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Submission + - Anonymous speaks about Australian Govt attacks (delimiter.com.au) 1

daria42 writes: The loose-knit collective of individuals known as "Anonymous" has broken its silence about the distributed denial of service attacks on the Australian Government. The group today said the attacks were more effective at stopping the government's internet filtering project than signing a petition, and that the attacks could go on for "months".
Movies

Submission + - SPAM: James Cameron on how 'Avatar' technology could kee

Suki I writes: "Sure, it’s terrific for turning human actors into big blue alien Na’vis. But the photorealistic CGI technology James Cameron perfected for Avatar could easily be used for other, even more mind-blowing purposes—like, say, bringing Humphrey Bogart back to life, or making Clint Eastwood look 35 again. “How about another Dirty Harry movie where Clint looks the way he looked in 1975?” Cameron suggests. “Or a James Bond movie where Sean Connery looks the way he did in Doctor No? How cool would that be?”"

The article goes on to quite James Cameron as saying you still need actors to play the roles and "bringing back" dead actors still requires someone to play them.

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Education

Submission + - The Internet Generation: Old Fogies in their 20s?

Hugh Pickens writes: "The NY Times has an interesting report on the iGeneration, born in the ’90s and this decade comparing them to the Net Generation, born in the 1980s. The Net Generation spend two hours a day talking on the phone and still use e-mail frequently while the iGeneration — conceivably their younger siblings — spends considerably more time texting than talking on the phone, pays less attention to television than the older group and tends to communicate more over instant-messenger networks. “People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,” says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “College students scratch their heads at what their high school siblings are doing, and they scratch their heads at their younger siblings. It has sped up generational differences.” Dr. Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, says that the iGeneration, unlike their older peers, expect an instant response from everyone they communicate with, and don't have the patience for anything less. “They’ll want their teachers and professors to respond to them immediately, and they will expect instantaneous access to everyone, because after all, that is the experience they have growing up,” says Rosen. Another intra-generational gap is the iGeneration comfort in multi-tasking with studies showing that 16- to 18-year-olds perform seven tasks, on average, in their free time — like texting on the phone, sending instant messages and checking Facebook while sitting in front of the television while people in their early 20s can handle only six, and those in their 30s perform about five and a half. "That versatility is great when they’re killing time, but will a younger generation be as focused at school and work as their forebears?" writes Brad Smith. “I worry that young people won’t be able to summon the capacity to focus and concentrate when they need to,” says Vicky Rideout, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation."

Comment Re:We had sex robots for a long, long time (Score 5, Insightful) 602

That is because popular opinion says that women can always get laid if they want to, and when they choose not to and use a vibrator instead, they are perceived as being discerning. Whereas a man that uses a pocket pussy is perceived as a loser because "everyone knows" that he would rather have had the real thing.

Submission + - China Luring Scientists Home (nytimes.com) 1

blee37 writes: The NY Times reports that China is increasing incentives for Chinese students earning PhDs in the U.S. to return home. One example is a prestigious Princeton microbiologist who returned to become a dean at Tsinghua, the Chinese MIT. In my experience as a grad student, Chinese students were often torn about returning home. The best science and the most intellectually stimulating jobs are in the U.S. Yet, surely they miss their families and their hometown. As alluded in the article, Chinese science remains far behind, especially because of rampant cronyism in academia as well as government. But, if more Chinese students go back, it could damage the U.S.'s technology lead. A large percentage of PhDs students in the U.S. are from China. Also, the typical PhD student has their tuition paid for and receives a salary. Does it make sense to invest in their training if they will do their major work elsewhere?
Google

Submission + - Google Faces Deluge of Nexus One Complaints (pcworld.com)

wkurzius writes: It seems Google is going through some growing pains as far as customer service is concerned. Since their new phone, the Nexus One, can be bought unlocked, many people are turning to Google themselves for help, but not getting what they're used to from traditional mobile carriers. T-Mobile and HTC are also getting hammered, with many customers being bounced back and forth between the two companies service lines.
NASA

Submission + - SPAM: NASA to cryogenically freeze satellite mirrors

coondoggie writes: NASA said it will this week move some of the larger – 46 lb — mirror segments of its future James Webb Space Telescope into a cryogenic test facility that will freeze the mirrors to -414 degrees Fahrenheit. Specifically NASA will freeze six of the 18 Webb telescope mirror segments at the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility, or XRCF, at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., in a test to ensure the critical mirrors can withstand the extreme space environments. All 18 segments will eventually be tested at the site. The test chamber takes approximately five days to cool a mirror segment to cryogenic temperatures.
[spam URL stripped]

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Government

Submission + - Mexico decriminalizes small-scale drug possession 4

Professor_Quail writes: Mexico enacted a controversial law Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging free government treatment for drug dependency. The law sets out maximum "personal use" amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution when the law goes into effect Friday.

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