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Comment Re:Pacemaker power? (Score 1) 444

I found this (PDF), doesn't mention current use, though.
about their history and actual use (paywall)
not recent...
I suggest you talk to your cardiologist. I can't quickly find any doc on this -- even through googling-- , but it may not be publicly available. From the few docs I can find, I think that they have been deemed safe for medical use but with the improvements of li-ion tech, possibly inductive charging, and other technologies, the use of rtg for pacemaker would look less attractive nowadays, not even considering the risks of accidental release of radioactive material (cremation...)...
So, ask your specialist, or his professors :-)
Space

Submission + - Serious window damage to Atlantis (nasaspaceflight.com)

FTL writes: "While in orbit a metal knob floated between a window and the dashboard of Atlantis. Once back on Earth, the shuttle contracted, wedging the knob firmly in place and damaging the window. Initial attempts to free the knob have failed and engineers may need six months to disassemble that section of the orbiter. Given that the shuttle program will probably end next year anyway, such a delay might mean scrapping Atlantis early rather than repairing it. Efforts to remove the knob using less invasive techniques continue."

Comment Re:...ways that Americans might find unfamiliar??? (Score 1) 379

Well, as an european, I can give you a few things that make us better off with Europe, the Euro and all that... We can now live and work in any European country without permit or visa. 30 years ago, trying to do that would have meant months of dealing with the administration of both countries. We can now enjoy the end of speculative games that broke the weakest currencies of smaller countries every 5 years or so in the 80ies. We benefit from Europe-wide quality standards in foods, poollution levels, drugs and so on that are better than about anywhere, and enforced efficiently. We have strong (though not well enforced yet) privacy laws. We have strong anti-monopolistic laws that succeeded at condemning Microsoft for abusive practices, and Intel recently..
Operating Systems

Submission + - Linux Training

Spritzer writes: I work for a rather large corporation with multiple divisions around the world. Nearly all user computers in the company are Windows systems, and there is no plan to move to Linux in the future. However, a good many of our products are now designed to run on Linux systems for security and stability purposes. Obviously, the design/development teams are knowledgeable in the use of Linux operating systems.Unfortunately my field service teams are not, and their is no in-house training program. This has begun to affect our ability to provide efficient, quality service to customers when in the field.

What training services have you used in the past to get people trained in the basics of using? I'd prefer to stay away from online, self-paced courses and get my people some hands on training with an instructor.
Music

Submission + - A Threat to Free Legal Guitar Tab Online

An anonymous reader writes: Recently Hal Leonard Corporation (the world's largets songbook publisher) sent an E-Mail to the music publishing and copyright community urging them not to license guitar tablature for free, advertising supported use online. The e-mail includes a number of factual errors and was potentially very damaging to the potential for a free, legal and licensed destination for guitar tab online. Musicnotes and MXTabs have posted the full letter, plus their response here: Hal Leonard Corporation's E-Mail to Music Publishing Community, Plus Response from MXTabs
Privacy

Submission + - Harvard prof: computers need to "forget" m

Jessamine writes: A Harvard professor argues that too much information is being retained by computers, and the machines need to learn how to forget things as humans always have. "If whatever we do can be held against us years later, if all our impulsive comments are preserved, they can easily be combined into a composite picture of ourselves," he writes in the paper. "Afraid how our words and actions may be perceived years later and taken out of context, the lack of forgetting may prompt us to speak less freely and openly." Will such massive databases make us all act like politicians? Is data retention creating a "panopticon"? These are questions that the good doctor raises.
Software

Submission + - VMWare Rolls Out Vista Virtualization

MsManhattan writes: VMWare Inc. today is slated to introduce a new version of its workstation virtualization software that supports Windows Vista. The upgrade, VMWare Workstation 6, enables users to run Vista as a host or a guest operating system. Additionally, it allows users to store a virtual machine setup on a portable device — like as a USB drive — and transfer the set-up to another computer. Virtualization, an old concept that has gained new momentum, can help organizations optimize their infrastructures but it can also create expensive management headaches. IT organizations should resist vendors trying to sell them on third-party management of their virtualized data centers, notes Thomas Bittman, a Gartner analyst. "There are still [problems] with virtualization in support and software licensing and not everything can be virtualized," he says. On a positive note, "This will clear-up over the next two to four years," Bittman adds. Gartner predicts that three millions virtual machines will be in use by 2009, up from today's 500,000.
Announcements

Submission + - Nano Light Bulbs for Your Shirt

moscowde writes: Craighead Research Group at Corenll University created a so-called "Nano-Lamp" — a microscopic collection of light-emitting fibers with dimensions of only a few hundred nanometers. The fibers are made of a polymer that is spiked with light-emitting molecules using technique called — electrospinning. The nanofiber glows bright orange when exposed to an electric field and can be seen in the dark by a naked eye. A professor at Princeton University called this "a breakthrough in the way nanosize light sources are made". Since the nanofibers are flexible they can be potentially used in clothing and flexible computer display.

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