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Data Storage

All Solid State Drives Suffer Performance Drop-off 150

Posted by CmdrTaco from the storage-slows-down-as-you-approach-5pm dept.
Lucas123 writes "The recent revelation that Intel's consumer X25-M solid state drive had a firmware bug that drastically affected its performance led Computerworld to question whether all SSDs can suffer performance degradation due to fragmentation issues. It seems vendors are well aware that the specifications they list on drive packaging represent burst speeds when only sequential writes are being recorded, but after use performance drops markedly over time. The drives with better controllers tend to level out, but others appear to be able to suffer performance problems. Still not fully baked are benchmarking standards that are expected out later this year from several industry organizations that will eventually compel manufacturers to list actual performance with regard to sequential and random reads and writes as well as the drive's expected lifespan under typical conditions."
PC Games (Games)

StarCraft II Beta Signups Open 123

Posted by Soulskill from the time-to-zerg-the-servers dept.
motang writes "StarCraftWire reports that Blizzard has started taking beta sign-ups for StarCraft II. Quoting: 'Interested parties must simply visit their Battle.net profile page, choose to opt-in for the beta, and re-submit their current system specs by way of a small downloadable piece of software.' Blizzard's Chris Sigaty said in an interview, 'As with previous betas for our real-time strategy games, the StarCraft II beta test will be multiplayer only, and players will have access to all three races — terrans, protoss, and zerg — and all of their units. We'll include a selection of multiplayer maps, but they won't necessarily include all of the maps that will be in the final version of the game. We're making some great progress on the single-player campaign, but we don't plan to do a public beta since we want to keep the story under wraps until the game's out.'"
Biotech

Hadrosaur Proteins Sequenced 81

Posted by Soulskill from the don't-tell-hammond dept.
jd writes "In a follow-up study to the one on proteins found in a T. Rex bone, the team responsible for the T. Rex study sequenced proteins found in an 80-million year old Hadrosaur fossil. According to the article, the proteins found confirm the results of the T. Rex study, proving that what was found in T. Rex was not a result of modern contamination, as had been claimed by skeptics, but was indeed the genuine thing: real dinosaur protein. Furthermore, despite the new fossil being 12 million years older, they claim they got more out — eight collagen peptides and 149 amino acids from four different samples. This, they say, places the Hadrosaur in the same family as T. Rex and Ostriches, but that not enough was recovered to say just how close or distant the relationship was."
Medicine

FDA Could Delay Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs 261

Posted by kdawson from the culture-club dept.
destinyland writes "A Colorado medical advocate says, 'The FDA contends that if one cultures stem cells at all...then it's a prescription drug,' in arguing that revolutionary new treatments could be delayed by 20 years — even using cells extracted from your own body. According to the FDA, even therapies that simply re-inject your body's adult stem cells could be prohibited without five years of clinical trials and millions of dollars of research. How useful are cultured stem cells? 'In animal models, they routinely cure diabetes.'"

Feed More Pounds Equals Worse Asthma? (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Obese people are significantly more likely to have persistent or severe persistent asthma than their thinner counterparts, according to a new study. Compared with non-overweight asthma patients, obese patients (BMI=30) were more likely to report having continuous symptoms, have more ER visits, miss more days of work, use more rescue inhaler medications and use inhaled steroids to control asthma.

Feed Tesla's Battery Deal More Significant Than Just The Batteries (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
Electric car startup Tesla Motors has signed a deal to sell $43 million worth of lithium-ion battery packs to a Norwegian electric car company. This is a big deal for the company, as it's evidence of a growing market for the company's technology. The technology, however, is only part of the story. What's interesting is that a new generation of auto companies have business models that look more like computer makers than Detroit automakers. Instead of simply thinking about the car as the finished product, new companies in the automotive space (with Tesla being the most prominent) are able to focus on specific technology problems while nimbly swapping in and out parts made by other companies. It'll be some time before the change is complete, but it's clear that the technology itself is only part of the revolution.

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