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Hardware Hacking

Submission + - What's the coolest thing you've ever built?

Submitted by
Josh Lindenmuth
Josh Lindenmuth writes: "What is the most interesting gadget, product, or device that you've ever built on your own? Cool computers, cars, hovercraft, handheld devices, fusion reactors ... I'd love to hear what other slashdot readers have built!

My own:
In high school I was involved in an engineering competition where we needed to create a machine that could move 100 lbs of groceries from a disabled person's car up and down a set of stairs, and then into their kitchen. It was probably the coolest thing I ever built (there were only 3 of us on the team), even though the wooden treads started splintering halfway up the stairs (we didn't have a metal shop, so it was made entirely out of wood, spare boat parts, and conveyor belts) and then it completely destroyed the stairs on its way down (it weighed over 300 lbs)."

Students Put UCLA Taser Video On YouTube 1583

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the police-buddhism-studies dept.
dircha writes "As widely reported, an incident in which Iranian-American student Mostafa Tabatabainejad was tasered up to five times by UCLA police on Friday, has been captured by a fellow student using a video enabled cell phone and published to YouTube. From the Daily Bruin: 'At around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year Middle Eastern and North African studies and philosophy student, was asked to leave the library for failing to present his BruinCard during a random check. The 23-year-old student was hit with a Taser five times when he did not leave quickly and cooperatively upon being asked to do so.' In a story which has raised concerns of racial profiling, police brutality and the health risks of taser use, the ubiquity of video cell phone technology has given us a first hand record of an incident which might otherwise have been a he-said, she-said affair. While the publishing of the video to YouTube has given the issue compelling popular exposure beyond the immediate campus community."
Biotech

Submission + - Genetically Engineered Edible Cotton

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "New Scientist is running a curious article on genetically engineered cotton. Is it warmer than regular cotton? Is it thicker than regular cotton? Not really. It's simply edible. Here's why, normal cotton is 22% protein which makes it a great target food source but it contains gossypol which may cause fatigue and even paralysis. Early attempts failed since removing gossypol left the plants extremely susceptible to other organisms. Using RNA interference (RNAi) technology, a US team has figured out a way to leave the plants themselves full of the protective gossypol but remove it entirely from the seed. According to the researches, the kernel of edible cotton can be roasted, salted and ate for a 'nutty flavor.' It can also be prospectively used to enrich many other foods with protein. Will this put a dent in world hunger? The researchers sure hope so."
AMD/OSTG

Journal Journal: $100 laptop gets its first production run 1

Journal by OSTG Marketing
The $100 'One Laptop per Child initiative' notebook has completed its test production run this week. "The prototypes used a lime-green and white case design and were built on a Beta "B1" motherboard and a 366 MHz AMD Geode processor, while previous specifications had promised a 500 MHz unit. The system uses 128 MB of and a 512 MB Flash unit serves as mass storage device. There will be four USB ports as well as a Wi-Fi chipset
PHP

Submission + - The best *scalable* web host for PHP sites is...?

Submitted by
yennieb
yennieb writes: "Slashdotters know better than anyone that PHP/MySQL scales quite nicely if you know what you're doing. But what if, in spite of this, you'd still like to focus on your core business and let a web hosting provider worry about your servers? Assuming that your site will grow too big for just a standard "dedicated server" plan, what are the best options? What happens when my site needs 5 dedicated servers and database replication (or more)?"
Power

Submission + - Michigan teen creates fusion device

Submitted by
Josh Lindenmuth
Josh Lindenmuth writes: "The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Thiago Olson, a 17 year old Michigan teen, was able to create a small fusion device in his parents' basement. The machine uses a 40,000 volt charge and deuterium gas to create the small reaction, which he says looks like a "small intense ball of energy".

The teen's fusion device is obviously not a self-sustaining reactor, but it still shows how fusion technology is becoming more accessible. Hopefully this points to a future where large scale fusion reactors are both economical and widely used."
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - PS3 released half done?

Submitted by ubergamer1337
ubergamer1337 writes: Its been 4 days since the much debated PS3 hit the store shelves, and a recent review from the New York Times wonders wether or not the PS3 was really ready for launch. From the article: Measured in megaflops, gigabytes and other technical benchmarks, the PlayStation 3 is certainly the worlds most powerful game console. It falls far short, however, of providing the worlds most engaging overall entertainment experience. There is a big difference, and Sony seems to have confused one for the other.
SuSE

Submission + - Novell CEO addresses patent concerns

Submitted by
PCM2
PCM2 writes: "Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian has issued an open letter to the press and Linux community addressing some of the concerns about his company's recent deal with Microsoft. From the letter: "We disagree with the recent statements made by Microsoft on the topic of Linux and patents. Importantly, our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.""

