Comment Re:Oxygen (Score 1) 163
The laser was covered in TV (swiss-german, starting at ~2:00):
http://www.videoportal.sf.tv/video?id=b4439c15-5c57-4088-9233-38633b697da2
Comment Re:Oxygen (Score 1) 163
Yes. In addition, every train is also examined automatically before entering from either side (at full speed):
Using a temp sensors near the track to check wheter any brakes or wheels are heating up (risk of fire or brake failure)
Using a laser scanner from above e.g. to verify that no tarpaulin has loosened (risk of getting into the catenary)
Comment Re:What a feat! (Score 1) 104
Who claimed the purpose of this project is anything other than a proof of concept and to push "awareness"?
Just like the rest of his family with all their explorations:
Auguste Piccard (aeronaut, balloonist, hydronaut)
Jacques Piccard (hydronaut)
Jean Felix and Jeanette Piccard (aeronaut, balloonist)
Don Piccard (balloonist)
Bertrand Piccard (aeronaut, balloonist)
Comment Re:A compromise would be to... (Score 1) 410
- the alps are higher than 4km (> 10.000ft)
Microsoft Refuses To Patch Rootkit-Compromised XP Machines 330
Barence writes "Microsoft has revealed that its latest round of patches won't install on XP machines if they're infected with a rootkit. In February, a security patch left some XP users complaining of endless reboots and Blue Screens of Death. An investigation followed and Microsoft discovered the problems occurred on machines infected with the Alureon rootkit, which interacted badly with patch KB977165 for the Windows kernel. Now Microsoft is blocking PCs with the rootkit from receiving its new patches. 'This security update includes package-detection logic that prevents the installation of the security update if certain abnormal conditions exist on 32-bit systems,' Microsoft cautions in the patch notes."
Comment Re:Not to sound overly nationalist (Score 2, Informative) 277
Total Fertility Rates 2010:
Niger: 7.75 (top)
USA: 2.05
France: 1.98
China: 1.79
Germany: 1.41
Italy: 1.31
Japan: 1.21
Taiwan: 1.14
Hong Kong: 1.02
Macau: 0.92 (lowest)
Submission + - China's Great Firewall infects other countries (goodgearguide.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "A networking error has caused computers in Chile and the U.S. to come under the control of the Great Firewall of China, redirecting Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube users to Chinese servers. Security experts are not sure exactly how this happened, but it appears that at least one ISP recently began fetching high-level DNS (domain name server) information from what's known as a root DNS server, based in China. That server, operated out of China by Swedish service provider Netnod, returned DNS information intended for Chinese users, effectively spreading China's network censorship overseas."
Comment Re:Current architecture flawed but workable BUT... (Score 0) 631
That's called transaction and is a good thing (except the part where it doesn't tell exactly why it failed). I'd hate if it would not behave like that.
Comment Re:there won't be ban (Score 2, Insightful) 294
They don't have to influence politicians, they have to influence the people to sign an initiative and then later to vote for it (direct democracy) - 1/3 of them being on Facebook.
Comment Switzerland has NOT passed any ban! (Score 1) 294
The two legislative organs have suggested two bans, but that's by no means the end of the story (remember, everything in politics is very slow in Switzerland, mainly due to their direct democracy approach and the fact that there's no concept of a president there to speed things up):
a) ban extremely violent games for anyone under 18 years
b) ban extremely violent games for anyone, as well as the possession, production and sale thereof
a) is well accepted and b) is highly controversial, but unfortunately made it through nevertheless. It is very unlikely that the executive will implement b) though, in fact it's even unlikely it will implement anything as there are laws banning "cruel" violence already (with a rather high bar though, considering all the horror movies making it through), and beside being too controversial, b) is in fact considered not to be implementable as it would require a constitutional change which is unlikely to happen. Even then, there would be various ways to block it if enough people agree and enforce a vote on it.
Submission + - Rich Germans Demand Higher Taxes (bbc.co.uk)
spun writes: "A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes. talk about civic minded, here in America the rich expect to not pay any taxes, get huge bonuses, and get bailed out if they fail. As Adam Smith wrote in "Wealth of Nations" regarding taxes, "It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.""
Submission + - SCO fires CEO Darl McBride (arstechnica.com)
Scowned writes: SCO's latest SEC filings reveal that the company has fired Darl McBride, the company's controversial CEO. McBride is the architect of SCO's failed litigation assault on the open source Linux operating system, a strategy that ultimately led to the company's collapse. In a statement issued along with the SEC filing, SCO's new leaders say that they plan to continue the fight against IBM and Novell in court. "These actions, while difficult, are essential to SCO becoming a more agile and efficient company, not just for this year, but for years to come," Hunsaker said.
Intel Caught Cheating In 3DMark Benchmark 216
EconolineCrush writes "3DMark Vantage developer Futuremark has clear guidelines for what sort of driver optimizations are permitted with its graphics benchmark. Intel's current Windows 7 drivers appear to be in direct violation, offloading the graphics workload onto the CPU to artificially inflate scores for the company's integrated graphics chipsets. The Tech Report lays out the evidence, along with Intel's response, and illustrates that 3DMark scores don't necessarily track with game performance, anyway."
Comment Re:Border Control only? (Score 2, Informative) 1040
Don't worry, it's only Americans who have such weird issues with nudity. No problem airing it in the rest of the world...
"Easy Work-Around" For Microsoft Word's Legal Woes 172
CWmike writes "Microsoft can likely use an 'easy technical work-around' to sidestep a recent injunction by a Texas federal judge that bars the company from selling Word, a patent attorney said today. 'The injunction doesn't apply to existing product that has already been sold,' said Barry Negrin, a partner with the New York firm Pryor Cashman LLP who has practiced patent and trademark law for 17 years. 'Headlines that say Microsoft can't sell Word are not really true,' said Negrin, pointing out that the injunction granted by US District Court Judge Leonard Davis on Tuesday only prohibits Microsoft from selling Word as it exists now after Oct. 10. 'All Microsoft has to do is disable the custom XML feature, which should be pretty easy to do, then give that a different SKU number from what's been sold so it's easy to distinguish the two versions.'"
