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Submission + - The Secret of Civilization and Technology: BEER

Submitted by Jones Waffleson
Jones Waffleson writes: Charlie Bamforth, a British academic who holds the most fabulous of titles — the University of California's Anheuser Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science — claims that the secret of civilization and technlogy is beer. According to him (and Homer Simpson, I guess) if it were not for this golden liquid we would not have computers, the iPod, Silicon Valley or the space program. All I can say is two things: I agree and mine's a Duff.

Feed California Senate attempts to ban RFID tracking of students (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Wireless

It looks like the backlash from one California school's attempt at mandatory RFID tracking of students could end up prompting a statewide ban of the practice, if the state Senate has its way. In that first instance, Brittan Elementary School in Sutter, California attempted to require all students to carry RFID-equipped ID cards that would allow them to be tracked throughout the school, supposedly to simplify attendance-taking and reduce vandalism. That plan quickly backfired, however, and the school put the kibosh on the program. Under this new law, all schools would be prohibited from requiring students to carry RFID cards (or, presumably, be implanted with 'em) until 2011, when the practice would be reconsidered, according to The Register. Democrat Joe Simitian (who introduced the legislation) doesn't seem to be stopping there though, also proposing bills that would place a temporary ban on RFIDs in driver's licenses, add additional privacy safeguards to RFID-enabled government IDs and, of course, restrict forced RFID implants in people.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Media

Submission + - The Math of Text Readability

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Wired magazine has an article that explains The Law of Optical Volumes, a formula for spacing the letters on a printed page that results in maximum readability. Wired's new logo (did anyone notice?) obeys the law. Unfortunately, Web fonts don't allow custom kerning pairs, so you can't work the same magic online as in print. Could this be why some people still prefer newspapers and magazines to the Web?
Education

Submission + - Significant Plant Blooming Research Faked

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "A Swedish research group has asked that its paper on how plants know when to bloom be retracted from Science Magazine which had previously heralded it as the third most important breakthrough of 2005. The Swedish university has placed the blame on a guest researcher from China who reported results that the research group was unable to recreate later. Tao Huang, the researcher in question, denies any wrong doing and claims the results are valid. From the article, Ove Nilsson who is the research professor from the Faculty of Science and Agriculture at Umeaa University told AFP, "Chinese researchers are under a lot of pressure from their country and are expected to produce a maximum amount of results in order to get a job." The research initially claimed to have proven that the florigen molecule that controls plant blooming plays the role of messenger in the process."
Google

Submission + - Google phone to ship by year end says HTC

Submitted by
morpheus83
morpheus83 writes: "Handset componenent makers are reporting that the much awaited Google handset will hit the global markets early next year, the phone will support Texas Instruments' (TI) 3G platform and EDGE, however it will lack GPS functionality. The phone will feature Gmail and Google search. Google will first partner with European telecom provider Orange for the launch of the handset report analysts."
Announcements

Submission + - Where is my flying car?

Submitted by Belial6
Belial6 writes: It appears that the question of 'Where's my flying car?' may have an answer. Today Moller announced that they are ready to start selling flying cars. According to the article 'The M200 volantor is a small two passenger saucer shaped aircraft that can take-off and land vertically. It is the size of a small automobile and operates vibration free with little noise. The prototype M200X has completed over two hundred flights with and without a pilot on board. Those who have flown the M200 describe it as a truly "magic carpet" experience.' and 'Prices are dependent upon the final production volume but are expected to range from $125,000 for the M200G model to $450,000 for the Firefly model.'
Upgrades

Submission + - Retail DDR2 DRAM Modules Memory Break 1.25GHz

Submitted by
TrackinYeti
TrackinYeti writes: "Performance memory module manufacturer, Corsair recently released a new addition to their flagship Dominator line of desktop memory, the TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF. This 2GB DDR2 memory kit features the company's DHX Dual Path Heat eXchange cooling technology, support for Enhance Performance Profiles (EPP), and it's rated for operation at 1.25GHz. This showcase at HotHardware goes into detail regarding the technologies employed in the TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF kit and has compatibility, overclocking, and complete performance data available as well."
Quickies

