Attention span
August 15, 2008
By Marc Settle
Reporter, BBC iPM
As the age at which children start to get familiar with computers and the net gets ever lower, questions are starting to be asked about what that exposure is doing to our children’s brains and their ability to concentrate.
These questions are ones which eminent neuroscientist Baroness Greenfield says needs to be confronted. The director of the Royal Institution says the “sensory-laden environment” of computers could result in people “staying in the world of the small child”.
Professor Greenfield has spent a lifetime researching the physiology of the brain, and now thinks that there could be a link between the attention span of children and the growing use of computers.
In an interview for Radio 4’s iPM she said: “The last 10 years have seen a three-fold increase in the prescription of the drug Ritalin, a drug used for Attention Deficit Disorder. One asks why
“Why suddenly is there greater demand for a drug for attentional problems” she asked. “This might, and I stress might, be something to do with the increased exposure of young children to unsupervised and lengthy hours in front of a screen.”
"The technology is creating an environment that is answer rich, but we’re question poor"Susan Greenfield
iPM: Listen to the interview with Baroness Greenfield
Baroness Greenfield wondered if the cause was growing computer use.
“Could it be, and this is just a suggestion which I think we should look into, could it be if a small child is sitting in front of a screen pressing buttons and getting reactions quickly for many hours, they get used to and their brains get used to rapid responses” she said.
If children do not have stories read to them and have little practice of concentrating for long periods this could effect how they handle the sedate pace of school life, said Baroness Greenfield.
She asked: “Could it be that they then have to sit still for half an hour and of course they’re not used to that because they’re used to the rapid interaction with the screen, and could it - again a question - be that they are fidgety and hyperactive and then diagnosed as having a disorder”
The brain, says the distinguished neuroscientist, changes all the time - but it is very sensitive to the environment its in, and so it might be affected by the continual use of computers.
“What we need to question is this: are we putting people into the optimum environment How can we create an environment which will pre-dispose the brain to react in ways we consider ideal” she said.
“The technology is creating an environment that is answer rich, but we’re question poor.”
She contrasts the life of modern-day children with the generation which grew up without computers, who had to work to find answers by going to a library to look things up.
Baroness Greenfield also claims that the distinction has been lost between information and knowledge - with the facts provided by easy-accessed information losing the context necessary for knowledge.
Her views are echoed by the writer Nicholas Carr in his recent essay “Is Google making us stupid” that was published in Atlantic Monthly. In the article Mr Carr claims that his mind is changing as a result of greater computer use. “Deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle,” he said.
But a contrasting view comes from the philosopher Julian Baggini, who has written that the fear of change and of children becoming “degenerate aliens” is as old as parenthood, an “age-old anxiety” which he accused Baroness Greenfield of dignifying.
In response, the professor told iPM that she would rather not be complacent and “end up with a world that we don’t want”.
Baroness Greenfield can be heard on BBC Radio 4 at 17.30 on Friday 15 August 2008.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
EA Sports Hockey League: you’ve got your MMO in my NHL 09, it sounds brilliant!
August 15, 2008
Everyone loves to rag on EA for a purported lack of innovation, or a perceived tendency to forgo change in lieu of taking chances. But it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to keep up the EA hate train; lately, they’ve been publishing lots of wonderfully fun, exciting, and daring new titles like Rock Band, Mirror’s Edge, Spore, and Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure.
Last year, NHL 08 garnered “Sports Game of the Year” honors from seven publications, but that doesn’t mean that EA Canada is resting on its lofty laurels. IGN recently previewed a brand-new online mode in NHL 09, a setup that EA is referring to as sports gaming’s first MMO mode (presumably, they mean console sports gaming). The idea sounds absolutely fantastic, and it’s something I could easily get behind, even though I don’t consider myself an “MMO guy.”
Up until now, most online sports games have been one-on-one affairs, pitting you against a foe as you each take control of an entire team. With EA Sports Hockey League, the developers of NHL 09 are aiming to change the game. The mode will allow you to take control of one player on the ice, while five other players around the world will each control one of your teammates. A real six-on-six online hockey game sounds badass enough, but EA Canada isn’t stopping there; there’s plenty more to it.
