Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror

Comment: Re:Tried in California in the 1980s. (Score 1) 245

by sam1am (#42945069) Attached to: Wirelessly Charged Buses Being Tested Next Year
Disney uses induction charging in (at least) three attractions - Ellen's Energy Adventure (formerly Universe of Energy) at Epcot, and two at Disney's Hollywood Studios - Great Movie Ride and Tower of Terror. (I imagine other Towers of Terror use the same technology, but I'm not familiar with them)

Ref: http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2010/10/universe_of_energy_1.html

For power, each vehicle carries eight automotive batteries. Of course, these batteries need to be recharged frequently so within the attraction’s two turntables are “charging plates” that contain electromagnets. The magnets work in conjunction with onboard magnets that create an electric current that is transferred to the vehicle’s batteries. No actual physical connection is made between the charging plates in the floor and the onboard magnets. This technology, although improved, can also be seen on the Great Movie Ride and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Comment: 180,000 more pax a day? (Score 3, Interesting) 134

by sam1am (#41998475) Attached to: House Subcommittee Holds Hearing On TSA's "Scanner Shuffle"
TFA:

The backscatter machines were pulled three weeks ago from New York's LaGuardia and JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, Boston, Charlotte and Orlando airports. The move was designed to speed up security lines at checkpoints there.

Sanders said it's worked and that lines at those airports are now moving 180,000 more passengers each day.

I find this confusing. Were the TSA lines the gating factor in keeping 180,000 passengers from flying each day? According to A4A, 2.4 Million Passengers will fly on 11/25/2012. 180,000 passengers is 7.5% of that figure. An average travel day in the US looks to be roughly 1.8 million passengers. 180,000 is 10% of that figure.

What did those 180,000 people do? Wait in line until it closed/they missed their flight, then try again another day? Decide not to fly?

Cloud

+ - ESPN Opens Scoring App Development Competition->

Submitted by Miros
Miros writes "ESPN has just opened a development competition for scoring applications. The company is anteing over $10,000 in prizes in the hope that contestants can help refine the design of an experimental Open API for submitting scoring data from local and collegiate events. Anyone with a .EDU email address is eligible to enter — registration deadline is April 9th."
Link to Original Source

+ - What applications will help Middle East freedom?

Submitted by beachdog
beachdog writes "What Internet and computer applications would help the millions of Middle East citizens seeking social justice and honest government?

I mean which free and open Internet apps can help countries and people move to better governments without warfare and fratricide?

  I mean serious applications that can facilitate voting, constructive partisan organization, democratic government and economic re-balancing?"
Privacy

+ - Startup Dishes Recommendataions From Credit Data->

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes "Startup Bundle.com, a spinoff from Citigroup, is about to launch a service that founder and CEO Jaidev Shergill calls 'a more holistic' recommendation engine for dining and other retail establishments. Core to these recommendations will be analysis of the anonymized transactions from 25 million Citi credit card holders, who generate about 1 billion transactions a year. They are cross-indexed with U.S. Census bureau data and other third-party demographic information. 'We believe that [financial transaction] data can actually result in better recommendations and better decision-making for people,' Shergill said."
Link to Original Source
Government

+ - BBC Caribbean Service makes final broadcast->

Submitted by NotSanguine
NotSanguine writes "The BBC Caribbean Service has made its final broadcast, ending seven decades of programming for the region.

The service is being shut as part of budget cuts announced by the BBC World Service in January.

BBC managers say they have had to make tough choices because of a 16% cut in UK government funding.

But one critic called it a short-sighted decision, showing the BBC did not understand the complexities of the region.

The Macedonian, Albanian, Serbian and Portuguese for Africa services have also been closed in a bid to to save $75m (£46m) a year.

Seven other language services have moved away from radio to focus on online, mobile and television content.

These include Spanish for Latin America which last month ended its remaining radio broadcasts, on short-wave and intended mainly for Cuba"
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

+ - Obama v. Obama on Microsoft TV Watching Patent?

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "'No country has more successful companies or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs,' boasted a proud President Obama in his State of the Union address. So, as Microsoft looks for yet another patent on 'Encouraging Viewers to Watch Television Programs', they can expect to have the President's full support, right? Not so fast. Through her Let's Move initiative, First Lady Michelle Obama has fingered television viewing as a culprit in childhood obesity, and has even made a government-supplied TV viewing time log template available to encourage families to cut back. Any advice for the Patent Examiner handling this one?"

Comment: U-Verse - your guess is as good as mine (Score 2) 250

by sam1am (#35622596) Attached to: AT&T's Metered Billing Off By Up To 4,700%
I subscribe to U-Verse and so I went to see how far off they were with my usage.

The U-verse data measurement report is currently under construction. When completed, you will be notified if your usage exceeds the allowance. Until that time, U-verse customers should not be concerned about their usage patterns for billing purposes.

Wouldn't it be nice to get enough notice to evaluate if AT&T's product meets my needs? Alas, my router tells me I've used 230 GB over the last month; that's pretty close to their 250GB limit, and if the numbers are 'fuzzy' then all bets are off.

Because U-Verse TV service is IP-delivered, I'd like assurances that they're not including this traffic in any metering - I'm already paying for this content and its delivery on the 'TV' portion of my bill.

+ - RSA and SCADA: two ends of the disclosure spectrum->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "In the last week we have seen what I feel is two ends of the disclosure spectrum for security. The RSA SecurID incident with such a high level statement on one end (called "corporate spin" by Schneiner) and 34 vulnerabilities and proof of concept code on SCADA systems on the other; disclosed by a researcher without following responsible disclosure principles. Both are far from ideal and badly in need of improvement."
Link to Original Source

The plot was designed in a light vein that somehow became varicose. -- David Lardner

Close