Comment Re:Shiny and beautiful... (Score 1) 177
You just need those 3d glasses from Avatar. Works for me...
Bill Gates Knows What You Did Last Summer 303
theodp writes "Give Bill Gates your 'pictures, videos, documents, e-mail, instant messages, addresses, calendar dates/scheduling information (e.g., birthdays, anniversaries, appointments), voice mail, phone logs, RSS feeds, subscriptions, bookmarks, mail lists, project management features, computing device data, tasks and location data,' and he'll improve your 'quality of life.' That's the promise behind a patent issued Thursday to Bill Gates and his 20 co-inventors for 'Personal Data Mining', which Microsoft notes 'can include a monetization component' that 'could initiate an auction to sell information to the highest bidder.'"
ESA Conducts Mars Terraforming Experiments On ISS 181
geegel writes "Space is a hostile environment for living things, but small organisms on the Expose-E experiment unit outside Europe's Columbus ISS laboratory module have resisted the solar UV radiation, cosmic rays, vacuum and varying temperatures for 18 months. A certain lichen seems to be particularly happy in open space."
Explosion Injury Lawyer 12
Were you caught in a hellish Zeppelin accident? Are you the victim of a car stunt gone horribly wrong? Get the legal representation that you need.
Comment Re:All in my head, baby -- all in my head... (Score 1) 414
I keep several passwords in my head and just modify them slightly every 6-18 months depending on when I feel like it.
They are usually based on something like a phrase and skewed significantly enough to pass strong password requirements and to keep my brain from overloading trying to remember a 14+ character password.
Submission + - Microsoft to hire at least 400 Yahoo workers (yahoo.com)
Santosh writes: Microsoft Corp. will hire at least 400 workers from Yahoo Inc. if government regulators approve the companies' proposed Internet search partnership, and Yahoo will receive $150 million to cover any unexpected costs during the switch to new technology.
As it is, transferring 400 workers to Microsoft would prune Yahoo's current payroll by about 3 percent. Yahoo will lay off some workers if the Microsoft deal goes through, Bartz said last week. Tuesday's filing didn't provide any layoff projections.
To keep Yahoo happy, Microsoft will have to produce ad revenue per search that is within a certain percentage of Google's industry-leading rate. If Microsoft doesn't hit the target, Yahoo can abandon the partnership before the contract expires. Tuesday's filing didn't specify how close Microsoft has to come to Google's revenue per search. Microsoft estimates that Google gets 7 cents in ad revenue for every search, while Yahoo gets 4.3 cents and Microsoft gets 3.9 cents, according to a PowerPoint slide Microsoft mistakenly posted online.
As it is, transferring 400 workers to Microsoft would prune Yahoo's current payroll by about 3 percent. Yahoo will lay off some workers if the Microsoft deal goes through, Bartz said last week. Tuesday's filing didn't provide any layoff projections.
To keep Yahoo happy, Microsoft will have to produce ad revenue per search that is within a certain percentage of Google's industry-leading rate. If Microsoft doesn't hit the target, Yahoo can abandon the partnership before the contract expires. Tuesday's filing didn't specify how close Microsoft has to come to Google's revenue per search. Microsoft estimates that Google gets 7 cents in ad revenue for every search, while Yahoo gets 4.3 cents and Microsoft gets 3.9 cents, according to a PowerPoint slide Microsoft mistakenly posted online.
Submission + - Cash For Clunkers: The Data On Why It's Working (greencarreports.com)
thecarchik writes: "As enacted, the Clunkers program had two goals that weren't always aligned: It had to increase the average gas mileage of cars on the road, but also encourage new car sales, period. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that as of yesterday at 4 pm, almost 134,000 vehicles had been traded in, earning rebates of $564 million. That's an average rebate of more than $4,200--meaning that the mileage increases were far higher than the minimum necessary to earn the base rebate of $3,500."
