Submission + - Solar cells crystallized out of molten silicon (digitalworldtokyo.com)
Hot Toddy writes: These amazing solar panels are actually liquid silicon droplets that crystallize when dropped from 14m.
Submission + - Ancient oceans on Venus (newscientist.com)
Maggie McKee writes: "Venus, which is now hellishly hot, may have been cooler and wetter in the past, before a runaway greenhouse effect took over. Previous research suggests any oceans it had could have survived for 2 billion years, long enough for life to emerge. But scientists can't know for sure how long the water lasted until they have proof, and now David Grinspoon and Mark Bullock suggest the evidence may be locked in a hardy mineral called tremolite. Most of the planet appears to be covered with lava, but future robotic missions could target areas that may harbor the mineral. "We know at least locally and regionally where we have bits of older terrain that poke up through the volcanic plains," says Ellen Stofan of University College London. "All of a sudden, Venus may go from a place where we thought life never had a chance to take hold, to possibly a real player in the story of life in our solar system and the evolution of habitable planets.""
Submission + - Google Street View May Be Illegal in Canada (www.cbc.ca)
Jay writes: "Jennifer Stoddart, Canada's privacy commissioner, has recently suggested that Google Street View may be illegal in Canada according to the country's privacy legislation. "In particular, it does not appear to meet the basic requirements of knowledge, consent, and limited collection and use as set out in the legislation." Stoddart has written to both Google and Immersive Media, Google's collaborator in the Street View technology, for a response to her concerns.
Google Street View is not yet available in Canada, though continuting expansion in the United States suggests that it likely will be in the future."
Submission + - Getting hired with a criminal record.
24601 writes: Hello fellow Slashdot nerds. This is a very hard question to ask, but I figured you guys would probably have the best advice. I am finding myself in my young, soon to be post college career with a brand new criminal record. To make matter's worse, it's for a sex crime (was mislead by someone about their age. Nothing violent or involving children). Yes I will have to register, be on probation for quite a while, and currently reside in a certain very conservative state in the south famous for a certain cartoon mouse. I completely accept the stupidity of what I have done and very much want to grow and move on past it.
I'm a graphical artist by trade, but with a lot of web design experience as well. Also have a good deal of IT experience, was thinking of getting a certification in something. What I want to know, however, is how hard is it to get a job in the tech industry with this kind of Scarlet Letter? I have every intention of being upfront and honest about my past with any potential employer, and making every effort to communicate my regret for my past, the fact that I'm not a threat to anyone, and my desire to prove myself. Are more technical employers willing to look past such things and give you a chance? Is there any advice people can give me on properly presenting this issue, and finding understanding employers? thanks!
Submission + - Europe wants to block search of dangerous keywords
nlann writes: One week after three mens were arrested in Germany while assembling a massive bomb, Reuters is quoting EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini.
In the phone interview, Frattini declared: ``I do intend to carry out a clear exploring exercise with the private sector ... on how it is possible to use technology to prevent people from using or searching dangerous words like bomb, kill, genocide or terrorism''.
When questioned about privacy, Frattini answered: ``Frankly speaking, instructing people to make a bomb has nothing to do with the freedom of expression, or the freedom of informing people''.
Is Europe moving to a China-like censorship?
In the phone interview, Frattini declared: ``I do intend to carry out a clear exploring exercise with the private sector
When questioned about privacy, Frattini answered: ``Frankly speaking, instructing people to make a bomb has nothing to do with the freedom of expression, or the freedom of informing people''.
Is Europe moving to a China-like censorship?
Submission + - Microsoft starts a "Get the Facts" .agains (cnet.com)
what about writes: The title says it all, really
but for all of you that do not want to waste badwidth According to research conducted by Wipro and GCR Custom Research, total cost of ownership for Windows XP is $4,407 annually, while Vista's cost is $3,802. The $4,407 figure was derived from costs of hardware, software, IT labor, and user costs.... Peculiarly, the study actually was based on XP usage and extrapolations based on Vista capabilities because there was not a substantial base of Vista clients in use yet when the study was done early in 2007.... Reducing vulnerabilities and utilizing security policies presents savings, noted Bill Barna, principal consultant at Wipro. Security savings alone were estimated at $55. "If you can reduce the number of core vulnerabilities, you can basically have the savings flow throughout the entire security model," Barna said.
read the full article here
but for all of you that do not want to waste badwidth According to research conducted by Wipro and GCR Custom Research, total cost of ownership for Windows XP is $4,407 annually, while Vista's cost is $3,802. The $4,407 figure was derived from costs of hardware, software, IT labor, and user costs.... Peculiarly, the study actually was based on XP usage and extrapolations based on Vista capabilities because there was not a substantial base of Vista clients in use yet when the study was done early in 2007.... Reducing vulnerabilities and utilizing security policies presents savings, noted Bill Barna, principal consultant at Wipro. Security savings alone were estimated at $55. "If you can reduce the number of core vulnerabilities, you can basically have the savings flow throughout the entire security model," Barna said.
read the full article here
Submission + - 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Debunked (maniacworld.com)
derrida writes: "To support the controlled-demolition theory, conspiracy theorists attack the official NIST report by insisting that fire doesn't melt steel. What NIST actually does claim is that the fires were sufficient enough to weaken the steel to the point where they would fail — structurally. This video attempts to debunk the 9/11 conspiracy theorists one at a time."
