Submission + - Defcad.org seized, shut down (defcad.org) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Defcad has been shut down. The Defcad/Defensedistributed crowd has been indicted on multiple counts which can be viewed at defcad.org.
Submission + - Top 10 Gamer Friendly Cities in the USA (movoto.com)
NikoJamison writes: "In order to try and determine which cities in the United States are more 'gamer friendly' Movoto, a real estate brokerage, ranked cities based on number of arcades, demographics, quality of internet speed, game stores and ECA chapters. It turned into a pretty interesting list; Atlanta actually scored highest, followed by Seattle and Denver."
Submission + - Apple's March Madness a Sign of Better Things to Come (ibtimes.co.uk) 1
DavidGilbert99 writes: "It's been like shooting fish in a barrel these last six months when writing negatively about Apple. With years of pent up frustration many people have been laying into the once-untouchable company.
Predictions the company will announce its first quarter of negative income growth next month have added fuel to the fire, but reports of Apple's demise may be very much premature, according to one independent analyst.
Paul Leitao believes March signals the end of one cycle and the beginning of another where Apple's fortunes are likely to turn around and all those who laughed at the company will be left with egg on their faces."
Predictions the company will announce its first quarter of negative income growth next month have added fuel to the fire, but reports of Apple's demise may be very much premature, according to one independent analyst.
Paul Leitao believes March signals the end of one cycle and the beginning of another where Apple's fortunes are likely to turn around and all those who laughed at the company will be left with egg on their faces."
Submission + - New Brain Implant Transmits Wirelessly to Computer (singularityhub.com)
kkleiner writes: "Scientists at Brown University have made a brain implant that can record and transmit brain signals to a computer wirelessly. Free from onerous connections and wires, the technology could foster the development of a new generation of more flexible robotics to help amputees, spinal cord injury victims, or people with crippling neurological disorders. Referred to the researchers affectionately as the “can,” the titanium-enclosed device measures 2.2 inches (56 mm) long, 1.65 inches (42 mm) wide, and 0.35 inches (9 mm) thick. That’s pretty small considering it contains an array of 100 electrodes, a lithium ion battery, and custom-designed ultralow-power integrated circuits, radio and infrared wireless transmitters, and a copper coil for recharging."
Submission + - Brain scans predict which criminals are more likely to reoffend (nature.com)
ananyo writes: "In a twist that evokes the dystopian science fiction of writer Philip K. Dick, neuroscientists have found a way to predict whether convicted felons are likely to commit crimes again from looking at their brain scans. Convicts showing low activity in a brain region associated with decision-making and action are more likely to be arrested again, and sooner.
The researchers studied a group of 96 male prisoners just before their release. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the prisoners’ brains during computer tasks in which subjects had to make quick decisions and inhibit impulsive reactions. The scans focused on activity in a section of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a small region in the front of the brain involved in motor control and executive functioning. The researchers then followed the ex-convicts for four years to see how they fared. Among the subjects of the study, men who had lower ACC activity during the quick-decision tasks were more likely to be arrested again after getting out of prison, even after the researchers accounted for other risk factors such as age, drug and alcohol abuse and psychopathic traits."
The researchers studied a group of 96 male prisoners just before their release. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the prisoners’ brains during computer tasks in which subjects had to make quick decisions and inhibit impulsive reactions. The scans focused on activity in a section of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a small region in the front of the brain involved in motor control and executive functioning. The researchers then followed the ex-convicts for four years to see how they fared. Among the subjects of the study, men who had lower ACC activity during the quick-decision tasks were more likely to be arrested again after getting out of prison, even after the researchers accounted for other risk factors such as age, drug and alcohol abuse and psychopathic traits."
Submission + - Exxon funds new Craig Venter biofeuls initiative
earthling42 writes: The Economist reports that Exxon is establishing a $ 300 million funding scheme for Craig Venter's Synthetic Genomics firm. They intend to bio-engineer new strains of bacteria that will secrete oil, allowing for the bio-manufacturing of hydrocarbon like fuels.
How We Used To Vote 517
Mr. Slippery writes "Think hanging chads, illegal purges of the voter rolls, and insecure voting machines are bad? The New Yorker looks back at how we used to vote back in the good old days: 'A man carrying a musket rushed at him. Another threw a brick, knocking him off his feet. George Kyle picked himself up and ran. He never did cast his vote. Nor did his brother, who died of his wounds. The Democratic candidate for Congress, William Harrison, lost to the American Party's Henry Winter Davis. Three months later, when the House of Representatives convened hearings into the election, whose result Harrison contested, Davis's victory was upheld on the ground that any "man of ordinary courage" could have made his way to the polls.' Now I feel like a wuss for complaining about the lack of a voter-verified paper trail." The article notes the American penchant for trying to fix voting problems with technology — starting just after the Revolution. This country didn't use secret ballots, an idea imported from Australia, until quite late in the 19th century.
