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Live Web Conference with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Japan - Tues. at 7 pm CST - http://bit.ly/aCYQLi

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 20:14

Live Web Conference with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Japan - Tues. at 7 pm CST - http://bit.ly/aCYQLi

Categories: MW conference stuff

NVIDIA pursuing external graphics accelerators for laptops?

Engadget.com - Mon, 2010-02-08 20:06

It's not everyday that we can say there's external laptop GPU love in the air, but right on the heels the appearance of the Gigabyte M1405 with its GeForce GT220 dock, NVIDIA is expressing interest in external laptop GPUs as well. Manager of notebook GPUs Rene Haas told X-bit Labs that he thinks external graphics adapters for laptops are a "big opportunity" for NVIDIA, though he noted the drawback of their high price tags. We assume he is referring to AMD's ATI XGP box (or Fujitsu Siemens's Lasso) which is the only one available -- the ASUS XG station (pictured above) that seemed to vanish into thin air after its brief appearance at CES 2008. Either way, Haas very clearly states that the large market appeal of affordable external GPUs is just his opinion, though we're going to assume his opinion holds a bit of water in Santa Clara.

NVIDIA pursuing external graphics accelerators for laptops? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Categories: Tech: General Technology

@EdithSchreurs @Ebelien @Pepijn_L ik dacht za midd naar Vail. Stapelbedden verdelen. Zo en ma skiën. Vlieg ma of di terug #mw2010 #skitrip

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 20:01

@EdithSchreurs @Ebelien @Pepijn_L ik dacht za midd naar Vail. Stapelbedden verdelen. Zo en ma skiën. Vlieg ma of di terug #mw2010 #skitrip

Categories: MW conference stuff

The Open Dinosaur Project

Science Buzz - Science Museum of Minnesota [and Best of the Web] - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:57

Measuring the SMM camptosaurus: SMM paleo lab volunteers Becky Huset (left) and Neva Key consult over their ornithischian limb bone measurements for the Open Dinosaur Project.
Courtesy Mark RyanThe Open Dinosaur Project (ODP) allows anyone with an interest in paleontology, and access to skeletal information, scientific publications, or museum skeletons themselves the opportunity to be part of the compilation of an actual scientific paper. Paleontologists Andy Farke, Matt Wedel, and Mike Taylor make up the core ODP team, but only the core. The rest of the team is made up of individuals around the world. The hope is to put together a comprehensive database of information about the dimensions of limb bones (legs, arms, hands, and feet) of ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs in museums around the world with a goal of “investigating the evolution of locomotion and limb proportions in this group.”

“The Open Dinosaur Project fits very comfortably into that loose coalition of ideas: we’re trying to democratize science, open up data, blog the process, and make sure that the final publications are freely available to the world,” Mike Taylor said during a recent interview with the Brazilian science publication Ciência Hoje On-line.

Putting tape to toe: SMM volunteer Becky Huset measures the metatarsals and phalanx of the musuem's camptosaurus for the Open Dinosaur Project.
Courtesy Mark RyanTwo volunteers here at the Science Museum of Minnesota got themselves involved with this unique study. Becky Huset and Neva Key both work in the SMM paleo lab, usually hunched over fossils extracting them from rocks or preparing them for display. But recently, the two have spent time out on gallery floor measuring the limbs of some of the museum’s mounted ornithischian dinosaurs.

“We did the Camptosaurus and some cast bones from Stegosaurus from the collections,” Becky said. She added that measurements of the SMM Triceratops were already listed.

Why only ornithischian dinosaurs? Part of the reason was to keep the study somewhat manageable. But ornithischian dinosaurs also have an interesting evolution of locomotion that to date hasn’t been studied in depth. The dinosaur order radiated from a two-legged (biped) form into at least three different four-legged (quadruped) forms including armored dinosaurs (e.g. stegosaurs and ankylosaurs), ceratopsians (e.g. triceratops and chasmosaurus), and various ornithopod types, (e.g. camptosaurs, hadrosaurs, and iguanodontids).

How to measure a scapcoracoid: One of several measuring aids available to project volunteers from the Open Dinosaur Project website.
Courtesy Open Dinosaur ProjectIn order to aid team members in gathering the proper information, instructions, templates, and other documents are available on the Open Dinosaur Project website. Diagrams explaining ornithischian limb osteology – including each bone’s proper name - are also on the site, as are illustrations showing exactly how to properly measure the dimensions of different bones. For those involved who don’t have access to museum specimens or material in other collections, the team leaders provide lists where prior publications with skeletal information can be accessed and mined for the study.

