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Hardware

Submission + - Chips that flow with probabilities, not bits (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by
holy_calamity
holy_calamity writes: "Boston company Lyric Semiconductor has taken the wraps off a microchip designed for statistical calculations that eschews digital logic. It's still made from silicon transistors. But they are arranged gates that compute with analogue signals representing probabilities, not binary bits. That makes it easier to implement calculations of probabilities, says the company, which has a chip for correcting errors in flash memory claimed to be 30 times smaller than a digital logic-based equivalent."
Image

Man Wants to Donate His Heart Before He Dies 456

Posted by samzenpus from the cart-before-the-horse dept.
Gary Phebus wants to donate his heart, lungs, and liver. The problem is he wants to donate them before he dies. Gary was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in 2008. Phebus says he'd like to be able to donate his organs before they deteriorate, and doesn't consider his request suicide because he's "dead anyway."

Comment Seems like a batch issue (Score 0) 282

by bdrewery (#32721628) Attached to: iOS Update May Tackle iPhone 4's Antenna Problems
I went down to my local apple store and tested out 9 iPhone 4s. Of those 9, 4 showed the problem, while 5 were perfectly fine. The test was to place my thumb on the lower left spot, thus "shorting" the two antennas. I repeated my test on each one multiple times and it was consistent. This leads me to believe it's a production batch issue and not any of the other theories being floated around.
Any software fix will only be covering up the problem.
Of course, who doesn't use a case though?
Space

Submission + - 15 Year Old Student Discovers New Pulsar (nrao.edu) 1

Submitted by
ScuttleMonkey
ScuttleMonkey writes: "For the second time in as many years a student has made a discovery while participating in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC), a joint program between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University designed to get students and teachers involved in analyzing data from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). This time it was high school sophomore Shay Bloxton who discovered a brand new pulsar. "For Bloxton, the pulsar discovery may be only her first in a scientific career. "Participating in the PSC has definitely encouraged me to pursue my dream of being an astrophysicist," she said, adding that she hopes to attend West Virginia University to study astrophysics. Late last year, another West Virginia student, from South Harrison High School, Lucas Bolyard, discovered a pulsar-like object called a rotating radio transient. His discovery also came through participation in the PSC.""
Idle

Submission + - TSA plays joke on traveller at screening (philly.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As a 22 year old female student at the University of Michigan went through security at Philadelphia International Airport, a TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him. Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on — the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder. Answer truthfully, the TSA worker informed her, and everything will be OK. After 20 seconds of crying, the TSA agent waved the baggie. It was his, and it was all a joke. Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman, said this afternoon that the worker is no longer employed by the agency as of today. She said privacy laws prevented her from saying if he was fired or left on his own.
Games

Submission + - Rockstar Employees Badly Overworked Say Wives (gamasutra.com)

Submitted by juicegg
juicegg writes: Wives of Rockstar Games employees in San Diego have published an open letter on their Gamasutra blog. The authors say that Rockstar employees are seriously strained by unending crunch periods of 12 hour work days and 6 day weeks. High levels of stress are leading to serious psychological and physical problems for some of the employees. They charge that studio management uses arbitrary, deceptive and manipulative practices to get employees to work more unpaid overtime hours at greater intensity — despite Grand Theft Auto selling $1 billion copies.

Among blog comments some current and past Rockstar employees are confirming problems with the studio. "Ex Rocker" writes:
"What makes R* crunch periods different then any other studio is that they tell you the game has to be finished in 6 months so let's start our final push to get this awesome game out there! 6 months turns into 1 year, 1 year turns into 2"

Other comments reveal worker hopelessness and general mismanagement at the San Diego studio.

Related stories here and here

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