omega21 - Slashdot User

Soldat 1.4 Released 78

Posted by Zonk on Monday April 30, 2007 @12:34AM from the go-shoot-someone dept.

FliesLikeABrick writes "Soldat 1.4 has finally been released. After 19 months since the announcement, this version adds multi-byte language support, many new features available to registered players, a ton of bugfixes, and a new lobby server and protocol. It took a lot of time and effort, but the largest update to Soldat has finally been posted and made available. While there are surely going to be some new bugs introduced, the new version is available for free at the game's site. From the site: 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I know you have all been (im)patiently waiting for Soldat 1.4. Thanks to all that contributed to this version. This version was a collaborative effort and it wouldn`t happen without you. ... So without further delay, it is with your encouragement, criticism and support from you all that I can happily release Soldat 1.4 to you all to enjoy. Please use the torrent link provided to help distribute Soldat 1.4 for others and ease server load, and seed for as long as you can.'"

New Submarine Cable Planned Between SE Asia and US 121

Posted by Zonk on Monday April 30, 2007 @12:07AM from the keeping-us-in-the-loop dept.

el_flynn writes "BusinessWeek is reporting on a new submarine cable system that will link South East Asia directly with the USA. Designated Asia-America Gateway (AAG), the project will involve a consortium of 17 international telcos, including AT&T Inc, India's Bharti AirTel, BT Global Network Services, CAT Telekom (Thailand), Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc (Philippines), Indosat (Indonesia) and Pacific Communications Pte Ltd (Cambodia). Led by Telekom Malaysia Berhad, the project is slated for completion in 2008, where 20,000km of cables will be providing a capacity of up to 1.92 Terabits per second of data bandwidth. Interestingly, the fibre-optic cable system will be taking a different route from many existing cables to avoid quake-prone areas and a repeat of the disruption to Asian web access caused by a tremor off Taiwan four months ago."

Submission + - A Racetrack In Your Backyard

Submitted by

Mudzy

on Monday April 30, 2007 @12:06AM

Mudzy writes: "I've seen some crazy housing developments in my time, but this one from racing legend Phil Hill takes the cake. Victory Lane is a 3,000 acres development geared toward fast car enthusiasts — it has its own racetrack. The 4.5-mile road course, designed by world-renowned track engineer Bob Barnard, will give Victory Lane residents a chance to explore the performance limits of their cars in a safe environment and without worrying about getting a speeding ticket (or put in jail)."

How Google Earth Images Are Made 122

Posted by Zonk on Sunday April 29, 2007 @10:41PM from the it's-all-in-the-f-stop dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Google Librarian Central site has up a piece by Mark Aubin, a Software Engineer who works on Google Earth. Aubin explains some of the process behind capturing satellite imagery for use with the product. 'Most people are surprised to learn that we have more than one source for our imagery. We collect it via airplane and satellite, but also just about any way you can imagine getting a camera above the Earth's surface: hot air balloons, model airplanes - even kites. The traditional aerial survey involves mounting a special gyroscopic, stabilized camera in the belly of an airplane and flying it at an elevation of between 15,000 feet and 30,000 feet, depending on the resolution of imagery you're interested in. As the plane takes a predefined route over the desired area, it forms a series of parallel lines with about 40 percent overlap between lines and 60 percent overlap in the direction of flight. This overlap of images is what provides us with enough detail to remove distortions caused by the varying shape of the Earth's surface.'

Submission + - Restoring access to memories

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29, 2007 @10:34PM

An anonymous reader writes: Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists found that in mice with a similar condition to Alzheimer's found two methods — brain stimulation and drugs — by which they could restore or regain memories of previously learned tasks. From the article: The researchers used genetically engineered mice in which a protein linked to degenerative brain disease could be triggered. Scientists had previously given the mice tests where they learnt to avoid an electric shock and how to find their way through a maze to reach food. After six weeks with the brain disease, the mice were no longer able to remember how to perform these tasks. The playground mice were able to remember the shock test far better than the mice in other cages. They were also better at learning new things. Scientists then tested a class of drugs called histone deacetylase, or HDAC, inhibitors on the mice. These also improved memory and learning, similar to improvements made by environmental stimulation. This seems to go hand in hand with the research that suggested that certain diseases are not of lost memory but of lost connections to the memories. From the article: "If we lose a memory, is it gone for good? New data in Nature suggests that memories can persist even when some of the neurons that presumably helped maintain them are dead. The work may have significant consequences for how we treat people suffering brain damage and/or dementia."

Submission + - What's wrong with Ubuntu 7.04?

Submitted by

SlinkySausage

on Sunday April 29, 2007 @10:29PM

SlinkySausage writes: "Ashton Mills from APC Magazine has written a pretty scathing review of Ubuntu 7.04: "It's out love for Ubuntu that I'm being so harsh in this review. Look where we're at — 7.04, a number of significant releases since 4.10 Warty three years ago — and it still can't manage the display properly. And that's just the start. I'd like to say the install was seamless, but it wasn't — the migration tool, while a nice touch, didn't apply to me as I was doing a fresh install, but the tool would have none of it and spewed up an error saying the process couldn't continue. Upon inserting a DVD movie, Ubuntu recognised recognised it didn't have the CODECs needed to support the media, but then couldn't install DeCSS support to actually play encrypted DVDs — i.e. 99.99% of the ones you're likely to use. I had great expectations for 7.04, but unfortunately they're not met. If you're a fanboy, don't read on, because I'll shatter your fragile world.""

