Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Television

Submission + - Mythbusters to test cockroaches radiation myth (tri-cityherald.com)

Submitted by
redwoodtree
redwoodtree writes: "As the article quotes so perfectly "Contrary to popular belief, not a significant amount of research goes into cockroach radiation" so the Mythbusters are going out to Hanford Site where plutonium was manufactured for the first nuclear bomb. It's the single most polluted nuclear waste site in the U.S. The Mythbusters are going to take cockroaches and other insects and apply successively higher doses of radiation in a controlled setting. One group of insects will not be exposed to any radiation of course. It turns out that the facility is used to test radiation on electronic equipment, power lines and so forth. It's comforting that all the nuclear waste is being put to some good use before it all washes down into the Columbia river."
Media

Submission + - Radiohead Made $6-$10 Million on Album (wired.com)

Submitted by
mytrip
mytrip writes: "Thom Yorke's representative told me that the band have "decided not to give out any figures" for sales of Radiohead's In Rainbows album, but that isn't stopping people from making their best guesses based on what little information is available.

The Seminal estimates that Radiohead sold about $10 million-worth of albums as of 10/12, assuming that their source was correct that approximately 1.2 million people downloaded the album from the site, and that the average price paid per album was $8 (we heard that number too, but also heard that a later, more accurate average was $5, which would result in $6 million in revenue instead)."
Windows

Standard Web Fonts 'Updated' In Vista 452

Posted by Zonk from the can't-leave-well-enough-alone dept.
BladesP9 writes "Beginning with Vista, Microsoft has updated the standard Web Core Fonts that it has used since the late 1990s. 'With the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft has unleashed something quite new on the Web — the "C" fonts; Cambria, Calibri, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, and Corbel.' The article goes on to state that 'if you're a web designer and not using Vista then this download is mandatory since it will let you see your page as your Vista users see it.' The article includes a PDF document offering visual comparisons of the old and new fonts (pdf)."
Software

2008 - Year of Linux Desktop? 659

Posted by Zonk from the what-year-isn't-the-year-of-the-penguin dept.
rstrohmeyer writes "Over at Maximum PC, we're betting that Linux will pick up unprecedented momentum in the coming year. With phenomenal new distros, swelling international support, and a little extra momentum from Dell, we think Linux is poised to exploit the current atmosphere of doubt surrounding Vista and pick up serious traction in '08. 'For end users here in North America, Linux poses a low barrier to entry. While many still balk at an upgrade to Vista (typically centered around cost and restrictive licensing terms), those who are curious about the open-source alternative will find few of these obstacles. And an increasingly rich array of ready-to-run software (not to mention surprisingly effective utilities that let you run many Windows apps) makes it easy switch ... Ultimately, I'm not predicting that Linux will take over the market next year. Or anytime soon, for that matter. But if there's ever been a time to try out the world's leading free OS, 2008 will be that time. I am predicting that users will switch to Linux in record numbers next year. And many will never look back.'"
AMD

AMD Invests $7.5M in Transmeta 82

Posted by Zonk from the death-ray-for-peaceful-purposes dept.
trouserless writes with the news that AMD has invested heavily in Transmeta. The power-conscious chip company has been financially ailing of late. AMD is taking payment in stock, binding the two companies (both with suits pending against Intel) together. PC World reports: "Transmeta did secure a few licensing deals, notably in Japan, but it also wracked up heavy losses. In January 2005 the vendor announced job cuts and said it would switch its focus to licensing its power management technology to other companies. Later that year Transmeta agreed to sell its Crusoe chips to Hong Kong company Culturecom Technology Ltd. for $15 million in cash. Last year's deal with AMD, to resell Transmeta chips in Microsoft Corp.'s pay-by-installment PC initiative, raised the vendor's prospects again. But in March Transmeta said it faced delisting from the Nasdaq because its stock price fell below $1 for more than 30 consecutive days."
Windows

Microsoft to Release 6 Security Updates Next Week 123

Posted by CowboyNeal from the on-the-horizon dept.
An anonymous reader wrote in with an article that leads: "Microsoft will release six groups of security patches next week, including three critical updates for Windows and Excel users. The critical updates will fix bugs in many different versions of Microsoft's products including the latest versions of Excel, Windows XP, Vista and Windows Server 2003, Microsoft said."
NASA

Journal SPAM: No Boom today

Journal by stoolpigeon

Shuttle had to land in CA due to weather. Too bad. What's a couple more million and a few days though? It's just government money.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Ubuntu Is Installed & My Thoughts 3

Journal by dthable

First, thanks to all who helped out with my grub problem. I finally let it loose on the MBR and everything still works. That solved a major problem because I could now boot into my new installation. After that, I had to solve a couple more problems:
Media (Apple)

Submission + - What is Apple without Steve Jobs?

Submitted by
necro81
necro81 writes: "David Pauly at Bloomberg has written a piece that asks "Does Apple Inc. Have a Future Without Steve Jobs?" He writes in the context of Jobs' latest success in launching the iPhone, set against the backdrop of stock backdating troubles. In Pauly's worst-case-scenario, the SEC prosecutes Apple, and the board is forced to ouster Jobs. Even without resorting to such scenarios, it's an interesting question to ask the fanboys and detractors out there: could Apple succeed and continue to innovative without Jobs at the helm?"

Slashdot Top Deals

If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong. -- Norm Schryer

Close