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+ - Super Bowl Blackout Caused by Defective Rrotective Relay->

Submitted by wilby
wilby writes "Power company says Super Bowl blackout was caused by device designed to prevent power outages. A device designed to improve the Superdome electrical system reliability instead caused it to shut down dramatically during Super Bowl 47.

Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the venue, said testing traced the source of the problem to an "electrical relay device "it had installed in December to protect Superdome equipment in case a cable failure occurred between the company's switchgear and the stadium."
Link to Original Source
Moon

+ - European Scientists Make a Case for a Return to the Moon->

Submitted by
MarkWhittington
MarkWhittington writes "While the official target of NASA's space exploration program remains exploring Earth approaching asteroids, the case for a return to the moon has been made from a variety of quarters.

The most recent attempt to make a case for the moon is in a paper, entitled Back to the Moon: The Scientific Rationale for Resuming Lunar Surface Exploration soon to be published in the journal Planetary and Space Science,"
Link to Original Source

+ - The Ethics of Sex with Robots 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Sonoma State Star reports that philosophy professor John Sullins says that as engineers work to design visually pleasing and life-like mechanical robots that simulate emotions, the potential psychological outcomes of this form of advanced technology may pose a threat to the way society functions as a whole. "Humans have a tendency to anthropomorphize things in their environment, like naming their car, for instance. People have a compelling need to make connections with things in their lives," says Sullins adding that engineers have the ability to access human psychological weaknesses when they build a computer that takes the shape of a visually pleasing and attractive mate that can say emotionally moving things, like "I love you," during physically intimate moments. Author David Levy says that these types of robots will be able to end pedophilia and prostitution and that robot sex will become the only sexual outlet for a few sectors of the population: the misfits, the very shy, the sexually inadequate and uneducable but although Levy enlightens his readers with the benefits that sex robots can provide humans, Sullins still believes that they will ultimately cause social isolation.. "Plato argues that in life, humans should not just try to obtain sexual gratification, but they should try to attain the erotic," says Sullins adding that the concept of "the erotic," can be described as a loving and meaningful relationship that transports lovers to a philosophically higher place and helps them become better people."
Iphone

Real Reason Why the White iPhone 4 Is Delayed 182

Posted by samzenpus
from the no-phone-for-you dept.
tekgoblin writes "There have been numerous reasons why the White iPhone 4 may be delayed with one reason being the color mismatch between the home button and the body. Well this time there is another reason. A source has told CultofMac that the reason for the delay is a light leakage issue caused by the case being clear. Light from the case leaks into pictures taken by the back and front camera on the white iPhone 4, causing distorted pictures. This problem is non-existent on the black iPhone 4, because of its already black case, so Apple has been looking for a solution to this problem, thus the delay of the White iPhone 4 till spring of next year."
Wii

Should the Gov't Pay For Injured Man's Wii? 222

Posted by kdawson
from the if-the-wii-fits dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Politicians in the Australian state of Victoria are currently locked in a debate about whether an injured man should be able to claim the cost of a Nintendo Wii for rehabilitation purposes under worker's compensation. The man's doctor apparently recommended he use the Wii Fit exercise device, but both insurance companies and the government itself have blocked the payment and have now ridiculed the idea as paying for video games. But with the Wii Fit increasingly being used for rehabilitation purposes internationally, does the man have a fair case?"
Upgrades

NVIDIA Driver Update Causing Video Cards To Overheat In Games 155

Posted by Soulskill
from the i-thought-this-only-happened-to-ati dept.
After a group of StarCraft II beta testers reported technical difficulties following the installation of NVIDIA driver update 196.75, Blizzard tech support found that the update introduced fan control problems that were causing video cards to overheat in 3D applications. "This means every single 3D application (i.e. games) running these drivers is going to be exposed to overheating and in some extreme cases it will cause video card, motherboard and/or processor damage. If said motherboard, processor or graphic card is not under warranty, some gamers are in serious trouble playing intensive games such as Prototype, World of Warcraft, Farcry 3, Crysis and many other games with realistic graphics." NVIDIA said they were investigating the problem, took down links to the new drivers, and advised users to revert to 196.21 until the problem can be fixed.
Apple

