IE 8.1 Supports Firefox Plugins, Rendering Engine 283
KermodeBear writes in to note that according to Smashing Magazine, the newest version of Internet Explorer, codenamed "Eagle Eyes," supports Firefox plugins, the Gecko and Webkit rendering engines, and has scored a 71 / 100 on the Acid3 test. The article is pretty gee-whiz, and I don't entirely believe the claims that IE's JavaScript performance will trounce the others. (And note that the current Firefox, 3.0.8, scores 71 on Acid3, and Safari 3.1.2 hits 75.) No definitive date from Microsoft, but "sources" say that an IE 8.1 beta will be released in the summer.
DB Query Becomes Browseable In Virtual World 82
Jani Pirkola writes to tell us that Green Phosphor's new project "Glasshouse" allows users to take database queries or spreadsheets and create 3D representations in a virtual world. Man what I wouldn't give to mash my level 80 death knight up with some of the ugly joins I have run across in the past. "Users can see data, and drill into it; re-sort it; explore it interactively - all from within a virtual world. Glasshouse produces graphs which are avatars of the data itself. We've tailored the system for the use of biotech companies, specifically for drug discovery and development. Dr. David Resuehr, a molecular biologist, recently joined Green Phosphor as our Chief Scientist."
Safari 4 Released, Claimed "30 Times Faster Than IE7" 465
CNETNate writes "Apple has released the beta version of Safari 4 for Mac and PC, with claims that its Nitro rendering engine is '30 times faster than IE7,' and three times faster than Firefox 3. Other new features include 'Top Sites,' which shows users the most frequently visited Web pages, 'Full History Search' for searching through not only the URLs and titles of visited pages, but also the complete text within the page itself — something Opera has been doing for a while."
The State of UK Broadband — Not So Fast 279
Barence writes "The deplorable speed of British broadband connections has been revealed in the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, which show that 42.3% of broadband connections are slower than 2Mb/sec. More worryingly, the ONS statistics are based on the connection's headline speed, not actual throughput, which means that many more British broadband connections are effectively below the 2Mb/sec barrier. Better still, a separate report issued yesterday by Ofcom revealed that the majority of broadband users had no idea about the speed of their connection anyway."
Comment Not continual transmission .. (Score 1) 203
As has been noted some of these systems work without wireless transmission - by measuring minute differences in tyre rotation speed.
Some work by sending a warning only when the tyre pressure falls below a certain level (28psi generally).
Even the high-end devices that transmit the exact tyre pressure to a central console will not be transmitting continually - smart ones will only transmit either when the pressure changes, or at a fixed polling interval.
So triggering an IED when a particular car drives past ? Not likely - only if you are unlucky enough for one of the sensors to be transmitting at the exact time the car drives past.
Same goes for monitoring movement of an individual car - the chances of the pressure sensor transmitting at the exact time it drives over/past a sensor is pretty remote.
Some work by sending a warning only when the tyre pressure falls below a certain level (28psi generally).
Even the high-end devices that transmit the exact tyre pressure to a central console will not be transmitting continually - smart ones will only transmit either when the pressure changes, or at a fixed polling interval.
So triggering an IED when a particular car drives past ? Not likely - only if you are unlucky enough for one of the sensors to be transmitting at the exact time the car drives past.
Same goes for monitoring movement of an individual car - the chances of the pressure sensor transmitting at the exact time it drives over/past a sensor is pretty remote.
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