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Submission + - DNF Trailer to released 12/19/07 at 12 PM CST (3drealms.com)

Submitted by Masterwinks
Masterwinks writes: The long awaited sequel to Duke Nukem 3D (1996) is finally being revealed for the first time in almost 7 years. Duke Nukem Forever will be formally revealed in a teaser trailer Wednesday December 19, 2007 at approximately 12 Noon US Central Time.
From 3D Realms Home Site:
Tomorrow, Wednesday the 19th, around noon CST, we will release the first teaser trailer from Duke Nukem Forever. To tide you over until then, there has been a screen shot taken from the teaser and posted in our forums. Check it out here.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - The Aerodynamics of Bicycle Racing

Submitted by
Ponca City, We Love You
Ponca City, We Love You writes: "Nick Frey, the reigning national time-trial bicycle champion, is a mechanical and aerospace engineering major at Princeton who puts his knowledge to work in modifications to his racing bike. Once a bicycle is moving fast enough, nearly all the cyclist's strength goes into pushing aside air. Reducing that resistance by a relatively small amount can result in major increases in speed with minimal increased effort so one of Frey's innovations is enclosing his brake cables in a special housing shaped like an airplane wing that shields them from the wind, reducing the resistance on his bike. "It's like free speed," says Frey. "And in cycling, every second counts." Other improvements include the helmet he purchased to match his riding posture and the silicon gel between his wheel rims and tires that subtly changes the shape of his tires, making them more aerodynamic. Frey subjects his own performance to rigorous analysis and posts his training and performance results, along with details about various races, on his blog."
United States

Submission + - Preventing Global Warming Costs Only 0.1% GDP

Submitted by
reporter
reporter writes: "According to a report by "The Economist", the United Nations has just released a study demonstrating that preventing global warming is relatively inexpensive. The study states that the cost is only 0.1% of gross domestic product per year."
The Internet

Submission + - Updated Top 100 Alternative Search Engines

Submitted by
ReadWriteWeb
ReadWriteWeb writes: "In a follow-up to his Top 100 Alternative Search Engines article at the end of January, Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) Charles S. Knight has produced an updated list, featuring 32 new search engines. The criteria for the list is that search engines should exhibit superiority to Google — not as a whole, but in just one particular area. An example is "Search Engine of the Month" GoshME, a Meta-Meta-Search Engine which searches across a variety of specialized search engines and databases, then categorizes and filters the results.

Knight writes that 68 of the original 100 search engines are still firmly in the top 100, either because they have continued to improve (see Zuula), or because they have yet to be challenged (amongst the "Answers" search engines, only ChaCha uses paid guides, not volunteers or community members). This block of 68 search engines, says Knight, forms a sort of "core" representation of the new breed of alternative search engines."
Security

Submission + - NZ Banks want .bank domain to reduce fraud

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Banks want a new internet classification to help combat online fraud. Banks' internet addresses would then read westpac.bank.nz, for example, rather than westpac.co.nz. The . bank address would join the five current "moderated" addresses with restricted memberships. http://www.stuff.co.nz/3976481a28.html
OS X

Submission + - Customize the Mac OS X Login Screen - for Free

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After several hundred times of logging into your Mac you may be tired of looking at the same old login screen. Maybe you'd like to have a customized login screen for your school or employer's workstations. Forget the $10 programs that automate the process, we'll show you how to customize the login screen entirely on your own, for free. It's not as difficult as you might think, and it's a fun way to personalize your Mac a bit more. Be sure to check out the screenshot below for an example of the results. http://osxdaily.com/2007/02/22/customize-the-mac-o s-x-login-screen/
Microsoft

Submission + - VMware cries foul over Microsoft virtualisation

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes: The battle to control the virtualisation market has heated up with the launch of a white paper from VMware, which accuses Microsoft of anti-competitive practices. In language reminiscent of Microsoft's anti-trust battles in the US and its ongoing struggle with the European Union, VMware claimed that the software giant is "forcing [its] specifications and APIs on the industry", and "trying to restrict customers' flexibility and freedom to choose virtualisation software".
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - An interview with Chuck Thacker

Submitted by
Mihai Budiu
Mihai Budiu writes: "I had the opportunity to interview Chuck Thacker, a Microsoft technical fellow who has been awarded the 2007 IEEE von Neumann medal for his "central role in the creation of the personal computer and the development of networked computer systems" (i.e., Xerox Alto and Ethernet). Chuck speaks about building hardware, education, reverse engineering, open-source, and many other fascinating topics."
Biotech

Submission + - Bacteria to protect against quakes

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "If you live near the sea, chances are high that your home is built over sandy soil. And if an earthquake strikes, deep and sandy soils can turn to liquid, with some disastrous consequences for the buildings sitting on them. But now, U.S. researchers have found a way to use bacteria to steady buildings against earthquakes by turning these sandy soils into rocks. Today, it is possible to inject chemicals in the ground to reinforce it, but this can have toxic effects on soil and water. On the contrary, this use of common bacteria to 'cement' sands has no harmful effects on the environment. But so far, this method is limited to labs and the researchers are working on scaling their technique. Here are more references and a picture showing how unstable ground can aggravate the consequences of an earthquake."
Security

Submission + - Tor Open to Attack

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A group of researchers have written a paper that lays out an attacks against Tor, in enough detail to cause Roger Dingledine a fair amount of heartburn. The essential attacks are: Tor doesn't verify claims of uptime or bandwidth, allowing an attacker to advertise more than it need deliver, and thus draw traffic. If the attacker controls the entry and exit node and has decent clocks, then the attacker can link these together and trace someone through the network. Yowza!

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