"Gallium Nitrade" is proof that the slashdot editors STILL don't check their spelling... (The linked article calls it "gallium nitride".)

Wouldn't this increase battery life in mobile devices? Data centers could all be run off of solar/wind/wave power, if we really cared about energy use.

... what's it taste like?

... all the way down!

Print Screen is actually useful; in Windows it copies the current screen or window to the clipboard, which is useful for people writing manuals. In 32 years of writing software, I don't recall ever using the Scroll Lock or Break key for anything... and I'm not really sure what they are supposed to do. I think Break was supposed to used with modems; not much call for that anymore.

I have a different (possibly more stupid) question: why are computer numeric keypads and phone keypads reversed from each other? This gets even worse when entering your pin for a bank; I've seen both layouts used by banks. I think the answer is, "That's the way we've always done it!" Somebody made an arbitrary and capricious decision many years ago, and nobody has had the wherewithall to change it. Another "standard" that bothers me: In the transition to digital video, they had the chance to do away with the PAL/NTSC dual-standard nonsense... but they still chose to support both 50 and 60 FPS video?!? As I understand, even 4K video comes in both 50 and 60 frames per second variety, because obviously we still need to synchronize our video to our AC line current...

The flaws in height-based segmentation of airspace are obvious: you've got to cross through the lower, unregulated height zones to get to the other zones! What zones to they recommend reserving for pistol-equipped drones?

They are already talking about running massive data servers entirely in flash: https://newsoffice.mit.edu/201... I'm thinking using this instead would be an obvious improvement. Of course, that assumes they actually deliver decent price-per-byte of memory. You'll probably see this first in massive NSA data farms... or rather, it will probably be used in them, and nobody will tell you about it, so you won't see it at all.

Hey! I've still got a half-dozen boxes with IDE-only disks! (Would you like one? I'm willing to part with them for cheap!)

Magnetic memory (the re-invention of core memory with much higher density) has already been done. I believe the advantage was non-volatility, just like magnetic core memory. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/...

Since it is trivial to convert Fahrenheit to Celcius or Kelvin (just type in into Google, duh!) I don't think it really matters what units are used, as long as they are clearly labeled.

Magnetic containment vessels, just like they use for fusion reactors? Not sure about the vacuum requirements, but I agree, manufacturing anything with this alloy would be ridiculously expensive, perhaps even more expensive than using diamond vapor deposition.

"Nowhere near an engineer"... so, you're riding in the caboose, then?

Is this kind of liking finding an acid that will dissolve any substance -- what do you store it in? Exactly what do you use as a cauldron for forging parts with the substance with the highest melting point ever? (Yeah, probably magnetic containment.) Regardless, it seems rather difficult to make anything out of this stuff; if it was easy, they have produced a working sample, instead of a theoretical substance based on a computer simulation.

You don't need a prosecutor or DA to file a civil suite for libel and restraint of trade. All you need is lawyers, and I'm pretty sure Google has a lot of those.