Hasta La Gadget!

It’s strange enough that so many people were able to capture video of the meteorite that streaked over Russia on Friday exploding over populated areas causing injury and large amounts of damage. We knew as of Friday that the meteorite had exploded with enough force to knock glass windows out of many buildings in the cold Siberian portion of Russia.

Today we have more reports of damage caused by the meteor explosion and they are as bizarre as some of the damage reports from tornadoes we’ve heard over the years. For instance, in the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia some high-rise buildings had the glass blown out of every window on the top floor while other buildings had only the glass from the bottom floor destroyed. Even that’s not the most bizarre report of damage caused by meteor.

Some citizens living within the city are reporting that the external windows of their apartments remain intact while glass jars in dishes inside the home were destroyed by the meteor explosion. Some citizens also reported that their electronic devices were destroyed by the explosion. One citizen reported that a glass bottle he was holding shattered in his hand.

Scientists say that glass was destroyed by pressure waves created as the meteor fragment decelerated. These low-frequency waves are called infrasound. Scientists say that these waves can bounce off buildings causing them to be stronger in some places than others and can resonate with glass explaining wine bottles and dishes might have shattered inside of homes otherwise unaffected by the meteor.

While some apartment dwellers had their windows blown out, apartments next door with the same Windows remained intact. Scientists are estimating that the meteor is the largest to have entered the Earth’s atmosphere since 1908. Current reports pegged the number of people injured at 1200, mostly from falling glass. NASA estimates that a meteor of this size hits the Earth about once every 100 years. The city of Chelyabinsk, Russia has about 1 million citizens.

[via NYT]

Strange damage reports surface after Friday’s Russian meteor explosion is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The thought of a computer that never crashes is incredibly appealing to anyone who has ever used a computer. Researchers from the University College London have created a computer system that they call a “systemic” computer that is able to self-repair and instantly recover from crashes. The researchers believe that their systemic computer could have many uses including the ability to help military drones reprogram themselves to cope with damage sustained in combat.

The researchers also believe that their systemic computer could help create more realistic models of the human brain. Computers today work through a list of instructions one at a time in sequential order. Instructions are extracted from the memory, executed, and the result is again placed into memory. The computer creation that researchers Peter Bentley and Christos Sakellariou have created that combines the data and the instructions on what to do with the data into systems.

The researchers give the example of the computer being able to monitor the temperature outside along with instructions on what to do if the temperature falls outside of a specific range. Each of the systems contains context sensitive data allowing the data to only interact with other similar systems. Unlike traditional computers that use a program counter, the systems in the systemic computer are executed at times chosen by a pseudorandom number generator designed to mimic the randomness in nature.

This means that the system is able to carry out instructions simultaneously with no one system taking precedence over the others. In the system, the researchers say that the results of a computation emerges from the interaction between systems that interact in parallel and randomly. The system also contains multiple copies of its instructions distributed across the many systems so if one system is corrupted the computer is able to access another clean copy to repair its code eliminating operating system crashes because a single bit of memory can’t be accessed.

[via New Scientist]

Systemic computer can rebuild corrupted data and never crashes is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The other day we spotted a photo of the upcoming Sony NEX-3n digital camera, and if you’re hankering for more photos of the device, the folks at Digicaminfo have gotten their hands on more photos of the camera, this time posing in white and in rather official looking photos. The specs have not been confirmed yet, but if you have been following the Sony NEX-3n rumors, word has it that the NEX-3n will be successor to the NEX-3. The mirrorless camera system will also sport a 16MP sensor currently available on the Sony NEX-F3, a zoom control button that will allow photographers to electronically control the 16-50mm PZ lens, as well as an additional 18-200mm PZ lens that you can attach to it. Sony is expected to hold an event on the 20^th of February where the rumors are saying that’s when new cameras will be announced. However at the same time the 20^th of February date has also been reserved by Sony for a PlayStation event, so we’re not sure if Sony will be killing two birds with one stone, or if they will actually be holding separate events. Either way check back with us then for the details!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony A58 Photos Leaked, Nikon Lenses Major Rebate Plan For Announced,

When you’re starting out in photography, with your shiny new DSLR, the world of lenses can be complex and scary place: prime this, wide angle that, and what the hell is focal length anyway? Don’t worry! This video should have you covered. More »

When it comes to social networking, most people know that Facebook is by far the largest social network around. Pew Research Center released a survey recently looking at late 2012 for the social networking landscape. As expected, Facebook was in the lead with 67% of Internet users in the United States using the social network.

The battle in the social networking market right now is for the second place spot. Pew shows that 16% of American Internet users are on twitter while 15% are on Pinterest. The two social networks being separated by one percentage point is a very close race and even closer when you consider Pew’s margin of error.

Pew says that its numbers can be off plus or minus 2.6%, meaning that Pinterest could easily be the second largest social network in the world right now. Pinterest is also growing having only 12% of United States Internet users on the network as of August 2012. The fourth place spot for the most popular social network went to Instagram boasting 13% of Internet users in the US on its service.

However, if we again consider the plus or minus 2.6% margin of error Pew admits to, Instagram could easily be the third most popular or even the second most popular social network in the United States. All we know for sure is that Facebook is dominating on a massive scale and it’s a three horse race for the second place spot.

[via Huffington Post]

Pew Research shows Pinterest is larger than many think is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.