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Technology

Submission + - Inaccurate, but powerful CPUs (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by totally_mad
totally_mad writes: BBC reports (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10134655.stm) on research from UIUC (http://passat.crhc.illinois.edu/projects.html) that points to scaleable solutions for stochastic CPUs. Higher "performance" at the cost of accuracy at the hardware level. Is there indeed an optimal error-rate for maximizing FLOPS?
Robotics

Submission + - Segway Robot Made From Legos NXT Mindstorms (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by kkleiner
kkleiner writes: A robot Segway has been created using only those pieces included with the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit. What’s really cool is that, unlike a traditional Segway, the NXT Segway doesn’t use any gyros to hold itself upright. Instead, the machine keeps its balance using a light sensor (included in the kit) to measure its relative distance from the ground.
Space

Submission + - Saturn moon could be hospitable to life

Submitted by shmG
shmG writes: New detailed images of Saturn's icy moon released this week provide the latest evidence that the surface may be hospitable to life. NASA said on Tuesday that a flyby of planet's Enceladus moon showed jets of water spewing from the southern hemisphere, while infrared mapping of the surface revealed temperatures warmer than previously expected.

"And if true, this makes Enceladus' organic-rich, liquid sub-surface environment the most accessible extraterrestrial watery zone known in the solar system," said Carolyn Porco another NASA specialist.

Submission + - Hungarian electric car splits into 2 smaller cars (wired.co.uk)

Submitted by Lanxon
Lanxon writes: Hungary's Antro, which is developing a car that splits into two smaller cars, and plans to take it/them to market by 2012, assuming the Mayan phophecies fall through, reports Wired. Futuristic looking in itself, the grander plan for the car is much more audacious: Antro intends to allow users to be able to connect two Antro Solos to form a six-passenger Antro Duo. Or perhaps more interesting still, owners of a Duo could split the car into two smaller Solos should Mom have different weekend plans to Dad. Or if they divorce.
Government

Submission + - Use open source? Then you're a pirate! (computerworlduk.com) 4

Submitted by superapecommando
superapecommando writes: There's a fantastic little story in the Guardian today that says a US lobby group is trying to get the US government to consider open source as the equivalent to piracy.
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), an umbrella group for American publishing, software, film, television and music associations, has asked with the US Trade Representative (USTR) to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and India for its "Special 301 watchlist" because they encourage the use of open source software.
A Special 301, according to Guardian's Bobbie Johnson is: "a report that examines the 'adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights' around the planet — effectively the list of countries that the US government considers enemies of capitalism. It often gets wheeled out as a form of trading pressure — often around pharmaceuticals and counterfeited goods — to try and force governments to change their behaviours."
Read more: http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2811&blogid=10
Technology

Submission + - Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin

Submitted by akahige
akahige writes: An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ's burial cloth is a medieval fake. Carbon dating tests by laboratories in Oxford, Zurich and Tucson, Arizona in 1988 caused a sensation by dating it from between 1260 and 1390. Sceptics said it was a hoax, possibly made to attract the profitable medieval pilgrimage business. But scientists have thus far been at a loss to explain how the image was left on the cloth. Garlaschelli reproduced the full-sized shroud using materials and techniques that were available in the middle ages.

Submission + - Virtual Autopsy on a Multitouch Table Surface (visualiseringscenter.se)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Engadget writes about one of the best ways to use a multitouch table surface \link{http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/07/virtual-autopsy-table-brings-multitouch-to-the-morgue/} ever. "Researchers at "NorrkÃping Visualization Centre" and the "Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization" in Sweden have fitted a multitouch table surface \link(http://multitouch.fi/) with stunning volume rendered visualizations of high resolution MRI data. Ever wonder what the insides of a human being really look like but lacked the grit or credentials to watch an autopsy in the flesh, check this video \link{http://www.visualiseringscenter.se/1/1.0.1.0/230/1/}!
Announcements