Has Apple Created the Perfect Board Game Platform? 531

Posted by kdawson
from the triple-word-score dept.
andylim writes "recombu.com is running an interesting piece about how Apple has created a 'Jumanji (board game) platform.' The 9.7-inch multi-touch screen is perfect for playing board games at home, and you could use Wi-Fi or 3G to play against other people when you're on your own. What would be really interesting is if you could pair the iPad with iPhones, 'Imagine a Scrabble iPad game that used iPhones as letter holders. You could hold up your iPhone so that no one else could see your letters and when you were ready to make a word on the Scrabble iPad board, you could slide them on to the board by flicking the word tiles off your iPhone.' Now that would be cool."
Microsoft

Microsoft Facing Class-Action Suit Over Xbox Live Points 107

Posted by Soulskill
from the demo-suit-is-free dept.
An anonymous reader tips news that a lawyer in Pennsylvania has filed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging that the company's handling of Xbox Live transactions is, in some cases, fraudulent. "Samuel Lassoff, of Horsham, PA, said an invoice he received earlier this month from Microsoft included charges for purchases he couldn't complete due to a balky download system — and he claimed it wasn't an accident. Microsoft 'engaged in a scheme to unjustly enrich itself through their fraudulent handling' of his account, Lassoff charged in papers filed earlier this week in US District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania. ... 'Microsoft breached that contract by collecting revenues for digital goods and services which were not provided,' Lassoff said in his lawsuit."

Comment: The danger is Goverment, not contractors. (Score 3, Insightful) 116

by wilby (#30869728) Attached to: Who's Controlling Our Vital Information Systems?

The original poster wrote- "My opinion is this is a dangerous trend that needs to be reversed. We're being fleeced while being put at risk."

The problem is government. Government and mismanagement have gone together for at least the last 50+ years. To think that government employees would perform better than contractors is pure fantasy.

Comment: Make a DIY Directional Antenna (Score 5, Insightful) 451

by wilby (#26495623) Attached to: How Best To Deal With WiFi Interference?

I spend a lot of time in hotels. When I have problems getting WIFI was it always form interference. I have solved the problem by using external USB adapter (with a 12ft USB cable). Relocating the antenna (adapter) is usually all that is needed to solve the problem. In extreme cases I need to use the "foil sheet". I keep a sheet of aluminum foil in an 8.5x11 plastic sleeve in my laptop case. The sheet will block WIFI from one direction, and make a USB adapter that is directional.

Republicans

+ - Has Fox News Excluded Ron Paul?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "From the official campaign website:


ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA — According to the New Hampshire State Republican Party and an Associated Press report, Republican presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul will be excluded from an upcoming forum of Republican candidates to be broadcast by Fox News on January 6, 2008.

"Given Ron Paul's support in New Hampshire and his recent historic fundraising success, it is outrageous that Dr. Paul would be excluded," said Ron Paul 2008 campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Dr. Paul has consistently polled higher in New Hampshire than some of the other candidates who have been invited."

Snyder continued, "Paul supporters should know that we are continuing to make inquiries with Fox News as to why they have apparently excluded Dr. Paul from this event."


Please do not contact that New Hampshire GOP. This may not be the GOP's choice."
Businesses

+ - Now Musicians Have Options Says Talking Head

Submitted by
Time Slows Down
Time Slows Down writes "Scottish born musician and former record label owner David Byrne says the future of music as a career is wide open and identifies six different distribution models now available to musicians in an article in this month's Wired magazine. At one end of the scale is the 360, or equity deal, where every aspect of the artist's career is handled by producers, promoters, marketing people, and managers. At the other end of the scale is the self-distribution model, where the music is self-produced, self-written, self-played, and self-marketed. Between these two extremes lie four other models (the standard distribution deal, the license deal, the profit-sharing deal, and the manufacturing and distribution deal) that offer different levels of artist control. "No single model will work for everyone," says Bryne. "There's room for all of us. In the recent past, it often seemed like all or nothing, but maybe now we won't be forced to choose.""

Counting in binary is just like counting in decimal -- if you are all thumbs. -- Glaser and Way

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