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Submission + - Kurt Vonnegut is dead, at least he's in heaven now

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:46AM

An anonymous reader writes: From CNN.com: "Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle," died Wednesday. He was 84. The author of at least 19 novels, many of them best-sellers, as well as dozens of short stories, essays and plays, Vonnegut relished the role of a social critic." We may be able to get an interview with the help of Dr. Jack...

Submission + - Where does Google's Hardware go to die ?

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Tuesday January 16, 2007 @02:36AM

Anonymous Coward writes: "I was talking with a co-worker today about how Google is so big, and how they make such great use of commodity hardware to do their business, and one of the topics that came up is where does Google's old hardware go ? Google has been around for many years now, and they have more machines than any sane person would own, and they are continually expanding. At some stage they must have to push out old equipment, either when it starts entering into its MTBF limits or it's been depreciated down. Searching (using Google of course) wasn't particularly fruitful. Has anyone seen where Google's hardware goes when it dies ?"

Submission + - Apple LTD not happy about iPhone Skins

Submitted by

ghostcorps

on Tuesday January 16, 2007 @02:19AM

ghostcorps writes: "Australian Newspaper 'The Age' reports that developers of iPhone skins, that is; skins for smartphones that resemble the iPhone, have been legally attacked by Apple LTD.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/mobiles — handhelds/a pple-crunches-websites-over-iphone-skins/2007/01/1 5/1168709656280.html

Apple's lawyers also sent letters to journalists who simply reported on the fact that the skins were available.

"It has come to our attention that you have posted a screenshot of Apple's new iPhone and links that facilitate the installation of that screenshot on a PocketPC device," law firm O'Melveny & Myers LLP wrote to Paul O'Brien, who runs the MoDaCo website.

"While we appreciate your interest in the iPhone, the icons and screenshot displayed on your website are copyrighted by Apple.

"Apple therefore demands that you remove this screenshot from your website and refrain from facilitating the further dissemination of Apple's copyrighted material by removing the link to http://forum.xda-developers.com/ where said icons and screenshot are being distributed."

Kudos, to 'The Age' for posting the URL in the same paragraph that describes Apple's reaction to such reporting

One would presume that a device that looks like an iPhone, but behaves like a smartphone is souring Apples latest offering."

Feed H.P. to Report an Advance in Adaptable Circuitry (nytimes.com)

From feed by nytfeed on Tuesday January 16, 2007 @02:12AM

Flexible electronic circuits could make it routine to modify the circuitry in consumer products even after they have been sold.

Feed At Some Airports, Cellphones Can Check In Passengers (nytimes.com)

From feed by nytfeed on Tuesday January 16, 2007 @02:12AM

Airlines in Japan and Europe are experimenting with systems that let passengers check in by identifying themselves with a cellphone.

Submission + - Global Warming Exposes New Islands in the Arctic

Submitted by

circletimessquare

on Tuesday January 16, 2007 @12:56AM

circletimessquare writes: "The New York Times has a sobering article about the rapidly accelerating pace of glacial melting across the arctic, focusing on the discovery of new islands and the fact that this is occuring far faster than climate scientist's models predict. What were called Nunataks or "lonely mountains" in Inuit, trapped in the ice, only a few years ago, are now in the open ocean by kilometers. Off of Greenland, what was known previously as penninsulas have been revealed to be islands as the ice retreats. Dennis Schmitt, a modern day explorer and discoverer of one of these new islands and fluent in Inuit, has named it Uunartoq Qeqertoq: the warming island."

Submission + - Hard drive data eradication

Submitted by

Creighton Bildstein

on Tuesday January 16, 2007 @12:45AM

Creighton Bildstein writes: "I'd like to know how businesses are dealing with their sensitive data-containing hard drives at the end of the technology lifecycle in their PCs, laptops and servers. Do they: A) Format the drives and sell or donate the machines B) Wipe the drives with Dept. of Defense software and then sell or donate the machines C) Completely destroy the drives via a shredder or something similar and dispose of the PC, laptop or server in an environmentally- friendly manner"

MPAA Caught Uploading Fake Torrents 579

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday January 11, 2007 @08:18PM from the old-bait-and-switch dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The MPAA and other anti-piracy watchdogs have been caught trapping people into downloading fake torrents, so they can collect IP addresses, and send copyright infringement letters to ISPs. The battle between P2P networks and copyright holders seems to be a never ending battle. It will be interesting to see how much the anti-piracy groups practices change once they begin begin selling movies and TV shows legally on bittorrent.com."

Submission + - A formula for procrastination

Submitted by

Kelson

on Thursday January 11, 2007 @08:12PM

Kelson writes: "A University of Calgary professor has spent the last decade studying procrastination, and has come up with mathematical formula — what he calls Temporal Motivational Theory — to explain why people put things off 'til tomorrow.

It factors the person's expectancy for succeeding at a given task (E) or self-confidence; the value of completing the task (V); it's immediacy or availability (Gamma); and the person's sensitivity to delay (D) to come up with the desirability of the task (Utility).

The equation reads: Utility = E x V / (Gamma) x D.

While some of his conclusions should come as no surprise (most people don't follow through on their New Year's resolutions, for instance), some go against conventional wisdom, like the conclusion that procrastination and perfectionism are inversely related."

Journal SPAM: PC World editor slain at California home 1

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday January 11, 2007 @07:48PM

PITTSBURG, California (AP) -- A senior editor for PC World Magazine was fatally shot in his home in what authorities said Wednesday was a drug-related attack.

Rex Farrance, 59, the San Francisco, California-based magazine's senior technical editor, was shot in the chest after four masked men broke into his home Tuesday evening, Pittsburg police said.

Submission + - PS3's Fast Cool & Nothing Like You've Ever See

Submitted by

Editorgirl35

on Thursday January 11, 2007 @07:40PM

Editorgirl35 writes: "There were many factors and several industries involved in the development of Sony's PS3. See the story about how it was developed and who Sony teamed up with to develop the 3.2 GHZ Cell procsser, the graphics processor, memory and interfaces to give this system more power than anyone could imagine. http://designnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&art icleid=CA6406738"

Submission + - Inconvenient Truth Too Inconvenient For Schools

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 11, 2007 @06:42PM

An anonymous reader writes: The Federal Way School Board in Washington State recently restricted the showing of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's documentary about global warming and its potential effects on Earth. An email was sent to the school board that said "The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD" prompting one of the board members to propose a moratorium on the showing of the film. The film is being made available to educators via participate.net, which also provides films such as Fast Food Nation, Murderball (not what it sounds like), and Stand Up. Up to 50,000 copies of An Inconvenient Truth are made available to teachers.

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