Running Pinata - Slashdot User

Chinese Automaker Unveils First Electric Car 341

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday December 15, 2008 @07:03PM from the jump-start-on-the-competition dept.

JuliusSu writes "A Chinese auto manufacturer, BYD, is introducing today the country's first electric car, a plug-in hybrid vehicle. It plans to sell at least 10,000 cars in 2009 for a price of less than $22,000. This put the company ahead of schedule against other entrants to this market, such as Toyota, due to release a similar car in late 2009; and GM, whose Chevy Volt will be launched in late 2010. The company is best known for making cellphone batteries, and hopes its expertise in ferrous battery technology will allow it to leapfrog established car manufacturers."

MIT Injects Nanotubes To Help Fight Cancer 58

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday December 15, 2008 @05:27PM from the now-i-want-a-shrink-ray dept.

CWmike writes to tell us that researchers at MIT have found a way to wrap nanotube sensors in DNA to detect the results of chemotherapy. The sensors are able to detect whether the drugs are attacking their targets or healthy cells. "Cancer researchers have long been trying to figure out a way to better deliver drugs to cancer cells without blasting surrounding cells as well. The Stanford researchers devised a way to use single-walled carbon nanotubes as targeted medicinal delivery vehicles. By better targeting the chemotherapy, less of the drug needs to be injected into the patient for cancer treatment. And that would reduce the side effects of chemotherapy treatment, such as nausea, hair loss, weight loss and fatigue."

Great Games To Put On a Free PC? 634

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday December 15, 2008 @04:39PM from the hey-doom-just-turned-15 dept.

Lumpy writes "I am giving several new PC's to a local charity that will be giving them to needy kids this Xmas. They are not powerful, basically baseline Dells that have Intel graphics and Celeron, but more than enough to do homework and other studies on. They are going out with XP on them, an Ubuntu CD, and a bunch of OSS software like OO.o and the others. I would like to include some games for the kids. Strategy, fun, etc. Great freeware games that are fun to play. What would be the best games that a 13-16 year old will like to play that are free and legal to give away, and will run on this lower-end hardware?"

Wiretap Whistleblower, a Life in Limbo? 521

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday December 15, 2008 @03:51PM from the life-in-the-crosshairs dept.

Newsweek has an interesting report on Thomas M. Tamm, the individual who blew the whistle on the Federal Government's warrantless wiretaps. The piece takes a look at some of the circumstances leading up to the disclosure and what has happened since. "After the raid, Justice Department prosecutors encouraged Tamm to plead guilty to a felony for disclosing classified information — an offer he refused. More recently, Agent Lawless, a former prosecutor from Tennessee, has been methodically tracking down Tamm's friends and former colleagues. The agent and a partner have asked questions about Tamm's associates and political meetings he might have attended, apparently looking for clues about his motivations for going to the press, according to three of those interviewed."

openSUSE Launches 11.1 173

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday December 15, 2008 @02:16PM from the i-am-lizard-hear-me-roar dept.

Novell has unveiled their latest release to the openSUSE line with 11.1. Offering both updates and new features, Novell continues to push for more openness and transparency. The new release includes Linux kernel 2.6.27, Python 2.6, Mono 2.0, OpenOffice 3.0, and many others. "[...] Our choice was also influenced by impressive changes that are transpiring in the openSUSE community, which is growing rapidly and is also becoming more open, inclusive, and transparent. Last month, the project announced its first community-elected board, a major milestone in its advancement towards community empowerment. This is a very good openSUSE release and it delivers some very impressive enhancements. The distro has evolved tremendously in the past two releases and is becoming a very solid and usable option for regular users."

Sarcasm Useful For Detecting Dementia 389

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday December 15, 2008 @01:28PM from the yeah-that'll-work dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit, but Australian scientists are using it to diagnose dementia, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of New South Wales, found that patients under the age of 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second most common form of dementia, cannot detect when someone is being sarcastic."

