Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Math

Submission + - Pi Runner, a computer game that teaches Pi digits (newgrounds.com)

Submitted by
SadSoupDragon
SadSoupDragon writes: "Pi Runner is a game that guides you through the digits of Pi, helping you to memorize obscene amounts and impress your geekiest of friends.

The game revolves around a pixilated crocodile running across a bridge made of Pi digits. Your task is to enter the digits of Pi on your numpad in time to fill in the bridge blocks, preventing the croc from falling to his doom.

So far the digit leader board ranges from 50 digits to 60,000... so make your mark!

The game is written in Flash 9, so will run fine on Linux, Windows and Macs."
Security

Submission + - 85% of hacked sites use default passwords (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
Technical Writing Geek
Technical Writing Geek writes: "Moore said what made the hacking job so easy was that 70% of all the companies he scanned were insecure, and 45% to 50% of VoIP providers were insecure. The biggest insecurity? Default passwords.

"I'd say 85% of them were misconfigured routers. They had the default passwords on them," said Moore. "You would not believe the number of routers that had 'admin' or 'Cisco0' as passwords on them."

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202101781"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft threatens Halo 3 gamers with LIVE ban (pro-g.co.uk) 7

Submitted by
JamesO
JamesO writes: "When contacted by Pro-G a Microsoft rep confirmed rumours that gamers who play Halo 3 early will have their LIVE accounts banned. Simply not connecting to the internet doesn't appear to be a solution either. The rep also confirmed that Microsoft is able to ban accounts based on information collected by the console which shows when the game was played. This news is sure to come as a shock to some gamers who have already started playing the final chapter in the blockbuster Halo trilogy.

This appears to suggest that games who play Halo 3 before the official street date will only avoid a ban if they never access Xbox LIVE. Microsoft is preparing an official statement on the Halo 3 banning scandal. We'll give you more on this breaking news story as we get it."
Power

Submission + - Burn Water, Burn (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
Aqua OS X
Aqua OS X writes: "It seems like every three months someone claims they've figured out how to power a Ford Festiva with either dreams or water. Well, water = fuel is back in the news again. '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.' Whether or not this pans out, I have no idea, but it sounds interesting."
Announcements

Submission + - Brain Differences In Democrats and Republicans

Submitted by i_like_spam
i_like_spam writes: Scientists from NYU and UCLA report in Nature Neuroscience that the brains of Democrats and Republicans process information differently. This new study finds that the differences are apparent even when the brain processes common information, not just political topics. From the study, liberals were more likely to be accurate and showed more brain activity in the region associated with analyzing conflicts. A researcher not affiliated with the study stated, liberals 'could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.' Moreover, 'the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry ... as a flip-flopper.
The Courts

Submission + - Jack Thompson Suspended 1

Submitted by Dr. Eggman
Dr. Eggman writes: GamePolitics.com has the story the Florida Bar has ordered Jack Thompson to undergo psychological testing and have suspended his license for 91 days. According to his 2005 book, he has been asked to undergo such testing by the bar before, but sued and successfully settled with the bar for $20,000.
Biotech

Submission + - Fungi Make Biodiesel at Room Temperature

Submitted by SoyChemist
SoyChemist writes: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have used pellets made from the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae to produce biodiesel at room temperature. Usually, biodiesel is made by brewing vegetable oil with methanol and lye at high temperatures. That wastes a lot of energy, and thus partially defeats the point of making an alternative fuel. The researchers in Hyderabad mixed sunflower oil with methanol and trickled it through a glass column filled with fungus pellets. A lipase enzyme in the fungus converted the brew into biodiesel with a yield as high as 85 percent. Considering that the U.S. Department of Energy and BP are have pumped tons of money into synthetic biology for making alternative fuels, it is amazing to see what an apparently underfunded lab can do with natural organisms.
Robotics

Submission + - US Air Force refuels with robo-pilots

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: The US Air Force has revealed it has built a software program which it claims can fly a plane during an inflight refuelling as well as a human pilot.

Autonomous Airborne Refueling software uses inertial, GPS and video data to manoeuvre the plane's refuelling pipes into a 32-in basket. The software was 100 per cent successful, even in conditions which a human pilot would have found almost impossible. A human pilot was on board just in case.
Power

Submission + - Solar Thermal - Spain Making Leaps and Bounds (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by
DavidKlemke
DavidKlemke writes: "I'm a pretty big enthusiast when it comes to alternative energy, and I've been deep rooted in solar (mostly Photovoltaics) for quite some time. After seeing projects like the ANU's solar thermal attempt I'd put the technology down to being plausible but unlikely to hit the big time. That is until I discovered that Spain been doing a lot more work then I thought. This is one of the biggest installations I've seen and by far one of the most advanced. Coming from Australia its easy to see the implications of such a technology when we have more space then you can imagine that's lovely and hot that's just begging for this technology to be used."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Top 10 Wackiest Conspiracy Theories

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dinosauroid-like Alien Reptiles are dominating the World, Apollo 11 Moon Landings were faked by NASA, September 11 was orchestrated by the U. S. government, Barcodes are really intended to Control people, Microsoft sends messages on Wingdings Font, U.S. military caused the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, The Nazis had a Moon Base, Kentucky Fried Chicken makes black men impotent? All these "facts" explored...
Power

Submission + - Record Cost/watt for Solar Panels

Submitted by
Twinbee
Twinbee writes: "We've just had a Slashdot story which reports the efficiency of solar panels has increased yet again, this time from 40.7 to 42.8%. However, what's surely more important is the price per watt statistic. It's the benchmark which more than anything else, will help propel us into a cleaner energy age.

So, Slashdot readers, what is the current record? From a quick Google, I find a few results to get us started: $26.60 per watt (Maplins). $4.40 per watt (the-green-company) $4.16 per watt (GE Energy GEPV-173 Solar Panels)

I have zero affiliation with the above companies, and no, I have no idea why Maplins panels are so expensive.

Can anyone find anything better $4.16 per watt?"
NASA

Submission + - Hansen argues for meter scale sea level rise (newscientist.com)

Submitted by
mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "NASA climatologist James Hansen has published a paper on Scientific reticence and sea level rise attempting to explain why reports such as the IPCC 4th Assesment tend to lowball climate change consequences. Now he has a writeup in New Scientist which summarizes the paper giving his reasons for thinking that a 5 meter sea level rise by the end of this century could easily happen. Pictures of the effects of such a rise are included. Hansen:

So why do I think a sea level rise of metres would be a near certainty if greenhouse gas emissions keep increasing? Because while the growth of great ice sheets takes millennia, the disintegration of ice sheets is a wet process that can proceed rapidly.
"

Slashdot Top Deals

One man's constant is another man's variable. -- A.J. Perlis

Close