Submission + - FreeDOS kernel 2039 (sourceforge.net)
SF:patv writes: The kernel developers have just finished up 2039 for release a few days ago (mostly bugfixes), so you can download it at ibiblio ( http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/dos/kernel/2039/ ) or at sourceforge ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/freedos )
Submission + - 3D Images Reconstructed of 300M Year Old Spiders
Hugh Pickens writes: "Scientists at Imperial College London have created detailed 3D computer models of two fossilized specimens of ancient creatures called Cryptomartus hindi and Eophrynus prestvicii, closely related to modern-day spiders. The researchers created their images by using a CT scanning device, which enabled them to take 3,000 x-rays of each fossil then compile them into precise 3D models, using custom-designed software. Both spiders roamed the Earth before the dinnosaurs during the Carboniferous period, 359 — 299 million years ago when life was emerging from the oceans to live on land. C. hindi's front pair of legs were angled toward the front, suggesting they were used to grapple with prey, an "ambush predator" like the modern-day crab spider, lying in wait for prey to come close. Another finding from the models is that E. prestivicii had hard spikes along its back, probably as a defensive measure making it less palatable to the amphibians that would have hunted it. "Our models almost bring these ancient creatures back to life and it's really exciting to be able to look at them in such detail," says researcher Russel Garwood adding that the technique could be used to return to fossils that have previously been analyzed by conventional means. "Our study helps build a picture of what was happening during this period early in the history of life on land.""
Submission + - NASA Begins Commercial Crew Initiative (commercialspaceflight.org) 4
FleaPlus writes: NASA is using an initial $50M to 'stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop and demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities.' NASA originally planned to use $150M, which was blocked by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) until it was largely redirected to the ~$35B Ares rocket program based at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO) will reward multiple competitive contracts, with the goals of promoting job growth, lowering the cost of spaceflight, and helping reduce the post-Shuttle gap in US human spaceflight capability.
Submission + - Google's 2nd Android Developer Contest kicksoff 1
coffeeisclassy writes: Google's second Android Developer Contest (ADC2) has started, despite some confusion around how to submit applications. The prizes are different from the first ADC, with each category having prizes of 100k, 50k, and 25k and an overall best of 150k,50k and 25k, meaning the best Android application from ADC2 is eligible for ~250k. The rules seem to allow any application never published before August 1st to compete and is open through the end of August (so break out your keyboards!). The top prizes are certainly less than that of first ADC, but with the prizes broken down by category Google may be hoping to inspire some love for less popular categories. While some other developers are waiting to find out to submit, one developer has moved ahead and released one of there entires Pigs Can Fly Site Monitor (also on Google Market for those with Androids). So if you've been waiting for an excuse to start a new side-project, here you have it :)
Submission + - Navigating a geek marriage...
JoeLinux writes: "I am soon to marry my true love (a girl! yes! they do exist!). She is a literary geek, whereas I am a gaming/linux geek. Being the RTFM-style geeks that we are, we have been reading up on marriage, making things work, etc. Unfortunately, all of the references seem to be based around an alpha-male jock, and a submissive cheerleader-style wife. A lot of the references to incompatibility in the books don't apply to us.(neglect due to interest in sports, etc.) What are some of the pitfalls and successes learned in the course of a more geek-oriented marriage?"
Submission + - Sticky Tape Found To Emit Terahertz Radiation (newscientist.com)
An anonymous reader writes:
WILL sticky tape ever cease to amaze? Peeling it can generate terahertz radiation, raising the possibility of a cheaper alternative to lasers for medical imaging. Peeling sticky tape has already been shown to produce X-rays, so Joseph Horvat and Roger Lewis of the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, tried to see if it could create lower-frequency terahertz radiation. "We were rather pleasantly surprised to obtain a clear signal in our first attempt," says Horvat. Strongly adhesive Scotch Magic 810 tape and weakly adhesive electrical tape both yielded strong terahertz signals, ranging from 0.1 to 10 terahertz, but only about a microwatt of power, too little for practical use (Optics Letters, vol 34, p 2195). Horvat says that refinements should increase the power by orders of magnitude.
It may be old news to
Comment Re:OLEDs are awesome (Score 0, Offtopic) 52
Anyone else read that as "Cow On America"?
No...? Screw you guys, I got a laugh out of it.
Comment Re:I have a feeling.... (Score 1) 1010
That this thread will consist only of positive remarks, and supportive statements towards Microsoft.
...with truth, justice, and the American way!
