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Power

Submission + - Piss-Powered Batteries Unveiled at IFA

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: According to CNET.co.uk, NoPoPo (non-pollution power) Aqua Batteries work simply by inserting liquid, including urine, into the base with a teat pipette. "They come in a range of battery sizes, and according to the manufacturer, a single AAA version can run a small handheld torch light for up to 20 hours. Incredibly, these batteries also work with other types of liquid: we saw them tested with beer and apple juice, but the makers say they can run off cola, saliva or even urine." Put the term 'running out of juice' in a new light.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Virtualization basics: What it is, what it can be

Submitted by Shnuckie
Shnuckie writes: Yes, you have heard of virtualization, but admit it: You are confused about how to use this fancy new technology either in a corporate environment or on your home PC. TG Daily has a fairly comprehensive 3-part introduction to virtualization that takes you through the basics and explains what it is, where it comes from, what benefits and (to a certain degree) what drawbacks it has, how to get started with it — there's a VMware installation manual — and how virtualization may look like in a few years from now. The article doesn't require much computing knowledge and, after reading it, I am actually thinking about taking VMware for a spin. Looks like this could be an interesting new toy.
Intel

Submission + - Ionic wind dramatically improves CPU cooling (vnunet.com)

Submitted by
Monk
Monk writes: "Scientists have developed a technology based on 'ionic wind engines' that could dramatically improve computer chip cooling. The Purdue University researchers, in work funded by Intel, demonstrated that the technique could increase chip cooling rates by as much as 250 per cent. "Other experimental cooling-enhancement approaches might give you a 40 per cent or 50 per cent improvement," said Suresh Garimella, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue. "A 250 per cent improvement is quite unusual. " When used in combination with a conventional fan, the experimental device enhanced the fan's effectiveness by increasing airflow to the surface of a mock computer chip. The new technology could help engineers design thinner laptop computers that run cooler than today's machines, the researchers believe. The new cooling technology could be introduced into computers within three years if researchers are able to miniaturise it and make the system rugged enough, Garimella said. As the technology is further developed, such cooling devices might be integrated into portable consumer electronics products, including mobile phones. The experimental cooling device works by generating electrically charged atoms using electrodes placed near one another. The device contained a positively charged wire, or anode, and negatively charged electrodes, called cathodes. The anode was positioned about 10mm above the cathodes. When voltage was passed through the device, the negatively charged electrodes discharged electrons toward the positively charged anode. The electrons collided with air molecules, producing positively charged ions, which were then attracted back toward the negatively charged electrodes, creating an 'ionic wind'. This 'breeze' was found to increase the airflow on the surface of the experimental chip and so dramatically improve cooling."
Displays

Submission + - Eizo creates the best 24" monitor ever

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Eizo has always made top quality moitors, even going back to the CRT days. But the Flexscan HD2441W looks like a killer 24" display even by their standards. Along with amazing image quality you get two HDMI ports (HDCP), DVI and VGA. Eizo have thrown 1:1 mapping into the mix over all connections and even included some custom scaling so that even low resolution video looks good. It ain't cheap, but the reviewer reckons it's worth the money. http://www.trustedreviews.com/displays/review/2007 /07/25/Eizo-FlexScan-HD2441W-24in-LCD-Monitor/p1
Robotics

Submission + - Bomb-laden 'Reaper' drones bound for Iraq (usatoday.com)

Submitted by DoctorBit
DoctorBit writes: America will soon deploy in Iraq humanity's first robotic attack squadron. Each of the squadron's nine MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer drones weighs five tons, four times heavier than a Predator. The Reaper is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It is outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles. While each Reaper's pilot will sit at a video console in Nevada, the drones themselves will probably be based at a 400,000-square-foot expansion of the concrete ramp area at Balad, Iraq now used by Predator drones.
Privacy

Submission + - Is Your Printer Spying on You?

Submitted by
gnujoshua
gnujoshua writes: "In 2005, the EFF alerted the world to how laser printers are spying their users by providing tracking information in the form of a unique smattering of barely detectable yellow dots that appear on every printout. Revitalizing this issue, the Computing Counter Culture Group at the MIT Media Labs has launched Seeing Yellow. They provide instructions to see the tracking dots, as well as provide you with a list of clever questions, and appropriate contact information so that you can confront your laser printer manufacturer. Let's act before this issue slips through the cracks again and send the message that manufacturers' must respect our privacy and our right to anonymous free speech."
Privacy

Submission + - Latest revelations on FBI's data mining of America (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: You probably already knew that the FBI was data mining Americans in the "search" for potential terrorists, but did you know that they're also supposed to be looking for people in the U.S. engaged in criminal activity that is not really supposed to be the province of the federal government? Now the feds are alleged to be data mining for insurance fraudsters, identity thieves, and questionable online pharmacists. That's what they're telling us now. What else could they be looking for that they are not telling us about?
Graphics

