LesterMoore - Slashdot User

Submission + - London Riots + Facial Recognition Technology (forbes.com)

Submitted by nonprofiteer on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @01:53PM

nonprofiteer writes: A bunch of vigilantes are organizing a Google Group dedicated to using recently revealed facial recognition tools (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/01/1533210/How-Face-Recognition-Can-Uncover-SSNs) to identify looters in the London riots. While Vancouver discussed doing something similar after the Stanley Cup riots, it never actually moved forward on it. Ring of Steel London, though, is far more likely to incorporate FRT into its investigative work.

http://groups.google.com/group/london-riots-facial-recognition (now a private group)
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/09/google-group-members-to-use-facial-recognition-to-identify-london-rioter/

Submission + - An E-Reader That Doesn't Require Electricity (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by LesterMoore on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @01:00PM

LesterMoore writes: Faced with a choice between paper and channeling electricity through the latest gadget, it's easy to feel guilty about reading. But you don't need to fret anymore, because Taiwanese researchers have developed re-writable “paper” that allows you to channel the benefits of an e-reader, all without the need to keep it powered up.

Submission + - RIM About To Shut Down BBM (theappwhisperer.com) 1

Submitted by

theappwhisperer

on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @12:37PM

theappwhisperer writes: "Despite responses from RIM during the night that they will not be shutting down their BBM service it is now looking increasingly likely that they will. Tottenham MP David Lammy has called on RIM to shut down its BlackBerry Messenger service overnight, in the hope that it will prevent rioters coordinating more attacks throughout England.

Lammy went on to speak on Radio 5Live earlier today where he said the BBM service was, "one of the reasons why unsophisticated criminals are outfoxing an otherwise sophisticated police force".

We have been speaking with RIM's PR department today and so far there is no official word that this will happen, the message is to 'stay tuned' with a statement following (hopefully) in due course. We will keep checking back on this and as soon as we have an update we will let you know."

Submission + - Yahoo! So Many Visitors, So Little Revenue (internetevolution.com)

Submitted by

rsmiller510

on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @12:08PM

rsmiller510 writes: "Yahoo! has managed to build some of the most popular sites around, yet its valuation and revenue don't reflect that. Perhaps it's because they continue to use a print-style advertising model that just doesn't work."

Submission + - Facebook Use May Lead to Psychological Disorder In (gizmocrazed.com) 2

Submitted by

Mightee

on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @11:25AM

Mightee writes: "Too much Facebook may lead to psychological disorders such as antisocial behaviors, mania and aggressive tendencies in teenagers, according to a study carried out by Psychology Professor Larry Rosen at the California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Professor Rosen presented his research at the 119th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association which states that social media has its advantages and risks to children, and parents who try to block their children's of networking are wasting their time as it is quite easy for teenagers of today to find loopholes. The presentation was titled Poke Me: How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids."

Submission + - Aluminum-Celmet Could Increase EV Range by 300% (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by LesterMoore on Saturday July 16, 2011 @03:46PM

LesterMoore writes: Japanese company Sumitomo Electric Industries have developed a new material that they believe can improve the range of EVs by an impressive 300%. The ‘super material’ is a form of porous aluminum called “Aluminum-Celmet.” It is a light-weight metal that SEI believes can be utilized in lithium ion batteries as its 3D structure can reportedly triple battery capacity.

Submission + - Constant Charging Solar 'Sponge' Battery (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by LesterMoore on Saturday July 16, 2011 @01:00PM

LesterMoore writes: A team from MIT is on the cusp of creating a solar battery made from carbon nanotubes that can be recharged constantly via exposure to the sun. The device absorbs the sun’s heat in a chemical form – instead of instantly converting it to energy, like a solar cell, it stores the heat in a heavily insulated container.

Submission + - Firefox Is Going 64-Bit: What You Need To Know (conceivablytech.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 16, 2011 @12:29PM

An anonymous reader writes: Firefox product manager Asa Dotzler determined that figuring out the 64-bit confusion surrounding Firefox it will be “near the top” of his to-do list this summer and fall. One could conclude that Mozilla has no idea at this point what people are expecting from a 64-bit version of Firefox, so Dotzler is asking for some feedback. More speed? More security? What about plug-in availability? All of the above, please.

