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Power

A New Way To Make Water, And Fuel Cells 107

Posted by Zonk from the it's-in-the-drinking-water dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "You probably know that it is easy to combine hydrogen and oxygen to make water. After all, this chemical reaction is known for more than two centuries. But now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have discovered a new way to make water. As states the UIUC report, 'not only can they make water from unlikely starting materials, such as alcohols, their work could also lead to better catalysts and less expensive fuel cells.' But be warned: don't read the technical paper itself. It could win an obfuscated contest — if such a contest existed for scientific papers." Yet another advance in fuel cell technology; we discussed a different one just the other day.
Patents

Submission + - Microsoft Awarded Voice Recognition Patent (www.rte.ie)

Submitted by
dueyfinster
dueyfinster writes: "Microsoft has been issued with a patent for software that recognises the voice of a caller based on its tone. The patent was awarded to Microsoft developer Andrei Pascovici on Tuesday, and works by analysing the tone of the voice and comparing it to a database of existing recordings to identify the caller.

"A voice input is received from the caller, and the characteristics are applied to a plurality of acoustic models, which includes a generic acoustic model and acoustic models of any previously identified callers, to obtain a plurality of respective acoustic scores."
Is this yet another example of abuse of the patent system with 'obvious' and trivial developments being patented for no good reason?"
Privacy

Submission + - Eavesdropping O.K. says Committee

Submitted by
ShoeUnited
ShoeUnited writes: "I was reading today in the AP about an article that says it is ok for Pres. Bush to use electronic eavesdropping.

To quote the article:
"A White House privacy board has determined that two of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance programs do not violate citizens' civil liberties. After operating mostly in secret for a year, the five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Board is to release its first report to Congress next week.""
Programming

Visual Basic on GNU/Linux 383

Posted by CmdrTaco from the but-why-you-might-ask dept.
jeevesbond writes "The Mono Project announced that it has developed a Visual Basic compiler that will enable software developers who use Microsoft Visual Basic to run their applications on any platform that supports Mono, such as Linux, without any code modifications."
Microsoft

Microsoft Blasts IBM Over XML Standards 323

Posted by Zonk from the dude-i-am-so-telling-mom dept.
carlmenezes writes "Ars Technica has up an article discussing Microsoft's latest salvo against IBM. Microsoft's open letter to IBM adds fresh ammunition to the battle of words between those who support Microsoft's Open XML and OpenOffice.org's OpenDocument file formats. Microsoft has strong words for IBM, which it accuses of deliberately trying to sabotage Microsoft's attempt to get Open XML certified as a standard by the ECMA. In the letter, general managers Tom Robertson and Jean Paol write: 'When ODF was under consideration, Microsoft made no effort to slow down the process because we recognized customers' interest in the standardization of document formats.' In contrast, the authors charge that IBM 'led a global campaign' urging that governments and other organizations demand that International Standards Organization (ISO) reject Open XML outright."
Editorial

Submission + - James Kim... From TechTV, DLTV has died.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From http://digitallifetv.com/index.php... "We're deeply saddened to report that the body of James Kim was found Wednesday after an exhausting search through remote sections of Josephine County, Oregon. James was missing for 11 days. His wife and daughters were rescued on Monday afternoon." and KTVU Channel 2 News... http://www.ktvu.com/news/10436601/detail.html "MERLIN, Ore. — James Kim, the heroic father who died in the mountains of Southern Oregon after leaving his family to seek help succumbed to hypothermia and exposure, authorities said after his autopsy report was made public Thursday... Kim, 35, a senior editor, joined CNET Networks Inc. about three years ago and wrote reviews about digital music and audio devices for the technology-themed Web site and a CNET blog about electronics. He also appeared on the company's video segments and on television." We will miss you James...
SuSE

Mark Shuttleworth Tries To Lure OpenSUSE Devs 258

Posted by Zonk from the trolling-for-talent dept.
polar_bear` writes "A lot of developers are angry at Novell for its deal with Microsoft, but is it fair game for other vendors to try to capitalize on dissatisfaction with Novell? Apparently, Mark Shuttleworth thinks so. Shuttleworth sent an invitation to the openSUSE developers list inviting developers 'concerned about the long term consequences' of Novell's deal to participate in Ubuntu Open Week and consider jumping ship to Ubuntu. OpenSUSE and Ubuntu developers are not amused."

