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POPSFree software to use after Windows reinstallation One day all software will be free, is the message at the top of the page, and the Author created the page/site after reinstalling windows clean, and outfitting the system with free and open source software. He goes through his installation step by step, and there are user comments under his post, with feedback and other freeware suggestions by users.
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POPSClip Title Deleted It's for "National Security." :) Screw our own rights and liberties and security and privacy, as long as the tyrannical, paranoid, fear-driven Empire is happy. Right? America's behaviour is alarming, annoying, paranoid and ridiculous, to say the least, and very unbecoming of a so-called "free and brave" nation. "It's one thing to say it's reasonable for government agents to open your luggage. It's another thing to say it's reasonable for them to read your mind and everything you have thought over the last year. What a laptop records is as personal as a diary, but much more extensive. It records every Web site you have searched. Every e-mail you have sent. It's as if you're crossing the border with your home in your suitcase." ----- One law firm has instructed its lawyers to travel to the United States with "blank laptops" whose hard drives contain no data ----- Lawyers cannot fully advise people how they may exercise their rights during a border search.
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POPSSay Goodbye to power cords and battery packs This sounds really interesting. It's not in the practical stages yet, but how convenient would it be to charge your cellphone, mp3 player or laptop without having to plug it in? I know in my house, free outlets are hard to come by, so this is something I can really get behind.
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POPS"Wireless" Electricity Next step: wireless calories, wireless memory inputs directly into our brains who knows... maybe that Demolition Man fantasy will someday come true and we'll have "wireless" sex
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POPSField Testing Third World Computers This is a very interesting experiment in access and education. The most interesting part is that the children are expected to fix the computers themselves! Actually, I learned a lot of stuff this way - by tinkering - but is it realistically applicable to all the kids? If it works, it will work brilliantly. It is certainly a new way of networking information. Maybe clipmarks should get in on something like this...
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POPSWhat is the power of things we hold dear? "In the interest of enriching these connections, Turkle pairs each autobiographical essay with a text from philosophy, history, literature, or theory, creating juxtapositions at once playful and profound."
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POPS Robots and Humans: Intel say equal by 2050
Robots: From the Factory Floor to Your Kitchen - Robots today are primarily used in the factory environment, designed to perform a single task repeatedly and bolted down. To make robotics personal, robots need to move and manipulate objects in cluttered and dynamic human environments, according to Rattner. They need to be cognizant of their surroundings by sensing and recognizing movement in a dynamic physical world, and learn to adapt to new scenarios. Rattner demonstrated two working personal robot prototypes developed at Intel’s research labs. One of the demonstrations showed electric field pre-touch that has been built into a robot hand. The technique is a novel sensing modality used by fish but not humans, so they can “feel” objects before they even touch them. The other demonstration was a complete autonomous mobile manipulation robot that can recognize faces and interpret and execute commands as generic as “please clean this mess” using state-of-the-art motion planning, manipula
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POPSThe Do-Good Imperative How about a windup flashlight crossed with a cell phone charger? It's low tech meets high tech with rugged, toylike charm. Or charcoal made from plant waste instead of wood, developed for Haiti by MIT's D-Lab? Talk about a greener way to barbecue. (The technology might also help save endangered African gorillas. A new study published in Science links organized crime rings cutting trees for charcoal in Congo with a spate of recent gorilla murders.)
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POPSDisbelief over 9/11 - at last Finally this issue of immeasurable importance is moving from the internet into the main stream media. If the idea that this was a self-inflicted strikes you as unbelievable, then do some careful research on the internet, with an open mind, and be prepared to have your beliefs challenged. If that is not convincing, read one of the three books on the subject by the academic and theologian David Ray Griffin. Let's hope this year the truth begins to be more widely disseminated. It is hard to watch Loose Change (easy to get on the internet) without concluding something is very amiss.