Android fragmentation: one developer encounters 3,997 devices

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The developers logged 3,997 distinct devices, the most popular of which was the Samsung Galaxy S II. This figure was inflated quite a bit by custom ROMs, which overwrite the android.build.MODEL variable and cause those phones to be logged as separate devices. 1,363 types were logged only once, and while some were custom ROMs bucking the numbers, a good few were just massively unpopular devices—for example, the Hungarian 10.1-inch Concorde Tab.

via Android fragmentation: one developer encounters 3,997 devices | Ars Technica.

Jamming Grippers Combine to Form Robotic Elephant Trunk

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Jamming Grippers Combine to Form Robotic Elephant Trunk – IEEE Spectrum.

 

“Jamming” has to be one of the coolest new actuation techniques we’ve seen in the last couple years, and we’ve recently covered a bunch of fascinating implementations of it, including walking robots and grippers that can throw stuff. MIT may have just topped everyone by developing a robotic elephant trunk that’s strong, flexible, and, since it’s made mostly out of coffee grounds, absolutely dirt cheap.

The jamming technique was developed jointly at Cornell University, University of Chicago, and iRobot back in late 2010.

New $74 Android mini computer is slightly larger than a thumb drive

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The small computer has an AllWinner A10 single-core 1.5GHz ARM CPU, a Mali 400 GPU, and 512MB of RAM. An HDMI port on the exterior allows users to plug the computer into a television. It outputs at 1080p and is said to be capable of playing high-definition video.

The device also has a full-sized USB port with host support for input devices, a conventional micro-USB port, a microSD slot, and an internal 802.11 b/g WiFi antenna. The computer can boot from a microSD card and is capable of running Android 4.0 and other ARM-compatible Linux platforms.

via New $74 Android mini computer is slightly larger than a thumb drive | Ars Technica.

The elusive capacity of networks

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What makes that question particularly hard to answer is that no one knows how to calculate the data capacity of a network as a whole — or even whether it can be calculated. Nonetheless, in the first half of a two-part paper, which was published recently in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, MIT’s Muriel Médard, California Institute of Technology’s Michelle Effros and the late Ralf Koetter of the University of Technology in Munich show that in a wired network, network coding and error-correcting coding can be handled separately, without reduction in the network’s capacity. In the forthcoming second half of the paper, the same researchers demonstrate some bounds on the capacities of wireless networks, which could help guide future research in both industry and academia.

via The elusive capacity of networks – MIT News Office.

Network coding

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Network coding – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Network coding is a technique where, instead of simply relaying the packets of information they receive, the nodes of a network will take several packets and combine them together for transmission. This can be used to attain the maximum possible information flow in a network. Network coding is a field of information theory and coding theory.

The Call of the Future by Tom Vanderbilt

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In 1986, the latest shift was “call waiting,” which Judith Martin compared to “standing at a cocktail party and not paying attention to the person you’re with, waiting for a more important person.” Now, of course, as we stand at that same cocktail party, fidgeting with our smartphones—which, despite rarely looking like something designed for speaking into, we not only talk on, but to (summoning the iPhone’s electronic concierge, Siri, for directions or the weather)—the interruptions that once occurred on the telephone line now occur in real time and space.

via The Wilson Quarterly: The Call of the Future by Tom Vanderbilt.

Moodle

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Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. It is used by over 54,000 institutions (that we know about) and millions of teachers in 212 countries.

via SourceForge Community Blog | Project of the Month, July 2011.

What is the difference between Course Management and Content Management?  I suspect very little.

Yealink

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Founded in 2001, Yealink is the professional designer and manufacturer of IP Phone and IP Video Phone for the world-wide broadband telephony market. For more than ten years, Yealink has focused on VoIP products characterized by high cost-performance, easy deployment and affordable price. Yealink benefits customers from flexibility and broad interoperability with the major IP-PBX, softswitch and IMS in the market. Chosen by famous carriers, enterprises and clients from over 80 countries, Yealink provides SMB and diversified customers from all over the world a best choice to extend the value of network communication.

via Yealink-Easy VoIP,SIP based IP Phone,IP Video Phone,Dect Phone,USB Phone,VoIP,Unified Communication,Skype Phone，Media Phone.