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Comment: Not really an eye (Score 2) 59

by HJED (#39819915) Attached to: Bionic Eye Patient Tests Planned For 2013

If it is being processed on an external device it is likely that the camera will not be in the eye (at least at first), and it appears that any camera is supported which leads to some interesting possibilities (streaming TV or the internet direct to your optic nerve anyone?) and also some interesting hacking opportunities. To bad that installing something like this would require you to lose an eye however it could lead the way to space opera style cyborgs.

I assume that 98 electrodes means a resolution similar to 98 pixels so it sadly wouldn't provide a very good replacement, however this will probably improve in time as historically eye problems have attracted strong support and funding. It would also not work very well for people with damaged optic nerves and would probably require the removal of a natural eye if the patient has one.

Science

Scientist Prove a link between IQ and heigh gene-> 1

Submitted by HJED
HJED writes "NewScientist is reporting that a study of fMRI scans and DNA samples from 20,000 people has shown that the gene HMGA2 can effect the size of the brain by approximately .58% and a smaller study of 1642 people has found that it also increases IQ by 1.29.

This kind of science is very interesting, but it also has some dangerous implications which could be used as justification by racists groups and individuals. It also has interesting implications for the nature vs. nurture debate, I'd be interested to know what the /. crowds take on this is?/p?"
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Television

IKEA announces furniture with integrated TV, speakers, and Blu-ray->

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes "If you long for those balmy days when TVs looked like pieces of furniture, good news: This fall, IKEA will release Uppleva, a range of home entertainment systems that integrate a flat-screen full HD TV, 2.1 sound, and a Blu-ray player. Uppleva will come in three different designs, with a range of screen sizes starting at 24 inches. If the built-in Blu-ray player isn’t enough, there are two USB and four HDMI ports down the side of the screen, and an empty “bay” that can hold a games console, TiVo, or another set-top box of your choice. In true IKEA fashion, the whole caboodle will come in a range of colors (white, light wood, dark wood, black, and so on). Prices start at 6,500 Swedish Kroner (around $950) — presumably for the 24-inch version — which is a fairly good deal. Uppleva will only be available in a few European markets to start with, but the UK and North America should see it in early 2013."
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Security

Frustrated IT Specialist Reveals 3m Iranians' Bank Details->

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes "When a manager at an electronics payment firm spotted a security flaw, he notified Iran's major banks, but they ignored him. After that, he published three million card details and the countries bank customers have been advised to change their passwords. We are not told whether the flaw is still there...."
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Microsoft

How Microsoft Lobbied Against UK Open Standards->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Last year, the UK government issued procurement guidelines that specified that open standards should be deployed where possible. The definition of an open standard included "have intellectual property made irrevocably available on a royalty free [RF] basis". Mysteriously, the UK government cancelled that policy, without explaining why, and started yet another consultation on open standards. Now we know why. As a series of documents obtained through an FOI request reveal, Microsoft has been lobbying the UK government hard against the use of RF licensing for standards, pushing instead for FRAND — "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" — terms that would allow it to charge licensing fees for patents. That, of course, would exclude open source projects, which are unable to pay per-copy licensing fees. How convenient."
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Australian Govt says hands tied on Assange->

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes "It may be a little-known fact that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is an Australian citizen, but that hasn't stopped activists and politicians in Australia for calling on the Australian Government to help secure his release from the current legal action in the UK and Sweden and secure his return to a safe haven in Australia, blocking a potential extradition to face more serious charges in the United States. However, due to the ongoing legal action, the Australian Government said this week, its hands were currently tied in what actions it could take with respect to Assange, as no formal US extradition request had been made."
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Comment: Re:Finally, it's the year of Linux on the desktop! (Score 1) 231

by HJED (#39691909) Attached to: Open-Source NVIDIA Driver Goes Stable On Linux
I've always found the nouveau drivers to provide terrible graphics/screen resolutions and very little in terms of config options. I will give you that they require less setup, but that is usually just because they are default. KMS would be very useful in the official drivers but, good graphics quality is more important.

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music. -- Groucho Marx