By last week, the Open Dinosaur Project had acquired nearly 1600 entries, but the results of all this work remains to be seen. The compiled data will be analyzed over the next couple months, and Farke, Wedel, and Taylor plan to begin writing the paper this spring. When completed the study will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. If all goes as planned, after publication, the lead researchers will make all the data available online for future studies.

Now that their data has been entered on the ODP site, SMM volunteers Huset and Key will have their names included as contributors, and eligible to be included in the resulting paper.

"We wanted to get the general public excited about and involved in doing “real” science, working in cooperation with paleontologists. There is a great interest out there in paleontology, particularly dinosaurs. It’s amazing how many non-paleontologists read the technical literature! I thought, “Why not harness this enthusiasm?” There have been many people waiting for this sort of opportunity (even if they didn’t know it), and I think the response speaks for itself." – Andy Farke in Ciência Hoje On-line

Becky Huset enjoyed being involved with the project. “[It] sounded like a good idea,” she said. “I like having knowledge that is freely available to everyone, and it was a good way to contribute to a paper. Do some "real" work."

LINKS

Open Dinosaur Project website
Wedel’s & Taylor’s dino-related blog
More about Ornithischian dinosaurs
Osteology (the scientific study of bones)

Categories: News: Museum Blogs

.@rocombo Yes, I'm wondering how far developers are getting in combining pre-loaded with just-in-time content -how well that works... #mtogo

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:53

.@rocombo Yes, I'm wondering how far developers are getting in combining pre-loaded with just-in-time content -how well that works... #mtogo

Categories: MW conference stuff

Peyton Manning Leaving the Field Without Shaking Hands Shows a Lack of Emotional Strength

nptech tag feed from Technorati - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:43

Is this what we should expect from our gridiron heroes?

Categories: Tech: NP-Tech

My iPhone is full of tour apps; having to delete some now. Can they be smaller in file size without compromising quality & delivery? #mtogo

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:34

My iPhone is full of tour apps; having to delete some now. Can they be smaller in file size without compromising quality & delivery? #mtogo

Categories: MW conference stuff

@dmje @jonpratty took some good pics last year. M and W are nasty letters. do you like it better w/out stripes like @museweb ?

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:32

@dmje @jonpratty took some good pics last year. M and W are nasty letters. do you like it better w/out stripes like @museweb ?

Categories: MW conference stuff

#MW2010 Best of the Web nomination categories: ... Long-lived, Museum Professional, Podcast, Research, Social Media http://bit.ly/dm41pD

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:21

#MW2010 Best of the Web nomination categories: ... Long-lived, Museum Professional, Podcast, Research, Social Media http://bit.ly/dm41pD

Categories: MW conference stuff

Ooh, MW2010 lead up! RT @jtrant: what do you think of the re-themed conference.archimuse.com? let me know @ http://bit.ly/c4mXxR

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:21

Ooh, MW2010 lead up! RT @jtrant: what do you think of the re-themed conference.archimuse.com? let me know @ http://bit.ly/c4mXxR

Categories: MW conference stuff

RT @NancyProctor: RT @museweb: rt @mia_out Survey results: is it friendly or weird when a museum twitter account follows you back? http://bit.ly/boIhLf

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:19

RT @NancyProctor: RT @museweb: rt @mia_out Survey results: is it friendly or weird when a museum twitter account follows you back? http://bit.ly/boIhLf

Categories: MW conference stuff

Museums and the Web #mw2010 Best of the Web nomination categories: Education, Exhibition, Innovative or Experimental...http://bit.ly/dm41pD

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:18

Museums and the Web #mw2010 Best of the Web nomination categories: Education, Exhibition, Innovative or Experimental...http://bit.ly/dm41pD

Categories: MW conference stuff

Open Objects: Survey results: is it friendly or weird when a museum twitter account follows you back?

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:14

Categories: MW conference stuff

Internships: Museum of the Moving Image, New York

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:12

INTERNSHIPS SUMMER 2010: June 7 - August 13

Museum of the Moving Image offers full-time, paid summer internships. Under the supervision of department heads, interns have the opportunity to learn about the full range of Museum operations and to work on projects related to the fall 2010 opening of the Museum's renovated and expanded facility. Undergraduates entering their senior year in fall 2010, college graduates, and graduate students are eligible to apply.

