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Submission + - The Top 25 inventions of 2007

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Ever wonder where the next great idea will com from? Well, seems likely it could come from this group: The History Channel and Invent Now, a subsidiary of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, today named the Top 25 Inventions of 2007. These top 25 creators come from 17 states across the U.S. and their inventions cover a myriad categories, ranging from medical advancements such as a modular, information technology platform for motorized wheelchairs called the Gryphon Shield to environmental breakthroughs such as a green home powered by solar and geothermal energy. Other inventions include a shield designed to protect windows during hurricanes to a method that forces diesel engines to take in and re-use their own exhaust, reducing pollution. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1274 1"
Puzzle Games (Games)

Submission + - The "Godfather of Sudoku"

Submitted by
circletimessquare
circletimessquare writes: "The New York Times profiles 55 year old Maki Kaji who runs Nikoli, in it's article "Inside Japan's Puzzle Palace. Nikoli is a puzzle publisher that prides itself on 'a kind of democratization of puzzle invention. The company itself does not actually create many new puzzles — an American invented an earlier version of sudoku, for example. Instead, Nikoli provides a forum for testing and perfecting them.' Also notable is how Mr. Kaji describes how he did not get the trademark for Sudoku in the United States before it was too late. But reminescent of a theme many Slashdotters will find familiar about intellectual property: 'In hindsight, though, he now thinks that oversight was a brilliant mistake. The fact that no one controlled sudoku's intellectual property rights let the game's popularity grow unfettered, Mr. Kaji says.' Will Nikoli be the source of the next big puzzle fad after Sudoku?"
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Star Trek's Omnipotent Q Is A Mac User

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: InformationWeek interviews John de Lancie, the actor who played the omnipotent Q, about science fiction influences on real-life technology. He says, in case of fire, the first thing he'd save is his Apple laptop. He also says the food and decor on Trek was terrible:

"I have to say, though, that I never saw them have a really good meal," he said laughing. "And I hated the colors. It all looked like a Holiday Inn. It looked like everyone was living in a hotel somewhere eating bad hotel food."
AMD

Submission + - Bankrupt AMD: Means Cheap Chips for Us

Submitted by bagopa
bagopa writes: Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) may be planning another round of price cuts and may be looking to tap financial markets to offset its negative cash flow, according to one research analyst. This cant be good for them, but its sure good for the consumer. I'll be picking up my heavily discounted a64 soon.
Software

Submission + - Spy satellites real time trackable

Submitted by
n2yo
n2yo writes: "An interesting article has been posted on some Chinese web sites. Basically, the Japanese media reported that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) are broadcasting some sensitive satellite tracking data including 2 Japanaese optical spy satellites. The article translated in English via Google can be seen here: http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=nav client&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Frd.trafic.ro%2F%3Fu%3D war.163.com%252F07%252F0320%252F08%252F3A116HMM000 11232.html On other hand this AJAX based real time satellite tracking web site is very interesting too."
Nintendo

Submission + - DS Could Be Best Selling Video Game Platform Ever

Submitted by
njkid1
njkid1 writes: "Nintendo's DS handheld has taken the industry by storm; that's no secret. In Japan the Nintendo portable has been out-shipping Sony's PSP on a nearly three-to-one basis. Moreover, in 2006 the DS almost single handedly elevated the Japanese video game market out of its previous doldrums. On this side of the Pacific, not only is the DS consistently outselling the PSP, but it often outsells all consoles. In February, the DS was once again No.1 with 485K units sold.http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id =15549&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000021"
Security

Submission + - Russian Trojan Powering Massive ID-Theft Ring

Submitted by
Buchanan's Toys
Buchanan's Toys writes: "Researchers at SecureWorks have stumbled upon a massive identity theft ring using state-of-the-art Trojan code to steal confidential data from thousands of infected machines in the U.S. The Gozi Trojan, which connects to a server in Russia, has so far pilfered information from more than 5,200 home computers with 10,000 account records. The records retrieved included account numbers and passwords from clients of many of the top global banks and financial services companies (over 30 banks and credit unions were represented), the top US retailers, and the leading online retailers."
Printer

Submission + - Silverbrook's ultra-fast, low cost inkjet printer

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Silverbrook research has created a cheap and ultra fast inkjet printer with low running costs. Using a print head that spans the entire width of the paper Silverbrook's prototype A4 printer can deliver 60 pages per minute. Printing costs are $0.02pp for black text (presumably at 5% coverage) and $0.06pp for colour (at 20% coverage), due to the generous 50mL refill cartridges that will sell for less than $20. The introductory photo printing model will cost under $300 and print at 30ppm with a 100mm wide print head that delivers ink drops smaller than one picolitre. The nearest competition is from HP at $16,000/unit.

