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Technology

Submission + - Wearable Air Filter Transforms CO2 Into Energy (ecouterre.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Brazilian designers Martina Pagura and Pedro Nakazato Andrade have created an oxygen-filtering breathing device that removes carbon dioxide from the air, stores it in a battery-like device, and then converts it into electricity for later use. Dubbed the W/Air, the mask pumps in fresh oxygen while distilling carbon dioxide from respiration and the environment. It is capable of producing enough energy to power a cellphone or portable music player.
Google

Microsoft Talks Back To Google's Security Claims 528

Posted by samzenpus from the smack-talking dept.
Kilrah_il writes "Yesterday there was a piece about Google ditching Windows for internal use because of security concerns. Now Microsoft is fighting back, claiming its products are the most secure — more than Google's and Apple's. 'When it comes to security, even hackers admit we're doing a better job making our products more secure than anyone else. And it's not just the hackers; third-party influentials and industry leaders like Cisco tell us regularly that our focus and investment continues to surpass others.'"

Comment Re:New from Gawker Games: Grand Theft iPhone! (Score 1) 1204

by ThePiMan2003 (#31990818) Attached to: Police Seize Computers From Gizmodo Editor

How is the LOST iPhone stolen goods? It was lost. The guy who found it reported it to Apple, and they didn't know what to do with it. He then sold it to Gizmodo. The phone wasn't stolen, it wasn't taken at gunpoint from the engineer, it was FOUND on the floor! Now do I agree that selling it was the right thing to do? No, not really. But it's not stolen.

Um read the parent...

property laws that go back to the 1800s that say if you find something worth more than $400 and use it for your own purposes you can be charged with Grand Theft

He found it, did not turn it over to the appropriate place then sold it. He stole it.

Comment Re:A false choice, of course... (Score 1) 2044

by ThePiMan2003 (#31537900) Attached to: Health Care Reform

And that is why we insure groups of people and not individual people. Yes he may have a $1000 a month health issue, but I generally never go above my deductible. The idea with the bill is to force everyone to buy insurance so that us cheap people balance out the expensive people.

Also, that way we can't just skip getting insurance until something goes wrong with us, so we have to pay into the system during our healthy years.
Math

Why Computers Suck At Math 626

Posted by Soulskill from the must-be-lit-majors dept.
antdude writes "This TechRadar article explains why computers suck at math, and how simple calculations can be a matter of life and death, like in the case of a Patriot defense system failing to take down a Scud missile attack: 'The calculation of where to look for confirmation of an incoming missile requires knowledge of the system time, which is stored as the number of 0.1-second ticks since the system was started up. Unfortunately, 0.1 seconds cannot be expressed accurately as a binary number, so when it's shoehorned into a 24-bit register — as used in the Patriot system — it's out by a tiny amount. But all these tiny amounts add up. At the time of the missile attack, the system had been running for about 100 hours, or 3,600,000 ticks to be more specific. Multiplying this count by the tiny error led to a total error of 0.3433 seconds, during which time the Scud missile would cover 687m. The radar looked in the wrong place to receive a confirmation and saw no target. Accordingly no missile was launched to intercept the incoming Scud — and 28 people paid with their lives.'"
Games

Euro Parliament Wants "Red Button" For Shutting Down Games 167

Posted by Soulskill from the say-what-now dept.
GamePolitics writes "The European Parliament has actually requested that red, panic-style buttons be set up for use by parents whose children play online games. The buttons would allow the parents to quickly shut the game down should something inappropriate occur. Wouldn't the old-school on-off switch work just as well?" To be fair, the report isn't entirely crazy; it says games "can also be used for educational and medical purposes," and acknowledges that the "presence of violence in video games does not automatically lead to violent behaviour."
Cellphones

iPhone Gaming Continues To Grow 131

Posted by Soulskill from the hope-they-still-fit dept.
1Up reports that the popularity of gaming on smartphones is growing, particularly on the iPhone. In fact, gaming on portable devices is growing even at home, where users presumably have access to more powerful platforms. CNN points out that the developer for Trism, one of the first popular games, has raked in over $250,000 in profits through the App Store. Apple exec Bob Borchers and various game developers recently discussed the future of games on the iPhone. "Patrick Gunn, director of marketing for EA Mobile, showcased Need for Speed Undercover, which will be available next month. Gunn says that EA has 'taken full advantage of all of the unique elements ... like touch, flick, accelerometer, and motion sensitivity' — and graphically, the game appears to be roughly on par with a PSP title."
Programming

(Useful) Stupid Regex Tricks? 516

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the hope-you-like-reading-lots-of-random-characters dept.
careysb writes to mention that in the same vein as '*nix tricks' and 'VIM tricks', it would be nice to see one on regular expressions and the programs that use them. What amazingly cool tricks have people discovered with respect to regular expressions in everyday life as a developer or power user?"

Comment Re:People misunderstanding the question... (Score 1) 480

by ThePiMan2003 (#25570119) Attached to: Resisting the PGP Whole Disk Encryption Craze

Except in this case $IT_DEPT is being stupid because $USER does not need full disk encryption for NON-HUMAN data on computers that do not leave the facility. If someone has broken into your research lab to steal a hard drive you have other problems. Also, why would you install full disk crypto on servers?
Image

Slashdot's Disagree Mail Screenshot-sm 100

Posted by samzenpus from the good-things-come-in-small-packages dept.
Ernest Hemingway's micro-story, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn," is one of my favorite examples of how less is sometimes more. Sometimes a few sentences say it all; you don't always need a hundred pages to convey an idea. Most of the mail I get is brief and to the point. Others are just brief. To be honest, I appreciate the short, crazy email more than the long rants, and they can be just as funny. Read below for this week's mail snippets.
Image

Slashdot's Disagree Mail Screenshot-sm 202

Posted by samzenpus from the well-here's-your-problem dept.
Slashdot has one of the best discussion systems there is. It's grown and adapted over the years to meet various challenges and suit the needs of our users. A lot of time and effort has gone into it and we are always open to user input to help make it better. Some of our best ideas start as user suggestions and we appreciate the feedback. Of course they can't all be gems and sometimes the suggestions we get are unworkable or just bizarre. Here are a few of my favorite unhelpful, helpful suggestions.
The Courts

Judge Tosses Telco Suit Over City-Owned Network 281

Posted by kdawson from the why-not-sue-the-state-for-building-roads dept.
tsa sends along news of the city of Monticello, Minnesota, which was sued by their local telco, Bridgewater Telephone Company, because the city chose to build a fiber optics network of their own. The judge dismissed their complaint of competition by a governmental organization. Quoting: "The judge's ruling is noteworthy for two things: (1) the judge's complete dismissal of Bridgewater Telephone Company's complaint and (2) his obvious anger at the underfunding of Minnesota's state courts. Indeed, the longest footnote in the opinion is an extended jeremiad about how much work judges are under and why it took so long to decide this case."
Image

Slashdot's Disagree Mail Screenshot-sm 206

Posted by samzenpus from the the-old-ball-and-chain dept.
Being in a relationship is not easy, more than half of all first marriages fail in this country. That statistic doesn't improve if you spend most of your time reading your favorite website and not tending to the needs of your family. Instead of asking me to help fix your relationship maybe you should try playing with your kids, talking to your wife, and not staring at a computer screen all day. You should realize that the help link doesn't provide help with your life. It's mostly for getting passwords and stuff. Below you'll find a collection of people that should have reached out to Dr. Phil and not Dr. Sam.

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