MetaFilter posts tagged with mit

MIT Hackers Restrained

Kirth Gerson — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:09:55 -0800

Three MIT students planned to reveal to Defcon how to make counterfeit "Charley Cards" - the electronic passes that allow access to Boston's MBTA transit system. The MBTA sued for a restraining order, and a judge has granted it. The MBTA complaint (PDF) The Judge's order (PDF) Robert Cringely on the subject

All Night Long

chuckdarwin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:51:13 -0800

MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for later use. "If you can only have energy when the sun is shining, you're in deep trouble. And that's why, in my opinion, photovoltaics haven't penetrated the market," Daniel Nocera, an MIT professor of energy, said in an interview at his Cambridge, Massachusetts, office. "If I could provide a storage mechanism, then I make energy 24/7 and then we can start talking about solar." Solar has been growing as a power source in the United States -- last year the nation's solar capacity rose 45 percent to 750 megawatts. But it is still a tiny power source, producing enough energy to meet the needs of about 600,000 typical homes, and only while the sun is shining, according to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association. Most U.S. homes with solar panels feed electricity into the power grid during the day, but have to draw back from the grid at night. Nocera said his development would allow homeowners to bank solar energy as hydrogen and oxygen, which a fuel cell could use to produce electricity when the sun was not shining. "I can turn sunlight into a chemical fuel, now I can use photovoltaics at night," said Nocera, who explained the discovery in a paper written with Matthew Kanan published on Thursday in the journal Science.

MIT TechTV

Rykey — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:44:07 -0800

MIT TechTV [beta]. Like YouTube for braniacs (minus the scandalous invasion of privacy).

They were applying his own paradigms for learning

Horace Rumpole — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:33:32 -0800

Papert, who was a professor of mathematics, education, and media technology at MIT, has devoted much of his career to learning: self-learning (he taught himself Russian) and learning about learning. He was one of the early pioneers of artificial intelligence, and he invented the computer language Logo to teach children about computers. Now he must learn something even more challenging - how to be Seymour Papert again.

And it's day-glow orange. Srsly.

ardgedee — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:56:55 -0800

All of the light, 40 times the power. Improve the performance of run-of-the-mill solar cells by standing orange pieces of glass on them. MIT's Mark Baldo describes the technology. The performance claims are outstanding, manufacture is cheap (and defect-tolerant), and the time to market is predicted to be three years. It can also be used to turn building window panes into solar energy collectors. The paper's published in the latest Science Magazine -- but you can only read the abstract unless you're a subscriber.

Video killed

asok — Wed, 21 May 2008 05:43:48 -0800

YouTomb MIT project that tracks youtube file deletions for aledged copyright infringement. They do not host the deleted files, fyi.via wired

Alongside a screenshot of each clip deemed in violation, YouTomb lets users see who posted the offending video, how many views it got before being pulled, when it was removed and by whom (for instance at the request of the user, a media company or third-party). YouTomb, which launched about two months ago, is currently monitoring close to a quarter-million videos, and Jansen says the team is eager to expand its scope. Currently, the site only monitors popular YouTube videos, but Jansen hopes to span as many YouTube data sets as possible. YouTomb is considering offering code to bloggers to use when embedding YouTube videos. That way, when videos were taken down, users could see stats and data instead of a simple error message.

Somewhere, Richard Feynman is smiling.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:46:34 -0800

Swinging from pendulums and facing down wrecking balls, MIT professor Walter Lewin shows students the zany beauty of science.

learning math online

nickyskye — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:51:03 -0800

Free math courses online, from very basic to brainiac. No registration required.

free writing courses

nickyskye — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:45:49 -0800

10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online.

First of the photojournalists

Abiezer — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:55:43 -0800

Japanese places and people photographed by Felice Beato, a pioneer 19th century photographer who documented the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny and the Anglo-French military intervention in China before opening a studio in Yokohama in 1863. He also seems to have been the first photographer in Korea.Wikipedia NYPL archive First two links are units in MIT's Visualizing Cultures project.