Comment: Re:Let's see them be consistant. (Score 1) 711
Well, technically it's 4GiB, which means 4.3GB. So the marketing department will happily use it correctly !
Comment: Mobinet (Score 2, Informative) 145
Mobinet is an open-source platform for mobile objects programming (simulation, games, graphics, maths-physics, ...). It is developed by INRIA Grenoble in France and used to initiate students (from high school to university) to games programming, or more generally to provide them with a concrete intuitive and fun version of the notions seen in math and physics course.
The Real Function of the Appendix->
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eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes "PhysOrg has an interesting article on research currently up for review concerning the appendix. Long considered an evolutionary oddity in the human body or at most a nuisance that needs to be removed, it now seems that the medical community is hypothesizing that in the past it acted as a "safe house" for the good germs that populate our digestive tracts. In the past, this would have been necessary had something destroyed the germs in someone's digestive system although today you can reclaim these germs just by interacting with other people. The article also notes that appendicitis occurs at a lower rate in underdeveloped countries and adds to the theory that appendicitis may be another case of an overly hygienic society triggering an overreaction by the body's immune system. It's long been theorized that asthma, allergies & polio are diseases or conditions that increase when we are not exposed to the pathogens at a young age. Could appendicitis be another case where our increasing sanitation reduces our exposure to things that kill our digestive germs thus, in turn, causing us to over react when we finally are exposed to them? This research certainly raises some interesting questions."
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Link to Original Source
Inserting your virtual copy in a game
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Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes "French researchers have developed a new system to enable users to insert virtual copies of themselves into video games or on the Web. This system combines high performance video acquisition, computation and graphics rendering. It was introduced last week at SIGGRAPH 2007. This system is called GrImage (for 'grid' and 'image') — a French word which also means 'make-up' for actors — a pretty bad choice in my opinion. Anyway, it could be used to control your realistic avatars not only in games, but also in video conferences. But read more for additional references and a picture showing how GrImage captures your image."
SciTalks - The YouTube for Science Geeks->
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Jared
Jared writes "Billed as the "YouTube for Geeks," the YouTube-style site offers streaming science lectures. Segments range from a series of hour-long lectures by the late Richard Feynman, to a short, hilarious Ali G interview with Noam Chomsky, and a fascinating talk on designing a semiconductor-based brain, by up-and-coming Stanford researcher Kwabena Boahen. Users can also submit links to additional lectures to be listed on the site, search for upcoming science conferences, and even upload their own video content. "It's like crack for science geeks," says founder Lee Vodra.
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8856/YouTube+for+Geek s+-+'SciTalks'+launches%2C+offers+streaming+scienc e+lectures"
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http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8856/YouTube+for+Gee
Link to Original Source
Volunteer to be a Space Pioneer for ESA experiment->
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number6x
number6x writes "The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for volunteers for a simulated trip to Mars. The simulation will put a crew of six in isolation for 17 months. The crew will be made up of 4 Russians and 2 Europeans. In all the ESA will need 12 volunteers for back up purposes.
Seventeen months was chosen to simulate the time needed for the journey to Mars and back, as well as a 30 period spent doing experiments on the red planet."
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Seventeen months was chosen to simulate the time needed for the journey to Mars and back, as well as a 30 period spent doing experiments on the red planet."
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Faster integer multiplication
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origins
origins writes "On the STOC 2007,thesis about faster integer multiplication was submitted.
According to the thesis,multiplication can be calculated faster than ever.
Schönhage&Strassen algorithm was known as fastest(O(n log n log log n)) but now Martin Fürer algorithm was((n log n 2^O(log* n)).
improvement of multiplication algorithm after decades is quite interesting.
Martin Fürer's homepage
The thesis"
Martin Fürer's homepage
The thesis"
Solar Panels to get Real Cheap Real Fast->
Submitted
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hankmt
hankmt writes "A worldwide shortage of silicon has kept prices of solar panels high. But as new technology comes to market and new silicon manufacturing plants go online all over the world, the market will have surplus of silicon and the price of solar panels will likely drop by over 40% in the next three years!"
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Link to Original Source
Viking Age Mickey Mouse->
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janap
janap writes "From the (Swedish) article: "An 1100 year old Mickey Mouse has been unearthed at Sweden's largest excavation of an Iron Age village. The find was made at the town of Uppakra, just south of the city of Lund." At the site, although less than two percent of the area has been excavated, more than 20,000 objects have been found to date. The finds are on display at the Historical Museum in Lund, where the Mickey Mouse figurine enjoys its own shelf. Upon the question of whether copyright issues with the Disney Corporation now will ensue, the curator Jerry Rosengren laughs and offers; "No, we were clearly first!""
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
NY Times Trashes Open Source
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An anonymous reader writes "From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/business/smallbu siness/20hack.html?pagewanted=2&ref=smallbusiness
In a NY Times article about small businesses and network security : "Many use open-source software, which is free on the Internet...Some of that software, because it is written by relatively unskilled programmers, has a poor security record." It goes on to discuss the 'threat' of PHP and Ajax."
In a NY Times article about small businesses and network security : "Many use open-source software, which is free on the Internet...Some of that software, because it is written by relatively unskilled programmers, has a poor security record." It goes on to discuss the 'threat' of PHP and Ajax."