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Submission + - Makerbot Cracks Down On 3D-Printable Gun Parts (forbes.com) 1

Submitted by Sparrowvsrevolution
Sparrowvsrevolution writes: In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings, the 3D-printing firm Makerbot has deleted a collection of blueprints for gun components from Thingiverse, its popular user-generated content website that hosts 3D-printable files. Though Thingiverse has long banned designs for weapons and their components in its terms of service, it rarely enforced the rule until the last few days, when the company’s lawyer sent notices to users that their software models for gun parts were being purged from the site.

Gun control advocates were especially concerned about the appearance of lower receivers for semi-automatic weapons that have appeared on Thingiverse. The lower receiver is the the “body” of a gun, and its most regulated component. So 3D-printing that piece at home and attaching other parts ordered by mail might allow a lethal weapon to be obtained without any legal barriers or identification.

Makerbot’s move to delete those files may have been inspired in part by a group calling itself Defense Distributed, which announced its intention to create an entirely 3D-printable gun in August and planned to potentially upload it to Thingiverse. Defense Distributed says it's not deterred by Makerbot's move and will host the plans on its own site.
Your Rights Online

Filesonic Removes Ability To Share Files 412

Posted by samzenpus from the closing-shop dept.
Ihmhi writes "In the wake of the Megaupload takedown, Filesonic has elected to take preventative measures against a similar fate. The front page and all files now carry the following message: 'All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.' Whether or not this will actually deter the U.S. government from taking action remains to be seen."
Space

Star Rips Exoplanet To Shreds With X-Rays 62

Posted by samzenpus from the you-always-hurt-the-ones-you-love dept.
astroengine writes "Some relationships are doomed from the beginning, and the same can be said of some planetary systems. In the case of the star CoRoT-2a, some 880 light-years from Earth, it is quite literally ripping its orbiting exoplanet to shreds. Five million tons of material per second is being stripped from the closely orbiting world CoRoT-2b by powerful stellar X-rays. But it's OK, the destructive nature of this planetary system is mutual; CoRoT-2b's orbit is likely maintaining the high spin rate of the star, boosting magnetic activity, thus boosting the X-ray output."
Transportation

Roundabout Revolution Sweeping US 1173

Posted by timothy from the how-to-spend-your-stimulus-bribe dept.
chrb writes "BBC News reports that U.S. cities are installing more roundabouts than ever before. The first British-style roundabout appeared in the U.S. in 1990, and now some cities — such as Carmel in Indiana, are rapidly replacing intersections with roundabouts. Supporters claim that roundabouts result in increased traffic flow, reductions in both the severity and incidence of accidents, and fuel savings. Critics say that roundabouts are more difficult to navigate for unfamiliar American drivers, lead to higher taxes and accidents, and require everyday acts of spontaneous co-operation and yielding to others — acts that are 'un-American.'" As a driver who's hit all of the continental U.S. states except North Dakota, I dread roundabouts and rotaries for all the near accidents (and at least one actual accident) I've seen them inspire, and have been unhappy to see them spread. Spontaneous driver cooperation doesn't necessarily need the round shape, either.

Comment Re:Yeah! (Score 1) 123

by Icculus (#33405398) Attached to: MIT Unveils Oil-Skimming Robot Swarm Prototype
Well the how of the burning is significant. Think of the smoke produced burning oil in a Diesel engine des vs lighting a pan of it on fire in your garage. The combustion could be just slightly bad instead of extra bad. Otherwise, agreed. Better to turn it into smoke and CO2 than kill the sea critters.
Biotech

Can Oil-Eating Bacteria Help Clean Up the Gulf Oil Spill? 139

Posted by Soulskill from the if-only-we-hadn't-converted-to-green-bacteria dept.
sciencehabit writes "At this point it's unclear how much of an environmental threat oil spreading from the BP spill will cause, but the federal government is mobilizing thousands of workers to prepare for the worst. They have a potential ally: microbes that have evolved an ability to break down oil that seeps from the ocean bottom. It gets devoured by a variety of bacteria, which eat it by chemically transforming its compounds into useful cellular constituents." Wired has some pictures of the spill from orbiting satellites.

Comment Re:Yes! (Score 1) 478

by Icculus (#29446135) Attached to: "Right To Repair" Bill Advances In Massachusetts
VW is one of the few makes for which you can get your own fully functional scanner (not just OBDII) for a relatively reasonable price: VAG-COM (I didn't come up with the name). It lets you interact with pretty much everything in the car with their hardware dongle and software and a laptop. It's still a little bit steep for what's essentially a serial-to-USB converter, but I suppose you're mostly paying for their reverse-engineering time.

Comment Re:Dimmer Savior! (Score 1) 569

by Icculus (#28609595) Attached to: Incandescent Bulbs Return To the Cutting Edge
I tried some Feit Electric brand ones in my can fixtures attached to an electronic Lutron dimmer with no luck. The dimmer must have some kind of check for load or something because it would just blink its indicator. That bums me out because my wife insists on having a dimmer (exactly that dimmer) in that room which means we're stuck with 360W of halogens for now.

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