Comment Try a Laser Keyboard (Score 4, Interesting) 175
they are awkward but pretty cool. It's a virtual keyboard projected onto a flat surface which could be sterile. There's zero tactile feedback but you can use it for simple stuff.
Example
Submission + - The US economy just went tits up
gambolt writes: The US Economy just went tits up.
Film at 11.
Who gives a shit about if the link is to the NYT or the WSJ? We're fucked.
Film at 11.
Who gives a shit about if the link is to the NYT or the WSJ? We're fucked.
Feed New York Times: Microsoft Said to Plan Proxy Fight for Yahoo (nytimes.com)
In part of a hard-nosed takeover campaign that Microsoft began two weeks ago, the company has begun preparing for a proxy fight to oust Yahoo’s directors.
Submission + - Lawrence Lessig is running for congress (lessig08.org)
Submission + - RIAA Training Video Leaked onto Torrent Sites (wired.com)
Kyrubas writes: Wired has an article that many may find of interest it would seem.
"The RIAA apparently produced a new video, already available on a variety of torrent tracker sites, in conjunction with the National District Attorneys Association with the goal of instructing U.S. prosecutors on how to deal with music piracy cases. According to early reports, the video, called In Trial, also provides instructions on how to get an RIAA investigator qualified as a court expert.
I haven't seen the video yet, but according to P2PNet's Jon Newton, it kicks off with a judge's gavel slamming down. We can surely expect all sorts of juicy clips from the 704MB file to appear on video sharing sites soon, followed by a meta-lawsuit in which the RIAA sues to protect something it actually recorded itself."
"The RIAA apparently produced a new video, already available on a variety of torrent tracker sites, in conjunction with the National District Attorneys Association with the goal of instructing U.S. prosecutors on how to deal with music piracy cases. According to early reports, the video, called In Trial, also provides instructions on how to get an RIAA investigator qualified as a court expert.
I haven't seen the video yet, but according to P2PNet's Jon Newton, it kicks off with a judge's gavel slamming down. We can surely expect all sorts of juicy clips from the 704MB file to appear on video sharing sites soon, followed by a meta-lawsuit in which the RIAA sues to protect something it actually recorded itself."
Journal Journal: White House recycled back up tapes 3
White House discloses details of e-mail backup system
The Bush administration has told a federal court that it has backup media that "should contain substantially all e-mail" that is the subject of ongoing litigation alleging that officials illegally deleted millions of e-mail messages. But the groups suing the White House disagree that the tapes contain the messages in question.
This is a great time to be in evidence recovery.
Submission + - Monkey Controls Robot Using Only its Mind 1
joejor writes: Not as frightening as a telekinetic monkey but just as awesome: a monkey in North Carolina managed to make a robot all the way in Japan walk using only the power of its mind. The monkey's brain activity made the humanoid robot walk using a really complicated system of sensors and networks. This marks the first time that brain activity has been used to make a robot walk. Read all about it here.
Submission + - Continued sad state of PHP development (fosterburgess.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Michael Kimsal blogs about some of the problems with the wild-west, ad-hoc development of the PHP language and environment. And also proposes some ideas for improvements.
Submission + - Global Warming Causes Walrus Stampedes
davidwr writes: For Russian walruses, global warming kills.
This past Summer and Fall, walruses on the Russian side of the Bering Straight couldn't find enough ice so they hung back on the shoreline in very crowded conditions. When a predator or other surprise caused a rush to the water the animals stampeded, killing each other in numbers much higher than usual. Read more at Walruses Die; Global Warming Blamed [Associated Press].
This past Summer and Fall, walruses on the Russian side of the Bering Straight couldn't find enough ice so they hung back on the shoreline in very crowded conditions. When a predator or other surprise caused a rush to the water the animals stampeded, killing each other in numbers much higher than usual. Read more at Walruses Die; Global Warming Blamed [Associated Press].
Submission + - KDE 4.0 Release Candidate 2 (kde.org) 1
An anonymous reader writes: December 11, 2007 (The INTERNET).
The KDE Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the second release candidate for KDE 4.0. This release candidate marks the last mile on the road to KDE 4.0.
Submission + - GOP Congressman Blocking Links from Blogs (dailykos.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Nebraska Republican Congressman Adrian Smith is putting up "404 Page Not Found" errors for any referring site on the "blogspot.com" domain. Smith's main critic is the Smith Watch blog, and this is likely an attempt to slow them down. The reaction of the Blogger.com techie who discovered it is priceless.
Submission + - James Watson's Speech Blocked In A Race Row
bioluminescence writes: "Dr James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for his part in discovering the structure of DNA, was due to speak at the venue on Friday. But the museum has cancelled the event, saying Dr Watson's views go "beyond the point of acceptable debate," reports BBC. "In an interview with The Sunday Times, the 79-year-old said he was 'inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa' because 'all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really'. He went on to say he hoped everyone was equal but that 'people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true'."
Submission + - Nobel Bio Win: Blacks/Whites unequal intelligence
An anonymous reader writes: Okay, there is no way I am going to post this as anything other than an Anonymous Coward. James Watson, one of the three possibly greatest biologists since Darwin (Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin are the other two), thinks "there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples ... should prove to have evolved identically". He also states some other observations that are, at the very least, controversial. http://blogs.abcnews.com/scienceandsociety/2007/10/james-watson-dn.html
Anyway, when I submitted this, I was hoping that there would be a Section "Flamebait" and a Topic "Race" but because he IS a extremely famous scientist and this, at least, touches peripherally on his subject of expertise (as opposed to say William Shockley) I put it under the Section "Science". Secondly since at least one group has withdrawn an invitation for him to lecture, I put it under the Topic "Censorship".
So what do you think? (I'm sure we'll all know soon enough what you feel!).
Anyway, when I submitted this, I was hoping that there would be a Section "Flamebait" and a Topic "Race" but because he IS a extremely famous scientist and this, at least, touches peripherally on his subject of expertise (as opposed to say William Shockley) I put it under the Section "Science". Secondly since at least one group has withdrawn an invitation for him to lecture, I put it under the Topic "Censorship".
So what do you think? (I'm sure we'll all know soon enough what you feel!).
Submission + - Martian Volcanoes May Not Be Extinct (space.com)
ceoyoyo writes: "The Tharsis volcanoes on Mars show evidence they may have erupted within the last two million years and may still be dormant, not extinct. The three volcanoes also show evidence of erupting in a chain, much like the Hawaiian islands, with the southernmost showing the oldest lava flows and the northernmost the youngest.
On Earth chains of volcanoes are produced when the crust moves over a magma plume in the mantle. On Mars, since there is no tectonic activity, the researchers theorized that the magma plumes themselves move under the fixed crust."
Submission + - EU to ban leaded solder--Concern over tin whiskers (yahoo.com)
MollyB writes: "A story on Yahoo notes: "First noticed in the 1940's, tin whiskers, or splinters have been known to cause circuit problems, especially on tin solder. From the article, "Now some electronics makers worry the destruction will be more widespread, and the dollar amounts more draining, as the European Union and governments around the world enact laws to eliminate the best-known defense — lead — from electronic devices.
"The EU's decision was irresponsible and not based on sound science," said Joe Smetana, a principal engineer and tin whisker expert with French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA. "We're solving a problem that isn't and creating a bunch of new ones."
Further on, the controversy boils down to banning toxic metals outright, or using lead (for instance) -based solder sparingly to vastly reduce the potential for damage: "Trouble arises when the whiskers bridge separate parts of increasingly miniaturized circuit boards. They also can flake off and interfere with sensitive optics.""
