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Hardware

Submission + - What if the transistor never existed? (pcauthority.com.au) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It was never going to be possible to miniaturise the valves and relays of the 1940s to a point where a device that fits in your pocket could contain a radio transmitter, two radio receivers, a couple of cameras and a computer to control it – the modern smartphone. The technology that made this possible – and much, much else besides — is the transistor. This article makes the argument that if there’s one device without which our lives would be completely different, it’s the transistor, as well as listing 99 other technologies that arguably changed the world.
IT

Submission + - Disputes over company pages on FaceBook (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by RockDoctor
RockDoctor writes: The Beeb are reporting a rather complex case with potentially quite deep implications for social media.

The case stretches back to the end of the First World War, when the well-established German drug company Merck was split up by the victorious powers, leaving a German rum company (Merck KGaA) and a multinational (Merck & Co). Both companies still exist, and as the preceding links show, have managed to deal with the potential "namespace" collisions on the general Internet.

Merck KGaA entered into an "agreement" (by implication, a contract) with Facebook to use the page http://www.facebook.com/Merck in 2010, and they were getting some use out of the page, needing to get administrative rights for several employees. So far, so good ; Merck KGaA are obviously relatively savvy to how the Internet works and have done "the right thing" (including, from a typical-Slashdot-user's IT-worker-friendly perspective, assigning a budget and staff to this part of their IT and internet presence).

But on October 11, 2011, Merck KGaA's staff found that the page now pointed to content from their competitors Merck & Co, and that they had lost administrative control of the page.

So, what is going on? Well, it's not clear. The staff at Facebook are not responding in any meaningful sense (according to the Beeb's report). There are a number of possible scenarios where genuine mistakes have been made, or seemingly-reasonable policies have had unintended consequences While researching for TFS (This Fucking Summary) I originally got to the Merck KGaA website by guessing "merck.de" , at which point I got a redirect ; which is what you'd expect. Equally I got to Merck & Co by guessing at [drum roll] merck.com ; which is again what you'd expect to happen. This reflects the essential separation of the .de and .com TLDs.

In effect Facebook has itself become an important TLD. So collisions in this new namespace are to be expected. And what policies Facebook applies to resolve namespace disputes is a matter of general interest.
Earth

Submission + - Earthscraper Takes Sustainable Design Underground

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The "Earthscraper," a 65-story, 82,000-square-foot inverted pyramid beneath Mexico City takes a new approach to escalating megacity problems like population growth, urban sprawl, preserving open space, and conserving energy and water, promising to turn the modern high-rise, quite literally, on its head. The proposed building will be located at the Zocalo, Mexico City’s major public plaza one of the few sizable open spaces left in the city of 9 million. "It's a massive empty plot, which makes it the ideal site for our program," says architect Esteban Suarez. The Earthscraper concept begins with a glass roof replacing the opaque stone surface of the Zocalo preserving the open space and civic uses of the Zocalo, while allowing natural lighting to flow downward into all floors of the tapering structure through clear or translucent core walls. The first 10 stories would hold a museum dedicated to the city's history and its artifacts. "We'd almost certainly find plenty of interesting relics during the dig — dating right back to the Aztecs who built their own pyramids here," says Suarez adding that the design incorporates a system of gardens occurring roughly every 10 stories, to help generate fresh air. One thing working in Earthscraper’s favor is there are strict laws that prevent building upwards in this part of Mexico City, but no laws for building down. “They will have to develop new laws to stop this from happening,” says Chief Design Officer Emilio Barja. “I hope they don’t [find the] time to do that.”"

