Submission + - What Programming Languages Should You Know?
nitsudima writes: David Chisnall posits that the more programming languages you know, the better. The point is not to stuff your head with language rules. Rather, he explains how being able to read multiple languages, even if you never code in them, can help you to select the best possible tool for each coding need — and understand the limitations of the tools you're using.
Submission + - MIT's new bedside diagnostics tools
Roland Piquepaille writes: "Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) chemists have developed a high-throughput and inexpensive method for the multiplexed detection of biomolecules by using multifunctional particles. This method could be used to screen for millions of different biomolecules and lead to new and low-cost clinical bedside diagnostics: no more need to wait a day or more before a lab analysis. The particles developed at MIT contain a barcoded ID and one or more probe regions that turn fluorescent when they detect specific targets in a test sample. The researchers think that this method, based on highly customizable particles, could also be used for drug discovery or genetic profiling. Read more for additional references and a picture of a multiplexed analysis using single-probe encoded particles."
Submission + - New Wii Dev Tools in the Making
Ambrose writes: "Looks like Nintendo are finally supporting Third-Party developers. From an article at The Wii Gamers, a new development application called NintendoWare is being developed for Wii Developers. NintendoWare emulates Wii hardware on a PC so that developers can sample parts of their games without having to load it to a Wii dev machine. The motion recognition could also see an upgrade, with a new predictive input tool that uses prior movement to predict your next motion, and a text-to-speech tool is also in the works."
Submission + - The Deal Steve Jobs Couldn't Refuse
Government Drone writes: "Remember the 1997 deal in which Microsoft bought $150 million in non-voting Apple stock? According to this story in InformationWeek, it wasn't done all out of the goodness of Bill Gates' heart:
The original text of the E-mail is here, which mentions a threat to pull the plug on Office for Mac, but argues against it for a variety of reasons. An interesting backend view of what was happening in Apple's darkest days."
Weeks prior to bailing out a struggling Apple Computer by purchasing $150 million of its stock, Microsoft officials threatened to cut development of a key product for the Macintosh in order to coerce its rival to make the deal, according to an e-mail unearthed during a recent court hearing.
The original text of the E-mail is here, which mentions a threat to pull the plug on Office for Mac, but argues against it for a variety of reasons. An interesting backend view of what was happening in Apple's darkest days."
Submission + - Using your mind as a game controller
Parallax Blue writes: CNET News is running a story on a brain/computer interface system made by Emotiv Systems. It can be used to pick up on thoughts, facial expressions, and emotions within the brain, wirelessly relaying them to a game console or PC. Uses in other industries are planned, including medicine, security, market research, and interactive television.
Submission + - Verizon Fails 3rd Grade Math - Over and Over
stdio9 writes: "One man's struggle to re-educate Verizon employees about 3rd grade mathematics fails, with recorded audio. Hey Verizon: If the customer service manager is making $100k a year, you have a great opportunity here. Rather than paying $0.01335 a second, try paying 0.01335 cents a second. Imagine the cost savings you will turn over for all the phone reps that don't understand the difference. (Assumes a 2080 work hour year, with paid vacation and holidays.)"
Submission + - "Best" 20 Firefox extensions missing a big
PetManimal writes: "Computerworld has an extensive list of the "best" Firefox extensions. It's pretty developer-friedly — including things like Greasemonkey and Firebug — but there are a lot of standard extensions that almost anyone can use that help the browsing experience, like Cooliris Previews. Someone noticed AdBlock didn't make the list, though."
Submission + - Travel Back in Time Not Possible
anthemaniac writes: Time travel has long been one of those "theoretically possible" things that makes Sci-Fi thrive. But while going forward in time is still perhaps possible, going back has been all but ruled out, according to an article (and accompanying videos) at LiveScience. Chiming in are four scientists who think about this a lot: Brian Greene, Charles Liu, Michio Kaku and J. Richard Gott. Liu flatly states: "It is not possible for you and me to travel backward in time."
Submission + - Where the Heck is Etch?
An anonymous reader writes: Last September, some of the Debian Linux distribution's leadership wanted to make sure that Etch, the next version of Debian, arrived on its December 4th due date. So, the Dunc-Tank group decided to experiment with financially supporting some key developers to get Debian out the door on time. Almost two months later, though, according to the February 17th Release Critical Bug Report memo to the Debian Developers Announcement list, there are still 541 release critical bugs. Now, that's not quite as bad as it sounds.
Submission + - Google kills blog, but only after a death threat
thefickler writes: Google has finally shut down a blog that posted a death threat against a New Zealand politician. Cyfswatch, a blog dedicated to attacking the New Zealand Government's Child Youth and Family Service (CYFS), was hosted by Google's free blogging service, Blogger. Green MP, Sue Bradford, who is advocating an "anti-smacking" bill, was much hated by Cyfswatch and its readers.
"Bradford is a worthy candidate for NZ's first political assassination — I only wish I had the resources to do it," wrote one particularly angry anonymous contributor to the site. This threat led to the blog being shut down.
"Bradford is a worthy candidate for NZ's first political assassination — I only wish I had the resources to do it," wrote one particularly angry anonymous contributor to the site. This threat led to the blog being shut down.
Journal SPAM: JOTD 3
One afternoon a wealthy Republican was riding in his limousine when he saw two men along the roadside eating grass. Disturbed, he ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.
He asked one man, "Why are you eating grass?
"We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied. "We have to eat grass."
"Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you" the Republican said.
Top Ten Open Source Innovators 152
42istheanswer writes "Open source is so much more than Linux these days. A lot is happening beyond the popular operating system. Open source models are thriving in CRM (SugarCRM), messaging (Scalix), and systems management (Zenoss). Datamation has identified ten leading commercial open-source innovators and the projects they are working on in their article, Ten Leading Open Source Innovators."
Submission + - Get Out the Tin Hats; dust-speck sized RFID
MedicinalMan writes: According to Pink Tentacle, http://www.pinktentacle.com/2007/02/hitachi-develo ps-rfid-powder/ very tiny RFID chips 0.05mm x 0.05mm will be markted by Hitachi in the next couple of years. The many harmless uses generally involve embedding them in paper (money, gift certificates, admission tickets, etc.). The main specs are: "128-bit ROM for storing a unique 38-digit ID number.The new chips are also 9 times smaller than the prototype chips Hitachi unveiled last year, which measure 0.15 x 0.15 mm." Telescreen: There will be absolutely no uses that involve privacy invasion nor should paranoia increase. Carry on...War is peace...
Submission + - Whistle While You Work? Not in Space.
Ant writes: "ABC News report that astronauts on spacewalks will never, ever be able to whistle while they work in space.
Former NASA astronaut, Dan Barry has seven hours of spacewalking time to his credit. He tried whistling during his spacewalk on STS-96 in May 1999. "It wasn't something I hadn't planned — I thought of it on the fly. It turned out that it didn't work." he said. "You can't whistle because the air pressure in the suit is only 4.3 [pounds per square inch], and normal atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psi, so there are not enough air molecules blowing by your lips to make a sound," he said.
Seen on Blue's News."
