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XBox (Games)

Submission + - Xbox 360 V2

Submitted by
rbf2000
rbf2000 writes: "We've known for a while that Microsoft will come out with a new version of the Xbox 360 using a 65 nm processor which should help with heat and noise (from the fan) issues. However, it looks like they are adding in another surprise to the new version of the system, codenamed Zephyr — HDMI support.

Now a lot more people will actually be able to take advantage of the 1080p support that the 360 now supports. Maybe it will even sell a few more HD-DVD drives."
Math

Submission + - Simple solution to Minimal Enclosing Circle

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Prof. Felix Friedman developed a simple and elegant solution for Minimal Enclosing Circle (finding the smallest circle enclosing a set of points.) Friedman's algorithm is O(n), can work 'on-line' (before all points are known,) and can be extended to higher dimensions. Because he teaches at a little-known state university in eastern Pennsylvania, he doesn't seem to be getting the recognition that comes with such a major advance in a problem well-studied for 150 years.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Mysterious Metal Rock Falls From Sky in New Jersey

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From the AP: FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Authorities were trying to identify a mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a house in eastern New Jersey. Nobody was injured when the golf-ball sized object, weighing nearly as much as a can of soup, struck the home and embedded itself in a wall Tuesday night. Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft. The rough-surfaced object, with a metallic glint, was displayed Wednesday by police. "There's some great interest in what we have here," said Lt. Robert Brightman. "It's rather unusual. I haven't seen anything like it in my career." He said he hoped to have the object identified within 72 hours, but declined to name the other agencies whose help he has enlisted. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070104/ap_on_fe_st/fa llen_object Those aliens really need a 100 light-year bumper to bumper warranty on their interseller SUVs.
The Internet

Submission + - Registrar Cybersquatting on Searched Domains

Submitted by neutronblast
neutronblast writes: I work at web development firm and recently we were searching for new domain names for a client by going to a registrar and seeing if any of them were availible. After finding the name that we wanted, we emailed the client to get approval to purchase the name. The next day when we went to register it we found that it had been registered by an "Internet Domain Holding Company" (a.k.a. cybersquatter) called Maltuzi, LLC.

Coincedence? I'm not sure. I did some research and came up with and article at this Wired Blog and on the forums at webmasterworld.

Has anyone else had this experience? If so, let this be a caution to you and to just pony up the 10 bucks if you think you might want the name.
Microsoft

Submission + - MSN Live Search Censores FSF criticism on vista

Submitted by
scenestar
scenestar writes: "In an attempt to hide the negative side of vista MSFT's Live search has filtered out all direct links to badvista.org

From the badvista article:
"climate pointed out that a search for BadVista-related terms using Microsoft's live.com engine was producing rather...unexpected results. Many posts and pages turn up that link to BadVista.org, but no results from badvista.org itself appear."

Read the rest on badvista.org

This is perhaps another good reason to switch to one of their search competitors"
IBM

Submission + - Year of the mainframe? Not quite, say Linux grids

Submitted by OSS_ilation
OSS_ilation writes: IBM touted 2006 as a resurgence year for the mainframe, but not so fast. At R.L. Polk and Co., one of the oldest automobile analytics firms in the U.S., an aging mainframe couldn't cut it, so the IT staff looked elsewhere. Their search led to a grid computing environment — more specifically, a grid computing environment running Linux on more than 120 Dell servers. The mainframe's still there, apparently, but after an internal comparison showed the Linux grid outperforming the mainframe by 70% with a 65% reduction in hardware costs, Polk seemed content banishing the big box to a dark, lonely corner for more medial tasks. Maybe R.L. Polk didn't get IBM's memo.
Biotech

Submission + - Life in Sulphuric Acid. The first Earthling?

Submitted by
Maikel_NAI
Maikel_NAI writes: "A microorganism found by a group of scientist in a Russian area, is able to survive in sulphuric acid, feeding on some kind of pyrite. This fact suggest this creature has not evolve since the very first moments of life's appearance on Earth, and thus this could be the most ancient form of life in our planet. The paper, published in the last issue of the journal Nature, says that this microorganism, called Ferroplasma acidiphilum had arose at the begining of the Earth formation, more than 5 billion years ago."
Upgrades

Submission + - Seagate plans 37.5TB HDD within matter of years

Submitted by Ralph_19
Ralph_19 writes: Wired visited Seagate's R&D labs and learned we can expect 3.5-inch 300-terabit hard drives within a matter of years. Currently Seagate is using perpendicular recording but in the next decade we can expect heat-assisted magnetic recording (HARM), which will boost storage densities to as much as 50 terabits per square inch. The technology allows a smaller number of grains to be used for each bit of data, taking advantage of high-stability magnetic compounds such as iron platinum.

Other storage news is the new 32GB SSD from SanDisk. This is a 1.8-inch flash-based drive for notebooks. It's still quite expensive, in the first half of this year a 32GB SSD will add roughly $600 to the price of a notebook.
Power

Submission + - 2000W Power Supply by Ultra

Submitted by demitri
demitri writes: Ultra Products today announces that it will unveil the world 's first 2000W ATX Power Supply Unit for the PC at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Legit Reviews has some of the first available pictures of this monster posted and take a closer look at what this PSU can do. The +12V rail supports 150 Amps! That's just bloody insane.
Media

Submission + - End of the Hi-Def format war in sight?

Submitted by CyberLord Seven
CyberLord Seven writes: The New York Times has an article hinting that the solution to the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD confusion will be introduced by Warner Bros. at next weeks Consumer Electronics Show.

YEEHAH!

Waitaminute!

In recent interviews, executives at Fox and Disney were unequivocal in their support for Blu-ray. They said they believed that releasing DVDs in both formats would only prolong confusion and the emergence of a winning format. "I think the fastest way to end the format war is through decisiveness and strength," said Bob Chapek, the president of Buena Vista Worldwide Entertainment, the home video arm of Walt Disney.


Damn!
Privacy

Submission + - FBI Dodges Questions on Polygraph Screening

Submitted by
George Maschke
George Maschke writes: "The FBI's belated response to written questions submitted by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee includes evasive and misleading replies to a number of questions posed regarding the FBI's polygraph program. While these questions are but a fraction of those asked, if the FBI's responses to them are representative of its responses to other questions, the need for stronger Congressional oversight could not be more clear."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - If loving computers is wrong ...

Submitted by tkdtaylor
tkdtaylor writes: I think this blog puts how most of us feel about computers : )
If loving computers is wrong, I don't want to be right.

If loving computers is wrong ...
Qouted Qoute from the blog:
"Computers are like drugs: you begin by spending just a little on them but soon get so excited by the experience — and so hooked — that you wind up spending more and more to feed your habit."

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