Submission + - James Bond Submarines for Sale
syguy writes: "Uboatworx is selling personal submarines that are
straight out of a James Bond movie. Starting at
$82,000 for a 1 person vessel (about the same price as
a Porsche 911) and requiring a 4 day training course,
their C-Quester submarines open up an underwater
playground. Well, at least the first 164ft (50m) of
it, at 3-4mph and for as long as the electrical power
lasts, which is about 2.5 hours."
Submission + - Orphan 70-Year-Old Plane Data = 'Trade Secrets'?
Anonymous Flyboy Coward writes: The Experimental Aircraft Association is taking on the Federal Aviation Administration, which has denied a FOIA request for access to construction data to the owner of 70+ year old antique Fairchild F45 aircraft. The FAA sided with a company that was formed in 1990 (and which didn't even know the airplane type existed until the FAA's inquiry) that claims it "owns" the design and manufacturing data to the aircraft, calling the data a "trade secret". The company failed to register with the FAA (as required by law) yet the FAA is standing by it's assertion that they "own" this data, which was turned over to the public domain in the 1950s. Many vintage aircraft owners face a Catch-22 situation: they are required by law to perform maintenance to the manufacturer's specs, but much of this data is unavailable because the FAA refuses to release it without the data's owner's permission... even if there is no such owner. The decision in this case will likely have wide-ranging implications on FOIA requests, as well as affect whether historical antique aircraft will remain flyable or lost forever to a pointless bureaucratic death. The full story is available here.
Submission + - Sanyo blamed in Lenovo battery recall
ukhackster writes: Those overheating laptop batteries are back. Lenovo is recalling 205,000 "extended" batteries which shipped with its ThinkPad machines, or were bought as replacements.
Slashdot readers will doubtless remember the flak which Sony attracted last year, after it was blamed for exploding Dell notebooks and several massive recalls. This time, the batteries were made by Sanyo. Could this be the start of another recall franzy?
Slashdot readers will doubtless remember the flak which Sony attracted last year, after it was blamed for exploding Dell notebooks and several massive recalls. This time, the batteries were made by Sanyo. Could this be the start of another recall franzy?
Submission + - Growth of e-waste may lead to national 'e-fee'
jcatcw writes: "A bill in Congress would add a recycling charge to the cost of laptop PCs, computer monitors, televisions and some other electronic devices, according to a story at Computerworld. The effort to control what's called e-waste could lead to a national "e-fee" that would be paid just like a sales tax. Nationwide the cost could amount to $300 million per year. Already, California, Washington, Maryland and Maine have approved electronics recycling laws, and another 21 states plus Puerto Rico, are considering them."
Journal Journal: Gmail Outage
Gmail service for a large number of users has been out for 8+ hours. Google has made no announcement regarding the outage and has not issued an estimate repair time.
The Gmail Down Google group has all the details
Submission + - Atom-thick carbon transistor could succeed silicon
Matthew Sparkes writes: "Transistors more than four times smaller than the tiniest silicon ones — and potentially more efficient — can be made using sheets of carbon just one-tenth of a nanometre thick. The transistors are made of graphene, a sheet of carbon atoms in a flat honeycomb arrangement. Graphene makes graphite when stacked in layers, and carbon nanotubes when rolled into a tube. "This new material has properties that suggest it could have a range of powerful applications.""
Bookmark Truth behind moon landing? (forumpolitics.com)
Submission + - Consumer Vista support slashed by Microsoft
Mytob writes: "Microsoft is to limit support for three versions of Windows Vista, including its most expensive, to five years rather than the usual 10 years.
The company defended the difference by noting that the clock just started ticking. "End of life-cycle support for Windows Vista is still five years out," a spokesperson said.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=8 550"
Submission + - Is Nuclear a Viable Option for Our Energy Needs?
Prof. Goose writes: "Very interesting and detailed technical piece on the pros and cons on nuclear power.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2323"Technically, there appear to be no show stoppers for a considerable expansion of Nuclear Power throughout the world. It is a low carbon energy source with abundant fuel supplies. The technology works and has much potential for improvement. Whether or not a large scale expansion eventuates depends on how it competes with Coal on economic grounds and with the public on political grounds. This in turn will be determined by the performance of the nuclear industry over the next few years as these purportedly cheaper and safer plants are built.
Submission + - Is working for DARPA ethically defensible?
evil_breeds writes: "I've recently been offered a job to write software for a company contracting to DARPA and I'm stuck on the ethics of the situation. Take as given that the nature of the job and its benefits to me are excellent — what I'm interested in is the ethics of working for the U.S. military and what that supports, versus the net Good that some of DARPA's past work (like say, the internet) has produced. I think it's fair to suspend Godwin's Law for this discussion."
Submission + - WiMAX complexity causing problems
An anonymous reader writes: The transition of nomadic WiMAX (IEEE 802.16d) to mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) will be more difficult than it first looked like. WiMAX implementors, that used to offer it as a 3G killer, are facing unexpected complexity in the implementation. Read more
Submission + - MySpace Sued Over Sexual Assaults
Virak writes: "MySpace has been sued by four families after their underage daughters were sexually assaulted by adults they met on the site. One of the lawyers from a firm representing some of the families claims that MySpace waited too long to implement measures to protect underage users from predators, and should be held responsible for the safety of users of the site. MySpace, however, says that they do attempt to protect users of their site, but online safety is a shared responsibility, requiring users to apply common sense and offline safety to their online activities."
Submission + - An 80- Core Chip is coming to a board near you
An anonymous reader writes: http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?a rticleID=196901171
The introduction of an 80 Core Chip that will use less power than a quad-core and has teraflop performance
Submission + - University Bans Calendar Sales Featuring Students
kmross writes: "An opinion piece featured in the school newspaper rakes on the calendar's creator and intentions. The writing speaks for itself as it falls apart on unsubstantiated half-truths and biased investigative reporting all justified in the name of "opinion." It's a hilarious read."
