Irish-DnB - Slashdot User

Submission + - BBC launches Space Shuttle based on car

Submitted by

David Off

on Monday February 19, 2007 @04:10PM

David Off writes: "Last summer BBC Television decided to launch a space shuttle shaped motorcar, the Reliant Robin, into very very low earth orbit! Now this may not be the X-prize but it is a very very cool hack that harks back to era of MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club. Now a shuttle launch costs hundreds of millions of dollars. The Beeb built a very convincing shuttle from the Robin, a main fuel tank and two SRBs in an industrial unit in Manchester. There was very little money but all the tea the team could manage to dring. The rockets develop 8.5 tonnes of thrust and this was the most powerful private launch in Europe to date. The Robin had to be stripped from 750kg to 250kg and avionics fitted for the flight back to earth. All doesn't quite go to plan as you can see in the 20 minute film which was broadcast yesterday. It would be nice to know more about the tech behind the launch, the film is thin on details."

Feed Clean Cars Elude U.S. Buyers (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Thursday February 15, 2007 @06:12PM

More than 100 currently available automobiles get 40 mpg or better. Why are all but two unavailable in the United States? In Autopia.

Submission + - Teen "Pirate" Sues Record Industry

Submitted by wile_e_wonka on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @02:55PM

wile_e_wonka writes: A 16-year-old boy being sued for online music piracy is fighting back. He has accused the recording industry on Tuesday of violating antitrust laws, conspiring to defraud the courts and making extortionate threats. In papers responding to a lawsuit filed by five record companies, Robert Santangelo, who was as young as 11 when the alleged piracy occurred, denied ever disseminating music and said it's impossible to prove that he did.

Submission + - Carmack: "DX9 is the best API I've worked with

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10, 2007 @03:26PM

An anonymous reader writes: In an interview for GameInformer, John Carmack of Doom and Quake fame discusses various aspects of game programming for the current generation of graphics hardware. Surprisingly, he also asserts that Microsoft's DirectX9 is the best graphics API he's ever worked with; this goes contrary to his famous comments about the superiority of OpenGL from a couple of years ago. Is Linux gaming about to lose one of its most prominent supporters?

Submission + - 200,000 Brits say no to satellite road tolls

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Wednesday January 10, 2007 @03:08PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "As of the 10th of January 2007, over 205,000 UK residents have signed an online petition against the government's plans for road pricing. The plans involve fitting a GPS or similar satellite tracking device to every vehicle, and charging up to £1.34 ($2.60 USD) per mile for drivers to use the roads. Although road tolls are a rarity in the UK, britons currently pay among the highest petrol prices in the world, currently over £0.849/Litre ($6.18/US gal). It is feared that road pricing will only increase these costs, along with the attendant privacy concerns about every car in the country being tracked 24/7. The Assiciation of Chief Police Officers have displayed an interest in the ability to remotely disable cars, and the system would have the potential to act as a nationwide speed trap."

Submission + - Cure for AIDS, cancer found in 1990?

Submitted by on Sunday December 17, 2006 @05:35AM

An anonymous reader writes: In the Fall of 1990, two medical researchers, Drs. William Lyman and Steven Kaali, working at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City made an important discovery. They found that they could inactivate the HIV virus by applying a low voltage direct current electrical potential with an extremely small current flow to AIDS infected blood in a test tube. More info here and here. Video can be found here.

Bookmark Mac vs. PC electricity consumption (blogspot.com)

by Fulkkari on Thursday November 16, 2006 @10:07AM

Submission + - Turning RNA On

Submitted by

dptalia

on Thursday November 16, 2006 @09:53AM

dptalia writes: "Scientists from the University of California have found a way to turn RNA on. This boosts RNA activity and researchers are hopeful this can be used to fight cancer by boosting tumor supressor genes. The way to turn on RNA was found accidentally — the scientists we trying to supress RNA activity when they stumbled on the way to boost it."

Submission + - What not to do with your data...

Submitted by Tiny Tim on Thursday November 16, 2006 @08:10AM

Tiny Tim writes: Stupidity strikes! A data recovery company has revealed the dumbest data disasters it's confronted this year — including rotting bananas, smelly socks and a university professor's foolhardy application of WD-40...

Submission + - UK broadband going down the drain

Submitted by Plum Root on Thursday November 16, 2006 @07:39AM

Plum Root writes: Fibre is no stranger to the sewer. But the UK's Victorian drainage infrastructure is turning out to be an effective home for fibre optics too (as seen here). Laying cables down there is faster and cheaper apparently. And "there are no blockage issues" either. Bonus.

Submission + - Valve's new direction on multicore processors

Submitted by illeism on Monday November 06, 2006 @11:05AM

illeism writes: Ars Technica has a good piece on Valve's about face on multithread and multicore application in programming.
FTA — "...we were treated to an unveiling of the company's new programming strategy, which has been completely realigned around supporting multiple CPU cores. Valve is planning on more than just supporting them. It wants to make the absolute maximum use of the extra power to deliver more than just extra frames per second, but also a more immersive gaming experience."

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