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Sometimes even a four-inch smartphone screen may not seem enough. If so, would 200 inches do?
The iPower Sight can ? according to the manufacturer, iPowerUp ? take what is on your phone, tablet or computer screen and enlarge it, projecting an image up to 200 diagonal inches from a device that is itself pocket-size.
Both measures may be a shade optimistic. No doubt the projector is small, at about 4 by 4 by ? of an inch and just over three ounces, but you would still need a pretty big pocket. And while it can project a focused image at up to 200 inches, you wouldn?t want to do that unless you had a completely darkened room and a nicely reflective projection screen.
It was easy enough to watch an image enlarged to around 50 inches on a white wall on an overcast day. Considering the size of the projector, the quality was quite good. The Sight uses a DLP chip, which is covered with minuscule mirrors to reflect LED light to the screen. It is the same technology that has long been used in many full-scale, high-end projectors.
The Sight?s lamp kicks out 85 lumens, which is brighter than most similarly sized projectors, and it has resolution of 854 by 480 pixels, which qualifies as high definition, but you will not want this to replace your 1080p plasma TV. Unlike your TV, the Sight can run about two hours on battery power, or plugged in for a movie marathon.
The videos I projected from YouTube looked good. Noise didn?t distract me from Psy?s horsie dance, but I could find it if I looked for it.
The projector?s built-in speaker is as anemic as the one you would find on your phone or tablet. If you want to add some quality sound, you will need to connect to a separate speaker dock.
If what you?re looking for is a decent picture from a small package, perhaps for presentations, entertaining the kids on a trip or making video games wall-size in a dorm room, the iPower Sight is far, far superior to huddling around your phone.
Currently the projector is only available direct from iPowerUp for $350.
Source: http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/a-big-picture-from-a-small-projector/
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It may be time to retire the groundhog and start tracking Arctic sea ice for a better prediction of late-winter weather.
On March 15, the Arctic sea ice reached its maximum extent ? the most ice the frigid North would see this year, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colo. Changes in Arctic ice, and its total extent, may be affecting weather further south, scientists think.
The ice covered 5.84 million square miles (15.13 million square kilometers), the sixth-lowest area on record since 1979. Most of the ice was young, first-year ice, freshly frozen. The Arctic also has multiyear ice, frozen year-round, which is stiffer and thicker, and contains much less brine than first-year ice does. However, its slice of the total ice pie has been shrinking in recent years.
During the 2012 to 2013 winter season, the sea ice grew a record 4.53 million square miles (11.72 million square km). This massive growth was primarily due to last year's missing ice: A record-low ice minimum in September 2012 meant more ocean was exposed, leaving a greater area uncovered to refreeze this winter, the NSIDC said in a statement.
The big swings between summer and winter ice indicate a shift toward a more pronounced seasonal cycle in the Arctic, according to the NSIDC.
The shift is changing the ratio of thin, first-year ice to thick, multiyear ice, which is more resistant to summer melting and winter storms. First-year ice increasingly dominates the Arctic ice pack, the NSIDC said.
This year, the relatively fragile first-year ice was buffeted by a powerful Arctic storm in February, extensively fracturing the ice. Cracking from storms happens every year. This year, however, the rifts extended from Canada to Alaska ? although they quickly refroze.
Less Arctic ice also means more of the ocean and atmosphere can warm from the sun. Scientists think this warming shifts the jet stream, steering cold storm systems further south. March brought freezing temperatures and strong winter storms to the United States, Europe and Russia.
Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us?@OAPlanet, Facebook?or Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arctic-sea-ice-hits-yearly-max-still-dwindling-140237419.html
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Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
Share ] Contact: Steven Mackay
smackay@vt.edu
540-231-4787
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds.
The prototype robot, nicknamed Cyro, is a larger model of a robotic jellyfish the same team headed by Shashank Priya of Blacksburg, Va., and professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech unveiled in 2012. The earlier robot, dubbed RoboJelly, is roughly the size of a man's hand, and typical of jellyfish found along beaches.
