Want a cheap computer that runs Android on an ARM processor and isn’t a Raspberry Pi? Now you can have it. I’m talking about a new system, called AllWinner, that is now shipping out of China.
To learn its signature melody, the male songbird uses a trial-and-error process to mimic the song of its father, singing the tune over and over again, hundreds of times a day, making subtle changes in the pitch of the notes. To accomplish this feat, the Bengalese finch's brain must receive and process large quantities of information about its performance and use that data to precisely control the complex vocal actions that allow it to modify the pitch and pattern of its song. Now, scientists have shown that a key brain structure acts as a learning hub, receiving information from other regions of the brain and figuring out how to use that information to improve its song, even when it's not directly controlling the action.
It drives me nuts every time I hear it. A professional athlete delivers a gobsmacking statistical performance, whether for a single game or a longer span, and a commentator or a columnist inevitably describes him as "putting up video game numbers."
When the Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton unloaded...
Last night during Howard Stern's takeover of America's Got Talent, they showed a special four-minute preview of The Amazing Spider-Man. Here's the video.
A mother has been banned from Facebook after posting images of her newborn son, reports KCTV 5 News. Parents Heather and Patrick Walker of Memphis, Tennessee welcomed their son Grayson James Walker on February 15, 2012, notes the Daily Mail.
With over 3 million downloads per episode, the HBO hit series Game of Thrones is without doubt the most pirated TV-show of the season. Data gathered by TorrentFreak shows that most of the pirates come from Australia, while London tops the list of pirate cities. But why have these people turned to BitTorrent?
WASHINGTON -- Republicans in Congress are heading into summer much the way they did last year -- instigating a showdown with the White House by demanding massive federal budget cuts in exchange for what used to be the routine task of raising the nation's debt limit to pay the government's bills.
Cheap, plentiful natural gas provides utilities with little incentive to build coal-fired plants with a technology that traps carbon gas for storage or other uses.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Last Monday, a high school student in North Carolina engaged his social studies teacher in a heated debate about politics and the two leading presidential candidates. During the exchange, the teacher (an obvious Obama supporter) got very angry with the student and accused him of disrespecting the president. She even went [...]
Mitt Romney is a two-time loser this week, hobbled by attacks and friendly fire from his own side. We’re at a crucial phase in the calendar where Romney’s opponents are going all-out to expose the truth about his dubious past. From Bain Capital to Jeremiah Wright to Mormonism, the deeply flawed and vulnerable Republican candidate is forced to play defense
With the recent announcement of the asteroid mining company, Planetary Resources, some of the most-asked questions about this enticing but complex endeavor include, what asteroids do we mine? Which are the easiest asteroids to get to? Could it really be
Last week, Virgin Atlantic said that you could use your phone to make calls and get/send text messages if you fly using its Upper Class service between New York and London. What I really want is the ability to connect to the Internet.
"Star Wars" creator George Lucas could, indeed, make good on his idea of building affordable housing right next door to the high-income NIMBYs who blocked his plans for a production studio near his Lucas Valley ranch...
Deposit your beloved pet inside and begin the journey with the rest of your family comfortably inside the warm vehicle. Ignore pings of common sense that suggest the pet could lay across someone's lap.
A little Irish American girl saved her brother from choking by calmly calling 911 while adults panicked. Four-year-old Grace Varley of Amityville, Long Island, saved her little brother Myles when her grandmother was unable to dislodge a chicken bone and she ran with the boy to get the neighbors.
When you’re married and have children, in a relationship, or even with friends, you may find yourself in a position to comfort your loved ones during or after your life-threatening illness.
Watch your back. The idea that you could be pick-pocketed without anyone actually picking your pocket at all is frightening enough. Seeing it in action is a whole different story.
Providence's NBC 10 took an identity theft expert to the streets to show consumers how easy it is. He slipped an RFID card scanner (you can find them on eBay for as little as 50 bucks) into an iPad case and went to town.
The worst part is there's virtually no way to protect yourself from scanners other than investing in special wallets or credit card sleeves that block them – though one guy in the segment found
A new white paper from the Central Florida School Board Coalition details how Florida’s standardized testing program — seen as a model by other states — is harming public schools and negatively impacting student learning.
GOLDSBORO, NC—Anticipating the very likely need for rapid medical evacuation, a fleet of ambulances from several regional hospitals took up positions Saturday at the edge of Fairview Park, where a group of 41-year-old former college friends had gath...
NEW YORK — After years of detention and a bold escape to the U.S. Embassyin Beijing , blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States, a bittersweet moment in a harrowing journey that had touched off a diplomatic crisis and poses continued challenges for U.S.-Chinese relations.
Social networking service Twitter has been blocked in Pakistan after the site refused to remove tweets concerning "blasphemous" Muhammad cartoons, according to Pakistan's Express Tribune.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Saturday slammed President Barack Obama for being the most divisive figure in American politics.
"The man who today occupies the White House and is running for president is a very different person," Rubio said at a high-profile GOP fundraiser, where he claimed Obama has abandoned the ideals he ran on in 2008. "We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history than we have over the last three and one-half years."
Rubio delivered the dig in front of nearly 1,000 South Carolina Republicans at the Silver Elephant Dinner, one of the state's biggest gathe
When President Obama prepared to repeal the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy in July 2011, defenders of marriage and religious freedom warned that the repeal would open Pandora’s Box.
Seaside landladies have been accused of many things down the years – overcharging for the use of the cruet, being stingy with the marmalade – but not until 1940 was one suspected of being a traitor to her country. But such was the predicament of Dorothy O'Grady, part-proprietor of Osborne Villa, Sandown, Isle of Wight, who was arrested and charged under the Treachery Act with being a Nazi spy. The neighbours thought she was a harmless middle-aged woman whose greatest pleasure was walking her Labrador. The authorities took a different view, concluding that exercising Rob was her alibi for i
A tipster alerted us to this entertaining video about a crisis at Pixar awhile back. It's a simply drawn but eloquent (it is Pixar, after all) cautionary t
Scientists trying to save eastern hemlock trees from widespread insect attacks may have uncovered a case of déjà vu, dating back millennia.
“Our hypothesis is that 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, insects hammered the eastern hemlock in a similar way to how it’s being hammered now,” says Kevin Potter, lead researcher on a paper published in Conservation Genetics. “We think we may see a genetic signature of an ancient and widespread insect epidemic.”
A 33-year-old Knoxville, Tenn. man with 30 children appeared in court this week to ask the state for child-support help, Memphis news station WREG reported Wednesday. Desmond Hatchett has fathered 30 children -- which is believed to be the record in Knox county, according to the Los Angeles Times -- with 11 different women. His youngest children are toddlers and his oldest is 14.