Had the trio smoke BBQ ribs + BBQ Chicken + Smoked Pulled Pork in the Hard Rock Cafe within the RWS Forum shopping gallery. The portion is pretty huge and we had to shared to finish it. Of course we added the Caesar salad to top off the delicious meal there.
Worth trying if you like western food and wish to try variety.
There is no live band though. Think probably it is not available during dinner time.
.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
What Is Paper Trading....?
Over the years I have always advise many of my retail clients to spend at least three months paper trading before they go live with real money in the stock markets. Now even though I advise this I have never had a student actually do it. They all give up on paper trading after a few weeks and go live. Why is that?
They become impatient, they think they have mastered it or they think they don't need that much time. There is a good argument for not paper trading first as no matter how much paper trading you do you will never get the emotional involvement that you have when you have a real live trade on. The fact remains however that you need time to familiarize yourself with whatever system you are using.
Finding out you don't know how to operate your dealing system or you don't know the correct terminology to use when speaking with your broker on the phone when trading live is a recipe for disaster. You need time to get used to how to operate your system. Whichever system you use you must know it inside and out. This is part of trading. It is one of your main tools and should be taken seriously.
Paper trading is simply using imaginary money with imaginary trades. In the old days you would look at the financial newspapers and write down the imaginary trades on a piece of paper, which is where the term comes from.Virtually every broker now offers a free demo of their system and will fund your account with an imaginary amount of money e.g. $50,000. This will let you make trades just like you would if it were your own money in the account. The system will also calculate your profit and loss automatically.
Take this time to experiment with the system. Make mistakes. Press the wrong button. Buy when you really meant to sell and so on; it cost nothing at this stage.One last thing on paper trading. Take it seriously. If you can't make money on paper then don't even think about using real money. I know to many traders who didn't make money on paper but for some inexplicable reason thought that if they had real money in the account they would. If you are at all serious about this game, approach it professionally. If you aren't making money on paper go back to the drawing board and rethink your plan.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Trio of Microsoft projectors lets you get quasi-physical with AR interaction (video)
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/01/trio-of-microsoft-projectors-lets-you-get-quasi-physical-with-ar/
Trio of Microsoft projectors lets you get quasi-physical with AR interaction (video)
By Joseph Volpe posted Nov 2, 2011 2:08AM
[Thanks, Pradeep]
Via: Microsoft News
Source: Next at Microsoft (TechNet)
DIY wrist-mounted crossbow gets you one step closer to being a super hero (or villain)
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/01/diy-wrist-mounted-crossbow-gets-you-one-step-closer-to-being-a-s/
DIY wrist-mounted crossbow gets you one step closer to being a super hero (or villain)
By Terrence O'Brien posted Nov 2, 2011 5:52AM
Via: Technabob
Source: Patrick Priebe (YouTube)
Kinect commercial SDK coming in 2012 (video)
Kinect commercial SDK coming in 2012 (video)
By Daniel Cooper posted Nov 2, 2011 8:39AM
Via: The Register
Source: Microsoft
DIY unmanned airship soars 95,000 feet above Earth, lays claim to new record (video)
DIY unmanned airship soars 95,000 feet above Earth, lays claim to new record (video)
By Amar Toor posted Nov 2, 2011 7:02PM
Are you entertaining dreams of launching your own private spacecraft? All you need is about 30 grand in your bank account, and lots of spare time. Last weekend, a company called JP Aerospace sent its unmanned Tandem airship 95,085 feet above the ground -- a height that, according to the company, establishes a new record for remotely controlled airships. In fact, JP Aerospace says this altitude is a full four miles higher than any other airship has ever flown. To pull this off, the team strapped its 30-foot-long aircraft with two balloons, and packed it with a pair of electric motors that manipulated the Tandem's specially designed propellers. It's a relatively simple method, and one that didn't exactly break the bank, either. All told, it took about five years and some $30,000 to launch the aircraft, as part of the company's Airship to Orbit project. The long-term goal is to use the Tandem or similar airships as a launch pad for rockets or other interstellar aircraft. No word yet on when that could happen, but you can float past the break for a brief video on the Tandem, coupled with a brief PR.
JP Aerospace Airship Flies to the Edge of Space, Smashing the Existing World Altitude Record
On Saturday morning, October 22, 2011, The Tandem airship was launched from Nevada's Black Rock desert. The airship flew to 95,085 feet, higher than any airship in history
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., Oct. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday morning, October 22, 2011, The Tandem airship was launched from Nevada's Black Rock desert. The airship flew to 95,085 feet, higher than any airship in history.
After fighting through extreme turbulence from 40,000 to 60,000 feet, Tandem soared to 95,085 feet. Tandem flew nearly four miles higher than any airship before. The pilot on the ground then remotely turned on the motors and flew the airship through a series of maneuvers. At the end of its mission one balloon burst and the command was sent to release the other balloon. Tandem was then carried to a soft landing by a row of five parachutes.
