Pliny - Slashdot User

Israelis Sue Government For Laser Cannons 736

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday March 12, 2008 @09:56PM from the we-all-want-a-laser-cannon dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Residents of a southern Israeli town want a real-life laser cannon to protect them against Palestinian rocket attacks. And they're suing the national government, for failing to provide the ray gun defense. The U.S.-Israeli Tactical High Energy Laser project was widely considered to be the most successful energy weapon ever built. But the toxic chemicals needed to generate THEL's megawatts of power made the thing a logistical nightmare. It was scrapped. Now, the residents of Sderot want it back. And they're taking Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to court to make it happen."

A Robotic Taxi Named robuCAB 69

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday March 12, 2008 @06:42PM from the take-me-home-jeeves dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "According to ICT Results, an EU-funded project named Embounded 'has achieved the twin, and apparently contradictory, goals of making embedded systems both smarter and tougher.' One example is the robuCAB, a '4 seat automated people mover' developed by a French company and built from a 4 wheel-drive electric chassis with on-board PC. This autonomous vehicle follows the curb and carries several embedded systems, with one camera on the path edge, another device tracking the angle and direction of the curb, while others control the gearing and acceleration. robuCABs are not totally independent. They move over pre-defined circuits which contain a series of sensors below the ground. But read more for additional references and a picture of two robuCABs on the road."

Submission + - Google Homepage Not Working 1

Submitted by

jackli

on Tuesday October 16, 2007 @09:48PM

jackli writes: "So I'm sitting on the couch trying to google a youtube video, but to my distress, the webpage http://www.google.com/ is down! Mail and other auxillary Google outlets work, but the main page is definitely not working. Several browsers and pings later (pings work!), I'm wondering how much money Google is losing by the second. Can anyone else back me up on this?"

Google Launches Summer of Code 2007 74

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday February 16, 2007 @05:05AM from the back-once-again dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Looks like Google has announced that it will be doing Summer of Code again this year. The program looks pretty much the same this year but they have built time into the program schedule for students to get up to speed before they start coding. Nice job, Google."

Submission + - Comedic Rights Backlash

Submitted by

menciasteals

on Friday February 16, 2007 @03:52AM

menciasteals writes: "After Joe Rogan confronted Carlos Mencia during a performance at the Comedy Store, a petition has been started in an attempt to remove Mencia's show "Mind of Mencia" from Comedy Central's lineup in an internet-based attack against comedic theft. Rogan has since been banned from performing at the Comedy Store and has ended his relationship with the Gersh Agency. From Rogan's post on his blog: "Now, when you work hard on a bit and polish and craft it, and then someone just disrespects the whole process, steps in, steals it and performs it as his own, that's a pretty intense creative violation." So what do you say, Slashdotters, are Comedians entitled to the same rights as musicians and authors?"

Submission + - Google Bought, Burned NC Seniors' Homes

Submitted by

theodp

on Friday February 16, 2007 @03:25AM

theodp writes: "Nicholas Carr has a nice roundup of the latest Googlegate News, including the heartwarming story of how NC government officials acting on Google's behalf hounded the elderly into selling their homes, keeping prices down by using a nonprofit front funded by Google to conceal the search giant's identity from folks like Eugene and Violet Anderson, both 86. As former homeowners took up residence in apartments and doublewides, the local fire department burned down a number of their homes to make way for Google, whose tax incentives are now being pegged at $260M."

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