We are proud to announce a new release of Blend4Web, an open source framework for creating interactive 3D web content. In this release you'll find: new features in the project manager, new logic nodes, improved anti-aliasing and support for textures of any size. How the new Play Sound node works is demonstrated in this musical [...]
The post Blend4Web 15.10 adds new logic nodes, better anti-aliasing and more appeared first on BlenderNation.
Neo4j graph NoSQL database team launches open source graph query language called openCypher. Neo Technology, the company behind the graph database, announced last week at GraphConnect Conference, the launch of the open source project that will be available to technology providers as a common language for querying graph data.
Never let it be said that Google doesn't like throw weird ideas at the wall and see what sticks. Take the quietly-released "Who's Down" Android app that just hit the Google Play store, for example. It's an invite-only app that simply shows you whether you're "down" to hang out -- presumably, once you have confirmed that you are indeed "down," your friends nearby will see that status and include you in whatever wonderful activities they have planned.
Via: 9to5Google
Source: Google Play Store
Astronomers at Germany's Ruhr-Universitat Bochum have unveiled the largest space map ever compiled on Friday. The image is composited from some 268 individual shots captured over the past five years and spans a staggering 46 billion pixels. That's 855,000 by 54,000 pixels. "If you would want to display this in full resolution on full HD TV screens, you would need more than 22,000 screens," Moritz Hackstein, a PhD candidate who conducted the survey as part of his thesis, told CBS News.
Via: CBS News
Source: Ruhr-Universitat Bochum
Nicolas Bevacqua summarises everything ES6 with an invaluable list of each new feature and links to find more info about them:
My ES6 in Depth series consists of 24 articles covering most syntax changes and features coming in ES6. This article aims to summarize all of those, providing you with practical insight into most of ES6, so that you can quickly get started. I’ve also linked to the articles in ES6 in Depth so that you can easily go deeper …
ES6 Overview in 350 Bullet Points is a post from CSS-Tricks
So you’ve come up with a great idea and now you’re thinking about starting a crowdfunding campaign – and why not, all the cool kids are doing it. Now, let’s say you already have a working prototype, or maybe you even built a small run for friends online. You’ve made 10 here, or 20 there. Sure it took some time, but making 1000, or 10,000 would be so much easier once you get all the orders in, right? Wrong.
Before you even think of setting up something like a Kickstarter, we would like to invite you to have a seat …read more
Nora, a Kickstarter project, hopes to help you curb your snoring . The Nora system consists of a smooth "pebble-shaped" wireless mic that sits on your bedside table, a mini pump that's located beneath the bed, and a hose-connected flat rectangular padded bladder that's inserted between your pillow and pillow case. When the mic detects the sound of snoring, it activates the pump. It, in turn, quietly inflates the bladder. This causes your head to subtly change position, which stimulates and thus tightens your upper throat muscles – it is these muscles that typically cause snoring when they relax, collapse and constrict your airways. As a result of those muscles firming back up, you reportedly stop snoring, without awakening. "Nora is sleek pebble-shaped device that sits on the bedside table and listens for snoring sounds. Once it detects the sound, Nora stops the snoring by slightly moving your head through a padded pillow insert that sits under your pillow."To get one, you’ll have to pledge $179 to the company’s Kickstarter, and expect to receive your product in May 2016...(Read...)
Mattermost is an open source, self-hosted Slack-alternative that offers modern communication from behind your firewall. We built it so users have a practical option for avoiding lock-in from proprietary SaaS services. Mattermost is designed to be Slack-compatible (but not Slack-limited). That means we help users move over from Slack, but without limiting Mattermost to another […]
The post Mattermost – Open Source Slack Alternative appeared first on WebAppers.
Professional Web Icons for Your Websites and Applications
BMW unveiled the 365 HP M2, the car features a 365-hp, 3.0L six-cylinder with BMW's TwinPower turbo system, from 0-60 in just 4.2 seconds. Other features include an Active M differential, Nurburgring-tested high performance brakes, integrated launch control, a race-ready M Dynamic mode, and there's even a GoPro app that lets you record your laps when connected to a camera...(Read...)
We're revisiting our favorite critters, from the deeply unsettling to the funny-looking to the cutest darn things you've ever seen.
The post Absurd Creature of the Week’s Cutest Critters Ever appeared first on WIRED.
