28 Oct ‘DarkLight’ enables visible light communication in the dark

With the rise in wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers that rely on smart sensors, and the continued popularity of smartphones, smart devices are taking our country by storm. Wireless data for such devices is typically beamed through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, yet, the new wireless communication technology of “visible light communication (VLC),” has emerged as a new option albeit with limitations due to the challenges it faces in practice, such as being easily blocked or not being able to sustain transmission when light is off. Through a new Dartmouth project called “DarkLight,” researchers have developed and demonstrated for the first-time, how visible light can be used to transmit data even when the light appears dark or off. DarkLight provides a new communication primitive similar to infrared communication, however, it exploits the LED lights already around us rather than needing additional infrared emitters.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.sciencedaily.com

28 Oct Helsinki the first to chair international design network

Finland has been elected as the first country to president the World Design Weeks network. The first president is Helsinki Design Week founder and director Kari Korkman.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.helsinkidesignweek.com

23 Oct Moral Machine

A platform for public participation in and discussion of the human perspective on machine-made moral decisions

Sourced through Scoop.it from: moralmachine.mit.edu

23 Oct Mercedes’ Self-Driving Cars Will Kill Pedestrians Over Drivers

The ethical choice that artificial intelligence will have to make has been solved, a company representative explained. Driverless cars wil

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.inverse.com

21 Oct Unsolved math: The moving sofa problem

So you’re moving into your new apartment, and you’re trying to bring your sofa. The problem is, the hallway turns and you have to fit your sofa around a corner. If it’s a small sofa, that might not be a problem, but a really big sofa is sure to get stuck. If you’re a mathematician, you ask yourself: What’s the largest sofa you could possibly fit around the corner? It doesn’t have to be a rectangular sofa either, it can be any shape.

This is the essence of the moving sofa problem. Here are the specifics: the whole problem is in two dimensions, the corner is a 90-degree angle, and the width of the corridor is 1. What is the largest two-dimensional area that can fit around the corner?

The largest area that can fit around a corner is called—I kid you not—the sofa constant. Nobody knows for sure how big it is, but we have some pretty big sofas that do work, so we know it has to be at least as big as them. We also have some sofas that don’t work, so it has to be smaller than those. All together, we know the sofa constant has to be between 2.2195 and 2.8284.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.math.ucdavis.edu

21 Oct ESA: Mars lander lost during descent

The European Space
Agency (ESA) has confirmed the Schiaparelli spacecraft, which was expected to land on Mars on Wednesday, has been lost.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: edition.cnn.com

21 Oct Less, But Better: Revisiting the Design Philosophy of Dieter Rams in the Digital Age – Ceros Blog

What can today’s digital designers learn from the “better, but less” product design principles established by iconic industrial designer Dieter Rams?

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.ceros.com