customizedmischief - Slashdot User

The Science of the Lightsaber 197

Posted by samzenpus on Monday November 17, 2008 @12:08PM from the the-force dept.

Smartcowboy writes "Chances are that you have seen a lightsaber at one time or another, whether on the evening news or down at the local cantina. Therefore you know that a lightsaber is an amazing and versatile device that is able to cut through nearly anything in a matter of milliseconds. Have you ever wondered how these remarkable weapons work? Where does the energy come from, and how are they able to contain that energy in a rod-like column of glowing power? In this article, you will have a chance to look inside a lightsaber and discover the source of its incredible characteristics." I was sure the blade was made from the focused hate and disappointment of the last three movies.

Submission + - Another city wide wireless project failing

Submitted by on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @01:17AM

An anonymous reader writes: The Madison Wisconsin's city wide wireless project built with Cisco is having setbacks because the signals are having various 'challenges'. Those include trees, hills, concrete and apparently entire brands of consumer wireless client devices. "... a PC user will get better service than a Mac user at the same location because the wireless cards in Macintosh computers are less powerful," according to Todd Anderson, Mad City Broadband technical project manager. With 90 percent of the entire subscriber base on a single provider (who has announced they are terminating their contract with Mad City Broadband) will the project be able to survive long-term?

Submission + - Scientists Discover 'Kryptonite' in Serbian Mine

Submitted by

TheCybernator

on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @01:10AM

TheCybernator writes: "Scientists have discovered a new mineral that matches the composition of kryptonite, the mythical rock that could sap Superman's strength in comic books. The rock — named jadarite — was discovered in a mine in Jadar, Serbia, by the Rio Tinto company and identified by London's Natural History Museum. Though the white rock didn't resemble anything known to real-life man, it did match the one substance known to destroy Superman's power. "The new mineral does not contain fluorine and is white rather than green, but in all other respects the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite," said Chris Stanley, the mineralogist who identified the jadarite. The mineral is sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, which "probably won't do Superman or us any harm whatsoever," said Mike Rumsey, a mineral curator for the museum."

Submission + - Must-Have Extensions for Thunderbird 2.0

Submitted by Operator on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @12:53AM

Operator writes: While Firefox has been in the spotlight for some time now, Thunderbird has yet to enjoy the same wide adoption or glowing praise despite being an excellent email client. It's no surprise that a popular topic has been Firefox's best (and worst) extensions while Thunderbird add-ons have gone largely unnoticed. In celebration of the recent release of Thunderbird 2.0 here are the best extensions for the program along with some honorable mentions.

Feed Apple delaying Leopard until October (com.com)

From feed by cnetfeed on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:13PM

Blog: For once, the rumor mill was right: Apple will be delaying Leopard, the next release of Mac OS X, until October.The company said...

Feed Non-Smokers Suffered More Than Smokers From Smoke Inhalation After Major Fire (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:13PM

Researchers studied the chronic effects of smoke inhalation from examining the lungs of 21 survivors of The Station fire (February 20, 2003). While the overall results of the study showed variability in the chronic effects, the study noted that the most severely impacted were non-smokers.

Feed Where Is The Proton? Scientists Discover Footprints Of Shared Protons (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:13PM

Yale researchers present "roadmaps" showing that shared protons, a common loose link between two biological molecules, simply vibrate between the molecules as a local oscillator, rather than intimately entangling with the molecular vibrations of the attached molecules.

Feed Quantum Dot Lasers -- One Dot Makes All The Difference (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:13PM

Physicists have built micron-sized solid-state lasers in which a single quantum dot can play a dominant role in the device's performance. These highly efficient optical devices could one day produce the ultimate low-power laser for telecommunications, optical computing and optical standards.

Feed NIST Has Developed A New Efficient 2-photon Source (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:13PM

NIST physicists have developed a highly efficient, low-noise system for producing pairs of photons for applications in quantum information theory and telecommunications.

Submission + - Apple Delays Leopard to October

Submitted by SuperMog2002 on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:07PM

SuperMog2002 writes: Apple Insider has the sad news that Mac OS X Leopard has been delayed until October. Apparantly software engineers and QA had to be reasigned to the iPhone in order to get it out on time, costing Leopard its release at WWDC. For now, the original press release from Apple can be found here, though Apple did not provide a permanant link to the story.

Feed Kia Kue abandons airbag, swaps in GPS navigation (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed on Thursday April 12, 2007 @04:32AM

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

We know it's possible to strap a PSP to your steering wheel, but seriously, it's not like we'd recommend taking such a setup onto the open road. Apparently, designers at Kia are throwing caution to the wind and cramming convenience in your face with its Kue concept vehicle, which neatly sports a full-fledged GPS navigation system in place of an airbag. Yeah, you've got Honda trying to stuff such protective devices into frickin' motorcycles, but who needs driver's side safety when you've got a 100,000-mile warranty? Nevertheless, the whip also manages to sport Lambo-doors, swivel seats, a widescreen in-dash display, and what appears to be flush-mounted pillar controls. Of course, the Kue could end up rocking a half dozen airbags in a variety of other locations, but if you're interested in a few more pics of the quasi-street-legal ride, be sure to click on through.

Continue reading Kia Kue abandons airbag, swaps in GPS navigation

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Feed Final Wii Internet Channel ready for update (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed on Thursday April 12, 2007 @04:32AM

Filed under: Gaming

Your little glowing Wii is trying to tell you something: there's a new system update waiting in the ether packing plenty of Internet Channel goodness. The update brings parental controls to your Wii and an updated version of the Opera browser which can downloaded free from the Shop Channel. So besides giving you control over the kiddies surf habits, Nintendo has tossed in plenty of new/improved features including several navigation enhancements and built-in Yahoo! and Google search. Now, you'd best get on with gettin' on, because the browser will cost you 500 points to download after June 30th.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Submission + - Desktop vs Web Applications - Round n

Submitted by

brajesh

on Thursday April 12, 2007 @04:28AM

brajesh writes: "The Internet browser is the new OS. What if a "thin client application" becomes thicker than the "Thick"s of the lot. The problem with web applications- "[...]is that they have tried too hard to make the web into a complete application platform, to the point where they don't even bother holding themselves to the same standards by which desktop application developers are judged.""

Feed Ebuyer caught pinching content again (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed on Thursday April 12, 2007 @04:12AM

Once is a misfortune but twice looks like carelessness

Ebuyer has again been caught stealing content from rival websites.

Submission + - Beatles to release tracks online

Submitted by AcidAUS on Thursday April 12, 2007 @04:05AM

AcidAUS writes: The Beatles have finally settled their long-running royalties dispute with EMI. The band will now be free to negotiate with EMI a new royalties deal that extends to online music downloads through services such as the iTunes Music Store.

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