Submission + - Barcelona's 3 months delay made Cray's troubles (blogspot.com)
Anonymous Coward writes: "Finally, after the Barcelona launch, Cray will now crunch 337 TFLOPS peak, consuming 1MW of power. And in another two years using Sandtiger chip instead of Barcelona one, Cray will hit 1 PFLOPS in the same supercomputer building power envelope. Impressive progress 32 times better perfomance/ power-consumption in only 6 years. Think about your car fuel consumption in the same time frame. And slash of your transport expenses 32 times !!. Beside, it is able to access physical 256 TBs of memory, if needed. Though, by that time, virtually all will be of course ... virtual, by direct virtualization hardware support.
http://badhardware.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive .html#5322448156140609215"
Submission + - Why are tape drives not scaling with hard disks? 4
An anonymous reader writes: Every 3-6 months, we see an announcement about something adding to hard disk storage. However, tape drives don't seem to be improving on anywhere near the scale of hard disks.
Why is this? Both are magnetic media, and with a tape drive, a manufacturer has far more space to put data on than the platters of a hard disk, and still leave plenty of space for error correction data. Tape drives also don't spin nearly as fast as hard disks, so tolerances involved can be less.
Why is this? Both are magnetic media, and with a tape drive, a manufacturer has far more space to put data on than the platters of a hard disk, and still leave plenty of space for error correction data. Tape drives also don't spin nearly as fast as hard disks, so tolerances involved can be less.
Submission + - 2007 Hugo Award Winners Announced (thehugoawards.org)
jX writes: "This year's Hugo Award Winners have been announced at the recently launched Hugo Award official website. Some winners that should be familiar to any well read/watched geek are Vernor Vinge for Best Novel, Doctor Who for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form), and last years hit movie Pan's Labyrinth for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Of course, a complete list of this year's nominees and winners is also available."
Feed Science Daily: Device To Predict Proper Light Exposure For Human Health (sciencedaily.com)
Scientists have long known that the human body runs like clockwork, guided by a circadian system that responds to daily patterns of light and darkness. Now a team of researchers is developing a personal device to measure daily light intake and activity, which could allow them to predict optimal timing for light therapy to synchronize the circadian clock to the 24-hour solar day and relieve psychosocial stress.
Feed Science Daily: Nanotechnology Identifies Peptide 'Fingerprint' In Both Forms Of ALS (sciencedaily.com)
A nanotechnology developed by a University at Buffalo professor has enabled researchers to identify a molecular signature common to both familial and sporadic cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. It is the first time that a common molecular signature has been found in patients with both familial and sporadic cases, where no other family members have the disease, of ALS.
Submission + - New legislation for nuclear safety (reformer.com)
mdsolar writes: "Recent problems at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant have spurred Congresspeople from Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire to introduce legislation that would allow State governors to request independent safety reviews of nuclear power plants that exclude NRC employees that usually work on that plant and include non-NRC employees. The review model is based on one that found problems at Maine Yankee before it closed. Problems at Vermont Yankee have included a cooling tower collapse, a SCRAM caused by an ungreased valve and failure of a safety system during the SCRAM. The plant is coming off of heightened review after shipping nuclear material with insufficient shielding. The plant's application for a 20 year license extention is also currently under review."
Feed Techdirt: Bad Week For E-Voting Machines; Florida Follows California In Issuing Report Abo (techdirt.com)
E-voting firms aren't having a particularly good week. Just days after research commissioned by the state of California showed vulnerabilities in many e-voting systems, a study commissioned by the state of Florida found serious security issues with Diebold's optical scan technology. While the article suggests that this is one of the first times the security has been questioned on optical scan machines (where there is still a paper trail, but these machines are used for counting the votes), there have actually been numerous studies pointing out the problems with Diebold's optical scanners, and how they can easily be hacked. Of course, what's amusing here is that some of the first tests that found the problems with Diebold's optical scanners were done two years ago by a "rogue" elections official in Florida. Of course, back then, the state of Florida didn't launch an immediate investigation. The state hung the elections official, Ion Sancho, out to dry, as the e-voting companies cracked jokes about the vulnerability and teamed up to conspire against him. So, now, years later, we find out that the security vulnerabilities he pointed out then are actually there is anyone apologizing? Doesn't sound like it. In fact, it sounds like Florida politicians are downplaying the security problems with these machines.
KDE 4.0 Beta 1 Released 249
dbhost writes "Along with this morning's cup of coffee and log reviews, I discovered that the KDE team is moving forward with a long awaited beta release of KDE 4.0 beta release of KDE 4.0. The most interesting item I found in the notes is that the file manager in KDE is being separated from Konqueror into a component called Dolphin. Also, according to the announcement, konsole has been treated to a number of improvements such as split view, and history highlighting."
