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The Courts

Submission + - 16 Years Jail For Videotaping Police? (mclu.org)

Submitted by krou
krou writes: The ACLU of Maryland is defending Anthony Graber, who potentially faces sixteen years in prison if found guilty of violating state wiretap laws because he recorded video of an officer drawing a gun during a traffic stop. ... Once [the Maryland State Police] learned of the video on YouTube, Graber's parents house was raided, searched, and four of his computers were confiscated. Graber was arrested, booked and jailed. Their actions are a calculated method of intimidation. Another person has since been similarly charged under the same statute. The wiretap law being used to charge Anthony Graber is intended to protect private communication between two parties. According to David Rocah, the ACLU attorney handling Mr. Graber's case, "To charge Graber with violating the law, you would have to conclude that a police officer on a public road, wearing a badge and a uniform, performing his official duty, pulling someone over, somehow has a right to privacy when it comes to the conversation he has with the motorist."
NASA

Submission + - No Samples on Japan's Hayabusa Asteroid Probe (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Reports are coming in that JAXA's Hayabusa probe came up empty handed in its bid to collect asteroid matter. There may be gas in the probe but no dust samples as many hoped. Murphy's Law hit JAXA hard, 'After landing in 2005 on the Itokawa asteroid, which is about one-third mile long and shaped like a potato, the probe's sample-capture mechanism went awry. To the public's dismay, JAXA officials said they were not sure whether any samples had been collected. Next, the probe's robotic rover, meant to take photos and temperature readings on the asteroid, inexplicably floated off into space and was never heard from again. Worse yet, after Hayabusa took off from the asteroid, all four of NEC's ion engines shut down. So did all 12 of the chemical-fueled rocket engines made by another space industry giant, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The probe was left drifting in space. Then, for more than seven weeks, for reasons still not clear, there were no communication signals from the probe. Public dismay quickly turned to derision and, eventually, indifference.' The probe did return, however, and hoped to salvage something but now it appears that the only thing it accomplished was one long and error prone journey."
Medicine

Submission + - Warning: 3D Hazardous to Your Health (audioholics.com)

Submitted by SchlimpyChicken
SchlimpyChicken writes: Turns out 3D television can be inherently dangerous to your developing children — and adults as well. There's a malaise in children that can prevent full stereopsis (depth perception) from developing, called strabismus, or lazy-eye. It is an abnormal alignment of the eyes in which the eyes do not focus on the same object — kind of like when you watch a 3D movie. As a result, depth perception is compromised. Acting on a hunch, the guys over at Audioholics contacted Mark Pesce, who worked with Sega on its VR Headset over 15 years ago — you know, the headset that never made it to market. As it turns out, back then Sega uncovered serious health risks involved with children consuming 3D and quickly buried the reports — and the project. Unfortunately, the exact same dangers exist in today's 3D, and the electronics, movie and gaming industries seem to be ignoring this and pushing ahead with a technology. If fully realized, 3D just might affect the vision of millions of children and, according to the latest research, many adults, across the country.
Hardware

Submission + - Dual GPU Battle: GeForce GTX 480 SLI vs. Radeon HD (techspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For those amongst you that like to take things to the next level, gaming at 2560x1600 with 30-inch displays and beyond. For extreme users that do not necessarily care about value, power consumption or even heat... who offers the best gaming solution?

This question leads to a new showdown between ATI and Nvidia using a pair of GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards in SLI versus a pair of Radeon HD 5870 using Crossfire technology. For many of us the prospect of spending $400 on a Radeon HD 5870 graphics card seems a little crazy, let alone the $500 Nvidia is asking for the GeForce GTX 480. So it goes without saying that those willing and able to purchase two of these mighty graphics cards are in the minority. Still, such configurations do exist and those of you looking to go down that path will be interested to check out this findings.
The Courts

Submission + - Online petition signatures get Utah court's vote (skunkpost.com)

Submitted by crimeandpunishment
crimeandpunishment writes: Utah will be the first state in the country to accept online petition signatures to qualify political candidates for the ballot. The Utah Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that electronic signatures satisfy the election code, and state election officials must accept them. Utah's lieutenant governor said his office will now have to develop new election protocols for e-signatures. He said the ruling takes the state into "a brave new world".

Submission + - TORC Products on Marine Corps Autonomous Vehicles (torctech.com)

Submitted by dcutter1
dcutter1 writes: TORC and Virginia Tech engineering students worked together to develop four autonomous vehicles for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. This partnership dates back to its success in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. The vehicles can carry up to 1,800 pounds and move at the speed of a troop on foot and will support dismounted troops with point-to-point resupply, thereby reducing the loads manually carried by Marines and providing a means for immediate casualty evacuation.

Online version:
http://www.torctech.com/company/news/torc-products-integrated-marine-corps-ground-unmanned-support-surrogate-autonomous-vehi
Space

Submission + - Space weather signal buried in noise from comets (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Science reports: Solar wind particles produce x-rays whenever they strike neutral atoms just above Earth's magnetosphere, the bubble produced by Earth's magnetic field that surrounds the planet and protects it from harmful solar radiation. The emissions, which are easy to detect with x-ray telescopes, could produce a display of the entire magnetosheath, the part of the magnetosphere that is bombarded by incoming solar particles. And that display could enable scientists to generate, in real-time, global, space-weather images, just as high-flying meteorological satellites provide real-time images of weather on Earth. This would be useful because, when sudden bursts of intense radiation from the sun pierce the magnetosphere's protective bubble, they set off events that can fry the delicate electronic equipment aboard orbiting satellites, interfere with or kill telecommunications signals, and even overload electric power grids on the ground.
Robotics

Submission + - Huge Lego Robots Play Chess (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by kkleiner
kkleiner writes: Dubbed ‘Monster Chess‘ the 156 square foot board and game set contains more than 100,000 Lego pieces. Every chess figure, from pawns to kings, is a 3D robot created using Lego Mindstorms. The project was sponsored by Lego but accomplished by a team of enthusiasts led by Steve Hassenplug who took about one year to finish!

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