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+ - Independent Test of E-Cat Cold Fusion Device Might Show Promise->

Submitted by Agnapot
Agnapot writes "The controversy surrounding Andrea Rossi's E-Cat device has been brewing since it was first introduced in 2011. Since then there have been calls for independent experiments as well as more openness with how the device works. It seems we might have some of the former. Forbes Contributor Mark Gibbs writes:

What everyone wanted was something that Rossi has been promising was about to happen for months: An independent test by third parties who were credible. This report was delayed several times to the point where many were wondering whether it was all nothing [...]. But much to my, and I suspect many other people’s surprise, a report by credible, independent third parties is exactly what we got.

"
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+ - Mayan Pyramid in Belize Levelled by Construction Crew

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "If an imposing 2300-year old Mayan temple situated at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was on your list of things to see before you die, you're too late. The monument was essentially destroyed by a construction crew in order to provide gravel for road construction. Archaeologists expressed shock, as Nohmul (the "great mound") was a major Mayan religious center in its day. While the pyramid was situated on private property, such historical sites are supposedly protected by ordinance, and officials may file criminal charges."

+ - Is Windows 8 really blame for PC sales slump? ->

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes "The latest PC sales stats don't make for positive reading — especially for Microsoft, with Windows 8 taking much of the blame for struggling desktop and laptop sales. But can a single OS really be blamed for taking out an entire market. Analysts suggests it's much more complicated than that: a new version of Windows doesn't actually boost the market, but the confusion around the Metro screen and a lack of affordable touch devices hasn't helped — nor has competition from tablets. While Windows 8 must accept some of the blame for the continuing PC slump, but even if it was a barnstorming OS, would it have made a difference? "Let’s face it," said one analyst. "PCs had their run, and it lasted close to 20 years... Interest among consumers is shifting to other types of device.""
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+ - Puzzling disconnect between greenhouse gas emissions and surface temperature->

Submitted by Beeftopia
Beeftopia writes "From The Economist magazine: A puzzling disconnect between carbon emissions and surface air temperatures has become apparent. Over the past 15 years, surface air temperatures have been flat while greenhouse gas emissions have continued soaring. While temperatures fluctuate over short periods, this lack of warming is a surprise. The mismatch between greenhouse gas emissions and non-rising temperatures is among the biggest current puzzles in climate science. If temperatures remain flat, they will fall outside of the predicted temperature models in a few years."
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Android

+ - Why doesn't Android support Linux filesystems for removable storage? 1

Submitted by Pale Dot
Pale Dot writes "After weeks of struggle I finally figured out a way for the apps on my rooted Android tablet to recognize an SD card I had formatted as Ext4 but with the default journaling option turned off. The problem at first was getting the SD card to mount at all (technically this was the "external" SD card as the tablet also has a built-in "internal" SD card). Apparently, the Android automount facility, the evil-sounding vold daemon, does not support any filesystem besides Microsoft's VFAT. From various online sources, I learned that the CyanogenMod Linux 3.x kernel itself does support mounting Ext4, at least via the terminal "mount -t ext4" command.

A second problem soon cropped up. Apps, such as VLC and the AardDict offline dictionary, that rely on some sort of automagic scanning of the device storage space would not index the media and database files I copied to the SD card. It turns out that the simple solution, or the "hack" as it stands, is to mount the SD card under the directory created for the internal VFAT-formatted SD card, i.e. as "/storage/sdcard0/extsd" rather than the more direct "/storage/sdcard1". This works probably because subdirectories inherit the file permissions of the parent.

As part of my Google (re)search into the problem, I came upon this Google+ post by an Android developer curiously named Dianne Hackborn about the design decision not to support anything besides the Redmond-certified filesystem: "The external storage when on a SD card is FAT. Period. You are just going to cause yourself a mess if you try to do otherwise. The basic semantics of how external storage is used relies on it being fat — no permissions, case insensitive, etc."

So, is Google right about not supporting Ext2/3/4 for removable flash media, even if the base system itself often uses one of these Linux-native filesystems? Supposed issues about the frequent media access needed by a journalised filesystem don't apply to Ext2, which has no journal, or Ext4, which has an "-O ^has_journal" (no journal) formatting option. Perplexing still is that my tablet is advertised as having support for yet another Microsoft-patented invention, the ExFat filesystem. Unfortunately, there's still no way for a non-rooted Android tablet or smartphone to mount an SD card formatted as Ext2 or Ext4."
Patents

+ - Richard Stallman: Limit the Effect of Software Patents->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "We can't get rid of software patents, says Richard Stallman, but we could change how they apply to creating and using software and hardware. In an editorial at Wired, he advocates for a legislative solution to the patent wars that would protect both developers and users. Quoting: "We should legislate that developing, distributing, or running a program on generally used computing hardware does not constitute patent infringement. This approach has several advantages: —It doesn’t require classifying patents or patent applications as "software" or "not software." —It provides developers and users with protection from both existing and potential future computational idea patents. —Patent lawyers can’t defeat the intended effect by writing applications differently.'"
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Technology

+ - Scientists develop first all-carbon solar cell->

Submitted by SternisheFan
SternisheFan writes "by Brittany Hillen on November 2, 2012.

Scientists at Stanford University have built the world’s first all-carbon solar cell. Because carbon offers a combination of low cost and high performance, it is a viable alternative to current photovoltaic materials, which are expensive. This new solar cell is made from materials such as carbon nanotubes and “buckyballs”.

Said Zhenan Bao, the study’s senior author, “Carbon has the potential to deliver high performance at a low cost. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a working solar cell that has all of the components made of carbon. This study builds on previous work done in our lab.” Silicon solar panels are rigid, while the newly-built solar cell is a thin film that “can be coated from solution.”

According to Bao, in the future we could see these new flexible carbon solar cells coated on various surfaces, such as windows, rather than the rigid silicon panels often seen on roofs. The solar cell itself uses graphene and carbon nanotubes rather than indium tin oxide electrodes, a material that is becoming more expensive and scarce as demand grows. The active layer is also composed of carbon nanotubes, as well as carbon molecules called buckyballs.

The study’s co-author Michael Vosgueritchian said, “Every component in our solar cell, from top to bottom, is made of carbon materials. Other groups have reported making all-carbon solar cells, but they were referring to just the active layer in the middle, not the electrodes.” So what’s the downside? For now at least, the all-carbon cell is inefficient, mostly absorbing almost infrared wavelengths and offering a lab efficiency under 1-percent. According to Bao, the researchers have a long way to go in terms of efficiency, which they expect to increase by utilizing better processing techniques and materials."
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Microsoft

+ - ARM, Microsoft collaborating on 64-bit Windows version->

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes "ARM is working with Microsoft to tune the Windows OS to work on processors based on ARM's 64-bit architecture. Ian Forsyth, program manager at ARM, could not comment on a specific release date for the 64-bit version of Windows for ARM processors, but said ARM is continuously working with software partners to add 64-bit support."
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Why did the Roman Empire collapse? What is the Latin for office automation?

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