Like many different countries, Japan is also using more and more driving simulators to teach people how to drive as well as checking their skills, and while Honda offers many different models including both a bicycle and motorbike simulator, today’s upgrade driving simulators include many new UI tweaks, 3 42” Full HD LCD, a touch panel monitor… According to Honda, since the introduction of such a product in 2001, 200 units has been sold so far and the manufacturer hopes that these simulators will bring down cost for driving schools as well as better train students to drive safer.

Major changes made for the all-new automobile driving simulator:
?A new function was added to provide easy-to-understand graphics and/or written descriptions of conditions where the driver should be cautious, as well as how the driver can ensure safe driving in potentially dangerous situations that have a high possibility of occurring in the real world.
?A more affordable 2-axis motion base type was added to the original 6-axis motion base type.
?A high-definition 42-inch LCD display was adopted for the simulator.
?An easy-to-operate touch-panel monitor was adopted.
?The function that displays the driving result after the simulation driving is now a standard setting.
?”Night mode,” “Fog mode” and “Highway experience version” are now standard software options for the automobile driving simulator.

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Honda upgrades its Automobile Driving Simulator and puts it on sales in Japan

The Mars Society is a group that prepares for man’s eventual exploration of Mars with simulations in the Utahan desert. But their mission logs, posted regularly on the group’s website, reveal a tension that is very real—and very funny.

The two-week simulations, including various experiments and equipment tests, take place at the Mars Desert Research Station, located outside Hanksville, Utah. The volunteers who participate are expected to take the matter very seriously—after all, our future Mars colony depends on it. But of course, some pretend Mars astronauts are more dedicated than other pretend Mars astronauts and this is where the trouble starts.

The current team occupying the Research Station, Crew 90, is led by Nancy Vermeulen. According to their “Mission Info” page, they are the first team comprised entirely of Belgians. In the wake of the trouble they’ve been having, it now seems ominous that the last line of their statement reads, “the media is following our project very closely.” Indeed, Geekosystem picked up on the mission and faithfully documented its simmering turmoil.

After days of snits and snubs, the tension came to a head on February 15. In that day’s report, Commander Vermeulen explains:

The growing frustration that after 9 days PE, Nora and Margaux are
still not able to manage the Hab systems/ standard engineering
reporting system (and even don’t consider this as a problem!), exploded
during the lunch.

The lack of dedication to the mission of some people overloads the
others and it had to be spoken out. The problem was already there from
the first day, when it came out that some people didn’t prepare
anything for the mission, didn’t look at the manuals, which were send
to them months ago and didn’t even prepare the tasks for their own
role.
The accusation into my direction that I didn’t brief enough about the
systems was too much. Nicky almost exploded.
Arjan reacted double: At one hand he couldn’t stop criticising the
incompetence of some others during last week, but during the discussion
he acted as if he was from Barcelona (don’t know anything). He has his
own mission and own world.

The Commander’s Reports for the last days of the mission, which ended yesterday, obscure the interpersonal conflicts that paralyzed the crew. Only a few bloody noses are referenced, perhaps as physical manifestations of the crew’s frustrations.

You can read the whole saga unfold on the Mars Society site, or check out the abridged version at Geekosystem, who has done a commendable job tracing how the drama transpired. To Crew 91: Godspeed. The Red Planet makes beasts of men. [Mars Society via Geekosystem]

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Fake Mars Mission Befallen By Real Drama [Astro-nots]

Surely by now you’ve heard about the high school student suing Philadelphia’s Lower Merion School District for remotely accessing his webcam. And maybe you read the Superintendent’s response and thought, “well, maybe this whole business is getting blown out of proportion.” It isn’t.

According to a Washington Post report from early this morning, the school district has admitted to remotely activating its laptops’ webcams forty-two times over the last 2 years. Now the FBI is involved, determining if the school district violated any wiretapping or computer-privacy laws in the process.

The school district maintains that the webcams were only accessed in efforts to retrieve stolen or lost laptops, but this whole mess stems from the punishment of a student in which a webcam shot, snapped while the student was in his home, was cited as evidence of wrongdoing. The extent to which the school abused its ability to access the webcams isn’t quite clear at this point, but the original incident makes the school’s defense about using them strictly as a security measure pretty hard to believe. [Washington Post]

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Laptop-Spying School Accessed Webcams 42 Times; FBI Begins Investigation [Privacy]

Finally we get the chance to literally lay a track down. The Noteput interactive music table was concocted by a pair of German design students back in October of last year, but watching it in action is still a mesmerizing experience. Employing a simple camera beneath the surface, the table can tell what notes you’re placing upon it and play them back — individually when you position them or as a group once you hit the big play button. The coolest feature for us is the ability to loop playback and replace notes on the fly. It’s like being a really old school kind of a DJ. Click past the break to see what we mean.

Continue reading Noteput music table plays the notes as you lay them down (video)

Noteput music table plays the notes as you lay them down (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Noteput music table plays the notes as you lay them down (video)

Taiwan’s AU Optronics at the FPD International show has been demonstrating a…

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AU Optronics shows 14-inch OLED with 1080p resolution …

Taiwan’s AU Optronics at the FPD International show has been demonstrating a…

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AU Optronics shows 14-inch OLED with 1080p resolution …

Olympus’ success to its first Micro Four Thirds camera should make its debut…

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Olympus E-P2 leaks, due next week… (Electronista) » TechNews.AM

Industrial Design content and community site – articles, discussions, interviews and resources.

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Daily Design Snacks – Core77

Industrial Design content and community site – articles, discussions, interviews and resources.

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Daily Design Snacks – Core77

Nintendo’s next-generation portable game machine could have free 3G access built…

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Nintendo's next handheld may have free 3G… (Electronista …

COMBATSIM.COM: The Ultimate Combat Simulation and Strategy Gamers’ Resource.

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COMBATSIM.COM: The Ultimate Combat Simulation and Strategy Gamers …

COMBATSIM.COM: The Ultimate Combat Simulation and Strategy Gamers’ Resource.

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COMBATSIM.COM: The Ultimate Combat Simulation and Strategy Gamers …

The European Space Agency is looking for volunteers to spend 520 days isolated a Moscow facility where they’d simulate traveling to, living on, and coming back from Mars. Not bad, except the pretend travel lasts 250 days each way.

There are plenty of necessary qualifications to meet including fluency in Russian, background in medicine, various engineering, and for whatever reason you may not be taller than 185cm (that’s just under 6′1″). Interested? Apply on the ESA website. [ESA via PhysOrg]

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Volunteers Wanted For 520-Day Pretend Trip To Mars [Space]