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Television

Submission + - USB HDTV Tuner Stick for Windows & Linux

Submitted by
Mike
Mike writes: "A fairly comprehensive review of the Hauppage WinTV-HVT-950 USB HDTV tuner. Included in the review are specific instructions to install the unit in Linux, with Ubuntu's Edgy Eft. This portable device allows you to watch FREE over the air HDTV broadcasts on your desktop or laptop"
Microsoft

Submission + - Vista Beta Users Get First Taste of DRM

Submitted by
darkonc
darkonc writes: "Some people testing Microsoft's Windows Vista got an unexpected holiday surprise: their TVs stopped working.... Microsoft blames this on the fact that they only licensed the MPEG2 CODED for RC1 until the end of 2006 (Beta users were told that the software was good until April), but even people with third party decoders can't access their content (both live and stored). This is how "Trusted Computing" is supposed to work. If somebody in Redmond (or elsewhere) decides that you can't use certain content, nothing that you try to do should allow you access — Owning the content, or obtaining the rights by some other path, is no defense.

5 million people downloaded RC1, and some have access to Vista Final or RC2 (100K copies downloaded). The rest will have to wait until the end of January to access their suddenly banned content."
Networking

Submission + - BitTornado declares war on BitComet

Submitted by
John Hoffman
John Hoffman writes: "I am the administrator of BitTornado, an open-source BitTorrent client. Some time ago I developed a tweak in the protocol that let people seed torrents more efficiently, and many people have benefited from it.
Alas, recently BitComet has been incorporating code designed to game my client into sending them more data than they would normally get. Not only does this reduce torrent performance for the other peers, but they're also stupidly shooting themselves in the foot.
By performing this way BitComet is forcing me to do a lot of work to reduce their predation, and I am therefore declaring war against them, banning their clients from connecting to mine and trying to convince others to do so as well."
Biotech

Submission + - Ethanol Fuel Cosumption Comparison

Submitted by
blue234
blue234 writes: "Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius said the choice of a grand prize is a good one. "By offering an E85 vehicle as a grand prize, the Lottery and its partners are helping promote an industry that is increasingly important to Kansas," said the Governor. "Demand for ethanol is creating a growing market for Kansas grain." Good for the ethanol industry, perhaps, but of questionable value as a way to reduce gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. According to official EPA fuel-economy ratings, a 2007 GMC Sierra Classic 1500 4WD (Crew Cab) gets 15 mpg in city driving and 19 mpg in highway driving when operating on straight, unleaded gasoline. Operating on E85, those numbers drop to 11 mpg and 14 mpg, respectively. That is about the same as a Hummer H2 (flex-fuel versions of which will become available starting with the 2008-year models) full story"
Education

Submission + - How To Go To MIT For Free

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Can't scrape up the bucks for junior college tuition? Don't worry, there's always MIT. By the end of 2007, the contents of all 1,800 courses taught at MIT will be available online to anyone in the world, anywhere in the world thanks to OpenCourseWare (OCW). Learners won't have to register for the classes, and everyone is accepted. The cost? It's all free of charge."
Math

Submission + - Easier graphing with FooPlot

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: If you hate clunky graphing calculator interfaces or having to code in order to create a simple plot, here's a new web-based plotter. Based entirely on JavaScript using vector graphics, FooPlot supports scrolling like Google Maps and even does basic 3-D plots too. From the website, plans include developing it into "a fully-featured graphing calculator with analytic tools, charting with Google spreadsheets, curve-fitting, and saving into portable formats".
Power

Submission + - High altitude wind farms?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Why plant a rotor on the ground to generate electricity in fickle, turbulent surface winds? Here is a possible green-friendly solution that is far above any other in reality as well as in concept:

From the site: "Here we are with very high gasoline prices, now starting to pay real attention to global warming, and seriously considering nuclear fission, with all its dangers from both accident and terrorist attack, as the best potential solution. And yet the energy we need is only a few miles above us in tremendous quantity, it is clean, non global warming energy, potentially more economical than nuclear, and we are ignoring it."

