Alan Lomax Archive to be Digitized

A decade after his death technology has finally caught up to Lomax’s imagination. Just as he dreamed, his vast archive — some 5,000 hours of sound recordings, 400,000 feet of film, 3,000 videotapes, 5,000 photographs and piles of manuscripts, much of it tucked away in forgotten or inaccessible corners — is being digitized so that the collection can be accessed online. About 17,000 music tracks will be available for free streaming by the end of February, and later some of that music may be for sale as CDs or digital downloads.

via ‘The Alan Lomax Collection From the American Folklife Center’ – NYTimes.com.

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 07:44 pm GMT -5

2634-guad

Friday, January 27th, 2012 11:26 am GMT -5

What are the odds that stats would be this popular?

Arcane statistical analysis, the business of making sense of our growing data mountains, has become high tech’s hottest calling. There are billions of bytes generated daily, not just from the Internet but also from sciences like genetics and astronomy. Companies like Google and Facebook, as well as product marketers, risk analysts, spies, natural philosophers and gamblers are all scouring the info, desperate to find a new angle on what makes us and the world tick.

via What Are the Odds That Stats Would Be This Popular? – NYTimes.com.

Friday, January 27th, 2012 11:07 am GMT -5

1881.

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 07:10 pm GMT -5

Android Sign Language Interpreting Glove

The glove uses a LillyPad Arduino to sample flex sensors, an accelerometer, and gyro into an ADK board that then talks to an Android app that translates sign language and gestures into written text. To improve performance, a neural network is fed gestures manually to compensate for varying hand sizes directly on the handset.

via MAKE | Android Sign Language Interpreting Glove.

Thursday, January 12th, 2012 07:22 am GMT -5