It would be hard to describe a bullet as smart, but what if that bullet was laser-guided, radio-controlled, and carried an onboard targeting CPU? The US Army has announced the creation of the XM25 rifle, which can fire a new type of explosive round that fit that exact description. Imagine the implications: hitting targets inside buildings or hiding around walls. Whoa.

First, the scope on the rifle has a laser that gauges the distance to the target. The soldier can set exactly where the 25-millimeter bullet will detonate by adding or subtracting 3 meters from that point. Then, the scope will send a radio signal to a chip inside the bullet telling it how far it should travel before exploding.

Now, here’s where things get truly nuts: Each bullet has a small magnetic transducer that interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field, generating a tiny alternating current every time it spins as it speeds toward the target. Measured against the gun’s specially calibrated rifling, this means the bullet can keep track of how far it has traveled in real time. Whoa, again.

The Army has proposed the uses can range from hitting enemies hidden in trenches (as pictured above), or even hitting a sniper hiding in a building by setting the range about a meter beyond the window. They are also proposed as a smarter alternative to grenade launchers, which can serve the same purpose but be less accurate and have limited range, making them more prone to collateral damage.

The Army will begin field tests with the XM25 system soon, with hopes of deploying it into regular duty by 2012.

The end of the rainbow!

Several readers at OCregister have said in the Comments section that they think this image was PhotoShopped. Nick: But it appears that this image is genuine. I have now had it reviewed by 7 people — 3 veteran photographers, a top-notch graphic designer who specializes in PhotoShop,m and 3 meteorologists at the National Weather Service. We also uploaded the image to Flickr and checked the lat/long of the image, which was taken with an iPhone. The info box says the photo was taken where the reader said it was taken. And the info text says the photo was not manipulated.

The photo was reviewed by: photographers Jebb Harris, Michele Cardon and Nick Koon, graphic artist Rick Ho, and meteorologists Mark Moede, Stefanie Sullivan and Brandt Maxwell. I’m stating these names for transparency.

Playing a certain type of music can enhance the way wine tastes, research by psychologists suggests.

The Heriot Watt University study found people rated the change in taste by up to 60% depending on the melody heard. The researchers said cabernet sauvignon was most affected by “powerful and heavy” music, and chardonnay by “zingy and refreshing” sounds. Professor Adrian North said the study could lead retailers to put music recommendations on their wine bottles.

The research involved 250 students at the university who were offered a free glass of wine in exchange for their views.

Brain theory

Four types of music were played – Carmina Burana by Orff (“powerful and heavy”), Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky (“subtle and refined”), Just Can’t Get Enough by Nouvelle Vague (“zingy and refreshing”) and Slow Breakdown by Michael Brook (“mellow and soft”)

The white wine was rated 40% more zingy and refreshing when that music was played, but only 26% more mellow and soft when music in that category was heard.

The red was altered 25% by mellow and fresh music, yet 60% by powerful and heavy music.

The results were put down to “cognitive priming theory”, where the music sets up the brain to respond to the wine in a certain way.

“Wine manufacturers could recommend that while drinking a certain wine, you should listen to a certain sort of music,” Prof North said.

The research was carried out for Chilean winemaker Aurelio Montes, who plays monastic chants to his maturing wines.

Mr Montes said: “It was therefore a natural extension to link with Heriot Watt and to scientifically determine the impact that music has on how wine tastes.”

Previously, Professor North conducted supermarket research which suggested people were five times more likely to buy French wine than German wine if accordion music was played in the background.

If an oompah band was played, the German product outsold the French by two to one.

MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS

Cabernet Sauvignon: All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix), Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones), Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney and Wings), Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who)

Chardonnay: Atomic (Blondie), Rock DJ (Robbie Williams), What’s Love Got To Do With It (Tina Turner), Spinning Around (Kylie Minogue)

Syrah: Nessun Dorma (Puccini), Orinoco Flow (Enya), Chariots Of Fire (Vangelis), Canon (Johann Pachelbel)

Merlot: Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding), Easy (Lionel Ritchie), Over The Rainbow (Eva Cassidy), Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez)

Source: Montes wines

The reality is that most handset vendors – particularly Nokia, Samsung and LG, have been getting much slicker at ‘locking’ GSM handsets into the particular network which supplied the mobile in the first place.

That can prove quite frustrating especially given that UK network operators, for example, are locking their post-paying customers into 18 month contracts. So you can’t easily take your new phone to a new network.

See the full article here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/05/13/easy-peazy-handset-unlocking

Cool robotic dog news from PCPRo

Boston Dynamics' project to create "a robot with animal-like strength, speed and mobility" seems to be firmly on track judging by an astounding new video demonstration.

The company was contracted by the US Department of Defense with the aim of creating a quadruped pack-robot capable of carrying a soldier's kit into battle, while traversing rough terrain including slopes of up to 45 degrees.

Earlier videos of "Big Dog" showed a Star Wars cast-off trundling across various flat terrain, but the latest video indicates the team is making good use of its $10 million Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) award. The robot now appears eerily lifelike, bouncing along like a demented Bambi, its legs splaying and bending as it slips on ice.

Its movement looks so real that we actually sympathised with the robot when a researcher kicked it over to demonstrate how it regains its balance.

According to Boston Dynamics the new version of the robot can carry 154kg, triple its previous load. Sadly though, there's no word yet on when Big Dog will be carrying ammunition into battle, let alone when we'll each have one to carry our shopping home.

•     In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update (in English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese) and to the download center on microsoft.com.  Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1. If Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1.  Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download center will allow anyone who wants to install SP1 to do so.

•     In mid-April, we will begin delivering Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista customers who have chosen to have updates downloaded automatically.  That said, any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically.  As updates for these drivers become available, they will be installed automatically by Windows Update, which will unblock these systems from getting Service Pack 1.  The result is that more and more systems will automatically get SP1, but only when we are confident they will have a good experience.

•     The remaining languages will RTM in April.

Lets hope we get some big improvements from this.