 2011 No CommentNow, Kathy Griffin’s telling a few different versions of this story, so we don’t know if it’s literal. But I think we can assume that something close to this did actually happen, and if it did, good for her! Kathy Griffin had the extreme pleasure of bumping into Michele Bachmann at a political event; the two ladies recognized one another and when they started to speak an assistant filmed the exchange, supposedly for Bachmann’s website. Kathy, always on top of her game, decided to ask the tea party princess if she’d attend a rally to repeal DADT — and when Bachmann said no, Griffin followed up with, “Were you born a bigot or did you grow into one?” Boom.
Continue reading …Perhaps the French shouldn’t start popping their corks just yet for Dominique Strauss-Kahn. It turns out the hotel maid’s account of a sexual assault by the former head of the IMF was very convincing, and the only inconsistencies in her story concerned what happened afterward, reports the New York Times…
Continue reading …He’s baaaaack …. White supremacist David Duke is considering throwing his pointy hat into the ring for the Republican presidential nomination, according to the Daily Beast . The former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and Louisiana lawmaker, who has been living in Europe in recent years, is reportedly planning a 25-state tour…
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Last week, Microsoft quietly confirmed that cloud data stored on its European servers can still be handed over to American investigators — and the EU is none too pleased about it. As it turns out, the revelation has shed new light on a fundamental conflict between US law and the EU’s Data Protection Directive — an edict requiring that companies notify consumers whenever sharing their personal information. The bi-lateral Safe Harbor agreement calls for similarly strict protocol, but under the Patriot Act (which trumps all else), companies like Microsoft could be forced to hand over private data without informing targeted individuals. In response, some members of the European Parliament are calling upon legislators to take action and to implement safeguards that can’t be overridden by third-party governments. It remains to be seen whether or not this leads to any new laws or transatlantic tensions, but if we’ve learned anything, it’s that Europeans take their clouds very seriously . Microsoft’s Patriot Act admission has the EU up in arms originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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