PC9001 - Slashdot User

Submission + - NASA teams to build gyroscopes 1,000X more sensitive than current systems (networkworld.com) 3

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Wednesday October 31, 2012 @12:00PM

coondoggie writes: "NASA today said it would work with a team of researchers on a three-year, $1.8 project to build gyroscope systems that are more than 1,000 times as sensitive as those in use today. The Fast Light Optical Gyroscope project will marry researchers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center; the US Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center and Northwestern University to develop gyroscopes that could find their way into complex spacecraft, aircraft, commercial vehicles or ships in the future."

More Drones Set To Use US Air Space 223

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday October 31, 2012 @09:34AM from the pakistan-can't-have-all-the-fun dept.

Dupple writes with a quote from the BBC about more testing of Predator drones in U.S. air space: "Tests have been carried out to see whether military drones can mix safely in the air with passenger planes. The tests involved a Predator B drone fitted with radio location systems found on domestic aircraft that help them spot and avoid other planes. The tests will help to pave the way for greater use of drones in America's domestic airspace."

Submission + - university sues student for graduating early (thelocal.de)

Submitted by pointbeing on Friday July 06, 2012 @10:04AM

pointbeing writes: A private German economics and business university is suing one of its students for lost income after he finished his Bachelors and Masters degrees in about a quarter of the normal time.

Marcel Pohl completed 60 examinations in 20 months, gaining a grade of 2.3, and was officially ex-matriculated in August 2011. Such a course usually takes 11 semesters, but he only needed three.

Now the Essen-based School of Economics and Management (FOM) want the 22-year-old to pay his fees up the end of 2011 — an extra €3,000.

Comment Cheese Sauce (Score 1) 244

by PC9001 on Thursday June 07, 2012 @04:11PM (#40248837) Attached to: After Launch Day: Taking Stock of IPv6 Adoption

There is actually a reason for eating broccoli with a cheese sauce - the fat from the cheese helps to dissolve the vitamins contained in the broccoli, and our bodies get more out of it!

Comment Other (Score 1) 223

by PC9001 on Monday June 04, 2012 @04:04PM (#40212825) Attached to: My primary work is ...

Business Analyst, I work with the customers to figure out what they need and then put together requirements for the developers (or buy something OTS if available).

Submission + - Google Now Searches JavaScript (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk on Friday May 25, 2012 @12:31PM

mikejuk writes: Google has been improving the way that its Googlebot searches dynamic web pages for some time — but it seems to be causing some added interest just at the moment. In the past Google has encouraged developers to avoid using JavaScript to deliver content or links to content because of the difficulty of indexing dynamic content. Over time, however, the Googlebot has incorporated ways of searching content that is provided via JavaScript.
Now it seems that it has got so good at the task Google is asking us to allow the Googlebot to scan the JavaScript used by our sites.
Working with JavaScript means that the Googlebot has to actually download and run the scripts and this is more complicated than you might think. This has led to speculation of whether or not it might be possible to include JavaScript on a site that could use the Google cloud to compute something. For example, imagine that you set up a JavaScript program to compute the n-digits of Pi, or a BitCoin miner, and had the result formed into a custom URL — which the Googlebot would then try to access as part of its crawl. By looking at, say, the query part of the URL in the log you might be able to get back a useful result.

Submission + - Where's HAL 9000? (techrepublic.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 25, 2012 @12:03PM

An anonymous reader writes: With entrants to this year's Loebner Prize, the annual Turing Test designed to identify a thinking machine, demonstrating that chatbots are still a long way from passing as convincing humans this article asks what happened to the quest to develop a strong AI?

Growing Evidence of Football Causing Brain Damage 684

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 03, 2012 @03:10PM from the could've-told-you-that dept.

ideonexus writes "NFL Linebacker Junior Seau's suicide this week bears a striking similarity to NFL Safety Dave Duerson's suicide last year, who shot himself in the chest so that doctors could study his brain, where they found the same chronic traumatic encephalopathy that has been found in the brains of 20 other dead football players. Malcom Gladwell stirred up controversy in 2009 by comparing professional football to dog fighting for the trauma the game inflicts on players' brains. With mounting evidence that the repeated concussions football players receive during their careers causing a lifetime of brain problems, it raises serious concerns about America's most popular sport and ethical questions for its fanbase."

