Comment TROY & Mission to Mars (Score 5, Informative) 92
Just thought I'd point you in the direction of Reaction Engines ideas for a mission to Mars. Take a look at the detailed PDF and the movie.
Comment Reaction Engines Ltd, SABRE Engine (Score 5, Informative) 92
I've been following the guys down at Reaction Engines and their SABRE engine concept for a few years. These are the same guys who came up with the HOTOL concept at Rolls Royce in the 1980's. No word on what they'd use for thermal protection on re-entry but they're a clever bunch and if I came into a billion pounds I'd shove a fair chunk of it at these guys to build me a fleet of spaceships to rule the world
If they could get government funding we could lead the world in launch capabilities. However, what would probably happen is that we'd end up handing it over the the USA as our leaders are too short sighted and too cheap to fund anything truly visionary or world beating.
Comment Thanks for the heads up! (Score 1) 96
I'm glad that this 'advert' got posted to Slashdot. I wouldn't have been aware of it otherwise and have now given $10 to get these games for my Mac. I used to have Darwinia ages ago, but I think it was just the demo. I've been aware of the other games for some time and will play them when I get around to it. Time to post a link on Facebook and inform my friends as well.
HP Pondering Sale of WebOS 99
Rambo Tribble writes "Reuters reports HP is seeking to sell WebOS, at the bidding of its financial advisers. Sounds like open sourcing it is off the table. From the article: 'HP is trying to figure out how to recoup its investment in Palm, viewed by many analysts and investors as an expensive foray into the smartphone market that has not paid off. Several technology companies have expressed an interest in buying the division, which is seen as attractive for its patents, the sources said. Amazon.com Inc, Research In Motion, IBM, Oracle Corp and Intel Corp are considered to be among the companies likely to be interested in the asset, industry sources said.'"
Comment Lock the bastards up! (Score 4, Informative) 343
I've got two friends who are now homeless and have lost everything apart from the clothes on their backs and their mobile phones after scum broke into a jewellers in Tottenham on Saturday night and then proceeded to torch the place. They lived above the shops and barely got out with their lives. For twenty minutes the Police were nowhere in site. My friends were posting on Facebook as the riots got closer and were frightened that they'd have to arm themselves to protect against a home invasion and then their worse fear happened - fires were started.
These kids aren't making a statement, they aren't fighting the system, they aren't protesting against jack shit. They just want to run riot, smash shit up and set fire to stuff whilst getting away with stealing as much as possible.
I'm quite happy the RIM are helping. Hopefully Skype, MSN, etc. will be on the case too. I'd send in the army with tear gas and rubber bullets (to start with) if I was in charge.
Comment Re:Because decimal is retarded. (Score 1) 2288
We use litres for fuel, at least at the pump. The guys on Top Gear still talk in gallons because they're dinosaurs and like to be eccentric. I'm a big fan of Top Gear myself. Cars speedos are in MPH mainly because large distances, like between towns, are measured in miles. We drink pints of beer (real beer btw). When you go to the shops for milk it's in pints with a litre measurement on the carton as well. Most other foodstuffs are in metric, 0.75 litres of wine, 330ml in a can of Coke, 400g of crackers, etc.
I'm usually confused by imperial weight measurements, as I'm under 40 and wasn't taught ounces, pounds and stones at school. I work in grams and kilograms. For my weight I know and measure myself in kg (91kg, down from 107kg last year, that's about 14st 5lbs) and have to convert it to stones and pounds for other people.
Comment Can we stop calling them imperial? (Score 1) 2288
Please start calling them 'American units'. Two reasons. Firstly in the UK most people work in metric (at least if they're under 30) for weights and measurements. The exceptions being that we measure large distances in miles (car speed in miles per hour) and person weight in stones (st & lbs) rather than just pounds like in the US. You're supposed to sell fruit & veg in metric, but in reality shops show both imperial and metric measurements along side each other for the sake of older people. Food packets and drinks are in litres and grams/kg. The second reason is if they're called American units that other remaining countries will want to change over to metric, leaving you to use them on your own.
An odd aside, I remember as a kid, seeing an American recipe for cookies years ago and it had mysterious measurements like 'a cup of flour'. WTF? How big a cup? You take these things for granted, but I had no idea. Most recipes call for so many grams of flour and there's no confusion.
In addition, no one else has lost a space probe due to the difference between imperial and metric, only you guys.
Comment Relativity? (Score 1) 588
Sorry, I didn't see anything about relativity in the video or the article apart from them referring to it. Is he published? I'm agree that he's very smart and has learnt a lot of math. Can anyone provide links to a critique of his work or his actual work? I'm interested to read more.
