Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Earth

Japanese Researchers Make Plastic Out of Water 117

Posted by timothy from the what's-kanji-for-boffin? dept.
greenrainbow writes with this excerpt from Inhabit: "The material shown in the picture above is just ice, right? Look again. Elastic water, a new substance invented by researchers at Tokyo University, is a jelly-like substance made up of 95% water along with two grams of clay and a small amount of organic materials. As is, the all-natural substance is perfect for medical procedures, because it's made of water, poses no harm to people, and is perfect for mending tissue. And, if the research team can increase the density of this exciting new substance, it could be used in place of our current oil-based plastics for a host of other things."
Role Playing (Games)

Final Fantasy I and II Are Coming To the iPhone and iPod Touch 142

Posted by Soulskill from the go-red-wings dept.
jonasvdc tips an announcement by Square Enix that Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II are being developed for the iPhone and the iPod touch. The graphics and UI have been modified to look and run better on the touchscreen devices, but everything from Cecil to the classic Black Mage is clearly recognizable. The announcement did not include any information on a price or release date.
Graphics

Submission + - NVIDIA Ships Decent DX10 Graphics Card Under $100 (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: NVIDIA is launching a new mainstream graphics card today, aimed at consumers in the market for a relatively low-cost upgrade from an integrated graphics solution or older entry-level GPU. The new GeForce GT 240, features a GPU with 96 processor cores, 8 ROP units, and 32 texture filtering units. The GPU is manufactured using a 40nm process, features a GDDR5 memory controller (that's also compatible with GDDR3) and unlike NVIDIA's current high-end GPUs, the GT 240 is DirectX 10.1 compatible. For $100 or less, what's perhaps most interesting is that this graphics card actually puts up respectable frame rates with AA turned on and no external power needed beyond what a standard PCIe slot provides.

Comment Re:It's about social status... (Score 1) 836

by ThatFunkyMunki (#30109182) Attached to: Are You a Blue-Collar Or White-Collar Developer?
Sounds like a much more serious stubbornness and refusal to learn problem than a "my brain can't hack it" problem. That is why a CS degree was not for you, you lack the problem solving skills necessary to be an effective programmer. That's what calculus courses teach, the ability to solve real-world problems using math.
The Courts

Submission + - First amicus brief supporting Bilski affirmance (ieeeusa.org) 1

Submitted by The Empiricist
The Empiricist writes: The first amicus brief in support of affirming the Federal Circuit's decision, on modified grounds, has been filed at the Supreme Court. In this brief, Professor Lee A. Hollaar and IEEE-USA argue that the subject matter of the Bilski patent application was non-statutory, but that the Federal Circuit's "transformation or machine" test is vague. They argue that "[t]ens-of-thousands of patents that claimed software-based inventions as methods are now open to question" because of the Federal Circuit's test and that "[i]nstead, the test should be the one that has existed from the start of patent law, updated to use today's statutory terms: A process is statutory subject matter when it involves making or using a machine, manufacture, or composition of matter." More amicus briefs supporting affirmance of the In re Bilski decision are expected, but this brief is unusually early.
Censorship

Submission + - AT&T Blocks Select 4chan Boards (spectralcoding.com) 3

Submitted by
SmarkWoW
SmarkWoW writes: "In what appears to be the first major steps toward stifling Net Neutrality, AT&T blocks a select few boards from the major imageboard 4chan. First reported by the official 4chan Status Blog, it appears that those who have residential AT&T DSL connections are unable to view certain boards on 4chan. The boards in question are /rk9/ and the infamous /b/. As most readers know, /b/ is the home of Anonymous, a large group of computer users responsible for spawning many memes such as RickRolling and LOLcats. Sources estimate that 15.5% of all internet users user AT&T DSL. A few short hours after reports of the blockage surfaced, members of /b/ have already begun to retaliate. The first strike appears to be toward the AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson. Needless to say, this is going to get ugly."
Communications

Internet Hardware For White-Space Spectrum? 36

Posted by timothy from the where-are-the-software-configurable-radios? dept.
g2 in the desert writes "I live in a small rural community in the US Southwest, where broadband service varies from decent but very expensive, to lousy but less expensive. Now that the Federal Communications Commission has approved the use of the soon to be vacated White-Space Spectrum, I'm interested in helping the community build its own local Internet service, providing villagers another choice. Does anyone know what companies will be manufacturing hardware that will be required to utilize this spectrum, and what steps need to be taken in order to be in compliance with any FCC rules and regulations?"

Comment What about private trackers? (Score 5, Informative) 458

by ThatFunkyMunki (#27637949) Attached to: Reflections On the Less-Cool Effects of Filesharing
I have accounts with waffles.fm and what.cd and their top10s are almost always filled with non-major label releases. Maybe thepiratebay is a haven for major label listeners but that's because it's public and all of the people who don't spend time figuring out what non-major label music is good go there for their top40 hits. Waffles has a huge amount of music tracked and the data going through their torrents is huge... maybe not on the scale of torrents that thepiratebay is hosting but still significant.

Slashdot Top Deals

Understanding is always the understanding of a smaller problem in relation to a bigger problem. -- P.D. Ouspensky

Close