Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
The Military

Submission + - Hitler's Stealth Fighter (aviationweek.com)

Submitted by
DesScorp
DesScorp writes: "Aviation Week reports on a television special from the National Geographic Channel on what may have been the world's first true stealth fighter, the Horton Ho 229, a wooden design that was to include a layer of carbon material sandwiched in the leading edge to defeat radar. Northrop Grumman, experts at stealth technology from their Tacit Blue and B-2 programs, have built a full-size replica of the airframe and tested it at their desert facilities where they determined that the design was indeed stealthy, and would have been practically invisible to Britain's Chain Home radar system of WWII. National Geographic will air the program on Sunday, June 28."
Media

Submission + - Dutch gov't: Tax online industry, fund print media (tweakers.net)

Submitted by
Godefricus
Godefricus writes: "Outrage ensued today among Dutch techie and media websites, after a government report which was published yesterday. The report advises (article in Dutch, google translation) that the dwindling print media industry should be financially supported by the online industry, to help them fund "innovative initiatives." The suggested implementation of the plan is taxing a percentage of each ISP-subscription, and give the money to the papers. The report, which was sollicited by the Dutch parliament and written by a committee of its members, specifically states that "news and the gathering of news stories is not free, and the public must be made aware of that."
The report is not conclusive, but from here it's just one step toward legislation proposals.
Both industries are largely privately owned in The Netherlands — and yes, if you were wondering, the current government is centre-left wing.

Who needs an RIAA if you can build one into your government? And hey, why invest in the future if you can invest in the past?"
Image

Broke Counties Turn Failing Roads To Gravel 717

Posted by samzenpus from the let-civilization-collapse-initiative dept.
To save money, more than 20 Michigan counties have decided to turn deteriorating paved roads back to gravel. Montcalm County estimates that repaving a road costs more than $100,000 a mile. Grinding the same mile of road up and turning it into gravel costs $10,000. At least 50 miles of road have been reverted to gravel in Michigan the past three years. I can't wait until we revert back to whale oil lighting and can finally be rid of this electricity fad.
Space

Submission + - Introducing the Warpship (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "Dr Richard Obousy, a guy who has put modern science into the warp drive, has designed his very own warpship. Now for the first time, he's shared it with the world. It might not be the sleek Starship Enterprise, but it's structure has been optimized to harness local 'dark energy', generating a warp bubble so faster-than-light-speed velocities are possible... awesome."
Earth

Submission + - Periodic table gets a new, unnamed element (bbc.co.uk) 2

Submitted by koavf
koavf writes: More than a decade after experiments first produced a single atom of "super-heavy" element 112, a team of German scientists has been credited with its discovery, but it has yet to be named. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has temporarily named the element ununbium, as "ununbi" means "one one two" in Latin; but the team now has the task of proposing its official name.
Television

Submission + - Comedy Central buys 26 new Futurama episodes 1

Submitted by
e9th
e9th writes: "TVWeek reports that 20th Century Fox TV and Comedy Central have officially struck a deal for 26 new episodes of Futurama, due to the strong ratings of its reruns and feature-length specials. Matt Groening is quoted as saying, 'We're thrilled Futurama is coming back. We now have only 25,766 episodes to make before we catch up with Bender and Fry in the year 3000.'"
Windows

Submission + - Best Buy Plans Windows 7 Blitz (channelinsider.com)

Submitted by
dasButcher
dasButcher writes: "If you don't think PC resellers are dying for Windows 7 to come out, think again. Carolyn April uncovered an internal Best Buy memo (http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Microsoft/Internal-Best-Buy-Memo-Details-Presales-Plans-for-Windows-7-208784/) detailing its plans to push the new OS when it comes out this fall. Presales start in July."
Government

Submission + - Norwegian court rules: Indexing sites not legal 1

Submitted by geirendre
geirendre writes: The court of Norways capitol "Oslo Tingrett" have ruled that indexing internet sites without prior consent from the owner to be illegal. Link to original article (in Norwegian) http://www.digi.no/814900/forbudt-aa-indeksere-uten-lov The court states that "indexing a site is copying content" and thus violates copyright laws. In other words, what Google (and other search engines) does when it indexes sites, is illegal.
Biotech

Submission + - Human Language Gene Changes How Mice Squeak 2

Submitted by archatheist
archatheist writes: Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have engineered a mouse whose FOXP2 gene has been swapped out for (different) human version. This is interesting because the gene is implicated in human language, and this has changed how mice squeak. Forget planet of the apes... get your tiny paws off me, you darn dirty mouse!
Communications

Submission + - 45 year old modem used to surf the web (hackaday.com) 3

Submitted by EdIII
EdIII writes:

[phreakmonkey] got his hands on a great piece of old tech. It's a 1964 Livermore Data Systems Model A Acoustic Coupler Modem. He recieved it in 1989 and recently decided to see if it would actually work. It took some digging to find a proper D25 adapter and even then the original serial adapter wasn't working because the oscillator depends on the serial voltage. He dials in and connects at 300baud. Then logs into a remote system and fires up lynx to load Wikipedia. Lucky for [phreakmonkey] they managed to decide on a modulation standard in 1962. It's still amazing to see this machine working 45 years later.

Although impractical for surfing the Internet today, there is something truly cool about getting a 45-year old modem to work with modern technology. The question I have, is what is the oldest working piece of equipment fellow Slashdotters have out there? I'm afraid as far back as I can go is a Number Nine Imagine 128 Series 2 Graphics card on a server still in use at my house which only puts me at about 14 years.

Slashdot Top Deals

The flow chart is a most thoroughly oversold piece of program documentation. -- Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man Month"

Close