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Submission + - Octopus observed using tools for 1st time (cosmosmagazine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Australian scientists yesterday revealed that a species of octopus has been observed carrying coconut shells as armour — the first case of an invertebrate using tools.
Bug

Submission + - Driver stuck on cruise control for 30 minutes (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Benaiah
Benaiah writes: In something seemingly out of a Keanu Reeves movie, an Australian driver was unable to make his freeway exit when his car failed to slow down as he applied the brake. For those of you too lazy to RTFA he tried everything to stop the car including turning off the ignition but to no avail, the computer was in control. Police at one point escorted him down the wrong side of the road at 80km/h(50mp/h) until he eventually was able to stop it by bringing by repeatedly stepping on the brake pedal. Ford Australia spokeswoman Sinead McAlary said there has been a recall on that make of car but for a different reason.

Submission + - Boeing's 787 Dreamliner Takes Flight (reuters.com)

Submitted by Bordgious
Bordgious writes: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has taken its first flight after two years of delays. The four hour test kicks off another nine months of airborne testing. 840 of them have been ordered since 2004.

Comment Skeptical about significant increase Caloric Needs (Score 5, Informative) 425

by axjms (#30372864) Attached to: Super Strength Substance Approaching Human Trials

While true that muscle burns more calories at rest and that a more heavier, more muscular person needs more calories than a lighter, thinner person I think most slashdotters are overestimating the effects. I mean the little hulk kid is growing too. All toddlers eat like little monsters. Anyway, a pound of muscle at rest burns 35 to 50 calories a day, so up to 500 calories for ten pounds of new muscle per day. So lets do some quick math. The average American male is made up of about 42% skeletal muscle, which at 185 lbs that is roughly 75 pounds of muscle. If you increase the muscle mass by 40% (Yes, I RTFA) that is about 30 lbs of new muscle. Pretty awesome when you think about it, but that still only burns an extra 1500 calories a day max. Most Americans overeat that amount anyway. I don't think anyone would be starving, they would just be harder and fitter. A big mac has over 500 calories to put that into perspective.

I think a more interesting question is what do you do if this is readily available, cheap and easy to use? Would you do it? What if you are an active amateur cyclist working your way up the local ranks? They guys are gonna love you coming in with your extra 30 lbs of muscle and storm by them up the local hill. Do we start over with all the record books? This isn't exactly roids but it isn't exactly a tough training plan that you earned your fitness with either.

Comment Workout over your lunch break. (Score 2, Informative) 865

by axjms (#28547801) Attached to: Staying In Shape vs. a Busy IT Job Schedule?

Do what I do. Bring a workout bag and run or crossfit during your lunch hour. Find a shower in your building or nearby and use it. Or use wet paper towels. Don't laugh it works. Eat your lunch back at your workstation after you workout. I was in a similar situation to you about two years ago and was slowly turning into a slug. I made friends with some one in the building who ran every day rain, snow, or shine. I hurt for about two months but it got better.

Wait, you say you don't have a lunch hour, work in a city can't run, or a myriad of other excuses. It's all B.S. and I used them all too. If you are working 60 hours a week and being productive you get at least an hour break in there unless you work in a gulag.

It's worth it, and life is short. I wouldn't trade the fitness I have earned for just about anything.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - The coder behind the mortgage meltdown. 2

Submitted by axjms
axjms writes: New York Magazine has a confessional/abdication from the man who wrote the software that turns mortgage into bonds and those nasty little things called CMOs. An interesting first person account from a coder whose work reached far beyond what he or anyone could have anticipated.
Biotech

Submission + - A 'nano' cancer monitor implant

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "It is very difficult for doctors to measure the evolution of tumors and if chemotherapy is actually working on cancer patients. This is why MIT researchers have developed a minuscule device that can be implanted directly into a tumor and containing nanoparticles designed to test for different substances associated with tumor growth. As the implant can stay inside the patient for a long time, it will help doctors to see if a treatment is working. This could avoid repetitive MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) exams. But the implant has to go through extensive preclinical testing before being approved. Read more for additional details and several images showing how these nanoparticles will be used."
Games

Submission + - XFPS 360 Released

Submitted by Croakyvoice
Croakyvoice writes: Fans of Xbox 360 First Person Shooters can now play FPS Games the way god intended with the release of the XFPS 360, "The XFPS 360 is here to present Xbox 360 gamers with the ultimate way to play FPS titles — with a Mouse & Keyboard! That's right one technologically advanced converting device which intelligently re-maps controls onto either a standard PS/2 or USB keyboard and mouse. Its pure plug and play heaven from the word 'go', the transition from PC FPS guru to Xbox 360 FPS champ is virtually seamless. The XFPS 360 is suitable for gamers of any skill level, 'newbie's' can at last score their first frag and 'pro's' can fire out those virtual bullets in a style Rambo himself would admire."
Communications

Submission + - The world's largest online forum?

