Comment Re:Golden ratio (Score 1) 650
Yeah, I was trying to resist; but I must admit my first thought once I read this article actually was "So Teacup Entropy physics, Bistromathics and the Someone Else's Problem field may actually work."
Many Dead In Virginia Tech Shooting 2661
nexuspal writes "Over 20 confirmed dead at Virginia Tech. Shooter killed some at residence hall then two hours later killed others in classrooms. Worst school shooting in US history. "
New Motherboards Disallowing IDE Booting? 183
wattsup asks: "It seems that bootable IDE ports are disappearing on newer motherboards. I recently purchased an
MSI G965M-FI motherboard for a system upgrade. Overall the board is pretty good with lots of features, but it had one unexpected 'feature' that I didn't know about when I bought it. The PATA100 IDE port won't allow you to install an operating system from an attached CD-ROM. Does anybody know if this is an issue that can be fixed by
upgrading the BIOS, or is this hard-wired into the IDE controller?"
Feed Skeleton Of Sun's Atmosphere Reveals Its True Nature (sciencedaily.com)
The Sun's outer atmosphere or corona is incredibly complex, as shown in observations from space. It is also extremely hot, with a temperature of over a million degrees by comparison with that of the Sun's surface of only 6000 degrees. Scientists have now made a major breakthrough in understanding this complexity by studying the 'skeleton' of the magnetic field.
Feed Vonage Says There Is No Workaround To Verizon's VoIP Patents (techdirt.com)
After a jury sided with Verizon in its patent-infringment case against it, Vonage told customers and investors not to worry, because it was developing a workaround that would allow it to continue operating without infringing upon any of the patents in question. However, the company has now confirmed that there is no such workaround, and it's not certain that one would be feasible, given the breadth of the Verizon patents. It's filing for a permanent stay of the injunction against it, apparently with the hope that the appeals process will work out in its favor. If that move isn't successful, it's going to be awfully hard for the company to stay in business. Seeing the stay denied would be a dream scenario for Verizon, since the patents in question are so broad that it's conceivable it could be impossible to run a landline-replacement VoIP service in the US without infringing upon them -- meaning it could shut down the entire US VoIP industry and the stiff competition it provides the company's traditional phone services. Verizon's not the only company rubbing its hands gleefully, either. The whole VoIP space is so patented up that it's under threat not just from entrenched rivals who would like to see its growth stymied, but by companies that have done little to bring their innovations to market and are looking to make a quick buck.
Brain Tumor Vaccine Shows Promising Results 62
ScienceDaily is reporting that a new vaccine used in the treatment of a cancer found primarliy in the brain is showing promising results after an initial trial at the University of California. "Of the 12 patients being treated, eight can currently be evaluated for overall survival, while four are still receiving treatment. Seven out of the eight patients have exceeded the historical median benchmark of 6.5 months survival from time of recurrence. The investigators will continue to follow the patients for overall survival. Based on these results, a larger, multi-center phase 2 study is planned for late 2007."
Java Generics and Collections
andrew cooke writes "Java 6 was recently
released, but many programmers are still exploring the features
introduced in Java 5 — probably the most significant changes in
the language's twelve year history. Amongst those changes (enumerations,
auto-boxing, foreach, varargs) generics was the most far-reaching,
introducing generic programming in a simpler, safer way than C++
templates and, unlike generics in C#, maintaining backwards (and
forwards) compatibility with existing Java code." Read on for the rest of Andrew's review.
Java Generics and Collections 278
andrew cooke writes "Java 6 was recently
released, but many programmers are still exploring the features
introduced in Java 5 — probably the most significant changes in
the language's twelve year history. Amongst those changes (enumerations,
auto-boxing, foreach, varargs) generics was the most far-reaching,
introducing generic programming in a simpler, safer way than C++
templates and, unlike generics in C#, maintaining backwards (and
forwards) compatibility with existing Java code." Read on for the rest of Andrew's review.
