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Submission + - Nvidia G-Sync Technology Preview: Quite Literally A Game Changer (tomshardware.com)

Submitted by brittlendor
brittlendor writes: If you’re a PC gamer, you're forever faced with this dilemma: Disable V-sync and live with tearing, or turn it on and tolerate annoying stutter? Nvidia promises to make that question obsolete with a variable refresh rate technology it calls "G-Sync". First announced two months ago, the company finally revealed details on Wednesday. In a nutshell, G-Sync allows your monitor and graphics card to run at the same refresh rate, therefore negating both tearing and stuttering. Nvidia aims to integrate G-Sync boards into PC monitors starting in Q1 2014.

Of course, in order to take advantage of G-Sync, you’ll not only need a new monitor that features the technology, but also an Nvidia graphics card, specifically the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost and up. Asus is set to ship a 144Hz 1080p model early next year, and Nvidia is already prepared to take G-Sync to 4K. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear likely that G-Sync will become an industry standard. Nevertheless, the V-sync conundrum has haunted PC gamers for over a decade, so in the ongoing Nvidia versus AMD graphics battle, G-Sync could prove to be a real game changer.

Submission + - UN Mounts Asteroid Defense Plan Following Chelyabinsk Meteor (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by Philip Ross
Philip Ross writes: Astronomers have warned that our planet is long overdue for a defense plan against catastrophic asteroid collisions. When it comes to deflecting Earth-obliterating celestial bodies, short of a superhero capable of punching the approaching rock back into outer space, there is no single force dedicated to stopping cosmic bullies from striking our little blue planet straight in the eye. That’s why the United Nations said it will establish an International Asteroid Warning Group to intercept and divert dangerous asteroids.

Submission + - 3D Printable Food Moves To Chocolate, Someday Whole Meals (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Avi Reichentall, CEO of 3D Systems, one of the largest consumer 3D printer companies, has already been able to configure his machines to create a variety of confections. Now he says it won't be long before a chocolate printer can rest beside your coffee maker on the kitchen counter. "I want it to be as cool as a Keurig coffee maker," Reichentall told a crowd at the Inside 3D Printing Conference this week in San Jose. "We're going to bring to pastry chefs and confectionaries and bakers a whole range of new sugar printing capabilities. Meanwhile, Pablos Holman, an inventor at Intellectual Ventures Laboratory, said he and other researchers are working to create printers with toner-type cartridges that hold pulverized freeze dried foods. When dispensed, water and heat is added to cook the food and meals are printed one micro-layer at a time. Not only would the printers be able to prepare foods on the spot, but they could add minuscule amounts of various nutrients to foods to make them healthier without effecting taste. Beyond convenience, 3D printable foods would also avoid enormous waste both at grocery stores where tons of spoiled food is tossed regularly, but in households were up to 60% of food is wasted.

Comment Re:Excercise and diet (Score 1) 372

by Laser Dan (#42588537) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How To Stay Fit In the Office?

I use the stairs when going up to my office in the morning and at lunch.
If there are people there, I do my usual 2 steps at a time, fast pace but not enough to make people look at me funny.
If there's nobody around, I run up as fast as possible, then recover for a min at the top.

At first I couldn't make it all the way running, but I can get up the 6 floors in ~24 seconds now and can breathe normally enough after that people in the office don't notice. It's not that much, but better than nothing.
Apple

Submission + - Claim dismissed as Apple can't find one false statement by Amazon (engadget.com)

Submitted by
cathyreisenwitz
cathyreisenwitz writes: ""In finding for Amazon, the judge held that Apple failed to identify a single false statement (expressly stated or implied) that Amazon made about the nature, characteristics, or quality of the Amazon Appstore that would deceive customers into thinking it was the same as the Apple App Store — a legal requirement to establish false advertising under federal law. Not a bad way for Bezos to ring in the new year, eh?""
Science

Submission + - Quantum gas goes below absolute zero (nature.com)

Submitted by mromanuk
mromanuk writes: It may sound less likely than hell freezing over, but physicists have created an atomic gas with a sub-absolute-zero temperature for the first time. Their technique opens the door to generating negative-Kelvin materials and new quantum devices, and it could even help to solve a cosmological mystery.

