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Biotech

Submission + - HP Skin Patch May Replace Needles (tfot.info)

Submitted by
Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth writes: "HP and Crospon have developed a skin patch which uses microneedles that barely penetrate the skin. The microneedles can replace conventional injections and deliver drugs through the skin without causing any pain. The skin patch technology also enables delivery of several drugs by one patch and the control of dosage and of administration time for each drug. It has the potential to be safer and more efficient than injections."
Google

Submission + - Google Trys to Undercut Coal with Solar/Geothermal 2

Submitted by Dr. Eggman
Dr. Eggman writes: Ars Technica brings news of Google's latest initiative, to undercut the cost of coal by developing renewable energy such as solar and geothermal. The plan, entitled RE&#060C plans to drive the development of alternative energy by providing grants and investment. The hope is to drive down the energy production cost below that of coal, that is to say that producing X watts of energy with solar or geothermal is less costly than the same wattage produced with coal. Google's initiative is up against some tough competition, though, with nearly 30% of the world's coal reserves already in America and with no mention of nuclear power support, which appears to be back on the rise.
Networking

Submission + - Flexible optic fiber for "last mile" conne

Submitted by bn0p
bn0p writes: According to an article on Ars Technica, a Korean company has developed a low-cost, flexible, plastic optical fiber that could help solve the "last mile" problem and bring 2.5 Gbps (bits per second) connections to homes and apartments. While not as fast as glass fiber, it is significantly faster than the copper connections in use today.

In related news, Corning recently announced a flexible glass fiber that can be bent repeatedly without losing signal strength. The Corning fiber incorporates nanostructures in the cladding of the fiber that act as "light guardrails" that keep the light in the fiber. The glass fiber could be as much as four times faster than plastic fiber.

Neither fiber is available commercially yet, but both should help improve data rates to the home when they are deployed.
Space

Submission + - Obama to cut NASA budget for education

Submitted by mknewman
mknewman writes: MSN is reporting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's education policy is causing a stir ... but not all in a good way. Advocates for space exploration are noting with dismay that he'd take billions of dollars from NASA to pay for the educational programs he'd like to expand.

The shift from exploration to education came last week when Obama talked up his $18 billion education plan during a New Hampshire campaign swing. Actually, the reference to NASA comes at the end of a 15-page document laying out the details behind the plan (PDF file):

"The early education plan will be paid for by delaying the NASA Constellation Program for five years, using purchase cards and the negotiating power of the government to reduce costs of standardized procurement, auctioning surplus federal property, and reducing the erroneous payments identified by the Government Accountability Office, and closing the CEO pay deductibility loophole. ..." http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/26/481595.aspx
Movies

Submission + - Blu-ray to HD DVD: "Spank You Very Much" (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: "The Blu-ray Disc Association said today that Blu-ray movie disc sales in Europe beat out HD DVD sales by an almost 3:1 ratio. Blu-ray disc sales topped 1 million units, and when counting Blu-ray gaming discs (PS3 has a Blu-ray player), the total number produced for sale in Europe exceeded 21 million units, which begs the question: Will games be the deciding factor in the format war between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD or will movies? "Of the HD movie discs bought by consumers so far this year in Europe, 73% were in the Blu-ray Disc format and 27% were HD DVD.""
Television

Submission + - Main UK Broadcasters Announce On-Demand Service

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: According to CNET.co.uk, BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 have created a joint video on-demand service, code-named Kangaroo, which will show the best in current TV and some classic archive shows from the UK's biggest broadcasters. "Interestingly, Kangaroo will be open for other broadcasters to join in the fun. So what starts with these initial few companies could become the Internet-distribution equivalent of over-the-air broadcasting."
Music

Submission + - Another challenge to the DCMA subpoena clause 1

Submitted by tom_gram
tom_gram writes: A lawyer for a "a Jane/John Doe" recently filed a challenge to the RIAA's right to demand that a University provide the names of students associated with IP adresses that the RIAA suspects of sharing music files.

An article in the Columbus Dispatch describes the lawyers legal position: ""Here, we have the well-oiled and ready legal machine of the music industry poised against ... unemployed college students who depend on their parents, the government or benevolent institutions for their very sustenance," Kafantaris said. "It's an abuse of the legal system, and it is unconscionable."

The article describes the general approach of the RIAA, which has the college forward letters to students "that say they can settle the complaint at a "discount" (typically between $3,000 and $4,500)" but in this case are now demanding names of students who did not comply.
The Internet

Submission + - Is Comcast at it again? 3

Submitted by
dreamchaser
dreamchaser writes: "I'm a guitarist and frequently record my music to MP3 via a digital mixer/recorder. Yesterday I tried to share a few of my songs with a friend who happens to have Comcast Cable. We were using ICQ at the time and after I shot my friend a picture or two, I tried sending her a song. The transfer fizzled out at about 200k. Tried it a few more times, no luck. Tried another (large) picture and it worked. Scratching my head, I renamed the MP3's to BIN and they whoosed right through the old Internet tube like they should have in the first place.

In light of the previous news about Comcast throttling P2P apps, it now appears that merely trying to exchange a file of a 'bad' type (MP3 in this case) gets your transfer throttled. I do not have Comcast anymore, having given it up for Verizon's FIOS. My question for Slashdot is can those of you who DO have Comcast test this and see if it consistently like is all over? It's beyond ridiculous that one cannot send legal content to a friend via a direct IM connection wihtout having the filenames (and who knows what else) sniffed out and the transfer killed. Is anyone else seeing this? What can we do about it other than raise awareness?"
The Internet

Submission + - New revolution in pixel sites

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: It seems just when you thought everything has been thought of, someone comes out with something new. This time, it's a reincarnation of the Million Dollar Pixel site. The site is smokinpixel.com. It operates under the same premise as the original Million Dollar pixel site, but this one promises to give away cash to people if their purchase pushes the sites revenue over a certain level. The details can been seen on the site. Pixels, pixels, pixels. We'll see how soon this one fills up. This time it seems that the incentive is there to buy more pixels, rather than just to have your image with a link plastered on a website for the next 10 years. I have to admit, buying 100 bucks worth of web space and then getting 100,000 in return wouldn't be a bad proposition. Would it?
Education

Submission + - University to students: 'All whites are racist'

Submitted by
rockabilly
rockabilly writes: "A mandatory University of Delaware program requires residence hall students to acknowledge that "all whites are racist" and offers them "treatment" for any incorrect attitudes regarding class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality they might hold upon entering the school, according to a civil rights group.

The "education" regarding racism is just one of the subjects that students are required to adopt as part of their University of Delaware experience... Full story here"
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Why do games still have levels? (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by a.d.venturer
a.d.venturer writes: Elite, the Metroid series, Dungeon Siege, God of War I and II, Half-Life (but not Half-Life 2), Shadow of the Colossus, the Grand Theft Auto series; some of the best games ever (and Dungeon Siege) have done away with the level mechanic and created uninterrupted game spaces devoid of loading screens and artificial breaks between periods of play. Much like cut scenes, level loads are anathema to enjoyment of game play, and a throwback to the era of the Vic-20 and Commodore 64 when games were stored on cassette tapes, and memory was measured in kilobytes. So in this era of multi-megabyte and gigabyte memory and fast access storage devices why do we continue to have games that are dominated by the level structure, be they commercial (Portal, Team Fortress 2), independent (Darwinia) and amateur (Nethack, Angband)? Why do games still have levels?

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