"A larger vehicle will allow for more payload, longer duration and longer range of operation," said Alex Villanueva of St-Jacques, New-Brunswick, Canada, and a doctoral student in mechanical engineering working under Priya. "Biological and engineering results show that larger vehicles have a lower cost of transport, which is a metric used to determine how much energy is spent for traveling."
Both robots are part of a multi-university, nationwide $5 million project funded by U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center and the Office of Naval Research. The goal is to place self-powering, autonomous machines in waters for the purposes of surveillance and monitoring the environment, in addition to other uses such as studying aquatic life, mapping ocean floors, and monitoring ocean currents.
Jellyfish are attractive candidates to mimic because of their ability to consume little energy owing to a lower metabolic rate than other marine species. Additionally, they appear in wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors, allowing for several designs. They also inhabit every major oceanic area of the world and are capable of withstanding a wide range of temperatures in both fresh and salt waters. Most species are found in shallow coastal waters, but some have been found in depths 7,000 meters below sea level.
Partner universities in the project are Providence College in Rhode Island, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Texas at Dallas, and Stanford University. Priya's team is building the jellyfish body models, integrating fluid mechanics and developing control systems.
Cyro is modeled and named after the jellyfish Cyanea capillata, Latin for Llion's Manemain jellyfish. Jellyfish, with "Cyro" derived from "cyanea" and "robot." As with its predecessor, this robot is in the prototype stage, years away from use in waters. A new prototype model already is under construction at Virginia Tech's Durham Hall, where Priya's Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems is based.
"We hope to improve on this robot and reduce power consumption and improve swimming performance as well as better mimic the morphology of the natural jellyfish," Villanueva said, adding that the project also allows researchers such as himself to better understand aquatic creatures live. "Our hopes for Cyro's future is that it will help understand how the propulsion mechanism of such animal scales with size."
A stark difference exists between the larger and smaller robots. Cyro is powered by a rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery, whereas the smaller models were tethered, Priya said. Experiments have also been conducted on powering jellyfish with hydrogen but there is still much research to be done in that area.
In both cases, the jellyfish must operate on their own for months or longer at a time as engineers likely won't be able to capture and repair the robots, or replace power sources.
"Cyro showed its ability to swim autonomously while maintaining a similar physical appearance and kinematics as the natural species," Priya said, adding that the robot is simultaneously able to collect, store, analyze, and communicate sensory data. This autonomous operation in shallow water conditions is already a big step towards demonstrating the use of these creatures."
How does the robot swim? Its body consists of a rigid support structure with direct current electric motors which control the mechanical arms that are used in conjunction with an artificial mesoglea, or jelly-based pulp of the fish's body, creating hydrodynamic movement.
With no central nervous system, jellyfish instead use a diffused nerve net to control movement and can complete complex functions. A parallel study on a bio-inspired control system is in progress which will eventually replace the current simplified controller.
As with the smaller models, Cyro's skin is comprised of a thick layer of silicone, squishy in one's hand. It mimics the sleek jellyfish skin and is placed over a bowl-shaped device containing the electronic guts of the robot. When moving, the skin floats and moves with the robot, looking weirdly alive.
"It has been a great experience to finally realize the biomimetic and bio-inspired robotic vehicles," Priya said. "Nature has too many secrets and we were able to find some of them but many still remain. We hope to find a mechanism to continue on this journey and resolve the remaining puzzles."
###
Video on Cyro Jellyfish Robot: http://vimeo.com/62880818
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 28-Mar-2013 Share ] Contact: Steven Mackay
smackay@vt.edu
540-231-4787
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds.
The prototype robot, nicknamed Cyro, is a larger model of a robotic jellyfish the same team headed by Shashank Priya of Blacksburg, Va., and professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech unveiled in 2012. The earlier robot, dubbed RoboJelly, is roughly the size of a man's hand, and typical of jellyfish found along beaches.
"A larger vehicle will allow for more payload, longer duration and longer range of operation," said Alex Villanueva of St-Jacques, New-Brunswick, Canada, and a doctoral student in mechanical engineering working under Priya. "Biological and engineering results show that larger vehicles have a lower cost of transport, which is a metric used to determine how much energy is spent for traveling."
