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Hardware Hacking

Grad Student Invents Cheap Laser Cutter 137

Posted by samzenpus from the frugal-cutting dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Peter Jansen, a PhD student and member of the RepRap community, has constructed a working prototype of an inexpensive table-top laser cutter built out of old CD/DVD drives as an offshoot of his efforts to design an under $200 open-source Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printer. Where traditional laser cutters use powerful, fixed-focus beams, this new technique dynamically adjusts the focal point of the laser using a reciprocating motion similar to a reciprocating saw, allowing a far less powerful and inexpensive laser diode to be used. The technique is currently limited to cutting black materials to a depth of only a few millimeters, but should still be useful and enabling for Makers and other crafters. The end-goal is to create a hybrid inexpensive 3D printer that can be easily reconfigured for 2D laser cutting, providing powerful making tools to the desktop."

Comment Re:Oh good! (Score 1) 276

by niittyniemi (#31792762) Attached to: GNOME 2.30, End of the (2.x) Line

I don't give a rat's ass because Microsoft will never, ever go after an insignificant, individual end user like me for patient infringement.

Frankly, what you do to your patent's disgusts me. I hope Microsoft go after you with the full force of the law.

Comment Re:Mama don't take my Kodachrome away! (Score 1) 399

by niittyniemi (#28430369) Attached to: Kodak Kills Kodachrome

> This page [kodak.com] at the kodak site shows about 8 different types of 35mm film which Kodak is marketing.

That page shows the negative film. Kodachrome is slide film and this page shows that kodachrome is being discontinued but some newer slide films remain.

I'm sad. I used to use kodachrome; it was nice film if a little slow for the English climate.

Privacy

Submission + - Skype-Linux reads /etc/passwd and firefox profile! (skype.com)

Submitted by
mrcgran
mrcgran writes: "Users of Skype for Linux have just found out that it reads the files /etc/passwd, firefox profile, plugins, addons, etc, and many other unnecessary files in /etc. This fact was originally discovered by using AppArmor, but others have confirmed this fact using strace on versions 1.4.0.94 and 1.4.0.99. What is going on? This probably shows how important it is to use AppArmor in any closed-source application in Linux to restrict any undue access to your files."
Space

Submission + - Comet Explosion Killed The Clovis Culture. 1

Submitted by Haikuist_For_Hire
Haikuist_For_Hire writes: The NSF has released a study that strongly implicates a comet explosion over North America roughly 13000 years ago. Researchers at the University of Californina at Santa Barbara with the help of a National Science Foundation grant visited many Clovis sites around North America. The abrupt cooling trend of that time is known as the Younger Dryas or 'big freeze' and the collapse of the Clovis has been the subject of much debate over recent years. Samples from 12 Clovis period sites yielded high concentrations of Iridium, nano-diamonds, and buckyballs (fullerenes) that contain gases which indicate extraterrestrial origins. From the article: 'The team concluded that the impact of the comet likely destabilized a large portion of the Laurentide ice sheet, causing a high volume of freshwater to flow into the north Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.'
Power

Submission + - Untapped Energy Below Us (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by
EskimoJoe
EskimoJoe writes: "BASEL, Switzerland — When tremors started cracking walls and bathroom tiles in this Swiss city on the Rhine, the engineers knew they had a problem. "The glass vases on the shelf rattled, and there was a loud bang," Catherine Wueest, a teashop owner, recalls. "I thought a truck had crashed into the building." But the 3.4 magnitude tremor on the evening of Dec. 8 was no ordinary act of nature: It had been accidentally triggered by engineers drilling deep into the Earth's crust to tap its inner heat and thus break new ground — literally — in the world's search for new sources of energy. On paper, the Basel project looks fairly straightforward: Drill down, shoot cold water into the shaft and bring it up again superheated and capable of generating enough power through a steam turbine to meet the electricity needs of 10,000 households, and heat 2,700 homes. Scientists say this geothermal energy, clean, quiet and virtually inexhaustible, could fill the world's annual needs 250,000 times over with nearly zero impact on the climate or the environment. A study released this year by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said if 40 percent of the heat under the United States could be tapped, it would meet demand 56,000 times over. It said an investment of $800 million to $1 billion could produce more than 100 gigawatts of electricity by 2050, equaling the combined output of all 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S."
Announcements

Submission + - Medison comes out in open regarding $150 laptop 3

Submitted by
Vinit
Vinit writes: "Medison's representatives have come out in open to say they aren't fakes and the controversial $150 laptop is on it's way for 15 August release (hopefully). In a press conference in Sweden, Medison displayed the notebook in front of ten journalists and defended itself against accusations of fraud. Regarding the low price of it's laptop, Medison said it's not their main revenue source. They plan to make money by advertising on it's site. http://www.pclaunches.com/notebooks/medison_comes_ out_in_open_regarding_celebrity_laptop.php"

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