nickheart - Slashdot User

Submission + - Doomsday for the Greenback

Submitted by jcgam69 on Thursday July 12, 2007 @04:44PM

jcgam69 writes: The American people are in La-la land. If they had any idea of what the Federal Reserve was up to, they'd be out on the streets waving fists and pitchforks. Instead, they go about our business like nothing is wrong. Are we really that stupid? What is it that people don't understand about the trade deficit? It's not rocket science. The Current Account Deficit is over $800 billion a year. That means that we are spending more than we are making and savaging the dollar in the process. Presently, we need more than $2 billion of foreign investment per day just to keep the wheels from coming off the cart.

Submission + - Robot unravels mystery of walking (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by manchineel on Thursday July 12, 2007 @12:36PM

manchineel writes: Roboticists are using the lessons of a 1930s human physiologist to build the world's fastest walking robot.

Runbot is a self-learning, dynamic robot, which has been built around the theories of Nikolai Bernstein.

"Getting a robot to walk like a human requires a dynamic machine," said Professor Florentin Woergoetter.

Runbot is a small, biped robot which can move at speeds of more than three leg lengths per second, slightly slower than the fastest walking human.

Bernstein said that animal movement was not under the total control of the brain but rather, "local circuits" did most of the command and control work.

Submission + - Macs better value for money than Vista

Submitted by Atari Ya on Thursday July 12, 2007 @12:33PM

Atari Ya writes: Buying Apple Macs — or exploring desktop Linux — is better value than upgrading to Vista, according to a poll of senior IT users by silicon.com. The anti-Vista verdict follows a recent interview with the CIO of Capital & Regional who described Macs as "smarter money" than upgrading to Vista.

From the article:
"I feel we are being railroaded and the market generally forced into a corner or even a cul-de-sac. In a free market we have made Microsoft dominant and now we have the collective responsibility to reverse this situation to re-establish balance and competition. If I am being driven down the Vista route then an Apple Mac is smarter money and cheaper."

Submission + - Old Media and New Media come together (extremetech.com)

Submitted by

athloi

on Thursday July 12, 2007 @12:26PM

athloi writes: "Cooperation, not mutual destruction, is a major theme at this year's summer gathering of the media and technology elite in Sun Valley. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2157953 ,00.asp"

Submission + - Must-have Windows utilities for 20 essential tasks (computerworld.com)

Submitted by jcatcw on Thursday July 12, 2007 @11:55AM

jcatcw writes: Which utilities do you need to install? Rule of thumb: anything you'd install on a new PC within a week of getting it. Computerworld has a review of such must-have tools in 20 different categories, plus a couple of bonus apps. Archiving: WinRAR or 7-Zip (screenshots); CD/DVD burning: Nero Ultra Edition or ImgBurn or Burning Studio; Download management: FlashGet; Encryption TrueCrypt; FTP Client: FileZilla or SmartFTP. Other categories include image processing, management, editing, viewing; PDF creation; text editing; antivirus; firewall; virtualization; partitioning; and various maintenance and system information tools.

Submission + - How DRM controls on digital media violates rights (dvrplayground.com)

Submitted by

Egadfly

on Thursday July 12, 2007 @11:40AM

Egadfly writes: "Corporations are inserting their DRM (digital rights management) technology onto CDs, DVDs, and secretly onto our hardrives. Consumers are often prevented from controlling, duping, or even routinely the transferring songs and movies they've legitimately bought. We are spied on like criminals, while professional pirates routinely circumvent the controls. We've all been experiencing the frustration of these outrageous intrusions, but more of us need to understand how much DRM violates our basic privacy and consumer rights, and how much it is cramping the potential of the digital revolution. This article lays it bare. Read it. Share it."

Submission + - PS3 Cell Processors Making Their Mark in F@H

Submitted by

Shadyman

on Sunday March 25, 2007 @07:06PM

Shadyman writes: "PS3s are dominating the Folding@Home scoreboards. According to Engadget, "Cell processors have more than tripled the project's power even though they only account for around 13% of the total machines grinding away at any given time." If you have a PS3, join in the Sunday Night Foldathon! Check out the whole story at Engadget."

Journal Journal: Allergies: What's Left Won't Kill Me (Not A Guarentee) 3

Journal by robi2106 on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @09:05PM

If I remember way back, I had a bad bout of allergy problems that started all of a sudden. Well I haven't talked about them, but the allergies still are there. In October, after blood testing results, I eliminated all wheat products from my diet. This hurts. I LIKE bread. I LIKE pasta. I LOVE rolls with lots of butter. I LOVE gravy smothering a good stew or mashed potatoes.

TrueCrypt 4.3 Released 285

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @08:12PM from the windows-only-alas dept.

RedBear writes "A new update to the best open source transparent encryption software has been released. TrueCrypt is (the only?) open source encryption software capable of creating and mounting encrypted virtual disk images that can then be worked with transparently like any other storage drive, with data encrypted and decrypted in real-time. These virtual disks can be created as files, or entire partitions or physical drives can be encrypted and mounted transparently. Sadly there is still no Linux GUI or Mac OS X port in sight. If you are one of the thronging hordes who have been patiently awaiting ubiquitous multi-platform encryption, please consider donating time or money to the cause, and add your voice to the forum." From the site:"Among the new features [are] full compatibility with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista, support for devices and file systems that use a sector size other than 512 bytes (such as new hard drives, USB flash drives, DVD-RAM, MP3 players, etc.), auto-dismount when a host device (e.g., a USB flash drive) is inadvertently removed, and many more." Read on for more features of TrueCrypt and cached versions of all the links above.

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