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Medicine

One Night Stands May Be Genetic 240

Posted by samzenpus
from the getting-in-your-genes dept.
An anonymous reader writes "So, he or she has cheated on you for the umpteenth time and their only excuse is: 'I just can't help it.' According to researchers at Binghamton University, they may be right. The propensity for infidelity could very well be in their DNA. In a first of its kind study, a team of investigators led by Justin Garcia, a SUNY Doctoral Diversity Fellow in the laboratory of evolutionary anthropology and health at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has taken a broad look at sexual behavior, matching choices with genes and has come up with a new theory on what makes humans 'tick' when it comes to sexual activity. The biggest culprit seems to be the dopamine receptor D4 polymorphism, or DRD4 gene. Already linked to sensation-seeking behavior such as alcohol use and gambling, DRD4 is known to influence the brain's chemistry and subsequently, an individual's behavior."

Comment: Re:Why does linux get this? (Score 1) 240

by fendragon (#33598202) Attached to: Adobe Releases New 64-Bit Flash Plugin For Linux

Why not say all OSes got 64-bit. Do they expect us to read the article or something? Honestly..

If I remember correctly, for a long time there have been 32 bit and 64 bit flash plugins for Windows while Linux only had 32 bit versions; you needed a special software wrapper to use the 32 bit plugin on 64 bit Linux, and it didn't work too well for everybody.
So Linux getting a 64 bit plugin along with the other platforms IS newsworthy.

PC Games (Games)

Valve Apologizes For 12,000 Erroneous Anti-Cheating Bans 202

Posted by Soulskill
from the making-it-right dept.
Earlier this week, there were reports that large numbers of Modern Warfare 2 players on Steam were getting erroneously banned by Valve's Anti-Cheat software. While such claims are usually best taken with a grain of salt, the quantity and suddenness caused speculation that Valve's software wasn't operating correctly. A few days later, Valve president Gabe Newell sent out an email acknowledging that roughly 12,000 players had been inappropriately banned over the preceding two weeks. "The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game." Valve reversed the bans and gave free copies of Left 4 Dead 2 to everyone who was affected.

Comment: Re:Brilliant. Go Steve! (Score 2, Interesting) 609

by fendragon (#32220736) Attached to: Inventor Demonstrates Infinitely Variable Transmission

You just stated the definition of a differential gear. It is not new in any way, and describes exactly how a planetary gear works and is normally used. For a real world example take a look at the Hybrid Synergy Drive used in Toyota Prius.

I don't think it is the same as that. In the HSD the electric motor is contributing a large part of the output power, whereas TFA seems to be saying that the control power is significantly less that the power being transmitted, and hopefully will be less than the energy wasted in a friction based CVT.

Cellphones

iPhone-Controlled Helicopter With AR Games 51

Posted by Soulskill
from the get-to-da-ichoppa dept.
andylim writes "Parrot has unveiled a remote-controlled helicopter that boasts augmented reality games. The helicopter is controlled using an iPhone or iPod Touch's accelerometer and touchscreen. There's a camera on the front of the helicopter, which you can use to navigate and to play augmented reality games, including a game that involves fighting a gigantic robot."

Comment: Re:Eh (Score 1) 400

by fendragon (#30280712) Attached to: Lifecycle Energy Costs of LED, CFL Bulbs Calculated

LEDs [...] no toxic materials

Gallium arsenide is a carcinogen, and arsenic is released when the crystal is exposed to water (after the LED light is thrown out and ends up in a landfill.) Manufacturing of semiconductors is producing poisonous waste, and it requires large amounts of energy.

The new ones will use Gallium Nitride
I've seen a 4W Gallium Nitride LED lamp (on someone's kitchen ceiling, next to 11W CFL equivalents) and it's very effective. In that case it's an advantage that the LED is directional - the original incandescents for which they substitute would have been reflector bulbs. The light is yellower and more like an incandescent than the CFLs next to it.

As for energy cost of manufacturing, the original article claims to have factored that in to the total lifetime cost.

PlayStation (Games)

US Air Force Buying Another 2,200 PS3s 144

Posted by Soulskill
from the quick-who-knows-a-good-ps3-flight-sim dept.
bleedingpegasus sends word that the US Air Force will be grabbing up 2,200 new PlayStation 3 consoles for research into supercomputing. They already have a cluster made from 336 of the old-style (non-Slim) consoles, which they've used for a variety of purposes, including "processing multiple radar images into higher resolution composite images (known as synthetic aperture radar image formation), high-def video processing, and 'neuromorphic computing.'" According to the Justification Review Document (DOC), "Once the hardware configuration is implemented, software code will be developed in-house for cluster implementation utilizing a Linux-based operating software."
Windows

XP Users Are Willing To Give Windows 7 a Chance 720

Posted by kdawson
from the light-at-the-end-of-the-long-tunnel-that-is-vista dept.
Harry writes "PC World and Technologizer conducted a survey of 5,000 people who use Windows XP as their primary operating system. Many have no plans to leave it, and 80% will be unhappy when Microsoft completely discontinues it. And attitudes towards Vista remain extremely negative. But a majority of those who know something about Windows 7 have a positive reaction. More important, 70 percent of respondents who have used Windows 7 say they like it, which is a sign that Windows 7 stands a chance of being what Vista never was: an upgrade good enough to convince most XP users to switch."

Comment: Re:Free UnixWare and OpenServer! (Score 2, Insightful) 89

by fendragon (#28968981) Attached to: Chapter 11 Trustee Appointed For SCO

I can't see WHY the Judge is erring so far on the side of caution here- there won't be any appealing a 7 conversion at this point as SCO's clearly not restructuring to be profitable again. They're still hoping for the **BIG** litigation score- which will never happen as they didn't have a case in that regard to begin with.

Possibly this: Either way the company will run into the ground and the judge knows that. If the judge ordered Chap. 7 Darl would spend the rest of his life telling everyone how he was cheated out of his litigation fortune and chance to save the company, and it would all be the judge's fault. By letting them carry on, the case will be lost or more likely SCO will run out of money (surely a matter of weeks now). Same result, but this way he can't complain that the court didn't let SCO give it their best shot.

Comment: Re:Why is this only getting noticed now? (Score 1) 316

by fendragon (#23301440) Attached to: 100 Email Bouncebacks - Welcome to Backscattering
Why is this only getting attention now when it's been a problem for years?

As per original article, it's been getting much worse recently. On my own email, which is now pretty well spam filtered (and I kill a lot of spam because my email address has been all over the net for about 12 years) I've been getting dozens of backscatter messages a day in the last two weeks, when I used to get maybe one a month. Others (though not everybody) are seeing the same. That's newsworthy. It's helped that I found out how to get spamassassin to mark mailbounces correctly, but it doesn't spot them all and I may have to make some custom rules for some of the less usual mail agents that have different bounce message detection signatures.

Trouble always comes at the wrong time.

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