| Tapia Conference Submission Deadline Extended
ORLANDO, Fla., April 11 -- The 2007 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference has extended until Monday, April 30, the deadline for submitting proposals for papers, panels, and workshops. The Tapia 2007 Conference, the fourth in the series, will be held October 14-17, 2007 in Orlando, Florida with the theme of "Passion in Computing - Diversity in Innovation." As in past years, the program will cover several key technical areas, and the event will provide a supportive networking environment for under-represented groups across the broad range of computing and information technology disciplines, from science to business to the arts to infrastructure. Submissions: Papers, Panels, and Workshops Students and researchers are invited to submit papers to the Tapia 2007 Conference in their area of expertise. Specific areas of interest for this year include: Information SecurityIntelligent SystemsHuman-centered ComputingComputational Math and Science Prospective authors of papers are invited to submit extended abstracts of no more than four pages, single-spaced in 12-point type size, including results, figures, and references.
Craigslist founder hosts webcam for MMO birdwatching
Those nights of jubilation spent wasting time on City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, and Ultima Online just aren't what they used to be, but in just three days, the wait for the world's next incredible MMO will be over. Alright, so maybe online birdwatching won't take the globe by storm, but researchers at UC Berkeley and Texas A&M will be watching intently as the MMO goes live from the back porch of Craig Newmark. The Craigslist founder will be hosting a "remotely controllable robotic video camera" from the back deck of his San Francisco domicile, and interested users can log on to discover and classify wild birds in the Sutro Forest. By utilizing a "collaborative control interface," dozens of users can reportedly share the webcam simultaneously, which uses "highly responsive algorithms that automatically compute the optimal camera viewpoint." Gamers can rack up points by snapping shots of rare birds and then seeing just how many users can correctly classify it, so we'd highly recommend brushing up on your aves knowledge in preparation for April 23rd.[Via Physorg] .
Couple overcomes clash of cultures
Mukesh and Marvin Srivastava are from opposite sides of the world and have little in common, at least on paper. He's from India and she's from Central America. They met in a place foreign to both of them--Mississippi--and came to realize they weren't so different after all. But the two, who have since married and moved to Spotsylvania County, didn't discover that overnight. It took 11 years. "We are from different tribes. We are different in culture and different in thinking," he said. "I think that maybe this 11 years was necessary for us to get to know each other better," she said. Mukesh, 48, is an assistant professor of computer technology at the University of Mary Washington College of Graduate and Professional Studies in Stafford County.
US is moving to send 'ethical' robots into battle
War is expensive and bloody. That is why the U.S. Department of Defense wants to replace a third of its armed vehicles and weaponry with robots by 2015. Such a change would save money, as robots are usually cheaper to replace than people. As important for the generals, it would make waging war less prey to the politics of body bags. Nobody mourns a robot. The Pentagon already routinely uses robotic airplanes known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In November 2001 two missiles fired from a remote-controlled Predator UAV killed Muhammad Atef, al- Qaeda's chief of military operations and one of Osama bin Laden's most important associates, as he drove his car near Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. But whereas UAVs and their ground-based equivalents, such as the machine gun toting robot Swords, are usually controlled by remote human operators, the Pentagon would like to give these new robots increasing amounts of autonomy, including the ability to decide when to use lethal force.
Nasa names Kibo crew
Washington - The crew for the space shuttle mission that will carry components for an intricate Japanese science laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS) has been named Friday by Nasa. Scheduled for launch in February 2008, the space shuttle Atlantis will deliver a pressurised module and robotic arm to the lab named Kibo - a Japanese word for hope. The shuttle crew will be headed by Navy Commander Mark Kelly and piloted by Navy Commander Kenneth Ham. Among the five mission specialists will be Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. It will be Hoshide's first spaceflight. Nasa's STS-124 flight is the second of three missions to deliver and assemble the lab and will include two spacewalks to install the new lab and the robotic arm. Once assembled, the pressurised module of Kibo will allow astronauts to conduct microgravity, life science and engineering experiments.
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