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PhD Candidate Talks About the Physics of Space Battles 361

darthvader100 writes "Gizmodo has run an article with some predictions on what future space battles will be like. The author brings up several theories on propulsion (and orbits), weapons (explosives, kinetic and laser), and design. Sounds like the ideal shape for spaceships will be spherical, like the one in the Hitchhiker's Guide movie."
PlayStation (Games)

US Air Force Buying Another 2,200 PS3s 144

bleedingpegasus sends word that the US Air Force will be grabbing up 2,200 new PlayStation 3 consoles for research into supercomputing. They already have a cluster made from 336 of the old-style (non-Slim) consoles, which they've used for a variety of purposes, including "processing multiple radar images into higher resolution composite images (known as synthetic aperture radar image formation), high-def video processing, and 'neuromorphic computing.'" According to the Justification Review Document (DOC), "Once the hardware configuration is implemented, software code will be developed in-house for cluster implementation utilizing a Linux-based operating software."
Patents

Submission + - Eolas Sues 23 Firms Over Embedded Plugins

MarkLR writes: PC Magazine reports that Texas-based Eolas Technologies, which won a $521 million patent case against Microsoft in 2003, forcing Microsoft to settle in 2007 for an undisclosed amount is suing nearly two dozen companies including Apple, Google, and Yahoo for infringing on that same patent, as well as another that deals with embedded applications.

Eolas' claims have been contested by Pei-Yuan Wei, developer of the earlier Viola browser. This claim is supported by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and other Web developers.
Patents

Eolas To Sue Apple, Google, and 21 Others 252

vinodis and several other readers sent along the news that Eolas is suing 23 companies including Apple and Google for patent infringement. The company won $585M from Microsoft in a drawn-out, 9-year battle that the companies settled in 2007; in the course of it the USPTO upheld the "906" patent several times. Now, Eolas is also in possession of a newly-issued patent that they claim covers the use of any browser plugin with AJAX. Let's see how far this lawsuit gets before the Supreme Court plays its wildcard in the Bilski case, which we have been discussing for a while now.

Comment Re:Why so little outcry vs Israel? (Score 1) 309

>The Slate article claims that Jewish religious law allow most other laws can be broken to save the life of a Jew

Actually the article states that "for the sake of saving a life, a Jew is allowed to break just about any commandment." No mention of the person being saved was Jewish or not, a big difference.

Comment Re:Plot holes big as swiss cheese! (Score 3, Funny) 705

The really big question - what happens in three years when the alien says he will return? Do the Prawns get picked up by a few transport shops and leave peacefully or is there a fleet of really well armed and angry aliens coming to Earth? Will the humans end up working in cat food factories for their alien overlords?

Iowa Aims to Establish International Video Game Hall of Fame 60

eldavojohn writes "Anyone who's seen King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters knows that Ottumwa, Iowa is the Dodge City of video games. Yesterday, 3,500 people showed up to the kick-off speech that announced the intent to build the International Video Game Hall of Fame right there. Radio Free Iowa states Ottumwa's desire to become the 'video game capital of the world' and held a Halo 3 and Guitar Hero tournament there yesterday. Will this town of 25,000 residents secure the title?"

Comment PC Makers can already install Chrome (Score 2, Informative) 423

>Microsoft's proposal opens the door for Google to work with PC manufacturers to get Chrome on new machines.

This has always been an option. If Google wants to pay PC manufacturers to install Chrome as a default they can do so both in the US and the EU. It's one of the results of the anti-trust cases of the 90s.

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