Pentagon is hiring experts to help them create the perfect iRobots of the future – machines that kill for a purpose and have some sort of laws embedded in their DNA’s to not commit war crimes like humans do. USA has hired Colin Allen, a scientific philosopher at Indiana University, who is the author of a recent book titled Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong. Dr Allen would be advising US military on a $4 billion research program aiming to create smart “autonomous systems” for US military.

According to The Daily Telegraph:

He [Colin Allen] told The Daily Telegraph: “The question they want answered is whether we can build automated weapons that would conform to the laws of war. Can we use ethical theory to help design these machines?”

Pentagon chiefs are concerned by studies of combat stress in Iraq that show high proportions of frontline troops supporting torture and retribution against enemy combatants.

Ronald Arkin, a computer scientist at Georgia Tech university, who is working on software for the US Army has written a report which concludes robots, while not “perfectly ethical in the battlefield” can “perform more ethically than human soldiers.”

He says that robots “do not need to protect themselves” and “they can be designed without emotions that cloud their judgment or result in anger and frustration with ongoing battlefield events”.

---
Related Articles at Startup Meme:

Guess not all that offline ad money will be moving online.

The bulletpoint-version:

• Pontiac, Saab and Saturn account for 20.7% of GM's total measured-media spending and 16.5% of its sales.
• The three brands together had $286 million in measured spending through August and $400 million for full-year 2007.
• Pontiac -- handled by Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett -- had measured spending of about $90 million through August.
• Saab's agency is Interpublic's McCann Erickson, Birmingham, Mich. According to TNS Media Intelligence, measured spending was $22 million through August.
• Saturn is handled by Interpublics's Deutsch and spent $174 million through August.

See Also:
NBC Still Can't Sell Super Bowl Ads (GE)

Even though I have learnt my lesson from that day, I still love fonts and I am always trying out new ones.   Art and graphic design were my best subjects at school and calligraphy has always been a big interest of mine as well.   So I am always collecting new free online sources for fonts.

Here are the five best ones in my opinion :

What The Font?!

Do you really like a particular poster design or a particular style of font and you would like to duplicate it?   “What The Font” allows you to upload a scanned image of a piece of writing or a font and it will identify the name of the font for you.    Or instead of uploading, you can point it to a URL.

It seems to be very accurate and fast.   I uploaded a scan of the title of a book I have called “To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf.   “What The Font” identified the font seconds later as “Baskerville Old Face” :

DDFont

Some nice fonts here. Not too many to choose from but the ones that ARE available are quite nice. Just click on the one you want, enter the activation code, and it will download to your computer.

Fonts 500

Claims to be the top 500 free fonts on the web.   Not sure if that is true but nevertheless the fonts on this site are REALLY good.    Each one is in a ZIP file so just click on the ones you want and they will immediately download to your computer.   Then just unzip them.   Some notable ones include Harry Potter, Yahoo, Scrabble letters, Star Wars, Godfather, Terminator, Bon Jovi and Pizza Hut.

TypeNow

Here, they have some movie and TV themed fonts.   If you have a favourite movie or TV programme, check here to see if the font is available.    TV show-wise, they have things like “Lost” and “Prison Break”, movie-wise, they have ones like Casino Royale and Kill Bill.    In other ones, they have the Google font and Estee Lauder, among others.  Worth checking out.

Search Free Fonts

This excellent site allows you to search through 13,000 free fonts, broken down into various categories.  When you click on a particular font, it then gives you a close up view of that font so you can see what it looks like.   You can type in your own text, specify a size up to 72 and preview it in that font so you can decide which font will suit you best before downloading it :

To finish off, here’s a College Humor video on a “Font Conference” which I have always found very funny.

Where do you find your fonts?    What are your favourite sites?

(By) Mark O'Neill is a freelance blogger and professional writer. He is also the managing and publishing editor of MakeUseOf. Check out his personal blog at Better Than Therapy

Enjoyed the article? Please leave a comment and tell us what you think about it

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While there is a large population that has come to believe that the old media will eventually die down, Arianna Huffington (who recently raised funds) sounds pretty contrary to it. She opines that two are set to have a positive impact on each other as traditional journalists tilt their tradition to modernization by switching over to blogging and the bloggers continue to gain credibility. She said in an interview to Reuters ahead of the launch of her book "The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging":

There’s this real convergence, where basically you found that the best and most accurate rose to the top, whether it originated from Time magazine or from Nate Silver’s 538.com, which did not exist before the election….