Archiving Digital Data an Unsolved Problem 405

Posted by kdawson from the digital-ice-age dept.
mattnyc99 writes, "It's a huge challenge: how to store digital files so future generations can access them, from engineering plans to family photos. The documents of our time are being recorded as bits and bytes with no guarantee of readability down the line. And as technologies change, we may find our files frozen in forgotten formats. Popular Mechanics asks: Will an entire era of human history be lost?" From the article: "[US national archivist] Thibodeau hopes to develop a system that preserves any type of document — created on any application and any computing platform, and delivered on any digital media — for as long as the United States remains a republic. Complicating matters further, the archive needs to be searchable. When Thibodeau told the head of a government research lab about his mission, the man replied, 'Your problem is so big, it's probably stupid to try and solve it.'"

Integrating Open Source In a Large Consulting Firm? 22

Posted by Cliff from the ironing-out-the-details dept.
doc6502 asks: "I work for a global IT consulting company. I have the task of investigating a formal role for using Open Source in our company. We use open source applications and tools internally and at client sites, but the implementations are viewed as one-offs by our local offices. As we are beginning to experience an increasing demand for Open Source solutions, we are looking at trying design Open Source solutions for areas like government, business, and education. What we are looking to do is: formalize and consolidate our global Open Source knowledge to accommodate new and existing client requirements; define a review process that will enable us to quickly review Open Source tools, applications, and so forth; and finally, provide a contribution scheme so we can donate code to the Open Source Community. Has anyone gone through this process? If so, what obstacles did you meet and overcome? What was the review and evaluation process you implemented when reviewing OS tools? Did donating code raise internal legal issues?"
Editorial

Submission + - What will our lives be like in 50 years?

Submitted by
Salvance
Salvance writes: "New Scientist has asked 50 "brilliant minds" to forecast what breakthroughs to expect over the next 50 years. Each of the 50 forecasts are from experts in their fields, including many nobel prize winners.

Their responses range from the bizarre (Daniel Pauly predicts we'll be able to understand an animal's emotions) to the probable (Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek predicts we'll create machines with superhuman intelligence) to the realm of wishful thinking (Paul Davies predicts we may find alien life).

These responses, while interesting, were lacking predictions on what products and services would impact everyday life, which is why I was hoping slashdot readers could provide their own opinions to this question: What human accomplishments, breakthroughs, and technologies do you see occurring over the next 50 years?"

Yahoo! VP Calls For a Shakeup 174

Posted by kdawson from the peanut-butter-manifesto dept.
prostoalex writes, "Yahoo!'s Senior VP Brad Garlinghouse sent out a company-wide memo calling for layoffs of 15-20% of Yahoo! staff and reversal of priorities to concentrate on major issues facing the company. (The Wall Street Journal posted a copy of the memo.) MarketWatch quotes Garlinghouse: 'I've heard our strategy described as spreading peanut butter across the myriad opportunities that continue to evolve in the online world. The result: a thin layer of investment spread across everything we do and thus we focus on nothing in particular. I hate peanut butter. We all should.'"

Blizzard Lawyers Visit Creator of WoW Glider 229

Posted by Zonk from the playing-with-fire dept.
Rick Hamell writes "On October 25th, Blizzard/Vivendi payed a personal visit to Michael Donnelly, creator of WoW Glider and accused him of violating the DMCA. Their demands were unclear, but come in the wake of recent player bannings for using bots in the popular MMORPG. It looks like he's going to fight it, but I think it'll be an interesting case if it ever reaches the courts." From the post: "The visitors from Vivendi / Blizzard made demands of Michael and stated that if the demands were not met that they would file a complaint in court if he did not meet them. I asked Michael what the demands were. He was unable to comment at the time to the exact details. But I do know they handed him a copy to very briefly 'Look at'. He was not given a copy. I think I could make a good guess and say that they asked for Glider to be shut down and if they feel that they have been harmed they may have asked for a financial settlement."
Software

Submission + - Software Used to Finger Suspects

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "In Holyoke, Massachusetts the police have a new member on the team. It's facial recognition software that will mine the 9.5 million state license images of Massachusetts residents. From the article, 'Police Chief Anthony R. Scott said yesterday he will take advantage of the state's offer to tap into a computer system that can identify suspects through the Registry of Motor Vehicle's Facial Recognition System.' The kicker is that it's been in use since May and has been successful."

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