Submission + - Hybrid mesh replaces polygons to display 3D/CAD (diginfo.tv)

Submitted by
dk3nn3dy
dk3nn3dy writes: "Japanese company Digital Process, have developed VridgeR, software which uses DVX, a special rendering technique that doesn't use polygons, and can display massive, highly complex models (for example whole cars or planes which would normally require millions of polygons to be displayed with precision) using standard hardware. 20GB of aircraft CAD data can be loaded onto less than 1GB RAM with complete mathematical precision. English video news story here."
Quake

Submission + - Island Raised by Earthquake

Submitted by
StupiderThanYou
StupiderThanYou writes: " ABC News Australia is reporting that the island of Ranongga in the Solomon Islands has been lifted three metres higher above sea level by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake on the 2nd of April. A surrounding coral reef popular with scuba divers is now dying in the sunlight, and there are fissures opened up in the island and surrounding seabed. At least they'll be under less threat from rising sea levels."
Windows

Submission + - Is Wine or Vista more Windows compatible?

Submitted by ZMXJ
ZMXJ writes: We've been hearing quite a few anecdotes & reviews that complain about poor compatibility of old hardware and pre-vista-windows software with Vista; and quite a few articles about improved compatibility of Wine.

My suspicion is that Linux has much better hardware compatibility with Win2K era PCs than Vista does; and my suspicion is that the software compatibility of Wine vs Vista for Win2K apps is about the same. But before I make a recommendation that upgrading to Wine would be better than upgrading to Vista in our company, I wanted to Ask Slashdot to see what other people's experiences with either transition have been like. So far our company has no experience with Vista nor Wine/Linux (quite a bit of Win2K & Linux experience, though). Any experience you guys had moving ot to Vista or to Wine would be of interest.

Would an upgrade from Win2K to Vista or an upgrade from Win2K to Wine/Linux be less painful?
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Identifying computer components

Submitted by
RedMage13
RedMage13 writes: "Many people like me have found a box of computer parts at a yard sale, and picked them up merely because they're cheap, and could possibly be salvaged for use. I recently became an owner of one such box of parts, but I have no idea how to find out how powerful any of the parts are, and there are several whose function seems impossible to determine due to a lack of any tags/FCC IDs. Surely some of my fellow Slashdotters will be able to share some tips for all of us suckers who are holding onto boxes full of crap that we don't know is useful at all."
The Internet

Submission + - Karl Rove uses unauthorized email server

Submitted by
JenniefromtheShire
JenniefromtheShire writes: "http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/24/172031 /681

From citizen92 at dailykos.com:

Karl Rove and GWB43.com — Huge National Security Threat?
by citizen92 [Subscribe]

Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 02:36:13 PM PDT

Over the past few days, there have been many great diaries about the recent discovery of the gwb43.com e-mail system. A story in the National Journal (only available by subcription) yesterday added an additional nugget — that Karl Rove does 95% of his e-mailing over that server. Nice. And end run around the Presidential Records Act. And a political move to hide what could be incriminating records.

What has not yet been mentioned, however, is the likely huge national security breach that might have resulted from Karl's cavalier practices.

Bear with me.

citizen92's diary :: ::
The White House is a huge target for electronic espionage by friendly and hostile foreign powers. For those of you who may have visited Washington, this may be evident when you stroll by the various embassies scattered around the city — with their unusual sculptures of antennas and wires on their roofs. The Russians have a compound just three blocks north of the White House.

The US Government spends undisclosed amounts on countermeasures to protect its critical information and its secure networks. And it has the experts to make sure that those countermeasures are working.

But, as usual, the government is focused on the foes outside — not the foes within. Government, meet Karl Rove's OpSec (operational security) program.

As you read, I would have to guess (but I have absolutely no knowlegde if this is true or not) that foreign intelligence services have already paid thorough visits to the various servers that are operated by the RNC down in Chattanooga. You know, GWB43.com. RNCHQ.COM. Bobcorker.com. Why? Well, it's been made pretty clear that Karl Rove conducts business through those domains. 95% of his business. And so do other senior White House staff. If you were a foreign spy, wouldn't you be interested? And might it be a possibility, that MAYBE the RNC servers aren't quite as secure as the government servers? MAYBE?

If I were an Information Security Officer for the White House, my system would be "flashing red." Don't forget that Karl Rove is a Deputy Chief of Staff (the number 3 position) at the White House. He likely see's PDB's and other classified information. And for him to be able to do 95% of his work from the RNC account, he would have to get some of this information flowing from the White House network. Heck, maybe he forwards his eop.gov e-mail to the RNC account.

