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Wireless Networking

Ford's New Cars To Be Wi-Fi Hotspots 196

clang_jangle writes "Autoblog and others are reporting on Ford's planned extension to its in-vehicle SYNC multimedia systems — to enable SYNC-equipped Fords as rolling Wi-Fi hotspots. Customers would use their existing cellular USB modems, so for already equipped road warriers there would be no extra monthly charges. While there are other ways to get your car online (Autonet Mobile review here), the SYNC system does look especially simple and practical. Last year BMW made some noise about FOSS for their cars, but they seem to have since stopped talking about it. Will we see a FOSS option for automotive infotainment systems in the future?" The capabilities of SYNC even without W-Fi look potentially pretty distracting. Unless Wi-Fi is blacked out for the driver, the safety implications of this development are worrisome.
Software

Getting Through the FOSS License Minefield 96

dotancohen writes "Here's an exercise: Write a GPLed server for solving Freecell that the graphical game would communicate with using TCP/IP or a different IPC mechanism. Easy, right? Except for that pesky licensing bit. Our own Shlomi Fish gives an overview of the various options in picking up a licence for one's FOSS project, and tries to give some guidelines choosing one."
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Wi-Fi Allergy a PR Stunt

ADiamond writes: There is no Wi-Fi allergy. The English DJ claiming a Wi-Fi sensitivity chronicled in Slashdot recently, was a PR stunt to promote his new album. It would appear that the stunt was highly successful, appearing in multiple high-profile media outlets like The Sun, The Telegraph, and Fox News. The article at Ars goes on to discuss the evidence, or lack-thereof, of electromagnetic spectrum sensitivity. Apparently, these publications don't bother to verify their sources. A cursory look into the 2% statistic would have yielded no backing data.

Comment Re:Make darn sure the Feds don't mind! (Score 1) 259

A 12lb chunk of wood and metal flying at 100mph with a 14" blade spinning at 12,000rpm on the front isn't a toy. These things are model aircraft - calling them 'toys' completely trivializes the damage they can do when they hit things or, FSM forbid, people.

Don't take building and operating one of these models lightly. People have been seriously injured or even killed by them. The regulations that govern building and flying them are there for everyone's safety, and you can learn more about the U.S. regulations by going here: http://www.modelaircraft.org/

Comment Re:Storm in a very, very tiny teacup (Score 1) 672

There are two distinct types of cosmic rays - low energy ones that are sourced from the sun, and the high energy ones that are sourced from the big guys on the universal block. So yes, there are different sources for both high and low energy cosmic rays. However, for the sake of this conversation all cosmic rays are considered high energy when compared to the measly energies our colliders can produce :)

Comment Re:Well, duh! (Score 4, Interesting) 672

Heh - when you're talking about a black hole at or smaller than the size of an atomic nucleus it doesn't matter whether it's at the top of the atmosphere or at the center of the Earth. Matter at that scale is described as tenuous at best. You'd have to get somewhere like the center of the sun or denser before a collision would be anywhere near likely.

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