Submission + - Yoga for Geeks Makes Posture More Perfect (itworldcanada.com)

Submitted by

NewsCloud

on Tuesday October 16, 2007 @09:46PM

NewsCloud writes: "Having struggled with a sore neck from too many hours on my laptop, I was pleasantly surprised by Yoga for Geeks at this year's Web of Change (YfG has also appeared at Penguin Day, Moose Camp and most recently Ontario Linux Fest). Says itWorld Canada:

Sarah Pullman, a certified yoga instructor, started up Yoga for Geeks — a yoga class designed specifically for those who spend their lives around and in front of computers — and who probably have never taken a yoga class in their life...Pullman keeps it simple — and even allows people to wear jeans (no Lululemon required). She includes postures for head and shoulder mobility, opening up the connective tissue in the upper body and opening up the hips, which get tight if you're sitting all day. She also includes breathing and relaxation. 'That's usually enough for beginners,' she said. 'I want them to leave feeling empowered rather than overwhelmed.'
"

Submission + - Scientists create pollution eating trees (nwsource.com)

Submitted by mabersold on Tuesday October 16, 2007 @07:31PM

mabersold writes: University of Washington scientists have developed poplar trees that could remove dangerous chemicals such as benzene and TCE from contaminated areas. How did they do it? By splicing in rabbit DNA, of course. It'll be a few years before we start seeing the mutant trees planted in actual polluted soil, but tests are currently being carried out in laboratories using tiny trees grown in chemical solutions.

Submission + - Vista Computers Save about $75 per Year in Energy (cybernetnews.com)

Submitted by jason on Tuesday October 16, 2007 @07:09PM

jason writes: Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system has several built-in power plan options that are designed to cut back on the cost that it takes to run the computer. By default Vista ships in a "balanced" mode which will throttle back the processor when performance isn't as important, such as when writing a paper. Therefore one computer running Vista can save upwards of $75 per year, which can translate to about $15,000 in annual savings for a business running 200 machines. Sure there are free programs available for other versions of Windows to do the same thing, but a casual user won't take the time to find and install such an app.

Submission + - The truth about image stabilization

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16, 2007 @03:52AM

An anonymous reader writes: Image stabilization is the biggest feature in digital cameras right now, but is it the cure all that camera manufacturers would like us to believe? This feature looks at the different types of image stabilization, how they work and what side effects they can cause. http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2007/10/15/Image-Stabilisation-The-Good-The-Bad-And-The-Noisy/p1

Submission + - BBC iPlayer moves to Flash, goes cross-platform. (madowney.com)

Submitted by

l-ascorbic

on Tuesday October 16, 2007 @03:29AM

l-ascorbic writes: "The Beeb's free catch-up download service has been widely criticised for being Windows-only, relying on Microsoft DRM. The BBC governors ordered that it should be cross-platform as soon as possible. Seems they've opted for Flash, meaning iPlayer will be available for Mac and Linux by the end of the year."

Submission + - Robocar 2057: 8 visions of the future

Submitted by

zhang1983

on Tuesday October 16, 2007 @12:30AM

zhang1983 writes: "I know that us geeks aren't particularly keen about cars other than the hybrid vs Hummer debate. But here are some interesting concepts dreamed up by some of the major auto makers of the world. Some of them look like alien cars, some of them look straight out of a sci-fi movie or final fantasy game... ... and some of them look like vacuum cleaners..."

Submission + - Story on spammer Alexey Tolstokozhev a fake (taint.org)

Submitted by

wolfeon

on Thursday October 11, 2007 @07:40PM

wolfeon writes: "The story http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/11/2157244 posted today is a fake, sorry. After doing a simple google search, the facts were very clear on the following, http://taint.org/2007/10/11/203243a.html Please ignore the story and lets move on, this is a very bad practical joke. I was very excited and happy until I performed a google search and looked on the ROSKO list.

The story originated from this site, http://loonov.com/russian-viagra-and-penis-enlargement-spammer-murdered.htm The creation date of loonov.com is "11-oct-2007". Did anyone else see this before making comments or giving a thumbs up on firehose?"

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