Submitted by necz0r
necz0r writes: Today it's very common to be part of some absolutely massive online community, whether it be Slashdot, Digg, Something Awful or Myspace. But which one is the largest forum? According to Wikipedia 2channel is thought to be the largest, and according to Big Boards, Gaia Online is it — ranking far above deviantART's 3.5 million members. Do the Slashdot users have a qualified big on which is the largest forum on the Internet?
Books

Submission + - Google Book Scanning Efforts Spark Debate

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/12/20/AR2006122000213_pf.html

Google Book-Scanning Efforts Spark Debate

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; 5:17 AM

SAN FRANCISCO — Already facing a legal challenge for alleged copyright infringement, Google Inc.'s crusade to build a digital library has triggered a philosophical debate with an alternative project promising better online access to the world's books, art and historical documents.

The latest tensions revolve around Google's insistence on chaining the digital content to its Internet-leading search engine and the nine major libraries that have aligned themselves with the Mountain View-based company.

A splinter group called the Open Content Alliance favors a less restrictive approach to prevent mankind's accumulated knowledge from being controlled by a commercial entity, even if it's a company like Google that has embraced "Don't Be Evil" as its creed.

"You are talking about the fruits of our civilization and culture. You want to keep it open and certainly don't want any company to enclose it," said Doron Weber, program director of public understanding of science and technology for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The New York-based foundation on Wednesday will announce a $1 million grant to the Internet Archive, a leader in the Open Content Alliance, to help pay for digital copies of collections owned by the Boston Public Library, the Getty Research Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The works to be scanned include the personal library of John Adams, the nation's second president, and thousands of images from the Metropolitan Museum.

The Sloan grant also will be used to scan a collection of anti-slavery material provided by the John Hopkins University Libraries and documents about the Gold Rush from a library at the University of California at Berkeley.

The deal represents a coup for Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, a strident critic of the controls that Google has imposed on its book-scanning initiative.

"They don't want the books to appear in anyone else's search engine but their own, which is a little peculiar for a company that says its mission is to make information universally accessible," Kahle said.

Google's restrictions on its digital book copies stem in part from the company's decision to scan copyrighted material without explicit permission. Google wants to ensure only small excerpts from the copyrighted material appear online _ snippets that the company believes fall under "fair use" protections of U.S. law.

A group of authors and publishers nevertheless have sued Google for copyright infringement in a year-old case that is slowly wending its way through federal court.

In contrast, the Open Content Alliance won't scan copyrighted content unless it receives the permission of the copyright owner. Most of the roughly 100,000 books that the alliance has scanned so far are works whose copyrights have expired.

Google hasn't said how many digital copies it has made since announcing its ambitious project two years ago. The company will only acknowledge that it is scanning more than 3,000 books per day _ a rate that translates into more than 1 million annually. Google also is footing a bill expected to exceed $100 million make the digital copies _ a commitment that appeals to many libraries.

The non-copyrighted material in Google's search engine can be downloaded and printed out _ a feature that the company believes mirrors the goals of the Open Content Alliance.

Although the Open Content Alliance depends on the Internet Archive to host its digital copies, other search engines are being encouraged to index the material too.

Both Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which run the two largest search engines behind Google, belong to the alliance. The group has more than 60 members, consisting mostly of libraries and universities.

None of Google's contracts prevent participating libraries from making separate scanning arrangements with other organizations, said company spokeswoman Megan Lamb.

"We encourage the digitization of more books by more organizations," Lamb said. "It's good for readers, publishers, authors and libraries."

The motives behind Google's own book-scanning initiative aren't entirely altruistic. The company wants to stock its search engine with unique material to give people more reasons to visit its Web site, the hub of an advertising network that generated most of its $2 billion profit through the first nine months of this year.

Despite its ongoing support for the Open Content Alliance, Microsoft earlier this month launched a book-scanning project to compete with Google. Like Google, Microsoft won't allow its digital copies to be indexed by other search engines.

While Kahle says he was disappointed by Microsoft's recent move, he remains more worried about Google's book-scanning initiative because it has gathered so much attention and support.

All but one of the libraries contributing content to Google so far are part of universities. They are: Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Oxford, California, Virginia, Wisconsin-Madison, and Complutense of Madrid. The New York Public Library also is relying on Google to scan some of its books.

The University of California, which also belongs to the Open Content Alliance, has no regrets about allowing Google to scan at least 2.5 million of the books in its libraries. "We felt like we could get more from being a partner with Google than by not being a partner," said university spokeswoman Jennifer Colvin.

But some of the participating libraries may have second thoughts if Google's system isn't set up to recognize some of their digital copies, said Gregory Crane, a Tufts University professor who is currently studying the difficulty accessing some digital content.

For instance, Tufts worries Google's optical reader won't recognize some books written in classical Greek. If the same problem were to crop up with a digital book in the Open Content Alliance, Crane thinks it will be more easily addressed because the group is allowing outside access to the material.

Google "may end up aiming for the lowest common denominator and not be able to do anything really deep" with the digital books, Crane said.
© 2006 The Associated Press

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