reflections on the technium

For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):

• How to break habits 3:38
  
• How Containerization Shaped the Modern World  4:47
  
• How Pandemics Spread  8:00
  
• Yup, I built a nuclear fusion reactor  3:33
  
• 60 Minutes – Khan Academy: The future of education?  13:27
• Treating cancer with electric fields  15:36
• Hack the planet with Code Hero and Makerhoods  5:39
• The $8 billion iPod  5:11
  

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CEP COMMENT:  

60 Minutes – Khan Academy: The future of education?
<http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7401696n&tag=contentMain;contentAux>
13:27
ABSTRACT

With the backing of Gates and Google, Khan Academy <http://www.khanacademy.org/> and its free online educational videos are moving into the classroom and across the world. Their goal: to revolutionize how we teach and learn. Sanjay Gupta reports.

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CEP COMMENT:  

Bill Doyle: Treating cancer with electric fields
<http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_doyle_treating_cancer_with_electric_fields.html>
15:36
ABSTRACT

“Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are the best-known methods for treating cancer. At TEDMED, Bill Doyle presents a new approach, called Tumor Treating Fields, which uses electric fields to interrupt cancer cell division. Still in its infancy — and approved for only certain types of cancer — the treatment comes with one big benefit: quality of life.

“With his company Novocure <http://www.novocure.com/>, Bill Doyle works to bring breakthrough medical technologies to doctors and patients.

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CEP COMMENT:  A game that teaches you to code software…

28C3: Hack the planet with Code Hero and Makerhoods
<http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/02/17/28c3-hack-the-planet-with-code-hero-and-makerhoods/>
5:39
ABSTRACT

“In this rapid fire lightning talk from the 28C3 Chaos Communication Congress held recently in Berlin, Alex Peake highlights the learning initiative known as Code Hero. “Code Hero, a game that teaches you how to make games so you can make games that teach everything else to make all knowledge playable.” (Well, that clears everything up.)

“The project is currently funding through Kickstarter <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/primerist/code-hero-a-game-that-teaches-you-to-make-games-he?ref=live>. The beta game code is available now in Windows and Mac versions.

“Their motto is cool: Hack the Gibson, learn game code, learn web code, learn Linux.
 
“Check out the Primerlabs Code Hero website <http://www.primerlabs.com/codehero> for all the details. What’s shakin’ in your Makerhood?
 
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OTHER NEWS:  MakiBox A6 $300 Desktop 3D Printer <http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/02/14/makibox-a6-300-desktop-3d-printer/>
Free Range VHDL <http://www.freerangefactory.org/dl/free_range_vhdl.pdf>

FUTURE CANDIDATES  /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

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CEP COMMENT:  

Vijay Kumar: Robots that fly … and cooperate
<http://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate.html>
16:47
ABSTRACT

“In his lab at Penn <https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/>, Vijay Kumar <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Kumar_(roboticist)> and his team build flying quadrotors, small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams — for construction, surveying disasters and far more.

“At the University of Pennsylvania, Vijay Kumar studies the control and coordination of multi-robot formations.

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CEP COMMENT:  

HOW-TO VIDEO: Visit Akihabara Electric Town
<http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/02/23/how-to-video-visit-akihabara-electric-town/>
13:29
ABSTRACT

“Kevin Allocca is YouTube’s trends manager, and he has deep thoughts about silly web video. In this talk from TEDYouth, he shares the 4 reasons a video goes viral.”

BIO

Kevin Allocca: YouTube trends manager
“Kevin Allocca watches YouTube videos. For his job.

“Why you should listen to him: Writer and analyst Kevin Allocca works with YouTube Trends <http://youtube-trends.blogspot.com/>, a spot for tracking the latest viral videos — and connecting to the communities that make the parodies, tributes and reply videos that circle the giant viral planets of the YouTube-iverse.

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CEP COMMENT:  

Kirk Sorensen: Thorium, an alternative nuclear fuel
<http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/kirk_sorensen_thorium_an_alternative_nuclear_fuel.html>
10:03
ABSTRACT

“At TEDxYYC Kirk Sorensen shows us the liquid fuel thorium reactor — a way to produce energy that is safer, cleaner and more efficient than current nuclear power.

“Kirk Sorensen stumbled across thorium while doing research on how to power a lunar community. Thorium is a cleaner, safer, and more abundant nuclear fuel — one that Kirk believes will revolutionize how we produce our energy.