Internships are offered in the following areas:

read more

Categories: MW conference stuff

Internships: Museum of the Moving Image, New York

OneTag - all posts containing "mw2008" (Y! Pipes, 20 items) - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:12

INTERNSHIPS SUMMER 2010: June 7 - August 13

Museum of the Moving Image offers full-time, paid summer internships. Under the supervision of department heads, interns have the opportunity to learn about the full range of Museum operations and to work on projects related to the fall 2010 opening of the Museum's renovated and expanded facility. Undergraduates entering their senior year in fall 2010, college graduates, and graduate students are eligible to apply.

Internships are offered in the following areas:

read more

Categories: MW conference stuff

1080p, 5.1 surround sound coming to Netflix Watch Instantly in 2010? Update: No, yes (and closed captioning)

Engadget.com - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:12

Netflix Watch Instantly fans could be due for a big upgrade, as CNET has heard the company will roll out 1080p and 5.1 surround sound later this year. No word on timing or any other details, but this could mean its moving to version 3 of Microsoft's Silverlight streaming platform with its additional tweaks for adaptive streaming and hardware graphics acceleration. Also unknown is how much bandwidth would be necessary, but considering Microsoft already uses very similar technology for its 1080p Instant On videos on Zune Marketplace through the Xbox 360 while only requiring 3 Mbps and VUDU HDX 1080p videos only state a minimum of 4500 Kbps, a massive jump in available bandwidth might not be necessary if you already get clear 720p video. The last big hurdle? How much content will be available that way, Gizmodo points out only about 6 percent of current offerings stream in HD we'll be watching carefully if the pace picks up going forward.

Update: Netflix pinged CNET to let them know that 1080p was mistakenly included on a roadmap of 2010 features, however if you can get over missing all those extra pixels, surround sound and closed captioning are definitely booked for an appearance later this year.

1080p, 5.1 surround sound coming to Netflix Watch Instantly in 2010? Update: No, yes (and closed captioning) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Categories: Tech: General Technology

@danamuses Agreed! I can't type fast enough!! #musetech

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 19:05

@danamuses Agreed! I can't type fast enough!! #musetech

Categories: MW conference stuff

Microsoft says Windows 7 battery 'issue' isn't one

Engadget.com - Mon, 2010-02-08 18:38

After Microsoft stated a week ago that it would look into reports of Windows 7 causing premature battery degradation, we've been staying up late at night with our frazzled lithium ion cells, reading them stories about Battery Heaven and generally trying to keep an upbeat tone around the Engadget HQ. Well, it turns out not everything is rosy in batteryville, but Microsoft says Windows 7 isn't the one to blame. According to the company's testing, the new tool, which reports when a battery is down to 40% of its designed capacity and suggests replacement, hasn't reported a single false positive. Additionally, the tool uses read-only data from the battery, and is in fact incapable of tweaking the battery's life span or internal data -- it merely reports the data it receives, and stacks the theoretical design capacity up against the current full charge capacity. Microsoft attributes the reports of the tool dooming batteries to an early grave to the mere fact that many people might not have noticed the degradation already taking place in their batteries -- most batteries start to degrade noticeably within a year. Of course, not everybody's going to just take Microsoft's word for it, and Microsoft itself will continue to look into the issue, but for now this sounds like a bit of a non-issue. The part about Windows 7 being less conservative with power use is a whole 'nother issue, of course.

Microsoft says Windows 7 battery 'issue' isn't one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Categories: Tech: General Technology

RT @NancyProctor: ... great new reviews of iPhone App tours at Cooper-Hewitt and Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam: http://bit.ly/a1MI6L #mtogo

MW on the web - Mon, 2010-02-08 18:36

RT @NancyProctor: ... great new reviews of iPhone App tours at Cooper-Hewitt and Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam: http://bit.ly/a1MI6L #mtogo

Categories: MW conference stuff

Common Threads of Childhood Obesity

nptech tag feed from Technorati - Mon, 2010-02-08 18:19

Family dinners, limiting TV maximizing sleep can help kids keep healthy as they get older

Categories: Tech: NP-Tech