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Power

Submission + - Saltwater as an Energy Source (youtube.com)

Submitted by Everette Scott
Everette Scott writes: John Kanzius, an inventor from Erie, PA, has discovered a method for turning ordinary saltwater into usable energy. Kanzius uses a machine he invented to create radio waves to actually ignite ordinary saltwater. The energy created is in the form of a flame that won't even burn a paper towel. The flame burns at approximately 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. The energy created has been used to power a specially designed engine for up to 2 minutes. He also believes that the machine could be used to fight cancer.
For more information watch these videos.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Saltwater as an energy source? Go figure...
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Bioshock Preview With Ken Levine (gamerswithjobs.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: There is a hands-on preview of Bioshock on Gamers With Jobs based on a visit Julian Murdoch paid to Irrational Games. He spent hours with the game and Ken Levine, coming out with some insights into more than just the usual preview stuff.

The point of BioShock, the raison d'etre, is really the story, and the messages and intellectual content that Levine tries to deliver as a payload. "Look at Lord of the Rings," he challenges. "Why is Lord of the Rings more interesting than random RPG story number 507? They're exactly the same thing. They have orcs and goblins and demons and trolls. But Lord of the Rings is a meditation on power. And it's really interesting because of that. It's what gives it it's heart." And with undenied hubris, Levine's trying to do the same thing with BioShock, while still delivering a game 16-year-old cheese eating high school students will want to play. "We have these philosophical notions, but you've got to deliver. You gotta bring home the monsters. You gotta bring home the superpowers." In short, he's become a commercial realist.
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA Drops Tanya Andersen Case

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "After 2 years, the RIAA has finally dropped its longstanding case against disabled single mother Tanya Andersen in Oregon, Atlantic v. Andersen. The dismissal (pdf) relates merely to the RIAA's claims against Ms. Andersen, and does not relate to her (a) claim for attorneys fees or (b) counterclaims against the RIAA, which are presently before the Court on a motion to dismiss. The counterclaims were first interposed in December 2005. This is the same case in which the RIAA insisted on taking a face to face deposition of a 10 year old girl. By the way, neither the mother nor the child had ever even heard of file sharing."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA Accused of Extortion & Conspiracy

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The defendant in a Tampa, Florida, case, UMG v. Del Cid, has filed counterclaims accusing the RIAA record labels of conspiracy and extortion. The counterclaims (pdf) are for Trespass, Computer Fraud and Abuse (18 USC 1030), Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices (Fla. Stat. 501.201), Civil Extortion (CA Penal Code 519 & 523), and Civil Conspiracy involving (a) use of private investigators without license in violation of Fla. Stat. Chapter 493; (b) unauthorized access to a protected computer system, in interstate commerce, for the purpose of obtaining information in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030 (a)(2)(C); (c) extortion in violation of Ca. Penal Code 519 and 523; and (d) knowingly collecting an unlawful consumer debt, and using abus[ive] means to do so, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692a et seq. and Fla. Stat. 559.72 et seq."
AMD

Submission + - AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 45W CPU Reviewed @ Viper Lai (viperlair.com)

Submitted by
VL
VL writes: "AMD's latest sports a new name and a much lower voltage. We test the BE-2350 with a combination of real-world and synthetic tests. "It's important to put into perspective what we're looking at today. If you're looking to build a high-end gaming PC or some sort of high-level video editing workstation, this processor isn't going to be for you. The intended market will be corporate workstations and the silent PC or HTPC market. We have a forum thread going on debating the benefits of energy efficient processors and energy bills. Unless you're a home user who leaves their PC on 24/7, you probably won't see much in the way of savings, but this won't be the case for cubicle farms." http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/cpu_mobo/amd/be23 50/"
Media

Submission + - Vulgar language, if Pres. can do it so can you

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a fascinating decision today in a case pitting the television networks against the government over indecency rules involving expletives. Our colleague Stephen Labaton captures it this way in his lead paragraphs: If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can use vulgar language, then the government cannot punish others for doing the same thing on television. That, in essence, was the decision on Monday, when a federal appeals court struck down the government policy of fining stations and networks that broadcast shows containing profanities. Both network executives and top officials at the commission said that if the opinion is not reversed on appeal, it would gut the commission's ability to regulate any speech on television or radio. Kevin J. Martin, the chairman of the commission, said the agency was now considering whether to seek an appeal before all the members of the appeals court or to take the matter directly to the Supreme Court. The decision, by a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, was a sharp rebuke for the Federal Communications Commission and for the Bush administration. For the four television networks that filed the lawsuit, Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC, it was a major victory in a legal and cultural battle being waged between them and the commission and its supporters.
The Media

