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Submission + - 2008 Presidential Candidates and Tech Issues

Submitted by
Tokimasa
Tokimasa writes: "Following last night's debate with the Democratic presidential hopefuls and tomorrow's debate with the Republican presidential candidates, I noticed that the questions addressed issues that affect the American people as a whole — education, health care, the "war on terror" and combating terrorism, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China, jobs and the economy, gas prices, and energy.

But what about issues that are important to the technical savvy Americans, including those in technical industries? Issues such as intellectual property reform (especially copyrights and patents), funding for research and development (both private and government led), DMCA, and other topics that might be of interest to engineers and scientists? Why are these topics not discussed (or even mentioned) during a campaign?

Is there any material out there that discusses how each candidate stands on issues that are of interest to certain groups (in my case, engineers and those working in highly technical fields)?"
Hardware Hacking

The Ultimate Reset Button 184

Posted by CowboyNeal from the no-not-the-cosmic-nullifier dept.
Gary writes "The gigantic red switch looks more like a mushroom straight out of Super Mario. It can be connected easily using two wires and can be activated in any direction. To get rid of the blue screen of death all you have to do is hit it with something (like, a fist)."
Music

Submission + - Lastfm bought by CBS (blog.last.fm)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ah. another Web 2.0 company, lastfm, bought out by the corporate titans...so much for "user-community driven"??? Will any Web 2.0 startups be satisfied with middle-level community success, or do all Web 2.0 companies demand to be big players up there with MTV and Google, etc — can any real sense of web identity or community exist once companies target themselves towards every single web user, like myspace, as opposed to focusing on smaller audiences, like, perhaps, people who are satisfied with hearing more independent music and searching for things through word of mouth and not thorugh massive advertising campaigns? Does any of this matter? http://blog.last.fm/2007/05/30/lastfm-acquired-by- cbs

Feed Thanko's Silent Mouse 2: now with more quiet (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Peripherals

If there was ever a device that probably didn't need a sequel, it'd be the silent mouse, but leave it to Thanko to invent a "new and improved" rendition that somehow proves even quieter and more versatile than the original. Of course, there are certainly other ways to nix the clicks in your computing routines, and this here gizmo won't really do you any good unless your PC sounds more like a gentle breeze and less like an impending tornado. Still, the Silent Mouse 2 touts five total buttons, a scroll wheel, an unfortunate tail, and walls of soundproofing material lining the innards. According to some fairly unscientific testing, this unit pounds out just 36.5 decibels compared to the "industry average" of 58 decibels, so if you just can't stand to hear yourself click on any longer, Thanko's latest can be your cure for ¥2,980 ($25).

[Via AkihabaraNews]

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

Feed Fujitsu Lifebook T4220 convertible tablet goes on sale (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Considering that Fujitsu's Lifebook T4220 convertible tablet PC just recently hit the FCC and managed to get reviewed a few weeks back, you may not have expected this beauty to be available to the masses just yet, but sure enough, your very own customized T4220 is currently awaiting you at the firm's webstore. Five basic configurations are listed, and while you're already aware of most of the hardware details, we'll just reiterate that you can pick up a T7100, T7300, or T7500 Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 100GB in hard drive space, 802.11a/b/g/n, modular dual-layer DVD writer, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, gigabit Ethernet, and a 12.1-inch XGA display just to name the highlights. Selecting one of the standard configs will run you between $1,769 and $2,099, but as always, tossing in a few extra niceties here and there can ratchet those figures right on up.

[Via Laptoping]

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

Submission + - Stackable ARM Linux Computers Allow Rapid Devel. (virtualcogs.com)

Submitted by Tarun Tuli
Tarun Tuli writes: Virtual Cogs Embedded Systems Inc. have released their miniature stackable Linux single board computers based around the Freescale i.MX21 processor. This system allows users to custom tailor their design to particular peripherals they need quickly. By stacking multiple daughterboards together, a precise solution can be created. Currently, daughter boards available include a Camera COG (3MP colour CMOS camera), Multimedia COG (320x240 TFT Touchscreen LCD, Sound Card), Ethernet COG (10/100 Mbit networking) and Breakout COG (development tool with .1" IDC breakout of pass-thru bus, MiniSD card slot and RS-232). Many additional daughter boards are under development and to be released soon including a robot controller, power controller, GPS/Bluetooth/Wifi board and a plug-in FPGA solution. In addition, all these designs are "open" so that users can easily adopt and develop their own daughtercards using standard PCB manufacturers.
Software

Submission + - Facebook: send facebook photos to any mobile phone

Submitted by
Steve Chen
Steve Chen writes: "sms767 is tied into Facebook through the Facebook Platform launched yesterday at F8. It completes the round trip by allowing users to share Facebook photos with friends on mobile phones. Before sms767, Facebook users were only able to send photos from mobile phones to Facebook profiles. Now, with sms767, the round trip is complete. Users can use the services at http://www.sms767.com/ or find it in the application directory in Facebook. A login with Facebook is required."

Feed Why do robot experts build such lousy robots? (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed
We meet the nerds with the world's cleanest floors

In Silicon Valley, any conference calling itself the "Best of the Best" promises more fluff than stuff. But a recent Churchill Club event which promised the cream of the robotics industry confirmed the sceptics' worst fears. Consumer robotics is a business built mostly on play, hope and tinkering - rather than profit or technical accomplishment - to the point that huge, obvious, deal-breaker truths are never even mentioned.
Networking

Submission + - Non Tech don't understand time consuming IT duties

Submitted by
queen747
queen747 writes: "Not a scoop but a frustration: Non tech folks don't understand just how time consuming IT really is. Network administration, computer support, database administation, system administration, and web administration. Is there a paper on this subject matter that can explain to non-tech folks, in real simple terms, that IT people really do deserve those handsome salaries? The job, depending of what you do, requires days, nights, weekends, holidays and overtime. It requires testing, debugging, backing-up, and on and on. All of this — TIME CONSUMING. Thank you."

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