Episode I 3D Release Date Announced 313
TheBrakShow writes 'Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox announced today that the 3D theatrical launch of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace now has an official release date — February 10, 2012!' Are enough fans interested in watching the weakest films of the trilogy again just to experience them in 3D?"
I for one am looking forward to a new and improved Jar Jar experience.
I for one am looking forward to a new and improved Jar Jar experience.
Comment Re:Ok! Now try it... (Score 1) 499
As for Macs.... It wouldn't work because of the two major changes in architecture. The original Macs were Motorola 68000 based, then 020, 030, 040. Then they moved to PowerPC 601, 603, 620, G3, G4, G5. Then they transitioned again to x86 Pentium D, Core Solo/Duo's, Core 2 Duo, Xeon's and now Core i3, i5 & i7.
I think you can run from System 1 to 8.6 (or similar) on 680x0. OS 8 was both PPC & 680x0 compatible I think. OS 9 was PPC only if I remember correctly.
You could go from OS X 10.0 to 10.5 on a G3 PPC machine like an iBook or Powerbook. I've personally upgraded an old Powerbook G3 from OS 10.2 to 10.5. Snow Leopard (10.6) is Intel only. Tiger (10.4) was available for both PPC and Intel, as was Leopard (10.5). Lion (10.7) will be 64 bit Intel only, so won't work on pre Core 2 Duo CPUs.
You can still run PPC software using Sheepshaver (or similar, sometimes known as Classic on Intel). Apple included 680x0 emulation in the OS for old apps when they moved over to PPC. Apple also included 'Classic' OS support for OS 9 apps in OS X until the Intel transition.
Personally, on balance I'm quite happy using modern software designed to work on the latest versions that take advantage of new system APIs and features. Software has evolved a lot since MacPaint, etc. and I'm happy to use Photoshop CS5 instead. Would you prefer to use Mosaic or Netscape Navigator than Safari/Firefox/Opera/IE9, etc.?
Still got to say that the video is excellent and informative. My hat is off to the guy who made it.
USB Is the Devil's Connection 474
Jamie handed us Satan's Data Connection. You see, sane and rational human being, the
USB logo is actually in the shape of a trident, and the obvious action to Evangelical Christians in Brazil is to ban its use. Hopefully they don't mispronounce SCSI and find themselves lusting after their PCs.
UK To Track All Browsing, Email, and Phone Calls 286
Sara Chan writes "The UK government plans to introduce legislation that will allow the police to track every phone call, email, text message and website visit made by the public. The information will include who is contacting whom, when and where and which websites are visited, but not the content of the conversations or messages. Every communications provider will be required to store the information for at least a year."
UK-Developed 'DNA Spray' Marks Dutch Thieves With Trackable Water 191
eldavojohn writes "In Rotterdam, there's a new technology in place that dispenses a barely visible mist over those around it and alerts the police. The purpose? To tag robbers and link them back to the scene of the crime. From the article, 'The mist — visible only under ultraviolet light — carries DNA markers particular to the location, enabling the police to match the burglar with the place burgled. Now, a sign on the front door of the McDonald's prominently warns potential thieves of the spray's presence: "You Steal, You're Marked."' Developed in Britain, it's yet to nab a criminal but it will be interesting to see whether or not synthesized DNA will hold up as sufficient evidence in an actual court of law." So it's not just for copper thieves.
'Wi-Fi Illness' Spreads To Ontario Public Schools 663
An anonymous reader writes "Readers of Slashdot might be familiar with Lakehead University's ban on WiFi routers a few years ago in Thunder Bay, Ontario because of 'health concerns,' a policy apparently still in effect. Now it seems a group of concerned parents in a number of communities in Ontario have petitioned the local school boards over similar concerns at public schools, where their kids are apparently experiencing 'headaches to dizziness and nausea and even racing heart rates' — symptoms that appear only when they are in school on weekdays, not on weekends at home. 'The symptoms, which also include memory loss, trouble concentrating, skin rashes, hyperactivity, night sweats and insomnia, have been reported in 14 Ontario schools in Barrie, Bradford, Collingwood, Orillia and Wasaga Beach since the board decided to go wireless ...' Besides Wi-Fi signals, could there possibly be any other logical explanation for kids having more symptoms of illness on school days than at home on weekends or in the summer?"
Microsoft's Ad Team Trumps IE Developers' Privacy Aims 149
phantomfive writes "The company everyone loves to hate is after your private information, as the Wall Street Journal reports. The IE8 design team had planned on adding the best privacy features available, but the advertising executives wanted to track users. From the story: 'In the end, the product planners lost a key part of the debate. The winners: executives who argued that giving automatic privacy to consumers would make it tougher for Microsoft to profit from selling online ads. Microsoft built its browser so that users must deliberately turn on privacy settings every time they start up the software.'"