Enforced Ads Coming to Flash Video Players 397
Dominare writes "The BBC is reporting that Adobe is releasing new player software which will allow websites that use their Flash video player (such as YouTube) to force viewers to watch ads before the video they selected will play. 'But the big seller for Adobe is the ability to include in Flash movies so-called digital rights management (DRM) — allowing copyright holders to require the viewing of adverts, or restrict copying. "Adobe has created the first way for media companies to release video content, secure in the knowledge that advertising goes with it," James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research said.' This seems to have been timed to coincide with Microsoft's release of their own competitor, Silverlight, to Adobe's dominance of online video."
Preparing for the Worst in IT 172
mplex writes "How vulnerable is the internet to terrorist attack? Is it robust enough to handle an outage on a massive scale? Should the commercial infrastructure that powers the internet be kept secret? These are the sorts of questions raised by Mark Gibbs in his latest column in Network World. 'There is an alternate route available for nearly all services through Las Vegas or Northern California serving all facilities-based carriers in Los Angeles -- all interconnected at numerous L.A. and L.A.-area fiber-optic terminals supporting both metro and long-distance cable.' Given that the internet thrives on open networks, it's hard to imagine keeping them a secret. At best, we must be prepared to deal with the worst."
Submission + - Donkey Kong Recreated Using 6,400 Post-it Notes
NickFitz writes: "Students at UCSC have recreated the first level of Donkey Kong using 6,400 Post-it notes stuck to the windows of the E2 building. It took a team of about 10 people five hours to complete the work, which will remain in place until May 1. There's a time-lapse video of the construction process."
Bookmark Web Hosting Industry Events and Conferences (thehostingnews.com)
Why Apple Delayed Leopard for the iPhone 453
Ernest DeFarge writes "Apple recently announced that they've pulled several key programmers from the OS X 10.5 "Leopard" and assigned them to the iPhone in order to get it done on time. In doing so, they delayed Leopard for 4 months. Does that mean that the iPhone is more important to Apple than Mac OS? Or is it just capitalizing on the current state of Apple's fanbase?"
Feed Guidelines for autonomous killbots proposed (engadget.com)
Filed under: Robots
Suggestions in regard to robotic rights seem to be flying off the shelves these days, but an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre has concocted an interesting set of guidelines catering to autonomous killbots of the future. Most likely, it's just a matter of time before machine-on-machine violence becomes commonplace, and John Canning's "Concept of Operations for Armed Autonomous Systems" outlines just how lethal robots should handle themselves when faced with potentially deadly conflicts. Interestingly, the document suggests the the bots should be allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to blasting or forgiving fellow robots, but before they pull the trigger on a human, it should request guidance from a flesh 'n blood friendly. Still, a definite loophole exists in the fact that these simple-minded killers could aim for a "human's weapon" without asking permission, and when his awful auto-aim programming leads to a costly casualty, it'll simply be deemed "collateral damage." Can't say we like the sound of that. [Warning: PDF read link][Via El Reg]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Feed Geek Squad technician arrested for invading customer's shower (engadget.com)
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Sure, it's easy (and sadistically enjoyable) to bust on Best Buy, especially when it considers frugal shoppers "devils" and shoos away loyal customers holding down the fort for a PS3, but the latest knock against the retailer will be even tougher to shake. While it's no surprise that BB cashiers aren't the easiest to deal with when bringing back demolished goods, a pair of sisters also realized major holes in the company's personality screening process over at Geek Squad. Reportedly, a hired technician actually set up a cameraphone to record one of the siblings whilst she was taking a shower, but obviously wasn't sly enough to hide the "blinking red record light" from view. Subsequently, the violated duo supposedly ganked the internal flash card, made haste for a Verizon store to confirm the contents, and of course, phoned up the boys in blue to come take care of business. Needless to say, the shady criminal is now facing "two counts of invasion of privacy and one count of child molestation," but apparently it's still not a crime to charge clueless customers outrageous rates to tackle the simplest of tasks. Sheesh, where's the justice?[Via Digg]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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