Submission + - Indian project shows solar power affordable - U.N

Submitted by sas-dot on Sunday April 29, 2007 @10:07PM

sas-dot writes: A solar power project in India supplying electricity to 100,000 people will be widened to other developing nations after showing that clean energy can be cheaper than fossil fuels, a U.N. report said on Sunday. BBC News says that the $1.5m project, led by the UN Environment Programme (Unep), supports Indian bankers who offer finance to people who want to purchase a unit. The sunlight-powered systems are used to light homes and shops instead of expensive and polluting kerosene lamps. Officials hope to expand the scheme to Tunisia, China, Ghana and Indonesia. Before the UN project was set up, purchases were predominately cash only — making the devices too expensive for most people. The Indian Loan Programme helps its bank partners offer lower interest rates, longer payback periods and smaller deposits. "This project removes one of the main barriers to the shift to solar power — lack of financing," said Jyoti Painuly, a UN senior energy planner. "Asking customers... to pay cash for solar systems meant asking them to pay upfront an amount equal to 20 years of electricity bills." In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the UN says a single wick lamp each year burns about 80 litres of kerosene, which produces more than 250kg of carbon dioxide. An estimated 100 million families in India use kerosene lamps.

Submission + - Google phasing in new interface

Submitted by Steve on Sunday April 29, 2007 @09:42PM

Steve writes: As a follow-up to last year's interface tests, Google is phasing in a sleeker, more professional interface for their main search engine. As this screenshot on Flickr shows, this is a different and much cleaner interface than the one previewed last year.

Submission + - NIACs last hurrah: 1000 km space bubble structures

Submitted by

nanotrends

on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @02:00AM

nanotrends writes: "The last Nasa Institute for Advanced Studies projects are being presented now at the NIAC site.

Some of the last NIAC studies are a system for making massive bubbles in space and then making them rigid after inflation and roving lunar RVs that carry an inflatable connection for a base camp. A single bubble can be 1 meter in earth gravity, 100 kilometer in low earth orbit or 1000 kilometers in deep space. Foams made of many bubbles could be far larger in size. Metal can be evaporated to coat the inside of the bubble for reflective sails and telescopes. Large structures can make telescopes that are millions of times more powerful than the Hubble Space telescope and solar sails that are light weight and fast."

Submission + - Creative Labs False Advertising

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @01:57AM

An anonymous reader writes: Creative Labs 2GB MuVo V100 portable mp3 players are advertised as being USB 2.0 capable devices, but are in fact USB 1.1 devices. Creative labs own message forums, as well as other places document this clearly, and a quick google search yields many more results. I verified it myself on two different platforms, a MacBook Pro, and an nforce2 based mainboard with onboard USB 2.0. I have emailed creative asking how to get usb 2.0 speeds out of this product and have been ignored, like most people. This really sounds like class action lawsuit material. Creative Labs are doing absolutely nothing to address this, and you can still find this product on store shelves advertised as being a USB 2.0 device when it clearly is not. It takes over an HOUR to copy 2gb of data to/from this device. What is a consumer to do?

Submission + - QWERTY Keyboard Layout: Are We Stuck Forever?

Submitted by

techie

on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @01:45AM

techie writes: "CoolTechZone.com author Gundeep Hora asks the question, "QWERTY Keyboard Layout: Are We Stuck Forever?" Sure, DVORAK may be gaining some traction between developers, but will it ever be mainstream. The article states, "Personally, for a new keyboard layout to get adopted, the entire technology industry would have to form an association with contributing member companies to come up with a new standard. Once they have come up with a new layout, they would then have to release their respective models at the same time to saturate the market and leave us with no choice. After all, if we have a choice, then we would obviously opt for the layout that's familiar to us. Ethical or not, that's what would happen."

Submission + - Google aquires Doubleclick

Submitted by

darcsorrows

on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @01:44AM

darcsorrows writes: "On April 13th, Google bought the Internet Advertising giant Doubleclick. Many adverts seen on websites all over the Internet are served up by Doubleclick, so it will be interesting to see which direction Google takes the company. This story was posted on the Google Company Blog on April 13th.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/next-step-i n-google-advertising.html"

Submission + - CS programs changing to attract women students

Submitted by Magnifico on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @01:36AM

Magnifico writes: In today's The New York Times, there is a story about American universities are actively recruiting women to be Computer Science students and changing CS courses to do so. The story, "Computer Science Takes Steps to Bring Women to the Fold", explains that the number of women in CS is shrinking: "Women received about 38 percent of the computer science bachelor's degrees awarded in the United States in 1985, the peak year, but in 2003, the figure was only about 28 percent, according to the National Science Foundation." One of the largest barriers to recruiting women to the field is the "nerd factor". To attract women students to the CS field, "Moving emphasis away from programming proficiency was a key to the success of programs Dr. Blum and her colleagues at Carnegie Mellon instituted to draw more women into computer science." Changes at CMU increased women students in the CS program from 8 percent to nearly 40 percent.

Submission + - file system editors

Submitted by bobm on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @01:12AM

bobm writes: I have a large amount of files to rename and basically cleanup and it occurred to me that a 'file system editor' would be very handy. Something where I could just enter regular expressions and treat the directory like a file.

example /^beta/s//alpha/g

would change any file starting with beta to alpha.

I would like to have this on OS X but could manage in XP if needed.

thanks

Submission + - MIT Humanoid to Help Around the House

Submitted by siiidooo on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @01:11AM

siiidooo writes: Technology Review is reporting on advancements in robotics that could someday lead to humanoids in our homes, helping us with chores. "For more than a decade, roboticists have worked on systems for the elderly, hoping to extend the amount of time that seniors can live at home and improve their quality of life. Now MIT researchers have built a humanoid robot with a special motion-tracking system and spring-loaded actuators that make it better equipped to deal with household chores. The robot, named Domo, can size up an object by shaking it in its hand and then put it away in a cupboard."

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