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Space

First Asteroid Discovered Sporting a Ring System 29

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the coolest-rock-in-the-belt dept.
astroengine (1577233) writes "When you think of a celestial ring system, the beautiful ringed planet Saturn will likely jump to mind. But for the first time astronomers have discovered that ring systems aren't exclusive to planetary bodies — asteroids can have them too. Announced on Wednesday, astronomers using several observatories in South America, including the ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile, have discovered that distant asteroid Chariklo possesses two distinct rings. Chariklo, which is approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles) wide, is the largest space rock in a class of asteroids known as Centaurs that orbit between Saturn and Uranus in the outer solar system. 'We weren't looking for a ring and didn't think small bodies like Chariklo had them at all, so the discovery — and the amazing amount of detail we saw in the system — came as a complete surprise!' said lead researcher Felipe Braga-Ribas, of the Observatório Nacional and MCTI, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil."

Comment Re:Of course (Score 2) 490

by ackthpt (#46586555) Attached to: Are DVDs Inconvenient On Purpose?

Everything about the --AA entertainment industry is purposely inconvenient. That way they can sell you the next, slightly more convenient version of the same content you already purchased.

Well, there is that, but it's mostly the studios and/or property owners who decided to issued the nth "Directors Cut/Whizzy Edition/Collectors Edition/Extended..." but you don't have to fall for that. Sometimes they are worthwhile, as many of the first James Bond DVDs were not genuine Widescreen, but cropped TV edition to look like it. Genuine Wide format was issued after they were embarrassingly caught (they should have been forced to buy back all the crap editions.)

The only real inconvenience is all the damn previews they cram in the beginning of DVDs. Nothing, to me, is stronger motivation to rip the disk so I can watch it without this insulting crapfest.

Submission + - Sending a Dishwasher to the Moon Could Inspire Future Israeli Engineers (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: A non-profit group in Israel is planning on sending a spaceship to the moon, which will be the smallest spacecraft to ever land there. Described as a "dishwasher with a few legs" the spaceship is part of the Google-sponsored Lunar X Prize, but the founders say that their goal is to inspire children for the future rather than win the $20 million first prize.

Submission + - Does Tesla Model S Software Pose A Safety Issue?

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Does Tesla Model S Software Pose A Safety Issue?

Two days ago, I posted about one guy's experience with his Tesla Model S not braking properly, which led him to question the car's pedal placement. Now he's conducted more tests, leaving the question open of whether the Model S has a software problem. When he accidentally hit the brake and the gas at the same time, the Model S didn't slow down. Now he's discovered that if he hits the gas, then the brake pedal too, the car slows down as he expected. BUT, reverse the order--hit the brake, then the gas while still braking--and the Model S actually surges forward, accelerating against its brakes. In theory, hitting both pedals at the same time should cause the brakes to override the accelerator--no matter what order the pedals are pressed. Has this driver uncovered a software flaw? It seems plausible. And that, my friends, seems like a safety concern--albeit one that could easily be fixed with one of Tesla's over-the-air software updates. But it would be a much easier fix than the current mess GM is dealing with, that's for sure.

Submission + - North Korea: Men required to get Kim Jong-un haircuts (bbc.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: BBC reports, "Men in North Korea are now required to get the same haircut as their leader Kim Jong-un ... The state-sanctioned guidelines were introduced in the capital Pyongyang about two weeks ago ...They are now being rolled out across the country — although some people have expressed reservations ... "Our leader's haircut is very particular, if you will," one source tells Radio Free Asia. ... Meanwhile, a North Korean now living in China says the look is actually unpopular at home because people think it resembles Chinese smugglers. ... It seems that haircuts have been state-approved in North Korea for some time — until now people were only allowed to choose from 18 styles for women and 10 for men. Earlier, North Korea's state TV launched a campaign against long hair, called "Let us trim our hair in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle"."

Submission + - North Korea: Men required to get Kim Jong-un haircuts (bbc.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: BBC reports, "Men in North Korea are now required to get the same haircut as their leader Kim Jong-un ... The state-sanctioned guidelines were introduced in the capital Pyongyang about two weeks ago ...They are now being rolled out across the country — although some people have expressed reservations ... "Our leader's haircut is very particular, if you will," one source tells Radio Free Asia. ... Meanwhile, a North Korean now living in China says the look is actually unpopular at home because people think it resembles Chinese smugglers. ... It seems that haircuts have been state-approved in North Korea for some time — until now people were only allowed to choose from 18 styles for women and 10 for men. Earlier, North Korea's state TV launched a campaign against long hair, called "Let us trim our hair in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle"."

Comment Re:Its the law (Score 4, Insightful) 490

by jandrese (#46586169) Attached to: Are DVDs Inconvenient On Purpose?
This. The reason Netflix was able to build an empire on DVDs is that they didn't have to ask permission from every studio to do it. They just bought the DVDs and put them in the mail. This is also why the streaming selection sucks, because media companies wrote the laws for streaming, and Netflix has to put their balls directly in their hands and ask how hard they want to squeeze. The situation won't improve without a major overhaul in copyright law, which is absolutely not going to happen anytime soon. If anything, Congress will make the laws even more restrictive/stupid because that's what they're getting paid to do.

