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Comment Yipee? (Score 5, Insightful) 115

by flipper9 (#29394629) Attached to: IEEE Approves 802.11n Wi-Fi Standard

So what? There have been Wireless-N products out now for quite a long time. Who gives a flippin' **** about the official approval of the format? It's not like the manufacturers will go back and update the firmware on the older devices. They'll just put out new products, brand them as "Official Wireless-N", and drop support for older equipment which may or not work as well.

Comment Lost Opportunity (Score 2, Interesting) 128

by flipper9 (#28743897) Attached to: Red Hat Is Now Part of the S&P 500

Back in the early days of RedHat, they used to be located in a non-descript office park in the Raleigh-Durham area. I remember working for an obscure Sales Automation company and our office was located upstairs, where if you turned to the left you'd head into our office and if you turned right you'd enter the small RedHat Software offices. I used to pop my head in occasionally to this company that was making this stuff called "Linux", and even asked for help when I was secretly setting up a Linux server at my company's office to replace our Windows NT 3.51 server.

If I had only turned right when heading into work instead of turning left when walking up those stairs, I'd today be a millionaire. :(
Earth

Natural Gas "Cleaning" Extracts Valuable Waste Carbon 73

Posted by timothy from the i'll-take-it-black dept.
Al writes "There's been a lot of focus on "clean coal" lately, but a Canadian start-up called Atlantic Hydrogen is developing a way to make natural gas more environmentally friendly. The process involves using a plasma reactor to separate hydrogen and methane in the gas. The procedure also turns carbon emissions into high-purity carbon black, a substance that is used to make inks, plastics and reinforced rubber products. Utility companies could potentially sell the carbon black, making the process more financially attractive."
Image

Google Mows With Goats Screenshot-sm 466

Posted by samzenpus from the google-goats-gruff dept.
Kelson writes "Google's Mountain View headquarters has fields that need to be kept clear of fire hazards. This year instead of mowing them, they took a low-carbon approach: they hired a herd of goats to eat the grass for a week. 'It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers,' wrote Dan Hoffman."

Comment We've heard this same song for years (Score 0, Redundant) 266

by flipper9 (#27779617) Attached to: ARIN Letter Says Two More Years of IPv4

Every few months, another prediction comes out that IPv4 is doomed and that we are going to run out of addresses. Those dire predictions never come true, and the predicted date keeps getting extended. When are we truly going to run out? Nobody knows. What will happen is that IPv6 won't become a priority until things start breaking. That's just how it goes.

Comment Will this work with the Apple iCar? (Score 3, Funny) 369

by flipper9 (#27674793) Attached to: Developing Battery Replacement Infrastructure For Electric Cars

In future news, Apple announces the release of their new, sleek iCar! With touch-screen capabilities, smooth acceleration, and lots of eye candy. Better Place, however has been stymied by the fact that the iCar's batter is sealed and hidden inside of the frame of the car, and cannot be swapped out. Millions of iCar fans can only hope to travel 250 miles and struggle to find their lost iCar charging adapters, while Microsoft and PC-maker made Windows-Roadsters take advantage of the Better Place swapping program.

gCar and kCar enthusists, while having the first electric cars out there can be seen at the side of the road, can be seen hand-wiring in their own D-cell battery replacements every 100 feet, soldering gun in hand.
Biotech

Scientists Begin Mapping the Brain 129

Posted by kdawson from the writing-it-down-in-silicon dept.
Raindance writes "A team at the University of Utah has unveiled a system to map and digitize brain tissue — thus fulfilling one of the long-standing holy grails of neuroscience and enabling for the first time in-depth analysis of how mammalian neural networks function. So far, maps for the entire retina and related neural networks have been released; no ETA on a full-brain digital reconstruction yet. (One of the lead authors hangs out here on Slashdot.)"
Image

Why Every Office Needs an Outsider Screenshot-sm 81

Posted by samzenpus from the he-put-my-stapler-in-Jell-O-again dept.
Research has shown that having an oddball team member not only gives you someone to make fun of, but also leads to better decision making. Researcher Katie Liljenquist, says having "socially distinct newcomers" on a team can help it perform at a higher level. Team tension is crucial, and shaking up the same old crowd is the way to create it. "You can imagine if you work in an office and you've got this outsider like Dwight Schrute who walks in and a lot of his ideas resonate with you. Your fellow in-group members are hearing this and thinking, 'Wait, you agree with Dwight?' That can be really uncomfortable and socially threatening," she says.
Toys

Largest High-Tech Tornado Chase Set To Begin 112

Posted by kdawson from the just-a-big-blowhard dept.
coondoggie writes "Next month, with the help of a variety of high-tech gear, researchers will begin a wide-ranging project to better understand the origin, structure and evolution of tornadoes. The National Science Foundation has given $9.1 million to the project called Vortex2 (of course it has a convoluted backronym), which will take place from May 10-June 13. Researchers say Vortex2 is the largest attempt in history to study tornadoes, and will involve more than 50 scientists, 40 research vehicles, and 10 mobile radars, and will cover 900 square miles in southern South Dakota, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Texas panhandle, and western Oklahoma."
The Internet

Happy 40th Birthday, Internet RFCs 58

Posted by timothy from the more-pigeons-what-say-ye dept.
WayHomer was one of several readers to point out the 40th birthday of an important tool in the formation of the Internet, and a look back at it by the author of the first of many. "Stephen Crocker in the New York Times writes, 'Today is an important date in the history of the Internet: the 40th anniversary of what is known as the Request for Comments (RFC).' 'RFC1 — Host Software' was published 40 years ago today, establishing a framework for documenting how networking technologies and the Internet itself work. Distribution of this memo is unlimited."
Medicine

Beware the Perils of Caffeine Withdrawal 700

Posted by timothy from the to-make-a-grown-man-cry dept.
palegray.net writes "CNN is running an article on the notorious effects of caffeine withdrawal, a problem that seems to be affecting an increasing number of people. Citing numerous reasons why people might need to cut back on their caffeine intake (pregnancy, pre-surgery requirements, etc), the story notes a significant number of people who are simply unable to quit. I drink around eight cups of coffee a day, along with a soda or two, and I definitely suffer from nasty withdrawal symptoms without my fix."
Transportation

Solar Powered Car Can Get Close To 60 mph 119

Posted by timothy from the australians-still-on-about-transportation dept.
Jason Sahler writes with this excerpt from Inhabit: "The World Solar Challenge across the Australian outback is coming up, and we're already seeing some truly incredible vehicles going for the gold. Take the Bethany, a solar powered vehicle designed by Cambridge University students. The vehicle is capable of achieving close to 60 miles per hour. Doesn't sound too impressive? Try doing it by using the power required to run a hairdryer."

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