The point of the Hockey League is to create your own player (with your real name on the back of his jersey) and build yourself up, RPG-style, until you’re renowned for your skills on the virtual rink. Teams can have up to 50 players, allowing groups of six to break off and play by themselves (though everyone’s stats are aggregated for the entire team). You won’t need to have a full six-man squad, though; the game only requires three human players per team.
This really sounds like something that could revolutionize the way console sports games are played online. I was already eagerly anticipating NHL 09, but now, the wait until September 9th (its release date) seems absolutely interminable. How does EA Sports Hockey League sound to you? All I’ve been saying to everyone since I heard about it is, “Jesus f*ck, NHL 09 is going to be amazing.”
[Via IGN]
At last Pandora comes to Windows Mobile-well eventually
August 15, 2008
Pandora, the online music service which lets a user create virtual “stations” based of their favorite artist or tune, and lets the user refine said “station” via rating the music up and down. Pandora created the popular client for the Apple iPhone while leaving Windows Mobile phones waiting.
Well the good news is that Pandora is now working on a mobile client for Windows Mobile, so hopefully the wait for Pandora on Windows Mobile powered mobile phones won’t be too long.
This program could easily have been available for Windows Mobile two years ago as wmpoweruser shows.
Tom Conrad, CTO at Pandora responded with a letter… The good news is that we do have a team working on Windows Mobile versions of Pandora. Given my track record it’s probably best not to comment on the “when” but it’s certainly not a question of “if”.
At least for a small company like Pandora, the incredibly diverse mobile universe creates a real challenge with respect to where to place your limited resources. Without question the iPhone turned out to be a great bet for us. So far, the investment in feature phones has been a more modest success. We’re all optimistic that we’ll be able to find a iPhone-like success on Windows Mobile, but only time will tell.
Source – wmpoweruser and wmexperts
Smartphone memory boost from new Samsung software
August 15, 2008
Samsung has announced they are to roll out software that has been designed to improve embedded flash memory within their range of smartphones.
Samsung has said this new software will optimise data transactions within its memory chips while interacting with a Windows Mobile, Linux, Symbian, or real-time OS. Samsung states this will bring about speedier booting, searches, and downloads which will greatly increase power performance.
Samsung’s new software file systems include PocketFS, RFS, and UniFS, these execute file operations such as creating, reading, writing, and deleting files.
Samsung says: these flash drivers can also prolong the mobile phones lifetime, and is achieved by converting “file system requests into low-level flash operations and by wear-levelling and bad-block replacing.”
VP of Samsung’s memory division, Young Joon Choi, said: “The new software, which upgrades performance of our embedded memory solutions, is expected to make OneNAND and other high-performance, high-density memory solutions such as the 16-GB movieNAND desirable for advanced handsets.”
Source – informationweek
Your questions
August 15, 2008
Have you ever wondered how the Universe started How did we get here And what other secrets are out in space
On September 10, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) will try to answer these and other questions by re-creating the conditions that existed just billionths of a second after the Big Bang.
The BBC will join scientists as they switch on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a giant subterranean machine that will probe the mysteries of the cosmos.
By smashing together tiny particles, it is hoped that the LHC will reveal the origins of mass, show us what all the invisible matter in the cosmos is made of, and perhaps even create mini black holes.
Professor Brian Cox is one of the LHC scientists and a physicist at CERN. He is on hand to answer you questions about the project and what could be found.
Send in your Big Bang questions using the form below.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
Mars robots begin test campaign
August 15, 2008
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News
Engineers have unveiled the latest prototypes for a European rover that is due to land on Mars in 2015.
BBC News has had exclusive access to the test vehicles which are being put through their paces by space company UK Astrium at its HQ in Stevenage.
The British team on this European Space Agency (Esa) project has nicknamed the prototypes Bruno and Bradley.
The six-wheeled robots are claimed to be the most robust and manoeuvrable planetary rovers to be built.
According to Chris Draper, Astrium’s ExoMars rover vehicle industrial manager, they can go literally where no rover has gone before.
“Obviously, the American MER rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) that were put up by Nasa enjoyed an extreme amount of success. They were able to travel large distances, well beyond their planned lifetimes. But we’re hoping that with our baby, we’ll be able to go places that are actually much further.”
