The Menlo Briefs

Is it a Conspiracy? - Believe it or not, flat earth theory is still around. On the internet and in small meeting rooms in Britain and the US, flat earth believers get together to challenge the "conspiracy" that the Earth is round. [more]

Rebuilding the Internet from Scratch - Many researchers believe that the underlying problems of today's Internet -- such as security -- can only truly be addressed by creating a "clean slate" and essentially rebuilding the Internet from scratch. The project has already received funding of $12 million from the National Science Foundation, as well as bandwidth donations from the Internet2 organization. [more]

Floats Like a Butterfly - Researchers at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have unveiled a small, remote-controlled aircraft weighing just 0.11 ounces and with a four-inch wingspan -- just large enough to accommodate an onboard camera. The DelFly "micro air vehicle," which flaps its wings and looks like a dragonfly, can fly for about three minutes at a speed of 16.4 feet per second. [more]

The Last Lecture - Last month Carnegie Mellon profession Randy Pausch, author of the much-discussed book The Last Lecture and the highly popular YouTube video Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams passed away from pancreatic cancer. If you haven't watched his video (or his equally impactful Time Management lecture) go take a break and do so. You won't regret it.

Life After Windows - For most of us, Microsoft Windows has become a fact of life. We use it at home and at work, and it's difficult to imagine life without it. But Microsoft is a step ahead of us, having kicked off a research project ("Midori") to create software that will take over when it retires Windows. According to the article, "Midori is believed to be under development because Windows is unlikely to be able to cope with the pace of change in future technology and the way people use it." Midori is widely seen as an ambitious attempt by Microsoft to catch up on the work on virtualization being undertaken in the wider computer industry. [more]

How Deep Does the Rabbit Hole Go? - I love the movie The Matrix -- particularly the scenes between Neo and Morpheus. My favorite moment is when Morpheus is standing in front of Neo offering him two choices: "After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes..."

Believe it or not, this is a lot like the software industry. Nearly all companies have failed investments in software initiatives -- many in the six and seven figure range -- and yet they continue on as if nothing's wrong. They're obviously eating those Blue Pills like Tic-Tacs!

The good news is that Menlo has a supply of the Red Pills and we're willing to share them with anyone who wants to know the truth: the leading causes of these failures are preventable, and we can show you how.Join us for the next FREE 90-minute presentation on September 18th to learn how our approach creates the right software for the right application.

Bad News for Business Travelers - The Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed that Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Further, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons. This is just one more reason to travel with a "clean" laptop -- one that doesn't contain proprietary information or important personal data. [more]

Hang a Left at the Sea of Tranquility - NASA has awarded $1.2 million over the next three years to an Ohio State University professor to develop a navigation system that will feel a lot like GPS to the astronauts that use it, but will rely on signals from a set of sensors including lunar beacons, stereo cameras, and orbital imaging sensors. Keeping astronauts safe will be a top priority for the team, which includes experts in psychology and human-computer interaction as well as engineering. [more]

From Toy Rockets to Real Bullets - Lund and Company Invention, a toy design studio based near Chicago is building a gun that fires variable speed bullets and which can be set to kill, wound or just inflict a bruise. The new weapon, called the Variable Velocity Weapon System or VWS, lets the soldier to use the same rifle for crowd control and combat, by altering the muzzle velocity. It could be loaded with "rubber bullsets" designed only to deliver blunt impacts on a person, full-speed lethal rounds or projectiles somewhere between the two. [more]

Robots in Space - Before the year 2020, scientists expect to begin launching smart robots our into space. "Robotic exploration probably will always be the trail blazer for human exploration of far space," said Wolfgang Fink, a physicist and senior researcher at the California Institute of Technology. "We haven't yet landed a human being on Mars but we have a robot there now. In that sense, it's much easier to send a robotic explorer. When you can take the human out of the loop, that is becoming very exciting." [more]