SoManyThingz

Facebook – the blue network – has been a prime contributor to the open source community. Over the years, they have managed to build various open source tools for different platforms. A new addition that has been made to their open source product list is OpenCellular. It is an open source wireless access platform developed by the minds at Facebook.
With their new OpenCellular system in action, Facebook eyes a cost-effective and dependable network solution for deployment in remote areas. Their system is flexible enough to provide multiple connectivity options ranging from the old 2G network to the 4G high-speed LTE network and even as a Wi-Fi access point. Well, I can call it the Optimus Prime of the cellular networks.
The hardware design and specifications of the OpenCellular platform will also be open sourced over time, says Facebook. They will focus on both the software and hardware front. The OpenCellular hardware is designed to withstand extreme weather conditions and operating situations. It’s no wonder you may be able to use the internet in the dense Amazon forests or the Himalayan peaks in the near future.Facebook is working very hard to make sure that the OpenCelullar hardware requires minimalistic repairs as the location might be inaccessible sometimes. “It’s important for the system to function without much maintenance or service overhead, especially if it’s located in a remote area where technical experts aren’t readily available. To this end, we are extending an existing open source, real-time operating system that is easy to monitor and run remotely. The system can also reconfigure itself and issue alarms when additional support is needed,” – writes Kashif Ali in his blog post.
The hardware could be used to deploy a cellular access point or a complete network-in-a-box – like the one built by Nokia Networks a couple of years ago — in the regions were a little to no network coverage is present. It will come handy in situations of natural disasters where the cellular networks get out of service. Facebook will work with Telecom Infra Project (TIP) for the selection of trail location for “further validation of technical, functional, and operational aspects of the platform.”
This is another Facebook mission to make the internet available for the world. The internet.org initiative launched by Facebook will be definitely benefitted by the OpenCellular platform. In fact, a large chunk of the world population doesn’t have access to the internet or even basic things like clean water and nutritious food. Facebook’s open source efforts will be beneficial for such people. It can be used to provide education in hard to access areas where internet connectivity is only a dream of the future.

NASA has recently released a total of 56 patented space and rocket technologies into the public domain. This step by NASA could be of much greater use for companies like SpaceX which are already into this industry for some time.
Some of the inventions that NASA shared into the public domains are impressive and a few of them include techniques for manufacturing carbon nanotubes, super-efficient rocket engine, and aerogels which can sustain harsh conditions in the space.
It should be noted that the NASA’s carbon nanotubes technology is almost 20 times cheaper than current techniques which are being used in the space technology.
On the other hand, aerogels are a diverse class of porous and solid materials with extreme materials properties. The futuristic version of aerogel is planned to capture comet dust in the space.
One of the most notable techniques which are opened up by NASA for the public is the ‘smart’ nozzle for turbine engines. The smart nozzle is known to improve the performance and efficiency of aircraft by a great degree.
All the above-mentioned technologies, which were released, were developed for the NASA’s space missions.
Speculations are high that some technologies like enriched baby food, portable cordless vacuums and memory foam mattresses might hit the commercial market soon.

Daniel Lockey, from NASA’s ‘Technology Transfer’ programme, says,
It is sure that these recently released technologies are surely going to help SpaceX, let’s wait and watch for the future.
If you are interested in knowing more about these awesome and cool technologies, here is the link to the patent portfolio from NASA.

At the sunset of his life, 21-year-old cat Tigger was left behind by his owner at a local veterinary clinic. Depressed and disoriented, he couldn’t comprehend why. But then Adriene Nicole showed up. She read his story on the Canton Neighbors page and chose to adopt him. She wished to provide him the love and care he deserved.
Unfortunately, Nicole shortly found out that Tigger had kidney failure and a tumor. But that didn’t hold Nicole back: “Though he has kidney failure and we found a tumor, he kicks it like a 12 yr old. We decided to create a bucket list full of random adventures [for Tigger],” she wrote on Facebook.
“Though it might not be much to others, all the little trips outside are a blast for him because he loves to be outdoors… the beach being his favorite so far,” she said. “The most important part is that Tigger’s story just shows how amazing it is to adopt a geriatric pet and give them the best remaining days! He has forever changed our hearts and will hopefully change the hearts of others when it comes to adopting older pets!”

