Following RobertB-DC's series of ghost articles, here's another. The video was pulled (per a Fox request) by the time I tried to download it.

Posted by CmdrTaco in The Mysterious Future!
from the stuff-to-see dept.

Jordan writes "Screenhead has posted a new, apparently leaked trailer (15MB QuickTime) for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie starring Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom."

Following RobertB-DC's lead in ghost articles, here's one:

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Book Reviews: Purely Functional Data Structures Programming
Posted by timothy in The Mysterious Future!
from the raw-function-baby dept.
andrew cooke writes "A while ago I read the comments following a Slashdot book review. Someone had posted a request for books that covered a wider range of languages than Java, C, Python, etc. Well, I thought, why not review Okasaki's Purely Functional Data Structures? It's a classic from the underworld of functional programming - recognised as the standard reference, yet clear enough to work as an introduction to the subject for anyone with a basic functional programming background. Of course, some readers won't know what functional programming is, or what is special about pure data structures. So I hope that this review can also serve as something of an introduction to the languages that I (a software engineer paid to work with Java, C, Python, etc) choose to use in my spare time, just for the joy of coding." Read on for the rest; even if you're not planning to give up C or Perl, there are links here worth exploring.
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There wasn't any more to "read on", so I suspect it'll show up in its complete form later.

It's official now: Intel announced 64-bit x86 chips, and has repositioned the 64-bit Itanium as a database processor. From the article: "Intel will deliver in the middle of the year Nacona, a 64-bit Pentium 4 Xeon processor geared for two-way servers. Later in the year, it will release a 64-bit version of Prescott for high-end desktops and workstations using a single processor. Next year, Intel will release multiprocessor-capable version of its 64-bit Xeon."
Microsoft's beta version of its 64-bit operating system will support both the new Intel chips and AMD's 64-bit Opteron and Athlon CPUs, though it's not clear if Intel is using the same x86-64 extensions AMD does.

EE Times is reporting that Intel may be pushing a new kind of RAM interface to compete with existing DDR and RDRAM. At 2 Gbit/sec per wire, this is about twice the speed of current RDRAM and four times the speed of DDR SDRAM. But, more interestingly, this is a point-to-point architecture - unlike the traditional bus architecture, when you add more memory modules you can get more bandwidth. Also notable is that simultaneous bi-directional communications happens over a single wire. Infineon and Samsung have made test chips, and results are to be released at the International Solid State Circuits Conference today.

The protocol for the $11 disposable digital camera previously mentioned on Slashdot has been reverse engineered. You can build a $7 USB cable and add Mac, Linux, or Windows software, and you'll have a 1.2 megapixel camera you don't have to worry about. Picture quality isn't that great, but it's cheap enough to experiment with. It turns out that the camera's interface is similar to others supported by gphoto2, except that a simple hash function enables data transfers. No encryption was used.

U of Alberta professors Larry Kostiuk and Daniel Kwok have developed a prototype electrokinetic microchannel battery that converts hydrostatic pressure directly into electrical current. It uses just water under pressure -- no chemical reactions. Unlike turbines, there are no moving parts. The prototype combined sub-nanoamp electrical output from 500,000 microfluidic channels to generate microamps of power. The prototype yielded 3.8 microwatts/cm3. Canada.com article and research journal paper (reg. required)

GrepLaw is reporting an amazing security hole when Belarc Advisor is run improperly. The software is designed to give a complete profile of your system (including usernames, mounted directories, hardware and software installed - keys included!) ... if it leaks onto the web, google might index it for all to see. So far, though, it looks like most of these pages are people showing off their rigs. It is kindof neat that U of texas has an ALVA braille display to go with their flat-screen monitor.

(flat screen... bumpy screen... get it?)

According to the inquirer, the new high definition 1080p Terminator 2 DVD encoded with Microsoft's WMV 9 Pro goes beyond normal DVD region-coding: "it checks if you are in the USA or Canada, possibly by using IP addresses, and if you're not, you're terminated." Among WMV 9's extensive security features is the ability to "enable integration into existing business models" - can anyone confirm they've integrated into the DVDCCA's existing business model?

I saw this link on politechbot - wow, AOL kills little tiny puppies!! All just because they don't allow links in email signatures. You'd think they wouldn't care about the content of emails (yes, a sig line is content - you could just as easily add it in your self and it's indistinguisable from the body), and if they wanted to enforce this policy, they could just pare links out of the sig lines. But what if your email reader sees a url-looking thing that isn't a link and automatically makes a link for you? is tat.to now forbidden (it goes to a web page)?

To avert a panic over SARS, Hong Kong governnment officials have spammed 6 million phones with an SMS message saying Hong Kong isn't an infected area. The city of 6.8 million residents has had 16 deaths, more than 700 sick, and hundreds placed under quarantine. The spam was allegedly in response to a hoax website, not in response news reports of the mysterious killer.

* 2003-04-03 19:19:56 Hong Kong gov spams 6M phones to avert SARS panic (articles,spam) (rejected)

* 2003-04-03 22:57:44 Gasdynamic Laser an April 2nd joke (articles,slashback) (rejected)

Wired reporter Noah Shachtman calls BS on the gasdynamic laser rifle. They sell bongo drums. They sell mach 10 nuclear-powered bombers deveopled at this office. and more...

EETimes is reporting that Benetton will be embedding a Philips RFID chip into the label of every new garment bearing the name of Benetton's core clothing brand, Sisley. The 15 million chips expected sold in 2003 will allow monitoring of garments from production to shipping, shelves and dressing rooms. The I.CODE chip (tech info) used in Benetton's labels includes 1,024 bits of EEPROM, and operates at a distance of up to 1.5 meters. RFIDs look like they would be extremely uncomfortable in some Sisley clothes.

The above story made slashdot's front page, but it was listed as a 'rejected' story, so you won't see it in my stats...

Wired reported Noah Shachtman gives a first-hand account of his entry into a high-security area at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Yes, there are pictures. It seems that the birthplace of the atom bomb is being gaurded by string, backed up by guards with empty holsters. There's a little more info on Noah's Defense Tech website.

Steve, the Dell dude was arrested for marijuana possession and, if convicted, can face up to 3 months in jail (Reuters story) (AP story). Ellen, don't turn to the darkside!