Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:One man, consumer parts (Score 1) 156

by bakarocket (#36789420) Attached to: Japanese Military Invents Tumbling, Flying Sphere

110,000 yen is about one week's wages for the average public servant. How much do you make per week, and how would that change the price of your prototype (which you haven't built yet)? Would it still be "way fucking cheaper" than his?

It would be very reasonable to assume that this researcher spent a week on fine-tuning and construction, no?
The Military

Submission + - US Navy's solid-state laser sets boat ablaze (vide (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
hasanabbas1987
hasanabbas1987 writes: "Well we can safely say that laser guns from Star Trek and Star Wars must be in mind of the US Military officers who came up with the idea behind a solid state laser weaponry. From the picture above (and video below) you can see a boat getting "LASER-ED" by a laser firing gun attached to USS Paul Foster."
Education

Submission + - Could you pass Harvard's entrance exam from 1869? (nytimes.com) 3

Submitted by
erfnet
erfnet writes: "The New York Times remembers back to when "college was a buyer's bazaar" and digs up 19th-century classified ads from Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and others. In competitive efforts to attract students from the limited pool of qualified candidates, applications were taken as late as September for an October freshman class. Vassar offered lush room accommodations. The expectations were high: Latin, Greek, Virgil, Caesar's Commentaries; Harvard's entrance exam from 1869 is posted (PDF): http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/education/harvardexam.pdf. Could any of us pass the exam today?"
Data Storage

Submission + - Panasonic's 100GB Blu-Ray arrives (pcauthority.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It's not unusual to hear of advances made in some research laboratory that could one day lead to unheard of advances in disc storage, like 1000GB optical media. But it's not so often that we see one of these mutant discs — costing a reported 10,000 yen, or approximately $112 — go on sale. Panasonic's BDXL Blu-Ray discs are re-writable and capable of storing 100GB, thanks to three storage layers. According to this story, it can take more than one and a half hours to fill a disc with a compatible drive.

Submission + - Advice on software for running a small library

Submitted by
yahyamf
yahyamf writes: "I've been asked to help setup software for managing a small library at a non-profit school in the middle-east for under-privileged children. The library has about 5000 books and will be run mostly by student workers. The requirements are low cost, ease of use and maintenance, and support for Arabic and English. Barcode printing and scanning capabilities would be great as well. I've looked briefly at koha, but is there anything else out there (both hardware and software) slashdotters can recommend?"
Apple

Submission + - Apple demands cap on 3G data (itviikko.fi)

Submitted by upside
upside writes: '[Mobile operator] Elisa rebuffed Apple's demands for a capped iPad-plan' reports Finnish IT-viikko. Uncapped 3G connections are the norm in Finland, but apparently Apple has pressured Finnish mobile operators to introduce iPad-specific, capped plans that conform to Apple's guidelines. According to an Elisa spokeman 'an iPad connection would have meant weakened mobile broadband'. The outcome? According to the article Apple's Finnish language website is now advertising how the iPad2 'only works in Finland on Elisa's worst rivals' networks'.
Businesses

Submission + - US Competitiveness Chief Immelt's GE Tax Bill: $0 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: 'He understands what it takes for America to compete in the global economy,' President Obama said of GE CEO Jeff Immelt, as he announced Immelt would chair the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. On Friday, the NY Times reported that one trick Immelt employs to keep GE competitive is paying no American tax bill. In fact, GE claimed a 2010 tax benefit of $3.2B on worldwide profits of $14.2B, $5.1B of which came from US operations. According to the NYT, GE's extraordinary tax-avoidance success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore. GE’s giant tax department is led by a former Treasury official whose 975-member team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the IRS and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress. GE's return to rock-bottom tax rates marks a dramatic reversal from the mid-80's when President Regan reacted to corporate accounting gamesmanship and supported a change that closed loopholes and required GE to pay a far higher effective rate, up to 32.5%. 'That GE can almost set its own tax rate shows how very much we need reform,' said Rep. Lloyd Doggett. 'Our tax system should encourage job creation and investment in America and end these tax incentives for exporting jobs and dodging responsibility for the cost of securing our country.'
IOS

Submission + - iOS 5 may not be released until this Fall (edibleapple.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: iOS 5 is rumored to be a significant update yet may not see the light of day until Fall 2011. It appears that Apple may deviate from its pattern of releasing a new iOS update alongside the Summer release of a new iPhone. Rather, Apple’s next major iOS update may coincide with the Fall release of a new iPad. Yep, you read that correctly.

Submission + - What applications will help Middle East freedom?

Submitted by beachdog
beachdog writes: What Internet and computer applications would help the millions of Middle East citizens seeking social justice and honest government?

I mean which free and open Internet apps can help countries and people move to better governments without warfare and fratricide?

  I mean serious applications that can facilitate voting, constructive partisan organization, democratic government and economic re-balancing?
Cloud

Submission + - US Facebook Data Passed Through Chinese ISP (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Earlier this week, your Facebook posts could have been rewritten on the Great Wall of China, not just on your friends’ walls. For about 30 minutes on Tuesday morning, Facebook traffic in the US, or at least the connections going through AT&T’s Internet services, did not travel via the most direct route. Normally, AT&T passes packets of data to US-based Level3 Communications, which in turn hands them off to Facebook’s servers. Instead, the connections went the long way: through servers owned by China Telecom’s ChinaNet, the state-owned ISP of mainland China, and then to SK Broadband, a commercial ISP in South Korea, before finding their way to Facebook.
Japan

Submission + - Death Toll Tops 10,000 in Japan Quake (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The National Police Agency reported, the death toll from a massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s northeast coast topped 10,000 on Friday, two weeks after the disaster struck. There are fears of a much higher toll from the disaster, which flattened or erased entire towns along the Pacific coast of the country’s main island of Honshu.

Submission + - Do Supermoons Cause Earthquakes? (brighthub.com)

Submitted by Anurag2010
Anurag2010 writes: Does the “supermoon” phenomenon cause earthquakes and volcanoes? While astrologers believe that the full Moon at perigee is responsible for natural disasters, scientists don’t agree with the arguments put forward by doomsday soothsayers.

Slashdot Top Deals

It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.

Close