Point being, this could represent a HUGE SECURITY BREACH. I hope that the RNC servers have been seized by someone in US Government (NSA, CIA or otherwise) to find out exactly what has happened here. And I really hope that political muscle hasn't blocked that.

There is a lot more riding on this than just Karl Rove's political future....

****UPDATE****

Commenter kck suggested that I also point out a few more relevant details.

The "private email addresses" that Rove and some unidentified quantity of White House and possibly other government officials tracks back to a company called Smartech based in Chatanooga, TN. There are some interesting observations about Smartech at Cannonfire's blog, specifically that the gwb43.com domain shares a mailserver with other domains, including:

bcorker.com
bobcorkerforsenate.com
consultmhi.com
georgewbush.com
gop.com
gop.net
gop.org
gopcontact.com
gopemail.com
gopteamleader.com
govtechsolutions.com
newt.org
ohiogop.org
republicanvictoryteam.com
republicanvictoryteam.net
republicanvictoryteam.org
rga.org
rnc.org
rnchq.org
socialsecurityblueprint.com
speakergingrich.com
speakergingrich.net
technomania.com
thehuntercompanies.com
thirdwave2.com
thirdwave2.net
winningwomen.com
wrcb.com
wrcb.net
Cannonfire also observes that the Ohio 2004 election results were tallied on systems maintained by Smartech. Curious yet?

****SUNDAY UPDATE****

Commenter Rosaura makes an excellent observation on the root of the criminality of this whole outside e-mail system.

Tonight I stumbled across the collection of Abramoff emails connected with the Indian Gaming hoo-haw, and sure enough, Susan Ralston was using SusanRalston@gwb, sralston@georgewbush.com, sralston@aol.com, and sRalston@rnchq.org.

It's not as if these crooks didn't know it was wrong. Have a look at Rosaura">this email exchange at pages 113 and 118:

From: Abramoff, Jack (Dir-DC-Gov)[/o=GTLAW/ou=WDC/cn=Recipients/cn=abra moffj] on behalf of Abramoff, Jack (Dir-DC-Gov)
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 10:25 AM
To: Ring, Kevin (Shld-DC-Gov)
Subject: RE: email on jena

Dammit. It was sent to Susan on her mc pager and was not supposed to go into the WH system.

— Original Message —
From: Ring, Kevin (Shld-DC-Gov)
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 10:26 AM
To: Abramoff, Jack (Dir-DC-Gov)
Subject email on jena

Your email to Susan was forwarded to Ruben Barrales and on to Jen Farley, who read it to me last night. I don't know what to think about this, but she said is better not to put this stuff in writing in their email system because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc. Who knows? Just letting you know what she said, Anyway, I had called her to talk about Jena. She has not heard from anyone on the other side of this issue.

— Original Message —
From: abramoff
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 4:24 PM
To: Susan Ralston
Subject: Louisiana

I don't want to bother you guys with a meeting request, so I was hoping you could pass on to Karl that Interior is about to approve a gaming compact and land in trust for a tribe which is an anathema to .....
Two things we learn here.

1/Abramoff was aware of the need to lob e-mails outside of the White House e-mail system. And Abramoff is a crook.

2/Jennifer Farley, the was aware of the need to send e-mails outside of the system, and she told Abramoff co-conspirator Kevin Ring as such.

Farley was not the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. Nor was she the Deputy Director. Nor was she the Assistant Director. She was the Deputy Assistant Director. That's a low level staff position. A $35,000 year job.

Point being, if low-level staffer Jennifer Farley knew about the e-mail couching, then there had to be a policy mandating these procedures at the White House. And policies are set from the top."
Graphics

Submission + - The math of Graphics

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A lot of confusion arises when people attempt to do 3d graphics programming without the proper mathematical background in basic linear algebra. Christopher Evensen recently gave a talk covering covering the important fundamentals. The math is also accompanied by a real world programming example. The talk doesn't have anything ground breaking in it, but the format its presented in clearly shows how to apply the math to real world problems.
The Courts

Submission + - Louisiana city wins 2nd municipal fiber case

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser reports that the Louisiana Supreme Court today unanimously ruled in favor of Lafayette Utilities System in its fiber to the home legal battle. The city passed a referendum in July 2005 62%-38% to approve bond sales to fund its city-operated utility service's plan to lay fiber-to-the-home throughout the city (population about 112,000). Cox and BellSouth previously delayed it with a suit that failed; this decision is against a resident sued about the use of bond to fund the endeavor. According to LUS, "bonds could be issued in 2-3 months.. Eighteen months after the bonds are issued, some LUS customers could be using fiber." LUS already has paid $3.5 million in legal fees to get to this point.

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