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Biotech

The Passenger Pigeon: A Century of Extinction 108

Posted by samzenpus from the coming-soon dept.
An anonymous reader writes On September 1, 1914, Martha, the last passenger pigeon was found dead in her aviary at the Cincinnati Zoo. When the first European settlers arrived in North America at least one of every four birds on the continent was a passenger pigeon, making them the most numerous birds in North America, and perhaps in the world. From the article: "But extinction apparently doesn't ring with the finality it used to. Researchers are working to 'de-extinct' the bird. They got their hands on some of the 1,500 or so known passenger pigeon specimens and are hoping to resurrect the species through some Jurassic Park-like genetic engineering. Instead of using frog DNA to fill out the missing parts of a dinosaur's genetic code as in Michael Crichton's story, the real-life 'bring-back-the-passenger pigeon' researchers are using the bird's closest relative, the band-tailed pigeon.

Comment Re:Linux will NEVER be a Desktop - Every Day OS. (Score 1) 727

by orasio (#47719545) Attached to: Linus Torvalds: 'I Still Want the Desktop'

I use Windows 8 at one of my computers at home.
Those instructions don't work there. You need to do some additional steps before, to summon the "Open Network Center" option.

In any case, what I was responding to the troll was not that Ubuntu has a great magic and beautiful way of changing the IP, only that it doesn't require a console.
Like you explained, in most Windows versions, the process is more or less the same, which was my point.

Comment Re:Linux will NEVER be a Desktop - Every Day OS. (Score 2, Informative) 727

by orasio (#47715417) Attached to: Linus Torvalds: 'I Still Want the Desktop'

Feeding the shill/troll here...

Linux is was not, and is not meant to be anything but a hobby OS for someones spare time, or a companies spare time that they can develop a UI for and deploy their own flavors (android, Red Hat, Ubuntu, etc.) Linux is far too complicated for the everyday user to understand. Even something as simple as entering a static IP address sometimes requires going back to the terminal windows (command prompt) and setting it the hard way. And THAT's the problem with Linux! It was never meant to be a GUI OS just like it's parent, UNIX.

That's why desktop users use Ubuntu.
1 - Open network meny by clicking network indicator at the top bar of the desktop
2 - Choose "edit connections"
3 - Choose the connection you want to edit - click "edit"
4 - Click "IPv4 settings"
5 - Change IP

Please, remind me how that's done in windows 8.1. Feel free to explain differences with windows 8, 7 , XP.

The drivers for Linux SUCK and that's because it's an open source OS and there's no one "single" distro.

Just like any other OS. Supported hardware works, and in this case, backwards compatibility is maintained. Unsupported hardware, shockingly, doesn't work.

Comment Re:It's not a kernel problem (Score 1) 727

by orasio (#47715349) Attached to: Linus Torvalds: 'I Still Want the Desktop'

Give us a nice, simple, standard GUI without a bazillion customisations, and with the ability to to just install an app from the GUI and run it from the GUI, and Linux might actually work on the desktop.

You can find all of that at http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/ .
Millions of people are already using it, for years now.
The only challenge it might have, is that it complies with the simplicity and ease of use you demand. But that's for hardcore users to care about, and they have alternatives.
Robotics

Humans Need Not Apply: a Video About the Robot Revolution and Jobs 304

Posted by Soulskill from the go-away-or-i-will-replace-you-with-a-very-large-robot-that-breaks-things dept.
Paul Fernhout writes: This explanatory compilation video by CGP Grey called "Humans Need Not Apply" on structural unemployment caused by robotics and AI (and other automation) is like the imagery playing in my mind when I think about the topic based on previous videos and charts I've seen. I saw it first on the econfuture site by Martin Ford, author of The Lights in the Tunnel. It is being discussed on Reddit, and people there have started mentioning a "basic income" as one possible response. While I like the basic income idea, I also collect other approaches in an essay called Beyond A Jobless Recovery: A heterodox perspective on 21st century economics. Beyond a basic income for the exchange economy, those possible approaches include gift economy, subsistence production, planned economy, and more — including many unpleasant alternatives like expanding prisons or fighting wars as we are currently doing.

