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Submission + - Enough Water to Cover Mars... Found on Mars.

Submitted by

AbsoluteXyro

on Thursday March 15, 2007 @08:48PM

AbsoluteXyro writes: "Using a penetrating radar instrument aboard the Mars Express orbiter, enough frozen water has been found at the Martian south pole to cover the planet in over 30 feet of pure liquid water should it ever be thawed out. From the SPACE.com article: "The reflected beams revealed that 90 percent or more of the frozen polar material is pure water ice, sprinkled with dust particles. The scientists calculated that the water would form a 36-foot-deep ocean of sorts if spread over the Martian globe." This has serious implications for thirsty humanoids."

Submission + - String-nets may be a new state of matter

Submitted by Charmed, I'm sure on Thursday March 15, 2007 @06:05PM

Charmed, I'm sure writes: Researchers have discovered what may be a new state of matter. Physicists Xiao-Gang Wen at MIT and Michael Levin at Harvard have postulated that "string-nets" are a new state of matter and that electrons are not 'true' fundamental particles as physicists have believed. Using the idea of quantum entanglement as a basic property, Wen and Levin wondered whether electrons 'were not fundamental particles, but merely the ends of long strings of other "true" fundamental particles? With this idea, the pair developed a new model for matter, where it was made up of these strings, woven together to form what they dubbed "string-nets." Developing and running computer simulations of this model showed that it gave rise to both conventional particles as well as the quasi-particles, those which carried a fractional charge that began this whole adventure.' The structure of herbertsmithite, a mineral discovered in Chile in the early 1970s, supports their theory.

Submission + - How to Run Vista without activation for a Year

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Thursday March 15, 2007 @05:26PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "Windows Vista can be run for at least a year without being activated, a serious end-run around one of Microsoft's key anti-piracy measures, Windows expert Brian Livingston said today.

Livingston, who publishes the Windows Secrets newsletter, said that a single change to Vista's registry lets users put off the operating system's product activation requirement an additional eight times beyond the three disclosed last month. With more research, said Livingston, it may even be possible to find a way to postpone activation indefinitely.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?com mand=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9013258"

Submission + - Fundamental particals not so fundamental

Submitted by SpinyNorman on Thursday March 15, 2007 @05:10PM

SpinyNorman writes: A new "string-net" theory of matter by researchers Xiao-Gang and Michael Levin, initially created to explain the fractional quantum hall effect (FQHE), has been shown to derive fundamental particals such as quarks and gluons, as well as naturally giving rise to Maxwell's equations of light. The new theory also predicts a new state of matter that appears to have been experimentally verified, and oddly enough also occurs naturally in a gemstone, Herbertsmithite, that was discovered over 30 years ago. The new theory builds on the work of Nobel physicist Robert Laughlin, and according to the New Scientist report has already attracted the attention of luminaries such as Fields medallist Michael Freedman who describes it as beautiful.

Submission + - Vast stores of water ice found on Mars

Submitted by gwyatt1999 on Thursday March 15, 2007 @04:58PM

gwyatt1999 writes: Enough ice found on the south pole icecap of Mars it could cover the surface of the planet under 30 ft. of water. Surf's up on the red planet? "The radar data indicate that the deposit, larger than Texas in area, is more than 2.3 miles (3.7 kilometers) thick in places, and that the material consists of nearly pure water ice with only a small component of dust."

Submission + - Who will digg Digg, and for How Much?

Submitted by

linux-laptop

on Monday March 05, 2007 @01:38AM

linux-laptop writes: "(May be From who-will-snap-our-rival department?) In its annual book of predictions "The World in 2007", The Economist puts it as a foregone conclusion that Digg will get snapped up for a fortune this year and that Kevin Rose will become a household name. The site which put social news on the scene, with a great position to soak up a whole lot of new users and traffic as it adds more categories (witness the quick success of the US Elections 2008 category), will certainly be a prize catch for any acquirer. This article analyzes the suitors and the dynamics which might guide their actions."

Submission + - Ubuntu Ultimate Gamers Edition

Submitted by

Usser

on Monday March 05, 2007 @01:34AM

Usser writes: "What is Ubuntu Ultimate Gamers Edition ?screenshots.

