Kensai7 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Software price differences between USA & EU 1

Submitted by

Kensai7

on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @04:50AM

Kensai7 writes: "A quick comparison between same versions of mainstream software sold in the USA and the EU markets show a big difference in the respective price tags. If you want to buy online [store.adobe.com] let's say Adobe's "Dreamweaver CS3" you'll have to pay $399 if you live in the States, but a whopping E570 (almost $900 in current exchange rates!!) if you happen to buy it in Germany. Same story for Microsoft's newest products [msstore.digitalriver.com]: "Expression Web 2" in America costs only $299 new, but try that in Italy and they will probably ask you no less than E366 ($576!).

How can such an abyssal difference be explained? I understand there are some added costs for the localized translated versions, but I also thought the Euro was supposed to be outbuying the Dollar. Where's the catch?!"

Submission + - Paying taxes... a fMRI-confirmed pleasure!

Submitted by

Kensai7

on Friday June 15, 2007 @10:49AM

Kensai7 writes: "If you want to feel good "pay your taxes", say researchers at the University of Oregon in Eugene!

The surprising discovery is based on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI — a type of dynamic neuroimaging) on 19 female university students who were given a small sum of money ($100) and told that some of it had to go to taxes. The brain scan, according to the scientists, can also predict which people are most likely to donate cash to charity.

From the abstract of the paper published in Science:

Civil societies function because people pay taxes and make charitable contributions to provide public goods. One possible motive for charitable contributions, called "pure altruism," is satisfied by increases in the public good no matter the source or intent. Another possible motive, "warm glow," is only fulfilled by an individual's own voluntary donations. Consistent with pure altruism, we find that even mandatory, tax-like transfers to a charity elicit neural activity in areas linked to reward processing. Moreover, neural responses to the charity's financial gains predict voluntary giving. However, consistent with warm glow, neural activity further increases when people make transfers voluntarily. Both pure altruism and warm-glow motives appear to determine the hedonic consequences of financial transfers to the public good.
"

Submission + - World's first hybrid MRI-PET brain scanner

Submitted by

Kensai7

on Saturday May 26, 2007 @01:37AM

Kensai7 writes: "A prototype MR-PET brain imaging system has been developed by Siemens and is being prepared to be fully tested in vivo in the firm's facilities in USA. The new technology is expected to provide powerful new insights into brain disorders (such as dementia, stroke, cancer) and neurological stem cell therapy by combining the exceptional soft tissue contrast and high specificty of MRI with PET's excellent sensitivity in assessing physiological and metabolic state.

Here's an image of the combined result.

MR-PET presents a tremendous leap forward in imaging capabilities. Siemens is the first company to have realized an MR-PET prototype, which brings the exceptional soft tissue contrast and high specificity of MR together with PET's excellent sensitivity in assessing physiological and metabolic state."

Submission + - Biotech Industry tries to ease reliance on corn

Submitted by

Kensai7

on Sunday April 15, 2007 @06:30AM

Kensai7 writes: "The ethanol craze is putting the squeeze on corn supplies and causing food prices to rise. Mexicans took to the streets last year to protest increased tortilla prices. The cost of chicken and beef in the United States ticked up because feed is more expensive.

That's where biotechnology comes in. Scientists are engineering microscopic bugs to extract fuel from a variety of non-corn sources, including the human urinary tract, a Russian fungus and the plant responsible for tequila. More in this article on BusinessWeek."

Submission + - Google founders & CEO take $1 salaries again!

Submitted by

Kensai7

on Friday April 06, 2007 @11:37AM

Kensai7 writes: "PC World reports how "poor" Google top executives and founders are getting (again in 2006) one of the lowest salaries in the industry but at the same time continue growing their billionaire fortunes by being stockholders of their own successful company.

In fact, this is probably the best way to climb quickly the Forbes list: have a revolutionary product/service and invest on thyself early on!"

Submission + - The Memory Hacker

Submitted by

Kensai7

on Friday April 06, 2007 @01:45AM

Kensai7 writes: "Ted Berger has spent the past decade engineering a brain implant that can re-create thoughts. The chip could remedy everything from Alzheimer's to absent-mindedness — and reduce memory loss to nothing more than a computer glitch. An article on Popular Science explains how he expects to achieve this!"

Submission + - Bones in Motion: A New 3-D X-Ray System

Submitted by

Kensai7

on Friday February 02, 2007 @06:02PM

Kensai7 writes: "Scientists at Brown university are developing a new high-speed x-ray imaging system for researching musculoskeletal biomechanics. They hope to bring the power to peer through flesh and watch bones move in three dimensions, just like Superman! The new system is called tentatively CTX."

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