Swimport - Slashdot User

Submission + - The Copenhagen Wheel (mit.edu)

Submitted by

bstender

on Wednesday December 23, 2009 @02:33AM

bstender writes: "The Copenhagen Wheel — a revolutionary new bicycle wheel that not only boosts power, but can keep track of friends, fitness, smog and traffic.
"The Wheel uses a technology similar to the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), which has radically changed Formula One racing over the past couple of years,” says Ratti. "When you brake, your kinetic energy is recuperated by an electric motor and then stored by batteries within the wheel, so that you can have it back to you when you need it. The bike wheel contains all you need so that no sensors or additional electronics need to be added to the frame and an existing bike can be retrofitted with the blink of an eye.""

Submission + - Firefox Mobile Release Days Away (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by

Entropy98

on Wednesday December 23, 2009 @01:46AM

Entropy98 writes: "Firefox Mobile, in development for the last 1.5 years, could be released before the end of the year.
It will initially be available for the Nokia N900, to be followed by other handsets, but not the iPhone (Apple doesn't allow 3rd party browsers)

FTA: The open-source browser will be able to synchronise with the desktop version.
Software will mean that any web pages open in a user's desktop browser will automatically open in the mobile version.
"At the end of the working day you can walk away from your computer and keep on going on your phone," Mr Sullivan told the BBC.
"It encrypts all of the information and sends it back through the cloud between your desktop and mobile."

I wonder if it will be able to handle the 100+ tabs I typically have open?"

Submission + - Ex-Programmer on Disability trying to get better (mayoclinic.com) 9

Submitted by

Orion Blastar

on Tuesday December 22, 2009 @10:10PM

Orion Blastar writes: "I suffer from schizoaffective disorder and other illnesses that forced me to go on disability. I used to be a programmer who made a good salary until I got too sick to work and my doctors ordered me not to work anymore.

I am so sick I cannot get regular health insurance and had to get medicare instead. Regular health insurance jacked up my rates where I couldn't afford it and very few if any would insure me. Many jobs I think I lost due to health care benefits being too much for my employers and a combination of discrimination for me being sick and disabled.

Disability allows me to work and earn $500 to $800 a month and still stay on disability and medicare, but if I earn more than that I could get kicked off. It would be part-time work and only after I improve enough in my illnesses to get well enough to handle part-time work, which I haven't yet. But I am working on getting healthier and made some improvements in some of my illness, but not enough to return to work yet.

Has anyone else gotten too sick to work a computer job, and ended up on disability? What is the best way to get off disability?

I figured I could start up my own small business and do computer work from home. When I worked jobs, I wore many hats. I also ran two small businesses before, but couldn't make them profitable enough to keep them going. I went back to college and earned a bachelors degree in business management to go with my computer science and information systems degrees. It should be enough to run a small business. I can fix computers, write programs, write and administer databases, administer networks, use HTML to make web pages (ASP and PHP as well as XML), etc. But if I do too much I make myself sick and have to stop, or suffer a "panic attack" and find it hard to work. So it would have to be part-time in a way until I get well enough to handle full-time. I only say that as no company would hire me even after I get well enough to work full-time because of my medical history, and while there is the ADA to protect me in the USA, they can always use a different excuse as "over qualified" or my health benefits will be too expensive, or I haven't worked in a while, or something else they can just make up to get rid of me and avoid a discrimination lawsuit. I really can do the work when I am well enough, but when my illnesses act up, I can't do very much, and no employer would want to tolerate that and accommodate me for it. Had I been blind, or deaf, or in a wheelchair, it would be a different story. Because I am mentally ill and go through good and bad cycles, management would just claim I am not reaching my potential when I am in a bad cycle, and tell me to just "snap out of it" but that isn't possible when I am really sick.

I've even considered developing open source software, but in my current state I cannot do much until I get better. But how does one get better with schizoaffective disorder to do anything to earn money?

