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Comment Re:You mean, doomed like iPads? And ChromeBooks? (Score 1) 564

by simonbp (#45805331) Attached to: PC Makers Plan Rebellion Against Microsoft At CES

I don't know good your adb-fu is is, but it's not that hard to package and sideload a console program on an unlocked device.

That said, the definition of Linux distribution is that it builds an operating system around the Linux kernel, which Android does. It just has its own peculiar user interface.

Comment It's official (Score 1, Troll) 276

by simonbp (#45616277) Attached to: This Whole Bitcoin Thing Could Be Big, Says Bank of America

Whelp, it's official. If Bank of America thinks it's a great investment, Bitcoin is going to expand rapidly to biggest bubble anyone has ever seen, and then murder several developed economies when it bursts. Look for the Countrywide Bitcoin Exchange coming soon!

Could be worse though, they haven't come out with a Beanie Baby Bitcoin yet...

Comment Re:Asia is playing catch up (Score 3, Interesting) 101

by simonbp (#45570625) Attached to: Chinese Chang'e-3 Lunar Rover On Its Way After Successful Launch

Actually the Apollo missions did deploy a few UV telescopes on the lunar surface. They weren't much better than Earth-orbit telescopes, and so noone has bothered since. The radar is more interesting, but probably of limited utility given the power requirements to actually penetrate deep enough to see the layered mare deposits.

Where China is decades behind the US, Europe, and Japan is that they don't really release their science products. US missions legally must release all raw and processed data after a short proprietary period (typically a year). Europe and Japan take longer, but still do usually release all their raw data. China does not, and often waits until after the mission is over before releasing even highly processed versions of the data. The lack of raw data (and opacity of how it is processed) means that it is hard to compare to other sources, and belies any claim to actual scientific motivation.

Comment Re:A link between DPR and an early Bitcoiner (Score 4, Insightful) 172

by simonbp (#45509985) Attached to: Study Suggests Link Between Dread Pirate Roberts and Satoshi Nakamoto

Regardless if there was an official link, it is probably true that Bitcoin really took off when illegal/quasi-legal enterprises like Silk Road started using them. That's not to say Silk Road created Bitcoin or that all Bitcoin commerce is illegal, just that it would never have grown to real prominence without it.
Biotech

Viruses Boost Performance of Lithium-Air Battery Used In Electric Cars 66

Posted by Soulskill from the go-get-a-sick-kid-to-cough-on-your-battery dept.
rtoz writes "MIT researchers have found that adding genetically modified viruses to the production of nanowires will boost the performance of lithium-air battery used in electric cars. The key to their work was to increase the surface area of the wire, thus increasing the area where electrochemical activity takes place during charging or discharging of the battery (abstract). The increase in surface area produced by their method can provide a big advantage in lithium-air batteries' rate of charging and discharging. Unlike conventional fabrication methods, which involve energy-intensive high temperatures and hazardous chemicals, this process can be carried out at room temperature using a water-based process."
News

Soylent: No Food For 30 Days 440

Posted by Soulskill from the do-twinkies-count? dept.
Daniel_Stuckey writes "Senior Editor of Motherboard Brian Merchant went an entire month without eating regular food. Instead, the journalist whisked up a concoction called soylent, an efficient take on the future of nourishment and nutrition. Merchant says: 'It was my second day on Soylent and my stomach felt like a coil of knotty old rope, slowly tightening. I wasn't hungry, but something was off. I was tired, light-headed, low-energy, but my heart was racing. My eyes glazed over as I stared out the window of our rental SUV as we drove over the fog-shrouded Bay Bridge to Oakland. Some of this was nerves, sure. I had twenty-eight days left of my month-long all-Soylent diet—I was attempting to live on the full food replacement longer than anyone besides its inventor—and I felt woozy already. ... By the third week of Soylent, not eating food seemed normal. I saw a doctor, who said I was healthy; I was still losing weight, but nothing serious. Yet, given that a daily mixture of Soylent contains 2,400 calories, both Rob and Dr. Engel thought it was odd that I’d shed so much. Dr. Engel said that given my weight, height, and body mass, I should only require about 1,800 calories a day. I could still be adjusting to the new diet, or I could have such a hyperactive metabolism that before Soylent, I was tearing through hundreds of extra calories per day and staying trim.'"
Transportation

Man In Tesla Model S Fire Explains What Happened 526

Posted by samzenpus from the burn-it-up dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The three recent Tesla fires have raised concerns with a lot of people. One person who isn't concerned, however, is Juris Shibayama, the man whose model S burned in Tennessee. He says: 'I would buy another one in a heartbeat.' From the article: 'Shibayama said that he struck a three-pronged trailer hitch in the middle lane of the interstate. He continued: "About 30-45 seconds later, there was a warning on the dashboard display saying, 'Car needs service. Car may not restart.' I continued to drive, hoping to get home. About one minute later, the message on the dashboard display read, 'Please pull over safely. Car is shutting down.'" He said he had time to remove his possessions, even though, he said: "About 5-10 seconds after getting out of the car, smoke started to come from the front underbody of the car."'"

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