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Software

Google Chrome Tops Browser Speed Tests 371

Posted by kdawson from the there-fixed-that-for-ya dept.
ThinSkin writes "So many Web browsers, so little time. The folks at ExtremeTech have assembled the ultimate browser test to determine which Web browser is king. From speed tests to rendering tests, different browsers traded off wins, but Google Chrome came out on top."
Image

Spanish City Sets Up Solar Cemetery 71

Posted by samzenpus from the everyone-likes-a-tan dept.
A Spanish city has found an unusual place to generate renewable energy — solar panels in the cemetery. Santa Coloma de Gramanet has installed 462 solar panels over its multi-story mausoleums. The plan was met with some derision at first, but thanks to a successful marketing campaign, the solar cemetery has public support. It has been such a success that there are already plans to install more panels in an effort to triple the amount of power generated. The installation cost 720,000 euros (£608,000) but will keep about 62 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year, said Esteve Serret, a director of Conste-Live Energy, the company that runs the cemetery and also works in renewable energy. I'm sure a solar powered zombie movie is already in the works.
Image

Indonesians Want To Microchip AIDS Patients 120

Posted by samzenpus from the let-me-scan-you dept.
Lawmakers in Papua, Indonesia have thrown their support behind a bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips in order to better monitor the disease. In addition, legislator John Manangsang said by implanting chips in "sexually aggressive" patients, authorities would be in a better position to identify, track and punish those who deliberately infect others. Health workers and rights activists sharply criticized the plan. It would make the dating scene a lot less scary if you could carry your AIDS chip reader into the club.
Patents

McDonalds Files To Patent Making a Sandwich 346

Posted by kdawson from the mayo-gets-its-own-claim dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "McDonalds has applied for patent WO2006068865, which carries the title 'METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING A SANDWICH.' John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, can eat his heart out (unless that's been patented, too). Undoubtedly, some people are contemplating whether there's anything novel in this patent that is somehow obscured by its generic title. Feel free to examine their flowchart for yourself and see exactly how novel their sandwich 'subroutines' are. The good news is that, given that it only mentions generic sandwich making 'tool(s),' rather than any specific machine, it might not survive after the In Re Bilski decision, which was meant to put a stop to absurdities such as this. But until McDonalds's application is rejected or invalidated, make sure you don't use their flowchart when making sandwiches. After all, if you 'apply appropriate condiments to appropriate compartment,' you might infringe upon their IP."
Space

New "Juno" Mission To Jupiter Announced 71

Posted by kdawson from the by-jove dept.
Riding with Robots writes "Today NASA announced it is officially proceeding with the Juno robotic mission to Jupiter. Scheduled to launch in August 2011 and reach the largest planet in 2016, the spacecraft will orbit the planet 32 times, skimming about 4,800 kilometers over the planet's cloud tops for about a year. The mission will focus on Jupiter's structure and evolution, and not on Europa or the other icy moons that may hide oceans under their surfaces — a disappointment if you ask me. Then again, all planetary missions so far have turned up amazing images and surprising scientific discoveries, and I doubt this expedition will be any different." We discussed NASA's deliberation of its short list a few days back.
Spam

Facebook Wins $873 Million Lawsuit Against Spammer 128

Posted by CmdrTaco from the also-my-uncle-has-some-free-money-for-you dept.
damn_registrars writes "A US District judge has awarded $873 million dollars to Facebook in a default judgment against a spammer who sent messages to Facebook users about drugs and sex. This is the highest award so far in a civil suit under the CAN-SPAM Act."
Data Storage

Samsung Mass Produces Fast 256GB SSDs 280

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i'm-sure-this-will-be-a-bargain dept.
Lucas123 writes "Samsung said it's now mass producing a 256GB solid state disk that it says has sequential read/write rates of 220MB/sec and 200/MBsec, respectively. Samsung said it focused on narrowing the disparity of read/write rates on its SSD drive with this model by interleaving NAND flash chips using eight channels, the same way Intel boosts its X25 SSD. The drive doubles the performance of Samsung's previous 64GB and 128GB SSDs. 'The 256GB SSD launches applications 10 times faster than the fastest 7200rpm notebook HDD,' Samsung said in a statement."

Comment Excuse me, I like my PS3! (Score 1) 555

by Jish (#19811591) Attached to: $499 PlayStation 3 Confirmed
I haven't posted here in a while - but this thread caught my eye and pissed me off!

Everybody is making these broad generalizations about cost, value, and quality. I thought it might be worth posting what my experience has been.

Keep in mind this is *my* experience and may be useful to people similar to me!

I bought a PS3 within a couple weeks of release (got lucky and found one in Best Buy) - I live in NYC and I have the money to afford it. I have only bought one game since then, "Resistance: Fall of Man", and I agree that so far the game list is weak.

However, I own approximately a dozen Blu-ray movies and watching these has been worth the cost of the system. Beautiful picture and sound - makes having a 1080P TV worthwhile. Since the 1.80 firmware it also has surpassed my upscaling DVD player as the best way for me to watch standard DVDs as well.

Beyond this - the media server functionality works well and I am trying out various 3rd party products to increase the video codec support. I also went out an bought a couple SA-CDs since they have thrown in that capability as well.

I am not a "sony fan-boy" but the quality of audio and video that the PS3 brings into my apartment is unlike anything I have had before. I don't regret buying it at all - I can't wait until the games get better over time (remember PS2 launch... similar launch title weakness)

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