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Submission + - SmartWeb 1.2.9 (stable) with IDE Templates release (sourceforge.net)

Submitted by SF:rlogiacco
SF:rlogiacco writes: The SmartWeb Team is pleased to announce the smartweb-1.2.9.jar release and related IDE templates! SmartWeb is a web application development meta framework based on Jakarta Struts, Hibernate and other open source frameworks and libraries. For a manual installation, you can download the smartweb-1.2.9.jar here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=163839&package_id=185386 Have fun! - The SmartWeb Team
Programming

Submission + - Taliban is Creation of ISI & CIA:pak Prez (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
anoop
anoop writes: "The interview was taken on May 7. Zardari also alleged the US of supporting the military rule of Pervez Musharraf who was alleged to be taking sides of the Taliban.He also denied about the general belief in the US that Pak militray and intelligent services still having faith and sympathies for the Taliban. "I think General Musharraf may have had a mindset to run head and hand with the hound but certainly not on our watch."
Robotics

Submission + - SPAM: Could 'Terminator' happen? Vernor Vinge answers 1

Submitted by
destinyland
destinyland writes: "A science magazine asks an MIT professor, roboticists, artificial intelligence workers, and science fiction authors about the possibility of an uprising of machines. Answers range from "of course it's possible" to "why would an intelligent network waste resources on personal combat?" An engineering professor points out that bipedal robots "are largely impractical," and Vernor Vinge says a greater threat to humanity is good old-fashioned nuclear annihilation. But one roboticist says it's inevitable robots will eventually be used in warfare, while another warns of robots in the hands of criminals, cults, and other 'non-state actors'. "What we should fear in the foreseeable future is not unethical robots, but unethical roboticists.""
Link to Original Source
Privacy

Submission + - Safari 4's Messy Trail (thrica.com)

Submitted by Signum Ignitum
Signum Ignitum writes: Safari 4 came with a slew of cool new features, but extensive data generation combined with poor cleanup make for a data trail that's a privacy nightmare. Hidden files with screenshots of your history, files that point back to webpages you've visited and cleared from your history, and thousands of XML files that track the changes in the pages in your Top Sites can add up to gigabytes of information you didn't know was kept about you.
Data Storage

Submission + - Researchers Report 10,000-Fold Boost in CD Storage

Submitted by Casparin
Casparin writes: Today's CDs and DVDs store data as a string of pits burned into a narrow spiral track in plastic discs. Although less of a commercial success, holograms boost data-storage capacities by storing data in three dimensions. In an effort to kick things up a notch, researchers led by Min Gu, an optoelectronics expert at Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Australia, added two additional dimensions: the color of light used to write and read the data and the light's polarization, or the direction of its electric field.
Biotech

Submission + - Do cells use light to communicate? (bytesizebio.net)

Submitted by SilverLobe
SilverLobe writes: The hypothesis that living cells may use photons for communications has been on the fringes of cell biology for a while. No proof positive exists, but there is some strong circumstantial evidence. Byte Size Biology reports of a simple experiment that shows how the unicellular protozoan Paramecium may use so called "biophotons" to signal for growth and feeding. The original article in PLoS ONE concludes: "...not all cellular processes are necessarily based on a molecule-receptor recognition. The non-molecular signals are most probably photons. If so, cells use more than one frequency for information transfer and mutual influence."
Linux Business

Submission + - Is Linux's 'overall marketshare' stat meaningful? (ostatic.com) 1

Submitted by ruphus13
ruphus13 writes: Linux recently achieved 1% marketshare of the overall Operating System market. But, does that statistic really mean anything useful? The article thinks not. It states, "Framed in the "overall marketshare" terminology, the information (or how it was gathered and calculated) isn't necessarily questionable, it's more that it's meaningless. It's nebulous, even when one looks at several months worth of data. [How] Linux is used in various business settings answers an actual question — and the answer can be used to ask further questions, form opinions — and maybe one day even explain to some degree what 1% of the market share really means...Operating systems aren't immortal beings, and by rights, there can't be (there shouldn't be) only one...No one system can be everything to everyone, and no one system (however powerful, or stable) can do everything perfectly that just one person might require of it in the course of a day. While observing trends and measuring market share are important, the results (good or bad) shouldn't be any platform's measure of self-worth or validation. It's a data point to build on (we're weak in this area, strong in this area, our platform is being used a lot more this quarter, where did all of our uses go?) in order to improve and stay relevant."
Businesses

Submission + - Circuit City is baaaack.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Systemax Inc., a leading multi-channel retailer of computers, electronics, and industrial products, has purchased the Circuit City brand, trademark, website and other assets. The purchased assets include the customer records of the original Circuit City. As part of our "Customer First" initiative, and respect for your privacy, you can opt-out of having your personally identifiable information transferred to the new Circuit City. Personally identifiable information may include name, address, email, phone, and purchase history. However, it DOES NOT include credit card data or other personal financial information; this information will not be transferred to us at all. If you opt-out prior to June 9th, your personal information will be purged and you will no longer receive email communications from Circuit City. If you wish to Opt-out of having your personal information transferred to the new CircuitCity.com, you can click here to opt-out now. If you have no objections, thank you. Stay tuned to discover the new and exciting world of the re-launched CircuitCity.com: Lower Prices, Wider Selection, Faster Shipping, World Class Service! As part of the re-launch, the new CircuitCity.com has adopted a new Privacy Policy. The new Privacy Policy ensures that your personal information remains safe. We will not rent, sell or otherwise disclose your personal information to unrelated third parties except as stated in the Privacy Policy. (Click here to view the new Privacy Policy.) If you do not opt-out of the transfer of your customer information by June 9, 2009 the new Privacy Policy will be applicable to you. We encourage you to try out the new CircuitCity.com and know that we will always respect your privacy and honor your requests. Regards, Gilbert Fiorentino — Chief Executive Systemax Technology Group

Comment Re:Counter-intuitive! (Score 1) 160

by adityamalik (#26186399) Attached to: Student Invention May Significantly Extend Mobile Device Battery Life

'The more atoms you have to push your information through the more amperage it takes to overcome the resistance'.

Interesting??? Patently false!!
Consider:
1. Thicker wire means less resistance, not more
2. EM radiation does not experience resistance at all!! Only reflection or refraction or absorption
3. You seem to imply that all atoms are alike. not true.
4. Amperage to overcome resistance??? please...
5. why are you comparing the 'resistance' or whatever of a PCB to the (patently dissimilar, but to give you a head) path from cellphone to cell tower?

Comment Microwaves & Heating? (Score 1) 448

by adityamalik (#25242591) Attached to: Ultrasound Machine Ages Wine
Colling molecules together? Sounds like utter bunkum...

All molecules in a liquid are perpetually in motion and colliding against each other and the walls of the container. If it's about colliding molecules together, microwaving or conventional heating would have the same effect.. increasing the rate and energy of collisions between molecules as you increase their kinetic energy. If it's about 'colliding' without heating, any increase in pressure (by either pressurizing or just centrifuging or good old shaking around) would accomplish the same purpose, ultrasound or not. If it's about modifying chemical reactions, there's a few ways you could do that - heating or introducing a catalyst (to speed up irreversible reactions or shift the balance for reversible ones). I am not aware of pressure waves (i.e. ultrasound, in air or fluid) acting as a catalyst or doing anything special besides creating heat.

Some enlightened chemical engineer here who could throw light on what ultrasound could be reasonably considered to be accomplishing here?

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