Submission + - Digging Dinosaurs Made Underground Dens

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: Scientists have long puzzled over how some dinosaurs and other creatures survived the asteroid impact that supposedly caused the KT mass extinction 65 million years ago and wiped out all the big dinos. One idea has been that smaller animals, including mammals, could have endured the fallout, the big chill, the subsequent volcanoes, and whatever else by burrowing. Now scientists have come up with the first evidence of burrowing dinosaurs. They speculate that underground dens might explain how some dinosaurs got through long, dark winters at high latitudes, too.
Censorship

Submission + - Old Vinyl Stuff?

Submitted by
CoderDog
CoderDog writes: "Tonight I was listening to Don McClean's "American Pie" CD. In the vinyl days, it was a two disc album. My ex-wife got that in the divorce. I like my ex-wife a lot, but she won't give up the LP for ripping. So, the one I'm listening to is a CD, with abridged content. "Smash a bottle", (IIRC? It's been 30 years, FGS) not there. No trace. "Vincent" and not "Smash a Bottle"? Travesty. Thers's a list of other songs I miss from te vinyl days. What is it with artists that have regrets with past works? Maybe it's the labels? I liked "smash a bottle". As a song, it was a great memorial to people I knew who cruised the edges of society, 30 years ago. Post-2000, I know a lot more people who now cruise the edges. I suppose it's because Dubya and his minons make sure the edges are so near for any who're not in the Forbes 100. But, I'm not privy to that info and totally not sure. (But, I am sure they don't pay a tip tax when they hit the hook shop. Hah! But, I quibble.) Back to my query. Where can I legally find old albums, albums that weren't cut to fit the CD size factor?? Bonus points for legal stuff. Abuse yourselves mercilously for illegal submissons, because all submission is welcome in the Dubya era. Doubly so, compared to previous US fascistic regimes, at least. Or, roll te 20d. I miss my vinyls."
The Internet

Submission + - European Web Sites Go for Long Addresses

Submitted by Boom~
Boom~ writes: What's in an Internet domain name? Sixty-three characters max. The group managing the European .eu domain said Friday that six people last year registered the longest Internet addresses allowed, ranging from the tongue-twisting name of a Welsh village to the first 63 numbers that make up the mathematical constant pi. Another German comedian registered both aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaa.eu and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzz.eu
Wii

Submission + - Wii Doing What Nintendo Wanted It To

Submitted by
superdan2k
superdan2k writes: "When Nintendo brought the Wii to market, one of their stated goals was to get people who didn't normally play video games using their console. Based on this article from the AP, it seems they've made some headway in capturing the senior citizen market. With the Wii's price point, and it being a good way to get people engaged in physical exercise, it's easy to envision it catching on with other retirement homes beyond the one mentioned in the article. Now that it's expanding beyond the 'typical' video game demographic, has the Wii taken the first steps toward winning the console war?"
Intel

Submission + - Putting the transition to 64bit in perspective

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Back in 1989 (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. He covers a lot of the architectural issues of the time, such as RISC CPUs, but especially relevant he looks at the migration from 8-bit cpus to 16-bit cpus, and then the migration from 16-bit to 32-bit x86 processors. That, along with his explanation of the 640k reference make this a talk worth listening too.
Upgrades

Submission + - Apple TV already being hacked

Submitted by TunesBoy
TunesBoy writes: The Apple TV, only a couple of days after being shipped is already modified in a variety of ways.

A thread at Something Awful discussess installing VLC, and a dedicated site, AppleTVHacks.net, has already appeared and cataloged hacks including a hardrive upgrade tutorial.

Did Apple intend for the Apple TV to be so easy to upgrade and hack?

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