Submission + - MPEG2 patents expired (mpegla.com)
jabuzz writes: Unless you live in the Philippines or Malaysia, then MPEG2 has now joined the likes of MP3 and AC3 and gone patent free with the expiration of US patent 7,334,248.
Submission + - Evolving Sun Cells
An anonymous reader writes: One day in the fall of 2011, Neil Sheeley, a solar scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., did what he always does — look through the daily images of the sun from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
But on this day he saw something he'd never noticed before: a pattern of cells with bright centers and dark boundaries occurring in the sun's atmosphere, the corona.
But on this day he saw something he'd never noticed before: a pattern of cells with bright centers and dark boundaries occurring in the sun's atmosphere, the corona.
Submission + - Search for Sun's Sibling Could Find Life's Cousin (discovery.com)
astroengine writes: "The search for "Earth-like" worlds just became even more Earth-like. Researchers of the University of Turku, Finland, have begun the search for the Sun's siblings in the hope that they may play host to exoplanets. As these stars "grew up" in close proximity our Sun inside a stellar nursery some 4.5 billion years ago, they may have shared more than just star-building materials. Through the biology-spreading hypothesis "pansermia," they may have also shared the basic building blocks for life. Two sibling candidates have now been found and the researchers hope to survey the two stars — that contain similar metals and are of a similar age to our Sun — for bona fide Earth-like worlds. Could these worlds have life? If they do, extraterrestrial life may have more in common with us than we ever imagined."
Submission + - Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. iPad 2 Smackdown (deviceguru.com)
__aajbyc7391 writes: DeviceGuru's 10-inch tablet smackdown pits Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 against Apple's iPad 2. At price parity the iPad 2 is probably a better bet for the average user since it's a more stable, near-perfect device with a rich assortment of apps for nearly every possible function you'd like to perform on a tablet, reasons the post. However, with the Samsung tablet's cost of goods rumored to be around $215 versus $260 for the iPad 2 for comparable models, Samsung could drop its 10-inch tablet's price to $425 and pose a serious challenge to Apple's device. But will they...?
Submission + - New Process Allows Fuel Cells to Run on Coal (gizmag.com)
Zothecula writes: Lately we're hearing a lot about the green energy potential of fuel cells, particularly hydrogen fuel cells. Unfortunately, although various methods of hydrogen production are being developed, it still isn't as inexpensive or easily obtainable as fossil fuels such as coal. Scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology, however, have recently taken a step towards combining the eco-friendliness of fuel cell technology with the practicality of fossil fuels — they've created a fuel cell that runs on coal gas.
Submission + - Fingertip mouse fits on a ring (cnet.com)
Eric Smalley writes: "The MicroPointing touchpad works by detecting the force your fingertip produces as it drags across the tiny device's three sensors, according to the company's patent application. The sensors are mounted on tiny posts spaced a few tenths of a millimeter apart--less than the size of a ridge on your fingertip."
Slashdot Top Deals
Each honest calling, each walk of life, has its own elite, its own aristocracy based on excellence of performance. -- James Bryant Conant