Tandem is an unmanned twin balloon airship. The two balloons are separated by a thirty foot long carbon fiber truss. Two electric motors each spin a six foot long propeller. The propellers are specifically designed to work in the thin atmosphere twenty miles up.
The airship was built and flown by the all-volunteer, independent space program: JP Aerospace.
"The big aerospace firms have been trying to do this for decades, spending hundreds of millions of dollars," says John Powell, President of JP Aerospace. "We've spent about $30,000 and the past five years developing Tandem."
Tandem is a general workhorse vehicle. A high-altitude backhoe, it will be used as a launch platform for small research rockets, a mother ship for hypersonic test airships and all around tool for the Airship to Orbit program. Airship to Orbit is a project to build large V-shaped airships that will fly to space.
Tandem is also a construction vehicle for high altitude research stations and eventually cities at the edge of space.
On Saturday morning, October 22, 2011, The Tandem airship was launched from Nevada's Black Rock desert. The airship flew to 95,085 feet, higher than any airship in history
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., Oct. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday morning, October 22, 2011, The Tandem airship was launched from Nevada's Black Rock desert. The airship flew to 95,085 feet, higher than any airship in history.
After fighting through extreme turbulence from 40,000 to 60,000 feet, Tandem soared to 95,085 feet. Tandem flew nearly four miles higher than any airship before. The pilot on the ground then remotely turned on the motors and flew the airship through a series of maneuvers. At the end of its mission one balloon burst and the command was sent to release the other balloon. Tandem was then carried to a soft landing by a row of five parachutes.
Tandem is an unmanned twin balloon airship. The two balloons are separated by a thirty foot long carbon fiber truss. Two electric motors each spin a six foot long propeller. The propellers are specifically designed to work in the thin atmosphere twenty miles up.
The airship was built and flown by the all-volunteer, independent space program: JP Aerospace.
"The big aerospace firms have been trying to do this for decades, spending hundreds of millions of dollars," says John Powell, President of JP Aerospace. "We've spent about $30,000 and the past five years developing Tandem."
Tandem is a general workhorse vehicle. A high-altitude backhoe, it will be used as a launch platform for small research rockets, a mother ship for hypersonic test airships and all around tool for the Airship to Orbit program. Airship to Orbit is a project to build large V-shaped airships that will fly to space.
Tandem is also a construction vehicle for high altitude research stations and eventually cities at the edge of space.
Source: Wired
Ryno Motors self-balancing, single-wheeled scooter test ride
Ryno Motors self-balancing, single-wheeled scooter test ride
By Tim Stevens posted Nov 3, 2011 8:11AM
Launch Photo Gallery
The first rendition of the Ryno was a simple thing with no steering and primitive balancing. It could go straight -- barely -- and not much else. Too hard to ride, it was replaced with the version you see above, a newer test mule offering an interesting handlebar arrangement that works to help shift the weight of the rider. With only one wheel on the ground obviously you can't turn on a dime, but when pressing on the left bar the thing pivots and turns right -- a little disorienting for a motorcycle rider used to counter-steering, but intuitive enough after a few moments.
On the right there's a thumb-throttle and a brake lever, but riding this is more about feel than manual controls. Like a Segway it balances on its own, but with only a single wheel down there it's up to you to keep it from falling to the left or right. Come to a stop and you need to put at least one foot down, but even at low speeds it's reasonably well balanced. We never quite toppled over, but that's thanks at least in part to Chris running behind us the whole time -- just in case something went wrong.
He was able to keep up thanks to an unintimidating top speed of 15MPH in this version, which we never quite achieved. At first carving feels uncertain -- we found ourselves over-correcting with the mechanical shifting of the body, but were quickly motoring around on a busy side-street and dodging traffic. Still, making tight turns can be a bit of a challenge thanks in part to the gigantic 250 width tire that'd look comical on many cruisers, but the Ryno is light enough (125 pounds) for you to simply stop and pivot should you need. That weight also means transporting a Ryno should be a reasonably simple affair, either in the back of a truck or even on oversized bike racks that will mount to a tow hitch.
Our test ride was unfortunately cut short thanks to aging, tired batteries that petered out just as we were getting the hang of things, but our time in the saddle left us smiling. It also left any passers-by staring. This is definitely a curious looking thing and everybodywants to stop and take a picture of it. This perhaps helps to drive part of its curious appeal, though designer Chris points out a few practical advantages to this over a Segway.
The primary application right now is security guards and the like, hired guns who spend long hours patrolling areas again and again. In many cases cars are too big and, while a Segway works, standing on one of those for a full shift isn't exactly easy on the 'ol feet, especially if you're working injured. On the Ryno you are at least sitting down, and its tiny size means you can easily maneuver through the middle of crowds -- making sure those dastardly Angel Gang perps don't get away.