Vaporware - the Tech That Never Was 192
An anonymous reader writes "CNet has published an incredibly detailed look at the most critical examples of vaporware ever seen in the tech sector. We're familiar with Wired's yearly round-ups, but this decades-long retrospective look at the most promising of all technologies that never saw the light of day, holds some fascinating technology I've never even heard of, including the wonderfully-named three-dimensional atomic holographic optical data storage nanotechnology. 'Continual delays, setbacks and excuses are the calling cards of a product that becomes vapourware. Windows Vista ran the risk of joining the club, and the terrific multiplayer first-person shooter Team Fortress 2 was in production for almost a decade before it was released in 2007. Devoted TF fans feared it would become a distinguished entrant in the who's who of vapourware. You might say Google Mail is in the running, having been in beta since 2004.'"
Wikileaks Gets Domain Back, Injunction Dissolved 70
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The judge in the Wikileaks case has dissolved the injunction against Wikileaks, which means that it can get its .org domain back. He defended his prior ruling because it was based on the pittance of information the bank and registrar had provided him, saying 'This is a case in which we had a (dispute) with named parties, and the parties were duly served. One of which properly responded and came to this court with a proposed settlement in this lawsuit... Nobody filed any timely responses to the court's order.'"
New Radar Maps of Moon 70
SpaceAdmiral writes to mention that NASA has some new high-resolution radar maps of the Moon obtained by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The new images have also been used to create a simulation of the Moon's day and a movie of a Moon landing from the point of view of the astronaut. "NASA is eying the Moon's south polar region as a possible site for future outposts. The location has many advantages; for one thing, there is evidence of water frozen in deep dark south polar craters. Water can be split into oxygen to breathe and hydrogen to burn as rocket fuel--or astronauts could simply drink it. Planners are also looking for 'peaks of eternal light.' Tall polar mountains where the sun never sets might be a good place for a solar power station."
Comment 15% would be pretty good (Score 4, Informative) 222
15% efficiency would actually be pretty good considering by some calculations photosynthesis efficiency is around 5 to 20%.
Here is one calculation showing ~6.6% photosynthesis efficiency
It takes into account things like canopy shading, which wouldn't necessarily apply to this, but here's the link:
http://www.upei.ca/~physics/p261/Content/Sources_Conversion/Photo-_synthesis/photo-_synthesis.htm
I tried to find a peer reviewed one, but can't find one right now(I'm at work, break almost over... :( )
Here is one calculation showing ~6.6% photosynthesis efficiency
It takes into account things like canopy shading, which wouldn't necessarily apply to this, but here's the link:
http://www.upei.ca/~physics/p261/Content/Sources_Conversion/Photo-_synthesis/photo-_synthesis.htm
I tried to find a peer reviewed one, but can't find one right now(I'm at work, break almost over...
Toshiba To Launch "Super Charge" Batteries 202
ozgood writes in to let us know about Toshiba's announcement that it has developed a new type of rechargeable battery dubbed the Super Charge ion Battery, or SCiB. Toshiba claims the new battery will mainly target the industrial market, though they hint the technology may eventually find a home in electric vehicles. The SCiB can recharge to 90% of total capacity in under five minutes, and has a life span of over 10 years. "Toshiba also says the battery has excellent safety with the new negative electrode material having a high level of thermal stability and a high flash point. The battery is also said to be structurally resistant to internal short-circuiting and thermal runaway."
Submission + - Woz: Apple almost sold out to Commodore (itworld.com)
hoagiecat writes: At a panel where early computer innovators reminisced, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak outlined an interesting scenario: he says that he and Steve Jobs tried to sell the prototype Apple II to Commodore. "Steve [Jobs] started saying all we want to do was offer [Apple II] for a few hundred thousand dollars, and we will get jobs at Commodore, we'll get some stock and we'll be in charge of running the program," Woz said. Instead, Commodore went out on its own with the C64, Jobs and Woz sold the Apple II themselves — and the rest is history...
Submission + - Antivirus: A waste of 50% of your HD throughput? (codinghorror.com)
dwalsh writes: Are we wasting our (Windows) computers performance on a placebo? Jeff Atwood seems to think so:
"The performance cost of virus scanning (lose 50% of disk performance, plus some percent of CPU speed) does not justify the benefit of a 33% detection rate and marginal protection."
"Ask yourself this: why don't Mac users run anti-virus software? Why don't UNIX users run anti-virus software? Because they don't need to. They don't run as administrators."
The article is a criticism of AV as a blacklist approach, that mostly protects against last months viruses. How many Slashdot Windows users rely solely on a firewall, a decent web browser, and good common sense (like Momma used to make it) when it comes to attachments?
"The performance cost of virus scanning (lose 50% of disk performance, plus some percent of CPU speed) does not justify the benefit of a 33% detection rate and marginal protection."
"Ask yourself this: why don't Mac users run anti-virus software? Why don't UNIX users run anti-virus software? Because they don't need to. They don't run as administrators."
The article is a criticism of AV as a blacklist approach, that mostly protects against last months viruses. How many Slashdot Windows users rely solely on a firewall, a decent web browser, and good common sense (like Momma used to make it) when it comes to attachments?
Submission + - 10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2008 (popularmechanics.com)
longacre writes: "Brain-connected game controllers, pay-per-glance ads and flexible displays are among the technologies expected to make mainstream breakthroughs this coming year according to a list compiled by Popular Mechanics. Which do you think are realistic? How many of the items on last year's list came to fruition in '07?"
