Architect Mark Allan recently suffered the loss of his job due to the economic downturn in the housing construction market. Sending out hundreds of resumes did not help his situation, so along with his job search he also spent the last of his savings to develop a construction toy for children. His wife and kids encouraged him to use his advanced 3D computer training and architectural software to develop the prototype models and metal molds. From that point forward, it was just a short step to full plastic production.
As a father and an architect, the inventor, Mr. Allan, realizes that math and science can be intimidating mentally, “But if you can put something in the hands of a child, they will be able to comprehend things better and have more fun,” he says. “Toys influence children; hopefully Qubits(R) will inspire today’s children to expand their horizons to include engineering, chemistry or nanotechnology.”
The economy might be bad, but toys are just as popular as ever. 🙂
The Qubits Construction Toy can also be purchased on the website, www.Qubits.com
NASA’s Digital Learning Network allows the next generation of explorers to connect with scientists, engineers and researchers without leaving the classroom. Through interactive videoconferencing, the network provides distance-learning events designed to educate through demonstrations and real time interactions with NASA experts.
Petri said, “I have had the privilege of watching our company evolve from a sleepy monopoly to a raging global competitor. It has been great to be part of the change that has taken place, to help set the stage for further transformation, and to share the experience with such wonderful people. I want to thank all my friends and colleagues for the experience and the fun.”
“Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal,” said Ballmer.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Kristen Grauman, University of Texas at Austin. Grauman’s research focuses on designing the algorithms and learning processes that will allow computers to understand and organize visual information. In particular, she is interested in tackling the major scalability issues that surround visual recognition and search. The goal is to make it possible to efficiently index large volumes of visual data (images or videos) based on their content – a functionality that has the potential to greatly benefit a variety of users, from consumers to scientists and engineers.
Susan Hohenberger, Johns Hopkins University. Hohenberger focuses on cryptography, the art of securely communicating. She is interested in designing secure solutions for pervasive settings, where devices everywhere are constantly talking to their environments, which may require the ability to quickly process a large number of incoming messages. Her research includes an emphasis on developing privacy-friendly technologies, such as anonymous communication and electronic cash.
Robert Kleinberg, Cornell University. Kleinberg studies the theory of algorithm design under informational limitations. This means that he looks at practical questions in computer science – such as how to design more robust adaptive systems for Web search, network routing, online auctions and product recommendations – and address these questions using mathematically rigorous techniques that build on ideas from learning theory, game theory and information theory.
Philip Levis, Stanford University. Levis researches software and networking for tiny, low-power, wireless sensors. He focuses on making these networks of sensors easier to deploy and maintain by researching ultrasimple algorithms that use robust local rules to achieve desirable global behaviors. Software he develops is used by hundreds of research groups worldwide and runs on millions of nodes.
Russell Tedrake, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tedrake focuses on computational and machine-learning approaches to control system design for robots that walk, run, swim and fly more like real animals. He believes that to succeed, both the mechanical design of the robots and the algorithms for controller design must exploit the natural, nonlinear dynamics of locomotion. In the next few years, he aims to build bipedal robots that can walk and jump across piles of rocks, and develop robotic birds with flapping wings that can gracefully land on a perch.
Whitson and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, members of the 16th crew to live and work aboard the station, safely landed their Soyuz spacecraft in the steppes of Kazakhstan. Spaceflight participant So-yeon Yi also returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz. The landing was approximately 295 miles from the expected landing site, delaying the recovery forces’ arrival to the spacecraft by approximately 45 minutes.
Before undocking, Whitson and Malenchenko bid farewell to the new station crew, Expedition 17 Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko and Garrett Reisman. Volkov and Konenko launched to the station April 8. They were accompanied by Yi who flew under a commercial contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. Reisman came to the station aboard shuttle Endeavour on the STS-123 mission, which launched March 11.
TechSadhu 
