Comment Re:So (Score 1) 347
aye
Journal Journal: A plus five troll.
Put here for future reference
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=22890&cid=2463249
Submission + - British Co. Makes Petrol From Air (independent.co.uk)
TDyl writes: A small British company has produced the first "petrol from air" using a revolutionary technology that promises to solve the energy crisis as well as helping to curb global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Air Fuel Synthesis in Stockton-on-Tees has produced five litres of petrol since August when it switched on a small refinery that manufactures gasoline from carbon dioxide and water vapour.
The company hopes that within two years it will build a larger, commercial-scale plant capable of producing a ton of petrol a day. It also plans to produce green aviation fuel to make airline travel more carbon-neutral.
Air Fuel Synthesis in Stockton-on-Tees has produced five litres of petrol since August when it switched on a small refinery that manufactures gasoline from carbon dioxide and water vapour.
The company hopes that within two years it will build a larger, commercial-scale plant capable of producing a ton of petrol a day. It also plans to produce green aviation fuel to make airline travel more carbon-neutral.
Submission + - Microsoft Offers Advice on New IE Zero-Day (securityweek.com)
wiredmikey writes: In response to reports of a recently discovered Zero-Day vulnerability targeting versions of Internet Explorer 9 and earlier, Microsoft has confirmed the issue and has offered guidance to customers.
While a patch is developed, Microsoft says that using their EMET tool will mitigate the vulnerability. “Deploying EMET will help to prevent a malicious website from successfully exploiting the issue described in Security Advisory 2757760. EMET in action is unobtrusive and should not affect customers’ Web browsing experience,” Microsoft explained.
In addition, customers can set Internet and Intranet settings to high in order to block ActiveX and Active Scripting. Finally, customers also have the option to configure Internet Explorer to prompt before running Active Scripting or to disable Active Scripting in the Internet and local intranet security zones.
The advice to use EMET won’t work in some organizations due to compatibility issues. But if switching browsers is an option, it’s a wise alternative, and EMET does have its uses if there are no compatibility issues. So the general advice isn’t wrong, it’s just not one size fits all.
While a patch is developed, Microsoft says that using their EMET tool will mitigate the vulnerability. “Deploying EMET will help to prevent a malicious website from successfully exploiting the issue described in Security Advisory 2757760. EMET in action is unobtrusive and should not affect customers’ Web browsing experience,” Microsoft explained.
In addition, customers can set Internet and Intranet settings to high in order to block ActiveX and Active Scripting. Finally, customers also have the option to configure Internet Explorer to prompt before running Active Scripting or to disable Active Scripting in the Internet and local intranet security zones.
The advice to use EMET won’t work in some organizations due to compatibility issues. But if switching browsers is an option, it’s a wise alternative, and EMET does have its uses if there are no compatibility issues. So the general advice isn’t wrong, it’s just not one size fits all.
Submission + - Slashdot Gets Acquired as Part of $20 Million Deal (geek.net) 1
wiredmikey writes: Dice Holdings (Owner of Job sites including Dice.com) reported this morning that it has acquired Geeknet's online media business, including Slashdot and SourceForge.
"We are very pleased to find a new home for our media business, providing a platform for the sites and our media teams to thrive," said Ken Langone, Chairman of Geeknet. "With this transaction completed, we will now focus our full attention on growing ThinkGeek."
Dice Holdings acquired the business for $20 million in cash. In 2011, the online media properties generated $20 million in Revenues.
"We are very pleased to find a new home for our media business, providing a platform for the sites and our media teams to thrive," said Ken Langone, Chairman of Geeknet. "With this transaction completed, we will now focus our full attention on growing ThinkGeek."
Dice Holdings acquired the business for $20 million in cash. In 2011, the online media properties generated $20 million in Revenues.
Submission + - Eve Online Players Rename Universe To Commemorate Dead Player (themittani.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Sean Smith, Known as Vile Rat in Eve Online was killed in an attack on the US Consulate In Benghazi. While most news agencies lead with the death of the US Ambassador in the same incident the Eve Online community has rallied around Vile Rat. In the game he was a Director and Diplomat for Goonswarm Alliance, and a former member of the Council For Stellar Management. Hundreds of outposts, Starbases and Spaceships are being renamed in rememberance of Vile Rat. Even enemies of goonswarm's current campaign are honoring the passing of this hugely popular player.
Submission + - DNA Code Illuminates Rise of Brains (businessweek.com) 1
DevotedSkeptic writes: "DNA analysis of an extinct human ancestor that lived 80,000 years ago has pinpointed fundamental genes tied to the brain’s evolution, showing how genome testing is changing anthropology and archaeology along with medicine.