Both robots are part of a multi-university, nationwide $5 million project funded by U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center and the Office of Naval Research. The goal is to place self-powering, autonomous machines in waters for the purposes of surveillance and monitoring the environment, in addition to other uses such as studying aquatic life, mapping ocean floors, and monitoring ocean currents.
Jellyfish are attractive candidates to mimic because of their ability to consume little energy owing to a lower metabolic rate than other marine species. Additionally, they appear in wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors, allowing for several designs. They also inhabit every major oceanic area of the world and are capable of withstanding a wide range of temperatures in both fresh and salt waters. Most species are found in shallow coastal waters, but some have been found in depths 7,000 meters below sea level.
Partner universities in the project are Providence College in Rhode Island, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Texas at Dallas, and Stanford University. Priya's team is building the jellyfish body models, integrating fluid mechanics and developing control systems.
Cyro is modeled and named after the jellyfish Cyanea capillata, Latin for Llion's Manemain jellyfish. Jellyfish, with "Cyro" derived from "cyanea" and "robot." As with its predecessor, this robot is in the prototype stage, years away from use in waters. A new prototype model already is under construction at Virginia Tech's Durham Hall, where Priya's Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems is based.
"We hope to improve on this robot and reduce power consumption and improve swimming performance as well as better mimic the morphology of the natural jellyfish," Villanueva said, adding that the project also allows researchers such as himself to better understand aquatic creatures live. "Our hopes for Cyro's future is that it will help understand how the propulsion mechanism of such animal scales with size."
A stark difference exists between the larger and smaller robots. Cyro is powered by a rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery, whereas the smaller models were tethered, Priya said. Experiments have also been conducted on powering jellyfish with hydrogen but there is still much research to be done in that area.
In both cases, the jellyfish must operate on their own for months or longer at a time as engineers likely won't be able to capture and repair the robots, or replace power sources.
"Cyro showed its ability to swim autonomously while maintaining a similar physical appearance and kinematics as the natural species," Priya said, adding that the robot is simultaneously able to collect, store, analyze, and communicate sensory data. This autonomous operation in shallow water conditions is already a big step towards demonstrating the use of these creatures."
How does the robot swim? Its body consists of a rigid support structure with direct current electric motors which control the mechanical arms that are used in conjunction with an artificial mesoglea, or jelly-based pulp of the fish's body, creating hydrodynamic movement.
With no central nervous system, jellyfish instead use a diffused nerve net to control movement and can complete complex functions. A parallel study on a bio-inspired control system is in progress which will eventually replace the current simplified controller.
As with the smaller models, Cyro's skin is comprised of a thick layer of silicone, squishy in one's hand. It mimics the sleek jellyfish skin and is placed over a bowl-shaped device containing the electronic guts of the robot. When moving, the skin floats and moves with the robot, looking weirdly alive.
"It has been a great experience to finally realize the biomimetic and bio-inspired robotic vehicles," Priya said. "Nature has too many secrets and we were able to find some of them but many still remain. We hope to find a mechanism to continue on this journey and resolve the remaining puzzles."
###
Video on Cyro Jellyfish Robot: http://vimeo.com/62880818
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/vt-ru032813.php
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Jack Ruderman, 9, smiles as he learns how to surf. One of the camp lifeguards, Radael Ruiz, 36, helps him get the board in the correct position for the wave. Cayla Nimmo // Photo Editor
On the shores of Miami Beach, 27 staff members and 12 campers take to the waves this week to put their surfing skills to the test during the University of Miami-Nova Southeastern University?s Center for Autism and Related Diseases? (UM-NSU CARD) Surf Camp.
The annual program located at South Pointe Park hosts 12 children between the ages of 8 and 12 who have autism. These high- and low-functioning children spend the week of their spring break learning how to surf.
Of the 7,000 families at CARD, these 12 children are selected after going through an interview process to evaluate their ability to thrive on their own without familiar faces.
?This is a camp to focus on their abilities, instead of their disabilities,? said Maricarmen Saleta, an educational specialist at UM-NSU CARD who helped plan the program in 2007.
