At http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-06/our-web-videos-reveal-more-we-realize-and-perhaps-more-we-want

Our Web Videos Reveal More Than We Realize, and Perhaps More Than We Want

By Jacob Ward Posted 06.29.2012 at 10:04 am

As we upload more and more videos to the Internet—one hour of new video every second to YouTube alone—experts are finding new ways to mine them. A team led by Igor Curcio of Nokia's Research Center, for example, has developed an algorithm that stitches concertgoers' cellphone footage into a single, synchronized multi-angle film. The concept is relatively simple: the audio track serves as a guide to sync up the footage, and the software chooses the best shots. Curcio has no real business model yet—photography is prohibited at most concerts—but giving people the ability to identify and coherently connect common elements in multiple videos is nonetheless a step toward something significant.

For instance, the drones that patrol the U.S.-Mexican border and the security cameras in cities already record more footage than human observers can possibly examine. If an agency could rely on a computer to track individuals, groups and events on its own, agents could use intelligence far more—well, intelligibly.

That new capability will drive the demand for even more raw data. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) agency, overseen by the U.S. director of national intelligence, has launched two projects that may help analysts use civilian video from YouTube, Vimeo and other sources. Investigators at the Finder program are studying ways to locate where and when a video was taken based solely on the image itself. That's hard enough. But researchers at IARPA's Aladdin are working on an even more challenging task: how to search for "specific events of interest." If they succeed, analysts could feed in a name, a simple text description or a few sample videos of what they seek—say, "five people wearing backpacks next to a pickup truck"—and get back any number of clips that match the query.

Beyond categories lies the greater hurdle of finding not just an event or a group of objects but a single object: a missing child, a misplaced purse, a suicide bomber in a... (more at http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-06/our-web-videos-reveal-more-we-realize-and-perhaps-more-we-want )

At http://mashable.com/2012/07/02/overtime-at-home/

Why You're Probably Working an Extra Two Months This Year

July 2, 2012 by Chris Taylor

Looking forward to that July 4 holiday? Of course you are. But be honest: what are the chances you're going to sneak a look at your work email at some point during the day, just in case?

A new survey from mobile security firm Good Technology confirms what we already knew — that Americans' work-life balance is going from bad to worse. The stats read like a depressingly familiar roll call of what's wrong with our hectic connected existence.

Some 68% of us check work email before 8 a.m., with half of us doing so before our heads leave the pillow. (The average check-in time of the 1,000 randomly-selected respondents: 7:09 a.m.) At the other end of the day, 69% of us can't slip into slumber unless we've checked that old work email one last time.

But perhaps the most eye-popping part of the survey is how much all that extra time adds up to. Simply by answering work-related calls and emails when we've left the office, the average respondent is working an extra seven hours a week. That adds up to 365 hours... ( more at http://mashable.com/2012/07/02/overtime-at-home/ )

The party that didn't go off with a Big Bang

At http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2168178/Stephen-Hawking-held-party-time-travellers--turned-.html

The party that didn't go off with a Big Bang: Stephen Hawking held a party for time-travellers - but no-one turned up...

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 11:53 GMT, 3 July 2012 | UPDATED: 12:53 GMT, 3 July 2012

It is the ultimate test for time travellers - hold a party for them, but don't post the invites until after the event.

But sadly, when Stephen Hawking tried this, he was left to his own devices - for across all of time and space, his invite to literally anyone who ever will exist landed on deaf ears.

Professor Hawking offered this as 'experimental evidence that time travel is not possible' - although we secretly hope that by publicising the party's existence (held on June 28th 2009), someone in the future might retroactively decide to visit.

Scroll down for video:

Party: Stephen Hawking's attempt to welcome time travellers - perhaps the guests just thought it felt so 2009

A party to remember until the end of time: Stephen Hawking waited and waited, but no-one turned up...

According to Ars Technica, the Brief History of Time author explained: 'I have experimental evidence that time travel is not possible.

'I gave a party for time-travellers, but I didn't send out the invitations until after the party.

'I sat there a long time, but no one came.'

It is a sad, but quite intriguing, image: Professor Hawking in a room by himself, surrounded by canapes and champagne, and expectantly waiting for the door to open or some kind of Doctor Who-style TARDIS to appear in the room thanks to some timey-wimey loophole assistance.

In fact, you can see this poignant vignette for yourself, for the party was filmed and put on YouTube.

You're still welcome to come at any time: Your invite is here

Still, perhaps it was a good thing that no-one came.

For Hawking said that while Einstein's theories alllow for time travel into the past, but that 'it is likely that warping would trigger a bolt of radiation that would destroy the spaceship and maybe the space-time itself'.

SO WHY DID NO-ONE TURN UP?

It is the old... ( more at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2168178/Stephen-Hawking-held-party-time-travellers--turned-.html )

See the party here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=elah3i_WiFI