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Science

Scientists Discover Diamond Nanothreads 79

Posted by timothy from the this-nanoring-shows-how-much-I-care dept.
First time accepted submitter sokol815 writes Penn State University scientists discovered diamond nanothreads can be created from benzene when compressed. The compression brings the benzene molecules into a highly reactive state. It was expected that the molecules would create a non-ordered glass-like material, but due to the slow speed of decompression used, the benzene molecules ordered themselves into a naturally repeating crystal. The experiment took place at room-temperature. Early results indicate that these nanothreads are stronger than previously produced carbon nanotubes, and may have applications throughout the engineering industry.
Advertising

Overbilled Customer Sues Time Warner Cable For False Advertising 223

Posted by timothy from the my-twc-bill-went-up-this-week-too dept.
An anonymous reader writes According to a lawsuit filed Friday in a New York court, when Jeremy Zielinski signed up for Time Warner Internet service after seeing an ad that it was $34.99 a month, he didn't expect his first bill to be more than $94. He didn't expect he'd have to fight for weeks to resolve it. And he didn't expect that, Time Warner's next step would be to sell him faster speeds, not bother to tell him his modem couldn't handle them, send him a bill anyway, then demand that he drive to the local office at his own expense to get a compatible modem. So he's taking the cable giant to court, accusing it of false advertising and deceptive business practices. While a lone individual fighting in court against the second largest cable company in the world certainly doesn't have the odds in his favor, this could get interesting. According to the complaint, he opted out of TWC's binding arbitration clause a few days after he opened his account, so he might have a shot of keeping this issue in real court. Stay tuned for more.
Image

Discovery Claims It Will Show a Man Being "Eaten Alive" By an Anaconda Screenshot-sm 164

Posted by samzenpus from the ratings-war-has-begun dept.
An anonymous reader writes Have you ever wished that you could watch a man be eaten alive by an anaconda from the comfort of your own home? The Discovery Channel is betting that the answer is yes with their upcoming special, Eaten Alive. The channel says wildlife filmmaker Paul Rosolie will don a custom-built snake-proof suit, and go inside a live anaconda. They've even released a teaser. It's unclear what scientific conundrum will be solved in the process of feeding Paul to the snake, or how he plans to get out.
AT&T

FTC Sues AT&T For Throttling 'Unlimited' Data Plan Customers Up To 90% 179

Posted by timothy from the y'don't-say dept.
An anonymous reader writes The U.S. Federal Trade Commission today announced it is suing AT&T. The commission is charging the carrier for allegedly misleading millions of its smartphone customers by changing the terms while customers were still under contract for "unlimited" data plans that were, well, limited. "AT&T promised its customers 'unlimited' data, and in many instances, it has failed to deliver on that promise," FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement. "The issue here is simple: 'unlimited' means unlimited." How apropos.

Comment Re:die by taser or gas? (Score 1) 152

by dargaud (#48219079) Attached to: Incapacitating Chemical Agents: Coming Soon To Local Law Enforcement?
You can't tase 500 people at once (which is what you'd need in cases of mass hostage situation where you can't tell hostages from hostage takers).

Also for once the summary is spot on: "these weapons rely on exact dosage to prevent fatality, and that the ability to deliver the right agent to the right people in the right dose without exposing the wrong people, or delivering the wrong dose' is a near-impossible expectation". Maybe you should have read it. Or remembered that in the russian vs Chechen situation a decade ago, most of the hostages died because of the incapacitating agent. Also, if all it takes is a few gas mask, expect the next hostage takers to use gas masks.

Comment Re:The good news (Score 1) 700

by dargaud (#48212283) Attached to: FTDI Reportedly Bricking Devices Using Competitors' Chips.

It appears that FTDI have reverse engineered the fake chips and found that they can be reprogrammed. When their driver detects a fake chip, it uses the internal configuration commands to erase the EEPROM memory containing the Vendor Unique ID.

So this goes well and beyond the simple "Let's have our driver refuse to talk with the chip in case we detect it's compatible/counterfeit" and completely into "Let's destroy somebody else's property whenever we want". Completely unacceptable.

Comment Re:I'm betting on balloons (Score 4, Informative) 99

by dargaud (#48201897) Attached to: Internet Broadband Through High-altitude Drones
I mountain areas coverage is very spotty, even in densely populated mountains like the Alps: in deep twisted valleys you have to install too many antennas, and north faces (in the northern hemisphere) impede the use of geosync satellites by blocking line-of-sight. And there's never an irridium above you when you are in a valley. When I was in Himalaya we had a chart of time windows when satellites were above us and we could make quick calls or SMS. Balloons/drones can improve on that.

Comment Now this pisses me off (Score 2) 92

by dargaud (#48201585) Attached to: Fiber Optics In Antarctica Will Monitor Ice Sheet Melting
Over a decade ago I submitted a project to carry data in Antarctica by a 1500km fiber for a large project. It was shut down by the Americans because according to the Antarctic Treaty you cannot leave anything in Antarctica permanently. Now the US has this project (how are they gonna get it out of the Ice ?), Ice Cube (which has thousands of detectors under km of ice) and others...

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