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Submission + - FAA under pressure to open US skies to drones (myway.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "Unmanned aircraft have proved their usefulness and reliability in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the pressure's on to allow them in the skies over the United States."

The article describes some logistic issues of UAVs sharing the air with manned craft, from aircraft to hot-air balloons. Conspicuously absent is any mention of the danger to personal privacy and civil liberties such wide-spread use of automated surveillance would bring.
Open Source

Submission + - OpenCL 1.1 Fully Backwards Compatible - Linux Maga (linuxpromagazine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Khronos Group announces new features and enhanced performance for the parallel programming standard. OpenCL 1.1 boasts several new features including memory object destructor callbacks, mirrored repeat adressing mode and the sharing of images and buffers by linking OpenCL events object to OpenGL fence sync object. I have no idea what I just said.

Submission + - Comparing Open Source Neural Network Frameworks (codeproject.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Encog, Neuroph, and JOONE are the primary open source Java neural networks frameworks. In this article the author benchmarks them and gives some guidance to choosing the most suitable one. Encog, with its GPU acceleration and multi-core support is the fastest of the bunch.
Apple

Submission + - Samsung Wave S8500 Has Same ARM Chip as Apple iPad (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: Analyst group UBM TechInsights has discovered that the Samsung Wave S8500 phone will sport the same ARM chip as the iPad.

The processor in question is the 1GHz ARM Cortex A8. This core is based on ARM architecture and is aimed at low-power mobile gizmos that operate at less than 300mW.

Submission + - GlobalFoundries Keeps Lid on Malta Chip Fab Deal (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: GlobalFoundries has asked Malta's government to withhold details of a taxpayer-funded deal to build a chip fab on the island.

The chip maker is to receive $650 million in public funds towards the $4.2 billion project, and must submit the invoices every quarter to have its building costs reimbursed.
Power

Submission + - Algae-Powered Lamp Converts CO2 Into Light (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Designer Mike Thompson has created a remarkable living lamp that is powered by algae. The lamp is made possible thanks to a recent discovery made by researchers at the universities of Yansei and Stanford. The researchers found that a tiny electrical current can be extracted from algae during photosynthesis. The Latro Lamp derives energy from an algae chamber that requires just sunlight, CO2, and water to operate. Stick the lamp outside, breathe into it, and voila, you’ve created your own bio battery-powered living lamp.

Submission + - FTC floats "Drudge" tax (washingtontimes.com)

Submitted by Pharmboy
Pharmboy writes: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking ways to "reinvent" journalism. According to a May 24 draft proposal, the agency thinks government should be at the center of a media overhaul. In short, the FTC wants to create a new tax for websites like Slashdot, The Drudge Report, Fark and others, and redistribute the funds to "mainstream" news agencies, partially to create an incentive "to encourage people to keep reading the dead-tree version of the news". This would be done with "copyright licenses". Rather than having faith in the capitalistic system, it would appear the FTC bureaucracy wants to declare freedom of the press as irrevocably broken, and insert their own controls, thus empowering Congress to decide who gets what funds. While some news agencies would welcome this new source of income, can we actually afford to have a press that is partially funded by the government?
Censorship

Submission + - China Explains Internet Situation in Whitepaper (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: In a new whitepaper, China has declared the Internet to be 'the crystallization of human wisdom' and officially issued what appears to be a a defense of its policies on web censorship while at the same time making contradicting statements like "Chinese citizens fully enjoy freedom of speech on the Internet" and (in the same paper) "Laws and regulations clearly prohibit the spread of information that contains content subverting state power, undermining national unity [or] infringing upon national honour and interests." The paper also claims some interesting — if not humorous — superlatives like "China is one of the countries suffering most from hacking." On the positive side, this thirty one page document might be offered as an operating guide for businesses like Google looking to understand exactly what the law is surrounding the Internet in China. Clearly contradictions arise when one reads this text but it's a rare glimpse of transparency in China's regulations.
Hardware

Submission + - BIOS Will Be Dead In Three Years (thinq.co.uk) 2

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: MSI says that it's planning a big shift towards UEFI at the end of 2010, possibly spelling the end of the BIOS as we know it.

It's the one major part of the computer that's still reminiscent of the PC's primordial, text-based beginnings, but the familiarly-clunky BIOS could soon be on its deathbed, according to MSI. The motherboard maker says it's now making a big shift towards point and click UEFI systems, and it's all going to kick off at the end of this year.

Speaking to Thinq, a spokesperson for the company in Taiwan who wished to remain anonymous said that "MSI will start to phase in UEFI starting from the end of this year, and we expect it will be widely adopted after three years."

Submission + - Finding Doctors with Electronic Records

Submitted by fsterman
fsterman writes: I bit into a cookie last night and a spike of pain shot through my jaw- I need to find a dentist! I just moved to town and I need a new one. I found a wonderful family doctor who uses electronic record keeping; it's amazing to have a doctor that can do a keyword search through your records or send electronic prescriptions to the pharmacy so they are ready for pickup. But finding him was a happy accident, doctors rarely advertise and I can't find any directory of techno-savvy doctors.

I was hoping some Slashdotters might have suggestions on how to find a doctor with electronic record keeping. Make it quick- my molars really hurt!

Submission + - Big Brother is Watching You in 360-degree HD (veracium.com)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "DHS plans to discreetly deploy millions of basketball-sized 360 HD video surveillance systems in public venues and urban areas. They have installed a prototype Imaging System for Immersive Surveillance (ISIS) unit, which uses image stitching technology to provide perfect 360 degree edge-to-edge HD video, and enables forensic analysts to zoom and pan different areas without disrupting the ongoing coverage, at Boston Logan International Airport. The system automatically detects abnormal events and helps operators identify suspicious incidents in large, open areas with a resolution equivalent to dozens of HD television monitors.

“We've seen that terrorists are determined to do us harm, and ISIS is a great example of one way we can improve our security by leveraging our strengths," Dr. John Fortune, the main DHS man behind the project said."
Power

Submission + - From defibrillator batteries to a green revolution (buffalo.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This month is the 50th anniversary of the first US cardiac pacemaker implantation in a patient (in Buffalo NY at the VA Hospital). The company that made the batteries for the pacemaker, Greatbatch Inc., also Buffalo-based, later went on to hire Esther Takeuchi, who in turn made the cardiac defibrillator possible by developing its tiny but powerful battery.

Now, Esther Takeuchi is seeking a green breakthrough. As a SUNY Distinguished Professor at the University at Buffalo, (btw, she has more patents than any other woman in the US and is a recent winner of the National Medal for Technology and Innovation) she is applying her expertise in battery breakthroughs to environmental technologies like electric cars and wind turbines.

UB's story and video about her (link is in story) are here: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/11424

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