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NASA

Submission + - NASA Kepler spots 2 new planets crossing same star

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: NASA's space gazing Kepler space telescope has discovered two Saturn-sized exoplanets that are crossing in front of, or transiting, the same star.
In a teleconference today, NASA said in addition to the two confirmed giant planets, Kepler spotted what appears to be a third, much smaller transit signature in the observations of the sun-like star designated Kepler-9, which is 2,000 light years away from Earth. The planets were named Kepler-9b and 9c.

Comment Re:Yeah really (Score 1) 399

by rhaas (#26902475) Attached to: TrapCall Service To Bypass Caller ID Blocking
Using a cell phone does sound like it would solve the problem (unless the publicly available databases that TelTech searches can find the billing address for the number) but not everyone communicates only by cell phone. Not everyone reads Slashdot, so there's a real possibility that someone might think that caller ID blocking was sufficient to protect themselves.

Comment Re:Dictionary - Encyclopedia - Textbook (Score 1) 469

by rhaas (#21808038) Attached to: Should Wikipedia Allow Mathematical Proofs?

A rating system like you describe is very interesting and might be a good addition. I assume that you mean every visitor should have the option to rate a page. Have you discussed these suggestions at Wikipedia? I haven't gotten involved much there yet, but I imagine others have noticed and discussed these problems already.

Yes, that's what I mean. Unfortunately, I have not gotten involved enough even to know where such a thing could be suggested... it seems like there is a very hard-core core group and I just haven't been willing to spend the time and energy to get into it at that level. I have to conclude that the people who do it like it the way that it is, or it would have been changed by now, but what do I know?

Perhaps part of the issue is that discussion systems and rating systems inevitably give the developer or designer a lot of power and are therefore seen as undemocratic. I don't know what the objections are, but as you imply, I can't be the first person to have thought of these things.

I don't think there is any distinction between building an on-line encyclopedia that anyone can edit it and managing it. Wikipedians have necessarily been doing both tasks simultaneously from the beginning, though as it gets bigger and more popular, the management becomes more difficult. It's still being built just as much as it is being managed. If it's more difficult to manage and build now than it was a soon after it started, I think that's partly because tools have not scaled to match the complexity of the project.
I agree. I was just referring to the "everything is a wikipage" philosophy.
Microsoft

Submission + - NIST endorses Microsoft's Open XML

Submitted by Royseth
Royseth writes: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is backing Microsoft's effort to certify Office Open XML as an international standard. It has voted to conditionally approve Office Open XML (OOXML) pending some technical concerns in an upcoming standards approval vote. "NIST believes that ODF and OOXML can co-exist as international standards," NIST director William Jeffrey, said in a statement as quarel over OOXML rages on.
Censorship

Submission + - Fox News Censors Iowa Straw Poll Results (chrisbrunner.com)

Submitted by
Chris Brunner
Chris Brunner writes: "If you don't already know, the Iowa Straw Poll, seen as a first test of organizational strength by news media and party insiders, took place yesterday. The results weren't too surprising, considering that McCain, Fred Thompson, and Giuliani all boycotted the event. What was surprising, however, is that Fox News blatantly cut certain candidates out of the results they reported. They didn't just stop listing candidates after a certain point. They listed positions one through three, skipped four and five, and then continued with positions six through eight."
Google

Submission + - Google Acquires Doubleclick

Submitted by
Brian Ribbon
Brian Ribbon writes: "The Register is reporting that Google has finally acquired Doubleclick, the "leading computer-tracking cookie provider" for $3.1bn. This follows failed attempts from companies such as Microsoft, who attempted to buy the company for $2bn

This latest purchase — involving one of the most offensive advertising companies on the World Wide Web — does little to enhance Google's "Do No Evil" motto."

Feed Toshiba begins shipping HD-A20 HD DVD player (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

As promised, Toshiba is shipping the HD-A20 to retailers with a MSRP of $499, but can probably be found online for even less. The HD-A20 fits right in the middle of Toshiba's trio of HD DVD players, which make up all of the stand alone HD DVD players available. The extra benjamin over the HD-A2 gets you HDMI 1.3 and 1080p output, but it lacks a few video enhancements like deep color support and additional connections like RS-232 when compared with its bigger brother, the HD-XA2. If this is any indication of what we can expect from second generation HD DVD players, Toshiba is on its way to producing some of the best next-gen physical media movie players anywhere -- at least until Blu-ray finally gets BD-J live done in October.

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