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Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore Business Machines, dies at age 83->

Submitted by LoTonah
LoTonah writes "Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore Business Machines and later, the owner of Atari, died Easter Sunday. He was 83. He undoubtedly changed the computing landscape by bringing low cost computers to millions of people, and he started a price war that saw dozens of large companies leave the market. He also took a bankrupt Atari and managed to wring almost another decade out of it. The 6502 microprocessor would have withered on the vine if it weren't for Tramiel's support. Could anyone else have done all of that?"
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Microsoft

Microsoft Seeks Patent For "Search By Sketch" 104

Posted by samzenpus
from the composite-search dept.
theodp writes "So, how does one search for images that aren't tagged with keywords? Google does offer its sometimes-spotty search by image, but what if you don't have an image handy that looks like what you're searching for? Microsoft, reports GeekWire, offers a solution that's 'a little like playing Pictionary with a search engine — drawing a sketch and seeing if the algorithm can return pictures that match it.' That's the concept behind Microsoft Research's patent-pending 'MindFinder' project, which has already been incorporated into a Windows Phone app called Sketch Match. A patent application made public Thursday notes that touch computing makes sketching easier than ever, making one wonder if we'll be 'giving Bing the finger' with Windows 8!"
Science

Evidence For Antimatter Anomaly Mounts 147

Posted by samzenpus
from the nature-of-things dept.
sciencehabit writes "The big bang created a lot of matter—along with the same amount of antimatter, which wiped out everything and brought the universe to an untimely end. That's what accepted theoretical physics tell us—though things clearly didn't work out that way. Now, results from a U.S. particle smasher are providing new evidence for a subtle difference in the properties of matter and antimatter that may explain how the early universe survived."

Comment: Conversion Costs vs Recovery Time (Score 5, Informative) 377

by JamJam (#39189327) Attached to: US Wants Natural Gas As Major Auto Fuel Option
There a local program which describes the conversion costs and recovery time (in miles) for converting your vehicle to run on natural gas.

- The after market conversion leaves the existing gasoline system intact and adds the natural gas package to the vehicle. The installation of a natural gas system includes a cylinder that is mounted underneath, in the back of the truck or in the trunk of a car. One 70-litre cylinder equals 18 litres of gasoline and weighs approximately 160 pounds.

Cost Based on a typical ½ ton truck

$9000 - Conversion w/ 2 - 70 litre cylinders
$1.0090 - Gasoline Pump Price per litre
$0.4790 - Natural Gas Pump Price per Litre Equivalent of Gasoline
$0.5300 - Savings per Litre Displaced
$2.409 - Savings per Gallon Displaced

15 mpg gasoline mileage
$160.63- Savings per Thousand Miles

56,031 miles - Miles on Natural Gas Required to Recover Cost of Conversion

Medicine

Vaccine Could Cut Heroin Addiction 382

Posted by Soulskill
from the now-make-one-for-nicotine dept.
JumperCable writes "Scientists at Mexico's National Institute of Psychiatry are working on a vaccine that makes the body resistant to the effects of heroin, so users would no longer get a rush of pleasure. The researchers say they have successfully tested the vaccine on mice and are preparing to test it on humans. Mice given the vaccine showed a huge drop in heroin consumption. 'It would be a vaccine for people who are serious addicts, who have not had success with other treatments and decide to use this application to get away from drugs.'"
Science

Gut Bacteria Exert Mind Control 221

Posted by Soulskill
from the lactobacillus-colbertsus dept.
sciencehabit writes "Hundreds of species of bacteria call the human gut their home. This gut 'microbiome' influences our physiology and health in ways that scientists are only beginning to understand. Now, a new study suggests that gut bacteria can even mess with the mind, altering brain chemistry and changing mood and behavior (abstract)."
Data Storage

Start-Up's 'Stone-Like' Optical Disc Lasts Forever->

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes "Start-up Millenniata and LG plan to soon release a new optical disc and read/write player that will store movies, photos or any other data forever. The data can be accessed using on any current DVD or Blu-ray player. The M-Disc can be dipped in liquid nitrogen and then boiling water without harming it. It also has a Defense Department study backing up the resiliency of its product (PDF document) compared with other leading optical disc competitors. The company would not disclose what material is used to produce the optical discs, referring to it only as a 'natural' substance that is 'stone-like.' Like DVDs and Blu-ray discs, the M-Disc platters are made up of multiple layers of material. But there is no reflective, or die, layer. Instead, during the recording process a laser 'etches' pits onto the substrate material."
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The Internet

Syria Drops Off the Internet As Turmoil Spikes 94

Posted by Soulskill
from the syrias-problem dept.
CWmike writes "In what appears to be the latest bid by a government to throttle access to news and information amid growing civil unrest, the Syrian government Friday shut down all Internet services. Internet monitoring firm Renesys reported that starting around 7 a.m. EDT today, close to two-thirds of all Syrian networks were suddenly unreachable from the global Internet. In just 30 minutes, routes to 40 of 59 Syrian networks were withdrawn from the global routing table, Reneys' chief technology officer James Cowie said in a blog post. The shutdown has affected all of SyriaTel's 3G mobile data networks as well as several of the country's ISPs, such as Sawa, INET and Runnet. Also down are the Damascus city government page and the customs web site. The only networks that appear to be somewhat reachable are a handful of government-owned networks such as one belonging to Syria's Oil Ministry, Cowie noted. 'We don't know yet how the outage was coordinated, or what specific regions or cities may be affected more than others,' Cowie wrote. 'If Egypt and Libya are any guide, one might conclude that events on the street in Syria are reaching a tipping point.'"
Communications

Verizon Drops 10,000 911 Calls During Blizzard 300

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the can-you-hear-me-n dept.
mschaffer noted a Bloomberg piece saying "US regulators said Verizon Communications Inc.'s networks may have dropped a 'truly alarming' number of wireless emergency calls during a snow storm last month, and asked the carrier to investigate." The article says 10,000 calls failed to connect during one blizzard. Can't wait to see what all those AT&T migrators think.
Google

What is your search engine of choice?

Submitted by Enigma23
Enigma23 writes "I was amused by some of the comments on a recent story deriding a certain web search engine. *coughGooglecough*

So, if you don't like the way Google shakes and bakes your search results, what do you use instead, and why?"
Games

Video: LG Unveils World's First 3D Phone-> 1

Submitted by pbahra
pbahra writes "LG Electronics Inc. unveiled the world's first full 3-D smartphone, called the Optimus 3D, as well as a new tablet at an event on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. With the Optimus 3D, consumers will be able to watch 3-D videos without wearing special glasses as well as capture 3-D content themselves via a special double camera on the back of the phone.In order to make it easier for consumers to share 3-D content online, LG said it has struck a partnership with online video channel YouTube, which is owned by Google Inc.The Optimus 3D is powered by a dual core chip—like most of the smartphones launched in 2011—but it also benefits from a dual channel and a dual memory, which LG said would make it faster for users to switch back and forth between tasks and improve speed when loading web pages. The Optimus runs on Google's Android operating system and has a 4.3-inch screen."
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