Comment Re:What's in it? (Score 1) 1698
Isn't that what U.S citizen do to Canada now?
Yes, as
and wasn't America built on immigrant labor?
Yes,
Comment Re:Prehistoric Gene FTW! (Score 2) 360
My kingdom for mod points! Cursed booty... ha! I'm a sucker for pirate speak.
Comment Re:TCP? (Score 1) 536
Mod parent up. My first thoughts were JMS, MQ Series, or Tibco Rendezvous. In my experience, MQ Series is freakin' bullet proof, and Tibco Rendezvous is a poser in comparison.
Comment Not to be confused with this... (Score 1) 153
I think this was a competitor to the Star Wars program. It appears to be a space-based weapon of some sort.
Submission + - Historic shuttle spacesuits to meet fiery end
collectSPACE writes: "While some museums bid for retired space shuttle orbiters, the real prize may be the spacewalking spacesuits, at least if NASA's plans for them hold true. The now-reusable extravehicular mobility units (EMUs) are soon to become disposable, allowed to disintegrate as they reenter the Earth's atmosphere inside spent cargo ships."
Submission + - Apple Patents Cell Phone Software to Reduce Drops
MikeyTheK writes: Over at CNN, they announced that Apple was awarded a patent to reduce dropped cell phone calls. One of the reasons why cell calls drop is that the interference from other radios in the phone (e.g. GPS) and the impact of devices attached to the phone. Apple's software purportedly will reduce or eliminate that problem.
Submission + - A talk with Neptec before Atlantis launch
Roland Piquepaille writes: "The countdown for the launch of space shuttle mission STS-117 is going well and a liftoff of the shuttle Atlantis tomorrow evening is highly possible. One of the goals of this NASA mission is to expand the International Space Station (ISS) by adding two 17.5 tons trusses to it. To do so, the astronauts will rely on the Space Vision System (SVS) developed by the Neptec Design Group which will provide them with position and attitude cues during assembly. Despite his busy schedule, Iain Christie, Neptec's president, talked with me today about his company, his relationship with NASA, and about the future. Read more for some excerpts of our conversation and
of some exclusive pictures of Neptec systems."
Submission + - The Universal Calculator
e ^ (i * pi) writes: "Ever want to find the airspeed of an unladen swallow? Want to know the value of (4 * 7 + green) / apple? Someone has finally taken it upon themselves to create a calculator not bound by the ordinary limits of mathematics which refrains from limiting you to old fashioned "traditional" calculations. It even has a great documentation: "For numbers, this behaves pretty much as you would expect. For other types, not so much.""
Soviet Video Games from the 70s 66
vigmeister writes "A group of Russian kids have uncovered and rebuilt some arcade games from the Soviet era. These games apparently offered free play when someone played well, but no list of hi-scores. Roughly 32 of them have been found and although they are based on other arcade games, I hope these games were unique enough to offer playability for the present day arcade game lovers. 'Based largely (and crudely) on early Japanese designs, the games were distributed -- in the words of one military manual -- for the purposes of "entertainment and active leisure, as well as the development of visual-estimation abilities." Production of the games ceased with the collapse of communism, and as Nintendo consoles and PCs flooded the former Soviet states, the old arcade games were either destroyed or disappeared into warehouses and basements. It was mostly out of nostalgia that four friends at Moscow State Technical University began scouring the country to rescue these old games. '"
Submission + - MIT powers lightbulb wirelessly
kcurtis writes: According to the Boston Globe, MIT Researchers lit a light bulb remotely. The successful experiment to lit a 60-watt light bulb from a power source two meters away, with no physical connection between the power source and the light bulb. Details about WiTricity, or wireless electricity, are scheduled to be reported today in Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said.
Submission + - Jericho Saved by Nuts
nicholasjay writes: CNN has an article saying that the "Nuts!" trick has worked. CBS has decided to bring back the series, Jericho, for seven more episodes. Even the president of entertainment at CBS issued a letter to Jericho community.
