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Patents

Submission + - Posner Dismisses Apple/Motorola Case, With Prejudice (engadget.com)

Submitted by whisper_jeff
whisper_jeff writes: Judge Posner has dismissed the case between Apple and Motorola, with prejudice (meaning they can't refile), putting an end to this patent dispute between the two companies. Adding my personal opinion, I know many on Slashdot will be happy to hear Apple's lawsuit failed, I am happier to hear that Motorola has been prevented from abusing FRAND patents, a situation I feel could set a very bad, very dangerous precedent for the entire industry.
Displays

Submission + - Optical Displays Made of Nothing But Air And Water (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Finnish scientists have developed a new optical display that works using using nothing more than air and water. Based out of Aalto University, the researchers took their inspiration from the superhydrophobic properties of the lotus leaf and fabricated a surface with structures in two size scales: microposts that have a size of ten micrometers and tiny nanofilaments that are grown on the posts. This two-level surface allowed the air layer to exist in two different shapes, or wetting states, while corresponding to the two size scales. The team also found that they could easily switch between the two states locally using a nozzle to create over- or under-pressure in the water

Submission + - MIT Researchs Ampilfy Invisible Detail in Video (mit.edu) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: MIT researchers have invented an algorithm which is able to amplify motion in video that is invisible to the naked eye — such as the motion of blood pulsing through a person's face, or the breathing of an infant. The algorithm — which was invented almost by accident — could find applications in safety, medicine, surveillance, and other areas.

Submission + - Making renewable energy work: Storing what we don't use (fastcoexist.com)

Submitted by tanujt
tanujt writes: As is a major issue with every energy source, so do renewables suffer from it: what happens to the energy that we don't make use of but are still supplied? Well, it goes to waste. Danielle Fong of LightSail (a Berkley-based company) has a potential solution for wastage of solar energy: store it and return it to the grid when needed. And she does it without batteries: "Just use the electricity generated by your solar panel and/or windmill to power a compressor, pushing air into a tank. When you want your energy back, you release the air out of the tank, and use it to drive a generator, creating electricity."


What about the heat loss in compression/expansion? Fong says: "It became clear that what you wanted to do for maximum efficiency was keep the temperature as close to constant as possible in compression and expansion. It turned out nobody had figured out how to do that, and I read a Wikipedia article saying it was impossible to do it, and I said, ‘My god, that’s not true. You can just spray water in.’ And then I was like, ‘Wait. I could just spray water in.’ And thus the company and core idea was born."


So how does it work? : "Instead of wasting the heat, we collect it by spraying water into the air during the compression process. That keeps the temperature down, and it keeps the pressure down, so you have to put less energy in to compress the same amount of air. During expansion, spraying water sends heat back into the air, which keeps the pressure high, and increases the amount of energy you get back.” Science aside, the numbers don’t lie: LightSail’s process recovers 70% of the energy it puts out, pretty much doubling the efficiency of the standard compression method. "
Their website has more information about the technology they've developed, including some experimental calculations. This sounds like an innovative idea, although past experience has made me cynical about actual practicality or implementability of innovative ideas.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft stops shipping Office Starter with new PCs (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
nk497
nk497 writes: "Microsoft has killed off Office 2010 Starter edition, ahead of the arrival of Windows 8. Office Starter was included in the OEM pre-installation kit (OPK) of software sent to manufacturers, and included ad-supported versions of Word and Excel, but not Outlook or PowerPoint. That will be replaced with an Office 2010 Transition OPK, which will instead push users to download a trial of the Office suite and offer a link to buy the full version. The free Office Web Apps will also be available for users not wanting the full version."
AI

Submission + - Strong AI and the imminent revolution in robotics (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google director of research Peter Norvig and AI pioneer Judea Pearl give their view on the prospects of developing a strong AI and how progress in the field is about to usher in a new age of household robotics to rival the explosion of home computing in the 1980s.

