Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Idle

Submission + - Avatars to have business dress codes by 2013 (itpro.co.uk)

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes: With businesses increasingly using digital tech like virtual worlds and Twitter, their staff will have to be given guidelines on how they "dress" their avatars, according to analysts.

"As the use of virtual environments for business purposes grows, enterprises need to understand how employees are using avatars in ways that might affect the enterprise or the enterpriseâ(TM)s reputation," said James Lundy, managing vice president at Gartner, in a statement. "We advise establishing codes of behavior that apply in any circumstance when an employee is acting as a company representative, whether in a real or virtual environment."
Science

Submission + - Brain-to-brain communication over the Internet (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the past year alone Gizmag has looked at a system to allow people to control a robotic arm and another that enables users to control an ASIMO robot with nothing but the power of thought. Such systems rely on the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG) to capture brain waves and translate them into commands to control a machine. Now researchers at the University of Southampton have used a similar technique to show it is possible to transmit thoughts from one person to another.

Submission + - Largest ever study of heroin/crack cocaine

Submitted by drbinofski
drbinofski writes: Two thirds heroin and crack cocaine addicts stop or significantly reduce use within six months of treatment

The largest ever study of heroin and crack cocaine treatment programmes in England, led by Dr John Marsden, Institute of Psychiatry, Kingâ(TM)s College London and researchers from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse and colleagues, is published in the Lancet today. The research shows that in the first six months of treatment two thirds of both heroin addicts and crack addicts stop or significantly reduce use, however users of both drugs were less successful.

For every 1,000 people aged 15â"64 years in England, around eight are heroin users and five crack cocaine users. Drug therapy with oral methadone (or buprenorphine) and supervised withdrawal, is the front-line community intervention for heroin addiction. Some heroin addicts also receive psychosocial therapy. As there are currently no substitute drug treatments for crack cocaine that have been proved effective, psychosocial treatment is the recommended treatment for crack cocaine.

More information can be found at: http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/news/default.aspx?id=339&

A full copy of the paper can be viewed online at The Lancet

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61420-3/fulltext
Space

Submission + - Universe Has An Order of Magnitude More Entropy (sciencenews.org)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Previous estimates are now thought to skimp on the entropy of the observable universe. Modeling supermassive black holes, researchers claim that they are the largest contributor of entropy. Since they contribute at least an order of magnitude more than previously thought, the total of all the observable universe is correspondingly higher. The paper (in gruesome detail) highlights new issues that arise with these new calculations — like estimating us a little bit closer to heat death (moving entropy totals from 10^102 to 10^104 out of a maximum of 10^122)."
Desktops (Apple)

Submission + - 85% of Mac owners also own a PC (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by Barence
Barence writes: More than eight out of ten Mac owners also own a PC, according to a new piece of research. The NPD survey found that 12% of US computer-owning households have a Mac. However, 85% of those also own a Windows PC, suggesting that the Mac/PC divide is nowhere near as clear cut as both Apple and Microsoft suggest. Mac owners are also far more likely to have multiple computers in the house. Two thirds of Mac owners have three or more computers in the home, while only 29% of PC owners have two or more PCs.
Science

Submission + - New Graphical Representation of the Periodic Table (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: The great power of Mendeleev's periodic table was that it allowed him to predict the properties of undiscovered elements. But can this arrangement be improved? Two new representations of the periodic table attempt to do just that. The first uses a new graphical representation that shows the relative sizes of atoms as well as their groups and periods. The other uses the same kind of group theoretical approach that particle physicists developed to classify particles by their symmetries (abstract). That helped particle physicists predict the existence of new particles but may have limited utility for chemists who seem to have discovered (or predicted) all the elements they need already.
Science

Submission + - SPAM: New mobile phone runs on alcohol fuel cell

Submitted by dreemteem
dreemteem writes: The latest prototype cell phone based on a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) made its debut at the Ceatec show in Japan.
The modified Toshiba T002 handset is being shown by Japanese carrier KDDI as a research and development device, and shows some improvements in technology based on previous prototypes. There's still no word on when a phone based on the technology will be available.
Link to Original Source

Slashdot Top Deals

"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God but to create him." -Arthur C. Clarke

Close