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Submission + - Natalie Portman: Movie Star, Princess, Scientist (nytimes.com)

Submitted by drunkenkatori
drunkenkatori writes: Natalie Portman is well known for her role as Queen Amidala in the Star Wars prequels or as Jean Reno's protege in 'The Professional'. But while she was doing all that she was also going to school and participating as a serious contender in the Intel Science Talent Search.
Google

Submission + - Google 'finds' missing G-mails on tape (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Snippet from BBCnews.co.uk article:

"Google has apologised to customers who found their Gmail inboxes empty after accounts were accidentally wiped clean."

It goes on to mention that the accounts were backed up offline and successfully restored. The wipe is blamed on a software bug.
Patents

Submission + - How Sony Can Still Ship PS3s Into Europe (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In its patent clash with Sony, LG successfully sought a Dutch decision to order all EU customs officers to confiscate PlayStation 3 shipments. But what appears to be a Europe-wide decision 'is not the end of the world for the PlayStation in the whole of Europe', writes patent watcher Florian Mueller, who explains that LG would have to obtain injunctions in several major European markets to really inflict damage on Sony. While Sony uses the Netherlands as the main entry point for PS3s into Europe, it could change its logistics. In that case, LG would have to go for injunctions in other places because the Dutch 'prejudgment seizure' order is valid only in the Netherlands and elsewhere Sony could, unless there are local injunctions, bail out its PS3 shipments on security.
Earth

EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Bees 410

Posted by Soulskill from the how-could-that-bee dept.
hether writes "The mystery of the disappearing bees has been baffling scientists for years and now we get another big piece in the puzzle. From Fast Company: 'A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined — electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.' Now environmentalists and bee keepers are calling for an immediate ban of the pesticide clothianidin, sold by Bayer Crop Science under the brand name Poncho."
Government

Judge Declares Federal Healthcare Plan (Partly) Unconstitutional 1505

Posted by timothy from the urge-us-to-go-and-buy dept.
healeyb writes "In a surprise move, US District Judge Henry E. Hudson issued a ruling today that the universal healthcare law that was pushed through by the Obama administration is unconstitutional. Specifically, he invalidated the section of the law that requires all citizens to purchase healthcare insurance, arguing that it does not fall under the purview of Commerce Clause of the Constitution, as has been asserted by the government. The ruling represents the first major setback for President Barack Obama on an issue that will likely end up at the Supreme Court. Two other courts have shot down challenges to the law."
Image

Man Threatened Spam Attack In $200,000 Extortion Plot 77

Posted by samzenpus from the can't-believe-this-didn't-work dept.
52-year-old Anthony Digati was arrested for trying to extort $200,000 from an insurance firm by threatening to spam them with six million emails unless they paid up. Digati said he would use a spam service and his amazing talents as a "huge social networker" to drag the company "through the muddiest waters imaginable" and presumably unfriend everyone. He added that the price would increase to $3 million if they failed to pay up by Monday, according to federal authorities.

Comment brain burnout (Score 1) 751

by drunkenkatori (#30696894) Attached to: Full Body Scanners Violate Child Porn Laws

This is actually a carefully crafted plan to burn out the brains of knee-jerk anti-intellectuals as they rant in circles about protecting children while fighting terrorism. I patiently await seeing Glenn Beck self destruct on TV like the androids sabotaged by Spock on Star Trek.

Comment Death World (Score 1) 782

by drunkenkatori (#30642628) Attached to: <em>Avatar</em> Soars Into $1-Billion Territory

Something that doesn't seem to be mentioned much in the 'something borrowed' department is the deathworld concept. Pandora was already dangerous and then became an adversary once the planetary consciousness decided to fight back. For me this elevated the story to more than Pocahontas-in-space since the indigenous people's wholistic view on the world wasn't just philosophy, it was real.

P.S. The 'anti-technology POV' complaints are completely off base. Recall that the scientists are allowed to stay.
The Almighty Buck

EA Flip-Flops On Battlefield: Heroes Pricing, Fans Angry 221

Posted by Soulskill from the put-your-money-where-your-gun-is dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ben Kuchera from Ars Technica is reporting that EA/DICE has substantially changed the game model of Battlefield: Heroes, increasing the cost of weapons in Valor Points (the in-game currency that you earn by playing) to levels that even hardcore players cannot afford, and making them available in BattleFunds (the in-game currency that you buy with real money). Other consumables in the game, such as bandages to heal the players, suffered the same fate, turning the game into a subscription or pay-to-play model if players want to remain competitive. This goes against the creators' earlier stated objectives of not providing combat advantage to paying customers. Ben Cousins, from EA/DICE, argued, 'We also frankly wanted to make buying Battlefunds more appealing. We have wages to pay here in the Heroes team and in order to keep a team large enough to make new free content like maps and other game features we need to increase the amount of BF that people buy. Battlefield Heroes is a business at the end of the day and for a company like EA who recently laid off 16% of their workforce, we need to keep an eye on the accounts and make sure we are doing our bit for the company.' The official forums discussion thread is full of angry responses from upset users, who feel this change is a betrayal of the original stated objectives of the game."

Comment Re:hate to say it (Score 3, Interesting) 549

by drunkenkatori (#30122582) Attached to: Are There Affordable Low-DPI Large-Screen LCD Monitors?

There's no reason to hate to say it. Apple did accessibility very very well. We bought a 27" iMac for my Grandma with glaucoma and switched it to 800x600. The mac scales it all quite well to fill the giant screen.

Then when it's time for maintenance, I switch it to full resolution for me and then back to low resolution for her.

Kinda how video games work.

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