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Windows

Submission + - Vista converts Mac OS X user to the dark side

Submitted by
swissfondue
swissfondue writes: "Nik Cubrilovic of Omniweb and occasional Techcrunch writer switches to Windows Vista after a partition crash on his Mac OS X volume.

He likes it: "I didn't expect it to be like this, I didn't want Vista to be this good" and he gives following main reason: "the interface is much much smoother and neater". Basically he finds Vista to be very much like Mac OS X, but with better performance.

With Vista's tractor beam now fully functional; is there any hope for the Mac Jedi?"
Emulation (Games)

Submission + - Worlds First PSP Emulator for Windows Released

Submitted by YokimaSun
YokimaSun writes: Over at PSP News the first PSP Emulator for Windows has been released. Potemkin (codenamed DaSH) is an experimental open source HLE PSP Emulator. It is created and released by ector who is one of the most impressive coders in emulation history. This release plays masses of commercial games and at a playable speed.
Media

Submission + - Big Media Ignores JFK Assassination Update

Submitted by
SSDNINJA
SSDNINJA writes: "http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2007/03050 7jfkconspirator.htm E. Howard Hunt of the CIA's deathbed confession of being related to the JFK assassination has been released by his son recently. Hunt was involved in both the Watergate scandal and also with the admitted JFK plot. An audio file attached mentions how Digg buried the article when it was pushed to the front page, sounding all too familiar to some unnamed HDDVD stories earlier this week. Big media has chosen to almost totally ignore this story, choosing instead the usual mess of celebrity wash."
Supercomputing

Submission + - World's first quantum circuit

Submitted by
Anonymous
Anonymous writes: "NEC, JST and RIKEN have together announced the unveiling of the world's first quantum circuit. The unveiling comes as the third step, after first unveiling the first solid-state qubit and the world's first logic gate between two qubits. This is an important step toward actually using quantum computing for something useful. Previously scientists have only been able to control a single qubit, with good results, but NEC's new circuit makes it possible to use pairs of qubits for computing quantum algorithms and logical functions, and then scale these pairs into a whole quantum computer, sometime in the future."
Editorial

Submission + - Open Source Supporter = Copyright Supporter?

Submitted by
gbulmash
gbulmash writes: "This essay claims that without copyright granting an author the right to set licensing terms for his/her work, the GPL could not be enforced. It says that those who support the GPL while calling for the abolishment of copyright are being unintentionally ironic, because they're calling for the abolishment of the exact thing that makes possible the alternative they're supporting. It concludes that if you support the GPL or any open source license (other than public domain), your argument is not whether to abolish copyright, but how to reform copyright."
Communications

Submission + - AT&T Dumps VOIP Customers

Submitted by Proudrooster
Proudrooster writes: In the past two-weeks AT&T sent out disconnect letters to VOIP customers in big rude red letters, stating that VOIP service would be suspended in 30-days and permanently disconnected in 60-days. AT&T cited E911 service as the reason. Many AT&T VOIP customers have found that they are unable to transfer their AT&T VOIP phone numbers to a new provider. Further, AT&T is unwilling to provide a forwarding message directing callers to a new phone number for those that are unable to transfer their old AT&T VOIP phone numbers. In effect, AT&T has told many long-term VOIP subscribers, we are turning off your phone in 30-days, goodbye, and good luck. AT&T does not appear a corporation that values customer loyalty, especially of those who hung on during the experimental days of the AT&T VOIP service

Many longterm subscribers are extremely upset at the AT&T cold shoulder and short notice. It is also interesting AT&T is unable overcome this E911 technical hurdle, since AT&T is also the local landline company (SBC/AT&T) in many areas where VOIP cancellation notices are being received.
Power

Submission + - Cold fusion realised

Submitted by
Steven Herweijer
Steven Herweijer writes: "Cold fusion, the ability to generate nuclear power at room temperatures, has proven to be a highly elusive feat. In fact, it is considered by many experts to be a mere pipe dream — a potentially unlimited source of clean energy that remains tantalizing, but so far unattainable.

