The Blog of @graphicwheeler

How a Computer Model Could Help Fight Terrorism

When Justin Bieber tweets, 39,361,876 people (and counting) immediately jump to attention. But when one of those nearly 40 million people tweet, does the Beebs see it? Does he react at all?

Communication among terrorist cells works much in the same way as Justin Bieber’s Twitter account, according to mathematicians from Ryerson University in Toronto who have built a mathematical model of the way information spreads through these hierarchical networks. Their approach may give counterterrorism agents insight into terrorism hierarchies and allow them to predict terrorist attacks and sabotage networks before the attack plans can be carried out. Read more…

3D-Printed ‘Bionic’ Ear Can Hear Beyond Human Ability

Scientists at Princeton University have designed a bionic ear that can hear better than human ears. And get this: It was printed using an off-the-shelf 3D printer.

We’ve heard of 3D printers someday building human organs before, but what’s noteworthy about this project is this printed ear intertwines embedded electronics. These Princeton researchers basically 3D-printed cells and nanoparticles, and then combined a small coil antenna with cartilage to create this “bionic” ear, according to the university.

The result was a fully-functional organ that can hear radio frequencies a million times higher than our human ears, lead researcher Michael McAlpine told Mashable. Read more…

Bikes Made From Trash Power Film Festival

A group of students in France crafted wooden, energy-producing stationary bicycles from trash. These novel bikes were recently used to power a film festival screening in St. Étienne.

The whole thing started last year when a group of green-minded engineering students at the School of Mines in Saint-Étienne started an “eco-projections” initiative to show documentary films powered by electricity-generating bikes. They formed a collective called Open Sources and developed several plastic bike prototypes in collaboration with a local design firm.

This Telepresence Robot Is Powered By a Smartphone

What if you could have your smartphone greet customers while they’re shopping in your store or have a tablet work as a babysitter?

That’s the idea behind R.bots Synergy SWAN, a telepresence robot with that works with any Android or iOS device. To make the robot work, you attach your smartphone or tablet. The device charges while its docked, and the robot interacts with the world around it.

The robot is still a prototype, but R.bots was able to show me a few use cases for the device on the show floor at CTIA Wireless conference this week in Las Vegas

The robot was able to see that I was there and interact with me in a pretty minimal way, much like you might interact with Siri. The difference here, of course, is that you’re interacting with something that looks like a robot with a digital human-like face. Read more…

Google Brings Intelligent Search to Google+ Photos

Google is now making it easier for users to find their own photos using Google Search.

On its Inside Search blog, the company explained that users can now search for and through their photos hosted in Google+ Photos.

Searching for the query “my photos” offers up this result, personalized with your own Google+ photographs.

But it gets better. The system actually uses machine learning so that you can target your queries to be more specific. Searching for “my photos of food” or “my photos from Orlando” will provide results tailored for those specific instances

You can also search these photos directly from Google+ Photos. Read more…

Ashton Kutcher: ‘I Don’t Think Anyone Has Mastered Mobile’

Actor and prominent startup investor Aston Kutcher took the stage at CTIA Thursday to talk about mobile, and specifically mobile apps.

During a fireside chat at the wireless trade show Kutcher talked about how he discovers the apps that he uses and invests in, as well as how he currently sees the wireless industry.

“Most of the apps that I discover come from founders of companies I’ve invested in, or from being at conventions, or personal social networks,” he says.

Some of Kutcher’s favorite apps include Spotify, Flipboard, Couple and Path. Kutcher is an investor in the last three, making those pretty obvious choices. He also admits to being a heavy user of Facebook and Twitter. Read more…

Electric Chevy Spark to be Offered for Lease at $199/Month

Chevy just attached a price tag and delivery date to the 2014 Spark electric vehicle on Thursday, and it’s looking good. General Motors announced lease pricing of the Chevy Spark EV at $199 per month for 36 months. Add to that the $999 upfront fee, and you can drive away with a Spark when the vehicle first rolls out in June (2013) — if you live in California or Oregon.

Buying the Spark turns out to be a good deal, too. Th car’s retail price starts at $27,495, Chevy says — just keep in mind that you’ll probably want to add a few options to that base price. After subtracting the maximum federal tax credit, which can range from $0-$7,500, the final cost is $19,995. California residents can whittle down that price down even further by applying state and local tax credits and incentives, resulting in a rock-bottom $17,495 for the car. Read more…

Hisense Unveils Sero 7 Pro Tablet Line Starting at $99

Chinese manufacturer Hisense, known for its aggressive pricing on electronics such as tablets and televisions, unveiled two new budget tablets: the Sero 7 Lt and Sero 7 Pro tablet, both aimed to take on Google’s Nexus 7 device.

The Sero 7 Pro tablet will be priced at $149, while the Sero 7 Lt will be $99. It will be available in Walmart stores starting tomorrow, Hisense announced on Thursday at a press conference in New York City.

The 7-inch Sero 7 Pro tablet touts a 1.3 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, a 1280 x 800 high-definition touchscreen display and runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It comes with 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal memory storage and dual cameras (a 5.0 mp rear-facing and 2.0 mp front-facing one). It is Bluetooth-enabled and includes near-field communications technology (NFC). Read more…

Why Brands Need Two-Factor Authentication on Twitter

Major brands with a presence on Twitter are being encouraged to implement Twitter’s new two-factor authentication feature to help ward off hackers, and for good reason. If you look at recent hacks against companies such as Burger King, The Onion and the Associated Press — which even negatively impacted financial markets — it’s clear that Twitter has become a hotbed for account hijacking. Finally, companies can increase their chances of warding off such attacks

Before Wednesday, all users was logging in to Twitter the same way — those with two followers and those with 2 million. Now, Twitter added a security method called login verification, which is essentially like double-locking your door at night to decrease the chances of an intruder breaking in Read more…