At least eight genes that rose to prominence in human DNA since the time of the ancient relatives, called Denisovans, affect nerve growth and language, an international team of researchers said today in the journal Science. The cognitive power conferred by these genes may have keyed the development of complex thinking skills, culture and civilization said Svante Paabo, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
“This is perhaps in the long term, to me, the most fascinating part about this; what it will tell us in the future about what makes us special in the world,” he said yesterday on a conference call.
New DNA techniques are reshaping knowledge of human evolution just as quickly as they’re sparking the development of medical tests and treatments. Using a tiny amount of material from an ancient finger bone, scientists were able to analyze the ancient ancestor’s genes as closely as those of anyone who walked into a lab today, said David Reich, a Harvard Medical School genetics professor who contributed to the study.
Almost every cell in an organism holds a complete copy its genome, the chemical code for making proteins and tissues. The Denisovan genome analyzed in the study gives a broad visual picture of the individual it came from, holding genes that predict brown hair, brown eyes and dark skin in humans."
At least eight genes that rose to prominence in human DNA since the time of the ancient relatives, called Denisovans, affect nerve growth and language, an international team of researchers said today in the journal Science. The cognitive power conferred by these genes may have keyed the development of complex thinking skills, culture and civilization said Svante Paabo, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
“This is perhaps in the long term, to me, the most fascinating part about this; what it will tell us in the future about what makes us special in the world,” he said yesterday on a conference call.
New DNA techniques are reshaping knowledge of human evolution just as quickly as they’re sparking the development of medical tests and treatments. Using a tiny amount of material from an ancient finger bone, scientists were able to analyze the ancient ancestor’s genes as closely as those of anyone who walked into a lab today, said David Reich, a Harvard Medical School genetics professor who contributed to the study.
Almost every cell in an organism holds a complete copy its genome, the chemical code for making proteins and tissues. The Denisovan genome analyzed in the study gives a broad visual picture of the individual it came from, holding genes that predict brown hair, brown eyes and dark skin in humans."
Submission + - Nuclear Powered LEDs for Space Farming (forbes.com)
DevotedSkeptic writes: "The nearside of the Moon will never resemble your Granddad’s back forty, but agriculture remains the key to living and working off-world. All the mineral ore in the solar system can’t replace the fact that for extended periods on the Moon or Mars, future off-worlders will need bio-regenerative systems in order to prosper.
Here on earth, researchers still debate how best to make those possible, but nuclear-powered state of the art LED (Light-emitting Diode) technology is arguably what will drive photosynthesis so necessary to provide both food and oxygen for future lunar colonists.
Future long-term lunar residents will need to grow their food either in sub-lunar lava tubes or in greenhouses shielded with several meters of lunar surface regolith. With no atmosphere, the moon is regularly exposed to lethal doses of cosmic rays, solar coronal mass ejections and x-flares, not to mention micro-meteorites that would be enough to wreck anyone’s corn.
Although during the two weeks that make up the long lunar day astronauts might be able to funnel refracted sunlight into covered greenhouses or subsurface lava tunnels, they will be left without a light source during the long lunar night.
Current solar-powered battery storage technology isn’t adequate to sustain artificial light sources for two weeks at the time. Thus, the most practical solution is simply to use some sort of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), not unlike the one powering the current Mars Science lab, to power the LEDs that will spur photosynthesis in lunar greenhouses.
Cary Mitchell, a plant biologist at Purdue University, says that as lunar light sources, LEDs would be cool, solid state and robust; lasting 50,000 hours at least, or some five times longer than conventional horticultural light sources. He also notes that that they could survive the journey to the lunar surface where they could then be strung inside inflatable lava tunnel greenhouses or in radiation-hardened, solid greenhouses on the surface.
On earth, Mitchell says it takes roughly 50 square meters of agriculture to provide both food and oxygen life to support one human. But, as he points out, who can say how productive plants are ultimately going to be on the moon, in gravity that is only one sixth that of earth?"
Here on earth, researchers still debate how best to make those possible, but nuclear-powered state of the art LED (Light-emitting Diode) technology is arguably what will drive photosynthesis so necessary to provide both food and oxygen for future lunar colonists.
Future long-term lunar residents will need to grow their food either in sub-lunar lava tubes or in greenhouses shielded with several meters of lunar surface regolith. With no atmosphere, the moon is regularly exposed to lethal doses of cosmic rays, solar coronal mass ejections and x-flares, not to mention micro-meteorites that would be enough to wreck anyone’s corn.
Although during the two weeks that make up the long lunar day astronauts might be able to funnel refracted sunlight into covered greenhouses or subsurface lava tunnels, they will be left without a light source during the long lunar night.