Due to the increased popularity of each prior release Ubuntu Christmas Edition (~15,000 downloads in 2 weeks), Ubuntu Ultimate 1.2 has seen over 50,000 downloads in 3 days. I have decided to make another distro I'm calling "Ubuntu Ultimate Gamers Edition" it has everything included from any of the prior distros plus many many games & a few enhancements. I have however removed Java, Flash and Acrobat reader due to licensing agreements. Please freat not included in the release is my custom repo which contains all the software and much more. Firefox's homepage will give a detailed description on obtaining all additional software from the repo.

Ubuntu Ultimate Gamers Edition is here http://ubuntusoftware.info/ubuntu_ultimate_gamers/ "

Submission + - Copyright law used to shut down anti-coal site

Submitted by driptray on Sunday March 04, 2007 @11:20PM

driptray writes: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that an Australian mining industry group has used copyright laws to close a website that parodied a coal industry ad campaign. A group known as Rising Tide created the website using the slogan "Rising sea levels: brought to you by mining" in response to the mining industry's slogan of "Life: brought to you by mining". The mining industry claimed that the "content and layout" of the parody site infringed copyright, but when Rising Tide removed the copyrighted photos and changed the layout, the mining industry still lodged a complaint. Is this a misuse of copyright law in order to stifle dissent?

Submission + - Mine industry uses copyright laws to close website

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04, 2007 @10:51PM

An anonymous reader writes: The Sydeny Morning Herald reports that the NSW Minerals Council has had an anti-coal group website closed by using copyright laws. Even when the group changed the website, a second complaint was lodged. The action group, Rising Tide ( http://www.risingtide.org.au/ ) has now 10 days to respond.
Article here : http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/industry-close s-anticoal-website/2007/03/04/1172943275688.html

Submission + - TMobile bans OperaMini and GoogleMaps on cells

Submitted by

cshamis

on Monday February 26, 2007 @03:33PM

cshamis writes: "TMobile has recently changed their policies which now make it impossible for customers WITH appropriate data plans AND Java-Micro-App-capable phones from running third-party network applications. You can, of course, still use the incredibly clunky and crippled built-in WAP browsers, but GoogleMaps and OperaMini are left high and dry. Would anyone care to speculate if this move is likely to RETAIN or REPEL customers when the iPhone and Cingular's accompanying liberal network policies come out this summer? http://www.gearlog.com/2007/01/tmobile_disses_oper a_says_get.php"

Submission + - Second life terrorist attacks?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26, 2007 @03:20PM

An anonymous reader writes: Yahoo online news reports about a virtual terrorist group called the Second Life Liberation Army which has ignited a few bombs near online shopping districts in a protest against the way Second Life is currently going. It seems that many players from the first hour do not like the way things are heading in the virtual world now that bigger companies also show an interest in the virtual world.

Submission + - What's In A Twinkie?

Submitted by

ctwxman

on Sunday February 25, 2007 @02:26PM

ctwxman writes: "I grew up on Devil Dogs. Alas, there's no Devil Dog book, but now there is one about Twinkies — nature's perfect food thanks to the miracle of modern science and advanced chemistry! "Why is it you can bake a cake at home with as few as six ingredients, but Twinkies require 39? And why do many of them seem to bear so little resemblance to actual food?" Pure goodness doesn't come easy. Steve Ettlinger is the author of "Twinkie, Deconstructed," the definitive Twinkie story... even without the official help of the keepers of the Twinkie secret. It's all summarized on MSNBC. Before clicking, make sure you have a glass of milk handy."

Submission + - Wii Boxing Gloves Released

Submitted by Croakyvoice on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @04:29PM

Croakyvoice writes: The Nintendo Wii already has accessories that include a Steering Wheel, Tennis Rackets, Golf Club and today has seen the release of the Wii Boxing Glove, the Gloves look like the real thing and should give an added realism to any Boxing games on the Nintendo Wii.

Submission + - Cool new laser graffiti technology

Submitted by Stackman on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @03:23PM

Stackman writes: The guys from Graffiti Research Labs have come up with a brand new way to graffiti a building using a giant laser projector hooked up to a pen-laser held by the artist. Taking defacement of property to a new level... or are they? You can check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbtTPYZEig http://graffitiresearchlab.com/

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