Comment To make a nailgun... (Score 4, Funny) 738
To make a nailgun, we need neodymium magnets!!
New Fish Species Discovered 4.5 Miles Under the Ocean 96
eldavojohn writes "The University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab (a partner in the recent census of marine life) has discovered a new snailfish. That might not sound very exciting, unless you consider that its habitat is an impressive four and a half miles below the ocean's surface (video). If my calculations are correct, that's over ten and a half thousand PSI, or about seventy-three million Pascals. The videos and pictures are a couple years old, as the team has traveled around Japan, South America and New Zealand to ascertain the biodiversity of these depths. The group hopes to eventually bring specimens to the surface. It seems the deepest parts of the ocean, once thought to be devoid of life, are actually home to some organisms. As researchers build better technology for underwater exploration, tales of yore containing unimaginable monsters seem a little more realistic than before."
Comment Re:Wait... (Score 1) 911
Do you want some cheese with that whine?
Wine 1.2 Released 427
David Gerard writes "Stuck with that one Windows app you can't get rid of? Rejoice — Wine 1.2 is officially released! Apart from running pretty much any Windows application on Unix better than 1.0 (from 2008), major new features include 64-bit support, bi-directional text, and translation into thirty languages. And, of course, DirectX 9 is well-supported and DirectX 10 is getting better. Packages should hit the distros over the weekend, or you can get the source now."
A Flood of Stable Linux Kernels Released 105
Julie188 writes "Greg Kroah-Hartman has released five new stable Linux kernels, correcting minor errors of their predecessors and including improvements which are unlikely to generate new errors. As so often with kernel versions in the stable series, it remains undisclosed if the new versions contain changes which fix security vulnerabilities, although the number of changes and some of the descriptions of those changes certainly suggest that all the new versions contain security fixes."
Comment Re:That FSCKER! (Score 1) 565
Intel has a review process and culture that pits employees against each other like no other place I have ever seen. Of course many talented people just do not have the political skills to survive in this environment. Intel became aware that their engineering organizations are not as efficient as other companies but they can not figure out why.
The fact is Intel is a company that could not compete on a level playing field with an equal sized competitor.
The fact is Intel is a company that could not compete on a level playing field with an equal sized competitor.
Comment Israel saved Intel's bacon (Score 1) 565
Intel had a disaster with the P4 "Prescott" desktop processor. It was such a power hog the AMD desktop chips were much better. Then Intel did the right turn and based everything on the mobile architecture out of Israel.
By the way -- Andy Grove was the only Intel executive who was not full of ---- when he talked.
By the way -- Andy Grove was the only Intel executive who was not full of ---- when he talked.
Geologists Might Be Charged For Not Predicting Quake 375
mmmscience writes "In 2009, a series of small earthquakes shook the region of L'Aquila, Italy. Seismologists investigated the tremors, but concluded that there was no direct indication of a big quake on the horizon. Less than a month later, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed more than 300 people. Now, the chief prosecutor of L'Aquila is
looking to charge the scientists with gross negligent manslaughter for not predicting the quake."
Adobe (Temporarily?) Kills 64-Bit Flash For Linux 272
An anonymous reader writes "It seems that with the release of the 10.1 security patches, Adobe has, at least temporarily, killed 64-bit Flash for Linux. The statement says: 'The Flash Player 10.1 64-bit Linux beta is closed. We remain committed to delivering 64-bit support in a future release of Flash Player. No further information is available at this time. Please feel free to continue your discussions on the Flash Player 10.1 desktop forums.' The 64-bit forum has been set to read-only."
Why Are Video Game Movies So Awful? 385
An article at CNN discusses why big screen interpretations of video games, even successful ones, often fail to succeed at the box office. Quoting:
"The problem with successfully adapting video games into hit Hollywood spin-offs may lie in the way in which stories for both mediums are designed and implemented. Game makers chasing the dream of playing George Lucas or Steven Spielberg will always strive to coax human emotion and convincing drama from increasingly photorealistic virtual elements. The Hollywood machine, in its endless chase for big bucks, can't help but exploit the latest hit interactive outing, often failing to realize it's often a specific gameplay mechanic, psychological meme or technical feature that makes the title so compelling. Both sides may very well continue to look down in disdain on the work that the opposite is doing, which can doom any collaborative efforts. But where the two roads truly diverge is in the way stories are fundamentally told. Films offer a single, linear tale that's open to individual interpretation, whereas games are meant to be experienced differently and in a multitude of ways by every player."
On a related note, reader OrangeMonkey11 points out that an 8-minute short has showed up online that appears part of a pitch for a potential Mortal Kombat reboot movie. Hit the link below to take a look.
Sticky Rice Is the Key To Super Strong Mortar 194
lilbridge writes "For over 1,500 years the Chinese have been using sticky rice as an ingredient in mortar, which has resulted in super strong buildings, many of which are still standing after hundreds of years. Scientists have been studying the sticky rice and lime mortar to unlock the secrets of its strength, and have just determined the secret ingredient that makes the mortar more stable and stronger. The scientists have also concluded that this mixture is the most appropriate for restoration of ancient and historic buildings, which means it is probably also appropriate for new construction as well."
Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Benchmarked and Reviewed 164
tc6669 writes "Tom's Hardware just posted an interesting review of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. It includes an expanded set of OS benchmarks that they also performed on the previous LTS release (8.04), to see just how much the mainstream Linux distro has progressed in two years."
Comment Where the research money goes-- (Score 1) 651
I am sure most of that money goes into competition prevention. "How can we make it harder for third parties to supply ink?"
Ubuntu LTS Experiences X.org Memory Leak 320
MonsterTrimble writes "Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 is experiencing a major memory leak due to patches for X.org. 'An X.Org Server update that was pushed into the Lucid repository last week has resulted in the system being slower and slower as it is left on, until it reaches a point where the system is no longer usable. ... In order to make the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS deadline, the developers are looking at just reverting three of the patches, which brings the GLX version back to 1.2. Ubuntu developers are now desperate for people willing to test out this updated X.Org Server package so they can determine by this Friday whether to ship it with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS or doing an early SRU (Stable Release Update). Right now this X.Org Server that's being tested is living in the ubuntu-x-swat PPA.'"
Comment Re:Logic of Testing (Score 1) 499
"If our testing does not find any bugs, then our software doesn't have any bugs."
I am trying to reconstruct what is going on at Toyota.
Toyota management is telling the world what is in the above quoted sentence. There is a good chance they believe what they are saying.
Are they hearing this from engineering. If so they are hearing it from the incompetent engineers. Are these engineers merely courtiers? Are they just telling management what they want to hear. Is management not listening to the engineers who have a clue?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I am trying to reconstruct what is going on at Toyota.
Toyota management is telling the world what is in the above quoted sentence. There is a good chance they believe what they are saying.
Are they hearing this from engineering. If so they are hearing it from the incompetent engineers. Are these engineers merely courtiers? Are they just telling management what they want to hear. Is management not listening to the engineers who have a clue?
Inquiring minds want to know.
