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Comment Re:I feel divided about this. (Score 1) 450

Nationalism doesn't count for nearly as much as it did during the Cold War. Big business owns government, big business is multinational, and big business is connected with big business. If India or China put a permanent settlement on the moon before the US it'll be only because big business found a cheaper, more desperate labor pool there.

Comment Re:A sound plan (Score 1) 450

Private firms can probably get a LOT more manned launches done per year for the same cost, but they'll be a little riskier. More astronauts will be killed. I don't see this as a problem : there's 6 billion people on the planet, and I for one if faced between possibly dying during a trip to space or dying from old age would choose the former.

And it's a great way to cull excess population without the social stigma of war...

Patents

IBM Patenting Airport Profiling Technology 129

An anonymous reader writes "InformationWeek's Wolfe's Den reports that IBM has filed a dozen applications to patent a sophisticated airport security system which supports passive software-based profiling of potentially dangerous passengers off of pre-programmed rules. The setup uses a collection of sensors — video, motion, biometric and even olfactory — in terminals and around the airport perimeter, to supply raw data. 'These patents are built on the inference engine, which [analyzes sensor data and] has the ability to calculate very large data sets in real time,' says co-inventor Roger Angell. A small grid of networked computers delivers the necessary processing power. Two applications go one better than Israeli-style security, analyzing furtive glances to detect, according to the title of the patent application, 'Behavioral Deviations by Measuring Eye Movements,' as well as measuring respiratory patterns."

Comment Re:Plug for Bibblepro (Score 1) 162

As far as I can recall from when I tried version 4 a long while ago, Bibble doesn't allow for much pixel pushing. Has this changed in 5? Was it always there and I had just missed it? Without these fine adjustments it doesn't matter how well Bibble handles the raw file because you still have to use another image editor in the end and that leads you to GIMP and loss of nearly half your bits.

Comment Re:Interesting Points (Score 2, Insightful) 163

I'd mod up parent post if I had the points. It's great seeing a case like this take one small step forward, but unfortunately it's a bit like skipping through a minefield where the mines are politicians and public officials whose pockets are lined with MAFIAA money and the minefield ends miles away. I don't think we're gonna make it.

Comment EA terribad? I can't believe it! (Score 1) 180

So after churning out a decade's worth of craptastic software somebody more or less important finally caught on to their scam? This only a few short years after the general public caught onto their scam, causing a drop in sales and consequently bringing on cries of, "Oh noes! PC gaming is coming to an end!" and, invariably, "OMG PIRATES!" I'm guessing we'll see a few more years of EA squandering its IPs, putting out bug-ridden, graphically intense, empty gaming rehashes of previously successful games before all of its investors and high level crooks move on to start the cycle over again somewhere else.
Medicine

WHO To Investigate Handling of Swine Flu Information, Vaccine Orders 372

krou writes "With swine flu fading in the UK (projected winter deaths of 65,000 have been downgraded to 1,000, and new cases are decreasing) the UK government has been left with millions of unused vaccines, and (unlike its contract with Baxter) no clear break-clause to get out of its contract with GlaxoSmithKlein. Although the amount paid for vaccines has not been disclosed, it likely cost the UK government several hundred million pounds. Other governments are also in a similar position: the US ordered 251 million doses of the vaccine, and France and Germany are aiming to cut back on their orders considerably. To say that the case for the pandemic has been over-estimated appears to be an understatement. Now, the WHO has announced that it is to investigate whether or not it bowed to pressure from drugs companies to overplay the threat." (Continues, below.)
Robotics

Robotics Prof Fears Rise of Military Robots 258

An anonymous reader writes "Interesting video interview on silicon.com with Sheffield University's Noel Sharkey, professor of AI & robotics. The white-haired prof talks state-of-the-robot-nation — discussing the most impressive robots currently clanking about on two-legs (hello Asimo) and who's doing the most interesting things in UK robotics research (something involving crickets apparently). He also voices concerns about military use of robots — suggesting it won't be long before armies are sending out fully autonomous killing machines."

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