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PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - Video game consoles are 'fundamentally doomed' (bgr.com)

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: Microsoft just sold nearly one million Xbox 360 consoles last week alone, but we’re nearing the end of the road for video game consoles according to one industry visionary. Richard Garriott, known for having created the fantasy role-playing franchise Ultima and the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Tabula Rasa, says converged devices such as computers, smartphones and tablets will soon render dedicated game consoles obsolete...

Submission + - Giant home made LED display with roughly 1500 LEDs (buildlounge.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After hiring a professional lighting crew every year for a massive party, this guy decided to take matters into his own hands. He built a massive LED sign with roughly 1500 LEDs for about $800. The results are fantastic.
Businesses

Submission + - Patent Expires on Best Selling Drug of All Time

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The US patent has just expired on Lipitor, the best-selling drug of all time, as the first generic versions go on sale, marking the end of a brand that has dominated the drug industry, lowered the cholesterol of tens of millions of patients, and generated $10.7 billion last year in annual sales. But drug manufacturer Pfizer, dependent on Lipitor for almost one-fifth of the company’s revenue, does not intend to go down without a fight. Pfizer is employing unprecedented tactics to hold onto as many Lipitor prescriptions as it can with an aggressive marketing plan and forging deals with insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and patients to meet or beat the price of its generic replacements because even at the lower price, Pfizer has a huge profit margin because of the relatively low cost of materials for Lipitor. Some deals require pharmacies to reject prescriptions for low-cost generics and substitute a discounted name-brand Lipitor while other deals block generic makers from mail-order services that account for an estimated 40 percent of all Lipitor prescriptions. “Pfizer’s tactic of dressing up as a generics company is pulling the rug under the incentive system created to foster the development of generic drugs,” says attorney David A. Balto."
Security

Submission + - Cybercriminals Offer Complex Infection Services (net-security.org)

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes: Services for fraudsters utilizing malware are not new — AV checkers, malware encryption and malware infection services have existed in the criminal underground market for several years. However, recent research has indicated changes in service scope and price due to service convergence and demanding buyers. Researchers came across a new group that besides offering infection services (for prices between 0.5 and 4.5 cents for each upload, depending on geography) also provides polymorphic encryption and AV checkers. This new one-stop-shop approach for malicious services is a natural evolution of the market — if the customers need to infect, then they also need to evade AV. Why not sell the whole package?
Apple

Submission + - Apple loses Samsung Oz ban (smarthouse.com.au)

Submitted by downundarob
downundarob writes: An Australian court has ruled against Apple, who have just lost their case against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. Apple may also have to pay costs to its Tab rival, according to the ruling. However, Apple quickly sought to prolong the ban until Friday, when it will make a case for an appeal against the decision.
Hardware

Submission + - Harvard Creates Flexible Squid-Inspired Robot (harvard.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A robotics team from Harvard University recently created a flexible robot made from polymers that's able to negotiaterough terrain and perform delicate tasks that were previously thought impossible forautomatons. The robot was modeled afterstarfish, worms and squid and it flexes a series of small, inflatable chambers embedded within its legs and its central spine to move.
Printer

Submission + - The price of a messy codebase: No LaTeX for the iP (tumblr.com) 1

Submitted by buzz_mccool
buzz_mccool writes: As discussed by Mark Thorson on comp.risks "You might think that a program written by Donald Knuth and Leslie Lamport
would be an ideal example of good programming, rather than [an] encrusted monstrosity ... But perhaps it's the way of
all things to end up like that, no matter who wrote it."
Books

Submission + - How Publishers Are Cutting Their Own Throats With (antipope.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Sci-fi author Charlie Stross has written a post about how the Big Six book publishing companies have maneuvered themselves into a tough spot in the rapidly growing ebook industry — between user-unfriendly DRM and the Amazon juggernaut, they're slowly pushing themselves out of business. Quoting: 'Until 2008, ebooks were a tiny market segment, under 1% and easily overlooked; but in 2009 ebook sales began to rise exponentially, and ebooks now account for over 20% of all fiction sales. In some areas ebooks are up to 40% of the market and rising rapidly. (I am not making that last figure up: I'm speaking from my own sales figures.) And Amazon have got 80% of the ebook retail market. ... the Big Six's pig-headed insistence on DRM on ebooks is handing Amazon a stick with which to beat them harder. DRM on ebooks gives Amazon a great tool for locking ebook customers into the Kindle platform.'
Portables

Submission + - How PCI Express 4.0 will speed up tablets (techworld.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "PCI Express 4.0 is being designed with tablets in mind, according to standards-setting organization PCI Special Interest Group. The PCI-Express 4.0 bus will also go into PCs, servers and embedded devices. PCIe 4.0, will transfer data at up to 16 gigatransfers per second over copper wire. That is twice the speed of PCIe 3.0, which was finalized in late 2010 and is just reaching products."
Privacy

Submission + - Civilian use of tiny drones may soon fly in U.S. (nwsource.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Drone aircraft, best known for their role in hunting and destroying terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, may be coming soon to the skies near you.

