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Input Devices

Computer Mouse Heading For Extinction 625

Posted by timothy from the how-much-would-you-like-to-bet dept.
slatterz writes "The computer mouse is set to die out in the next five years and will be usurped by touch screens and facial recognition, analysts believe. Steven Prentice, vice president and Gartner Fellow, told the BBC that devices such as Nintendo's MotionPlus for the Wii and Apple's iPhone point the way to the future, offering greater accuracy in motion detection."
Science

The Father of Molecular Gastronomy Whips Up a New Formula 144

Posted by Zonk from the delicious-science dept.
An anonymous reader writes "French chemist and cook Hervé This maintains his quest to find the scientific precision behind great tasting food. Chef This is just one of a growing number of cooks that approaches food from a scientific perspective; making recipes in a lab instead of in the kitchen. The difference is that This was one of the pioneers of the field. 'This and a colleague, the late Oxford physicist Nicholas Kurti, conducted the experiments in their spare time. In 1988, the pair coined a term to describe their nascent field: molecular gastronomy. The name has since been applied to the kitchen wizardry of chefs like el Bulli's Ferran Adria and Alinea's Grant Achatz. But This is interested in basic culinary knowledge -- not flashy preparations -- and has continued to accumulate his precisions, which now number some 25,000.'"

Is DVORAK Gaining Traction Among Coders? 559

Posted by Cliff from the slow-news-day dept.
coderpath asks: "At a recent Seattle Ruby Brigade hack night someone asked how many people used the DVORAK keyboard layout. Out of 9 people, 7 used DVORAK and only 2 were using QWERTY. I personally made the switch last Christmas, after 25 years of typing with QWERTY. What do you use? Have you switched to DVORAK? Have you been wanting to make the switch? Has anyone else noticed an increase in adoption of DVORAK lately?"

Adobe Releases Cross-Operating System Runtime 297

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the playing-nice-with-everyone dept.
An anonymous reader writes to mention that Adobe released the first public version of their new cross-operating system runtime today nicknamed 'Apollo'. "The software relies on HTML, JavaScript, Flash, and Adobe Flex. The alpha version, which presently works on Windows and Macintosh, can be downloaded for free at http://www.adobe.com/go/apollo. Once the Apollo apps are created, users can launch them from their desktops, without using their browser or connecting online. An Apollo application can connect automatically to online data or services when an Internet connection is detected, with new components automatically downloaded and integrated. The user needs the Apollo runtime to run the apps, just as a Flash player is needed to run Flash animations."
Space

Submission + - Cassini Returns Amazing New Imagery from Saturn

Submitted by SeaDour
SeaDour writes: The Cassini spacecraft has recently entered a highly-inclined orbit around Saturn, revealing some never-before-seen images of the planet's ring system as seen from above and below the planet. "Finally, here are the views that we've waited years for," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute. "Sailing high above Saturn and seeing the rings spread out beneath us like a giant, copper medallion is like exploring an alien world we've never seen before. It just doesn't look like the same place. It's so utterly breath-taking, it almost gives you vertigo." The spacecraft will eventually return to its standard orbit parallel to the ring plane in late June.
Wireless Networking

The Assassination of Wi-Fi 258

Posted by Zonk from the sniper-has-range-on-the-target dept.
justelite writes "John C. Dvorak from PC Magazine has up an article looking at the new strategy of American cell-phone-service companies. From article: 'There is mounting evidence that the cellular service companies are going to do whatever they can to kill Wi-Fi. After all, it is a huge long-term threat to them. We've seen that the route to success in America today is via public gullibility and general ignorance. And these cell-phone-service companies are no dummies.'"
Power

Submission + - Does Global Warming Cause C02?

Submitted by
StealthyRoid
StealthyRoid writes: "A documentary set to air on BBC-4 on Thursday, March 8, makes the claim that the global warming alarmist camp has got the relationship between increasing C02 levels and global warming exactly backwards: That an increase in the Earth's temperature is the cause of elevated C02, and the slight uptick in global average temperature that we've been seeing is the result of cosmological effects, not human interference. The documentary also claims that the attempted "fixes" for global warming demanded by the alarmist movement (massive energy output reductions, de-industrialization, etc...) are going to end up hurting poor nations to the point where they're condemned to life in the stone age."
Math

Submission + - How to switch careers from IT to Pure Science ?

