JoeGTN1 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Blood, bullets, bombs and bandwidth

Submitted by

jemevans

on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:27PM

jemevans writes: "Ryan Lackey wears body armor to business meetings. He flies armed helicopters to client sites. He has a cash flow problem: he is paid in hundred-dollar bills, sometimes shrink-wrapped bricks of them, and flowing this money into a bank is difficult. He even calls some of his company's transactions "drug deals" — but what Lackey sells is Internet access. From his trailer on Logistics Staging Area Anaconda, a colossal US Army base fifty miles north of Baghdad, Lackey runs Blue Iraq, surely the most surreal ISP on the planet. He is 26 years old.

A (nonfiction) tale of two California cipherpunks who went to Baghdad to seek their fortune and bring the Internet to Iraq."

Feed Simple filter may inspire smaller fuel cells (pheedo.com)

From feed by nsfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:13PM

Compact fuel cells for use in laptops and cellphones could be a step closer with new systems that efficiently extract waste products

Feed NASA Spacecraft Make First 3-D Images Of Sun (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:13PM

NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft have made the first three-dimensional images of the sun. The new view will greatly aid scientists' ability to understand solar physics and thereby improve space weather forecasting.

Feed Mosquito Genes Explain Response To Climate Change (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:13PM

Scientists studying mosquitoes have produced the first chromosomal map that shows regions of chromosomes that activate -- and are apparently evolving -- in animals in response to climate change. The map will allow researchers to narrow their focus to identify specific genes that control the seasonal development of animals.

Feed New Report Explores Nanotechnology's Future (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:12PM

Controlling the properties and behavior of matter at the smallest scale -- in effect, "domesticating atoms" -- can help to overcome some of the world's biggest challenges, concludes a new report on how diverse experts view the future of nanotechnology.

Feed Biodiesel Won't Drive Down Global Warming (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:12PM

European Union legislation to promote the uptake of biodiesel could increase rather than decrease greenhouse gas emissions. A recent study revealed that while petroleum diesel emits 85 percent of its greenhouse gases at the final stage, in the engine, two-thirds of emissions produced by rapeseed derived biodiesel occur during farming -- cropland emits nitrous oxide, which is 200-300 times as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide.

Feed Low Vitamin D Levels Linked To Poor Physical Performance In Older Adults (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:12PM

Older adults who don't get enough vitamin D -- either from their diets or exposure to the sun -- may be at increased risk for poor physical performance and disability, according to new research.

Feed Earth's First Rainforest Unearthed (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:12PM

A spectacular fossilized forest has transformed our understanding of the ecology of the Earth's first rainforests. Nowhere elsewhere on the planet is it possible to (literally) walk through such an extensive swathe of Carboniferous rainforest.

Feed Online ad group: Show us the traffic numbers (com.com)

From feed by cnetfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:12PM

Interactive Advertising Bureau, which represents more than 300 new-media ad companies, asks ComScore and Nielsen/NetRatings to submit to audits.

Submission + - 3D painter for Kids released as "Free on Linux

Submitted by

mrueger

on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:11PM

mrueger writes: "The award winning 3D painting program "Plopp" has been released as "Free on Linux". For more information go to http://planet-plopp.com/ or see the latest review ("Hugely inventive, both in terms of its interface and its features, Plopp is truly innovative software."). PLOPP is a creative painting tool for cartoon-like 3D scenes without the effort that comes with professional 3D modelling programs. You can build 3D objects very easily! Just paint them in a 2D environment and PLOPP will transform them into 3D! The 3D objects can then be moved or rotated in order to arrange them in a true 3D scene. You can paint different backgrounds and adjust the lighting in the scene. The scenes can be printed, set as the desktop wallpaper, or sent as an ecard. Plopp was inspired by Takeo Igarashi's Teddy sketching tool"

Submission + - Darth Vader hot air baloon launch in Belgium

Submitted by

gevmage

on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:10PM

gevmage writes: "Someone in Belgium has created a hot air balloon shaped like Darth Vader's head.

No, really. With the help of "Fan Wars", the maker of the balloon got permission from Lucasfilm to make the baloon, which was first inflated in March of 2007. It doesn't say if the balloon has actually flown yet."

Submission + - 2.6sq/km hotspot opens in London

Submitted by

Liam Cromar

on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:00PM

Liam Cromar writes: "The Cloud has opened a ubiquitous wireless mesh network in the City of London. Internet access is available for a reasonable £12/month, or £4.50/hour. A larger network to cover more of London is also planned by The Cloud. No word on connection speeds is provided in the article, however. Still, it will be interesting to see what sort of uptake there is — do people really want ubiquitous Internet?"

PC Games On the Rebound 179

Posted by Zonk on Monday April 23, 2007 @01:57PM from the moving-on-up dept.

Via The Escapist, an article on the New York Times website discussing the rebirth of the PC games industry. The piece talks about the bright-looking future for titles on the PC, citing the platform's ease and speed of development and Microsoft's 'Games for Windows' initiative as points in its favour. Mass-market PC maker adoption of the hardcore gaming market is also discussed, with financials being the main thrust of the article. That focus is a double edged sword, given the obvious comparison to console games: "The upsurge comes after some recent reversals. Over all, retail sales of PC-based games in the United States exceeded $970 million in 2006, an increase of about 1 percent of sales the previous year of $953 million, which represented about a 14 percent drop from $1.1 billion in 2004. By contrast, according to the NPD Group, retail sales for console games in 2006 were $4.8 billion; another $1.7 billion was spent on games for hand-held devices like Sony's PlayStation Portable."

Feed Westinghouse Digital speeds up rollout of PumpTop TV network (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @01:52PM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Westinghouse Digital looks to be giving the fledgling PumpTop TV network a big shot in the arm, joining with PumpTop purveyor AdtekMedia to significantly speed up the roll-out of the network to gas stations across the United States. All told, Westinghouse plans to bring the service to some 75,000 gas station pumps, which it says would make it one of the largest out-of-home digital media networks in the U.S. The service itself delivers news, weather, and other programming in easily-digestible five minute chunks, with an ample supply of advertising thrown in for good measure, of course. Drivers in Los Angeles will apparently be the first to get the added distraction as they fill up their vehicles, with those in the the Bay Area, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston set to get their fix follow shortly thereafter

[Via Gearlog]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Feed Switched On: Windows Mobile success deserves a better successor (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed on Monday April 23, 2007 @01:52PM

Filed under: Cellphones, Features

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

Last year marked the tenth anniversary of Windows CE, now the underpinnings of what is called Windows Mobile. Few Microsoft market entry forays have tested the software giant's patience as its miniature embedded operating system. At its debut on PalmPCs, as they were known before threats of litigation ensued, Windows CE was slow and ungainly while the incumbent Palm OS was speedy and elegant. Palm seemed to leave Microsoft in the dust when it unveiled the Palm V, the slim PDA that carried the kind of design buzz in 1999 that the Motorola RAZR or iPod nano did at their debuts.

But among developer platforms, Palm OS licensees vanished one by one as the operating system languished during Palm's notorious hand-changing history. Symbian -- begun as a reaction to Microsoft's mobile designs -- has so far failed to achieve the smartphone success stateside that it has in Europe. And despite the promise of Linux as a cellphone operating system, it has become a handset market force only in countries hosting next year's summer Olympics. All this had left Microsoft strongly positioned in a nascent market, but its perseverance is only now starting to pay off.

Continue reading Switched On: Windows Mobile success deserves a better successor

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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