Submission + - WHO Declares Cell Phones to be Class 2B Carcinogen (inhabitat.com) 2

Submitted by lucidkoan on Tuesday May 31, 2011 @04:06PM

lucidkoan writes: Today the World Health Organization declared electromagnetic radiation from cell phones to be a class 2B carcinogen (pdf) — the same classification as lead, auto exhaust, and the pesticide DDT. The announcement was spurred by a series of studies peer-reviewed by a team of 31 scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, who found that radiation emitted by cell phones is "possibly carcinogenic to humans".

Submission + - Oyster Mushrooms Could Break Down Diapers in month (inhabitots.com) 3

Submitted by greenerd on Sunday May 29, 2011 @04:50PM

greenerd writes: Disposable diapers are one of the biggest contributors to overflowing landfills, piling up at a rate of 1 ton of trash per kid per year — and they take 500 years to decompose. But now, a scientist named Alethia Vázquez-Morillas from the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City has found a way to turn that 500-year span to a mere 4 months, by using oyster mushrooms to accelerate the breakdown.

Submission + - Solar Cells Made From Bioluminescent Jellyfish (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08, 2010 @01:50PM

An anonymous reader writes: Swedish researchers have devised a way to turn bioluminescent jellyfish into solar cells. It works like this: the green fluorescent protein (GFP) that makes the Aequorea victoria glow is simply dripped onto a silicon dioxide substrate between two electrodes. The protein works itself into strands between the electrodes. When ultraviolet light is shined on the circuit, voila, the GFP absorbs photons and emits electrons, generating a current. The GFP-powered cells work like dye-sensitized solar cells, but don’t require expensive materials such as titanium dioxide.

Rethinking Computer Design For an Optical World 187

Posted by timothy on Wednesday August 04, 2010 @02:42PM from the optical-floptical dept.

holy_calamity writes "Technology Review looks at how some traditions of computer architecture are up for grabs with the arrival of optical interconnects like Intel's 50Gbps link unveiled last week. The extra speed makes it possible to consider moving a server's RAM a few feet from its CPUs to aid cooling and moving memory and computational power to peripherals like laptop docks and monitors."

Submission + - Giant Balloons Could Solve Space Junk Problem (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04, 2010 @02:40PM

An anonymous reader writes: More than 100,000 objects bigger than a centimeter wide hover around our planet, accounting for 4 million pounds of junk that befoul our atmosphere and threaten the expensive satellites we actually want in orbit. Dr. Kristen Gates, of Global Aerospace Corporation, proposes that we can clear the skies by attaching a football field-sized balloon to dead satellites, which would increase the orbital drag on it, eventually bringing it down into the atmosphere where it would burn up. The GOLD — or Gossamer Orbit Lowering Device — unit is easily inflated in space, and best of all, if the deployed GOLD balloon collides with space junk, it won’t deflate or break the junk into smaller, less manageable bits.

Submission + - Open Source Projects Using Best Practices?

Submitted by

balbus000

on Wednesday August 04, 2010 @02:30PM

balbus000 writes: "I recently graduated with a degree in software engineering (software emphasis). However, most of the homework and projects given were extremely small scale. I want to be exposed to more "real-world" projects to help me in my career. What open source projects are out there that are well organized and use best best practices in object oriented design, design patterns, etc. and aren't bloated to the point where it would take me 6+ months to get up to speed with how it's structured? I mainly want to study the source code, but would also like to start contributing once I feel comfortable enough."

Submission + - Vonage makes free Facebook phone call app (skunkpost.com)

Submitted by crimeandpunishment on Wednesday August 04, 2010 @02:08PM

crimeandpunishment writes: Facebook and Vonage might become BFF's. Vonage has developed a new application for the iPhone and Android that provides free phone calls between Facebook users. Vonage's CEO says "Essentially, we've given Facebook a voice". Users sign in, see a list of Facebook friends who also have the app, and if they tap on a name a call is placed....and it will go through even if the app isn't running on the friend's phone. The calling, which works over cellular broadband and Wi-Fi, doesn't use calling minutes but will use up data.

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