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Transportation

Heroic Engineer Crashes Own Vehicle To Save a Life 486

Posted by kdawson from the delta-vee dept.
scottbomb sends in this feel-good story of an engineer-hero, calling it "one of the coolest stories I've read in a long time." "A manager of Boeing's F22 fighter-jet program, Innes dodged the truck, then looked back to see that the driver was slumped over the wheel. He knew a busy intersection was just ahead, and he had to act fast. Without consulting the passengers in his minivan — 'there was no time to take a vote' — Innes kicked into engineer mode. 'Basic physics: If I could get in front of him and let him hit me, the delta difference in speed would just be a few miles an hour, and we could slow down together,' Innes explained."
Movies

Disc-Free Netflix Streaming Arrives For the PS3 and Wii 188

Posted by Soulskill from the explaining-this-to-my-mom-just-got-easier dept.
tkdog writes "Netflix has added Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii to the list of devices that can stream their catalog's content without the need for a disc. On the Netflix blog, VP Greg Peters adds, 'In addition to removing the need for discs, we've developed a new user interface on both applications that significantly improves the experience. The new applications will allow you to search for content directly from the device and you'll also be able to view an increasing portion of our content library with subtitles or alternate audio tracks.'"
Movies

Torrent-Only Movie Denied IMDb Listing 207

Posted by samzenpus from the no-list-for-you dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A film set to be released for free via BitTorrent has been denied a listing in the Internet Movie Database. The Tunnel is currently in production and despite pleas from the makers, IMDb won't allow it on their site. The creators of this horror movie believe that because they have shunned an official distributor and chosen a BitTorrent model instead, this has put them at a disadvantage with the Amazon-owned site."
The Internet

Submission + - Why Broadband Prices Haven’t Decreased (northwestern.edu)

Submitted by pdragon04
pdragon04 writes: "After a new technology is introduced to the market, there is usually a predictable decrease in price as it becomes more common. Laptops experienced precipitous price drops during the past decade. Digital cameras, personal computers, and computer chips all followed similar steep declines in price. Has the price of broadband Internet followed the same model? Shane Greenstein decided to look into it. "
Science

Submission + - Could eyeglasses soon be history? (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by gambit3
gambit3 writes: Scientists based in London have identified a gene that causes myopia and are confident that drugs could be developed to halt the distorted growth of the eye that brings about the condition. In about 10 years, shortsightedness could be cured through eye drops, says Dr Chris Hammond, who led the research at King's College London.
Image

The Push For Colbert's "Restoring Truthiness" Rally 703

Posted by samzenpus from the giving-truth-the-bump dept.
jamie writes "A grassroots campaign has begun to get Stephen Colbert to hold a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to counter Glenn Beck's recent 'Restoring Honor' event. The would-be rally has been dubbed 'Restoring Truthiness' and was inspired by a recent post on Reddit, where a young woman wondered if the only way to point out the absurdity of the Tea Party's rally would be if Colbert mirrored it with his own Colbert Nation.'"
Open Source

Submission + - Open Source Projects Using Best Practices?

Submitted by
balbus000
balbus000 writes: "I recently graduated with a degree in software engineering (software emphasis). However, most of the homework and projects given were extremely small scale. I want to be exposed to more "real-world" projects to help me in my career. What open source projects are out there that are well organized and use best best practices in object oriented design, design patterns, etc. and aren't bloated to the point where it would take me 6+ months to get up to speed with how it's structured? I mainly want to study the source code, but would also like to start contributing once I feel comfortable enough."
Input Devices

BlindType — the Amazing Keyboard of the Future 125

Posted by kdawson from the do-what-i-mean dept.
kkleiner writes "BlindType has created a new touchscreen keyboard program of the same name that changes size, orientation, and position to match your wandering fingers as they type. BlindType also features some of the most impressive typing correction software I've ever seen. The result is a practical touchscreen interface that knows what you meant to type, even if you make mistakes. Lots of them. In fact, you can type without looking at the screen at all."
Databases

Developing a Niche Online-Content Indexing System? 134

Posted by timothy from the we-had-to-index-individual-clay-tablets dept.
tebee writes "One of my hobbies has benefited for 20 years or so by the existence of an online index to all magazine articles on the subject since the 1930s. It lets you list the articles in any particular magazine or search for an article by keyword, title or author, refining the search if necessary by magazine and/or date. Unfortunately the firm which hosts the index have recently pulled it from their website, citing security worries and incompatibilities with the rest of their e-commerce website: the heart of the system is a 20-year-old DOS program! They have no plans to replace it as the original data is in an unknown format. So we are talking about putting together a team to build a open source replacement for this – probably using PHP and MySQL. The governing body for the hobby has agreed to host this and we are in negotiations to try and get the original data. We hope that by volunteers crowd-sourcing the conversion, we will be able to do what was commercially impossible." Tebee is looking for ideas about the best way to go about this, and for leads to existing approaches; read on for more.
Idle

Sound As the New Illegal Narcotic? 561

Posted by samzenpus from the you-ever-see-the-back-of-a-$20-bill-on-sound? dept.
ehrichweiss writes "The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is warning parents and teachers of a new threat to our children: sounds. Apparently kids are now discovering binaural beats and using them to get 'physiological effects.' The report goes on with everyone suggesting that such aural experiences will act as a gateway to drug usage and even has one student claiming there are 'demons' involved. Anyone who has used one of those light/sound machines knows all about the effects that these sounds will give and to state that they will lead kids to do drugs is nonsense at best. It seems the trend in scaring the citizens with a made-up problem has gone to the next level."
Patents

Software Now Un-Patentable In New Zealand 221

Posted by CmdrTaco from the make-up-your-mind-people dept.
A few weeks ago New Zealand Software decided to grant software patents. But now "Despite what appears to be a big-budget lobbying effort by the pro-patent fraternity, Hon Simon Power announced today that he wouldn't be modifying the proposed Patents Bill hence software will be un-patentable once the Bill passes into law. This is significant. As we've previously pointed out software patents aren't black and white, and there are certainly pros and cons. However on balance, we believe they represent a far greater risk to smaller NZ-based software providers than opportunity, and there are many cases where they have significantly stifled innovation. We believe it's near impossible for software to be developed without breaching some of the hundreds of thousands of software patents awarded around the world, hence many software companies in New Zealand, creating outstanding and innovative software, live a constant risk that their entire business will be wound up overnight due to litigious action by a patent holder. This has led to many a 'patent troll' company, primarily in the US. These are non-software companies who exist only to buy up old patents with the sole intention of suing innovative software companies for apparent breach of these patents. The effects of this have been chilling."
Earth

Nuclear Power Could See a Revival 415

Posted by kdawson from the comforting-bremsstrahlung-glow dept.
shmG writes "As the US moves to reduce dependence on oil, the nuclear industry is looking to expand, with new designs making their way through the regulatory process. No less than three new configurations for nuclear power are being considered for licensing by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The first of them could be generating power in Georgia by 2016."
Games

Submission + - Fan-Developed Ultima VI Remake Released (u6project.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: 20 years after the original game was released, a fan-developed Ultima 6 remake has finally been released! The Ultima 6 Project was formed in 2001 by Sliding Dragon to develop a remake of Origin's Ultima VI: The False Prophet with newer graphics and a more immersive engine. Soon assembled under the banner Archon, the team members, who hail from all over the globe, have set about recreating the world of Britannia, adding an enhanced storyline to bolster intraseries continuity and building on the Ultima legacy in a way that will please fans new and old.

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