A flying wind farm might just be the way to go to lower our reliance such energy producing staples as fossil fuels and their immediate pollution, the admittedly intermittent production from solar or ground-level winds, and the long-term storage concerns of nuclear waste.
NASA

Submission + - NFL cheerleader is also NASA engineer

Submitted by A Smitten Rocket Scientist
A Smitten Rocket Scientist writes: As reported in Sports Illustrated, Summer Williams is a full time aerospace engineer who works on the International Space Station. But she's got a side gig as a cheerleader for the Houston Texans! The fantasy woman of Slashdot readers everywhere actually exists....
Programming

Submission + - Joining an OSS project

Submitted by
spiffcow
spiffcow writes: "I'm a programmer (primarily C/C++), and for the last year or so, I've had a job programming in ASP.NET. Needless to say, I'm not getting my programming "fix" at work. I'd like to work on an OSS project to keep my skills from getting too rusty, not to mention having something to show potential future employers in hopes that I can land a good C programming job. I'm somewhat unconcerned with what it is I work on, as long as 1.) the project is at least somewhat interesting, and 2.) the project actually needs my help. I've never worked on an OSS project before, and I think it's time I give it a try. Is there any listing of projects out there with positions to fill?"

This Rare Friday the 13th 239

Posted by kdawson from the paraskavedekatriaphobes-unite dept.
Juha-Matti Laurio writes to point out a Washington Times story about how special this particular Friday the 13th is. The digits in the numerical notation for the date add up to 13 — whether you write it in the US or the European form. From the article: "The phenomenon hasn't happened in 476 years, said Heinrich Hemme, a physicist at Germany's University of Aachen who crunched the numbers to find that the double-whammy last occurred Jan. 13, 1520."

AMD Launches Counterstrike Against Core 2 Duo 277

Posted by Zonk from the back-and-forth dept.
DigitalDame2 writes to mention a PC Magazine article about the AMD 4x4 enthusiast platform, which is meant to counter Core 2 Duo. The article observes that AMD is now facing many of the same business practices it used in its war against Intel. From the article: "While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, improvement can often be a slap in the face. Intel's C2D was designed with both low power and performance per watt in mind, two key design metrics that helped AMD cut into Intel's market share with the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 X2. And, as preliminary numbers have indicated and final performance reviews now show, the C2D has learned its lesson well: its performance now tops AMD's Athlon 64 architecture by a substantial margin."

When Wikipedia Fails 513

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the just-as-many-edits-on-the-right-side-of-the-table dept.
PetManimal writes "Frank Ahrens of The Washington Post looks at how Wikipedia stumbles when entries for controversial people are altered by partisan observers. Case in point: Enron's Kenneth Lay, who died of natural causes last week, shortly after being sentenced to prison. His Wikipedia entry was altered repeatedly to include unfounded rumors that he had killed himself, or the stress from his trial had caused the heart attack. From the article: '... Here's the dread fear with Wikipedia: It combines the global reach and authoritative bearing of an Internet encyclopedia with the worst elements of radicalized bloggers. You step into a blog, you know what you're getting. But if you search an encyclopedia, it's fair to expect something else. Actual facts, say. At its worst, Wikipedia is an active deception, a powerful piece of agitprop, not information.'"
User Journal

Journal Journal: 2 links, 2 links, 2 links in one!

Journal by atheists

First up, it seems that even death can't stop people from deciding your views are wrong. Thirty-seven years ago a man, an atheist man, was killed. But now he's become a saint. Does that mean I can declare Jesus to have been an atheist?
Education

Journal Journal: Over 300 Proofs of God’s Existence 2

Journal by atheists

Who says there is no god? Why, with the clear logic presented here it is hard to argue that there is no god. I am wondering how many of you out there have had some of these used in conversations with you.
User Journal

Journal Journal: She's an atheist, so what? 6

Journal by atheists

In this column one columnist admits she is an atheist.

So what?

Well, she does have a few interesting things about being an atheist and I figure some of you may enjoy the decent column.

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