kayle - Slashdot User

Submission + - BBC mulls less DRM; wider OS support for iPlayer

Submitted by

zombieflesheater

on Friday February 23, 2007 @09:41AM

zombieflesheater writes: "The BBC has detailed its proposals for new on-demand services to be made available through its iPlayer software. Among the offerings are TV catch-up over Internet and live TV streaming. Now the Beeb asking its customers how they think the services should work. Under its new Public Value Test process, the BBC trust has started a public consultation to gather license payer opinion. Among other things, Auntie wants to know whether the proposed service should be made available to consumers who are not using Microsoft software. The removal of DRM restrictions from certain audio downloads are also being considered. The consultation period ends on 28 March."

Submission + - TopGear turns 3 wheeled car into a space shuttle

Submitted by

ahaveland

on Friday February 23, 2007 @02:32AM

ahaveland writes: "I found this to be one of the most Nerd-entertaining things I've ever seen, and thought that it deserves a wider audience. Of course, launching a real space shuttle takes huge resources as lives are at stake, but this mock-up of a space shuttle using an old car as the orbiter strapped to a booster rockets with over 8 tons of thrust really shows what one can do with a modest budget in the name of a bit of silliness, while also becoming the biggest non-commercial rocket launch in European history. The presenters of the program really know how to have fun, and entertain their audience!
Video clips may be found on youtube.com, search for "topgear shuttle". Whole program is about 20 minutes in duration.
Production notes are on the TopGear website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/production_notes /shuttle.shtml"

Submission + - BBC on-demand video to use Microsoft DRM

Submitted by kayle on Thursday February 22, 2007 @01:41PM

kayle writes: Several sources have strong statements against the BBC's plan to use Microsoft's DRM in their on-demand video broadcasts (audio will be DRM-free). They will require Windows Media Player. They currently have an open consultation for feedback. Tell them what you think!

Submission + - Dell users demand Linux

Submitted by

narramissic

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @12:54PM

narramissic writes: "Thousands of Dell users voted favorably in response to an idea posted Friday on a company-hosted blog called Dell Idea Storm that calls for the option to purchase PCs with the Linux OS. Other popular threads include requests for consumer PCs that are not pre-loaded with unsolicited applications, requests for OpenOffice applications instead of Microsoft's Office suite, Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, and pleas for Dell to stop routing service calls to operators in overseas countries such as India. For its part, the company has said it will 'post a statement on the blog this week explaining how they will react.'"

Submission + - Zaragoza migrate to Open Source

Submitted by pacoes on Thursday February 22, 2007 @12:04PM

pacoes writes: The Council of Zaragoza (Spain, 660.000 souls), has decided to move all it software infrastructure to Linux (SuSE) and open technologies. The actual infrastructure is based in Windows 98-Office 97, that will be replaced begining with the office suite (OpenOffice over windows), then to SuSE linux.

The total amount is scheduled on euro 750.000, and will be drive by Novell, that will support the Council for 7 years.

In 2008 Zaragoza will show the Internationa Exhibition Expo Zaragoza 2008, centered in water and sustainable development.

Due Zaragoza is the 5th city in Spain and shows an evident economical growth, this is a very important hit in the expansion of the open source infrastructure.

Submission + - 67 Kilowatt Laser Unveiled

Submitted by

s31523

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:21AM

s31523 writes: "We all remember the scene from the movie Real Genius where the nerdy guys get a laser to fire which burns a hole through everything for miles. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has announced they have a Solid State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL) that averages 67kW working in their lab. Developed for the military, Dr. Yamamoto claims this to be a record and is quoted as saying, "I know of no other solid state laser that has achieved 67kW of average output power". The potential uses for this bad boy go well beyond turning a professor's house into Jiffy Pop. Here is what a 40w laser can do, now imagine 67000 watts. Although many lasers have peaked at higher capacities, getting the average sustained power to remain high seems to be the tricky part."

Submission + - Cell Broadband Engine IBM Challenge '07

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @08:52PM

An anonymous reader writes: Participate in IBM's Cell Broadband Engine Challenge. Novice and expert university students can participate in a quiz and a coding contest for an exciting opportunity to learn, innovate, and contribute to the open source initiative.... And of course, win amazing cash prizes.

Submission + - Worlds Largest Wave Farm

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @06:39PM

An anonymous reader writes: The BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6377423.stm is reporting that the Scottish Executive has announced funding for a project to create what will be the worlds largest wave farm.
The location off Orkney has been used to test the Pelamis device in the past and is now to be the location for commercial testing. It is estimated that waters off Scotland could provide 25% of the wave power available to Europe

Submission + - Programming the SPE's of Sony PLAYSTATION 3

Submitted by IdaAshley on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @06:27PM

IdaAshley writes: Take even greater advantage of the synergistic processing elements (SPEs) of the Sony PS3 in this installment of Programming high-performance applications on the Cell BE processor. Part 2 looks in depth at the Cell Broadband Engine processor's SPEs and how they work at the lowest level, while Part 1 showed how to install Linux on the PS3 and explored a short example program.

Journal Journal: Drug patents threatening cheap drugs

Journal by GillBates0 on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @04:05PM

This was a story I tried to submit but was rejected by Slashdot's editorial staff. Not grousing, saving my composition here for posterity, as I do with other of my rejected stories.

Submission + - vast water reservoir revealed

Submitted by

Agent Provocateur

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @07:28AM

Agent Provocateur writes: "WUSTL has a news bulletin about research which has shown a hidden ocean the size of the Artic. A seismologist at Washington University in St. Louis has made the first 3-D model of seismic wave damping — diminishing — deep in the Earth's mantle and has revealed the existence of an underground water reservoir at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean. It is the first evidence for water existing in the Earth's deep mantle. Full report here."

Submission + - Google building Artificial Intelligence

Submitted by kegger64 on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @12:51AM

kegger64 writes: Larry Page announced that Google is looking into building an AI system. "We have some people at Google [who] are really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale," the Google co-founder declared. "It's not as far off as people think." http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/02/19/larry -page-google-look-into-ai

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