Comment Re:Hmm. Yes. "Footballers' injury" I believe. (Score 1) 219
He was unresponsive until he might get embarrased in public and then becomes responsive.
Maybe they applied cortical electrodes.
Comment Re:The "war" on religion (Score 1) 1218
There's a reason that the Jesuits are feared by other Christians.
You mean reasons other than the inquisition?
Comment Re:What? Since when... (Score 1) 300
I'd say that Bernie Sanders qualifies as a socialist. While he technically is 'in power' as a practical matter you are probably right.
Comment Re:The problem is the carriers. Not the equipment. (Score 3, Funny) 272
* Having people give them money for nothing.
They already have this one, its called 'text messaging'
Comment Re:If you ask me (Score 1) 705
Posting to undo miss-mod. Please ignore.
Comment Interesting idea (Score 1) 98
If we extend the Mutually Assured Destruction metaphor, would this be the equivalent of the Warsaw Pact or NATO? And if so how long before this actually leads to an escalation of patent pooling by a group of patent trolls? Its a neat idea, but sometimes I do worry about the unintended consequences of attempting to game an already severely broken system.
Comment Re:But that has nothing to do with Kinect! (Score 1) 130
Sorry that should be:
My understanding is that just like the voice processing is done on the xbox, the 3d processing is as well
Comment Re:But that has nothing to do with Kinect! (Score 2) 130
My understanding is that just like the voice processing is done on the Kinect, the 3d processing is as well. There was an article on joystiq many moons ago about this. From wikipedia...
Although the sensor unit was originally planned to contain a microprocessor that would perform operations such as the system's skeletal mapping, it was revealed in January 2010 that the sensor would no longer feature a dedicated processor. Instead, processing would be handled by one of the processor cores of the Xbox 360's Xenon CPU.[63] According to Alex Kipman, the Kinect system consumes about 10-15% of the Xbox 360's computing resources.[64]
Also the kinect has an array of microphones, not just one. Sure you could make a headset to do this but you couldn't use any old headset.
Comment Audio Controls (Score 4, Insightful) 130
While I agree that the motion controller features could be considered a failure for gaming purposes, its voice control capabilities are its most enduring feature to me. Being able to control the various video streaming services by talking to the TV still feels like we are living in the future.
Comment Amendment to the bill (Score 1) 419
An amendment has been offered to the bill that would condemn the ocean to 300 lashes and branding with hot irons if it were to rise more than historical data.
Comment Bandwidth isn't the only problem (Score 5, Interesting) 206
Data caps present another problem. There are plenty of multi disc games out these days and the size is likely only increase as time goes on. The prospect of blowing through a significant chunk of your monthly data limit on a video game could easily discourage sales.
Comment Re:public key (Score 1) 164
Less an attachment to paper and more scientifically literacy does not automatically translate to computer literacy. Granted, I'd bet a random sample of researchers would do better than a sample of the general public in terms of being able to pick up the basics of public/private key management; however, you are still going to find people at all levels where it would be easier to teach a dog rocket surgery.
Submission + - Nanotech Solar Cell Minimizes Cost, Toxic Impact (phys.org)
bonch writes: Researches at Northwestern University have developed an inexpensive solar cell intended to solve the problems of current solar cell designs, such as high cost, low efficiency, and toxic production materials. Based on the Grätzel cell, the new cell uses millions of light-absorbing nanoparticles and delivers the highest conversion efficiency reported for a dye-sensitized solar cell.
Submission + - RIAA claims it is owed $72 trillion dollars by LimeWire (nme.com)
internerdj writes: "The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) estimates that filesharing website LimeWire owes it over $72 trillion dollars (£46 trillion) in damages." NME reports this is 120% of the combined estimated wealth of the entire planet.
Submission + - How Accelerometers Work In Smartphones (ibtimes.com)
redletterdave writes: "Despite the accelerometer's regular use for games, videos, and other smartphone activities, few people know how the gadget actually works, or how engineers were able to cramp such a small but important piece of technology, which can detect motion in three directions, into a millimeters-thick smartphone. That's where Bill Hammack comes in. Hammack, a.k.a. "The Engineer Guy," is a professor at the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but the 50-year-old college professor also has a second life on YouTube, breaking down how various components of everyday technology work, from digital cameras to fiber optic cables. On Tuesday, Hammack released his newest video, which describes not only how accelerometers work, but also how engineers translate the three-dimensional technology to work inside a tiny chip."
