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Submission + - Flash simulation of the three-rotor ENIGMA machine

Submitted by

morpheus83

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:54AM

morpheus83 writes: "The Enigma machine was one of the impressively complex physical encryption devices ever built. This flash file as reports Newlaunches simulates the inner workings of the Enigma machine in real time as you type in the plain text. The Enigma machine was used for encrypting communications during World War II."

Submission + - Consumers pledge to support open graphics drivers

Submitted by

the Hewster

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:54AM

the Hewster writes: "A pledge has been setup at pledgebank.com to let the Free Software and Open Source community show that they are ready to vote with their wallet and support graphics cards manufacturers with open graphics drivers.
To add incentive to either nVidia or ATI to open up their drivers, the pledge is to support the first of the two to open their drivers over the next 5 years. Disclaimer: I am the author of the pledge."

Submission + - New Zealand fishermen catch rare squid

Submitted by laejoh on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:28AM

laejoh writes: A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, a fisheries official said Thursday.

Colossal squid, known by the scientific name Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, are estimated to grow up to 46 feet long and have long been one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep ocean.

Submission + - 67 Kilowatt Laser Unveiled

Submitted by

s31523

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:21AM

s31523 writes: "We all remember the scene from the movie Real Genius where the nerdy guys get a laser to fire which burns a hole through everything for miles. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has announced they have a Solid State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL) that averages 67kW working in their lab. Developed for the military, Dr. Yamamoto claims this to be a record and is quoted as saying, "I know of no other solid state laser that has achieved 67kW of average output power". The potential uses for this bad boy go well beyond turning a professor's house into Jiffy Pop. Here is what a 40w laser can do, now imagine 67000 watts. Although many lasers have peaked at higher capacities, getting the average sustained power to remain high seems to be the tricky part."

Submission + - why do US citizens pay income taxes?

Submitted by on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:13AM

An anonymous reader writes: Why do US citizens pay income taxes?
There must be a law that requires them to do it, right?

Well, it seems it is not the case [google video].

The Constitution specifically forbids any direct tax on wages and salaries, and the Supreme Courts consistently ruled in the same way.
Not a single dollar of income taxes is used, as widely believed, to offer and sustain public services.

It was an interesting video to watch, and btw I am not an US citizen, have no affiliation with any of the authors or organizations cited or whatever.

Submission + - New Software Stops Mars Rover Confusion

Submitted by

MattSparkes

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @07:28AM

MattSparkes writes: "The Mars rover Spirit used to get quite confused when it came upon a rock. Because it could only plan routes of a metre or two it couldn't understand how to navigate around large objects, and frequently used to rock back and forth for hours trying to figure it out. NASA have written new software called D* for the rover Opportunity, which should allow it to autonomously plan routes up to 50 metres long. The new software still won't be able to avoid sand-traps though."

Submission + - Google to charge for web apps

Submitted by

zakkie

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @07:25AM

zakkie writes: "According to BBC News, Google is to start charging businesses for guaranteed availability and more features in the web apps like Gmail. The article suggests the timing is bad for Microsoft and their release of Office 2007, and is a "shot across their bows"."

Submission + - South Africa to switch to open source

Submitted by Tech on Thursday February 22, 2007 @06:52AM

Tech writes: The Mail & Guardian is reporting that the South African government has approved a policy and strategy to implement free and open source software in government departments. A project office will be set up by April to ensure smooth implementation of Foss throughout the country.

Submission + - Two novae at dawn

Submitted by

Auke Slotegraaf

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @06:15AM

Auke Slotegraaf writes: "Earlier in February, a nova erupted in Scorpius, and then flared up to naked-eye brightness. It is still (Feb 22) visible, and can be seen in the morning sky before sunrise. Then on the 19th, a second nova erupted, just 3 degrees away from the first! It is currently visible in binoculars. It is still unclear how bright the second one may become, but chances are we will have TWO naked-eye novae a cosmic hair's breadth apart! A finder chart of the two novae is at http://www.psychohistorian.org/astronomy/news/2007 0222-v1281-scorpii.html"

Submission + - ESR had enough with Fedora, moved to Ubuntu

Submitted by

sufehmi

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @04:42AM

sufehmi writes: "After almost losing his data because of a minor update from Fedora, ESR finally call it quits. In his posting on fedora-devel@, he lambasted on the purist attitude of the Fedora project, while losing touch with the reality.

I've moved away from Fedora once I realized that security updates are not going very well for older versions, endangering my computers; especially after the Fedora legacy project folded up.

Personally, I think it's possible to find a middle-path; where a Linux distro is both free (as in freedom) and Just Works (tm) for your average John Doe."

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