Submission + - Petition to have the FCC take control of the network from Verizon and AT&T (moveon.org)

Submitted by c008644
c008644 writes: There is apetition over at moveon.org demanding that the FCC take control of the backbone of the internet from the ISPs. The petition states that the internet in today’s day and age is more of a utility as people use it in their daily lives, yet with companies like AT&T and Verizon fighting to maintain status quo instead of improving their networks, America has fallen in terms of network speed and risen in prices. (Paraphrased)

This appears to have been just submitted as it does not have any signatures yet, but it is an interesting read.

Submission + - California Senator Yee (Brown v. EMA) indicted on corruption charges (mercurynews.com)

Submitted by Hotawa Hawk-eye
Hotawa Hawk-eye writes: California state Senator Leland Yee, known for sponsoring the law banning the sale of violent video games to minors that was overturned in Brown V. Entertainment Merchants Association, was indicted by the FBI on public corruption charges Wednesday morning. According to the article, targets of the early-morning raids in this case are expected to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
Graphics

XWayland Aiming For Glamor Support, Merge Next X.Org Release 83

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the almost-there dept.
An anonymous reader writes that XWayland is nearly ready to be merged into the main X.org tree "X.Org Server 1.16 this summer should support XWayland, the means of allowing X11 applications to run atop Wayland-based compositors without the need for any application/game changes. With the revised design, XWayland has generic 2D acceleration over OpenGL and a cleaner design compared to earlier revisions. With GNOME 3.12 having better Wayland support and Plasma Next around the corner, it looks like 2014 could be the year of Wayland's take-off!" The patch series emails have more details. The big news here is that XWayland is ditching its old DDX model for one based on Glamor. eliminating the need for any X.org drivers to be written to support X11 on Wayland: "Finally, the last patch adds the Xwayland DDX. Initially Xwayland was an Xorg module that exposed an API for Xorg video drivers to hook into so that we could reuse the native 2D acceleration. Now that glamor is credible and still improving, a much better approach is to make Xwayland its own DDX and use glamor for acceleration. A lot of the code in the Xorg approach was busy preventing Xorg being Xorg, eg, preventing VT access, preventing input driver loading, preventing drivers doing modesetting. The new DDX in contrast is straight-forward, clean code, only 2500 lines of code and neatly self-contained." It does not yet have direct rendering or any acceleration, but those patches should come soon.

Submission + - Peter Molyneux: Working for Microsoft Is Like Taking Antidepressants

Submitted by SmartAboutThings
SmartAboutThings writes: Peter Molyneux is one of the most famous personalities in the history of gaming, especially recognized for having created God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Black & White but also the Fable series. After creating the Fable series, Molyneux announced in March 2012 that he will be leaving Lionhead and Microsoft to start another company – 22Cans. During a recent interview, the former Microsoft employee has shared some interesting details regarding the time when he was working over at Redmond. He says Microsoft is a “big supertanker of safety” and that working there is “like taking antidepressants“. Here’s the excerpt from his interview:

I left Microsoft because I think when you have the ability to be a creative person, you have to take that seriously, and you have to push yourself. And pushing yourself is a lot easier to do if you’re in a life raft that has a big hole in the side, and that’s what I think indie development is. You’re paddling desperately to get where you want to go to, but you’re also bailing out. Whereas if you’re in a big supertanker of safety, which Microsoft was, then that safety is like an anesthetic. It’s like taking antidepressants. The world just feels too comfortable.

Submission + - Peter Molyneux: Working for Microsoft Is Like Taking Antidepressants

Submitted by SmartAboutThings
SmartAboutThings writes: Peter Molyneux is one of the most famous personalities in the history of gaming, especially recognized for having created God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Black & White but also the Fable series. After creating the Fable series, Molyneux announced in March 2012 that he will be leaving Lionhead and Microsoft to start another company – 22Cans. During a recent interview, the former Microsoft employee has shared some interesting details regarding the time when he was working over at Redmond. He says Microsoft is a “big supertanker of safety” and that working there is “like taking antidepressants“. Here’s the excerpt from his interview:

I left Microsoft because I think when you have the ability to be a creative person, you have to take that seriously, and you have to push yourself. And pushing yourself is a lot easier to do if you’re in a life raft that has a big hole in the side, and that’s what I think indie development is. You’re paddling desperately to get where you want to go to, but you’re also bailing out. Whereas if you’re in a big supertanker of safety, which Microsoft was, then that safety is like an anesthetic. It’s like taking antidepressants. The world just feels too comfortable.

Submission + - Did Facebook Buy Oculus to Counter Google Glass? (dice.com)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: In a statement soon after Facebook announced the acquisition of Oculus Rift, CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested that the bulky Oculus headset had the potential to transform VR into the "most social platform ever." Whatever his reasons for shelling out $2 billion for the company, it's clear that Facebook is now a player in the augmented-reality space, which Google is also exploring in its own way. Yes, Google Glass serves a different function—overlaying maps and text over the wearer’s view of the real world, rather than immersing people in a virtual environment—but the potential customer base for both devices is basically the same, and now Google has some real competition if it wants to transform Glass into some sort of gaming device. And despite some blowback from Markus Persson, it's likely that developers will continue to explore Oculus as a gaming platform, Facebook or no. Zuckerberg might be talking a good game about virtual realities far into the future (does he have to pay to promote his own posts on Facebook? Joke.), but this acquisition was likely a short-term play, as well.

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