Nuclear Energy Now More Expensive Than Solar 635
js_sebastian writes "According to an article on the New York Times, a historical cross-over has occurred because of the declining costs of solar vs. the increasing costs of nuclear energy: solar, hardly the cheapest of renewable technologies, is now cheaper than nuclear, at around 16 cents per kilowatt hour. Furthermore, the NY Times reports that financial markets will not finance the construction of nuclear power plants unless the risk of default (which is historically as high as 50 percent for the nuclear industry) is externalized to someone else through federal loan guarantees or ratepayer funding. The bottom line seems to be that nuclear is simply not competitive, and the push from the US government to subsidize it seems to be forcing the wrong choice on the market."
Submission + - Scientists create synthetic cells (cnn.com)
LuckyDuckie writes: CNN international edition has a story about new man-made lifeforms. A quote from the article reads, "Craig Venter, the U.S. genomics pioneer, announced on Thursday that scientists at his laboratories in Maryland and California had succeeded in their 15-year project to make the world's first "synthetic cells" — bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides." This beats out stem cells for abuse and exploitation potential. I can't wait for the politicians to get wind of this, but then again who cares about the rights of a single celled organism?
Submission + - New government may put open source in UK schools (computerworlduk.com)
ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes: The new Liberal Democrat/Tory coalition government has pledged to create a level playing field for open-source software. John Spencer looks at the UK failure to put open source in school: "No open source organisation or company exists which can compete with the sheer scale of the proprietary software ICT outsource companies or the scale of their projects. There is no Open Source 'Capita' nor now will there ever be."
Submission + - The Social Aspects of Shopping (gulfcoastvirtualmall.com)
mkosinski writes: "Malls over the past forty years have shaped the retail industry and the way we shop. They have also provided a social gathering place for friends to meet and shop together. We believe the social interaction created by Malls is one of the key features that lead to their success and popularity. We have created a virtual mall (http://www.gulfcoastvirtualmall.com) with an integrated social network (http://social.gulfcoastvirtualmall.com) to see if the phenomenon can also be extended to online shopping.
Teenagers are finding Malls to be “the place” to meet with friends, browse through stores and socialize. Social networking among teenagers has also in recent years seen a huge influx of teenagers using social networks. The combination of the two in many cases accounts for more than 50% of an average teenager’s social life. Because social networking has been extended to mobile devices, this estimate may be a bit conservative, but reveals that the next generation of adults has become dependent upon online interaction as much as physical interaction to remain social. In our virtual mall and social network we believe the integration of the two services over time will yield similar results that physical malls have experienced.
Adults to a lesser degree also seem to be attracted to malls as a social shopping experience. Having a friend or friends with us during a shopping experience has become very common. Sites are springing up like Zebo and Woot that function as “Social Shopping” sites. These site provide the ability to ask questions to others (“what shoes go well with this dress?”) and interact while shopping. As we become more focused on being connected, we believe social networking will continue to morph and become more of a part of everyday life."
Teenagers are finding Malls to be “the place” to meet with friends, browse through stores and socialize. Social networking among teenagers has also in recent years seen a huge influx of teenagers using social networks. The combination of the two in many cases accounts for more than 50% of an average teenager’s social life. Because social networking has been extended to mobile devices, this estimate may be a bit conservative, but reveals that the next generation of adults has become dependent upon online interaction as much as physical interaction to remain social. In our virtual mall and social network we believe the integration of the two services over time will yield similar results that physical malls have experienced.
Adults to a lesser degree also seem to be attracted to malls as a social shopping experience. Having a friend or friends with us during a shopping experience has become very common. Sites are springing up like Zebo and Woot that function as “Social Shopping” sites. These site provide the ability to ask questions to others (“what shoes go well with this dress?”) and interact while shopping. As we become more focused on being connected, we believe social networking will continue to morph and become more of a part of everyday life."
Submission + - Should MS leave software to natural selection? (pcpro.co.uk)
Barence writes: Should Microsoft be bailing out software vendors who write sloppy code, asks PC Pro's Jon Honeyball? The Windows Compatibility System tests a huge pile of third-party (and own brand) software looking for compatibility problems. Usually, these are just sloppy programming items that the developers have left in the application, such as checking for a specific OS version but not accepting that there could exist anything later than Windows XP, for example. The Windows Compatibility subsystem basically allows Windows 7 to lie to specific applications in various ways, so that helpers can enable the application to run. The unfortunate reality is that far too many apps are badly written, and providing workarounds for them simply condones, if not actually encourages, sloppy programming. On the other hand, if you’re a punter who has bought a specific application that, for example, worked just fine under Windows XP but falls over under Windows 7, then your position will be clear: you want a workaround now. What should Microsoft do?
Submission + - Shanghai Expo Bars Man for 'Otaku Rebellion' Shirt (animenewsnetwork.com)
eganloo writes: "From Anime News Network: TVBS and other Taiwanese media sources are reporting on Friday that a Taiwanese writer and open-source education advocate was temporarily detained at the World Expo in Shanghai due to his "Otaku Rebellion Army" shirt. Chu Hsueh Heng says he was questioned by police for about 40 minutes since his T-shirt contained "sensitive words." He was eventually allowed to enter the Expo with another shirt.
