Only a month or so ago, I still had Shockwave 9 installed. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I have a good number of programs installed on my computer, and keeping track of which ones need updates is a real chore that I usually just (unwisely) ignore. But, then I found this great free program called Secunia PSI. Every week I just click "Scan" and it compares the software installed on my computer, including windows, with an online database, and reports anything that has known security vulnerabilities.

You're confusing the different specs. USB 2.0 theoretically runs at 480Mb/s, while USB 3.0 theoretically runs at 4.8Gb/s. So at peak speed (4.8Gb/s = 0.6GB/s), you would transfer 5GB in just over 8 seconds. So it seems the estimate of 38 seconds is based on real-world speed, not theoretical. 5 GB in 38 seconds would translate into just over 1Gb/s.

Raising the temperature of a body of water by even a few degrees can have disastrous consequences; from outright killing species, to producing algal blooms that deplete oxygen levels (and then kill species). I mean, think about it. Water resists temperature change much more than air, so a sudden increase is bad news to creatures that just aren't made to deal with it. Also, a recent study has found that increased carbon dioxide levels are making marine life more susceptible to fluctuating temperature and oxygen levels.

But, of course, just one place in the ocean using this method isn't going to have that much effect. It's if and when this cooling strategy starts to catch on that we have to worry about affecting our environment, and weigh the consequences of air conditioning (fossil fuel emissions) versus heat pollution.

"Slashdot: News for nerds. Stuff that matters."
Sure...
because octopi obviously make up a large part of the prospective HDTV market.

There was recently a show on Discovery Channel called "Discovery Project Earth" where they investigated different geo engineering solutions. One of them was spraying water into the air in order to make clouds reflect more sunlight. This idea is headed by physicist John Latham and engineer Stephen Salter.

See Discovery Project Earth, a Brighter Earth for some more details.

Do they really think those 38 hours bought them anything? Do they honestly believe that their profits would have been reduced had a crappy cam recording been available 38 hours earlier? I'm sorry, but I'm just not capable of managing that level of suspension of disbelief. Seems more like a set-up for a later date in Congress where movie execs get to testify that they spent $x million to stave off the camming and all they were able to manage was 38 hours. I wonder just how dedicated they were to these "delaying tactics."

Although I was generally a person who seriously did believe in the "crazy AI takes over the world" idea, I had never considered how the AIs might make themselves progressively smarter. In which case, you have to wonder which route they would take: striving for world peace because of their understanding of the wrongs of violence, or human subjugation because of our inferiority. In my opinion (if current human nature is anything to go by) it's still world domination.