Those rumors of Uber launching a general-purpose delivery service, rather than the niche options it had before? They're true. Meet UberRush, an option that lets you order most anything from local shops and get it in a matter of minutes. Theoretically, this eliminates the need to run out whenever you need something -- you just ask a courier to do it for you. Stores have to sign up for this to work (and use a common online shopping platform like ChowNow or Shopify), but there are already "hundreds" of them ready to go. The main catch? Right now, UberRush is only available in Chicago, New York City and San Francisco. You may have to wait longer before these rapid-fire deliveries are available in other cities and countries.
Source: Uber Newsroom
Una serie speciale con la potenza di una Formula 1: 780 Cv. La casa di Maranello stupisce ancora: costa 350 mila euro e scatta da 0 a 100 in 2,9 secondi - FOTO
Artificial intelligence was one of the biggest topics during Stephen Hawking's Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) earlier this year. So it's not too surprising that Hawking used up a significant portion of his answers to that Q&A session, released by Reddit yesterday, by clarifying his stance on dangerous artificial intelligence. "The real risk with AI isn't malice but competence," he wrote to a teacher who's tired of having the "The Terminator Conversation" with his students -- that is, explaining away the notion that evil, killer robots will be the main danger with AI. "A superintelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals aren't aligned with ours, we're in trouble." Hawking previously warned that AI could "spell the end of the human race," and he also joined Elon Musk and other notable technologists to call for a ban on autonomous weapons.
While it's a bit less exciting than robots bent on destroying humanity, Hawking's reasoning is no less worrisome. The idea that the equivalent of an AI software bug could eventually have world-changing implications isn't exactly reassuring.
"You're probably not an evil ant-hater who steps on ants out of malice, but if you're in charge of a hydroelectric green energy project and there's an anthill in the region to be flooded, too bad for the ants," Hawking added. "Let's not place humanity in the position of those ants."
Responding to another question about when AI will reach human levels of intelligence, Hawking stressed that we don't really know when that will happen. But, he noted, "When it eventually does occur, it's likely to be either the best or worst thing ever to happen to humanity, so there's huge value in getting it right." To that end, he calls for being more careful about how we develop AI. Rather than just exploring "pure undirected artificial intelligence," we should instead be focusing on creating "beneficial intelligence."
Hawking also noted that an evolved AI will be able to have drives or goals similar to living organisms. But where living creatures focus on surviving and reproducing, he notes that AI could be driven to collect more resources to fulfill its goals, citing scientist Steve Omohundro. And once again, that could spell trouble if it's taking away resources for humans.
Pointing to a slightly more pressing issue, one Redditor asked Hawking about his thoughts on technological unemployment -- especially around the idea that we might one day reach a point where most tasks are automated, and most humans are out of work. Hawking described commonly-discussed scenarios: One where most people can live a slightly more luxurious life, if the resources produced by the machines are shared. And another where most people end up "miserably poor" and the rich people who own those machines end up consolidating wealth. At this point, Hawking sees things trending towards the second reality.
On the lighter end of things, we also learned that Hawking's favorite movie is Truffaut's Jules and Jim, and that he somehow finds The Big Bang Theory funny. Perhaps the funniest takeaway: When one Redditor asked if Hawking remembered briefly watching Wayne's World 2 at a Cambridge video store, Hawking replied with a resounding, "NO."
[Photo credit: Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images]
Source: Reddit
For ages, Polyphony Digital has been promising a Gran Turismo 6 track editor that lets you build the race course of your dreams. Well, it's finally here... if not quite in the form you might have expected. Download the Track Path Editor app for Android and iOS and you can design circuits for the PlayStation 3 sim on your tablet. It's not so detailed that you'll recreate every nuance of your local raceway, but you can trace paths with your finger, choose themes and add scenery. Think of it as a way to extend the life of GT6 beyond the occasional new concept car -- you don't have to settle for driving on Autumn Ring or Brands Hatch for the hundredth time.
Source: Gran Turismo, Google Play, App Store
RapidDisk is an advanced Linux RAM Disk which consists of a collection of modules and an administration tool. Features include: Dynamically allocate RAM as block device. Use them as stand alone disk drives or even map them as caching nodes to slower local disk drives.
I pushed 3.4 into the mainline earlier this morning. Changes include:
Amazon is rolling out open-source Elasticsearch for consumers of its mega cloud.
The giant has launched Amazon Elasticsearch Service (Amazon ES), adding another NoSQL-based big-data analytics and query option.
The idea is to let you load, process and analyse unstructured data.
Source: Behnaz Farahi
