Software
With eight days of his already successful Kickstarter campaign still remaining, John O'Nolan has cited the uncertainty surrounding Yahoo's newly-announced US$1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr as a reason to back his open source, non-profit blogging platform, Ghost. Read More
Is it possible to measure people’s levels of happiness based on the online data they produce? The team behind Hedonometer thinks so. Conceived by Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth at the University of Vermont’s Computational Story Lab, the software powering the platform, which recently went live, not only measures human happiness but does it in real time, too. Read More
Imagine the wealth of knowledge we could uncover if it was possible to travel back in time and re-construct ancient languages. While that’s impossible right now, scientists at UC Berkley and the University of British Columbia reckon they’ve managed the next-best thing, by developing new software which uncovers existing fragments of “proto-languages” from languages still in use. Read More
Scientists at VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland have developed new software called PredictAD that could significantly boost the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Read More
Researchers at North Caroline State University have come up with a new tool to speed up public Wi-Fi hotspots. The researchers say that WiFox software can improve data throughput by up to 700 percent and could be packaged as an update to existing networks. Read More
Online shopping has made buying clothes more convenient, but the need to guess the correct size still remains. This leads to returns, frustration, and wasted resources. Research conducted by the London College of Fashion and the University of Surrey, with additional help from some specialists, aims to tackle this issue with new 3D body mapping technology designed for use at home. Read More
New software improves measurement of greenhouse gas emissions
As the old adage goes, knowledge is power. Following this principle, Arizona State University researchers have developed a computer program called Hestia, that is capable of estimating the greenhouse gas emissions of specific roads and even buildings. With its high level level of detail and accuracy, the software can help cities make more precise calculations about their GHG footprint as well as more informed decisions related to carbon mitigation efforts. Read More
Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can make a huge difference in the management of the disease, and this can be achieved by making testing procedures more easily accessible. For that reason, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers led by Ellen Yi-Luen Do have created a digital version of the Clock Drawing Test commonly used to detect cognitive impairment. The two-part evaluation does away with the paper and makes it easier for patients to get tested, besides giving doctors a more sophisticated tool for making assessments. Read More
While it has taken longer than some anticipated, cloud computing is finally coming of age and whether you have a business, creative or gaming focus, there’s a cloud-based option for just about any application you can think of. Researchers in China are now aiming to go one step further and take the operating system (OS) to the cloud with TransOS, a cross-platform, cloud-based OS. Read More
Loathe it as we do, the captcha goes a long way to preventing websites from being inundated with spam comments produced by nefarious software. However, there’s room for improvement, and rather than tasking a user with a series of random words which must be entered in order to be allowed to comment on a website, the Civil Rights Captcha employs an empathy test to measure whether you pass muster. Read More
