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Lord of the Rings

Submission + - LOTR: Shadows of Angmar MMORPG due April

Submitted by
zakkie
zakkie writes: "A new MMORPG based on the Lord of the Rings books, not movies, is due to launch in April. Lord of the Ring Online: Shadows of Angmar has had over 350000 people involved in beta testing. A reviewer from the BBC has taken a look at it. He is pretty impressed by it overall, and mentions a few ways in which LOTRO tries to improve on existing methodologies in RPGs, including: "One neat innovation is the system of accomplishments. While all characters improve as they gain experience, also available are other ways of becoming smarter, stronger or faster that only emerge when you complete a task a certain number of times.""
Announcements

Submission + - Upside down Rainbow

Submitted by bennett77
bennett77 writes: What looks like an upside-down rainbow is actually a rare atmospheric spectacle called a circumzenithal arc. According to the San Francisco Chronicle: its an unusual phenomenon caused by sunlight shining through a thin, invisible screen of tiny ice crystals high in the sky and has nothing at all to do with the rain.
Education

Getting in to a Top Tier College? 177

Posted by Cliff from the secrets-of-admission dept.
IvyLeague Engineer asks: "I'm currently a senior at a top rated public school and I look forward to majoring in Electrical Engineering. I've already been accepted into Carnegie Mellon University, so I don't need to worry about any 'safety' schools. However, I still have my sights set on getting into a school such as MIT or Cal Tech. My grades are high (95.6 on a 100 scale), I have several leadership positions in clubs, however I'm pretty sure that's not enough. What else can I do to improve my chances of being accepted there? I've already been deferred from early action at both institutions and I'm afraid it's too late to do much at this point. I'm sure there are other people like me wondering just what it takes to get admitted to a prestigious college."
Patents

Amazon Using Patent Reform to Strengthen 1-Click 71

Posted by Zonk from the song-and-dance-routine dept.
theodp writes "As some predicted, lawyers for Amazon.com have recently submitted 1-Click prior art solicited by Tim O'Reilly under the auspices of Jeff Bezos' patent reform effort to the USPTO, soliciting a 'favorable action' that would help bulletproof the patent. Last June, an Amazon lobbyist referred to deficiencies with the same prior art as he tried to convince Congress that 1-Click was novel, prompting Rep. Howard Berman to call BS."
Space

Fuel Efficient Five-Gear Rocket Engine Designed 122

Posted by Zonk from the next-they-need-to-make-a-death-ray-for-peaceful-purposes dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "Georgia Tech researchers have had a brilliant idea. Rocket engines used today to launch satellites run at maximum exhaust velocity until they reach orbit. For a car, this would be analog to stay all the time in first gear. So they have designed a new space rocket which works as it has a five-gear transmission system. This rocket engine uses 40 percent less fuel than current ones by running on solar power while in space and by fine-tuning exhaust velocity. But as it was designed with funds from the U.S. Air Force, military applications will be ready before civilian ones. Here is how this new rocket engine works."
Sony

Submission + - Europe Gets Nerfed PS3: No Motion Sensing

Submitted by
AbsoluteXyro
AbsoluteXyro writes: "In an effort to control costs Sony has nerfed some PS3 functionality for the upcoming PAL launch. Most notably, Wii-like motion sensing control has been ditched. This is another kick in the behoogies for PAL territories, after long delays and the recent news that backwards compatibility would be limited. Sucks to be those guys."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - "Free Public WiFi" Explained

Submitted by
Kichigai Mentat
Kichigai Mentat writes: "Michael Rose over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (or TUAW) recently discovered the cause of the proliferation of Ad Hoc networks marked "Free Public WiFi.". From the article:

I had seen these "Free Public WiFi" peer-to-peer networks around before, usually in airports, and had ignored them as malware honeypots; the truth is apparently a little less malicious but still pretty scary. It seems that our friends in Redmond have (since Jan 06) some strangeness in the wireless network management routines under XP;
Apparently Windows XP echos the SSID of Ad Hoc networks that it once was connected to, but no longer can find."
Power

Submission + - Compressed Air Powered Car Ready This Year

Submitted by chaos_syndicate
chaos_syndicate writes: A French designer of engines for Formula One racing cars has turned his attention to creating an engine that runs on, and emits, only air! By all accounts, this is no pie-in-the-sky dream invention either — as the vehicle's release is slated for later this year. http://www.celsias.com/blog/2007/02/23/air-car-tan talisingly-close/?needsbetterheadline
Books

Submission + - Blender Character Animation Book a Top Seller

Submitted by Tony
Tony writes: Blender news has been coming thick and fast lately. Just days ago Blender's fantastic new version 2.43 was released, and now Introducing Character Animation with Blender has just been released from Sybex/Wiley, one of the top publishers in the field of 3DCG. The book reached #11 on Amazon.com's Computers & Internet top sellers list this morning, which is really something for this kind of title. ICAWB covers all aspects of character creation and animation in Blender, the world's premier open source 3D modeling and animation software package. If you have been wondering about what all the fuss over Blender is about, this is a great way to find out. More information about the book, including some snapshots, is available at BlenderNation. People interested in checking out Blender itself should go to the official Blender Website and download the latest version.
United States

Submission + - Voting Machines Not To Blame In Florida

Submitted by
InternetVoting
InternetVoting writes: "The final report from Florida's Secretary of State and an audit from an independent team led by Florida State University have reach the same conclusion that voting machines are not to blame for the 18,000 missing votes in Sarasota county. The Secretary of State's report found "no evidence to suggest or conclude that the official certified election results did not reflect the actual votes cast" and the 8 member independent audit team unanimously decided the voting machines "did not cause or contribute to the CD13 undervote." However, the losing candidate has responded that the audit "contained several critical flaws" and Princeton Professor Ed Felton has said "I think the jury is still out on whether voting machine malfunctions could be a significant cause of the undervotes.""
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - What geek toys do you want for your PC?

Submitted by
networkBoy
networkBoy writes: "Some mates and I are thinking of starting a business making computer accessories.
Nothing quite so off the wall as the nuclear launch console for your PC, more along the lines of smart fan controllers (to produce as little noise as required to achieve a setpoint temperature) with USB or SMBus interfacing for setup, possibly upwards of small embedded systems that can control drives and host them as NFS/SMB shares ala low-end server appliance.
We want to be tinkerer friendly (JTAG accessible, Linux based) and hope to make money solely on the hardware and low level firmware side. What kinds of subsystem accessories does the /. crowd want to enhance the reliability and coolness factor of their PCs? What is the magic price point for your favorite accessory? What about an automotive pc in a form factor that would fit in an industry standard radio bay?"
User Journal

Journal Journal: Minnesota requires 25% renewable energy

Journal by SEWilco
Governor Pawlenty of Minnesota has signed a bill which requires a significant amount of energy from renewable sources. "The bill signed by the Governor requires energy companies to provide 25 percent of power from renewable sources by 2025. Xcel Energy, which supplies appr

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