I am told unless I get support from my family, friends, and society as well as employers, etc that I won't be able to function and hope to rehabilitate myself. But society doesn't support me, and most people don't understand my mental illness and write me off as a total loss and other insult me, ignore me, or enable my illness so it gets worse. The online society is even worse than the real life one.

So how exactly am I supposed to recover from this, and become functional enough to go back to doing something to earn money doing what I love with computers and technology?"

Submission + - Amazon Kindle proprietary format broken (theregister.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 22, 2009 @09:47PM

An anonymous reader writes: The Register reports that the proprietary document format used by Amazon's Kindle and the Amazon online store have been successfully reverse engineered, allowing these DRM protected documents to be converted into the open MOBI format.

Users of alternative E-book readers rejoice.

Submission + - Scientists crack 'entire genetic code' of cancer (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Entropy98 on Wednesday December 16, 2009 @05:18PM

Entropy98 writes: From the article: "Scientists have unlocked the entire genetic code of two of the most common cancers — skin and lung — a move they say could revolutionise cancer care.

Not only will the cancer maps pave the way for blood tests to spot tumours far earlier, they will also yield new drug targets, say the Wellcome Trust team. The scientists found the DNA code for a skin cancer called melanoma contained more than 30,000 errors almost entirely caused by too much sun exposure.

The lung cancer DNA code had more than 23,000 errors largely triggered by cigarette smoke exposure.

From this, the experts estimate a typical smoker acquires one new mutation for every 15 cigarettes they smoke.

Although many of these mutations will be harmless, some will trigger cancer."

Yet another step towards curing cancer. Though it will probably take many years to study so many mutations. My moneys still on viruses as the cure for cancer.

Submission + - Adults MySpace Hoax Leads to 13-year-old's Suicide (freedomsforums.com)

Submitted by

mastershake_phd

on Monday November 19, 2007 @04:18PM

mastershake_phd writes: ""Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.

Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

Now Megan's parents hope the people who made the fraudulent profile on the social networking Web site will be prosecuted, and they are seeking legal changes to safeguard children on the Internet."

Of course now it's time to pass some new laws so this never happens again:

"Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. It could come before city leaders on Wednesday.

``Is this enough?'' Mayor Pam Fogarty said Friday. ``No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it's something, and you have to start somewhere.''"

http://pantagraph.com/articles/2007/11/18/news/doc473fc248dd00f015626501.txt"

Journal SPAM: Wall Street: $38 Billion of Bonuses as Shareholders Lose 6

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius on Monday November 19, 2007 @03:56PM

Wall Street Plans $38 Billion of Bonuses as Shareholders Lose

Shareholders in the securities industry are having their worst year since 2002, losing $74 billion of their equity. That won't prevent Wall Street from paying record bonuses, totaling almost $38 billion.

Submission + - Automobile engine the size of a basketball (angellabsllc.com)

Submitted by Trystan365 on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @05:36PM

Trystan365 writes: Revolutionary doesn't begin to cover this. I want one of these retro-fitted into my car right now! This little tiny engine,about the same size as a basketball, has more power than my 3.0 litre engine and can be scaled up to power a freight train or semi-truck. From the main site, "The MYT(TM) Engine has the potential to replace all the existing internal combustion engines and jet engines. With 40 times higher power to weight ratio, low parts count, low maintenance, high mechanical efficienty, and low pollution, the MYT(TM) Engine will benefit airplane, big ship, 18 wheeler, SUV, passenger car, even down to carry on power generator applications. The MYT(TM) Engine as a pump/compressor also exceeds exisiting pumps/compressors in providing massive pressure, volume, and flow, all in one unit."

Make sure you check out the videos located here. This engine can even run on plain old air!

Comment Re:hmm (Score 1) 579

by Swimport on Thursday January 11, 2007 @09:01PM (#17566736) Attached to: MPAA Caught Uploading Fake Torrents

And attempted arson, attempted murder, attempted fraud, attempted prostitution aren't?

They are, but I believe there are specific laws making these crimes. I doubt the US Copyright act, or DMCA specifically make attempted copyright infringement illegal.

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