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Graphics

Khronos Releases OpenCL Spec 115

Posted by kdawson from the fast-work dept.
kpesler writes "Today, the Khronos Group released the OpenCL API specification (which we discussed earlier this year). It provides an open API for executing general-purpose code kernels on GPUs — so-called GPGPU functionality. Initially bolstered by Apple, the API garnered the support of major players including NVIDIA, AMD/ATI, and Intel. Motivated by inclusion in OS X Snow Leopard, the spec was completed in record time — about half a year from the formation of the group to the ratified spec."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - 802.16 ... Where does it stand today?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With Sprint and Clearwire unrolling their mobile broadband networks, this nerd asks: Where are the WiMax products? The 802.16-2005 specification among others have been approved for some time. Also, since WiMax can run on regulated and unregulated spectrums, why does there seem to be an absence of community-driven network initatives? I would have expected 3com and Linksys to have produced something by now.
Television

Submission + - Classic Star Trek now available online (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Tyler Too
Tyler Too writes: CBS has decided to put a bunch of classic TV shows online. The list includes MacGyver, The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and Star Trek. 'All three seasons of Star Trek appear to be available in their entirety. All you need is a browser with Flash installed and a willingness to sit through the occasional 15- or 30-second commercial.' Unfortunately, CBS' offering appears to be US-only at this point.
Patents

Submission + - DSLR Movie Mode (photographybay.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: http://www.photographybay.com/2008/02/17/dslr-movie-mode-patent/

A japanese inventor has filed a patent application with the USPTO that appears to defeat many of the obstacles that have previously stood in the way of making a "movie mode" in DSLRs a reality. Some of the innovations include a mirror that simultaneously transmits and reflects light, two AF functions (fast for still images and slow for movie mode), and a crop function to steady the field of view.
Security

Submission + - NIST opens competition for new hash algorith

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The National Institute of Standards and Technology has opened a competition to develop a new cryptographic "hash" algorithm, a tool for converting a file, message or block of data to a short "fingerprint" for use in digital signatures, message authentication and other computer security applications. NIST says the competition is its response to recent advances in the analysis of hash algorithms, and that the new hash algorithm will be called Secure Hash Algorithm-3 (SHA-3).
Space

Submission + - Experiment involving rope trick in space goes awry (gulfnews.com)

Submitted by
Tjeerd
Tjeerd writes: "Quote from the site: "Moscow: An experiment that envisaged sending a parcel from space to Earth on a 30-kilometre tether fell short of its goal yesterday when the long fibre rope did not fully unwind, Russian Mission Control said. It was intended to deliver a spherical capsule, called Fotino, attached to the end of the tether back to Earth — a relatively simple and cheap technology that could be used in the future to retrieve bulkier cargoes from space.""
Space

Submission + - 30 years since the 'Wow!' signal

Submitted by smooth wombat
smooth wombat writes: Thirty years ago, a signal was received by Ohio State University's Big Ear Radio Observatory which, for a brief moment, set the scientific community ablaze. Had we heard the first proof of an intelligent civilization outside our own?

Unfortunately, the signal was not repeated and has not been heard from since despite the best efforts of astronomers during the last three decades. The debate over what the signal actually was continues to this day but new help is on the way. The SETI institute will soon be using the Allen Telescope Array in California to search the same area of sky. The array uses dozens of separate radio dishes to produce an instrument that will eventually become more sensitive than the world's largest single-dish telescope in Aricebo.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Sex Hacks: Technology can be very stimulating

Submitted by First Person
First Person writes: Kudos to those engineers who challenge social conventions, pushing technology into places it has never been (and probably should never go). Consider these recent achievements from the 'Sex Hacks' conference as described in The Register. One might wonder "How could our society advance without access to Fourier-modulated sex toys, platform shoes for trollops, or appliances for interfacing ambient noises with various bodily orifice?" Thankfully, we need not wonder, as all these technologies are available today.

Richard Garriot Argues Against Stagnant MMOG Design 175

Posted by Zonk from the kill-ten-rats dept.
The creator of Ultima Online and Tabula Rasa and well-known designer Richard Garriot spoke at the Develop Conference in Brighton, England on the subjects of stagnating MMOG design and the NCSoft deal with Sony. His commentary on Massive game design is fairly direct: "If you look at the vast majority of MMOs that has come out since Ultima Online and Everquest, you can look at the features and they are almost exactly the same. Even though the graphics have got better and the interface is much slicker, fundamentally the gameplay is unchanged. Worse yet, there are many things that have become standard that I look at and even though they are powerful enough to encourage the behavior of people obsessed with playing these games, I don't think they are the right way of building the future."
Software

Submission + - Flex 3 Out (adobe.com)

Submitted by discoguy77
discoguy77 writes: From the article: Adobe Systems Incorporated ... today released the beta version of Adobe® Integrated Runtime (AIR), formerly code named Apollo. Adobe AIR(TM) is a cross-operating system application runtime that allows developers to use HTML/CSS, Ajax, Adobe Flash® and Adobe Flex(TM) to extend rich Internet applications (RIAs) to the desktop. New features in the Adobe AIR beta include an embedded local database, PDF support, enhanced capabilities for JavaScript developers, and deeper integration with Adobe Flex.

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