However, a recently published academic paper from the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (Spawar) in San Diego throws cold water on skeptics of cold fusion. Appearing in the respected journal Naturwissenschaften, which counts Albert Einstein among its distinguished authors, the article claims that Spawar scientists Stanislaw Szpak and Pamela Mosier-Boss have achieved a low energy nuclear reaction (LERN) that can be replicated and verified by the scientific community.

More at http://www.dailytech.com/Navy+Heats+Up+Cold+Fusion +Hopes/article7168.htm"
The Courts

Submission + - Shocking Admission In Reiser Murder Case

Submitted by
saudadelinux
saudadelinux writes: "Wired magazine is carrying a story in which a Sean Sturgeon, a former lover of Reiser's ex-wife (and a former friend of his), admitted to killing eight people unrelated to the case. "(Deputy District Attorney) Paul Hora indicated that the court was ordering him to divulge this information," defense attorney Richard Tamor said last Friday." He also said that Sturgeon had confessed to a potential ninth murder, but that Sturgeon wasn't sure if the victim was fully dead when he left him.""
Media

Submission + - Format Shootout: Blu-ray vs. HD DVD

Submitted by
Arden
Arden writes: "The coming years are set to see a great increase in the number of movies sold in high definition. The two formats vying for dominance in this arena are HD DVD and Blu-ray. Which will win, and become the future standard for high definition movies and media? As James Viviani writes, the answer may be more complicated than you think."
Windows

Submission + - Creative to charge for EAX via Audigy on Vista

Submitted by
Shemmie
Shemmie writes: "Creative Labs, after months of silence, have come out and stated they will extend ALchemy support to Audigy soundcard users — for a price.

Microsoft removed hardware DirectSound in Vista, leaving only a software emulation — and so ALchemy is used as a method of converting calls to the DirectSound API used by games into OpenAL calls — re-enabling EAX sound in games.

Creative have finally agreed to support Audigy users using Vista as a games-machine — as long as they are willing to pay for the "low-cost upgrade" to re-enable previously free features."
Music

Submission + - Harvard Law Prof Urges University to Fight RIAA

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Distinguished Harvard University Law School Professor Charles Nesson has called upon Harvard University to fight back against the RIAA and stand up for its students: "Students and faculty use the Internet to gather and share knowledge now more than ever....Yet "new deterrence and education initiatives" from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) threaten access to this vibrant resource. The RIAA has already requested that universities serve as conduits for more than 1,200 "pre-litigation letters." Seeking to outsource its enforcement costs, the RIAA asks universities to point fingers at their students, to filter their Internet access, and to pass along notices of claimed copyright infringement. But these responses distort the University's educational mission....... One can easily understand why the RIAA wants help from universities in facilitating its enforcement actions against students who download copyrighted music without paying for it. It is easier to litigate against change than to change with it. If the RIAA saw a better way to protect its existing business, it would not be threatening our students, forcing our librarians and administrators to be copyright police, and flooding our courts with lawsuits against relatively defenseless families without lawyers or ready means to pay. We can even understand the attraction of using lawsuits to shore up an aging business model rather than engaging with disruptive technologies and the risks that new business models entail...... But mere understanding is no reason for a university to voluntarily assist the RIAA with its threatening and abusive tactics. Instead, we should be assisting our students both by explaining the law and by resisting the subpoenas that the RIAA serves upon us. We should be deploying our clinical legal student training programs to defend our targeted students......""
Quickies

Submission + - Duck Penis/Vagina In Evolutionary Arms Race

Submitted by
zentropa
zentropa writes: "Gotta see it to believe it. Rape is common in some duck species, and it seems that female ducks have evolved "maze-like" genitals with twists, pouches and dead ends, in a bid to prevent rape and retain control of who fathers their offspring. The males, meanwhile, have evolved equally convoluted penises to keep up, according Cosmos Magazine in Australia. It has a picture of said genitals. Who said humans have it tough?"

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