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Submission + - Student finds 5000-year-old chewing gum (kierikki.fi)

Submitted by
itsthebin
itsthebin writes: "Sarah Pickin, 23, found the lump of birch bark tar — complete with neolithic tooth prints — on a dig in Finland. Ms Pickin's tutor at the University of Derby, Professor Trevor Brown, said birch bark tar contained phenols, which are antiseptic compounds. "It is generally believed that neolithic people found that by chewing this stuff if they had gum infections it helped to treat the condition. It's particularly significant because well-defined tooth imprints were found on the gum which Sarah discovered," he said. Ms Pickin was on a volunteer program at the Kierikki Centre on the west coast of Finland when she made the find. It is not for sale on Ebay yet :-)"
Input Devices

Submission + - Typing faster than Intelligible Speech (wikipedia.org)

Submitted by microbox
microbox writes: According to this article, an average speedy "typist" works at about 35-40 words per minute — a professional around 70-95 words per minute. Yet I recently came across an article on machine shorthand that purports that a typist can reach 225-300 words per minute. That's faster than intelligible speech! The trick is to use a chorded keyboard where-by a user types whole syllables or words by striking multiple keys at once, a technique called "chording". Specialized hardware goes for between $US 1000-4000, however, I see no reason why we couldn't use a regular keyboard for chorded input. I failed to find any FOSS software like a text editor that lets you use your keyboard in "chorded" mode. Is this a better mouse-trap that's just waiting to be built?
Portables

Submission + - OLPC's trickle-down effect (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Diomidis Spinellis
Diomidis Spinellis writes: "PCPRO runs a story regarding the $189 laptop that Asus revealed at the Computex 2007 trade show. The laptop, in common with the hardware of the one laptop per child initiative, uses solid state memory for storage and runs Linux. It weights 900g (2 lb) and measures 120 * 100 * 30mm (4.7 * 4 * 1.2"). I'm currently using an actual OLPC for localization work and experiments with educational applications, and I was dreaming being able to buy similar machines to use as cheap and cheerful terminals around the house. With Quanta having made a similar product announcement it seems that the Star Trek nirvana of a computer in every room can become an affordable reality."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Wireless networks self-nterference hits bandwidth

Submitted by RockDoctor
RockDoctor writes: In what may come as an unwelcome shock to people at the "cutting edge" of kewl technology (also known as the "bleeding edge", for reasons that will become obvious), Network Computing is carrying a report on the problems of interference between overlapping wireless networks. It came as no surprise to me to discover that (FTFA) a wireless manufacturer who I had never heard of suffered a 50% degradation in performance when working overlapped with a wireless network from market leader Cisco. It also came as no surprise to hear that the performance of the market leader [quote]cratered[quote]. I don't know the ins and outs of the technical aspects of bandwidth contention algorithms, or if one or other contender is adhering to or deviating from the standards. But since I ran the apartment with CAT5 cable about 5 years ago, I can't say that I particularly care either. Certainly, this degree of clashing and conflict between different hardware and software vendors is no surprise. Wireless may have benefits in some circumstances, but it's certainly not the universal solution some vendors would have customers think.
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - DEFCON for Linux Announced

Submitted by dylan_-
dylan_- writes: UK indie game developer, Introversion, best known for the weirdly retro Darwinia have released the much-awaited Linux version of their latest hit title DEFCON. If you liked the film "Wargames" then maybe this is for you.

As the website says:
"It's Global Thermonuclear War, and nobody wins. But maybe — just maybe — you can lose the least."
Space

Submission + - Space Debris Narrowly Misses Airliner

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An airliner jet traveling from Chili to New Zealand early today were in for an interesting ride. Flaming space debris — the remains of a Russion satellite — came hurtling back to Earth not far from commercial jet on their way to Auckland, New Zealand. Here's further justification for the growing concern of the increasing amounts of space garbage orbiting our planet. From the article: 'The pilot of a Lan Chile Airbus A340 ... notified air traffic controllers at Auckland Oceanic Centre after seeing flaming space junk hurtling across the sky just five nautical miles in front of and behind his plane...'
Businesses

Submission + - Portraitkingdom.com -- Oil Painting Portrait from

Submitted by
affearner
affearner writes: "Portraitkingdom.com, combines the expert knowledge and unending passion of the world's most committed artists with state-of-the-art oil painting to create a masterpiece worth remembering."
Media

Submission + - Micosoft dossier on journalist leaks

Submitted by
Ludvig A. Norin
Ludvig A. Norin writes: "Wired journalist Fred Vogelstein blogs about how he accidently got hold of a dossier on himself produced by Microsoft's PR firm, Waggener Edstrom. While it's not unusual for PR people to create background files on journalists, it's notable that this one leaked, and got commented by Waggener Edstrom's Frank Shaw and Wired Magazine editor in chief Chris Anderson. Makes for an interesting read — there's lots to learn from the inner workings of the Microsoft PR machinery."
Media

Submission + - Valenti has a stroke

Submitted by
ParticleGirl
ParticleGirl writes: "Jack Valenti, former president of the MPAA, has suffered a stroke. He lobbied for the DMCA and against the VCR back in the day, and even in retirement has remained vocal and politically active... what do we think? Has he been rightfully vilified here? Is he all bad?"
Communications

Submission + - Cell Phone Companies Ordered to Cut Fees

Submitted by Boom
Boom writes: Britain's telecommunications watchdog Tuesday ordered mobile phone companies to cut their connection fees to rival services, a long-expected move leading to lower bills for landline users. Ofcom expects a cap on the tariffs charged by companies to reduce wholesale charges by between 400 million pounds (US$786 million;euro589 million) and 500 million pounds (US$982 million;euro736 million) annually over the four year period they will be in place.
United States

Submission + - San Francisco to ban plastic grocery bags

Submitted by
ender6574
ender6574 writes: "According to CNN, it appears that San Francisco, CA has approved legislation that would make it the first US city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets to help promote recycling http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/27/environment.baggs .reut/index.html?eref=rss_latest What is the opinion of the /. community? Is this a CA first that should be followed by the rest of the nation? Or just more of the crazy enviro-fruitiness that so often comes from California?"
Media (Apple)

Submission + - Top Ten Apple Products Which Flopped

Submitted by morpheus83
morpheus83 writes: Apart from phenomenal products like the iPod, iMac and Macbooks, Apple in its 30 year old history has churned out super flop products too. Newlaunches has compiled a list of 10 products from Apple which fizzled in the market right from Apple Lisa to Cyberdog to Newton.

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