From her book’s introduction:

The vast majority of mainstream journalists head in the direction the assignment desk points them. In contrast, bloggers are armed with a far more effective piece of access than a White House press credential: passion.

---
Related Articles at Startup Meme:

Have you ever forgotten your MySQL root password? It’s one of those things that just happens despite the numerous precautions one might take. As a result, you are locked out of your database server. You can’t create new databases and are left with little control over the state of your database server. In such situations knowing how to regain root access to your database server comes in handy. So here’s what you can do to reset the password for the root user in MySQL on both Windows and Linux.

Windows Users:

Log on to your server as the Administrator. Kill the MySQL server if it’s running. To do this you need the Windows Services Manager, so click on the Start Menu, then go to the Control Panel, then to the Administrative Tools, and select Services. Here look for the MySQL server and stop it. If it’s not listed there and MySQL is till running it means that MySQL is not running as a service. In that case you need to load the Task Manager which you should be able to access using the key combination of Ctrl+Alt+Del. Now kill the MySQL process.

With the MySQL process stopped you need to force a change of passwords on MySQL using a combination of the UPDATE and FLUSH options. So launch your favorite text editor and create a new file. Enter the following text into the file replacing “NewMySQLPassword” with your new password:

UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD(’NewMySQLPassword’) WHERE User=’root’;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

What the first line does is that it updates the value of the field “Password” in the table mysql.user for the user “root” to “NewMySQLPassword”. The second line flushes the old set of privileges and makes sure your new password is used everywhere. Save this text as C:\mysql_reset.txt.

Next, you need to start your MySQL server passing this file as a configuration parameter. Launch a terminal by going to the Start Menu, then to Run, and then type cmd and hit Enter. Now enter the following command:

C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt –init-file=C:\mysql_reset.txt

Once the server is done starting delete the file C:\mysql_reset.txt. Your MySQL root password should be reset now. Now restart your MySQL server again. Go back to the Windows Services Manager again to do that. Your new MySQL root password should work for you now.

Linux Users:

Log on to your Linux machine as the root user. The steps involved in resetting the MySQL root password are to stop the MySQL server, restart it without the permissions active so you can log into MySQL as root without a password, set a new password, and then restart it normally. Here’s how you do it. First, stop the MySQL server:

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop

Now start the MySQL server using the –skip-grant-tables option, which will run the server without loading the permissions settings:

# mysqld_safe –skip-grant-tables &

The & option at the end makes the command you have executed run as a background process. Now log on to your MySQL server as root:

# mysql -u root

It should allow you in without prompting for a password. The following steps will set the new password:

mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD(”NewMySQLPassword”) where User=’root’;
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

Replace “NewMySQLPassword” with your own password. Here’s what happens here. The first line selects the MySQL configuration tables. The second line updates the value of the field “Password” for the user “root” to “NewMySQLPassword”. The third line flushes the old set of privileges and makes sure your new password is used everywhere. Now, the last step is to restart the server normally and use your new root password to log in:

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
# /etc/init.d/mysql start
# mysql -u root -pNewMySQLPassword

Congratulations, your new MySQL root password is set and your MySQL server is ready to be used again. Remember to update all your applications to use this password if you are using it anywhere.

---
Related Articles at Simple Help:

• How to reset the logo in Internet Explorer
• How to install and setup Apache, MySQL and PHP in Windows
• How to easily install Apache, MySQL and PHP in OS X
• How to recover lost Windows passwords
• How to install WordPress on your Windows PC

How to reset a lost MySQL root password - Simple Help

Antivirus Trigger wreaks havoc to the computer where it was installed; the damage is less in case of manual installation by user from website of Antivirus Trigger, because otherwise, in case of shadowed installation, trojans and viruses are installed in one malicious kit with Antivirus Trigger.
Antivirus Trigger is based on Virus Trigger malware, and, honestly, does not differ much from it. Skins of program and scan window, as well as web-site’s texts and template, do not differ at all. However, there is a principle difference between scan conducted by Virus Trigger and Antivirus Trigger; the farmer program just imitates files observation and extracts random names of imaginary threats from text file included into the trialware of Virus Trigger, while Antivirus Trigger has been upgraded by hackers to observe objects stored at your PC. It may list among scan results system and program files indicating their names; their deletion may hardly disorder your system and disable various applications. Please, remember weather you have deleted any files listed in scan results and restore them from Recycle Bin, because these files may play a vital role for certain program or even for operating system functioning. Remove Antivirus Trigger not only for this; there are reasons to get rid of  Antivirus Trigger far more ultimate than noises of repeating alerts and scans with misleading results. Remove Antivirus Trigger as this program captures on-line storage of your process, of course, intentionally, to create its shortage and thus to make programs stuck in their run; Antivirus Trigger also facilitates development of system freezes and unexpected reboots.
Click here  to identify this and other threats currently residing at your computer for free and remove Antivirus Trigger, as well as any other rogue exposed.