Submission + - Google engineer shows how to forge swords and knives (youtube.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Niels Provos, an engineer at Google working on malware and phishing protection, is showing on Youtube how to forge knives and Viking swords. The process is absolutely fascinating and follows the steps of Viking blacksmiths from a thousand years ago. It starts by taking small bars of metal that get heated and hammered together until they become a solid piece. He then shows how to form it with the hammer, heat treat and polish it. All the videos are narrated explaining the purpose of each step. Sure beats sitting in front of the computer.

Comment Re:Eyes show emotion (Score 1) 196

by Laser Dan (#41838525) Attached to: D&D Monster Study Proves Eyes Have It

It has been shown many times in studies that people are able to read a lot of emotion by looking at another person's eyes.

This is also the main reason most manga and anime authors prefer to draw big eyes. They're a much easier way to transmit emotions than body postures, allowing for a faster drawing process...

That reminds me of something interesting I noticed - in "western" countries the emoticons are focussed on the mouth, :) :( :p etc
But in Japan, they are mainly about the eyes, like ^_^ (others mangled by slashdot)

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: The Search for the Ultimate Engineer's Pen (wikipedia.org) 1

Submitted by Laser Dan
Laser Dan writes: I'm an engineer (robotics) who can't seem to find a pen that satisfies me.
Most of my writing is just temporary "thinking notes" on random bits of paper, like diagrams, flowcharts, equations etc, but pens always seem to have one or more of the following issues:
1. They write too thickly — I write very small, and when I start adding extra details to diagrams it gets even smaller. A line width of about 0.2-0.4mm would be good.
2. The ink bleeds, making the lines thick and unclear.
3. The ink is slow to dry or the tip grows blobs of ink, causing smudges everywhere.
4. The first line drawn is not fully dark, as the ink takes a short distance to get going.
5. The lines drawn are faint unless you press hard (I don't)

I have been given several fancy pens (Parker etc) over the years but they all suffered from problems 1, 3 (blobs), 4 and 5.
I'm considering trying a Fisher space pen, but it looks like even the fine cartridge writes rather thickly.

Have any fellow Slashdotters found their ultimate pen?

Comment screw that! (Score 1) 286

by Laser Dan (#41512439) Attached to: Illegal Downloading Now a Crime In Japan With Increased Penalties

What a ridiculously disproportionate penalty, I thought only the US was that screwed up.
I blame Sony.

I'm living in Japan, so lately I have been renting a "seedbox" in the Netherlands for $15/month.
I can download whatever I want to through the web interface, then copy it via sftp.
I'm sure solutions like this will start becoming a lot more common soon.

Comment Re:All Drug Olympics (Score 1) 245

by Laser Dan (#40707419) Attached to: An Olympic Games For Enhanced Athletes?

Why shouldn't one be allowed to choose what they do to their body?

As long as there is no coercion to the individual ("do this or we send you and your family to the rape pits") and it truly is that individual's choice what they do to their body, I don't really care what an athlete does to themselves.

Maybe put restrictions - no modifications allowed until after the age of 18 and then after that they can consent to whatever - so that children aren't being damaged any more than they already are by being pushed to hyper-competitiveness.

Yeah, I bet countries like china would never even CONSIDER dosing kids from birth to get an advantage...

Comment Overhyped!! (Score 1) 157

by Laser Dan (#39888545) Attached to: 1Gbps Wireless Network Made With Red and Green Laser Pointers

I don't know why this is being hyped so much... from my brief look it seems pretty dodgy.
I'm not an expert in data transmission, but I have reviewed quite a few papers.

Two main points stand out:

1. They have two lasers of different wavelengths just so they can use the phrase "wavelength division multiplexing", but the lasers point at separate photodiodes! The lasers could be the same wavelength and it would make no difference.
Doing this adds nothing to their paper and lowers my impression of the research quality.

2. Their adaptive filter seems to require that the receivers already know the correct data in order to measure the amplitude/phase error and adapt.
Why would you need to transmit the data if it is already known at the receiver???

I would reject this paper.

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