nmnilsson - Slashdot User

Submission + - Happy 20th SDF (freeshell.org)

Submitted by

m0smithslash

on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @10:44AM

m0smithslash writes: "Where were you in 1987? 1987 was the year that Oscar Arias Sanchez won the Nobel peace prize, Supernova 1987A is observed (the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604), the Unabomber, N.Y. Giants defeat the Denver Broncos, 39- 20, in Super Bowl XXI, and the The Legend of Zelda released for the NES in North America. June 16th, 1987 marked the day that the SDF-1 received its first caller at 300bps. From the press release:

This little Apple ][e BBS of the late 80s turned into a Public Access UNIX System with the demise of "killer.dallas.tx.us" during the "Operation Sundevil" raids. Since then it has grown to become the oldest and largest continually operating PUBNIX on the planet.
For crying out loud, all users have access to their own GOPHER space as well as more modern technologies like blogs, wikis and so forth. What more could you want?"

Submission + - Dynamic Keyboard Layout Changers

Submitted by

Howard Dews

on Saturday February 17, 2007 @09:48AM

Howard Dews writes: "NST has just posted an interesting write-up regarding the difficulties of changing keyboard layouts for those amongst us that don't like QWERTY — and an innovative way of addressing it:

Imagine a keyboard with a scroller on the side with a little analog screen next to it. You can scroll to the layout you want and type — no BS involved. Even better, imagine a tiny cylinder that sits between your USB port and the Keyboard — with a scroller on it. It can (on the fly, of course) intercept outgoing scan codes from the keyboard and replace them with the right thing according to the layout you selected
I wonder how long it'll take before someone takes this idea and flies with it....."

Journal Journal: The co-inventor of the TV remote, Robert Adler, passed away

Journal by mennucc1 on Saturday February 17, 2007 @09:41AM

CNN reports that Robert Adler, who co-invented the device that made the couch potato possible, died Thursday at 93. Adler was a prolific inventor, earning more than 180 U.S. patents. He was best known for his 1956 Zenith Space Command remote control, which helped make TV a truly sedentary pastime. Few people today would imagine that that remote was ultrasound

Submission + - Prototype Rollable eInk Display for sale

Submitted by on Saturday February 17, 2007 @07:21AM

An anonymous reader writes: Two years ago Philips unveiled a prototype functional electronic-document reader called the Readius. According to Cnet, Polymer Vision, which spun out from Philips in 2006, has come up with a commercial version of the Readius that will be available later this year. The commercial version is similar to the prototype but features some differences like a solid back so that it's more durable and it can display 16 shades of grey rather than just 4. From the article: "You can roll the 127mm (diagonally) E Ink display into a compact form factor that measures 56mm wide, 100mm tall and 21mm deep, so it will fit into a jacket pocket. The Readius can display 16 shades of grey and it has 4GB of on-board memory, so you can store all your books, emails and PDFs on it. It also features USB, as well as GPRS/EDGE and DVB-H connectivity, meaning you can download data wirelessly, too."

Submission + - Scientists Expose Weak DNA in HIV

Submitted by

Ace905

on Saturday February 17, 2007 @05:24AM

Ace905 writes: "The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced Thursday that they had discovered a very promising, "weak spot" in the HIV Virus. The HIV virus, a progenitor to full blown "Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome" or AIDS has eluded all attempts at a vaccine since it was discovered sometime in the 1970's. The major problem with developing a vaccine initially was isolating the virus. Conventional viruses are often defeated with existing drugs, or after being tested against new compounds. HIV has been unique, and staggering in it's ability to resist all attempts at treatment by mutating its' own genetic code. HIV is able to resist, with great effectiveness, any drug or combination drug-therapy that is used against it.

So far, our best efforts have been slowing down progression of the disease — but the number of people infected every year is rising and victims are estimated at 1.4 Million in North American alone, last year. Discovering a chain of vulnerable DNA on the HIV virus gives researchers a very exact target that can not resist damage."

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