Comment Re:Smalltalk (Score 1) 473
Wouldn't GEOS on the ol' (and much beloved) Commodore 64 qualify as prior art?
http://www.symbos.de/gfx/facts/geos.gif
Submission + - Human trial of experimental cancer drug approved (thestar.com)
Colonel Angus writes: Health Canada approved the first human trial of cancer drug, DCA (dichloroacetate), in people with an advanced form of brain cancer called glioblastoma.
Research into DCA as a cancer treatment is solely funded through grants and donations. According to one of the researchers, it is cheap and not patentable and, as such, pharmaceutical companies are not interested in helping to develop it as a cancer therapy.
Submission + - "Smoking Gun" Global Warming Report Pendin
Submission + - Russia to help India build nuke reactors
Aryabhata writes: "Russian president Vladimir Putin,who will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on Friday said, "We intend to help India directly in construction of atomic energy facilities for peaceful use. Some of our companies are very much interested in acquiring large contracts for the construction of new facilities. On various occasions we have provided India with nuclear fuel and we will help in settling her problems in international affairs with the provision that Russia will abide by international obligations,""
Submission + - Your Own Voting Machine Key, Courtesy of Diebold
pazu13 writes: While last year Ed Felten published a paper on the insecurity of Diebold voting machines, today on his blog he discusses how a reader used a photograph on Diebold's own website to make his own fully-functional key to unlock the door blocking access to a voting machine's memory compartment.
Journal Journal: NHL unveils new high-tech hockey uniforms 4
The National Hockey League unveiled new uniforms developed by Reebok, to be used for the first time in Wednesday's all-star game. The new "Rbk EDGE system" is the biggest change in hockey uniforms since the switch from the old wool "sweaters", and features a 9% reduction in aerodynamic drag (measured by MIT's wind tunnel), and should be lighter, cooler and
Submission + - IE7 on Vista blocks www.mozilla.com
gropix writes: Just try going to www.mozilla.com in Vista and it hangs. Shows the title, fetches the info but just hangs. Haven't found anyother website that is similarly blocked and changing the sub-domain gets round the problem.
Interesting way of steming the tide of new firefox users, most consumers have no way of getting Firefox except via IE.
Submission + - home theater built like Star Trek bridge
gevmage writes: "Gary Reign, a guy with apparenlty way too much time on his hands, built a home theater in his basement. This is not unusual. However, the room is designed, floor to ceiling, as the bridge of a Star Trek style starship. See his
photo page for details.
Although I don't remember seeing this on Slashdot, this has been around long enough to e featured in the books The Home Theater Book, Manspace, A Primal Guide to Marking Your Territory, Electronic House Magazine, and Look what I did! on HGTV."
Although I don't remember seeing this on Slashdot, this has been around long enough to e featured in the books The Home Theater Book, Manspace, A Primal Guide to Marking Your Territory, Electronic House Magazine, and Look what I did! on HGTV."
Submission + - How Game Raitings have Failed
twistedsymphony writes: "Thoughthead discusses the various ways the Software rating system has failed, why various state and local governments are going after the industry the way they are and offers some suggestions as to how they might fix their various problems.
"The last major stumbling block the Video Game industry has to conquer is not only the most important towards getting the government off their back but also the biggest difference between the movie industry and the video game industry is enforcement. A rating system is useless unless it is actually adhered to, without that it's just noise.
Submission + - Internet downloading soon to be a crime
Elektroschock writes: "Toine Manders, an influential Dutch player in the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee, told a Dutch Radio station that he wants 'downloading' to become a criminal offence. His slogan: 'Downloading is heling'. Toine Manders and his colleques currently discusses a Directive on criminal measures aimed at the Enforcement of intellectual property rights ('IPRED2')."
After 100M IE7 Downloads, Firefox Still Gaining 425
Kelson writes "Internet Explorer 7 hit the 100 million download mark last week. Yet in the three months it's been available, Firefox's market share has continued to grow. InformationWeek reports that nearly all of IE7's growth has been upgrades from IE6. People don't seem to be switching back to IE in significant numbers, prompting analysts to wonder: has Microsoft finally met its match?"
Submission + - the post-antibiotic apocalypse
lpq writes: "We are facing a future where there will be no antibiotics and hospital will be the last place to be if you want to avoid picking up a dangerous bacterial infection," he says. "In effect, cut your finger on Monday and you'll be dead by Friday if there's nothing to prevent it." — Richard James, Healthcare Center Director at Nottingham University comments on the increasing death count from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Increasing deaths coming from athletic centers, military, prisons and childrens' play-grounds from super-bugs. Sara Boseley reports.
Can drug companies be persuaded to engage in research for the public good and not just for the profit? If not, what are the alternatives? It looks like we are nearing the end of the golden-anti-biotic era. While new antibiotics may be "just around the corner", the pharmaceuticals much prefer to research "life-style" drugs that people will have to take for life, rather than an antibiotic regimen that someone might take for 14 days. Even with treatment, some of the new "Superbugs" infections have only a 50% survival rate in the "West" with modern drugs. This is in comparison in many countries in Africa where the mortality rate is 100%. It's much better to research drugs for people who are likely to live many years, but who will remain sick enough to need your product for life. It's the "ethical" form of addicting someone to your drugs for life...
Can drug companies be persuaded to engage in research for the public good and not just for the profit? If not, what are the alternatives? It looks like we are nearing the end of the golden-anti-biotic era. While new antibiotics may be "just around the corner", the pharmaceuticals much prefer to research "life-style" drugs that people will have to take for life, rather than an antibiotic regimen that someone might take for 14 days. Even with treatment, some of the new "Superbugs" infections have only a 50% survival rate in the "West" with modern drugs. This is in comparison in many countries in Africa where the mortality rate is 100%. It's much better to research drugs for people who are likely to live many years, but who will remain sick enough to need your product for life. It's the "ethical" form of addicting someone to your drugs for life...
Submission + - Web Site Raises $25,000 For Darfur
jsburke writes: "Four hundred thousand numbers cover the The Darfur Wall. Each represents a victim of genocide in Darfur, Sudan. By donating $1 or more, you can turn a number from dark gray to brilliant white and honor one lost life.
In its first two months, The Darfur Wall has raised over $25,000 from donors in 27 countries. 100% of the proceeds benefit four Darfur relief organizations: Doctors Without Borders, Save Darfur, Save the Children, and the Sudan Aid Fund."
Google Patents the Design of Search Results Page 114
prostoalex writes "ZDNet is reporting that USPTO issued a patent to Google, Inc. for 'ornamental design for a graphical user interface'. This is not, as ZDNet points out, a software patent (which is usually issued as a utility patent), but a design patent, which governs the look and feel of the product and prevents others from directly copying it." Ironic, given Google's recent slip-up of copying a Yahoo page. In news on the flipside, Google has launched a patent search service (in beta).
Free Geek Robbed 275
Ellen Wilson writes, "Portland, Oregon, non-profit Free Geek, which turns old PCs into Linux boxen, has been robbed of about $4500 worth of hardware. Portlanders are asked to keep an eye out for suspicious sales of Ubuntu laptops." This blog post has some details of labeling that could help to spot the stolen laptops. BoingBoing picked up the story and added that another local outfit, the Independent Publishing Resource Center, which supports Portland's zine scene, had been hit on the previous night.
