Comment Re:lets wake up here (Score 4, Funny) 127
and let either private enterprise (?) explore space
I agree, even 6 year-olds are doing it.
New Kind of Orbit Could Ease Mars Communications 127
japan_dan writes "An interesting way to enable Earth-Mars communication when the Sun occludes the direct radio line-of-sight: ESA proposes placing a pair of continuous-thrusting relay satellites, using a solar electric propulsion system — one in front and ahead of Mars, the other behind and below — with both following non-Keplerian, so-called 'B-orbits'. This means the direction of thrust is perpendicular to the satellites' direction of flight, allowing them to 'hover' with both Earth and Mars in view. Quoting from the Q&A: 'We found that a pair of relay satellites would only have to switch on their thrusters for about 90 days out of every 2.13-year period, and this solution would only increase the one-way signal travel time by one minute, so it could be effective.'" Here is the paper describing non-Keplerian orbits (PDF).
Computer-Based System To Crack Down On Casino Card Counters 597
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Yahoo Tech outlining a system currently being researched: "Card counting is perfectly legal — all a counter does is attempt to keep track of whether the cards remaining in a deck are favorable to his winning a hand (mainly if there are lots of tens and aces remaining in the deck) — but it's deeply frowned upon by Vegas casinos. Those caught counting cards are regularly expelled from casinos on the spot and are often permanently banned from returning. But given the slim house odds on Blackjack, it's often said that a good card counter can actually tip the odds in his favor by carefully controlling the way he bets his hands. And Vegas really doesn't care for that. The anti-card-counter system uses cameras to watch players and keep track of the actual 'count' of the cards, the same way a player would. It also measures how much each player is betting on each hand, and it syncs up the two data points to look for patterns in the action. If a player is betting big when the count is indeed favorable, and keeping his chips to himself when it's not, he's fingered by the computer... and, in the real world, he'd probably receive a visit from a burly dude in a bad suit, too. The system reportedly works even if the gambler intentionally attempts to mislead it with high bets at unfavorable times." It's not developed in Vegas, though, according to the brief description (the other projects are also interesting) from the University of Dundee's release, but rather in conjunction with the Dundee Casino.
Comment Re:How fast is this thing? (Score 1) 145
The flicker, which I don't consider unpleasant, is due to the physical properties of e-ink. It is a bi-stable screen, which means that little black pixels are electromagnetically moved up and down in white fluid to produce an image that stays without power, pretty much forever. This is why e-readers with e-ink screens have a battery life of over 2 weeks, no screen to actively power.
As far as the kindle goes, K2 is pretty fast, on the order of 250 ms (screen limitation, not hardware/software). I haven't seen any faster, but I am sure that as the technology evolves, the refresh time will shrink considerably.
Communicator Clothing 134
coondoggie writes "The crew of the classic science-fiction show's Starship Enterprise wore small devices on their chests that they could tap to communicate instantly with their colleagues. Such communications technology is now closer to reality thanks to a Finnish company which this week demonstrated high-tech clothing that can send and receive messages via satellite. The demonstrator antenna, built by the Patria Aviation Oy company, looks like a simple patch of cloth but is capable of operating in the Iridium and GPS frequency band as part of clothing. The Iridium satellites allow two-way voice and data communication, while GPS provides positional data to the user. Iridium could also relay the position of the user."
Comment Re:And? (Score 4, Informative) 100
No, the PD books on Amazon are free. However, there have been an ever increasing amount of duplicates submitted by 3rd parties that have a price tag. They are just trying to remove the duplicates that have the price tag to provide a better user experience.
Please see Pride and Prejudice kindle store search. The first PD copy that comes up is free, the rest charge. That is not a good user experience as the free one is just as good as the rest (or should be).
I completely agree with this policy, as it makes it easier for me, a user, to determine what book I should get. I don't think they should limit the different editions of books, but seriously, how many public domain books have multiple editions, like super deluxe edition with forward by Abraham Lincoln himself. Not many.
