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Submission + - Doomsday seed vault design unveiled

Submitted by
in2mind
in2mind writes: "The BBC News is reporting that "The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change.The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole.Inside the vault, the samples will be stored at -18C (0F).""
Networking

Linux To Power Super Router 74

Posted by CowboyNeal
VE3OGG writes "While Cisco might not be shaking in its multi-billion dollar booties, a couple of network experts have decided to see if they can come up with a possible alternative to Cisco. Termed 'Open Linux Router,' and joining such other ambitious projects as the Extensible Open Router Platform (XORP), the Open Linux Router project aims to compete in the realms of Cisco routers and PBX. Some of the features include SSL web interface, serial console, wireless support, VLAN support, and packet filtering."
Music

Submission + - EMI Considering Selling Entire Collection as MP3s

Submitted by BobbyJo
BobbyJo writes: According to the Wall Street Journal [subscription required], EMI has been pitching the possibility of selling its entire music collection to the public in MP3 form, without all of the pesky DRM protection that we are all such big fans of. According to the article, several other major music companies have considered this same route, but none as far as EMI. From the article:

The London-based EMI is believed to have held talks with a wide range of online retailers that compete with Apple's iTunes. Those competing retailers include RealNetworks Inc., eMusic.com, MusicNet Inc. and Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks. People familiar with the matter cautioned that EMI could still abandon the proposed strategy before implementing it. A decision about whether to keep pursuing the idea could come as soon as today.
Java

Submission + - Java's Greatest Missed Opportunity?

Submitted by jg21
jg21 writes: It looks like Bruce Eckel has hit the nail on the head again. No sooner did he finish stirring debate by writing about the "departure of the Java hyper-enthusiasts," previously discussed here on Slashdot, than he now rubs salt in the wound by highlighting in AJAXWorld Magazine how and why Java missed its golden opportunity to become the language undergirding Rich Internet Applications. [From the article: "We must ask why Java applets haven't become ubiquitous on the internet as the client-side standard for RIAs....This is an especially poignant question because Gosling and team justified rushing Java out the door (thus casting in stone many poorly-considered decisions) so that it could enable the internet revolution. That's why the AWT and Applets were thrown in at the last second, reportedly taking a month from conception to completion."]
Music

Submission + - Michael Robertson responds to Steve Jobs on DRM

Submitted by GetSource
GetSource writes: In response to Steve Jobs' Open Letter on the state of DRM and the reasons for the company including it in iTunes, Michael Robertson, former CEO of MP3.com and Linspire, has responded and both applauds Steve Jobs for his action and asks him to prove his sincerity by leading by example.

He calls him to the following actions:

1) Start selling some content in MP3 format in the iTunes store.
...
2) Publish the database format for iPods so other music software can be used.
...
3) Open the doors for iTunes software to work seamlessly with other stores.
...
4) Make iTunes software for Linux.
...
Games

Perplex City Alternate Reality Game Solved 26

Posted by Zonk from the they-found-the-box dept.
Gamasutra reports that after almost two years of searching, the players of the Perplex City alternate reality game have found the cube. Discovered by Mr. Darley, of Middlesex England, it was turned over to the runners of the Perplex City game today in return for a check worth $200,000. A celebration is planned for the winner and other players on February 24th, somewhere in London. The discovery of the cube ends a long hunt for players of the game, who have been looking for the relic since the game launched in 2005. A second season is already planned, with cards due to be in stores on the 1st of March.
The Internet

Submission + - how to stay anonymous online?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: With recent news about certain industries giving people problems for even legal use of torrent clients and various instances of government snooping etc, I'm wondering how one can stay anonymous and still (without being a jerk abusing the TOR system) being able to download/upload large files?
Biotech

