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Earth

Submission + - Climate change is happening 'here, now' : US Gov (google.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: WASHINGTON (AFP) — The harmful effects of global warming are being felt "here and now and in your backyard," a groundbreaking US government report on climate change has warned.

"Climate change is happening now, it is not something that will happen decades or centuries in the future," Jerry Melillo of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, one of the lead authors of the report, told AFP.

Climate change, which the report blames largely on human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases, "is under way in the United States and projected to grow," said the report by the US Global Change Research Program, a grouping of a dozen government agencies and the White House.

The report is the first on climate change since President Barack Obama took office and outlines in plain, non-scientific terms how global warming has resulted in an increase of extreme weather such as the powerful heatwave that swept Europe in 2003, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

"We focused on regions of the US because another big message we wanted to get across is that not only is climate change happening now, but it's happening in your backyard," said Melillo.

AFP : http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jPMTGVoU8smsggVfQFkT2eTXEbtw
Displays

Submission + - Color Changing Polymer Microspheres

Submitted by LuxuryYacht
LuxuryYacht writes: A research team led by a chemist at the University of California, Riverside has fabricated microscopic polymer beads that change color instantly and reversibly when external magnetic fields acting upon the microspheres change orientation.

The beads or "magnetochromatic microspheres" have excellent structural stability. They also are highly compatible with various types of dispersion media such as water, alcohol, hexane and even polymer solutions, allowing them to retain magnetically tunable colors in a variety of chemical environments.

Applications of the new material include display type units such as rewritable or reusable signage, posters, papers and labels, and other magnetically activated security features. The new material also can be used to make environmentally friendly pigments for paints and cosmetics, as well as ink materials for color printing. Video of rotating microspheres
Portables

Submission + - Never Mind The Netbook, Here Comes The Smartbook (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "If you still blanche at the term 'netbook' for being an ungainly piece of vendor-speak, then prepare to be nauseated later this year as 'smartbook' supporters start to bang that marketing drum. What exactly is a smartbook, aside from a term drawn from the obvious blend of smartphone and netbook? Glen Burchers, consumer marketing director at Freescale Semiconductor, says features that could set smartbooks apart might include all-day battery life, instant-on capability and 'persistent connectivity,' and specs such as an ARM-based chip core, a Linux OS version like Google's Android (Although Google remains mum on Android laptops); and, most importantly to consumers, a price point significantly lower than today's netbooks, without subsidizing by the telecoms. Intel is not happy with a rival term or product, given it coined netbook and now dominates the platform. Intel spokesman Bill Calder: 'Today we have iPhones, smartphones, mobile internet devices, netbooks, notebooks, and more,' he said. 'We're not sure how adding another new term helps, and, in fact, it may only confuse consumers.'"
Portables

Submission + - Qualcomm demos Eee PC running Android OS (goodgearguide.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "Qualcomm has showed off a version of Asustek Computer's Eee PC based on its Snapdragon processor at the Computex exhibition, including one running Google's Android operating system. The new laptop — which Qualcomm calls a smartbook — is thinner and lighter than current members of Asustek's Eee PC netbook lineup because the 1GHz Snapdragon processor that it uses does not require a heat sink or a cooling fan."
AMD

Submission + - AMD challenges Intel with dual-core Neo chip (goodgearguide.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "AMD has started shipping the dual-core Athlon Neo processor for thin and light laptops. The new Neo chip will be an upgrade over the single-core Neo processor launched by AMD in January. AMD's Neo could potentially face competition from Intel's low-power processors for ultrathin laptops — also called CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) processors — that may be introduced at Computex. Laptops with Intel's CULV chips — like Lenovo's IdeaPad U350 and MSI's X-Slim laptops — have already been announced."
Earth

Submission + - Dinosaur posture still wrong, says study (cosmosmagazine.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The current depiction of the way giant sauropod dinosaurs held their necks is probably wrong, says a new study.

"For the last decade the reigning paradigm in palaeontology has been that the big sauropod dinosaurs held their necks out straight and their heads down low," said co-author Matt Wedel, who researches biomechanics at the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.