Antivirus Trigger Technical Details

• Full name: Antivirus Trigger, AntivirusTrigger
• Version:2.1,  2009
• Type: Rogue anti-spyware
• Origin: Russian Federation, http://virus-trigger.com

Antivirus Trigger Screenshot (click to enlarge):

Signs of being infected with Antivirus Trigger:

While you linger considering whether infected or not and whether Antivirus Trigger removal is so necessary , the rogue feels free at your PC and easily uploads viruses and trojans to the purpose of greater system oppression. As such impact is accompanied with invokes and requests to register trialware of Antivirus Trigger, you may understand that malicious impact on infected system is of commercial nature and aims to make you pay for registration.
The first sign disclosing presence of Antivirus Trigger is usually popping up alert that reads as follows:

System Alert!
Your system might be infected with malicious software that may impact the performance of your computer. Click the icon for a free scan to detect any active spyware applications.

In spite of that this alert is not generated in every case, it is very likely to be the very first thing indicating presence of Antivirus Trigger. After user clicks on this message, browser starts to open home-page of Antivirus Trigger or its purchase form. If trialware of Antivirus Trigger has not been installed yet, the above message is generated by trojan to facilitate upload of the trialware.
Antivirus Trigger, just like its parental program, Virus Trigger, adjusts Windows by adding relevant values to the System Registry so that window representing Antivirus Trigger appears after every start of Windows.
Click here  to start free search for viruses and malware threatening your computer safety and get rid of Antivirus Trigger.

Automatic Removal of Antivirus Trigger from your PC:

The tool we are recommending to use in Antivirus Trigger removal is designed perfectly and daily updated to detect and remove Virus Trigger in any of its morphs, as well as to catch and kill any other program damaging your computer. Download free scanner to detect this and other rogues following the link below.  The scanner, if you are unsatisfied with its work, is easy to remove. If you would like to have independent reference about the tool to remove Antivirus Trigger, just download the free scanner and ask Internet what it knows about Antivirus Trigger removal tool.

Download Antivirus Trigger Removal Tool

Manual Removal of Antivirus Trigger:

Manual removal procedure is alternative way to remove Antivirus Trigger; Antivirus Trigger manual removal lasts longer than automatic and we cannot update the guidelines as fast as updates are introduced into program that smashes viruses and malware, so that we cannot guarantee that the instruction at the moment you are using them are absolutely complete. Moreover, there various rogues (which always vary) installed in one kit with Antivirus Trigger. It is strongly recommended to reboot operating system before and after Antivirus Trigger removal, and it is our tip to download free scanner from the link provided above in order to make sure you have no need in removal of other rogues.
Of course, the platform of Antivirus Trigger may be quite easily removed just by following the guide below, but who knows if this provide complete system cleanup and system security?

Remove Antivirus Trigger files and dll’s

AvirTr.exe
AvirTrWarning.dll
uninst.exe
AntivirusTrigger 2.1.lnk
browseu.exe
browseul.dll
hpmom.exe
hpmon.exe
hpmun.dll
hpmun.exe
myd.ico
mym.ico
myp.ico
myv.ico
ot.ico
qttask.exe
qttaskm.exe
qttasku.exe
ts.ico
512686.dll
algg.exe
tiltmeo.dll
Antivirus Scan.url
Online Antispyware Test.url
Antivirus Scan.url
My Documents.url
My Music.url
My Pictures.url
My Video.url

