Comment Re:quit with the gossip (Score 1) 469
2+2 does equal 5... for large values of 2...
Sex Drugs and Texting 287
statesman writes "The Associated Press reports that teens who text frequently are three and a half times more likely to have sex. A survey of 4,200 public high school students in the Cleveland area found that one in five students sent more than 120 text messages a day or spent more than 3 hours a day on Facebook. Students in this group were much more likely to have sex. Alcohol and drug use also correlate with frequent texting and heavy Facebook use."
Comment Re:right to not incriminate yourself? (Score 1) 1155
I think the crime is called loitering.
Comment Full acountability (Score 4, Insightful) 185
At least they can't blame this one on piracy.
Scientists Cut Greenland Ice Loss Estimate By Half 414
bonch writes "A new study on Greenland's and West Antarctica's rate of ice loss halves the estimate of ice loss. Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the study takes into account a rebounding of the Earth's crust called glacial isostatic adjustment, a continuing rise of the crust after being smashed under the weight of the Ice Age. 'We have concluded that the Greenland and West Antarctica ice caps are melting at approximately half the speed originally predicted,' said researcher Bert Vermeeersen."
Submission + - Time Machines for Dummies By: Stephen Hawking
psyph3r writes: Dailymail.co.uk has published an interesting article written by Stephen Hawking on the practicality of time travel. He covers wormholes and approaching the speed of light as methods of time travel. He also covers current evidence that the passage of time is not constant, but varies based on conditions such as gravity (GPS satellite time loss) or velocity (LHC time dilation) He then expands on this proof into possible and impossible ways for humanity to travel through time. Long article, but a recommended read.
Submission + - Apple Might Face Antitrust Inquiry (nypost.com)
suraj.sun writes: After years of being the little guy who used Washington to fend off Goliaths like Microsoft, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is about to learn what life is like when the shoe's on the other foot.
According to a person familiar with the matter, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are locked in negotiations over which of the watchdogs will begin an antitrust inquiry into Apple's new policy of requiring software developers who devise applications for devices such as the iPhone and iPad to use only Apple's programming tools.
Regulators, this person said, are days away from making a decision about which agency will launch the inquiry. It will focus on whether the policy, which took effect last month, kills competition by forcing programmers to choose between developing apps that can run only on Apple gizmos or come up with apps that are platform neutral, and can be used on a variety of operating systems, such as those from rivals Google, Microsoft and Research In Motion.
An inquiry doesn't necessarily mean action will be taken against Apple, which argues the rule is in place to ensure the quality of the apps it sells to customers. Typically, regulators initiate inquiries to determine whether a full-fledged investigation ought to be launched. If the inquiry escalates to an investigation, the agency handling the matter would issue Apple a subpoena seeking information about the policy.
NYPost: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/an_antitrust_app_buvCWcJdjFoLD5vBSkguGO
According to a person familiar with the matter, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are locked in negotiations over which of the watchdogs will begin an antitrust inquiry into Apple's new policy of requiring software developers who devise applications for devices such as the iPhone and iPad to use only Apple's programming tools.
Regulators, this person said, are days away from making a decision about which agency will launch the inquiry. It will focus on whether the policy, which took effect last month, kills competition by forcing programmers to choose between developing apps that can run only on Apple gizmos or come up with apps that are platform neutral, and can be used on a variety of operating systems, such as those from rivals Google, Microsoft and Research In Motion.
An inquiry doesn't necessarily mean action will be taken against Apple, which argues the rule is in place to ensure the quality of the apps it sells to customers. Typically, regulators initiate inquiries to determine whether a full-fledged investigation ought to be launched. If the inquiry escalates to an investigation, the agency handling the matter would issue Apple a subpoena seeking information about the policy.
NYPost: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/an_antitrust_app_buvCWcJdjFoLD5vBSkguGO
Submission + - Cheaper Hydrogen Production Catalyst Discovered (gizmag.com)
ElectricSteve writes: The Hydrogen Economy that may one day replace the Hydrocarbon Economy came a step closer this week with the announcement that researchers have discovered an inexpensive new proton reduction catalyst — seventy times cheaper than the Platinum commonly used now — that can significantly reduce the costs of producing hydrogen using electrolysis to split water into molecules of hydrogen and oxygen.
