Comment Re:Special 301 list ?? (Score 1) 104
I've grew up on the east coast, lived on the west coast for several years and have been in Quebec for the past 3. Thanks for the chuckle!
Virus-Detecting "Lab On a Chip" Developed At BYU 71
natharward writes "A new development in nano-level diagnostic tests has been applied as a lab on a chip that successfully screened viruses entirely by their size. The chip's traps are size-specific, which means even tiny concentrations of viruses or other particles won't escape detection. For medicine, this development is promising for future lab diagnostics that could detect viruses before symptoms kick in and damage begins, well ahead of when traditional lab tests are able to catch them. Aaron Hawkins, the BYU professor leading the work, says his team is now gearing up to make chips with multiple, progressively smaller slots, so that a single sample can be used to screen for particles of varying sizes. One could fairly simply determine which proteins or viruses are present based on which walls have particles stacked against them. After this is developed, Hawkins says, 'If we decided to make these things in high volume, I think within a year it could be ready.'"
Google Shooting For Smartphone Universal Translator 178
nikki4 writes to tell us that in giving some major improvement tweaks to its existing voice recognition tool for the Smartphone, Google is aiming for new translator software that will provide instant translation of foreign languages. "The company has already created an automatic system for translating text on computers, which is being honed by scanning millions of multi-lingual websites and documents. So far it covers 52 languages, adding Haitian Creole last week. Google also has a voice recognition system that enables phone users to conduct web searches by speaking commands into their phones rather than typing them in. Now it is working on combining the two technologies to produce software capable of understanding a caller’s voice and translating it into a synthetic equivalent in a foreign language."
Pen Still Mightier Than the Laptop For Notetaking? 569
theodp writes "While waiting to see if the iPad is a game-changer, this CS student continues to take class notes with pen and paper while her fellow students embrace netbooks and notebooks. Why? In addition to finding the act of writing helps cement the lecture material in her mind, there's also the problem of keeping up with the professor: '[While taking notes on a laptop] every five minutes I found myself cursing at not being able to copy the diagram on the board.' So, when it comes to education or business, do you take notes on a notepad/netbook, or stick with good old-fashioned handwriting? Got any tips for making the transition, or arguments for staying the course?"
Dinosaur Feather Color Discovered 219
anzha writes "Do you remember being a kid and told we'd never know what colors the dinosaurs were? For at least some, that's no longer true. Scientists working in the UK and China have closely examined the fossils of multiple theropods and actually found the colors and patterns that were present in the fossilized proto-feathers. So far, the answer is orange, black and white in banded and other patterns. The work also thoroughly thrashes the idea that fossils might not be feathers, but collagen fibers instead. If this holds up, Birds Are Dinosaurs. Period. And colorful!"
Unpacking the Secrets of ACTA 169
An anonymous reader writes "As negotiations in the 7th round of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement talks continue this week in Mexico, Michael Geist has been
posting a comprehensive guide to the secret copyright treaty. He
started with a review of the substance of
the treaty, then posted links to all the leaked
documentation, and has now unpacked the
secrecy associated with the talks, including why governments have
made it secret, the public concern, and why this isn't business as
usual."
PlayStation 3 Hack Released Online 164
itwbennett writes "On Friday, George Hotz, best known for cracking Apple's iPhone, said he had managed to hack the PlayStation 3 after five weeks of work with 'very simple hardware cleverly applied, and some not so simple software.' Days later, he has now released the exploit, saying in a blog post that he wanted to see what others could do with it. 'Hopefully, this will ignite the PS3 scene, and you will organize and figure out how to use this to do practical things, like the iPhone when jailbreaks were first released,' he wrote. 'I have a life to get back to and can't keep working on this all day and night.'"
Reader MBCook points out an article written by Nate Lawson "explaining how the hack bypasses the hypervisor to gain unrestricted access to memory. It seems the trick is to use a pulse to glitch the hypervisor while it's unmapping memory, leaving a favorable page table entry."
Comment Re:GSM Providers (Score 1) 238
I couldn't have said it better. Hopefully with the recently opened new market/competition we'll begin to see some short term changes. I've worked in the industry and still have several friends in both of the large carriers.
I'm still mad at Bell for their throttling; I was hoping for a stronger response from our government (and people) regarding the issue.
Cheers,
Comment It's interesting but.. (Score 1) 432
I'd be curious to see how deep the cannon needs to be. Being at the equator you'd also have to ship the 'merchandise' to it and then find a way to load it into the cannon. I can't image it would be trivial to load this cannon. Simply dropping it down the canon itself would be one personality.
I'm also very curious how the necessary energy would be created to fire this container. I'm all for anything that helps open up the travel off this rock but the one provided link is a little slim on details.
Comment Re:Is it worth it? (Score 1) 86
I believe the real question at hand is who owns the passage once it opens up. It's not necessarily all the petrol or natural resources that will be available which is the concern. The shipping lane(s) opening up would mean new naval routes with a high volume of traffic (and pollution).
I'm not up to par with my maritime law (and don't have the time to look it up) but I believe a country 'owns' the water near it's borders up to a certain distance. There are a few countries currently stating that the land/passage belongs to them because Canada hasn't had people 'living on it' and thus it doesn't belong to them.
This sub is just to promote the "yes this is Canada's territory and look we are doing stuff here", but this is slashdot I haven't read the article. There have been rumors for years of Inuit and other northern people spotting subs breaking through the ice in the Canadian north. I've always wondered if those were true.
Slashdot's Disagree Mail
100
Ernest Hemingway's micro-story, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn," is one of my favorite examples of how less is sometimes more. Sometimes a few sentences say it all; you don't always need a hundred pages to convey an idea. Most of the mail I get is brief and to the point. Others are just brief. To be honest, I appreciate the short, crazy email more than the long rants, and they can be just as funny. Read below for this week's mail snippets.
Submission + - Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation
Some1too writes: My dream of owning a levitating beanbag is one stop closer to reality:
"Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by physicists.
Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation ... In theory the discovery could be used to levitate a person" I'm at work and unable to find more detailed links.