Unregister Antivirus Trigger registry values:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AvirTrsoft
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AvirTrsoft\Update
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AvirTrWarning.WarningBHO
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AvirTrWarning.WarningBHO.1
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{22C447D3-73A8-E1C7-C391-21BE4338CEBC}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3A267370-076E-4af4-B986-77626B8E89DF}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{764BC8B4-1159-4736-8AF1-F124A7C8C3A8}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{DF3F06C6-D443-48A8-BDF2-4E31F0554EBF}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{3ED86073-2FA7-4CF4-810B-28B030671678}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Licenses
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\RFC1156Agent
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\AvirTrsoft
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{3A267370-076E-4af4-B986-77626B8E89DF}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AvirTrsoft
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “AvirTr”
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\webmedia.chl
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\z444.z444mgr
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\z444.z444mgr.1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{3B8FB116-D358-48A3-A5C7-DB84F15CBB04}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{096CBA44-4A4C-49f7-8903-1E75550ABCB7}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{51B15F5A-E98B-4658-B9CB-9307B74773A7}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{64466B8E-20A7-4A4A-AFF4-AAD9CA68B52C}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Browser Toolbar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\IExplorer add-on
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Online Alert Manager
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\System Alert Popup
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “wblogon”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\VirusTriggerBin “(Default)”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\SharedTaskScheduler “{e0feeb92-908e-46d2-8a66-88c5295f2629}”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\explorer\run “QuickTime Task”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\explorer\run “VMware hptray”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser “ITBar7Layout”

Antivirus Trigger Remover with free scan

Continue reading The Blackberry Storm - An iPhone 'Killer'?

TUAWThe Blackberry Storm - An iPhone 'Killer'? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The gray market for virtual goods has grown so large China has moved to tax the trade, but Valley-based startup Playspan wants to take it above ground. The company says it's raised $16.8 million dollars in a Series B round from investors including Easton Capital Group, Menlo Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, and STIC to make it happen.

Playspan's idea: Create a hub where online game players can buy virtual goods -- like a snazzy shirt for your game avatar, or a +6 two-handed sword of dragonslaying -- for real cash. The company already works with more than 50 titles, and Playspan CEO Karl Mehta said he processed more than 50 million transactions in the past 12 months.

A lot of gaming companies despise the virtual goods traders, fearing trading game assets for real currency can disrupt a game's internal system of rewards and favor the player who can afford to simply buy the best character/strongest armor/toughest spaceship. Playspan's Karl thinks more companies will come around to realizing the practice can't be stopped and choose to get in on the game. "We say to the publishers our mission in life is also to kill off the gold farmers, but we'll let you keep a piece of the revenue," he said.

The plan for Playspan's new funds? More marketing. Karl says Playspan has been mostly focused on North America so far, and he's looking for growth in Europe and Asia.

See Also:
Chinese Government Gets In On Gold Farming Action With New 20% Tax
Why Reuters Left Second Life, And How Linden Lab Can Fix It
Dutch Kid Mugged At Knifepoint For Virtual Goods

We have no inside knowledge here.

We would, however, note that, having grown Google to $20 billion in revenue over seven years, Eric has certainly earned the right to take a break. We would also note that there are many other reasons why this might be a good time to exit stage left (although a year ago, when the stock was at $700, would have been a much better time). To wit:

• He might be getting bored
• He might be deciding that taking Google from $20 billion to $50 billion will be a much different job (and less fun) than taking it from $0 to $20 billion.
• He might be observing that the search product cycle is ending and Google has not yet found another product to drive the next wave of growth, which also might be less fun (especially if the company has to start firing people).
• Like Sergey and Larry, he might just be interested in doing something else--such as going into politics or solving the world's energy crisis.

Last year about this time, Larry Page held a conference call in which he announced that Google planned to launch a massive green energy initiative. As Larry described his thinking, it became clear that he wasn't just talking about putting solar panels on the roof--he actually wanted Google to solve the world's energy problems. When asked if this might be a bit far afield for a company in the Internet advertising business, Larry responded that if big companies wanted to get bigger they had to tackle big challenges (See Google's Crazy Christmas Gift to Microsoft and Yahoo).

For us, that was a wildly waving yellow flag: Life at Google had apparently been so easy for so long that the folks at the top had stopped thinking about how to kill their competitors and started thinking about how to solve the world's energy problems. Anytime that happens, the good times are likely coming to an end.

In the past 12 months, especially in the last 3 months, Google has been forced to refocus on the task at hand. This is unquestionably good for the company. But it may not be good for Eric, Larry, and Sergey.

Once you have mentally moved on to new challenges, it is hard to regain the tenacity and passion that got you in a position to move on in the first place. And solving the world's energy problems, though not a smart goal for an Internet search company, is certainly an admirable and worthy goal for anyone else. And folks as smart, talented, and wealthy as Eric, Larry, and Sergey are in a position to really make a difference.

All of which is to say: We would not be surprised to see Eric (or, for that matter, Larry or Sergey) step down from an operating role at Google next year to pursue other interests.

See Also:
Google's Crazy Christmas Gift to Microsoft and Yahoo: We're An Energy Company!