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Many seasons ago, in a high school computer lab in the Bronx. I would save programs from computer labs Commodore PET to tape and wonder why they would always be blank the next day. Over time I realized that riding the NYC trains with my school bag on the car floor was not such a cool idea. NYC trains were somehow erasing the tapes when they were place closed to the floor. Until I figured this out there were many nights spent pondering what the gods of computing had against me. Curse you Number 6 Line! Curse you!!!

"Ahhh the suffering...."

This woman is acting like the law is changing the facts... sounds to me like they are trying to allow teachers to present both sides of the argument... I thought we WANTED our children to learn how to think on their own, not to be spoon fed theories that are widely accepted (and taught) as fact but still not proven.

downix writes "For those that remember, MorphOS arose a few years back as an Amiga compatible operating system for Amiga systems with PowerPC accelerators and a few PowerPC motherboards. After years of work, the release of MorphOS 2.0 has finally come, an accomplishment for the very dedicated team of developers behind it. The release notes can be found here and there is a time limited demo for those of us with systems able to run the OS.

Will this bring back our favorite pre-Windows platform from the grave? Likely not, but it is a fun little system to play with and enjoy."
http://www.morphos-team.net/releasenotes-2.0.html

mlimber writes "Law prof Ilya Somin has a post up about property law in the Tolkien's Middle-Earth, jokingly suggesting that 'The Lord of the Rings was written for the purpose of explicating the different modes of property acquisition under the common law.' He discusses possession of land and the different ways the One Ring is owned and transferred. For instance, 'The human King Isildur cuts the Ring off of Sauron's finger (along with the finger itself), thereby acquiring it by right of conquest. Even assuming that the conquest was legitimate, it is not clear whether the law would support an exclusive claim of ownership by Isildur, without any rights simultaneously vesting in the elves (who played an equal role in winning the battle).'"
http://www.volokh.com/posts/1206859543.shtml

In another sad day for patents, memory chip maker Rambus has won the case that has been running since the late 90's. You know, the one where Rambus worked its technology into the standards for SDRAM and DDR data transfer, then waited for the major players (Hynix, Micron and Nanya) to be heavily committed before revealing that it had patents on the technology.

In what can only be considered a bizarre court case, a former nuclear safety officer and others are suing the U.S. Department of Energy, Fermilab, the National Science Foundation and CERN to stop the use of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) until its safety is reassessed. The plaintiffs cite three possible 'doomsday' scenarios which might occur if the LHC becomes operational: the creation of microscopic black holes which would grow and swallow matter, the creation of strangelets which, if they touch other matter, would convert that matter into strangelets or the creation of magnetic monopoles which could start a chain reaction and convert atoms to other forms of matter.

CERN will hold a public open house meeting on April 6 with word having been spread to some researchers to be prepared to answer questions on microscopic black holes and strangelets if asked.

Low doses of hydrogen sulfide, the toxic gas responsible for the unpleasant odor of rotten eggs, can safely and reversibly depress both metabolism and aspects of cardiovascular function in mice, producing a suspended-animation-like state that does not depend on a reduction in body temperature and include a substantial decrease in heart rate without a drop in blood pressure. The researchers measured factors such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, respiration and physical activity in normal mice exposed to low-dose (80 ppm) hydrogen sulfide for several hours. In all the mice, metabolic measurements such as consumption of oxygen and production of carbon dioxide dropped in as little as 10 minutes after they began inhaling hydrogen sulfide, remained low as long as the gas was administered, and returned to normal within 30 minutes of the resumption of a normal air supply."Producing a reversible hypometabolic state could allow organ function to be preserved when oxygen supply is limited, such as after a traumatic injury," says Gian Paolo Volpato, MD, MGH Anesthesiology research fellow and lead author of the study. "We don't know yet if these results will be transferable to humans, so our next step will be to study the use of hydrogen sulfide in larger mammals." The full report is available online.

donak writes "Different engines: The return of the mechanical computer LinuxWorld Australia has an article at http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;473309124;pp;1 about the possible revival of the work of 19th century British mathematician Charles Babbage. Researchers are building mechanical computers, with moving parts, that could someday work where silicon-based processors fear to tread. Thankfully, the modern variety won't weigh several tons."
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;473309124;pp;1

downix writes "PC Magazine is reporting that AMD will be releasing two new chipsets. What makes the new 780V and 780G interesting is that they will be incorporating full R620-based graphics cores, giving the new chipsets onboard graphics performance equivelent to entry level graphics cards. This is a new strategy for AMD, and only time will tell how successful it is, but when combined with the opening up of the GPU specifications, the options to utilizing this core for GPGPU work while utilizing a regular Graphics card makes this move very interesting."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2272588,00.asp

Microsoft makes products in Washington but records software sales to PC makers and high-volume customers through an operation in Nevada, where there is no corporate tax. So Washington has missed out on more than half a billion in taxes; revenue it could use for badly needed infrastructure needs — such as the needed replacement of the 520 bridge which connects Seattle ... to Microsoft. Reported by Slashdot in 2004, the numbers have increased with the company's growth to approx. $76M in savings last year alone. The author questions the legality of the practice given Microsoft's 35,500+ employees and 11.2 million square feet of real estate in Washington state.
http://www.crosscut.com/microsoft/11167/Microsoft's+%24528+million+Washington+tax+break/

downix writes "Well, it appears that Microsoft, in it's ever widening war with Google, has decided on going full force against the internet giant, buying up it's nearest rival Yahoo for a reported 44 Billion. The resulting company can only be described as gigantic, but based on Microsofts record with previous internet mergers, such as hotmail, how will this marriage go?"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206101790

thefickler writes "Though Lotus Notes was originally designed for OS/2, IBM responded to customer demands and ported its software over to Microsoft's platform and still supports Windows XP and Vista. But now IBM is breaking its chains to Microsoft by embracing Linux and the open source community."
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2008/01/23/linux-rescues-ibm-from-windows-vista-hell/

Why does Nicholas Carr find the future of computing so scary? The former editor of Harvard Business Review talks with Wired about his new book, The Big Switch. Learn how a bunch of bright computer scientists and AI experts in Silicon Valley are dictating the future terms of our culture.

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/topheadlines/~3/212930118/st_qa

downix writes "It's here, the miraculus comeback of the infamous Amiga. The company that purchased the trademark in 2000 has just announced their new Amiga Anywhere product... Is it just me tho, or does it sound a little familiar like I've heard something like this before."
http://www.euroinvestor.co.uk/news/shownewsstory.aspx?storyid=9691693&BW=20080106005175

downix writes "For those who have not been following, Dennis VanWeeren created the first cloned Amiga hardware earlier in 2007. Up until now, the only way to have one of these MiniMigs was to build it yourself, not an easy task for all people. But, ACube systems, the guys developing the SAM440 PowerPC motherboard, have stepped up, making available a fully assembled Minimig for the cost of 138 euro. The idea of having your own, brand new, Amiga is exciting to some, but a full open-source hardware platform should be exciting to all of us."