Current solar-powered battery storage technology isn’t adequate to sustain artificial light sources for two weeks at the time. Thus, the most practical solution is simply to use some sort of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), not unlike the one powering the current Mars Science lab, to power the LEDs that will spur photosynthesis in lunar greenhouses.
Cary Mitchell, a plant biologist at Purdue University, says that as lunar light sources, LEDs would be cool, solid state and robust; lasting 50,000 hours at least, or some five times longer than conventional horticultural light sources. He also notes that that they could survive the journey to the lunar surface where they could then be strung inside inflatable lava tunnel greenhouses or in radiation-hardened, solid greenhouses on the surface.
On earth, Mitchell says it takes roughly 50 square meters of agriculture to provide both food and oxygen life to support one human. But, as he points out, who can say how productive plants are ultimately going to be on the moon, in gravity that is only one sixth that of earth?"
Submission + - Torvalds pours scorn on De Icaza's desktop claims (itwire.com) 2
An anonymous reader writes: Linux creator Linus Torvalds has poured scorn on claims made by the co-founder of the GNOME Desktop project, Miguel de Icaza, that he (Torvalds) was in any way to blame for the lack of development in Linux desktop initiatives.
Submission + - What do you hate in your word processor? (mediawiki.org)
azadnama writes: "Wikimedia Foundation, the organization behind Wikipedia, knows that the MediaWiki formatting syntax is a major obstacle for people's participation in writing on the site. To address this problem, the Foundation is developing VisualEditor—a web-based WYSIWYG interface for editing articles. It's supposed to be similar to a word processor, like LibreOffice, Microsoft Word, Pages, Google Docs, and others, but tailored for Wikipedia's needs. As much as possible, it shouldn't have these other products' warts. And this is the time to ask: What do you hate in the word processors you use? What did other word processors get wrong and how can Wikipedia's VisualEditor get it right? What does your favorite word processor does better than its competitors and why should Wikipedia's VisualEditor have that feature, too?"
Submission + - How To Deal With 200k Lines of Spaghetti Code (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: An article at Ars recaps a discussion from Stack Overflow about a software engineer who had the misfortune of inheriting 200k lines of 'spaghetti code' cobbled together over the course of 10-20 years. A lengthy and detailed response walks through how best to proceed at development triage in the face of limited time and developer-power. From the article: 'Rigidity is (often) good. This is a controversial opinion, as rigidity is often seen as a force working against you. It's true for some phases of some projects. But once you see it as a structural support, a framework that takes away the guesswork, it greatly reduces the amount of wasted time and effort. Make it work for you, not against you. Rigidity = Process / Procedure. Software development needs good processes and procedures for exactly the same reasons that chemical plants or factories have manuals, procedures, drills, and emergency guidelines: preventing bad outcomes, increasing predictability, maximizing productivity... Rigidity comes in moderation, though!'
Submission + - Valve Source Engine Running Faster on Linux than Windows 1
An anonymous reader writes: And the saga continues at the Valve software. Not just Windows 8 is a catastrophe and Win-8 app store is a big threat to business. But, games runs much faster on Linux than Windows 7. This post discusses some of what Valve's Linux engineers learned about the performance of games running on Linux. They concluded that Linux is much faster and better to develop games. An OpenGL version of our game run faster than Direct3D on Windows 7. This is a great example of the benefits that are the result of close coordination between software and hardware developers and should provide value to the Linux community at large.
Submission + - Huawei Routers Contain Multiple Vulnerabilities, Experts Claim (techweekeurope.co.uk)
twoheadedboy writes: "Security experts claim Huawei routers lack modern security measures and contain multiple vulnerabilities. The two researchers – Felix “FX” Lindner and Gregor Kopf, both of Recurity Labs – analysed two small-office routers made by Huawei and found a number of vulnerabilities. The ease with which the flaws were exploited shows that the company appears to have a security process reminiscent of the 1990s, complete with a lack of response to bug reports, Lindner said."
Submission + - Bill to force Patent Trolls to Defendants costs (arstechnica.com) 1
TrueSatan writes: With support from the EFF's Defend Freedom Project two US Republican party Senators seek to introduce a bill called the "Shield Act" (https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/SHIELD_ACT_0.pdf) which, if passed, would enable judges to award costs to defendants if they are found to be the victims of meritless or frivolous patent litigation
Submission + - Happy Birthday SMTP (ietf.org)
bduncan writes: "RFC-821 and the sister RFC-822 are 30 years old this month. Remembering back to times when it was common to see teletypes for *fast* interoffice communication and a huge email (if you had access) might be anything over 5K."