Submission + - For women nothing's like the smell of men's sweat

Submitted by
gollum123
gollum123 writes: "From CNN, Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley said women who sniffed a chemical found in male sweat experienced elevated levels of an important hormone, along with higher sexual arousal, faster heart rate and other effects ( http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/08/men.sweat.reu t/index.html ). They said the study, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, represents the first direct evidence that people secrete a scent that influences the hormones of the opposite sex. The researchers measured levels of the hormone cortisol in the saliva of 48 female undergraduates at Berkeley, average age of about 21, after the women took 20 sniffs from a jar of androstadienone. Cortisol levels in the women who smelled androstadienone shot up within roughly 15 minutes and stayed elevated for up to an hour. Consistent with previous research, the women also reported improved mood, higher sexual arousal, and had increased blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. The study did not determine whether the increase in cortisol levels triggered mood or arousal changes or whether those changes themselves caused the cortisol elevation."
Windows

Windows Expert Jumps Ship 939

Posted by kdawson from the hello-apple dept.
An anonymous reader writes to let us know that Scott Finnie, Computerworld's Windows expert, has given the final verdict to Windows after 3 months of using a Mac. And the verdict is: "Sayonara." Finnie is known to readers here for his many reviews of Vista as it progressed to release. Quoting: "If you give the Mac three months, as I did, you won't go back either. The hardest part is paying for it — everything after that gets easier and easier. Perhaps fittingly, it took me the full three-month trial period to pay off my expensive MacBook Pro. But the darn thing is worth every penny."
Television

Is Gaming Really a Spectator Sport? 105

Posted by Zonk from the look-at-all-the-fragging dept.
njkid1 passed us a link to a GameDaily article on the upcoming DirecTV Championship Game series. There's big prize money at stake, dozens of teams are flocking to the banner of the event, and promoters are talking the event up as something that can't be missed. All of this begs the question: Is competitive gaming a spectator sport? Is the culture of videogaming conducive to mass-market entertainment? Will Counter-Strike matches draw enough of a crowd to maintain advertiser interest at future events? What's your read on this new entry into American gamer culture?
Space

Submission + - New universes will be born from ours

Submitted by
David Shiga
David Shiga writes: "What gruesome fate awaits our universe? Some physicists have argued that it is doomed to be ripped apart by runaway dark energy, while others think it is bouncing through an endless series of big bangs and big crunches. Now, physicists have combined these two ideas to create another option, in which our universe ultimately shatters into billions of pieces, with each shard growing into a whole new universe. The model could solve the mystery of why our early universe was surprisingly well ordered."
Toys

Submission + - Flytech Dragonfly ships, Radio Shack has it

Submitted by
robotsrule
robotsrule writes: "WowWee's wing flapping flying insect robot is now available on Radio Shack's web site for online ordering. The $49 Flytech Dragonfly is currently exclusive to them although reports indicate that in a month shipping may open up to other retailers. Except for a tiny propeller on its tail that is used primarily for trim, the Flytech Dragonfly gets its power from flapping its wings. It is based on a design made by Sean Frawley, who at the time was a high school student and was making and selling rubber-band powered Ornithopters with a friend through their own fledgling business. Sean recently graduated Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. and is now a project manager for WowWee."
OS X

Submission + - Discuss: Vista versus OSX

Submitted by brelle
brelle writes: Technology Review has set up a forum, in which two editors have taken sides: one for Vista and one for OSX. Each article presents great arguments and is enlightening to the reader. Here is the piece: Vista vs. OSX? http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18154/ There is a raging discussion going on!
Wii

Submission + - EA playing catchup because of Wii Sucess

Submitted by rujholla
rujholla writes: Seekingalpha has a good post up about how EA is scrambling to re-orient themselves with the latest shakeout in the console wars.

It has been fascinating to see the process of Electronic Arts (ERTS) coming to the realization that they got their bets dead wrong, and to see how they've adjusted strategy in the wake of new information (read: a Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) Wii home-run and a Sony (SNE) PS3 disappointment)


The article is full of interesting quotes from various sources about the console war and EA's floundering.

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