Comment A distant memory (Score 2) 113
In 1982 I unboxed my MCS-512 (Milwaukee Computer Systems) computer. This was heaven: 2 360K floppies, 64K of memory. I hooked up my ADDs 3a terminal and
Comment Estonia runs on blockchain (Score 3, Insightful) 94
And the rest of the world is far behind: https://www.newyorker.com/maga...
Comment Leonard Cohen predicted this... (Score 3, Interesting) 161
"...But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows " L. Cohen, "Everybody Knows"
Comment Double your pleasure, double your fun... (Score 1) 207
Not with chewing gum, but by reading any serious book, especially including novels, twice.
The first time, which speed reading serves well, is to set the context.
The second time, which involves savoring the interplay of topic (or characters) and context, is for learning (the topic; or the beyond-words experience that a serious novelist attempts to convey.
Learning research suggests a least one night's sleep between the first and second times works best. It seems that we "digest" the first time into our cognitive "background" during the night. It is against that background that the topics (or characters, their actions and relations) stand out.
4-Billion-Pixel Panorama View From Curiosity Rover 101
A reader points out that there is a great new panorama made from shots from the Curiosity Rover. "Sweep your gaze around Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover is currently exploring, with this 4-billion-pixel panorama stitched together from 295 images. ...The entire image stretches 90,000 by 45,000 pixels and uses pictures taken by the rover's two MastCams. The best way to enjoy it is to go into fullscreen mode and slowly soak up the scenery — from the distant high edges of the crater to the enormous and looming Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual destination."
Festo's Drone Dragonfly Takes To the Air 45
yyzmcleod writes "Building on the work of last year's bionic creation, the Smart Bird, Festo announced that it will literally launch its latest creation, the BionicOpter, at Hannover Messe in April. With a wingspan of 63 cm and weighing in at 175 grams, the robotic dragonfly mimics all forms of flight as its natural counterpart, including hover, glide and maneuvering in all directions. This is made possible, the company says, by the BionicOpter's ability to move each of its four wings independently, as well as control their amplitude, frequency and angle of attack. Including its actuated head and body, the robot exhibits 13 degrees of freedom, which allows it to rapidly accelerate, decelerate, turn and fly backwards."
Emscripten and New Javascript Engine Bring Unreal Engine To Firefox 124
MojoKid writes "There's no doubt that gaming on the Web has improved dramatically in recent years, but Mozilla believes it has developed new technology that will deliver a big leap in what browser-based gaming can become. The company developed a highly-optimized version of Javascript that's designed to 'supercharge' a game's code to deliver near-native performance. And now that innovation has enabled Mozilla to bring Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to the browser. As a sort of proof of concept, Mozilla debuted this BananaBread game demo that was built using WebGL, Emscripten, and the new JavaScript version called 'asm.js.' Mozilla says that it's working with the likes of EA, Disney, and ZeptoLab to optimize games for the mobile Web, as well."
Emscripten was previously used to port Doom to the browser.
CloudStack Goes Open Source 17
Hitting the front page for the first time, ke4qqq writes "CloudStack has dropped the open core model and gone completely open source. The latest merge of formerly-proprietary features include VMware and OracleVM support as well as support for dynamically managing hardware network and storage devices. CloudStack is the same software used by Edmunds.com, Zynga, Godaddy, and 60 other of the largest clouds."
Man Sues Neighbor For Not Turning Off His Wi-Fi 428
Scyth3 writes "A man is suing his neighbor for not turning off his cell phone or wireless router. He claims it affects his 'electromagnetic allergies,' and has resorted to being homeless. So, why doesn't he check into a hotel? Because hotels typically have wireless internet for free. I wonder if a tinfoil hat would help his cause?"
Best Man Rigs Newlyweds' Bed To Tweet During Sex 272
When an UK man was asked to be the best man at a friend's wedding he agreed that he would not pull any pranks before or during the ceremony. Now the groom wishes he had extended the agreement to after the blessed occasion as well. The best man snuck into the newlyweds' house while they were away on their honeymoon and placed a pressure-sensitive device under their mattress. The device now automatically tweets when the couple have sex. The updates include the length of activity and how vigorous the act was on a scale of 1-10.
Nationwide Shortage In Supply of Swine Flu Vaccine 579
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that as the number of swine flu cases grows to levels unprecedented for this time of year, health officials predict a shortfall in the supply of swine flu vaccine. Forty-three children have died from swine flu since August 30 — about the same number that usually die in an entire flu season.' These are very sobering statistics,' says Dr. Anne Schuchat, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, 'and unfortunately they are likely to increase.' Projections of the supply of swine flu vaccine have widely varied. During the summer, health officials said 120 million doses would be ready in October but later dropped the estimate to 40 million doses. Now officials expect only 28 million to 30 million doses, adding that the exact number is impossible to predict and could change daily as vaccine manufacturers report that production was behind schedule. 'Vaccine production for influenza is pretty complex,' says Schuchat explaining the delay, 'and the complex process this year is taking a bit longer than we had hoped.' Schuchat warned parents with sick children to be alert for signs that medical attention is required including not eating well, difficulties breathing, and turning blue or gray. A particularly important sign is when children start to get better, then have a relapse, usually a sign that pneumonia is developing, and immediate treatment should be sought."
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