California Sues Automakers for Global Warming 725

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the new-revenue-models dept.
ajs writes "Reuters is reporting that the state of California is suing automakers over global warming. California is claiming that automakers have 'harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health,' of the state. The targeted automakers are Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Chrysler Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co."
News

SUSE Linux Becomes openSUSE 55

Posted by timothy from the radical-new-direction dept.
A user writes "With the anouncement of the release of SUSE Linux 10.2 Alpha 2 there is also an anouncement that SUSE Linux will be renamend to openSUSE. A very logical step to clear things up. The name went from S.u.S.E over SuSE to SUSE Linux and for many people it was not clear what the name realy was. It also points out the importance Novell gives the the openness of the whole openSUSE project."

What Do Geek Squad Technicians Actually Do? 1065

Posted by Cliff from the are-they-worthy-of-the-name dept.
Zenitram asks: "I am a lead technician at a company that repairs computers for various vendors. Many of our systems are from Best Buy's Geek Squad. Based on the systems Geek Squad sends us, it makes me wonder what, if anything, do they actually do? We get systems that have issues that we simply shouldn't have to work on, like: installing device drivers, OS reloads, and reseting CRUs (Customer Removable Units). Additionally, we get systems that are misdiagnosed such as: bad hard drive when a system has faulty RAM; no POST when it simply won't boot into Windows; or no boot when it won't power on at all. So, what is the scope of technical repair that Geek Squad techs do?"

Heat, Whine, and Now Yellow MacBooks 411

Posted by CowboyNeal from the golden-delicious dept.
unPlugged-2.0 writes "It appears that Apple's woes with the new MacBook line continue as there have been reports on the forum that the finish on the new MacBook is flaking off or turning yellow. An article on Daily Tech summarizes this report saying: 'Some users have reported the palm rest area, touchpad and mousepad of their new white MacBooks has begun to discolor.' It goes on to say that 'some users on the Apple support forums are reporting moderate to severe discoloration near the palm rest and other locations of their new white MacBooks. At least one user has posted images of the problem to Flickr.' Is this a case of just dirty hands or could it be another problem in Apple's new Intel saga?"

Christian Science Monitor Putting OSS at the Helm 203

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the breaking-away-from-the-tech-support-crutch dept.
Jane Walker writes to tell us that the Christian Science Monitor is becoming quite the proponent of open source. The aggressive nature of OSS was a large part of what drew CIO Curtiss Edge into the fold, it seems. From the article: "But beyond the tangibles like open source code it was the community that made a convert of Edge. Behind all the open code, it was the forums and flexibility that were the driving forces he believes breeds better developers than those that toil away with proprietary code. Open source software makes developers more aggressive and more apt to go out into the communities that exist around the software to find solutions to their problems, Edge said, rather than holding on some proprietary help desk line while tech support looks up the answer."

Small Cable Groups Seek To Break Net Neutrality 499

Posted by Zonk from the because-gas-and-bandwidth-totally-the-same dept.
saikou writes "CNet's News.com has a story on the first cable companies openly going against Net Neutrality. As usual, request for equal treatment is labeled as 'special favors', and Google is used as an example of company that should pay for a fast connection to the end user." From the article: "'I think what the phone industry's saying and what we're saying is we've made an investment, and I don't think the government should be coming and telling us how we can work that infrastructure, simple as that,' Commisso said during a panel discussion about issues faced by companies like his, adding, 'Why don't they go and tell the oil companies what they should charge for their damn gas?'"

RIAA Approved mp3 Player Reviewed 73

Posted by Zonk from the not-cool-not-pink dept.
buckminster writes "Medialoper has an exclusive review of the soon-to-be legendary Prism DuroSport 6000. According to the review, 'if the RIAA had had designed an industry approved digital media player this is what it would look like'. The player has an extraordinary collection of features including 'disposable flash memory' and built-in DRM system with 'opt-in listening'."

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