But there is a consumer version planned that might sell for as little as $4,000. This third edition will have more power, up to 18 miles in range and a removable battery that can be easily charged and swapped in. It'll also feature a disk brake (the current model relies purely on regenerative braking), enabling higher top speeds and, in theory, more insanity.
Will it capture the hearts and wallets of thrill-seekers? We'll wait for a longer test ride of a production model before we make any pronouncements there, but Chris already has five people lined up to pay a whopping $25,000 for hand-built machines. That's certainly an encouraging sign for a production model that'll cost just one fifth of that.
Source: Ryno Motors
New sensor can read your heart from afar, but knows not your feelings
New sensor can read your heart from afar, but knows not your feelings
By Jesse Hicks posted Nov 3, 2011 5:38PM
Are you fed up with your current ECG sensor? Tired of all the mess of electroconductive gels, sticky electrodes and tangled wires? How about this: Britain's Plessey Semiconductors offers an ECG sensor that promises heart-monitoring without the hassle. We've seensimilar technology before, but according to the company, the Electric Potential Integrated Circuit -- or EPIC, as it's humbly called -- can read heartbeats even through a sweater; future versions might be embedded in hospital gurneys for constant, unobtrusive monitoring. Like an extremely sensitive voltmeter, it detects tiny changes in electric fields, which means it could also be used forKinect-style motion interfaces. The company even imagines a future system where firefighters can use the EPIC to find humans in a smoke-filled room. If you're thinking, "My, that sounds just like my Deus Ex dreams" -- hey, we're right there with you.
Via: IEEE Spectrum
Source: Plessey Semiconductors
Be fearful...
Be fearful on losing out on opportunity (type 2 mindset) rather than on fearful on failing a task (type 1 mindset) and be ashamed.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
HyQ - robotic Lipizzaner does more than just prance
HyQ is the Italian cousin of Boston Dynamics' DARPA-funded BigDog. Under development at Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia (IIT) by a group of researchers led by Professor Darwin Caldwell, this Hydraulically actuated Quadruped robot is being groomed to navigate rough terrain, jump and run at speeds up to 15 km/h (9 mph).
Unlike Boston Dynamics' quadrupeds, HyQ is not a heavy-payload machine designed strictly for military applications. Instead, the robot could be used in rescue missions, on construction sites, for forestry applications and whenever there is a need to access areas not easily accessible to ordinary machines. However, before HyQ becomes part of the everyday landscape, it has another important role to play as an open source research platform.
As shown in the video below, HyQ is already quite a capable beast. It is fast, it is robust, it can squat jump, rear like a horse, move in an unnervingly insect-like fashion or kick a cardboard box. All these different types of movements were achieved through torque control, whereby the robot calculates what torque should be applied to each joint. The brain responsible for the calculations is a modest Linux-running PC.
In order to ensure the high joint speed and torque necessary to perform all these stunts, HyQ has been fitted with 12 joints (3 per leg), of which eight are actuated by hydraulic cylinders and four are handled by brushless DC motors. Each of the light-weight aluminum and stainless steel legs offers three degrees of freedom (one in the knee and two in the hip), which guarantees flexibility of movement.
However, the most important leg design feature is that they are actively compliant. The position and torque of the legs is smoothly controlled by a set of high resolution encoders and load cells (position and force sensors) fitted on each joint. The stiffness of every limb can be quickly adjusted by changing the hydraulic flow of the actuators. This allows the robot to perform highly dynamic tasks, such as running and jumping, because the shocks and vibrations are instantly absorbed by the actuators.
But, as could be expected of a research platform, the leg design is still a work in progress. Several foot designs are still being considered. The aim is to find the most energy efficient solution that would store energy from one step to the next and at the same time would help soften the impact of the foot as it lands on the surface.
HyQ's trunk is made of stainless steel and a folded, 3mm thick sheet of aluminum alloy. The 1 m (3.28 feet) long, 50 cm (1.64 feet) wide and 98 cm (3.21 feet) tall robot weighs 90 kg with the hydraulic power supply on board, and 70 kg with external hydraulics. Hydraulic actuation offers high power density, high torque output and velocity. It also allows for high bandwidth torque control.
The downside is that the components are still rather bulky and not very energy efficient, but that is something the researchers at IIT's Department of Advanced Robotics intend to change. They also want to make HyQ power-autonomous, endow it with a head with a built in stereo camera and a laser range finder and give it an arm with a gripper.
The video below shows HyQ in some serious action.
Source: IEEE Spectrum
.
HyQ is the Italian cousin of Boston Dynamics' DARPA-funded BigDog. Under development at Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia (IIT) by a group of researchers led by Professor Darwin Caldwell, this Hydraulically actuated Quadruped robot is being groomed to navigate rough terrain, jump and run at speeds up to 15 km/h (9 mph).
