The Geek Post Whore (for the ones who miss out irl)

[arun.yothin]

[daigong]

hey look at these studs! dope milestone



IEEE and NHK Broadcasting representatives pose with the IEEE Milestone plaque presented 18 November 2011 for the world's first direct broadcast satellite service in 1984.

[nimrod]

http://torrentfreak.com/dns-seizure-takes-out-megaupload-111129/ 
bye bye Kim Schmitz

[Aioros]

[Saburo]

Apparently the new Twitter for iPhone (nee Tweetie) update is a bloated piece of doggie doo.  Upgrade at your own peril.

I'm sticking with Tweetbot.

[Asmodai]

Yeah, for my laptop I'm making a list of the versions of different utilities I want to install. Newer versions are often worse.

[thatonezombie]

Recently got my Roku LT box. With this I can cancel my Xbox Live subscription. I don't play online multiplayer games so I look at it as an investment that will pay off in the long run.

Now I am eyeing a Wireless N router.

[Asmodai]

Recently got my Roku LT box. With this I can cancel my Xbox Live subscription. I don't play online multiplayer games so I look at it as an investment that will pay off in the long run.

Now I am eyeing a Wireless N router.

I've got this one in my Amazon shopping cart to order next pay: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0049YQVHE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

[thatonezombie]

That looks like a pipe dream router for me but holy hell that does look sexy.

[Asmodai]

I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to order this monitor http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B004KCI80I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB at the same time, so I'll take some pics once it's all set-up.

[daigong]

^ Reminds me of a 2Pac joint. JUST LIKE DAT!!!

An Amplifier That’s Quantum Quiet
An exotic new amplifier might be quiet enough for quantum computing

By Katie M. Palmer  /  December 2011



14 December 2011—Quantum computers have the potential to solve seemingly intractable problems in no time flat. But a big stumbling block on the path to practical quantum computing is figuring out how to observe the tiny quantum signals that drive computation. In an advance that may make that observation easier, a group at Aalto University, in Finland, has created a new kind of microwave amplifier based on a mechanical resonator—essentially a nanometer-scale tuning fork.

 “When you have microwave signals on the level of a single quantum, you can’t manipulate them with your bare hands—you need to amplify the signal,” says Francesco Massel, a postdoctoral researcher at Aalto who worked on the device. But today’s amplifiers boost those signals at a cost, sometimes drowning them out with noise from the amplifiers themselves. “Our device adds, at least in principle, the minimum possible amount of noise dictated by the laws of quantum mechanics,” says Massel.

 Other designs for such amplifiers rely on rarefied superconducting circuits called Josephson junctions, but they can’t promise as clean a signal boost as the Finnish amplifier. The Aalto group is the first to use a mechanical resonator, an idea they stumbled upon by chance. About a year ago, some group members were trying to cool a mechanical resonator, and while tweaking the system they noticed that it amplified microwave signals under certain conditions.


Image: Mika Sillanpää/Low Temperature Laboratory/Aalto University

Mind the Gap: The Aalto amplifier consists of a meandering microwave cavity coupled to an aluminum resonator. The two components are separated by a gap just a few nanometers wide.

In the new amplifier described tomorrow in Nature, two elements are coupled together: a microwave cavity (a sort of mirrored, walled maze for electromagnetic waves) and a mechanical resonator (a suspended flexible aluminum beam). Only a tiny gap separates the mechanical resonator and the optical cavity; etched by a focused beam of ions, the gap is just 6 to 13 nanometers wide. “It’s one of the keys to the amplification,” says Massel. “The smaller the separation, the higher the coupling between optics [the cavity] and mechanics [the resonator].”

 When the microwave cavity is hit with a strong microwave signal (called the pump), radiation pressure from the microwaves reduces the damping of the resonator, allowing it to vibrate with less resistance. When a second microwave signal—the one intended for amplification—hits the cavity, the resonator’s reduced damping lets the beam amplify the signal.

more in IEEE Spectrum.

And no, I didn't post this article for the sexual innuendo.

Almost as epic as  the flexible robot!!

[J-Triumf]

Neil deGrasse Tyson. Astrophysicist, science communicator, and the end result of Carl Sagan combining his powers with that of Lando Calrissian...

[daigong]

WOW! i finished the AI-Class! more like just randomly clicked the random topics - that's what they were driving at so, the probability of me getting a high score is this:

[Foxy Brown]

[Foxy Brown]

[J-Triumf]

Can't read my, can't read my, no he can't read my programming language...

http://twitter.com/HAL9000_/status/162655588726214658

[Amplifier]

Just nicked a tablet, to help the bus ride suck less (Blackberry Playbook)

[Foxy Brown]

[twissie]

This belongs in so many different threads, but I decided to post it here o_o;;;

Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton are both in on something called Geek & Sundry, it's an online community that's all about web videos about comics, books, games, hobbies, and other geeky things. They have a bunch of different shows, but Wil Wheaton is hosting one that premieres April 2, and it really tickles my fancy. It's about board games.

He gets together with other geeky celebrities, and they play board games. Having seen Wil Wheaton in action playing D&D, I have a feeling this will be amazing fun. Check out the trailer!

[Foxy Brown]