After meeting Michael Alessandri, executive director of CARD, Saleta moved to Miami in 2005 and began working for him at UM-NSU CARD. In 2007, Julio Magrisso, assistant director of the recreation division for the city of Miami Beach, saw a documentary about a similar camp in California for children with disabilities. Immediately inspired, he contacted Alessandri, who passed the project on to Saleta, and the two groups began co-planning the camp.
The weeklong program, funded by the Autism Society of Miami and private sponsors acquired at CARD?s annual ?Tropical Nights? fundraiser, is free to campers and their families.
The program first took place in 2008 and hosted two sessions. However, each year since, they have only been able to offer one session due to funding.
The city already had a summer Surf Camp organized for ordinary kids, so it was easy to adapt the same staff and instructors for CARD?s program, said Edith Guerra, a Miami-Beach Parks and Recreation Supervisor who has worked for the camp since its inception.
Guerra feels that the camp is an opportunity for everyone to recognize the true potential of the kids, regardless of their disabilities.
?When you get a chance to see the parents see what they?re children have learned, they?re just so surprised,? she said. ?They think, ?I never thought my child would be able to do something like this.??
The children enjoy it as much as the parents.
?I feel happy,? said 10-year-old camper Jake Stempel when asked about his surfing experience.
Jack Ruderman, a 9-year-old camper, agreed.
?I do it because I like to surf and ? I have a lot a friends,? he said.
In the future, CARD and Miami Beach are talking about expanding the recreational activities to other sports, according to Guerra. In addition to the surf program, CARD already hosts soccer and tennis programs.
Saleta hopes more children will be able to participate in this rewarding experience.
?It?s an amazing experience for these kids,? she said. ?It?s amazing to see their face when they get up on the board.?
Source: http://www.themiamihurricane.com/2013/03/28/campers-splash-into-spring-break/
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Concluding two days of intense debate, the Supreme Court signaled Wednesday it could give a boost to same-sex marriage by striking down the federal law that denies legally married gay spouses a wide range of benefits offered to other couples.
As the court wrapped up its remarkable arguments over gay marriage in America, a majority of the justices indicated they will invalidate part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act ? if they can get past procedural problems similar to those that appeared to mark Tuesday's case over California's ban on same-sex marriage.
Since the federal law was enacted in 1996, nine states and the District of Columbia have made it legal for gays and lesbians to marry. Same-sex unions also were legal in California for nearly five months in 2008 before the Proposition 8 ban.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, often the decisive vote in close cases, joined the four more-liberal justices in raising questions Wednesday about a provision that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for purposes of federal law.
It affects more than 1,100 statutes in which marital status is relevant, dealing with tax breaks for married couples, Social Security survivor benefits and, for federal employees, health insurance and leave to care for spouses.
Kennedy said the Defense of Marriage Act appears to intrude on the power of states that have chosen to recognize same-sex marriages. When so many federal statutes are affected, "which in our society means that the federal government is intertwined with the citizens' day-to-day life, you are at real risk of running in conflict with what has always been thought to be the essence of the state police power, which is to regulate marriage, divorce, custody," Kennedy said.
Other justices said the law creates what Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called two classes of marriage, full and "skim-milk marriage."
If the court does strike down part of DOMA, it would represent a victory for gay rights advocates. But it would be something short of the endorsement of gay marriage nationwide that some envisioned when the justices agreed in December to hear the federal case and the challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage.
Still, the tenor of the arguments over two days reflected how quickly attitudes have changed since large majorities in Congress passed the federal DOMA in 1996 and President Bill Clinton signed it into law. In 2011, President Barack Obama abandoned the legal defense of the law in the face of several lawsuits, and last year Obama endorsed gay marriage. Clinton, too, has voiced regret for signing the law and now supports allowing gays and lesbians to marry.
In 1996, the House of Representatives' report on the legislation explained that one of its purposes was "to express moral disapproval of homosexuality." Justice Elena Kagan read those words in the courtroom Wednesday, evoking a reaction from the audience that sounded like a cross between a gasp and nervous laughter.
Kagan's quotation gave lawyer Paul Clement, representing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives that has taken up defense of the law in place of the administration, some uncomfortable moments at the lectern.
