Comment Re:Unclear (Score 1) 308
All the platters I ever taken out of drives oxidize over time if exposed to enough moisture. Hard to imagine shaving with one unless you polished it frequently.
Comment Power from Zinc/Copper?? (Score 2, Interesting) 284
Doesn't this consume copper like lemon batteries? Doesn't that have to be replaced too? No mention in the article.
Comment Re:Somewhat Makes Sense from a Diving Perspective (Score 1) 334
I think it has more to do with the fact that the bends are caused by nitrogen coming out of solution in your blood, and doesn't really have to do with the oxygen. The point of the pure oxygen is that it doesn't have any nitrogen. You will immediately lower the nitrogen concentration in your blood that way.
Palm Pre and WebOS Get Native Gaming 49
rboatright writes "WebOS developers have been waiting, and with the 1.3.5 release, Palm's open source page suddenly listed SDL. Members of the WebOS internals team took that as a challenge and within 24 hours had a working port of Doom running in SDL on the Pre, in a webOS card. 48 hours later, they not only had Quake running, but had found in the latest LunaSysMgr the requirements to launch a native app from the webOS app launcher from an icon just like any other app. At the same time, the team demonstrated openGL apps running. With full native code support, with I/O available via SDL, developers now have a preview into Palm's future intent with regard to native code SDK's, and a hint of what's coming."
Comment Re:HDMI? (Score 3, Informative) 160
Don't the newer specs of HDMI exceed 1920x1200?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdmi#Version_Comparison
And according to the same article (maybe I should read more before posting) DP is actually royalty free whereas HDMI isn't...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdmi#Relationship_with_DisplayPort
Comment HDMI? (Score 4, Interesting) 160
What happened to HDMI? Lots of monitors and computers already have it, it supports audio over the connection (Mini-DP doesn't), and it can support the resolutions the article mentions. There's even already a mini version of it in use. It's a standard in home video and had plenty of adoption with computers. Is there something that Mini-DP does that HDMI doesn't?
Comment Re:Not the first time (Score 1) 113
I was thinking about redundancy and I realized that if one pigeon is unsuccessful it is more likely that another pigeon released under the same conditions would also be unsuccessful. Not that it would necessarily fail, but if weather was the problem any pigeon leaving in that time frame would have the same problem.
I think the copy the memory card is a easy backup plan. Just bring a laptop or something to copy the memory card and you'll still have pictures even if the pigeon goes AWOL.
Comment Not sure why this is so awesome. (Score 1) 30
Not sure why this is so awesome, because PVA isn't really the problem with LCD disposal. It's metals (mercury) and other semiconductor associated contaminants. It's like recycling the steel lid of a hazardous waste container...
That and PVA is pretty cheap (see elmer's glue). Also it might be a while before recycled materials are acceptable for pharmaceutical uses.
Comment What's the fuss? (Score 1) 911
What are the odds that this difference will actually come into play for you in your lifetime? I would guess small. On any given flight? That has to be tiny. I'd rather fret over more relevant decisions like cost, service, legroom, etc rather than worrying my plane was going to crash.
Comment Flying? (Score 5, Insightful) 72
This thing doesn't really fly... It's a magnet that's levitating by using a complex, computer controlled magnetic field. I'm not sure how the robot can go into 'virtually any space' because you need to have a bunch of equipment to go along with it, and the equipment has to be nearby.
Dreamweaver Is Dying; Long Live Drupal! 318
Barence writes "Here's an interesting blog post by a designer who reckons Dreamweaver is dying. It's not Dreamweaver's fault, though. Nor is the problem Adobe and its development team — the last Dreamweaver CS4 version was the most impressive release in years. Moreover, although Microsoft Expression Web poses a far more credible threat than FrontPage could muster, Dreamweaver remains the best HTML/CSS page-based editor available. The real problem for Dreamweaver and for its users is that the nature of the web is changing dramatically."
Review: Lord of the Rings: Conquest 68
Pandemic Studios, having enjoyed some success with their release of Star Wars: Battlefront II, sought to bring their style of action game to the Lord of the Rings universe as well. Since both Star Wars and LotR are widely regarded as classics in their respective genres, and both have a rich, deep fan base, the task would appear to be similar in scope. Many were expecting Lord of the Rings: Conquest to be, if nothing else, a playground for Tolkien fans to revel in the environments so vividly brought to life by the movies. Unfortunately, between the short, simplistic campaign and the shallow, uninspired combat, LotR: Conquest merely relies on its name for success, failing to bring the innovation or cleverness that the franchise deserves. Read on for the rest of my thoughts.
Comment Population Density? (Score 1) 363
It's a lot easier to connect everyone to a network when they aren't spread out as much as they are in many western states.
Submission + - Sideskirts Cut Truck Trailer Fuel Use by 15 %
Hugh Pickens writes: "Researchers in the Netherlands have created an improved aerodynamic shape for truck trailers by mounting sideskirts that can lead to a cut in fuel consumption and emissions of up to 15%. Sideskirts are plates that are mounted on the sides of trailers to reduce the air currents alongside and under the trailer reducing the air resistance. The sideskirts can be fitted to approximately half the trucks currently in use in the Netherlands and it is expected that the cost of fitting aerodynamically-shaped sideskirts will be recouped within two years. Road tests are also underway on boat tails mounted on the rear of trailers to produce a reduction in the wake, the vacuum and air currents that arise when the trailer is moving. In theory, a boat tail could also mean a cut in air resistance of 30%, with a fuel reduction of 10 — 15%."
Submission + - Apple now third biggest music retailer (mcox.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The most recent report from the NPD Group shows that Apple has surpassed Amazon.com to become the third largest music seller, behind only Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Apple is the sole digital-only seller on the list with 10% of all music sales. Also interesting is that this follows on the tail of EMI beginning to sell DRM-free music downloads. Sales of Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head are up 115%, while sales of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon are up a whooping 272% since EMI dropped the DRM.