Tech Review Sites and Payola 189

Posted by kdawson from the fish-in-a-barrel dept.
cheesecake23 writes "How often have you read a hardware review and thought: 'No way was that an honest opinion, the reviewer was bought'—? The Daily Tech has gone undercover to find out whether or not payola is accepted among the 35 largest online English-language hardware review sites. Questions asked and answered — Q: How many sites would take money (or sell ads) in exchange for a product review? A: 20 percent. Q: How many sites would additionally consider selling an Editor's Choice award? A: None. Q: Were any regions of the world more corrupt than others? A: No, it was 20-25% almost everywhere. Q: Does it depend on the size or age of the site? A: RTFA. Although no bad actors were explicitly unmasked, the article contains enough information to make a whitelist of quite a few good guys."
Science

Architect Claims to Solve Pyramid Secret 209

Posted by Zonk from the that's-one-way-to-do-it dept.
Alreadybutnotyet writes "A French architect claimed Friday to have uncovered the mystery about how Egypt's Great Pyramid of Khufu was built — with use of a spiral ramp to hoist huge stone blocks into place. The construction of the Great Pyramid 4,500 years ago by Khufu, a ruler also known as Cheops, has long befuddled scientists as to how its 3 million stone blocks weighing 2.5 tons each were lifted into place. 'The most widespread theory had been that an outer ramp had been used by the Egyptians, who left few traces to help archeologists and other scientists decode the secret to the construction. Houdin said he had taken into account the copper and stone tools available at the time, the granite and limestone blocks, the location of the pyramid and the strength and knowledge of the workers.'"
Education

48% of Americans Reject Evolution 1856

Posted by Zonk from the we-need-just-a-touch-stronger-educational-standards- dept.
MSNBC has up an article discussing the results of a Newsweek poll on faith and religion among members of the US populace. Given the straightforward question, 'Is evolution well-supported by evidence and widely accepted within the scientific community?', some 48% of Americans said 'No'. Furthermore, 34% of college graduates said they accept the Biblical story of creation as fact. An alarmingly high number of individuals responded that they believe the earth is only 10,000 years old, and that a deity created our species in its present form at the start of that period.

Dvorak to Apple - Stop The iPhone 409

Posted by Zonk from the wave-off-wave-off dept.
eldavojohn writes "John Dvorak is advising Apple to cease all efforts on the iPhone, citing the mobile handset business as a 'buzz saw waiting to chop up newbies.' With Apple's image as a 'hot company that can do no wrong' on the line, Dvorak warns that the extremely fad-prone marketplace for cell phones will quickly turn the 'hot' iPhone passe'. Unless the company has several new models in the pipeline to release after the original offering, he says, they're likely to fail. 'If it's smart it will call the iPhone a "reference design" and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else's marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures.'"
Linux

French Parliament Chooses Ubuntu 174

Posted by kdawson from the all-those-letters-are-silent dept.
atamyrat reminds us that last November it was announced that the French Parliament had decided to switch to Linux. At that time the distro had not been determined. It will be Ubuntu: "[T]wo companies, Linagora and Unilog, have been selected to provide the members of the Parliament as well as their assistants new computers containing free software. This will amount to 1,154 new computers running Ubuntu prior to the start of the next session which occurs in June 2007."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Do we need a new OS?

Submitted by barry_the_bogan
barry_the_bogan writes: Unix was designed so that one machine could service multiple users, who were each running multiple jobs. It allowed the resources (processor) of the machine to be used more efficiently. Over the last 35 years or so, more and more functionality has been required from our computers, they need to securely handle many users, in many groups (known and anonymous), communication within a LAN or over the internet, etc. IMO, the main resource of a computer system has changed from the processor to the storage space. We now have a big pool of data, with multiple users accessing or processing it through various servers and clients. Through all the changes unix has been modified and added to extensively, and is still doing a fine job, but how many more changes can this cobbled OS accept?

So, my points for discussion are:
1. Do we need to start again, or continue patching what we have?
2. Is the paradigm I suggested valid? Is it possible to write a data centric OS?
3. Describe is your ideal operating.

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And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm' without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to jail. No exceptions. -- David Jones

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