"Does the House report say that? Of course, the House report says that. And if that's enough to invalidate the statute, then you should invalidate the statute," Clement said. But he said the more relevant question is whether Congress had "any rational basis for the statute." He supplied one: the federal government's interest in treating same-sex couples the same no matter where they live.
Clement said the government does not want military families "to resist transfer from West Point to Fort Sill because they're going to lose their benefits." The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is in New York, where same-sex marriage is legal, and Fort Sill is in Oklahoma, where gay marriages are not legal.
Opposing Clement was the Obama administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, Donald Verrilli, who said the provision of DOMA at issue, Section 3, impermissibly discriminates against gay people.
"I think it's time for the court to recognize that this discrimination, excluding lawfully married gay and lesbian couples from federal benefits, cannot be reconciled with our fundamental commitment to equal treatment under law," Verrilli said.
Both Verrilli and Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer for Edith Windsor, the 83-year-old New York woman who sued over DOMA, told the court that views about gay people and marriage have shifted dramatically since 1996 when the law was approved.
"Why are you so confident in that judgment? How many states permit gay couples to marry?" Justice Antonin Scalia asked Kaplan.
Nine, she said.
"So there's been a sea change between now and 1996," Scalia said, doubtfully.
But Chief Justice John Roberts jumped on the idea of a rapid shift in opinion to suggest that perhaps gays and lesbians do not need special protection from the court.
"As far as I can tell, political leaders are falling all over themselves to endorse your side of the case," Roberts said.
The justices stepped into the dispute after lower federal courts ruled against the measure.
The DOMA argument followed Tuesday's case over California's ban on same-sex marriage, a case in which the justices indicated they might avoid a major national ruling on whether America's gays and lesbians have a right to marry. Even without a significant ruling, the court appeared headed for a resolution that would mean the resumption of gay and lesbian weddings in California.
Supreme Court arguments are the most visible part of the justices' consideration of the cases before them, but they often play a relatively small role in rulings compared to the mountain of legal briefs that are filed in the weeks leading up to the public sessions.
Lawsuits around the country have led four federal district courts and two appeals courts to strike down DOMA's Section 3, which defines marriage. In 2011, the Obama administration abandoned its defense of the law but continues to enforce it.
The change in position led the court to consider the related questions of whether the House Republican leadership can defend the law in court because the administration decided not to, and whether the administration forfeited its right to participate in the case.
Roberts and Scalia seemed most interested in this sort of outcome, and the chief justice offered perhaps the most pointed comment of the day when he wondered why Obama continues to enforce a law he believes is unconstitutional.
"I don't see why he doesn't have the courage of his convictions and execute not only the statute but do it consistent with his view of the Constitution, rather than saying, 'Oh, we'll wait till the Supreme Court tells us we have no choice,'" Roberts said.
If the Supreme Court finds that it does not have the authority to hear the case, Windsor probably would still get the $363,000 estate tax refund for which she sued because she won in the lower courts. But there would be no definitive decision about the law from the nation's highest court, and it would remain on the books.
Windsor, who goes by Edie, married Thea Spyer in 2007 in Canada after doctors told them that Spyer would not live much longer. Spyer, who suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years, died in 2009 and left everything she had to Windsor.
There is no dispute that if Windsor had been married to a man, her estate tax bill would have been zero. Windsor was in court Wednesday, where she received a hug from House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi before the argument started.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York agreed with a district judge that the provision of DOMA deprived Windsor of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the law.
Reflecting the high interest in the cases, the court released an audio recording of Wednesday's argument, just as it did Tuesday for that day's proceedings.
Wednesday's audio can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/d626ybg . Tuesday's is at: http://tinyurl.com/dxefy2a .
A somewhat smaller crowd gathered outside the court Wednesday, mainly gay marriage supporters who held American and rainbow flags. "Two, four, six, eight, we do not discriminate," a group chanted at one point. "If this isn't the time, when is the time? When does equality come into play?" asked Laura Scott, 43, of Columbia, Md.
Wednesday's case is U.S. v. Windsor, 12-307.
___
Associated Press writer Jessica Gresko contributed to this report.
___
Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/shermancourt
Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/jessicagresko
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boost-gay-marriage-justices-us-law-210143944--politics.html
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