Comment The Fifth Element (Score 1) 102
They forgot Multipassium
Comment Will be irrelevant as physical media withers away (Score 1) 543
I play games often, but it is always digital downloads when they go on sale on Steam. It server the same function as used games (pick up older game a few months after launch for cheap) but the money goes to the developers. This hurts used game retailers trying to sustain their shrinking business model, gamers without internet connections, and lovers of physical media.
Scientists Cut Greenland Ice Loss Estimate By Half 414
bonch writes "A new study on Greenland's and West Antarctica's rate of ice loss halves the estimate of ice loss. Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the study takes into account a rebounding of the Earth's crust called glacial isostatic adjustment, a continuing rise of the crust after being smashed under the weight of the Ice Age. 'We have concluded that the Greenland and West Antarctica ice caps are melting at approximately half the speed originally predicted,' said researcher Bert Vermeeersen."
Living In Tokyo's Capsule Hotels 269
afabbro writes "Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 once offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home. Now with Japan enduring its worst recession since World War II, it is becoming an affordable option for people with nowhere else to go. The Hotel 510’s capsules are only 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide. Guests must keep possessions, like shirts and shaving cream, in lockers outside of the capsules. Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas says, 'It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep. You get used to it.'”
Small Nuclear Power Plants To Dot the Arctic Circle 255
Vincent West writes with news of a Russian project currently underway to populate the Arctic Circle with 70-megawatt, floating nuclear power plants. Russia has been planning these nuclear plants for quite some time, with construction beginning on the prototype in 2007. It's due to be finished next year, and an agreement was reached in February to build four more. According to the Guardian:
"The 70-megawatt plants, each of which would consist of two reactors on board giant steel platforms, would provide power to Gazprom, the oil firm which is also Russia's biggest company. It would allow Gazprom to power drills needed to exploit some of the remotest oil and gas fields in the world in the Barents and Kara seas. The self-propelled vessels would store their own waste and fuel and would need to be serviced only once every 12 to 14 years."
Awesome Pics of CERN's Large Hadron Collider 249
mactard submitted a collection of insanely beautiful pictures of the Large Hadron Collider. I've always had a warm place for amazing photgraphs, and these really don't disappoint. Science really is beautiful sometimes.
Comment Water in the desert? Trade one problem for another (Score 1) 289
The article mentions that the ideal place to house this type of energy plant would the desert, like the pilot in the American Southwest.
I am assuming that this is not a total closed system and thus will consume water. Since it mentions doubling the biomass in "a couple of hours" I assume it would consume a lot of water... (but IANAMarineBiologist)
As a resident of the southwest I can say that one of biggest ecoplogical hurdle we face is our need for water. We keep "doubling our biomass" with a constant influx of people excaping the big cities on the coasts with no new sources of water. We constantly are threatening to run the Rio Grande dry in spots and put many species and ecologies in threat. Not to mention all the farmers and communities competing for the same resource.
It sounds like a great idea but not in my backyard. Lets do it, but near a big water supply, not the desert southwest...
(Hmmm... I assume the algae can handle salt water, how about nearer to the ocean? But then the real estate costs more!)
I am assuming that this is not a total closed system and thus will consume water. Since it mentions doubling the biomass in "a couple of hours" I assume it would consume a lot of water... (but IANAMarineBiologist)
As a resident of the southwest I can say that one of biggest ecoplogical hurdle we face is our need for water. We keep "doubling our biomass" with a constant influx of people excaping the big cities on the coasts with no new sources of water. We constantly are threatening to run the Rio Grande dry in spots and put many species and ecologies in threat. Not to mention all the farmers and communities competing for the same resource.
It sounds like a great idea but not in my backyard. Lets do it, but near a big water supply, not the desert southwest...
(Hmmm... I assume the algae can handle salt water, how about nearer to the ocean? But then the real estate costs more!)
RV Processes Own Fuel on Cross-Country Trip 165
An anonymous reader writes "Frybrid has realized the dream of Dr. Emmet Brown's Delorean: putting garbage directly into your vehicle, and have it be turned into directly into fuel. This past fall, Frybrid installed a system into a 40' luxury RV that sucked up waste vegetable oil from the back of restaurants, removed the water and filtered it, and then burned the dry and cleaned vegetable oil as fuel. The family drove their converted RV from Seattle to Rhode Island on $47 worth of diesel fuel. Plans are underway for a smaller version of the system to fit in the bed of a pickup truck."
10 Reasons To Buy a DSLR 657
Kurtis writes, "If you're planning on getting a digital camera for yourself this holiday season, here's 10 reasons why you should choose a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera instead of a point-'n'-shoot. DSLR cameras are obviously not perfect for everyone. This article also has a couple of small blurbs about who shouldn't buy a DSLR, and a few things that could be deemed negative aspects of DSLR cameras."
Alienware GeForce 7900 SLI Notebook Tested 149
MojoKid writes "Dual Graphics in Notebooks have been in development for a long time now but
very few Notebook vendors have actually brought products to market.
Recently, NVIDIA's launch of the GeForce 7900 series enabled manufacturers like
Alienware the ability to configure Dual GPU SLI systems in a Notebook form
factor.
HotHardware has a world's first look at the Alienware
m9700 Aurora, that comes equipped with a pair of GeForce 7900 MXM modules in
a Desktop Replacement form factor. With a 2.4GHz AMD Turion64 processor,
SLI and a 17" panel,
this machine has more horsepower and features than many high end Desktop
setups."
Tom's Hardware Looks at Microsoft Vista Beta 338
RockClimbingFool writes "Tom's Hardware has a pretty good overview of what the current beta version of Microsoft Windows Vista has to offer. The article is written from an average user's perspective, specifically highlighting exactly which differences the average computer user can expect to see from Windows XP to Windows Vista. It covers everything from IE7, to the new Windows Aero interface, to brand new games." But if you'd like your eye candy open source and downloadable now, check out Lunapark6's review of the current version of Ubuntu Dapper, with "emphasis placed on helping someone set up the system for everyday desktop usage."
Evolution of the Netflix Envelope 238
An anonymous reader wrote to mention an article over on CNN Money. They go into some detail on what seven years of tinkering has done for the simple red Netflix envelope. From the article: "Years of experimentation went into creating the perfect DVD envelope. In 1999, Netflix started out with a heavy cardboard mailer. With only 100,000 subscribers, costs weren't a concern yet. Then the company experimented with plastic envelopes, which proved not to be recyclable, and padding, which added too much to postage costs. Both top-loading and side-loading envelopes made an appearance."
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