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PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - Sony cuts prices on PS3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Sony has announced price cuts on the high-end model, and also is introducing a new low-end model in the US($399). The new model has lost the ability to play PlayStation 2 games, a decision based on the "extensive" lineup of PlayStation 3 games. The 80GB model, which retains backward compatibility, will now retail for $499.
Data Storage

Submission + - Hard drive imports may be banned (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Arathon
Arathon writes: "Apparently the International Trade Commission is beginning an investigation that could lead to the banning of hard drive imports from Western Digital, Seagate, and Toshiba, among others, on the grounds that they fundamentally violate patents held by Steven and Mary Reiber of California. The patent apparently has to do with "dissipative ceramic bonding tips", which are important components of the drives themselves.
Obviously, a ban would be unthinkable, and yet the ITC has 45 days to settle on a fixed date for the end of the investigation. If the patents are found to be violated, and the Reibers do not allow those patents to be bought or otherwise dealt with, the importation of almost all hard drives would actually be ceased."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Transparent Aluminum (Almost) (physorg.com)

Submitted by
jemtallon
jemtallon writes: "University of Michigan researchers have apparently created a transparent plastic as hard as steel. From the article: "Engineering professor Nicholas Kotov almost dubbed it "plastic steel," but the new material isn't quite stretchy enough to earn that name. Nevertheless, he says its further development could lead to lighter, stronger armor for soldiers or police and their vehicles. It could also be used in microelectromechanical devices, microfluidics, biomedical sensors and valves and unmanned aircraft.""
Graphics

Submission + - DirectX 10 - Are We There Yet? IQ and Performance (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "When DirectX 10 was first introduced to the market by graphics manufacturers and subsequently supported by Windows Vista, it was generally understood that adoption by game developers was going to be more of a slow migration than a quick flip of a switch. That said, nearly a year later, the question is how far have we come? This in-depth HotHardware article showcases many of the most popular DX10-capable game engines, like Bioshock, World In Conflict, Call of Juarez, Lost Planet, and Company of Heroes, and features current image quality comparisons versus DX9 modes with each. The article also details performance levels across many of the more popular graphics cards, from both the mid-range and high-end. Digest all the data and you be the judge. Are we there yet?"
The Military

Submission + - New plastic is strong as steel, transparent 1

Submitted by
Andreaskem
Andreaskem writes: "Physorg.com published an article about a new material that supposedly is "strong as steel but lighter and transparent.". "The researchers created this new composite plastic with a machine they developed that builds materials one nanoscale layer after another... Mother of pearl, the iridescent lining of mussel and oyster shells, is built layer-by-layer like this. It's one of the toughest natural mineral-based materials.""
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA's First Trial Starts Today in Duluth

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA's first trial starts today, in Duluth, Minnesota, in Virgin v. Thomas. The case is being widely covered by, among others, Associated Press, Wired, and Ars Technica. Since a number of people have indicated they will be going to the courthouse and watching the trial, I am hoping for citizen coverage as well. If any of you get to the trial and can report back, drop a comment here as well. The day before the trial the Judge excluded 784 pages of documents the record companies needed to prove they actually own the copyrights to 14 of the recordings in question, because they had failed to turn over the documents when they were supposed to, instead waiting until 2 weeks before the date of trial."
Programming

Submission + - Don't Like DeadLocks? Kill the Threads (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Don't like deadlocks, data races and traffic accidents? Kill the threads. If we want to get rid of all the nasty problems that plague concurrent software, then we must get rid of the threads. Multithreading is the second worst thing to have happened to computing. The worst is the algorithm proper, the mother of all threads and of everything that is bad with software. We have become addicted to a hopelessly flawed paradigm. Our multithreaded software systems are full of bugs (hidden or otherwise) and they are hard to program. But the problem is far more serious than this. The algorithmic model is the reason that we can't prevent over 43,000 people from dying in traffic accidents every year. And that's just the US statistics. There is a better way to do things. Let me explain.
AMD

Submission + - First Open Source ATI Drivers Now Available (opensuse.org)

Submitted by
apokryphos
apokryphos writes: "After AMD partnered with SUSE to release open source specs, they have now made some alpha ATI Radeon 5xxx/6xxx drivers available, supporting initial mode settings. The next steps are adding support for more hardware, RandR 1.2 support, video overlay support and 2D acceleration. The source and packages for Fedora, Mandriva, openSUSE and SLED are available in the openSUSE Build Service, with Debian and Ubuntu packages following shortly."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - OLPC cost rises from $100 to $188 per laptop (cnn.com)

Submitted by
Arathon
Arathon writes: "Turns out that the amazing "$100" laptop designed by the "One Laptop Per Child" program isn't going to make it out the door for that price. CNN reports that the laptops are now expected to cost $188 apiece when they come out later this fall. This is expected to make the program's appeal potentially much smaller, since the developers were relying on the mind-bogglingly low-price to hook governments into the concept of buying laptops for their people. OLPC's spokesman guarantees that the price won't rise further, to "above $190". The price differential is being blamed on raw materials costs and currency fluctuation.
Is this the end of the OLPC's newsworthiness, or should we continue to hope that it will make the difference that so many have said it will?"
Power

Submission + - Saltwater for fuel

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: RIE, Pa. — An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century. John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn. The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel. Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations. The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said. The discovery is "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years," Roy said. "This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere," Roy said. "Seeing it burn gives me the chills." Roy will meet this week with officials from the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to try to obtain research funding. The scientists want to find out whether the energy output from the burning hydrogen — which reached a heat of more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit — would be enough to power a car or other heavy machinery. "We will get our ideas together and check this out and see where it leads," Roy said. "The potential is huge. http://www.post-gazette.com/
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - iPhone Unlocked! (unlock.no)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Only 74 days after its release, the iPhone has been unlocked, with a free, software-only solution from the iPhone Dev Team! Bravo Zulu — Job well done. Gentlemen, start your terminals!
Power

Submission + - hydrogen energy from salt water (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by spatz noogle
spatz noogle writes: John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn. The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.

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