Comment May she live in her fantasy worlds forever. (Score 5, Insightful) 181

by spokenoise (#38145914) Attached to: Anne McCaffrey Passes Away At 85
Being a geeky kid at school I often sought sanctuary in the library where someone cool wanted us to have an alternative to the same dry stuff and regularly donated great boxes of sci-fi and fantasy. These helped me through that era of life far more than anything else. The Dragonriders were and still are a favourite that I look forward to sharing with my kids. Rest IN Peace Anne.
Medicine

Submission + - Human Blood Protein (HSA) from GMO Rice (google.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: Wuhan University researchers working with the National Research Council of Canada and the Center for Functional Genomics at the University at Albany have announced that they have genetically modified rice to produce a medically useful protein chemically identical to human serum albumin. This protein is used to treat burns, traumatic shock and liver disease at a global demand rate of 500 tons each year. Normally this would be extracted from blood donations but now you can just grow rice and extract it at a rate of 2.75 grams of protein per kilogram of rice. After testing on rats with liver cirrhosis, the same response was shown as the protein from blood. This is important for China after a spike in demand and lack of supply lead to fake albumin medicine flowing through Chinese hospitals. Worried about these GMO crops cross pollinating regular crops? The researchers referred to a study indicating "a very low frequency (0.04-0.80%) of pollen-mediated gene flow between genetically modified (GM) rice and adjacent non-GM plants." Nature has a slightly more detailed article with a reference to the peer review publication.
Cloud

Submission + - Seven Thinkers Who Shaped the Cloud (txchnologist.com)

Submitted by ambermichelle
ambermichelle writes: To paraphrase Victor Hugo: “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” Well, cloud computing’s time may have finally come, now that its wispy emanations have found concrete expression in Apple’s iCloud, Dropbox and Amazon’s Web Services — to name just a few popular services.

But the broad outlines of the cloud have been present, or at least postulated, for at least a half century. Artificial Intelligence pioneer John McCarthy was talking about the “utility model” for computing back in 1961 and Canadian Douglas Parkhill articulated key elements of the cloud in his 1966 book, “The Challenge of the Computer Utility.” Leaning heavily on those more knowledgeable than me in all things cloud, here is a list of some of the most influential people in the development of the idea of the cloud.
AMD

Submission + - AMD Breaks Processor Clock Speed Record Again (hothardware.com) 2

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "The first time AMD's FX-8150 processor found itself in the Guinness Book of World Records, it took a team of AMD-sponsored overclockers (and a whole lot of liquid helium) working together to push the processor to 8429.38GHz. And this time? Andre Yang, working by himself, used the same model chip to break the record set in September and set a new one, which now stands at 8461.51GHz. Yang accomplished the feat with a healthy dose of liquid nitrogen and an eye popping 1.992V core voltage. He used a base clockspeed of 272.95MHz with a 31x multiplier."
Technology

Submission + - Creepiest Tech Around

Submitted by adeelarshad82
adeelarshad82 writes: Doubt that technology ever creeps anyone out but in the spirit of Halloween a recently published article rounds up some of the creepiest technologies at play these days. The article talks about gadgets like the Kiss Transmission Device which requires users to make out with a machine to services like Apple's highly disturbing location tracking application.
Printer

Submission + - Paper-based explosives sensor made using an inkjet (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: Detecting explosives is a vital task both on the battlefield and off, but it requires equipment that, if sensitive enough to detect explosives traces in small quantities, is often expensive, delicate and difficult to construct. Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute have developed a method of manufacturing highly sensitive explosives detectors incorporating RF components using Ink-jet printers. This holds the promise of producing large numbers of detectors at lower cost using local resources.
Digital

Submission + - Madagascan villagers get mobile access (telecoms.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new project in Madagascar helps villagers to share a handset using unique IDs to help the poorer sections of society gain access to mobile technology
Facebook

Submission + - McDonald's Facebook scam: Happy Birthday to...Dona (blogspot.com)

Submitted by stormdesign
stormdesign writes: I'm sure a McDonald's themed Facebook scam seemed like a good idea to somebody at the time, but wow is this one all over the place. It's your typical "Click here to Like", "Post a spam comment saying how good this is" then "do one of these offers" affair. However, there are many things about it that don't make any sense starting with the URL: macdonalds(dot)in.

Comment Re:More nostalgia goggles (Score 1) 401

by spokenoise (#37727778) Attached to: Who Killed Videogames?
Game: 'Valkarie is about to die' Me: 'shit shit shit shit where are more coins.....' Loved the game- it was the first game you *could* pay to continue rather than dying and having to restart. Would love the arcade version @ home!

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