Submission + - Will Dolby's New Atmos 62.2 Format Redefine Surround Sound? (cepro.com) 2

Submitted by
CIStud
CIStud writes: "Anyone who goes to see Pixar's new animated "Brave" film might come home with their ears ringing. Why? because "Brave" is the debut of Dolby's Lab's new 62.2 surround sound format called Atmos, which adds new innovations such as developments such as pan-through array and overhead speakers. With 62 speakers and 2 subwoofers, only a handful of theaters nationwide will be able to show the film at its full throttle. Dolby has produced a new highly informative video that talks about how movie sound has progressed from mono to stereo to LCR (left/center/right) to 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound and now Atmos. The big question is will the 62.2 format system be adapted for home theaters intent on emulating the immersive movie experience?"
Google

Submission + - Google accused of Witholding Evidence (indiatimes.com)

Submitted by highphilosopher
highphilosopher writes: Google has been accused of witholding evidence from an investigation by the state of Texas. The investigation centers around whether Google is using it's search dominance to thwart competition.
AMD

Submission + - XBMC Developers Criticize AMD's Linux Driver (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It's not only the NVIDIA Linux driver that has been publicly slammed over lacking support but the AMD Catalyst driver is now facing scrutiny from the XBMC media and entertainment software. The developers behind XBMC aren't happy with AMD due to not properly supporting video acceleration under Linux. The AMD Linux driver is even lacking support for MPEG2 video acceleration and newer levels of H.264. AMD reportedly has the support coded, but they're refusing to turn it on in their public Linux driver. Developers are questioning whether AMD even cares about their Linux customers, when the missing features will arrive, and if it's worth the wait.

Submission + - India unblocks The Pirate Bay and other sharing sites (bbc.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Millions of Indians can breathe a sigh of relief. They are once again able to access their favorite file-sharing sites, including The Pirate Bay and Torrentz.eu, after a consortium of ISPs appealed a broad censorship order. The Madras High Court specified an earlier decision and ruled that Internet providers no longer have to block entire websites to prevent a single movie from being shared online. It states that only specific web addresses — URLs — carrying the pirated content should be blocked, but not the entire website.
The Internet

Submission + - A Look At The "Information Superhighway" In 1985 (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruh
jfruh writes: "AT&T's video library is a treasure trove of future-looking films from the past, and this one is no exception. Combining what might be the first on-film use of the phrase "information superhighway" with predictions of Siri-like services and sweet '80s computer graphics, this offers a valuable look at how close we came to our past's future."
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows Phone 8 puts Nokia in same 'awkward position' as tablet manufacturers (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Microsoft made important headway in its bid to compete in the smartphone market this week, announcing the next-generation Windows Phone 8 smartphone operating system. But in the process, the company has "placed their hardware partners in a very awkward situation," says Wayne Lam, IHS senior analyst in wireless communications.

Windows Phone 8 is Microsoft's first mobile operating system based on the Windows NT kernel. In addition to the ability to run multi-core processors and take advantage of higher-quality graphics, the upgrade from the legacy CE kernel means that Windows users could have the same fluid experience across their PCs, tablets and smartphones.

The move may have also caused some collateral damage. Unlike Apple's iOS, Windows Phone 8 will not be available as an upgrade for older smartphones running Windows Phone 7; anyone who wants the OS will need to purchase an entirely new device running it.

"Nokia is already having a tough time building market momentum behind their Lumia line, and now to basically have Microsoft signal to the market that they might as well stop thinking about purchasing Lumia because they're going to have something new in October, it sets up for a difficult sales cycle for Nokia moving on," Lam says.
Facebook

Submission + - The death of an HTML5 game breeds an open source project (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: German social gaming company Wooga has thrown in the towel on its HTML5 project after seeing little return on the increasing amount of effort put into its "Magic Land Island" game.

ome early success convinced Wooga to devote additional resources to the game, which was launched in October of last year. However, as the chart below shows, the following months would provide insufficient return. The game saw 5% of users returning to the game after first trying it. By comparison, Diamong Dash, another game operated by Wooga, typically sees a 50% user return rate.

The announcement sheds some interesting light on HTML5, as Wooga hardly holds back on any of the details behind the game's failure. The biggest barriers to HTML5's entry to the mainstream include internet connectivity.