Marshall Brain's writings like Robotic Nation and Manna have inspired my own work. I made my own video version of the concept around 2010, as a parable called "The Richest Man in the World: A parable about structural unemployment and a basic income." (I also pulled together a lot of links to robot videos in 2009.) It's great to see more informative videos on this topic. CGP Grey's video is awesome in the way he puts it all together.

Submission + - New Type-C USB connector ready for production (extremetech.com)

Submitted by orasio
orasio writes: One of the most frustrating first world problems ever, trying to connect an upside down Micro-USB connector, is bound to dissappear soon.
Type-C connector for USB is declared ready for production by the USB Promoter Group (http://www.usb.org/press/USB_Type-C_Specification_Announcement_Final.pdf).
China

Chinese Researchers' 'Terror Cam' Could Scan Crowds, Looking for Stress 146

Posted by timothy from the what-if-you're-stressed-about-government-surveillance? dept.
concertina226 (2447056) writes Scientists at China's Southwest University in Chongqing are working on a new type of camera that takes Big Brother to a whole new level – the camera is meant to detect highly stressed individuals so that police can catch them before they commit a crime. The camera makes use of hyperspectral imaging, i.e. a 'stress sensor' that measures the amount of oxygen in blood across visible areas of the body, such as the face. Chinese authorities are deeply concerned about the recent spate of deadly attacks occurring in public places, such as the mass stabbing attack by eight knife-wielding extremists in the city of Kunming, Yunnan in March, which left 29 civilians dead and over 140 others injured.
Businesses

Comcast Drops Spurious Fees When Customer Reveals Recording 368

Posted by timothy from the keep-the-recording-handy dept.
An anonymous reader writes In yet another example of the quality of Comcast's customer service, a story surfaced today of a Comcast customer who was over-charged for a service that was never provided. At first, the consumer seemed to be on the losing end of a customer service conversation, with Comcast insisting that the charges were fair. But then, the consumer whipped out a recording of a previous conversation that he had with another Comcast representative in which not only was the consumer promised that he wouldn't be charged for services not rendered, but the reason why was explained. Suddenly Comcast conceded, and the fees were dropped. But most telling of all, the Comcast rep implied that she only dropped them because he had taped his previous interaction with Comcast customer service. I wish I had recordings of every conversation that I've ever had with AT&T, the USPS, and the landlord I once had in Philadelphia. Lifehacker posted last year a few tips on the practicality of recording phone calls, using Google Voice, a VoIP service, or a dedicated app. Can anyone update their advice by recommending a good Android app (or iOS, for that matter) designed specifically to record sales and service calls, complete with automated notice?

Comment Re:Strength (Score 1) 62

by orasio (#47559405) Attached to: 3-D Printing Comes To Amazon

You can print in a plethora of different materials; this includes metals and extremely hard plastics.

The strength and martial properties of medals comes from the arrangement of the crystal lattices. These are things that 3D printing cannot do.

These are things that 3D printing doesn't do maybe. But most certaintly it is feasible. And once that's achieved, you will be able to create metals with a la carte properties.

Comment Re:We have an advertising bubble... (Score 1) 154

by orasio (#47094891) Attached to: Agree or Disagree: We are in another tech bubble.

Sorry for taking so long to respond.

I agree with you, the government can do anything with info.
The thing is that if it were government itself, there would be a chance for public scrutiny, in every step of the process.
When it's a commercial entity, you will never know what happens with your data, and the government will get it secretly. You are still at risk of the government tracking you, but no one is accountable.

Comment Re:We have an advertising bubble... (Score 2) 154

by orasio (#47066179) Attached to: Agree or Disagree: We are in another tech bubble.

Of course, in general, governments want to keep tabs on things, so don't expect intrusive behavior to stop. The collected data just goes to a nation, not an ad company.

Very insightful. The good thing about governments being visibly a part of infrastructure is that we know they are powerful, and the problem with them looking into our life is very visible. Also, we have a chance for transparency.

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