---

 A former Stanford swimmer who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman was sentenced to six months in jail because a longer sentence would have “a severe impact on him,” according to a judge. At his sentencing Thursday, his victim read him a letter describing the “severe impact” the assault had on her.

One night in January 2015, two Stanford University graduate students biking across campus spotted a freshman thrusting his body on top of an unconscious, half-naked woman behind a dumpster. This March, a California jury found the former student, 20-year-old Brock Allen Turner, guilty of three counts of sexual assault. Turner faced a maximum of 14 years in state prison. On Thursday, he was sentenced to six months in county jail and probation. The judge said he feared a longer sentence would have a “severe impact” on Turner, a champion swimmer who once aspired to compete in the Olympics — a point repeatedly brought up during the trial.
On Thursday, Turner’s victim addressed him directly, detailing the severe impact his actions had on her — from the night she learned she had been assaulted by a stranger while unconscious, to the grueling trial during which Turner’s attorneys argued that she had eagerly consented.
The woman, now 23, told BuzzFeed News she was disappointed with the “gentle” sentence and angry that Turner still denied sexually assaulting her.
“Even if the sentence is light, hopefully this will wake people up,” she said. “I want the judge to know that he ignited a tiny fire. If anything, this is a reason for all of us to speak even louder.”

Russia aim to make Star Trek-style teleportation a reality within 20 years

If you have been a avid Star Trek follower you may have seen Captain Kirk and Spock beam themselves upto to some different planet as a click of a button. The legendary dialogue by Captain Kirk, ‘Beam Me Up Scotty‘ looks to be reality soon. Russia is embarking on a ambitious Star Trek style teleporatation program and its research program has received financial backing from the Russian government. The program seems to be part of a new Kremlin drive to encourage Russia’s IT sector and high-tech economy.
A proposed multi-trillion pound strategic development program drawn up for Vladimir Putin would seek to develop teleportation by 2035. According to Kommersant, the $2.1 trillion (£1.4 trillion) “road map” for development of the cybernetics market to 2035 also includes developing a Russian computer programming language, secure cybernetic communications, quantum computing, and neural interfaces (direct connections between computers and human brains).
“It sounds fantastical today, but there have been successful experiments at Stanford at the molecular level,” Alexander Galitsky, a prominent investor in the country’s technology sector, told Russia’s Kommersant daily on Wednesday. “Much of the tech we have today was drawn from science fiction films 20 years ago.”
While the concept of people teleporting from one place to another remains in the realm of fantasy, the Star-Trek style target is listed in the National Technological Initiative, a state-sponsored strategic development plan created to fund research and development sector in a number of key sectors.
However, the goal is not as far-fetched as it may sound.
Ilya Massukh, head of the Informational Democracy Fund NGO, told Kommersant that because of science’s rapid development it is necessary to make plans 15 to 20 years in advance.
“It is important to have intermediate goals to have an opportunity to correct the road map and its realization in order not to get involved in knowingly utopian spheres,” he said.
For the first time in 2014, scientists at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands presented that it was possible to teleport information programmed into sub-atomic particles between two points three metres apart with 100% dependability.
Even though teleportation remains a remote prospect, experts believe that the next few decades will likely see significant progress in quantum computing and neural interfaces.
Looking to create its own version of Elon Musk’s hyperloop, The network would link Western Russia to the Far East and the northern reaches of the enormous country, with the first section of the network linking St. Petersburg to Moscow in order to transport cargo the 400 miles (640 km) from Baltic Sea terminals.
Earlier this week, Mr Putin showered praise on Russia’s IT sector when he met a team of programmers from St. Petersburg State University who won the 2016 international “Programming Olympiad.”
Russia not only has a talented programming community but also a small and lively software sector that has created many successful IT companies, including Kaspersky Labs and Yandex.
Western governments are also of the opinion that Russia has leveraged its computing talent to make one of the most impressive state-sponsored hacking and cyber-warfare programs in the world.