Unlike Boston Dynamics' quadrupeds, HyQ is not a heavy-payload machine designed strictly for military applications. Instead, the robot could be used in rescue missions, on construction sites, for forestry applications and whenever there is a need to access areas not easily accessible to ordinary machines. However, before HyQ becomes part of the everyday landscape, it has another important role to play as an open source research platform.
As shown in the video below, HyQ is already quite a capable beast. It is fast, it is robust, it can squat jump, rear like a horse, move in an unnervingly insect-like fashion or kick a cardboard box. All these different types of movements were achieved through torque control, whereby the robot calculates what torque should be applied to each joint. The brain responsible for the calculations is a modest Linux-running PC.
In order to ensure the high joint speed and torque necessary to perform all these stunts, HyQ has been fitted with 12 joints (3 per leg), of which eight are actuated by hydraulic cylinders and four are handled by brushless DC motors. Each of the light-weight aluminum and stainless steel legs offers three degrees of freedom (one in the knee and two in the hip), which guarantees flexibility of movement.
However, the most important leg design feature is that they are actively compliant. The position and torque of the legs is smoothly controlled by a set of high resolution encoders and load cells (position and force sensors) fitted on each joint. The stiffness of every limb can be quickly adjusted by changing the hydraulic flow of the actuators. This allows the robot to perform highly dynamic tasks, such as running and jumping, because the shocks and vibrations are instantly absorbed by the actuators.
But, as could be expected of a research platform, the leg design is still a work in progress. Several foot designs are still being considered. The aim is to find the most energy efficient solution that would store energy from one step to the next and at the same time would help soften the impact of the foot as it lands on the surface.
HyQ's trunk is made of stainless steel and a folded, 3mm thick sheet of aluminum alloy. The 1 m (3.28 feet) long, 50 cm (1.64 feet) wide and 98 cm (3.21 feet) tall robot weighs 90 kg with the hydraulic power supply on board, and 70 kg with external hydraulics. Hydraulic actuation offers high power density, high torque output and velocity. It also allows for high bandwidth torque control.
The downside is that the components are still rather bulky and not very energy efficient, but that is something the researchers at IIT's Department of Advanced Robotics intend to change. They also want to make HyQ power-autonomous, endow it with a head with a built in stereo camera and a laser range finder and give it an arm with a gripper.
The video below shows HyQ in some serious action.
Source: IEEE Spectrum
.
The iPad goes 3-D, sort of...
iPad anamorphicon with 3D display device (Photo: DigInfo)
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The charge toward glasses-free 3D displays hasn't left the iPad out in the cold, as we pointed out a few months back. Now, using a bit of smoke and mirrors (well, mirrors at least) a team from Japan's Ochanomizu Women's University (OWU) has developed a novel approach that incorporates a centuries-old artist's trick to bring "tangible" depth to the iPad's 2D display.
In the 16th Century, painters developed a technique (dubbed mirror anamorphosis) with which carefully distorted 2D paintings could be viewed in proper proportion from acute angles or using conical or cylindrical mirrors. Probably the best known example is Hans Holbein's 1533 portrait The Ambassadors with its anamorphic skull - what appears top be a grey streak in the foreground of the painting (below) is revealed as a human skull when viewed from an angle.
Hans Holbein's The Ambassadors and the "hidden" anamorphic skull
"We noticed that anamorphosis can be used to project data onto a 3D object by placing a 3D object on 2D data, so we developed an interactive system called Anamorphicons," said OWU researcher Chihiro Suga.
With traditional mirror anamorphosis, the mirror remains fixed and the observer moves around it. The OWU approach, however, utilizes the iPad's multi-touch sensitivity and allows the user to spin a cylindrical mirror on the iPad to change the view of the object. But therein lies the rub. Up to 70 images of the subject, pre-distorted using polar coordinate conversion software, must be loaded to create the 3D effect.
The mirror column contains two touch pens which contact the iPad. "The top surface of the pillar is an aluminum plate," Suga explains, "so it conducts electricity. The touch pens and the aluminum plate are connected by wiring inside, so the Anamorphicons are shown on the iPad while the user is touching the plate- it's just as if the user is touching the iPad with two fingers."
An iPad application tracks the coordinates of the two touch pens as well as the mirror column's rotation angle. Each position of the cylinder corresponds to one of the seventy images, which are displayed seamlessly as the user rotates the mirror.
"Now, we can project information onto 3D objects, and let users manipulate them by hand in a tangible fashion. So we think this system could be used to make shopping sites more user-friendly," Suga said. If this takes off, product photographers ought to see a nice uptick in their workload, as well.
Source: Diginfo
Watch the video below to see the system in action:
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