Full article and video at:
http://www.texyt.com/silverbrook+memjet+technology +available+desktop+photo+wideformat+hp+edgeline+co mparison

The photo printing model is due out by the end of the year.
Television

Submission + - DRM causes televison outage in Australia

Submitted by jebiester
jebiester writes: Tens of thousands of LG televisions arounds Australia are freezing during prime time shows such as CSI. It's now been revealed that the encryption of these shows, implemented to stop copying, is causing the problem. LG will now need to send technitians to the houses of many new LCD television owners to perform "A simple software upgrade".
Quickies

Submission + - Kids test theory of relativity in a mini-van

Submitted by
Matthew Sparkes
Matthew Sparkes writes: "Tom Van Baak and his three young children performed an impressive experiment on the theory of relativity. The group took a van equipped with 3 atomic clocks up Mount Rainier, near Seattle, for a couple of days camping. Because of the altitude, and therefore speed difference, they could calculate that there would be a time dilation of +22 nanoseconds between the two vans clocks, and some left at their house. If everyone's dad was like this then the world would be filled with theoretical physicists."
Media

Submission + - Sites That Aim to Be Hip End Up the Opposite

Submitted by
WSJdpatton
WSJdpatton writes: "In his Portals column, WSJ's Lee Gomes says the savviest Web users doesn't always have a good record in predicting what the real world will take to, as some recent Web history suggests.
"One of the latest success stories among tech-oriented Web users is Digg, a news site that brags how readers, not editors, pick the stories. ... Tech bloggers typically genuflect before Digg, regarding it as a founder of a new kind of democratic journalism. As with any democracy, Diggers get what they deserve. Recent top stories have included a CNN report about a girl who found the severed head of her missing pet dog on her front porch, an interactive graphic featuring three women in halter tops at a car wash, and a posting about unusual urinals."
Programming

Submission + - John W. Backus, FORTRAN creator/developer dies.

Submitted by
dcowart
dcowart writes: ""John W. Backus, who assembled and led the I.B.M. team that created Fortran, the first widely used programming language, which helped open the door to modern computing, died on Saturday at his home in Ashland, Ore. He was 82." Source: NY Times. I first read this on the Beowulf mailing list, where a lively discussion of programming in Fortran vs. C vs. C++ was in process..."
Linux Business

Submission + - Living (and dying) with Linux in the workplace

Submitted by
jcatcw
jcatcw writes: "Sharon Machlis, Computerworld's online managing editor and new Linux guru, tried to switch to from Windows to Suse Desktop 10. From the article:

I expected to be a poster child for the next wave of Linux desktop adopters. I wanted to be. I like the whole idea of a technically macho, open-source operating system — one that doesn't assume we all must be protected from an operating system's inner workings. I don't fear command lines, and enjoy fiddling around with programming.

It turns out that an intermediate-level power user may not be the ideal next desktop Linux demographic.
"
Quickies

Submission + - Cold War + Clever Politics = Cool Photos

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dateline: 1 August 1989, USA vs USSR (the Cold War) — Two USSR Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 fighter jets and the huge USSR Antonov An-225 Mriya heavy transport aircraft are en route to the 1989 Abbotsford International Airshow in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. Needing to refuel, they fly towards Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, USA. In U.S. airspace, high over Alaska, the two Soviet MiG-29s are intercepted by U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagle jet fighters and escorted to Elmendorf AFB where they're treated courteously. This historic event, Soviet military aircraft for the first time landing on U.S. territory, is documented in this excellent photo essay, which also includes the stunning, beautiful, "high above beautiful Earth" intercept photo.
Programming

Submission + - What do game developers do all day?

Submitted by AmIAnAi
AmIAnAi writes: The BBC is currently running an interesting story looking at the different design and production roles within a typical game studio.

From the article:

"The BBC News website meets the team from Climax who developed the game Ghost Rider for PlayStation 2 (PS2), PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Game Boy Advance."

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