ottffssent - Slashdot User

Initial Reviews of Google Wave; Neat, But Noisy 336

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 01, 2009 @05:28PM from the here's-yer-firehose dept.

bonch writes "Reviews of Google Wave are out, and opinions are that it has potential as a development platform but is noisy to use for real-time communication. Robert Scoble calls it overhyped, claiming it's useful for little more than personal IM or small-scale project collaboration. He complains about the noisiness of tracking dozens of people chatting him at once in real-time and calls trying to use it a 'productivity killer' compared to simpler mediums like email and Twitter."

Swine Flu Kills Obese People Disproportionately 661

Posted by timothy on Sunday July 12, 2009 @05:11PM from the super-size-someone-else-please dept.

Philip K Dickhead writes "Bloomberg is reporting that the World Health Organization discovered a single, surprising characteristic that's emerged among swine flu victims who become severely ill: They are all fat. Infected people with a body mass index greater than 40 suffer respiratory complications that are harder to treat and can be fatal. The virus appears to be on a collision course with the obesity epidemic. WHO officials are gathering statistics to confirm and understand this development. 'It's very likely that if we went back retrospectively and looked at people who did poorly during seasonal flu, what would shake out is that obesity would be one of the risks.' Fat cells secrete chemicals that cause chronic, low-level inflammation that can hamper the body's immune response and narrow the airways, says Tim Armstrong, a doctor working in the WHO's chronic diseases department in Geneva."

Nanopillar Solar May Cost 10x Less Than Silicon 199

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday July 06, 2009 @12:53PM from the hot-off-the-presses dept.

Al writes "A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new kind of flexible solar cell that could be far cheaper to make than conventional silicon photovoltaics. The cells consist of an array of 500-nanometer-high cadmium sulfide pillars printed on top of an aluminum foil — the material surrounding the pillars absorbs light and releases electrons, while the pillars themselves transport the electrons to an electrical circuit. The closely packed pillars trap light between them, helping the surrounding material absorb more. This means the electrons also have a very short distance to travel through the pillars, so there are fewer chances of their getting trapped at defects and its possible to use low-quality, less expensive materials. '"You won't know the cost until you do this using a roll-to-roll process," says lead researchers Ali Javey. "But if you can do it, the cost could be 10 times less than what's used to make [crystalline] silicon panels."'"

Comment Re:Isn't this a little overkill? (Score 1) 436

by ottffssent on Tuesday June 30, 2009 @11:57PM (#28538413) Attached to: Firefox 3.5 Reviewed; Draws Praise For HTML5, Speed

Sure I leave my browser running all the time. FF runs from a few minutes after I log in until Windows gets flaky and slow weeks-to-months later. Browser tabs are a great to-do list, with context and history. Why would I ever close my browser? 5 seconds to load it up (or 3 minutes, if it's restoring my ~100 tabs) is a waste of time, and RAM is cheap.

Device Reads Messages From Surface of the Brain 156

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday June 03, 2009 @07:07PM from the I-want-to-know-what-you're-thinking dept.

Al writes "Technology Review has a story about a start-up company that has developed a more-accurate and less-invasive way to read a patient's thoughts. Neurolutions, based in St Louis, has developed a small implanted device that translates signals recorded from the surface of the brain into computer commands. The device, which is less invasive than implants and more accurate than scalp electrodes, uses a grid of electrodes placed directly on the surface of the brain to monitor electrical activity. This technology is currently used to find the origin of seizures in patients with uncontrolled epilepsy before surgery. But the company says it could also help paralyzed patients control a computer and perhaps prosthetic limbs using their thoughts. Tests involving more than 20 patients have shown that people can quickly learn to move a cursor on a computer screen using their brain activity."

Spirit Stuck In Soft Soil On Mars 160

Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 12, 2009 @09:20AM from the it's-covered-in-jam dept.

cheros writes "NASA reports that the Spirit Mars lander is presently stuck in soft soil. The lander's wheels are halfway sunk into the soil and they are planning simulation tests to see if they can get it out again. I hope they can get it out of there because it's picking up enough new energy to operate; however, it only has 5 wheels left to get around on — one of the wheels hasn't been working for years. Fingers crossed."

Comment Re:projection (Score 3, Insightful) 596

by ottffssent on Sunday October 19, 2008 @06:38PM (#25435101) Attached to: How Much Storage Will You Use 10 Years From Now?

The people who can't tell the difference because of biological reasons is quite small. The others don't have a 1080p-capable display, aren't watching 1080p content, or have had it maliciously compressed somewhere along the way.

Further, it's not just resolution. Sure, resolution is easy to sell, but can we maybe have >24 or 30 fps? Please? Pretty please? I don't need to see every pore on an actor's face until the camera moves and then be teleported back to the 1950s with choppy pans and zooms.

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