As a self-proclaimed "otaku" (diehard fan), Chu became a millionaire translating Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance, and other fantasy books into Chinese. However, he now works to promote open-source education through the Opensource Opencourse Prototype System, a Chinese spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's OpenCourseWare project."
Submission + - Will Facebook be back in Pakistan? (skunkpost.com)
crimeandpunishment writes: The Pakistani government says it's aware blocking sites like Facebook and Youtube is causing "suffering" for people in the country, but it will only allow restore the sites if they take down pages considered offensive to Islam. Pakistan says it's expecting an answer from the sites soon. Facebook says blocking those pages might be the answer....but didn't say who might restrict the content, Facebook or the Pakistani government. Critics of the blockage say it's blocking freedom of speech and hurting small businesses in Pakistan that use Facebook for marketing.
Submission + - Synthetic Genome Brings New Life to Bacterium (sciencemag.org)
2phar writes: The journal Science reports that the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has achieved the stepwise creation of a bacterial chromosome and the successful transfer of it into a bacterium, where it replaced the native DNA. Powered by the synthetic genome, that microbial cell then began replicating and making a new set of proteins.
This is "a defining moment in the history of biology and biotechnology," says Mark Bedau, a philosopher at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and editor of the scientific journal Artificial Life. "It represents an important technical milestone in the new field of synthetic genomics," says yeast biologist Jef Boeke of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.
This is "a defining moment in the history of biology and biotechnology," says Mark Bedau, a philosopher at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and editor of the scientific journal Artificial Life. "It represents an important technical milestone in the new field of synthetic genomics," says yeast biologist Jef Boeke of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.
Submission + - Newell thinks PS3 needs to be "open like a Mac" (vg247.com)
Eraesr writes: Apparantly Valve boss Gabe Newell thinks the PS3 needs to be more of an open platform, drawing a comparison to Apple's Mac platform. In an interview with 5BY5TV Gabe Newell said that he’d like to see PS3 be “open like a Mac” instead of being “more closed like a Gamecube”.
“Platform investments, like the Mac, are difficult because you have to be aware of what direction that platform is moving,” Newell said, referring to the firm’s recent move onto Mac with its titles and distribution service Steam. “We need to target platforms that do a better job of looking like where we want to be in a few years.”
“Platform investments, like the Mac, are difficult because you have to be aware of what direction that platform is moving,” Newell said, referring to the firm’s recent move onto Mac with its titles and distribution service Steam. “We need to target platforms that do a better job of looking like where we want to be in a few years.”
Submission + - Vast asteroid crater found in Timor Sea (australiangeographic.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: The 35-million-year-old crater may answer questions about a period of significant global cooling — and may even have led to the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Submission + - WA Govt uses Twitter to calm Rick Hart customers (crn.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: The WA Government department handling the consumer fallout from the collapse of the Clive Peeters group has turned to Twitter to cope with queries from hundreds of anxious customers pouring into its 25-person call centre.
The $140 million failure of the national computer and whitegoods chain on Wednesday has snagged its WA Rick Hart chain of stores, where $1 million of customer orders hang on the balance of receivers' investigations. Inundated with 350 calls in the past day, the State's consumer protection department turned to its Twitter account @ConsumerWA to ease the load on staff and get out information more quickly.
The $140 million failure of the national computer and whitegoods chain on Wednesday has snagged its WA Rick Hart chain of stores, where $1 million of customer orders hang on the balance of receivers' investigations. Inundated with 350 calls in the past day, the State's consumer protection department turned to its Twitter account @ConsumerWA to ease the load on staff and get out information more quickly.
Submission + - Redneck Engineering at its Best-Oil Spill Solution
hardburlyboogerman writes: "This was relayed to me by a friend,but this video show a direct simple solution to the massive Gulf oil spill.Video at http://www.wimp.com/solutionoil/"
Submission + - Toyota Partners With Tesla to Make Electric Cars (businessweek.com)
x_IamSpartacus_x writes: Business week has a story about Toyota putting $50 million into Tesla and Tesla buying a Toyota factory in California to make electric cars in the USA. Toyota had to close the factory because of its struggling business in the States but Tesla will be reopening the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont, California, known as NUMMI. “This seems like a good deal for both parties, especially Toyota, from being able to avoid the political fallout from shutting NUMMI down to being able to offer a new electric vehicle with just a low initial investment cost,” said Jeremy Anwyl, Chief Executive Officer at auto industry researcher Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, California. The tie-up brings Toyota, the world’s biggest seller of hybrid autos, together with Tesla, the only company now selling U.S. highway-legal battery-powered cars. Electric-car technology has been supported by U.S. policy makers including President Barack Obama as a way to reduce the nation’s oil use and dependence on foreign energy sources.
Comment Digital Camera (Score 1) 235
Use a digital camera. It doesn't even have to be super high MP. Just stitch the images together.