NASA Boss Accused of Breaking Arms Trade Laws 88

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 03, 2012 @01:46PM from the what-part-of-regulation-XXIII-459823(aiii)-don't-you-understand? dept.

ananyo writes "The head of NASA Ames Research Center may have fallen victim to restrictive arms regulations — just as a US government report recommends changing them to help the space industry. Simon 'Pete' Worden, who recently announced that Mars exploration would be done by private companies, has been accused of giving foreign citizens access to information that falls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). ITAR has hampered U.S. firms seeking to export satellite technology. The allegations against Worden come just as the new report recommends moving oversight of many commercial satellites and related activities from the State department to the Commerce department, and some fear they could provide lawmakers with reasons to not ease export controls."

Submission + - Google makes $1bn a year in Australia; pays just $74k tax (delimiter.com.au)

Submitted by daria42 on Thursday May 03, 2012 @11:13AM

daria42 writes: Looks like Apple isn't the only company with interesting offshore taxation practices. The financial statements for Google's Australian subsidiary show the company told the Australian Government it made just $200 million in revenue in 2011 in Australia, despite local industry estimating it actually brought in closer to $1 billion. The rest was funnelled through Google's Irish subsidiary and not disclosed in Australia. Consequently the company only disclosed taxation costs in Australia of $74,000. Not bad work if you can get it — which Google apparently can. About that 'don't be evil' motto? Yeah. Not so much.

Comment Watchmen (Score 1) 2

by PC9001 on Wednesday May 02, 2012 @03:12PM (#39871555) Attached to: Which comic books to start my 3 yr old with?

I think The Watchmen could be a good start! :p

IBM Offers Retirement With Job Guarantee Through 2013 192

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday May 02, 2012 @03:04PM from the out-to-pasture dept.

dcblogs writes "IBM is offering employees who are nearing retirement — and may be worried about a layoff — a one-time voluntary program that would ensure their employment through Dec. 31, 2013. The program, described in a letter addressed to IBM managers, 'offers participants 70% of their pay for working 60% of their schedule.' Participating employees would receive 'the same benefits they do today, most at a full-time level, including health benefits and 401(k) Plus Plan automatic company contributions.' In 2006, IBM employed about 127,000 in U.S. The Alliance@IBM, a CWA local, now estimates the U.S. workforce at around 95,000. How far IBM will go in cutting is up for debate, including one radical estimate."

15-Year-Old Arrested For Hacking 259 Companies 153

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday April 18, 2012 @04:04PM from the needs-more-homework dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Austrian police have arrested a 15-year-old student suspected of hacking into 259 companies across the span of three months. Authorities allege the suspect scanned the Internet for vulnerabilities and bugs in websites and databases that he could then exploit. As soon as he was questioned, the young boy confessed to the attacks, according to Austria's Federal Criminal Police Office (BMI)."

Submission + - Was Earth a Migratory Planet? (discovery.com)

Submitted by

astroengine

on Wednesday April 18, 2012 @02:01PM

astroengine writes: "Why our planet isn't a "snowball Earth" — a dilemma called the "faint young sun paradox" — has foxed solar and planetary scientists for decades. Since the Earth's formation, a planet covered in ice should have stifled any kind of greenhouse effect, preventing our atmosphere from warming up and maintaining water in a liquid state. Now, David Minton of Purdue University has come up with a novel solution that, by his own admission, straddles science fact and fiction. Perhaps Earth evolved closer to the Sun and through some gravitational effect, it was pushed to a higher orbit as the Sun grew hotter. But watch out, if this is true, planetary chaos awaits."

Submission + - Cringely predicts IBM will shed 78% of US employees by 2015 (cringely.com)

Submitted by Third Position on Wednesday April 18, 2012 @01:37PM

Third Position writes: Cringely with more predictions about IBM: "The direct impetus for this column is IBM’s internal plan to grow earnings-per-share (EPS) to $20 by 2015. The primary method for accomplishing this feat, according to the plan, will be by reducing US employee head count by 78 percent in that time frame." So far, Cringely's pronouncements about IBM have been approximately true, even if he missed the exact numbers and timeframes. Is he right this time?

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