The consensus? The time for HTML5 will come; it's just not quite there yet.
Idle

Submission + - Life-sized Tamiya Radio Control Car (hobbymedia.it)

Submitted by
Modellismo
Modellismo writes: "The German garage, 'The Bug Box', created a full size replica of one of the most famous RC Cars of the 80s: the Tamiya Wild Willy. They even made a huge replica of the old Acoms radio to add an additional geek touch to this masterpiece.

Two years ago the same team created the 1/1th scale Tamiya Sand Scorcher that have been exhibited by Tamiya at the Nuremberg SpielwarenMesse 2010 (the World biggest toy fair)."
Security

Submission + - Vulnerable SAP Deployments Make Prime Attack Targets (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Using a combination of TCP scans and Google, security researchers found that nearly a quarter of the organizations running vulnerable versions of SAP are tempting fate by leaving them exposed to the Internet. This discovery, researchers from ERPScan say, dispels the myth that SAP systems are only available from the internal network, leading to the misconception that they are protected by design.

By March 2012, there were more than 2,000 security advisories published by SAP. Of those, about 7% (124) have publicly available PoC (proof-of-concept) exploit code available to the public. Many of the issues discovered are related to poor configuration or poor deployment planning. For example, 212 SAP Routers were found in Germany, which were created mainly to route access to internal SAP systems.

Another issue with the vulnerable and exposed SAP installations is that many of them run on Windows NT, creating a twin set of risks for the organization, as they have to contend with a bad SAP deployment and unsupported OS that is full of security issues all by itself.

SAP environments are often home to an organization’s most important business data, making protecting them critical for enterprise security, but it seems many gaps exist...
Government

Submission + - 'Nuclear free' city grants waiver for HP (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: The City of Takoma Park, Md. this week granted a waiver to its public library to allow it to use some new HP hardware, whose products are otherwise banned under its “nuclear free zone” ordinance. That law, adopted in 1983 one month after the Cold War-era movie “The Day After” was aired, prohibits the city from buying equipment from any company connected to U.S. nuclear weapons production. The library bought new Linux-based, x86 systems from a Canadian vendor and didn’t realize the vendor was using HP hardware. The hardware arrived in April and was unused until the Takoma Park city council granted it a waiver this week. The city’s list of banned contractors was developed in 2004 by a now inactive group, Nuclear Free America, and hasn’t been updated since.
Toys

Submission + - Lego dart gun shoots pencils over 100 feet (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by
DroidFreak
DroidFreak writes: "What do you do when Mylar balloons get stuck on a ceiling 20 feet out of reach? You build a Lego dart gun to get them down of course! This "weapon" has a frame made of Legos; fires darts made of pencils, tape, and Kleenex; and is powered by rubber bands. It can shoot over 100 feet angled and can punch through aluminum cans. Best of all, my blog post includes instructions on how to build this gun so you too can have the power to fell Mylar balloons 20 feet above your head!"

Submission + - Faulty patch leaves thousands with no banking service (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
frisket
" rel="nofollow">frisket writes: "The Register reports: "RBS and Natwest have failed to register inbound payments for up to three days, customers have reported, leaving people unable to pay for bills, travel and even food. The banks — both owned by RBS Group — have confirmed that technical glitches have left bank accounts displaying the wrong balances and certain services unavailable. There is no fix date available." Customers of NatWest subsidiary Ulster Bank in Ireland have also been left without banking services. RTE reports that "the problem had arisen within the systems of parent bank RBOS when an incorrect patch was applied.""

Submission + - A Universal Turing Machine in 100 Punchcards (youtube.com)

Submitted by
theclockworkcomputer
theclockworkcomputer writes: "Tomorrow 100 years ago Alan Turing was born. To celebrate I wrote a Universal Turing Machine in 100 Punchcards. I've uploaded a video to explain a small part of the read head (the Jacquard). One needle is shown out of a total of 28.

As this is about a program for a Turing Machine and not about a Turing Machine itself, I hope to be excused from the requirement of infinite tape.

http://www.turingloom.com/"

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