Submitted by UniversalVM
UniversalVM writes: Fellow SlashDotters, Ever since childhood, I have always been interested in Astronomy (and Astrophysics when I was old enough). Later in life I started getting more and more into Computers and ended up spending about 10 Years in IT -professionally — and doing very well at it. However, over the past year or so I have been seriously considering going back to my original passion Astrophysics. I have been reading every pop-sci book that I could get my hands on and getting started with an "Introduction to General Relativity" in my off time (I know how that sounds but it's true). I have a reasonable background in Mathematics (Masters in Comp. Engg and Bachelors in Electrical Engg). I know that the pay will be much less and the work much harder but this is something I got to do for my mental satisfaction.
SO the question I have is — What is the next logical step? Is it to Enroll full time at some college in a Master's Program? (I have some funds that can last me for 2-3 years). Has anyone else performed such a career switch? Do you have any feedback or pointers for a newbie trying to enter these fields (Astrophysics/Cosmology)? Which universities should I apply to?
Microsoft

Submission + - Vista activation circumvented with BIOS emulation

Submitted by
Steve Kerrison
Steve Kerrison writes: "If a brute force Vista product key-gen won't work, then a tool to exploit the volume licensing used by OEMs might. HEXUS.net reports that a toolkit has been produced that emulates an OEM BIOS to make the system appear as a pre-activated machine. Combined with the correct certificate and OEM key, Vista won't perform any further activation."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Bill Gates on The Future of Computing

Submitted by pigscanfly.ca
pigscanfly.ca writes: Back in 1989 (in the Windows 2.0 days), Bill Gates came to talk to the students of the University of Waterloo on the early days of Microsoft and the future of computing. It's an interesting blast to the past. He even touches on his 640K statement. He also covers lots of other topics, including OS/2, software piracy, the history of the software industry, and his role at Microsoft.The talk is available in a number of audio formats from the University of Waterloo Computer Science Club website.
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - Stallman to step down as Emacs maintainer

Submitted by
davids-world.com
davids-world.com writes: "Richard Stallman is planning to step down as head maintainer of the GNU Emacs project. In an e-mail to fellow Emacs developers, he today asked for candidates to succeed him. RMS wrote the first extensible Emacs text editor in 1975 at MIT's AI Lab. Seen by many as the founder and chief advocate of the free software movement, Stallman has also been actively involved in Emacs' development. GNU Emacs 22, due soon, will be the first major release of the editor since 2001."
Biotech

Submission + - New Radiation Treatment Drug Reduces Risk

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "A new drug developed is showing promising signs of reducing the risk of radiation death by almost 2/3. 5-androstenediol (AED), an adrenal gland hormone that stimulates marrow-cell growth will hopefully be something to use in emergency cases or in situations with a potential 'dirty bomb' to mitigate the amount of lives lost. From the article, "Amid growing fears of terrorist attacks with radioactive materials, the US government plans to award a contract for the treatment for acute radiation syndrome later this month under its revamped BioShield fund for civilian defences against chemical, biological and nuclear threats." An example of a capitalistic market at its finest or a result of over zealous terrorist fears?"
Slashdot.org

Submission + - Slashdot FireHose Beta Sneak Preview

Submitted by
Davak
Davak writes: "The old fogey slashdot has announced a new (dare I say, Web 2.0) youthful, digg-like voting system-Firehose. This new code is described as a "collaborative system designed to allow users to assist editors in the story selection process." This review of the Firehose describes the new features and implications of this new system. For example, much of Firehose's AJAX eye candy is built around yahoo's ajax toolkit."
Biotech

Submission + - SPAM: New technology removes viruses from drinking water

Submitted by
FiReaNGeL
FiReaNGeL writes: "University of Delaware researchers have developed an inexpensive, nonchlorine-based technology that can remove harmful microorganisms, including viruses, from drinking water. The new technology could dramatically improve the safety of drinking water around the globe, particularly in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over a billion people — one-sixth of the world's population — lack access to safe water supplies. Four billion cases of diarrheal disease occur worldwide every year, resulting in 1.8 million deaths, primarily infants and children in developing countries. Eighty-eight percent of this disease is attributed to unsafe water supplies, inadequate sanitation and hygiene."

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Thus spake the master programmer: "After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"

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