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Science

Two Elements Added To Periodic Table 138

Posted by CmdrTaco from the still-waiting-for-slashdottium dept.
smitty777 writes "Two new elements have been added to the periodic table of the elements. Elements 114 and 116 are the weightiest known, with atomic weights of 289 and 292 respectively. The discoverers are proposing flerovium and moscovium as names for these two new discoveries. There are also arguments being made to add in three more as well: 113, 115 and 118." We've noted element 114 in the past, but this is more official.
Image

Compressed Time at the Australia Telescope Compact Array 34

Posted by timothy from the ok-ok-it's-an-illusion dept.
epaell writes "I've been playing a little bit with time-lapse and video editing over the last week while Duty Astronomer at the CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) near Narrabri in country New South Wales (Australia). Playing with video is all quite a new experience for me but I had fun putting this together and thought others may enjoy it. I've captured a number of videos of and around the telescope and attempted to highlight not only the instrument and the skies but also some of the wildlife we encounter on a daily basis while observing there. It also includes an obligatory video of cockatoos taking a hayride on one of the dishes and the frogs in the control room that are our constant companions during long observing sessions :-) I recommend switching from 360p to 1080p and setting on full-screen mode to get the full effect of the video."
Cloud

Redistricting 2.0: Cloud Lets Voters Take Part 83

Posted by samzenpus from the participate-in-your-own-manipulation dept.
CWmike writes "As the 2010 U.S. census results arrived, Los Angeles County's politicians started ramping up for redistricting — the once-a-decade, computing-intensive, often contentious process of geographically carving up the populace into discrete parcels of voters. In the past, such decisions were made by politicians using expensive computer systems and software. Participation in the process was limited to an elite few who could afford experts who understood redistricting's arcane rules and GIS technology well enough to game them. This year, however, it won't just be the politicians and special interest groups poring over the data and tweaking boundary lines. All 4.5 million registered voters in LA County have access to a cloud-based redistricting application called the Public Access Plan that lets voters view and modify existing maps and boundaries, submit comments, and even create and submit their own plans from scratch. LA County is among the first government entities to consider providing Web-based tools that allow for direct public participation. 'This notion of public access has changed quite dramatically,' says Tim Storey, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures. 'Throwing that wide open is a big step.' The big question now is whether the public will use it."
Cellphones

White iPhone 4 Coming Today 195

Posted by samzenpus from the black-tulip dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Initially, the white iPhone 4 will be available in 28 countries including the US, UK, Australia, China, Japan, and Italy. It will be available for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model with a new two year agreement through the Apple Store, AT&T and Verizon Wireless stores (as rumored earlier) and select Apple Authorized Resellers."

Comment Re:Outlook (Score 1) 480

by BlueLightning (#33899280) Attached to: Microsoft Admits OpenOffice.org Is a Contender

I'm not sure that's a reasonable question. A more reasonable question is, does it replace the features in Outlook that you actually use?

I have had to use Outlook for email in most organisations I've worked for (and out of the Office suite it is the only one I actually use regularly); admittedly I'm a developer and am therefore not a typical Office user, however I probably only used 50% of its functionality - basic email (with formatting), meeting requests, some very basic scheduling and task management. Not every user's usage of Outlook is going to be that simplistic but I would bet that one of the applications above would meet all of the needs of many users.

On the other hand, one massive hole that is still not really filled (although it is still being actively worked on) is Exchange connectivity, and I would imagine this would be a showstopper for adoption in many offices.

Comment Re:Comparing (Score 1) 480

by BlueLightning (#33899052) Attached to: Microsoft Admits OpenOffice.org Is a Contender

It'll definitely open documents that Office can't; however as for OOo Writer being able to save changes to documents in docx format without corrupting them, that's another story - at least anecdotally in my case. I got bitten just the other night - when I reopened a docx file I had previously edited I discovered that an entire table I had filled with text had vanished, much to my chagrin. As I had a requirement to fill in the document I had no choice but to find a Windows machine and use Word to edit it.

Now, maybe I wasn't using the absolute latest and greatest version of OOo (3.2, Go-OO version - actually, Writer 3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1 to be exact), and it did warn me initially about saving in a non-native format, but still, I was very frustrated by the loss. I hope this is the sort of thing they are working on.
Censorship

Porn Ban Being Considered In South Africa 240

Posted by Soulskill from the have-an-easier-time-blocking-gravity dept.
krou writes "Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba has gone to South Africa's Law Reform Commission to see whether the law can be changed to allow a complete ban of digitally distributed pornography. Gigaba has also been in discussion with The Justice Alliance of South Africa, 'a coalition of corporations, individuals, and churches committed to upholding and fighting for justice and the highest moral standards in South African society,' which has written its own draft bill regarding the issue, which covers the banning of pornography on television, mobile phones, and the Web. Using a car analogy, Mr. Gigaba said, 'Cars are already provided with brakes and seatbelts.... There is no reason why the Internet should be provided without the necessary restrictive mechanisms built into it.' Related documents and the JASA's proposed bill can be found online, one of which has the wonderful title 'A reasonable and justifiable limitation on Freedom of Expression and Right to Privacy.'"

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