Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Using nanoparticles to boil water for less £ (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by
vswee
vswee writes: "Generating steam, typically requires vast amounts of energy to heat and eventually boil water or another fluid. Now researchers at Rice University have found a shortcut. Using light-absorbing nanoparticles suspended in water, the group was able to turn the water molecules surrounding the nanoparticles into steam while scarcely raising the temperature of the remaining water. The trick could dramatically reduce the cost of many steam-reliant processes."
AI

Submission + - IBM's TrueNorth Simulates 530 Billion Neurons (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: IBM Research has broken new ground with a simulation of 530 billion (yes billion!) neurons in a network modeled on the connectivity of a monkey brain — almost enough for a complete working brain. The paper detailing the system involved, "TrueNorth", is simply titled 10^14 which is the number of synapses simulated. By comparison the human brain is estimated to have between 0.6 to 2.4 x 10^14 synapses.
The simulation of TrueNorth was run on the IBM Blue Gene/Q super computer at Lawrence Livermore Labs. The neuronal model is based on a leaky integrate-and-fire action, which is a relatively commonly used neural network. It is generally agreed that this is a reasonable baseline model of the behavior of a biological neuron but notice that it doesn't contain any element of learning so it is an incomplete model. Basically the simulation was of neurons wired up with the same statistical properties as a monkey brain. The simulation ran at about 1500 time slower than “reality” and don’t ask what the “brain” thought about as it only ran for about half a second of thinking time.
Books

Submission + - Here's Why Digital Rights Management Is Stupid And Anti-Consumer (consumerist.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "Yesterday, I tried to download an ebook I paid for, and previously put on my Nook, a few months ago. When I tried, I got an error message stating I could not download the book because the credit card on file had expired. But, I already paid for it. Who cares if the credit card is expired? It has long since been paid for, so the status of the card on file has nothing to do with my ability to download said book. I didn’t see anything in the terms of service about this either, but it’s possible I missed it.

        This is just one more reason to either not buy ebooks, or strip the drm off of the ones you purchase so you can [use] the book you BUY on all your devices without having to purchase multiple copies for no reason and have access to something you already bought when you want it."
Canada

Submission + - Canada Creates Cap on Liability for File Sharing Lawsuits (michaelgeist.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Over the past couple of days, there have been reports about the return of file sharing lawsuits to Canada, with fears that thousands of Canadians could be targeted. While it is possible that many will receive demand letters, Michael Geist has posted a detailed primer on liability in Canada that notes that recent changes to Canadian copyright law limit liability in non-commercial cases to a maximum of $5,000 for all infringement claims. In fact, it is likely that a court would award far less — perhaps as little as $100 — if the case went to court as even the government's FAQ on the recent copyright reform bill provided assurances that Canadians "will not face disproportionate penalties for minor infringements of copyright by distinguishing between commercial and non-commercial infringement."

Submission + - BP and Executive Facing Criminal Charges (chron.com) 1

Submitted by SleazyRidr
SleazyRidr writes: Finally some news that will please a lot of the Slashdot crowd: A company has been charged with Manslaughter! BP has been charged with manslaughter following the Macondo Incident. Two of the rig supervisors and a BP executive are also facing jail time. Is this the start of companies being forced to take responsibility for their actions?
Apple

Submission + - Apple Fires Head Of Mapping Team (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by drkim
drkim writes: "Apple fires head of mapping team after backlash from customers. Richard Williamson was manager of troubled maps division that has been dogged by glitches since dropping Google."

Mr. Williamson promptly left Apple headquarters in Antarctica, and walked to his home in Middelfart, Denmark.
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows 8 Sells 40 Million Licenses In Just One Month 2

Submitted by mystikkman
mystikkman writes: After selling 4 million copies in just three days, Microsoft announced today that it sold 40 million copies of Windows in the first month of general availability. Also, the upgrade sales of Windows 8 are higher than with Windows 7 in the month since launch. Microsoft says there are already some developers who have made more than $25,000 on their Windows 8 apps. That number is significant because Microsoft gives developers an 80 percent cut on all app sales over that figure, as compared to the industry-standard 70 percent on competing app stores. Other notable milestones include reaching 25 million users of the new Outlook.com and beating the entire multi-hundred million strong Android devices' web usage in just 10 days after launch. What does this mean for the much vaunted post-PC era? Combined with the much awaited Surface Pro coming out in January, will 2013 be the year of Windows 8 desktop and tablet?

Slashdot Top Deals

How can you do 'New Math' problems with an 'Old Math' mind? -- Charles Schulz

Close