MIT

A made-for-TV lawsuit: MIT sues television makers over digital sets

adamg — Sat, 19 May 2012 20:12:13 +0000

MIT yesterday sued two TV makers for refusing to pay licensing fees on digital-television patents it was granted in the 1990s.

In lawsuits against Funai - which makes Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania, Emerson, Funai, and Symphonic products - and Vizio - MIT says it held four patents at the heart of American digital television and that it's owed licensing fees and penalties because the two companies refused to buy licenses for the technologies, unlike other makers of TVs and Blu-ray players.

MIT researchers: Yogurt gives male mice swagger

adamg — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:05:36 +0000

Channel 5 reports male mice fed yogurt gained shinier coats, bulgier testicles and just a more Tony Manero-like outlook on life:

"You know when someone's at the top of their game, how they carry themselves differently? Well, imagine that in a mouse."

MIT building plans include an infinite extension

adamg — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:14:05 +0000

The Tech reports on MIT's latest plans for the area around its campus, from extending the Infinite Corridor to building a new residential tower on Sidney Street. Also in the works: A "river walk" from Kendall Square to the Charles.

MIT gives Stephen Colbert a wag of its finger

adamg — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:57:12 +0000

Giant Tetris at MIT

adamg — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:26:27 +0000

Matt Saunders took this video of the Tetris game on the side of the Green building tonight (via Jessica).

Photo.

Dalek visits MIT

adamg — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:26:27 +0000

Isaac Diaz looked out his window at work today and spotted something unusual at the Stata Center.

Flea dials

adamg — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 01:54:20 +0000

Turlach MacDonagh took in the first MIT Flea of the season (more info on the Flea).

Copyright Turlach MacDonagh. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Super villains everywhere rejoice: MIT gets grant to help develop printable robots

adamg — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:38:46 +0000

Mass High Tech reports.

Wait! Printable robots or printer robots?

Tag, you're poet

adamg — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:38:06 +0000

Poetry in motion.

Richard Beaubien is talking photos this weekend at the first teen Louder than a Bomb Massachusetts poetry slam at MIT. He reports the scene above is a "cypher:"

Someone starts slamming out a poem then they tag someone else - on and on it goes.

Copyright Richard Beaubien. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Can't always trust MIT freshmen

adamg — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:02:34 +0000

Just ask the Globe-ish The Next Great Generation, which quotes an MIT freshman on how awesome it is that MIT is powered by its own nuclear reactor.

Although it's true MIT does have its own reactor (conveniently located just off Mass. Ave.), Cambridge City Councilor Minka vanBeuzekom tweets this morning:

WRONG! MIT doesn't power the campus with nuclear power!!

From Cambridge to Brookline in three minutes (including a spin around South Boston)

adamg — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:45:44 +0000

Sometime in the early 1960s, MIT professor Kevin Lynch mounted a camera on a car and compiled a time-lapse movie of the trip.

The page says 1958, but the movie shows the JFK Building and the Pru tower, which didn't go up until later.

MIT creates remote-controlled zombie moths

adamg — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:29:13 +0000

Electronics Weekly reports researchers at MIT have managed to stuff an electrode into a moth that can be used to control the moth's behavior:

"This is a major advance," says insect neurobiologist Roy Ritzmann at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. DARPA hopes this kind of control will one day allow intelligence agencies to use insects to carry surveillance equipment and spy on unsuspecting enemies.

The article does not say if they are also experimenting with ill tempered sea bass.

Via BostInnovation.

MIT professor says wife receiving threats because of his work on climate change

adamg — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:29:09 +0000

ThinkProgress reports on the "frenzy of hate" surrounding Kerry Emanuel, director of MIT’s Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate program, who dared to challenge the position of Republican presidential candidates on climate change.

Via Blue Mass. Group.

MIT prof thinks e-mail could save the postal service

adamg — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:10:47 +0000

The Tech reports an MIT professor thinks the USPS can reinvent and save itself - and the jobs of tens of thousands of workers - by getting into the field of e-mail management and helping companies deal with the never ceasing barrage of electronic messaging:

Ayyadurai believes the USPS can provide a service that will help companies become more efficient at managing their own email. Under his plan, the USPS can retrain workers it intends to lay off in order to support the proposed system and generate enough revenue to avoid bankruptcy. Though some email management systems outsource work to countries like India, Ayyadurai argues that the USPS is a trusted and reliable brand, and can do a better job.

Police: Man enters MIT student's room, holds her down in bed and demands kisses

adamg — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:42:11 +0000

The Tech reports on an assault in Tang Hall that ended with the unkissed man leaving with a bottle of water.