Iggowanna - Slashdot User

Submission + - NASA Chief attacked for Global Warming Stance (npr.org)

Submitted by

bagsc

on Friday June 01, 2007 @02:31PM

bagsc writes: "NASA Administrator Michael Griffin did an interview for NPR's Science Friday, saying "I have no doubt that ... a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with." Then, the media attacks. Sure, he's a political appointee, and NASA released a study this week that the Earth is within 1.8 degrees of the safe maximum standard. But aren't government Administrators supposed to say when they don't have good policy options to implement, or should we just spend on anything (like corn ethanol) to make people feel better until we analyze the options better?"

Submission + - Using Earth's Magnetic Field to Eject CO2 (economist.com)

Submitted by rrkap on Thursday May 31, 2007 @03:11PM

rrkap writes: At last week's meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Alfred Wong of the University of California, Los Angeles proposed using the Earth's magnetic field to eject Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere.

His proposal comes in two stages. "First, he has to ionise more CO2. There are many ways this might be done, but for a first experiment Dr Wong proposes zapping dust in the atmosphere with powerful lasers, to release electrons that can then combine with CO2. Having created the ions, he will then nudge those that have drifted upwards to the appropriate height with radio waves of exactly 17 cycles a second..."

Submission + - Sweden opens Second Life "Embassy"

Submitted by MLease on Thursday May 31, 2007 @02:50AM

MLease writes: Apparently Sweden is the first to spot a new tourism marketing strategy. According to CNN, they have opened the first cyber-embassy in Linden's Second Life. It doesn't actually offer any consular services, but merely serves as a place to "promote the Nordic state's image and culture". Sweden's Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, attended the opening of the "embassy" in the form of an avatar, as well as announcing it in a Stockholm press conference.

Submission + - Open Challenge To Improve Movie Content Protection (newteevee.com)

Submitted by HarryCaul on Thursday May 31, 2007 @01:45AM

HarryCaul writes: Now you too can make money by contributing to the improvment of DRM! The news blog NewTeeVee reports that "Motion Picture Laboratories" is offering up a number of open challenges to improve the protection of movies, both in theaters and in the home. According to the article, "Promising proposals will receive grants anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 to continue research. These are "strictly problems we think smart people want to solve," CEO Steve Weinstein told me (NewTeeVee) over the phone yesterday."

Challenges include- Remote Content Access, Theatrical Anti-Camcording, and Hiding of Cryptographic Keys, among others.

Founding members of Motion Picture Labs include Paramount, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Disney, and Warner Bros.

Spamming Google Maps 225

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday January 28, 2007 @11:02AM from the already-getting-lame dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google organized a flyover of Sydney, Australia last Friday for Australia Day. The images taken on the day will be posted to Google Maps in a few weeks. A number of dotcoms spent hours making huge signs that would be visible from the air. It will be interesting to see whether Google will repeat the event in other cities. If they do, get prepared early. What sign would you make?"

Submission + - Sweden plans to open embassy in Second Life

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28, 2007 @08:28AM

An anonymous reader writes: According to an article in The Local, Sweden aims to become the first country to set up an embassy in Linden Labs' virtual 3d world Second Life. "We are planning to establish a Swedish embassy in Second Life primarily as an information portal for Sweden," Swedish Institute (SI) director Olle Wästberg told AFP." "In the longer term the Swedish Institute envisaged buying an island in the virtual world to create a home for Swedish companies."

Journal Journal: Cancer Cured? 2

Journal by Todamont on Saturday January 27, 2007 @09:36PM

Here's the deal. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found a cheap and easy to produce drug that kills almost all cancers. The drug is dichloroacetate, and since it is already used to treat metabolic disorders, we know it should be no problem to use it for other purposes.

Submission + - No more Sharp Zaurus handhelds

Submitted by

pdawerks

on Saturday January 27, 2007 @08:05PM

pdawerks writes: "Although these Linux-based handhelds are not that widespread throughout the world, it is sad to see another "genuine PDA" platform leaving the market. Despite lack of truly new models in the recent years, the Zaurus, thanks to the open OS, large screen and full QWERTY keypad, has always been loved among mobile enthusiasts.

According to the above source, the last model will leave the assembly line somewhere next month. Therefore, you should have enough time to get to Japan for a piece of mobile history of your own.

You can read the full article here http://www.pdalive.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&th readid=13223."

Submission + - 16 qubit Quantum computer demo announced Feb 13

Submitted by

nanotrends

on Friday January 19, 2007 @02:27PM

nanotrends writes: "Dwave Systems has fixed the dates for the demo of their Orion 16 qubit quantum computing system. They are going to hold two events, one at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California on February 13th, and the second at the Telus World of Science in Vancouver, Canada on February 15th. These events are open to the public, but registration is needed. I have extensive articles on Quantum computers, quantum algorithms and the papers that describe how these adiabatic superconducting quantum computers work and what the economic and technological impact will be"

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