BIO

Kirk Sorensen: Engineer, Nuclear Technologist <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flibe_Energy>
“Kirk Sorensen stumbled across thorium while doing research on how to power a lunar community. Thorium is a cleaner, safer, and more abundant nuclear fuel — one that Kirk believes will revolutionize how we produce our energy.

“Why you should listen to him: Kirk Sorensen began his work with thorium while working as an aerospace engineer at NASA. In 2010, he left NASA to work as the chief nuclear technologist at Teledyne Brown Engineering. In 2011, he founded Flibe, a company focused on developing modular thorium reactors.

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CEP COMMENT:  

Back to Square One
<http://channel9.msdn.com/events/mix/mix11/des01>
1:06:48
ABSTRACT

“We’ve tried it all in our pursuit to create the next runaway software success — fancy processes, expensive tools, powerful computers, bigger budgets, smaller budgets, swankier offices, ‘expert’ consultants, astrology, rabbits’ feet, you name it. But it seems like most of us still fail. We ship late. Our products suck. Our employees quit. Our customers hate us. Why? In “Back to Square One,” Nishant Kothary <http://rainypixels.com/> will attempt to answer this elusive question by expanding on insights shared in his prior highly-rated talks, “A Website Named Desire” and “The Elephant in the Room.” Much like previous years, this talk will draw from fields like philosophy, psychology, economics, art, even religion, to find its answers. But the $64,000 question is — Will there be pictures of puppies this year? You’ll just have to drop by to find out.”

The Elephant in the Room <http://channel9.msdn.com/events/MIX/MIX10/DS13>
A Website Named Desire <http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MIX/MIX09/C09F>

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CEP COMMENT:  

28C3: SCADA and PLC vulnerabilities in correctional facilities
<http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/02/15/28c3-scada-and-plc-vulnerabilities-in-correctional-facilities/>
51:07
ABSTRACT

“In this full length presentation from the recent 28C3 conference in Berlin, Tiffany Rad, Teague Newman and John Strauchs describe the opportunities and challenges presented by SCADA systems used in prisons and jails.

“These systems are often used in conjunction with PLCs to open and close doors. Using original and publicly available exploits along with evaluating vulnerabilities in electronic and physical security designs, Newman, Rad and Strauchs have discovered significant vulnerabilities in PLCs used in correctional facilities by being able to remotely flip the switches to “open” or “locked closed” on cell doors and gates. This talk will evaluate and demo SCADA systems and PLC vulnerabilities in correctional and government secured facilities while recommending solutions.

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CEP COMMENT:  

Scheme-It: Digi-Key online schematic editor
<http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/02/23/scheme-it-digi-key-online-schematic-editor/>
4:45
ABSTRACT

“Digi-Key has an online schematic editor known as Scheme-It <http://www.digikey.com/us/en/mkt/scheme-it.html>.“Scheme-it is an online schematic and diagramming tool that allows anyone to design and share electronic circuit diagrams. The tool includes a comprehensive electronic symbol library and an integrated Digi-Key component catalog that allows for a wide range of circuit designs. Additionally, a built-in bill of materials manager is provided to keep track of parts used in a design. Once a schematic drawing is complete, users can export it to an image file or share it via email with others. Scheme-it works natively in all major web browsers without requiring the use of any plugins.”

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CEP COMMENT:  

2011 DCC – Practical Software Radio
<http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/03/03/2011-dcc-practical-software-radio/>
40:41
ABSTRACT

“This talk is from the 2011 Digital Communications Conference (DCC) held last September in Baltimore, MD. The speaker is Matt Ettus who heads up Ettus Research, manufacturers of the USRP family of SDRs. His talk is an in depth technical explanation of “Why Things Don’t Always Match the Textbooks” in SDR. Matt is affiliated with the open source GNU Radio Project, and hold Amateur Radio License N2MJI.”

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CEP COMMENT:  

100 MPG Fuel Efficient Car for $25,000
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9c_XWlVwdTc>
6:48
ABSTRACT

WIKISPEED’s 100 MPG car is featured on the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet show. Joe Justice demonstrates Team WIKISPEED’s unique approach to Agile development and automobile manufacturing <http://www.wikispeed.com>. The WIKISPEED SGT-01 is fast, super efficient, modular by design, has a five star crash testing equivalency and is very affordable. Each car currently cost $25,000 and we hope to bring that down to less than $20,000 in the future.

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