SpaceAdmiral writes "The Globe and Mail is reporting that scientists have found babies who die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) tend to have an abnormality in their brain stem. By linking SIDS to a biological cause, it may now be possible to test for the abnormality and treat babies at risk of SIDS."

Ant writes "Chairboy's Halloween costume this year was a Caterpillar Power Loader J-5000, the hydraulic utility vehicle seen in the James Cameron's 1986 movie, Aliens. There is a journal of him making it from scratch, a photograph/photo gallery, and a video clip of it in action from yesterday."

Eurogamer is reporting on comments by Sony's Phil Harrison about the e-Distribution Initiative for the PlayStation 3. Apparently they already have 40-some games in development, above and beyond the titles they'll have ready for the console launch. Harrison: "My strategy was to encourage developers to push the machine technically, creatively, artistically — to innovate in lots of different ways. But don't be restricted by ghettoising games into a particular genre, or a particular display mechanic, because what we've seen on other systems tend to be retro 2D games, and we're pushing the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation 3. Plus, the fact that every PS3 has a hard disk drive means that we're not restricted by the size of the download, and that has a huge impact on the kind of game design that you can do,"

snottgoblin writes "DailyTech has an article suggesting that Google might be involved in a partnership with the CIA. The article also quotes a former CIA officer that Google's refusal to comply with the DOJ over privacy issues was 'a little hypocritical [...] because they were heavily in bed with the Central Intelligence Agency.'" Because I'm sure no one would go on the air and try to drum up a scandal aimed at the biggest target they can find.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime wants to share some good news and some bad news. The good news is that by the end of the year Nintendo expects to ship 4 million consoles. The bad news is, they still expect to sell out. From the article: "Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime hyped up the console launch, saying, 'Because of demand, we're urging shoppers not to get complacent. The level of demand we're seeing goes beyond the ordinary. Retailers are telling us a significant fraction of customers pre-ordering Wii are nontraditional gamers...' The company expects to ship 6 million Wii units globally by the end of March 2007, on par with Sony's worldwide shipment targets for PS3. Microsoft has sold 6 million Xbox 360 units to date since its launch in late November 2005, and hopes to sell 10 million by the end of the calendar year." So, fewer units than the analysts wanted. Still an impressive number.

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has launched the sixth edition of their embedded OS Windows CE and this time has included the full source. From the article: 'Developers can now access shared source code for the Windows CE kernel -- as well as certain device drivers and application-level components -- directly from within the Windows Embedded CE 6.0 distribution package. To do this, they click on a function in the IDE that installs the shared source, and indicate their acceptance of the associated shared source license.'"

MonsieurCreosote writes "The Playstation 3 apparently demands eight times as much electricity as the Playstation 2, and more than twice as much as the Xbox 360. It also consumes much more power than a top-end PC gaming rig. It's not clear what's causing the massive drain, but Sony is now denying reports that the PS3 experienced overheating problems at the Tokyo Games Show last month. From the article: 'While an Intel Core 2 Duo PC with high-end graphics card chews politely on a 160 watt entré, the PlayStation 3 gorges itself on 380 watts... The extra power consumption of the PS3 over the PS2 suggests that we're not really getting much better at designing efficient systems, we're just pumping more 'fuel' into existing paradigms'. Are modern console hardware designers getting sloppy?"

borfast asks: "From time to time, I read about schools, cities, states or countries that decided to switch their operating systems to Linux for a number of reasons. The latest was the city of Munich. I'm currently preparing a presentation to do on local schools about Free Software and its advantages (and disadvantages) in government and education, and I'd like to show some examples of what I'll be saying to those folks. Not that I consider myself an authority on the subject but you know the saying, 'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'. Anyway, I have been collecting all the stories (both positive and negative) I find but I'd really appreciate it if the Slashdot crowd could give me a hand, here. Due credit will be given and the presentation will be posted online under a Free license. So, what Linux migration nightmares or cotton-candy dreams do you know about, and do you know any site that collects these stories?"

stewwy writes "It looks like the the shenanigans have started already, the Register is running a story about the difficulty early voters are having with casting votes for Democrats." From the article: "The touch-screen gizmos seem strangely attracted to Republican candidates. One voter needed assistance from an election official, and even then, needed three tries to convince the machine that he wanted to vote for Democrat Jim Davis in the gubernatorial race, not his Republican opponent Charlie Crist."

eldavojohn writes "HP has acquired VoodooPC, a high-end gaming PC provider who's former co-owner will now be the chief technologist of HP's newly formed gaming PC division. Back in May, we saw Dell acquire Alienware. Are gaming machines important options to consumers, or is it just plain profitable? Who will we see enter the gaming market next? Apple?"

Trent Lucier writes "Google depends on new content constantly being added to the web. No Google initiative has done a better job at encouraging new content than the AdSense/AdWords programs. Google Advertising Tools by Harold Davis is a book that teaches you to use these tools effectively." Read the rest of Trent's review.

Pooua writes to tell us that an explosive device left outside of PayPal headquarters exploded last night. The explosion was powerful enough to knock out one of their plate glass windows but thankfully that was the only casualty of the blast. Perhaps they should have offered employee protection instead?

PreacherTom writes "In the ongoing radio wars, one only has to listen to 20 seconds of Howard Stern's language to know that the lack of regulation gives satellite radio a distinct advantage. Of all the challengers, it seems that NPR has finally found a weakness in XM, which supplements its satellite coverage with earth-bound transmitters. A recent test found that 19 of these transmitters were unlicensed and another 221 exceeded their authorized power level, giving NPR an opening to press with an apparently sympathetic FCC. It certainly doesn't help that XM's own filings support their case."

Bennett Haselton writes " Every year just before election day, I usually get a few phone calls from machines that dial numbers and play a pre-recorded message telling people to vote a certain way. I find these annoying even if I support the side I'm being asked to vote for, and most people don't realize that in most cases you can sue the organizations for making these calls, even if they are non-profits. So, you can make some money while advancing a good cause (i.e. stopping the bozos from doing it again). Here's how to file your case in Small Claims court, how to possibly negotiate an out-of-court settlement in advance, how to argue the case in court, and how to collect afterwards." His essay follows...

Krishna Dagli writes "Finish security firm F-Secure has discovered that alongside the sale of such innocuous domains as filmlist.com comes the resale of domains that obviously belong to banks or other financial institutions. Sedo.com, for example, is reselling domains like chasebank-online.com, citi-bank.com and bankofameriuca.com. 'Why would anybody want to buy these domains unless they are the bank themselves — or a phishing scammer?,' F-Secure asks."