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Power

Submission + - Energy efficiency in the data center

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: In Computerworld's Grill, Rocky Mountain Insitute's Amory B. Lovins claims that a watt of energy saved is worth $20 to $27 to a business and that U.S. data centers are missing comprehensive integration of efficiency technologies that are available.

The next big step will be when one or more major operators puts all these parts together to realize the ninefold or greater savings that we outlined. In fact, I now think we can do even better, because both the IT and the support equipment are proving to be more efficient than we thought possible.
XBox (Games)

Submission + - What is the best console controller of all time?

Submitted by Mateo Slovinsky
Mateo Slovinsky writes: Is the XBox 360's controller the best controller of all time? CNet seems to think so in its line up of the top five gamepads of all time. "Did you expect the Wii? Sorry. It's a brilliant piece of innovation, that's not in question, but there simply aren't enough games to judge it against the best controllers ever. The Xbox 360 pad has proven itself over a longer time and on a wider selection of titles — and it has its own claims to originality."
Media

Submission + - Study: Illegal Downloading Among Youth Drops

Submitted by
Aviran
Aviran writes: "The results of a recent nationwide survey released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) show that illegal downloading of digital copyrighted works by youth (ages 8 to 18) has dropped by 24 percent in the last three years. The survey, first conducted in 2004, indicated that 60 percent of survey participants reported downloading software, music, movies, or games without paying for it; in 2006 the percentage of those who downloaded without paying dropped to 43 percent; and in 2007 the percentage decreased to 36 percent."
Toys

Submission + - Handheld scanner that can "see" damage

Submitted by
sie
sie writes: "Physorg have a story on a new device developed by MIT that can 'see' damage in concrete bridges and other structures. The device uses FAR-NDT (far-field airborne radar nondestructive testing) and allows for immediate, onsite feedback."
Google

Google Wins Nude Thumbnail Legal Battle 204

Posted by CowboyNeal from the over-for-now dept.
eldavojohn writes "Google is currently fighting many fronts in its ability to show small images returned in a search from websites. Most recently, Google won the case against them in which they were displaying nude thumbnails of a photographer's work from his site. Prior to this, Google was barred from displaying copyrighted content, even when linking it to the site (owner) from its search results. The verdict: "Saying the District Court erred, the San Francisco-based appeals court ruled that Google could legally display those images under the fair use doctrine of copyright law." This sets a rather hefty precedence in a search engine's ability to blindly serve content safely under fair use."
Security

Submission + - Lightning in a gun: U.S. Navy funds powerful laser

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "First we had the cloaking device now apparently the military is going to get a real live phaser gun. The company that makes what it calls "directed energy weapons, " Ionatron, today announced it had won an almost $10 million contract from the U.S. Navy to continue developing of its Laser Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC) technology. According to the company's Website, its devices produce " man-made lightning" to disable people or vehicles that threaten our security." Basically is a short pulse laser that can be directed at a target with ferocious intensity. The company also notes that the gun is available in lethal and non-lethal versions. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1456 6"
Censorship

Submission + - Student arrested for writing essay

Submitted by
mcgrew
mcgrew writes: "The Chicago Tribune reports that an eighteen year old straight A Cary-Grove High School student was arrested for writing a "disturbing" essay. From the Trib:

Allen Lee, an 18-year-old straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with disorderly conduct for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.
So much for freedom of speech in the US."
NASA

Submission + - Gunman and Hostage killed at Johnson Space Center

Submitted by coaxial
coaxial writes: CNN among others are reporting the end of a hostage standoff at Building 44 of Johnson Space Center. The unidentified gunman took two hostages, and after a standoff with police on the second floor of the building apparently shot both of the hostages and himself. One of the hostages died at the scene and the other was rushed to a nearby hospital.

No doubt this one of several copycat incidents we can expect in the coming weeks.
Enlightenment

Submission + - Women are fleeing IT jobs

Submitted by
Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: "An alarming number of women are currently abandoning IT jobs that require workers to be on-call at all hours, according to a story in Computerworld. One study cited in the article states that by 2012, 40% of women now working in IT will leave for careers with more flexible hours. 'I think women in that regard are at a real disadvantage,' said Dot Brunette, network and storage manager at Meijer Inc., a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer and a 30-year IT veteran. She noted that companies can fail to attract female workers, or see them leave key IT jobs because they fail to provide day care at work, or work-at-home options for someone who leaves to have a child.'"
Space

Submission + - The Hundred Million Mile Pipe Organ

Submitted by
jd
jd writes: "Scientists have announced that the gigantic coils of plasma, known as coronal loops, actually carry soundwaves much like a pipe organ. Micro-flares on the surface of the sun create a powerful blast of charged particles, which are then guided through the coronal loops, creating the standing waves. Sheffield University is hosting movies and audio recordings of the sun's performance."
NASA

Submission + - Shooting at NASA

Submitted by pvt_medic
pvt_medic writes: News reports are coming in that there has been a shooting at NASA Building 44 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Building 44 is a communications and tracking development laboratory on a remote part of Johnson Space Center's sprawling campus, some distance from the Mission Control buildings.
Programming

Submission + - From Python to Ruby on Rails to Erlang...

Submitted by
Didier Prophete
Didier Prophete writes: "SlideAware, a new startup, talks about building a Web2.0 application using different development tools: they first tried Python/TurboGears, then Ruby on Rails, and finally decided to use Erlang/OTP for ultimate scalability and speed. It's only the first article in a series which will highlight some of the strong points of Erlang/OTP as a full-featured highly scalable web development platform."
Enlightenment

Submission + - Predictions of the Year 2000 from 1900 writer

Submitted by zxking
zxking writes: I came across this interesting article while doing some history research.

"The Ladies Home Journal from December 1900 contained a fascinating article by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. titled "What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years". Mr. Watkins wrote: "These prophecies will seem strange, almost impossible. Yet, they have come from the most learned and conservative minds in America. To the wisest and most careful men in our greatest institutions of science and learning I have gone, asking each in his turn to forecast for me what, in his opinion, will have been wrought in his own field of investigation before the dawn of 2001 — a century from now. These opinions I have carefully transcribed.""

Some of the predictions have proved true but not in the way described while others seem to still be dreams. What predictions would slashdotters make for Year 2100.
Power

Submission + - Wireless power

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The San Jose Mercury news has a story on a company promising wireless delivery of power to devices as large as laptops. They do it with sixteen laser beams pointed at a solar panel attached to the device. Even assuming some very high efficiency in the solar panel (which only has to handle a single frequency of light), 20W lasers shining across the room sounds like a bit of a problem for any objects that get in the way.

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