Journal Journal: Stigltz slams intellectual property 449
Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who was fired by the World Bank http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E._Stiglitz blasted drug patents in an editorial in the British Medical Journal http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/333/7582/1279 "Scrooge and intellectual property rights". Knowledge is like a candle; when one candle lights another it does not diminish it
Upgrading Hard Drive in Sony HDR-SR1 HDD Camcorder 69
clarkbox2 writes "Here is an interesting page detailing the cracking open of a $1400 camcorder just released by Sony. The pictures and text describe the opening of the outer shell, revealing the 1.8" Toshiba hard drive within. The HDR-SR1 ships with a tiny 30gb hard drive, allowing for four hours of recording in full HD. Great pictures showing the steps to recording bliss ... now where to get a battery capable of lasting for 12+ hours of full HD video?"
Researchers Develop Photonic Processors 61
TheCybernator writes to mention a New Scientist story about scientists who are developing a light-based processor by actually storing and delaying photons. These 'optical buffers' may one day be used to make super-fast microchips based on light instead of electrons. From the article: "A decade from now ... there [may] be not seven cores but hundreds on a chip ... Connecting these cores using light could solve this problem. Until now, the lack of optical buffers has been a key roadblock to these kinds of light connections. The way information is transmitted means that buffers must hold packets of data while a router decides where they are to be sent. Buffers are also needed to delay optical pulses - so they do not collide at switching points - and to synchronise streams of data coming from different places."
Submission + - Custom PSP Firmware enables DIY PSX Game Images
An anonymous reader writes: A hacker by the name of Dark_Alex has released new custom PSP firmware which enables the loading of user's own Playstation 1 game dumps on the official PSP Playsation 1 emulator. Once the firmware is installed, gamers will no longer be limited to what's available to purchase from the official Playstation store. Gamers can now back up and use their entire Playstation 1 game collection on the official Sony emulator!
Inhabited Island Vanishes Forever Underwater 408
PhreakOfTime writes "For the first time the rising ocean levels have washed away an inhabited island. Lohachara island was at one point home to some 10,000 people. It, along with several other spits of land near the Indian mainland, is now permanently underwater. From the article: ' As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities. Eight years ago ... the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented.'"