Police agencies want drones for air support to find runaway criminals. Utility companies expect they can help monitor oil, gas and water pipelines. Farmers believe drones could aid in spraying crops with pesticides.

"It's going to happen," said Dan Elwell, vice president of civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Association. "Now it's about figuring out how to safely assimilate the technology into national airspace."
Science

Submission + - Language Gene' May Influence How We Learn (discovery.com)

Submitted by lightbox32
lightbox32 writes: The FOXP2 gene, a front-runner to explain the evolution of language in humans, may have rewired the brain to allow more advanced learning, according to preliminary research presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting this month.
Twitter

Submission + - Using Twitter To Monitor Your Linux Server! (adityapatawari.com)

Submitted by
adityapatawari
adityapatawari writes: "Yes, you can use Twitter for monitoring your server. I won't say that it is a complete monitoring solution nor I will ask you to throw away your existing monitoring mechanisms. In fact the script I am talking about, MYST (AGPLv3), was not created for this purpose. It is just a fun script which you can use to tweet the health of your server periodically to a private account which only a moderated set of people can follow. So here is how you do it:"

Submission + - Solar Energy Expensive But Worth It. (homemadeenergy.org)

Submitted by black123velvet
black123velvet writes: You may have noticed that over recent years, more and more companies are springing up and advertising solar panels. This, in turn, has lead to more people installing solar panels on their homes – so you may be wondering if this is the move for you.

Having solar panels fitted to your roof is expensive, no doubt about it. The installation varies from $4000 to $60,000. The difference depends on the size of your house, your requirements from the panels themselves and how much electricity you are hoping to generate. In basic terms, the larger the panels and the more you want – the bigger your bill, though even a basic system can be tough on the wallet.

Firstly, most solar panel installation companies will offer some form of credit – perhaps even ‘buy now pay later’ type deals, which allow you to suspend repayments for a year or more. Almost all will offer a traditional credit scheme, where you have the panels installed and then pay them off. This is one of the most expensive ways to get solar panels installed, as you will be charged for the credit, but nevertheless it is an option.

The best way option for most is to save a dedicated fund for their solar panels. Using the old school system of putting a little money by each week, many households can afford solar panels within a couple of years without having to pay credit purchase rates.

Whichever way you choose to do it, solar panels are expensive. There isn’t any way of getting around that, though as the technology improves prices should fall. It is always worth remember, however, that solar power is beneficial both to your wallet in the long run, and to the environment.

Submission + - Do data caps punish the wrong users? (fiberevolution.com)

Submitted by Sammael99
Sammael99 writes: A study into near real-time bandwidth usage in a DSL broadband network tracks user-by-user data consumption and bandwidth usage in parralel. It determines (amongst other things) that over 20% of customers punished by data caps cannot possibly have contributed to congestion.
Google

Submission + - Google Throws /. Under Bus to Snag Patent

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Before Danny Hillis and Bran Ferren invented Google's newly-patented system for Delegating Authority to Evaluate Content, Google says users looking for content evaluation websites were condemned to the likes of Amazon.com and Slashdot. From the patent: 'Many sites found on the World Wide Web allow users to evaluate content found within the site. The Slashdot Web site (www.slashdot.org) allows users to 'mod' comments recently posted by other users. Based on this information obtained from the users, the system determines a numerical score for each comment ranging from 1 to 5.' The problem with sites like Slashdot, Google told the USPTO, is that 'because there is no restriction on the users that may participate, the reliability of the ratings is correspondingly diminished.' Commissioning a small number of trusted evaluators or editors would increase the reliability of the evaluations, Google notes, but wouldn't allow nearly as much content to be evaluated. Google's solution? Allow trusted evaluators to transfer a 'quantity of authority' to like-minded 'contributing authorities', who in turn designate and delegate authority to additional like-minded contributing authorities. Think Microsoft Outlook 97 Delegate Access meets Slashdot Karma Points, and you've got the general idea!

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