But "our research [now] suggests that this view of sauropods is simply incorrect, based on everything we know about living animals," he said.
Media

Submission + - Open Video Standard gets push w/Firefox 3.5 beta

Submitted by
bmullan
bmullan writes: "Today Dailymotion, one of the world's largest video sites, announced support for Open Video.
They've put out a press release, a blog post on the new Open Video site as well as an HTML 5 demo site where you can see some of the things that you can do with open video and Firefox 3.5 (you can get the Firefox 3.5 beta here.
They are automatically transcoding all of the content that their Motion MakersOfficial Users create and expect to have around 300,000 videos transcoded into the open Ogg Theora and Vorbis formats. You can view the site they have up at openvideo.dailymotion.com."
Transportation

Submission + - Has America Lost the New Car Habit? 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Micheline Maynard reports in the NY Times that while in recent years Americans appeared to be hooked on new cars and took advantage of home equity loans, easy credit and cheap short-term lease deals to send new-car sales to levels of more than 17 million a year, the market has now collapsed by 46 percent to below 10 million, as people are making do with the cars they have, leaving the industry to debate — and worry — about what the new normal will be once the recession ends. Some say the downturn is temporary and that sales will spring back in a few years. "After you rebound from this artificial low in demand, wow," says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research adding that he estimates that pent-up demand for new cars is actually about 4 million vehicles higher than the current selling rate. Others believe Americans will rethink whether they need so many cars, particularly new ones, as baby boomers, the biggest group in the car market, are beginning to enter retirement, a stage of life when people typically buy fewer cars. "I used to buy cars all the time and took out loans to pay them off," says Frank Powell, a school administrator in the East Palo Alto. "As soon as I paid part of one off I'd get another. I'd buy one for my kids, my wife, myself. I can't do that anymore." Now Toyota and other carmakers must wait to see if Americans will return to their old car-buying habits — people like Jay S. Allen, owner of a San Francisco consulting firm, who with his wife have owned eight cars between them over the years. "The biggest thing right now is fear," Allen says. "We don't know which way the economy is going to go. We don't want to buy anything that has long-term implications.""
Microsoft

Patent Suit Against Nintendo, Microsoft Dismissed 30

Posted by Soulskill from the courts-one-troll-zero dept.
Saul J writes with an update to the patent lawsuit that was filed by Fenner Investments back in 2007 against Nintendo and Microsoft. The suit alleged that the two companies had infringed upon a patent for a joystick port interface. The trial was set to begin today, but now Judge Leonard Davis of the US District Court in Tyler, Texas has ruled that there is no need for a jury trial. One of Nintendo's lawyers said, "Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others. We also vigorously defend patent lawsuits when we firmly believe that we have not infringed another party's patent, despite the risks that this policy entails."
Image

Powering Restaurants WIth Deep Fried Fuel 148

Posted by samzenpus from the the-power-of-grease dept.
Mike writes "Here's a brilliant idea for biofuels: rather than filtering used fry oil for use in vehicles, why not simplify matters and use it to heat and power the restaurant itself? The VegaWatt turns used vegetable oil into clean heat and energy for restaurants, eliminating the dirty and costly mess of oil disposal while producing 10-25% of the electricity needed to run a small restaurant. It also produces fuel free of chemicals or fossil fuels, unlike standard biodiesel."
Games

The Most Influential Games In History? 254

Posted by Soulskill from the aside-from-duke-nuken-forever dept.
Kotaku reports on a list published recently by Guinness World Records which credits Super Mario Kart as the most influential console game in history. "Tetris ranks in at number two, according to the list, and the original Grand Theft Auto is in the number three spot. Where does Super Mario Bros. turn up? Way down at number 17, beneath Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Several other franchises have multiple entries on the list, such as Final Fantasy and Resident Evil. What console games have influenced you the most?
Image

How To Be A Geek Goddess 349

Posted by samzenpus from the Ramia-goddess-of-corn-chips-power-strips-and-motherboards dept.
stoolpigeon writes "The geek world is dominated by those of the male persuasion. For those of us working in a technology related field, or who spend a considerable amount of time pursuing high tech leisure, we usually find women to be in the minority. I've seen considerable discussion over the years on how to change this imbalance but I think it is safe to say that right now that it remains. Many women are interested in using technology, they just don't want to dive in to quite the same depth. Or they may not be interested in the way most men approach it. Columnist and tech-writer Christina Tynan-Wood has attempted to come to their rescue with her book How To Be A Geek Goddess." Read below for the rest of JR's review.

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