In this article, I will go through some basic building blocks of image processing, and share some code and approaches to basic how-tos.
Source: Image Processing 101
Author Archives: mea
Avoiding the pointless blockchain project
But before you embark on that shiny blockchain project, you need to have a very clear idea of why you are using a blockchain. There are a bunch of conditions that need to be fulfilled. And if they’re not, you should go back to the drawing board. Maybe you can define the project better. Or maybe you can save everyone a load of time and money, because you don’t need a blockchain at all.
Source: Avoiding the pointless blockchain project | MultiChain
Blockchains are a technology for shared databases.
Blockchains are a technology for databases with multiple writers.
blockchains are a technology for databases with multiple non-trusting writers.
Company Tracks Iowa Caucusgoers by their Cell Phones
When you open an app or look at a browser page, there’s a very fast auction that happens where different advertisers bid to get to show you an ad. Their bid is based on how valuable they think you are, and to decide that, your phone sends them information about you, including, in many cases, an identifying code (that they’ve built a profile around) and your location information, down to your latitude and longitude.
Source: Company Tracks Iowa Caucusgoers by their Cell Phones – Schneier on Security
Indian Patent Office Says No to Software Patents
The 2015 guidelines could have resulted in making it difficult for software developers to innovate with expansion of scope of patentability in the field of software. Prasanth Sugathan, counsel at SFLC.in, who represented the organisation at the consultations said: “The legislature by limiting the scope of patentable subject matter in the field of software wanted our software professionals and industry to innovate and not be stifled by companies holding a stockpile of patents. We are grateful to the Government and the patent office for listening to our feedback and suggestions and preserving the freedom of our coders and entrepreneurs to innovate without shackles.”
Source: Press Release: Indian Patent Office Says No to Software Patents
Google wants new hard drive format for data centres
Therefore Brewer’s group proposes increasing the height of the standard HDD, currently established at an average of one inch for 3.5” disks and 15mm for 2.5” drives, in order to store more platters per HDD – an economical approach from the point of view of packaging, optimal use of printed circuit boards and the drive’s motor actuator.
Windows 10 lock screen ads begin with Rise of the Tomb Raider push
The lock screen is one of several ways that Windows 10 isn’t exactly free. From Start menu promotions to subscription-based games to personalized ads in Bing and the Edge browser, Microsoft has plenty of money-making hooks built into its latest OS.
Source: Windows 10 lock screen ads begin with Rise of the Tomb Raider push | PCWorld
AT&T joins Time Warner in Google Fiber fight
In a Feb. 9 letter obtained by The Courier-Journal, however, an attorney for Time Warner Cable said the company has serious concern that such a change will negatively impact their business.
Online market ‘is turning drug dealers from goons to geeks’
Researchers argued that Silk Road and its successors, known as cryptomarkets or darknet markets, became successful after bringing together four technologies: the bitcoin virtual currency and encrypted internet protocols such as Tor, which allowed anonymity, as well as Escrow and customer feedback systems, which gave buyers and sellers confidence in their transactions.
Source: Online market ‘is turning drug dealers from goons to geeks’ | World news | The Guardian
“In the drug cryptomarket era, having good customer service and writing skills, and a good reputation, via feedback, as a vendor or buyer may be more important than muscles and face-to-face connections.”
Gravitational Waves Detected, Confirming Einstein’s Theory
That faint rising tone, physicists say, is the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago (Listen to it here.). And it is a ringing (pun intended) confirmation of the nature of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits from which not even light can escape, which were the most foreboding (and unwelcome) part of his theory..
Source: Gravitational Waves Detected, Confirming Einstein’s Theory – The New York Times
“Everything else in astronomy is like the eye,” he said, referring to the panoply of telescopes that have given stargazers access to more and more of the electromagnetic spectrum and the ability to peer deeper and deeper into space and time. “Finally, astronomy grew ears. We never had ears before.”
World’s largest solar plant goes live, will provide power for 1.1M people
CSP uses either lenses or parabolic mirrors to concentrate the sun’s light onto a small point where water or another substance is heated.
The heat is used to create steam, which runs a turbine that produces electricity. In the Noor CSP, concave mirrors focus on molten salt, heating it anywhere from 300 degrees to 660 degrees Fahrenheit.
Source: World’s largest solar plant goes live, will provide power for 1.1M people
Currently, the Noor CSP can generate 160 megawatts (MW). But as additional phases are completed, in two years it’s expected to generate more than 500MW — enough power to meet the needs of 1.1 million Moroccans.