valadaar - Slashdot User

ATMs That Dispense Gold Bars Coming To America 482

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday September 28, 2010 @09:48AM from the leprechaun-industries dept.

tetrahedrassface writes "As the US economic woes continue unabated, a German company is bringing gold-bearing ATMs to Mainstreet America. The machines accept credit cards, and will dispense 1 gram, 5 gram, 10 gram and 1 ounce units, as well as various gold coins. The company hopes to install 35 bullion machines in the United States this year, and will hopefully have several hundred up and running by next year. The machines will be decorated like giant gold ingots and be over two meters tall. Physical gold has both pros and cons, but from a safety standpoint would it be fine to have a couple of ounces in your pocket while walking around the mall? The giant, gold-dispensing ATMs will monitor the market conditions for gold every 10 minutes in order to reflect spot price changes as they occur." We already covered similar machines installed in travel hubs across Germany.

Comment A Little more detail here (Score 2, Informative) 292

by valadaar on Thursday September 02, 2010 @09:05AM (#33448392) Attached to: IBM Unveils Fastest Microprocessor Ever

If you direct to the IBM announcement, which mentions the system in more detail then this linked article - http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32414.wss The New zEnterprise 196 " From a performance standpoint, the zEnterprise System is the most powerful commercial IBM system ever. The core server in the zEnterprise System -- called zEnterprise 196 -- contains 96 of the world's fastest, most powerful microprocessors, capable of executing more than 50 billion instructions per second. That's roughly 17,000 times more instructions than the Model 91, the high-end of IBM's popular System/360 family, could execute in 1970." 17k x improvement in performance in 40 years? I suppose that is about right...

Comment Re:"carrying massive objects" with a dirigible (Score 1) 475

by valadaar on Monday August 23, 2010 @01:51PM (#33344370) Attached to: Why the World Is Running Out of Helium

'Easy' - you carry storage tanks with the load, and a compressor. If you have a ship big enough to carry the rig in the first place, carrying the compressed gas back would be less of an issue. Of course this might not be economically feasible as we are talking a rather ridiculous volume of helium.

Comment To quote an overused internet meme (Score 1) 371

by valadaar on Tuesday August 03, 2010 @12:54PM (#33125588) Attached to: The Bus That Rides Above Traffic

OM NOM NOM NOM.... I'd paint a big toothy mouth up front :)

Comment Re:Finally (Score 1) 253

by valadaar on Monday July 05, 2010 @08:21AM (#32798338) Attached to: New Material Can Store Vast Amounts of Energy

Why? There is no need for this to be one piece. Make them like wood pellets. Still no idea how they would use the pellets, but making a big piece may not make sense, especially for the reason you mention.

Comment Re:That is always the trickey part (Score 1) 253

by valadaar on Monday July 05, 2010 @08:19AM (#32798322) Attached to: New Material Can Store Vast Amounts of Energy

I've heard tales of soldiers burning C4 to cook MREs. Sounds like folklore to me, as I've never seen it. Like I would hang around when someone did :)

Comment More regional instability (Score 1) 688

by valadaar on Monday June 14, 2010 @09:15AM (#32563914) Attached to: $1 Trillion In Minerals Found In Afghanistan

This reminds me of the Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy, where a mineral rush in Siberia prompted a war between China and Russia (with the US saving the day with their ubertechnology). Is this enough money to draw the Russians back in again? How much more volatility can that region hold? I can't see this as being positive for any country really.

Blizzard Boss Says Restrictive DRM Is a Waste of Time 563

Posted by Soulskill on Friday May 28, 2010 @03:24AM from the what-about-lan-play dept.

Stoobalou writes "Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce reckons that fighting piracy with DRM is a losing battle. His company — which is responsible for one of the biggest video games of all time, the addictive online fantasy role player World of Warcraft — is to release StarCraft 2 on July 27, and Pearce has told Videogamer that the title won't be hobbled with the kind of crazy copy protection schemes that have made Ubisoft very unpopular in gaming circles of late. StarCraft 2 will require a single online activation using the company's Battle.net servers, after which players will be allowed to play the single-player game to their hearts' content, without being forced to have a persistent Internet connection."

Comment A Padded steering wheel (Score 1) 230

by valadaar on Friday May 21, 2010 @09:55AM (#32292622) Attached to: iPad Steering Wheel Mount

Whats wrong with a little extra padding? :) Actually, I'm pretty sure I saw a taxi-driver doing pretty much the same thing, without a nice custom mount. So I guess there is a market for this.

Sony To Detail "Premium PSN" Plans At E3 171

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday May 19, 2010 @03:17AM from the if-only-we-could-still-access-psn dept.

ranulf writes "VG247 is reporting that Sony will reveal their plans for 'premium PSN' services next month at E3, even though they've long stated that one of the PS3's advantages over the 360 is that they offer PSN for free. In addition to the premium services, they intend to offer a free PSN game to subscribers each month (from a choice of 'two to four games'), which should make the premium PSN effectively free if you already bought a game every month. VG247's source claims 'nothing planned will impact the service’s current free aspects,' and that 'there’s nothing in the premium package which will gimp regular PSN users.'"

Comment Here come the spy stories (Score 1) 360

by valadaar on Friday May 14, 2010 @09:45AM (#32206544) Attached to: Hacking Automotive Systems

How long until we see a major thriller use this as more technobable? And of course, they will use wireless technology by hacking into the cellphone the victim has foolishly left plugged in, allowing access to the car's operating system via the 12-volt power supply. The horror!

Comment Seriously, change the header (Score 5, Insightful) 281

by valadaar on Tuesday May 11, 2010 @11:34AM (#32169934) Attached to: Scroogle Has Been Blocked

No other comment - this is simply factually wrong. Let me know when Scroogle can't even resolve Google servers, then they are truly blocked.

OLED Film Could Provide Cheap Night Vision For Cars 120

Posted by timothy on Thursday April 29, 2010 @02:13PM from the want-sunglasses-like-this dept.

thecarchik writes "Night vision systems are already available in the higher-end luxury sedans from companies like Toyota, Volvo, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. It's expensive technology that few drivers can afford, and at $4,000 for the system without a display, it's a pricey upgrade. That may all change soon, as DARPA-funded scientists have developed a cheap way to turn any infrared light into visible light with a thin film."

More Evidence For Steam Games On Linux 256

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday April 22, 2010 @06:17AM from the come-on-valve-spill-the-beans dept.

SheeEttin writes "Back in November 2008, Phoronix reported that Linux libraries appeared in the Left 4 Dead demo, and then in March, Valve announced that Steam and the Source engine were coming to Mac OS X. Now, Phoronix reports that launcher scripts included with the (closed beta) Mac version of Steam include explicit support for launching a Linux version."

Microsoft Clears MechWarrior4 Free Launch 131

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday April 22, 2010 @03:36AM from the done-and-done dept.

Vamman writes "If you've been following the drama surrounding the free release of MechWarrior4, then you're probably aware that the initial announcement, made last summer, was a bit premature. Now, nearly a year since that announcement was made, MekTek Studios has announced that Microsoft Legal has given clearance for the free release of Mechwarrior4. This move by Microsoft Games couldn't come at a better time for the community, as the owners of MechWarrior are attempting a reboot of the franchise."

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