Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Don't overcomplicate this (Score 1) 418

by xgr3gx (#40795095) Attached to: Mark Zuckerberg's Big Facebook Mistake

Indeed, I'm a little hesitant to invest in a social media company who could potentially tank at the whim of millions of tweens who decided FB isn't cool anymore and move on to the next thing. Facebook probably has a better thing going than MySpace, but it still stuns me at how fast MySpace fell out of favor. Who says the same thing won't happen to Facebook, privately held or not?
Games

Submission + - Games could predict whether you're color blind, a gambler, or have ADD (venturebeat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Lukasz Twardowski, a young Polish entrepreneur, recently made an unexpected discovery. By analyzing data from video games, he thinks he’ll be able to predict whether players are color blind, have Alzheimer’s disease, or suffer from various learning and development disorders. He can already use this data to tell whether players are gamblers, cheaters, or minors, so the profiling of medical conditions is not that distant, Twardowski claims.

“Games are the richest and the most meaningful form of human computer interaction,” said Twardowski in an interview with VentureBeat. “We can use [them] to build a full user behavioral profile.”
Security

Submission + - Demonoid Down Following DDoS Attack (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Demonoid, one of the most famous BitTorrent tracker site, has been at the receiving end of a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack following which it has been inaccessible since about a day and is expected to stay offline for quite some time. Millions of users across the globe were greeted with the message “server busy” instead of the usual welcome screen. Administrators at Demonoid have said that this time around the issue is not that easy to fix and that beyond DDoS attacks there might be some other forms of attack against the tracker. “It started as a DDoS but then it caused a series of problems. These problems need to be fixed before the site can go back up, and it’s a complicated fix this time,” said Demonoid admin.
Science

Submission + - Tired of Paying Out the Nose for Drugs? A 3-D Printer Can Print Them Out for You (medicaldaily.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Between the cost of doctor’s visits, hospital stays, and medication, it can sometimes feel like the treatment of a condition is as painful as the condition itself. But one man has a solution for the cost of medication – he has developed a 3-D printer that can print it out. Lee Cronin, a professor at Glasgow University, calls it a “chemputer.” When he heard about 3-D printers, which now can print things as diverse as toys, food, and body parts, he wondered if it could be used to print pharmaceuticals. He assembled a 45-person team and set to work.
He admits that the technology is in its infancy, but its ramifications could completely revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry. He and his team use a $1,800 printer that they have outfitted to perform chemistry. The machine uses bathroom sealant to print material of specific dimensions, connected with tubes of various lengths and diameters. When the tube became hard, the printer can inject it with “inks” to create chemical reactions.
Transportation

Submission + - Ford plans to use Aluminum body panels in its F-150 trucks (wsj.com)

Submitted by
Bob the Super Hamste
Bob the Super Hamste writes: "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Ford is planning on using aluminum body panels in its F-150 trucks. By using these panels they expect to be able to cut about 750 pounds from each vehicle. This move is being driven by the need to meet new EPA fuel economy standards. The article also points out that this will add approximately $1500 dollars to the material cost of each F-150. This may eat into the profit on each vehicle or may be passed along to consumers. Additionally there are manufacturing difficulties in switching from steel to aluminum body panels such as aluminum having more of a tendency to return to its original shape, requiring suction instead of magnets to lift, bonding to other panels. Additionally bonding and welding panels together requires different techniques and the dies that stamp the parts will need to be kept cleaner to prevent scratching the metal. The presses that stamp the panels will need to be run at a slower speed as well to prevent tearing the sheet metal. The article notes that biggest challenge facing Ford in doing this may actually be convincing truck buyers that aluminum is just as tough as steel. This isn't Ford's first time working with aluminum bodies for vehicles as they have in the past produced a small fleet of aluminum bodied Tauruses as well as producing aluminum bodied Jaguars while they were owned by Ford. Several other manufacturers are currently making use of aluminum in vehicles as well as having been used in the past."

Comment Re:Grumpy old man. (Score 1) 292

by xgr3gx (#40211455) Attached to: Report Says Schools Need 100Mbps Per 1,000 Users

My take on it is the only classes that should have computers, are the classes that are teaching something about computers. You need a computer to learn how to type, or for writing and compiling code. You don't need a computer for your core stuff like history, math, english, etc. Computers and electronics in the classroom are just distractions.

Comment Re:Get a clue, Olde Skoolers (Score 1) 270

by xgr3gx (#35734118) Attached to: iPad Just Another TV Set?

That's true. It's might also be in their interest to allow ala-carte pricing. But it is their content, and they can distribute it how they choose. Since they also distribute it on the Internet (barring any illegal content providers) they can pretty much offer it however they want on any medium.
The only way for them to fight illegal downloaders it to make legitimate downloads/streaming as easy or easier than illegal downloads. That would mean no DRM (or a least a good implementation of it) in a cross platform format consumable by all types of devices.

Comment Re:Get a clue, Olde Skoolers (Score 3, Interesting) 270

by xgr3gx (#35732952) Attached to: iPad Just Another TV Set?

"Throwing the gauntlet" worked so well for the music industry. They probably could have made so much more money, much more easily if they had embraced digital media from the onset.
Television needs to get on board with the digital age. If they fight it they are just going to fall behind as users find better alternatives to traditionally TV.
Perhaps it's time to offer ala-carte channel selection. Why should I have to buy a package from my cable company when I can just find what I want online.
The harder they fight it, the faster they will lose viewers. Especially now that TVs have Youtube and Hulu apps embedded, making it much easier for the average user to watch online content.

Comment Re:Tax junk food (Score 1) 978

by xgr3gx (#35732842) Attached to: Arizona Governor Proposes Flab Tax

I'd agree with you on the caloric intake. You can get fat from eating Broccoli and grilled organic skinless chicken breast if you ate 5000 calories worth of it, the same as if you ate 5000 calories of candy and fried cheese and burned less than the number of calories consumed.
However, nutritionally speaking I'd have to say that eating processed food full of preservatives, and artificial flavoring etc has got to be worse for your body than eating something that simply grew from ground.
I keep seeing these news stories that say "did you know that eating can help reduce the risk of ".
Humans evolved eating only stuff that came from the ground. The earth provides nutrition needed by a humans (not to mention every other species).
Not to say that processed food is devoid of nutrients, but there is no doubt that fruits, veggies, and grains balanced with a moderate quantity of meat is what the human body will thrive on.

Comment I'll keep my old shocks (Score 1) 274

by xgr3gx (#35731642) Attached to: Electromagnetic Automobile Suspension Demonstrated

I wonder what the price tag would be. Of course, if you never have to replace them that would be a plus.
What I would really like to see is shocks that could generate electricity that recharge the battery in a hybrid/electric vehicle.
It could probably work somewhat akin to those generators that harness power from ocean waves. Not sure how much power you could get from the motion generated by 4 shocks moving a few inches in each direction.

Comment Re:background chatter (Score 1) 395

by xgr3gx (#35299690) Attached to: Talking To Computers?

Indeed, who wants to listen to people dictate commands to their computer, that would be the most annoying thing in the world. If you think hearing a one sided cell phone conversation is annoying, wait until you hear the douche making a snarky status update. No thanks.

Slashdot Top Deals

As long as we're going to reinvent the wheel again, we might as well try making it round this time. - Mike Dennison

Close