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Communications

Amateur Radio In the Backcountry? 376

bartle writes "I spend a lot of time hiking in the Colorado Rockies. Cell phone reception is very unreliable and I'm curious if carrying a small amateur radio would make any sense at all. I don't want to add too much weight to my pack; from what I gather, a radio weighing a pound would give me at most 5 to 10 watts of transmitting power. I have no idea if this is enough to be effective in a mountainous region, and I'm hoping some experienced Slashdot hams could give me a clue. I'm only interested in acquiring a radio and license if it is a lot more effective and reliable than the cell phone I already carry. Otherwise I'll just wait for Globalstar to bring back their duplex service and buy a next-generation SPOT messaging device. (I know some Slashdotters will want to suggest a modern SPOT or Personal Locator Beacon; these are suitable for the worst kinds of emergencies, but I'll point out that reliable communication can help prevent small crises from becoming big ones.) Are small amateur radios effective in the field, or are vehicle rigs really the only way to go? Or am I better off just waiting for satellite?"
Government

US Senate Passes 'Libel Tourism' Bill 467

Hugh Pickens writes "AFP reports that the US Senate has passed (by a 'unanimous consent' voice vote) a bill that prevents US federal courts from recognizing or enforcing a foreign judgment for defamation that is inconsistent with the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. If the bill becomes law it will shield US journalists, authors, and publishers from 'libel tourists' who file suit in countries where they expect to get the most favorable ruling. 'While we cannot legislate changes to foreign law that are chilling protected speech in our country, we can ensure that our courts do not become a tool to uphold foreign libel judgments that undermine American First Amendment or due process rights,' said Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy. Backers of the bill have cited England, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore as places where weak libel safeguards attract lawsuits that unfairly harm US journalists, writers, and publishers. The popular legislation is headed to the House of Representatives, which is expected to approve it. 'This bill is a needed first step to ensure that weak free-speech protections and abusive legal practices in foreign countries do not prevent Americans from fully exercising their constitutional right to speak and debate freely,' said Senator Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on Leahy's committee."
Displays

Sony Developing 3D Screen-Sharing Technology For Two Players 174

Stoobalou writes "Sony has recently published patent applications which will allow two-player 3D gaming on a single screen. The new technology could spell an end to split-screen gaming, but is unlikely to see the light of day for a few years at least. Sony's method would allow player one to see frames one and three whilst player two would see frames two and four. Current technology requires a display with a 120 Hz refresh rate so it seems likely that we'll have to wait for 240Hz screen technology to become commonplace before two-player 3D becomes a reality. PDF versions of the two applications are available."

Comment Advertisement? (Score 0) 170

While this is cool, this article just looks like a simple advertisement to sell their bikes. How is this newsworthy? It's not like this is a website with designs on how to make your own, or how to pimp your existing bike, or even about the cool technology put into the bike. It's a simple like to buy one on Ebay.

Comment Re:So what (Score 0) 253

The iPhone can't multitask? I've been multitasking for months now on my iPhone 3Gs, been tethering on AT&T, been using folders to organize my many applications, been able to lock rotation, all without a hitch. Granted I had to jailbreak the device (crazy easy to do with Blackra1n), but it works great!

Comment As a physician myself... (Score 0) 245

As a physician myself (well I'll have my MD next year), there is more to a diagnosis than a simple test/analysis. The most important part of any diagnosis is the "History of Present Illness" as well as the physical exam. Knowing when to use certain tests, and how to interpret them in the light of the particular patient's present condition is what makes medicine an art as well as a science. I think the idea of a camera taking a picture of a dermatologic problem being a great tool, but it won't be able to make a conclusive diagnosis. Many tests are not black and white, yes or no answers to a problem...they themselves contain errors, which if interpreted incorrectly can lead to further harm to the patient. I think it's going to be awhile before we have an AI doctor like "The Doctor" from the Star Trek Voyager series.

Comment Does it Matter? (Score 0) 438

You and I both know, no matter what comes out...no matter how bad and damning the evidence is against BP...the USA taxpayer and consumer will bear the brunt of the cost of the cleanup. BP is too big to prosecute! They have too much influence with the government, have too many lawyers, and have an unlimited supply of $$$ to do what they want. I'm not shocked or surprised at what BP knew, but I will be shocked if they are held accountable in the end.

Comment This topic should be banned until ready (Score 1) 194

Seriously; I'm tired of reading "flying cars almost here"-type threads. Until an actual product is for sale (no pre-orders, vapor ware) I don't want to hear about what people are planning. Everything that has ever been posted in the past sounded good at first, promised to be delivered, was soon be in the skies...well they were either wrong, marketing to get funding, or just plain lies.

Image

Company Invents Electronic Underpants Screenshot-sm 110

theodp writes "SIMsystem have created the world's first electric underpants that let you know that you've got issues by texting. Incontinence issues, to be more precise. The new-and-improved skivvies come equipped with a sensor strip that alerts caregivers to wetness via text message. From the technology summary: 'The SIMbox, when fitted into the individual resident's stretchpants (SIMpants), transmits sensor readings from the SIMstrip in the SIMpad® over a wireless network to the SIMserver. The SIMsystemManager software running on the SIMserver then detects key information about continence events and determines when to alert care staff about an event requiring attention.' So, who's going to start an open source project?"

Comment Re:Warning? (Score 0, Offtopic) 297

True, I'd prefer a web page. But a press release would typically be a printed document, especially from a governmental agency. I don't think "warning" is appropriate...makes it out to be some kind of dangerous thing. Sounds more like anti-Microsoft type behaviour.

Viruses? If you aren't running a virus scanner, you're gonna get a virus by just going to web pages or via other means and other document formats.

Comment Warning? (Score -1, Troll) 297

Why is there a warning that the press release is a Word document? It's a frickin' document format, not some evil-doer conspiracy! Plenty of word processing programs can open Word documents. What about PDF? I'd prefer a word document over PDF any-day because I can edit it, annotate it, and open it faster than a PDF. Just because something is from Microsoft doesn't mean it's bad.

Note: I'm writing this on Ubuntu, and running Open Office in the background.

Comment Re:Long Weekend (Score 2, Insightful) 341

Because people are required to memorize multiple passwords, between many different systems, that have different password construction requirements, require differing expiration dates on passwords. Not to mention each different system has a different login username and sequence. Then you wonder why people write their login information down on a post-it-note on their desk. Too many passwords and usernames lead to greater insecurity. Don't blame them for forgetting a password amongst so many.

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