Submission + - Scientist uses nanodots to create 4Tb storage chip (thinq.co.uk)
arcticstoat writes: Solid state disks could soon catch up with mechanical hard drives in terms of cost and capacity, thanks to a new data-packed chip developed by a scientist at the University of North Carolina. Using a uniform array of 10nm nanodots, each of which represents a single bit, Dr Jay Narayan created a data-density of 1 terabit per square centimetre. The end result was a 4cm2 chip that holds 4Tb of data (512GB), but the university says that the nanodots could have a diameter of just 6nm, enabling an even greater data-density. The university explains that the nanodots are "made of single, defect-free crystals, creating magnetic sensors that are integrated directly into a silicon electronic chip.” Dr Narayan says he expects the technology overtaking traditional solid state disk technology within the next five years.
Submission + - US church abuses YouTube DMCA (blogspot.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has decided that the "Davey and Goliath" parody "Gravey and Jobriath" — from Simpsons episode HOMR — infringes on their copyright and is using YouTube's DMCA process to take down clips of it.
Submission + - Comcast - So much for net neutrality... 1
Newshound2 writes: Comcast .net has started the process of flipping an errant finger toward the Administration and any other advocates of net neutrality, by beginning its selective presentation of the internet to its subscribers. On Sunday (May 2nd), subscribers who attempted to access the popular Bootlegzone.com discussion forum site (which fosters discussion of such unauthorized product, but does not offer direct links to such material) were greeted with a Comcast-originated screen that says "Sorry-- we can't find "www.bootlegzone.com". We suggest that you check the spelling of the web address or search above."
Screen shown here:
http://search3.comcast.com/?cat=dnsr&con=ds&url=www.bootlegzone.com
Neither previously-working bookmark links or attempts to link through Google (which apparently **can** seem to find its way around the internet) were successful as of Sunday evening. Comcast has offered no explanation for its apparent banning of the discussion site.
Screen shown here:
http://search3.comcast.com/?cat=dnsr&con=ds&url=www.bootlegzone.com
Neither previously-working bookmark links or attempts to link through Google (which apparently **can** seem to find its way around the internet) were successful as of Sunday evening. Comcast has offered no explanation for its apparent banning of the discussion site.
Submission + - Traveling Salesman in Polynomial Time? (blogspot.com) 2
James writes: Kingrames, a regular Slashdotter, has recently posted his second of two solutions to the Traveling Salesman problem, both of which are done in Polynomial time. He's asking for fellow mathematicians and computer scientists to lend a hand in proving and disproving his theories, and welcomes all feedback. If this discovery turns out to be true, it calls into question the idea that there are no polynomial-time solutions to these "hard" problems, and that would be very significant. If you have the time, and the inclination, please consider lending your helping hand.
Submission + - Google explains why it became an energy trader (goodgearguide.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "Google has explained how it might use its status as an energy-trading company to increase the use of renewable energy sources in its data centers. In February, the company's Google Energy subsidiary received approval from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to buy and sell power on the wholesale market."
Submission + - Comcast Sets Standard
BigSes writes: As I attempted to check the amusement collectibles on my Atlantic Broadband newgroups tonight, I was suprised to find that my server now requires authentication. After attempting to use my email login and being denied, I email customer service. Much to my dismay, I found out that Atalntic Broadband has followed suit with Comcast, and has discontinued newsgroup service due to low interest. Of course, this move was made with absolutely no warning, and no offered refunds or reduced prices for service. They aren't even pulling the same card that Comcast did, offering a discount to a large newgroup provider, they are offering nothing. They didn't even feel the need to send out a heads-up to their customers, or post any sort of message on their website. Could the age of included Usenet newgroups truly be coming to an end?
Submission + - Win7 deletes all system restore points on reboot (microsoft.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Astonishingly, the so-called system restore feature in Windows 7 deletes restore points without warning when the system is rebooted. Today I did a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (no dual boot), and noticed that whenever the machine rebooted after installing an application or driver, the disk churned for several minutes on the 'starting Windows' screen. Turns out that churning was the sound of my diligently created system restore points being deleted. Unfortunately I only found this out when Windows barfed at a USB dongle and I wanted to restore the system to an earlier state. Searching the net reveals that other users have experienced this problem (see URL). This is an extraordinarily bad bug, which I suspect most Windows 7 users won't realise is affecting them until it's too late.
