Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Online Gamers Can Now Pay With Their Blood

Submitted by
Weather Storm
Weather Storm writes: "According to weirdasiannews.com, a game company called Moliyo, which runs multiple online games in China, has given roughly 120,000 hackers banned from one of its games, Cabal Online, the chance to play once again. The price? A pint of blood. Any banned player that shows up to a blood drive in Nanjing and donates a pint of blood will have their accounts unlock. In a response to a shortage of donors, Chinese hospitals and Moliyo developed an ingenious method of enticing gamers to give the gift that truly keeps on giving. About a hundred of the guilty have stepped forward."
Math

Submission + - Scientists solved huge theoretical problem

Submitted by BoredStiff
BoredStiff writes: The Weekend Edition of NPR Scientists have solved one of the toughest problems in mathematics, performing a calculation to figure out the symmetry of a 248-dimensional object known as the Lie group E8. The solution is so large that it would take days to download over a standard Internet connection. Lie groups were invented in the 19th century by the Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie [pronounced LEE], to express the symmetry of three-dimensional objects like spheres, cones and cylinders.
Music

RIAA Going After a 10-Year-Old Girl 510

Posted by kdawson from the winning-friends dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The latest target of the RIAA's ire is a 10-year-old girl in Oregon, who was 7 when the alleged infringement occurred, and whose disabled mother lives on Social Security. In Atlantic v. Andersen, an Oregon case that was widely reported in 2005 when the defendant counterclaimed against the RIAA under Oregon's RICO statute and other laws, the defendant's mother sought to limit the RIAA's deposition of the child to telephone or video-conference. The RIAA has refused, insisting on being able to grill the little girl in person. Here are court documents (PDF)."
AMD

Submission + - Bankrupt AMD: Means Cheap Chips for Us

Submitted by bagopa
bagopa writes: Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) may be planning another round of price cuts and may be looking to tap financial markets to offset its negative cash flow, according to one research analyst. This cant be good for them, but its sure good for the consumer. I'll be picking up my heavily discounted a64 soon.
Biotech

Submission + - Nanofactories to heal you

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "Imagine yourself taking a pill that will detect a disease, build the remedy and deliver the drug where it's necessary to heal you. Even if it looks like science fiction, researchers at the University of Maryland are working on this, by building magnetic nanofactories to make and deliver drugs — at least in their labs. For example, "these ingested nanofactories, using magnetism, could detect a bacterial infection, produce a medication using the body's own materials, and deliver a dose directly to the bacteria. The drug would do its work only at the infection site, and thus not cause any side effects." Even if the results of this research project are promising, these nanofactories will not be used to heal you before a while because several problems need to be solved, such as 'disguising' these nanofactories before they're attacked by your body. Read more for additional details and a picture describing the assembly and the use of these magnetic nanofactories."
Links

Submission + - Clouded Leopard Declared new Species

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Scientists have discovered that the clouded leopard found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra is an entirely new species of cat. The secretive rainforest animal was originally thought to be the same species as the one found in mainland Southeast Asia. Read More"
NASA

NASA Confirms Solar Storm Near 2012 344

Posted by CmdrTaco from the get-out-your-foil-hats dept.
An anonymous reader writes "`This week researchers announced that a storm is coming — the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.`

`Dikpati's forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011.`

Anyone familiar with the Mayan Calendar? December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Calendar) Coincidence?"
Music

Finding an Innovation SSI 2001 Soundcard? 105

Posted by Cliff from the a-piece-of-computer-audio-history dept.
Yvan256 asks: "I've been looking for over 15 years for the Innovation SSI 2001 soundcard. It's a very old and extremely rare ISA card, based on the SID 6581 chip of the Commodore 64. Yes, I am aware of the HardSID (I've got one), but it's not hardware compatible with the SSI 2001 (different method of accessing the SID registers). The SSI 2001 is about the only card missing from my soundcards collection. I am aware of the IBM Music Feature, I have one. It's just not on the webpage yet. Please note, this collection is about the different technologies that came out at the beginning of the soundcards era, not the thousands of SoundBlaster clones that were available (including the Pro Audio Spectrum series). So, if anyone has an Innovation SSI 2001, or know where I could get one, please tell me."
Music

RIAA Announces New Campus Lawsuit Strategy 299

Posted by samzenpus from the tell-us-everything dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The RIAA is once again revising their lawsuit strategy, and will now be sending college students and others "pre-lawsuit letters." People will now be able to settle for a discount. How nice."
Communications

Submission + - New Clues to E-Mail Misbehavior

Submitted by
Ant
Ant writes: "The New York Times (should not require a log in) says there are several psychological factors that lead to online disinhibition: the anonymity of a Web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail message and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of any online authority figure. Dr. Suler notes that disinhibition can be either benign — when a shy person feels free to open up online — or toxic, as in flaming. The emerging field of social neuroscience, the study of what goes on in the brains and bodies of two interacting people, offers clues into the neural mechanics behind flaming... Seen on Blue's News."
Power

Submission + - Trends in power generation

Submitted by
mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "With wind power already cheaper than many other forms of power generation http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/Cost2001.PDF, will solar power surpass it as the cheapest? The article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/m oney/2007/02/19/ccview19.xml suggests it might and soon. Banking interests rather than securites markets may end up having the best shot at profiting from this since the return on investment is on a timescale that fits long-term investment which generally makes up a much smaller portion of other energy companies' portfolios. From the article:


The tipping point in Germany and Japan came once households twigged that they could undercut their unloved utilities. Credit Lyonnais believes the rest of the world will soon join the stampede.

Mike Splinter, chief executive of the US semiconductor group Applied Materials, told me his company is two years away from a solar product that reaches the magic level of $1 a watt.

Cell conversion efficiency and economies of scale are galloping ahead so fast that the cost will be down to 70 US cents by 2010, with a target of 30 or 40 cents in a decade.

So, a question for the veterans of the dotcom boom: Should energy be controlled by the conservative money?"
Censorship

Submission + - History According to Jesus Taught in NJ

Submitted by
fistfullast33l
fistfullast33l writes: "A fight is brewing in Kearny, New Jersey a 16 year old student and his school district over the teachings of the student's history teacher. According to the NY Times, the student did not think the teacher's lectures in class were relevant to the subject matter, so he started recording the teacher in class. On the tapes, "Mr. Paszkiewicz is heard telling the class that there were dinosaurs aboard Noah's ark and that there is no scientific basis for evolution or the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe." Matthew LaClair, the student, was reprimanded by the school for turning the tapes in (apparently students aren't allowed to secretly record lectures) and has been harassed by students. He has threatened to sue the school district. According to WNBC in NY, the teacher claims "he was merely answering a question posed to him in a question-and-answer session, according to Demetrios Stratis, a Fair Lawn lawyer who said he represented the teacher.""

Slashdot Top Deals

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." -- Isaac Asimov

Close