Please see Pride and Prejudice kindle store search. The first PD copy that comes up is free, the rest charge. That is not a good user experience as the free one is just as good as the rest (or should be).
I completely agree with this policy, as it makes it easier for me, a user, to determine what book I should get. I don't think they should limit the different editions of books, but seriously, how many public domain books have multiple editions, like super deluxe edition with forward by Abraham Lincoln himself. Not many.
Comment Re: Not quite correct (Score 1) 835
Georgia Tech fully supports Linux, from ssh/scp, wan, san, and printing, to full desktops and software. Linux student software distribution. In addition, it even provides full linux OS's (just rhel). Everything you stated above is at Tech also.
I never had a single issue running Linux (gentoo) my entire time there, and there was a pretty decent LUG there too. In fact, even my freshman English courses made us use Linux for some tasks.
I never had a single issue running Linux (gentoo) my entire time there, and there was a pretty decent LUG there too. In fact, even my freshman English courses made us use Linux for some tasks.
Comment Re:Slashdot sucks... (Score -1, Offtopic) 322
Silly mods, this was a joke stating that the researchers cracked my WPA to write the comments. Read the entire comment please.
Comment Slashdot sucks... (Score 1, Troll) 322
Slashdot sucks, eat my shorts.
(Haha, we broke into your WPA v1, in less than a minute - Japanese Researchers)
Vulnerability, Potential Exploit In Cisco WLAN APs 35
An anonymous reader writes "The AirMagnet Intrusion Research Team has uncovered a new wireless vulnerability and potential exploit associated with Cisco wireless LAN infrastructure. The vulnerability involves Cisco's Over-the-Air-Provisioning (OTAP) feature found in its wireless access points. The potential exploit, dubbed SkyJack by AirMagnet, creates a situation whereby control of a Cisco AP can be obtained, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to gain access to a customer's wireless LAN."
Comment Danger... Hot Food (Score 3, Interesting) 131
What happens when you burn your tongue? Does your "sight" degrade or get blurry while your taste buds are being repaired?
Genetic Mutation Enables Less Sleep 272
reporter writes to tell us that researchers are claiming to have discovered a genetic mutation that allows people to manage with much less sleep. One of the researchers hopes that this could lead to artificially reducing the amount of sleep required in your average human. "Although the mutation has been identified in only two people, the power of the research stems from the fact that the shortened sleep effect was replicated in mouse and fruit-fly studies. As a result, the research now gives scientists a clearer sense of where to look for genetic traits linked to sleep patterns."
Comment More bad news from Quinn... Visitation Rights! (Score 1) 587
Another bill, signed on a busy day where Quinn dealt with dozens of bills, deals with child visitation rights. As of Jan. 1, the law will provide for visitation rights through electronic communication such as telephone, e-mail and instant messaging.
First Quinn doesn't let sex offenders use social networking. Next, he allows visitation rights via phone, email, and IM. What's next, marriage or divorce via facebook, email, or IM?
But seriously, visitation rights via telephone, email, and IM (and I'm guessing social networking sites too)? How does that actually constitute as one visiting another being, without physical presence. I'm all for visitation rights via phone, email, IM, etc, as long as they aren't restricting the physical visitation rights.
Submission + - Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word 1
fractalVisionz writes: A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement.
Judge Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML," according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i.
Judge Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening
Working Off the Clock, How Much Is Too Much? 582
The Wall Street Journal has word of yet another suit against an employer who required an "always on" mentality to persist because of easily available communications. Most of us working in some sort of tech related job are working more than 40 hours per week (or at least lead the lifestyle of always working), but how much is too much? What methods have others used in the past to help an employer see the line between work and personal life without resorting to a legal attack? "Greg Rasin, a partner at Proskauer Rose LLP, a New York business law firm, said the recession may spawn wage-and-hour disputes as employers try to do the same amount of work with fewer people. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act says employees must be paid for work performed off the clock, even if the work was voluntary. When the law was passed in 1938, 'work' was easy to define for hourly employees, said Mr. McCoy. As the workplace changed, so did the rules for when workers should be paid."