From the article:
"The renewal of "Jericho" also underscores that there is more to TV viewership than what the Nielsen ratings tell us. As more and more people watch their favorite shows when they want thanks to TiVo (TIVO) and other digital video recorders as well as through sites like Apple's (AAPL) iTunes and the networks' own Web sites, looking just at the "live" Nielsen rating may not give networks a true impression of how popular a show is."
From the article:
"The renewal of "Jericho" also underscores that there is more to TV viewership than what the Nielsen ratings tell us. As more and more people watch their favorite shows when they want thanks to TiVo (TIVO) and other digital video recorders as well as through sites like Apple's (AAPL) iTunes and the networks' own Web sites, looking just at the "live" Nielsen rating may not give networks a true impression of how popular a show is."
Submission + - New MacBook Pro Benchmarked against the Old
yonp writes: Apple released the Santa Rosa MacBook Pro this week, here is a write up about the new MacBook Pro. Be sure to click on the benchmark page and see the benchmark against the last gen MacBook Pro.
"No write up on any Apple product can get by without asking the question "Why would I spend so much on an Apple when I could buy an X from Y for just $Z?" Let's look at the new MacBook PRO; in 15" screen with 2Gb RAM and 256 meg graphics, it's $2,499... I could buy THREE Dell laptops for that sort of money; seriously; check out the Inspiring 6400 or whatever it's called but, I reckon that, as you've read this far, you're with me... you don't want a Dell, not even three of them. You want a cool laptop... join me as we go over to the dark side of premium consumer products."
"No write up on any Apple product can get by without asking the question "Why would I spend so much on an Apple when I could buy an X from Y for just $Z?" Let's look at the new MacBook PRO; in 15" screen with 2Gb RAM and 256 meg graphics, it's $2,499... I could buy THREE Dell laptops for that sort of money; seriously; check out the Inspiring 6400 or whatever it's called but, I reckon that, as you've read this far, you're with me... you don't want a Dell, not even three of them. You want a cool laptop... join me as we go over to the dark side of premium consumer products."
"Bear" Robot to Rescue Wounded Troops 331
Jim Hall writes "The US military is developing a robot with a teddy bear head to help carry injured soldiers out of combat. The "friendly appearance" of the robot is designed to put the wounded at ease. The 6ft tall Bear can cross bumpy ground without toppling thanks to a combination of gyroscopes and computer controlled motors to maintain balance. It is expected to be ready for testing within five years. 'It is also narrow enough to squeeze through doorways, but can lift 135kg (500 lbs.) with its hydraulic arms in a single smooth movement, to avoid causing pain to wounded soldiers. While the existing prototype slides its arms under its burden like a forklift, future versions will be fitted with manoeuvrable hands to gently scoop up casualties. The Bear is controlled remotely and has cameras and microphones through which an operator sees and hears. It can even tackle stairs while carrying a human-sized dummy.'"
Moore's Law for Motherboards 170
An anonymous reader writes "VIA CEO Wenchi Chen revealed a business card-sized motherboard billed as the 'world's first industry-standard form-factor for PC/phone convergence,' at Computex this week. The mobile-ITX" board measures 3 x 1.8 inches. It's half the size of pico-ITX, which was half the size of nano-ITX, which, in turn, was half-the size of mini-ITX — which was already small. It's not clear whether VIA will make these tiny motherboards available to end users, or if they will only be sold directly to device makers, but generally all of VIA's tiny motherboard formats have spread around to other suppliers and become widely available."
Submission + - Gamer sues gold farmers
navygeek writes: Tired of contending with gold farmers in Blizzard's online sensation, World of Warcraft, gamer Antonio Hernadez has filed a class-action lawsuit against gold farming outfit IGE.
The attorney representing Hernandez in the case, Richard Newsome, told The Escapist, "Guys like Tony [Hernandez, the plaintiff] have paid their $15 for some entertainment, and IGE is polluting that entertainment. It's kind of like, if someone pays for a ticket to go see a movie, and if someone else comes in behind them and kicks their seat, you can get them to stop doing that."
Details on the lawsuit may be found at Gamespot and The Escapist. The actual complaint can be found here, PDF warning.