Submission + - Comcast makes you subject to Non-US laws (comcast.net) 4

Submitted by boyfoot_bear
boyfoot_bear writes: I just received an email from Comcast that tells me "we're introducing an updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective October 6, 2009." Included in the terms of service (which can be found here http://www.comcast.net/terms/web/2009-10/) is the following:
You specifically agree not to:
* use the Comcast Web Services to undertake or accomplish any unlawful purpose, including but not limited to, posting, storing, transmitting or disseminating information, data or material which is libelous, obscene, unlawful, threatening or defamatory, or which infringes the intellectual property rights of any person or entity, or which in any way constitutes or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, or otherwise violate any local, state, federal, or non-U.S. law, order, or regulation;
It sounds to me like Comcast is making me subject to the laws of, say, China. I don't know about you but I sure don't know all of the non-US laws, orders or regulations that even this post runs afoul of but I am sure that Comcast is overstepping its authority.
Earth

Submission + - Green Cement Absorbs Carbon

Submitted by
Peace Corps Online
Peace Corps Online writes: "Concrete accounts for more than 5 percent of human-caused carbon-dioxide emissions annually, mostly because cement, the active ingredient in concrete, is made by baking limestone and clay powders under intense heat that is generally produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Now Scientific American reports that British start-up company Novacem has developed a "carbon-negative" cement that absorbs more carbon dioxide over its life cycle than it emits. The trick is to make cement from magnesium silicates rather than calcium carbonate, or limestone, since this material does not emit CO2 in manufacture and absorbs the greenhouse gas as it ages. "The building and construction industry knows it has got to do radical things to reduce its carbon footprint and cement companies understand there is not a lot they can do without a technology breakthrough," says Novacem Chairman Stuart Evans. Novacem estimates that for every ton of Portland cement replaced by its product, around three-quarters of a ton of CO2 is saved, turning the cement industry into a big emitter to a big absorber of carbon. Major cement makers have been working hard to reduce CO2 emissions by investing in modern kilns and using as little carbon-heavy fuel as possible, but reductions to date have been limited. Novacem has raised $1.7 M to start a pilot plant that should be up and running in northern England in 2011."
The Media

Submission + - Music Labels Working on Digital Album Format

Submitted by Nerdfest
Nerdfest writes: The Guardian is reporting that the major music labels are working on an 'album' format that contains music, lyrics, artwork, etc, called CMX. Apple had also been invited, but is working on it's own format called 'Cocktail'. No word here on whether or not the format supports DRM. Here's hoping an open standard is the result of this.
Businesses

Submission + - SPAM: Humans lose $21 billion to computer traders

Submitted by
destinyland
destinyland writes: ""We are just mice dancing" between the supercomputers of Wall Street giants, complains one trading executive, and an investment manager notes computers are making 73% of all stock trades on U.S. exchanges. One former NYSE chairman admitted "This is where all the money is getting made." (Between April and June, Goldman Sachs earned $100 million in one day — on 46 different days.) High-speed algorithms use 30-millisecond trades to probe market conditions, and can buy and sell with a nearly omniscient knowledge of every other investor's price point. The New York Times notes that already these algorithms "execute millions of orders a second and scan dozens of public and private marketplaces simultaneously...""
Link to Original Source
Cellphones

Blizzard Going After WoW Related iPhone Apps 87

Posted by Soulskill from the anything-you-can-app-we-can-app-better-in-a-few-years dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Apparently Blizzard is going after developers making iPhone apps for World of Warcraft (free and otherwise) by giving them cease-and-desist orders. As Mike Schramm says 'Blizzard may be planning to do more with the iPhone,' but 'It would be a real shame if Blizzard legal was simply going after fans who have invested a lot of time and effort into these apps even when there's no clear reason for them to do so.'" It's interesting that they're doing so around the same time a video for a (rumored, alleged, unconfirmed — take your pick) iPhone client for World of Warcraft has been floating around.

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