EXOMARS MISSION CONCEPT- Set to leave Earth in 2013; primary aim is to search for life
- Will launch on a heavy-lift rocket, such as the Ariane 5
- Vented landing bags allow for a larger payload
- Rover will carry a 16.5kg ‘Pasteur’ instrument suite
- 30kg geophysics/environment static station also possible
- This would study the weather and listen for ‘Marsquakes’
- Concept to cost Esa states more than first estimates
Each prototype has six-wheel steering, which means that they can turn all six wheels and crab sideways.
They also have what engineers describe as “wheel walking capability”. This means that when the vehicles come across a particularly steep or slippery slope, they can anchor themselves with five of the wheels and inch each wheel forward one at a time, to crawl over an obstacle.
The prototypes have a unique intelligent navigation system which enables them to plot their own course.
Such is the distance between the planets, it can take 20 minutes for an instruction sent from Earth to arrive at Mars. The delay means instant commands to change direction are not possible and so a rover must have autonomy to make decision if, for example, it is approaching a dangerous precipice.
And because the rover will make its own decisions, it can also cover more ground.
ExoMars’ primary mission is to search for signs of past or present life.
To do that, it will make its way to locations thought most likely to support life and drill up to two metres into the ground. Sub-surface soil samples will be analysed by an onboard laboratory.
The rover will have the largest array of scientific instruments to be taken to Mars. So if it gets strong indications that organisms might be present, it will be able to subject samples to a wide range of tests to confirm initial readings.
But the executives at Astrium are concerned that after having done the groundwork in developing the vehicle systems (the chassis, locomotion and navigation systems), the company might actually lose the opportunity to build the final flight vehicle.
"It’s quite a tense period for us in Astrium and for the other companies involved in building ExoMars"Dr Ralph Cordey, UK Astrium
The concern stems from the recent funding difficulties faced by the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC), the agency which supports astronomy and space science in the UK.
The company won its role on the mission as leader of vehicle development partly because of the funding the STFC put through Esa. But Astrium’s science business development manager, Dr Ralph Cordey, said that given the recent squeeze on British astronomy and space resources, he was now unsure if that same level of funding would continue.
“It’s quite a tense period for us in Astrium and for the other companies involved in building ExoMars; and for all the many, many scientists who will depend on this mission,” he told BBC News.
“On the one hand, we are moving ahead with a great momentum, as you’ve seen. This is not a paper project - there is real engineering going on and we are on the verge of building the real hardware that will go on to the planet Mars. 
“But on the other hand, we do have a real problem. In order to complete the project, further funding needs to be made available and it won’t be until November that we are sure that that is in place.”
The cost of ExoMars has risen dramatically since European space ministers first approved the venture in 2005. Revised estimates to be agreed next month with industrial partners mean the price for ExoMars will nearly double from its original 650m-euro price tag.
If the UK wants to maintain its position on mission, it will have to boost its financial commitment to ExoMars or come to some other compensatory arrangement with Esa.
If the UK plays the wrong hand at the next space ministers’ meeting in November, UK Astrium warns, the contract to build the flight vehicle could go to a space company sited in another Esa member state.
The STFC said: “The UK will be working with its international partners to try to bring about a mission that has high impact and is affordable, in a process of negotiation that will culminate in decisions at the ministerial in November 2008.
“Meanwhile, it remains a high strategic priority for the UK as emphasised previously.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
Register your interest in the Blackberry Bold at Carphone Warehouse
August 15, 2008
Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Bold smartphone, a mobile phone that embodies an elegant design yet doesn’t sacrifice functionality or features, is coming to the Carphone Warehouse.
With the BlackBerry Bold there are no compromised with email, internet, IM and phone. With the aid of the BlackBerry Bold’s integrated organizer it can help you remain on top of your working day.
With the BlackBerry Bold’s 2 megapixel camera and video recording, life’s precious moments can be captures with a few simple clicks. The BlackBerry Bold incorporates WiFi, GPS, and satellite navigation, and this is only the beginning.
Sometime this month Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Bold is expected to become available throughout the United Kingdom via The Carphone Warehouse, and you can now register your interest in the RIM BlackBerry Bold smartphone, and you will receive an exclusive offer on the BlackBerry Bold as soon as it becomes available.
Source – Carphone Warehouse
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