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Comment Re:Not impressed (Score 1) 706

by mckinleyn (#29414767) Attached to: Microsoft: Windows 7 Upgrade Can Take Nearly a Day
Two things: Your computer is either old, or underpowered. Upgrading to 4 GB of DDR2 memory is all of $50 on newegg. Speed is likely related to that particular spec.

Secondly, you said

Microsoft has to do better if they expect people to pay for their software and OS.

and I hope you were being sarcastic. Microsoft is not obligated to "do better" than taking a "couple of hours" to do an ill-advised upgrade (ALWAYS DO A FRESH INSTALL) on an old computer, and they wouldn't even be obligated to do so if they didn't own 90-plus % of the market and have people locked in to a fixed upgrade path.
Biotech

Bacteria Used To Make Radioactive Metals Inert 237

Posted by CmdrTaco from the a-million-and-one-uses dept.
Serenissima writes "Researcher Judy Wall is experimenting with bacteria that can cleanse the radioactivity from toxic areas by rendering the heavy metals into non-toxic, inert versions. The technology is not without its flaws (the bacteria can't exist in an oxygenated environment yet), but it does have the potential to cleanse some of the world's hazardous sites. From the article: 'The bacteria Wall is studying are bio-corrosives and can change the solubility of heavy metals. They can take uranium and convert it to uraninite, a nearly insoluble substance.'"
Space

Hubble Releases First Post-Upgrade Images 129

Posted by timothy from the new-prescription-much-nicer dept.
Hynee writes "As tweeted, NASA has released 10 new images, all from the new WFC3 instrument and others, including the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. Images include NGC 6302, Carina Nebula, Stephan's Quintet, Markarian 817, Abell 370, and a few others. Great looking stuff, the WFC3 has twice the resolution of the WF/PC2, on the CCD at least, if memory serves correctly. Eta Carina is a fascinating object, and there are at least two releases in this 'Early Release Observations' set." Here is a video about the new images at Hubblesite.org, and a full HubbleSite.org release page with 56 images.
Technology

Why Motivation Is Key For Artificial Intelligence 482

Posted by Soulskill from the i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream dept.
Al writes "MIT neuroscientist Ed Boyden has a column discussing the potential dangers of building super-intelligent machines without building in some sort of motivation or drive. Boyden warns that a very clever AI without a sense of purpose might very well 'realize the impermanence of everything, calculate that the sun will burn out in a few billion years, and decide to play video games for the remainder of its existence.' He also notes that the complexity and uncertainty of the universe could easily overwhelm the decision-making process of this intelligence — a problem that many humans also struggle with. Boyden will give a talk on the subject at the forthcoming Singularity Summit."

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