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Comment Re:I'm confused (Score 1) 442

by elviscious (#22579548) Attached to: Nanoparticles Could Make Hydrogen Cheaper Than Gasoline
There actually are two obvious sources of power that you could render hydrogen while driving. The first, and probably most obvious is a solar panel on the roof of the vehicle. The obvious limitation here is that it doesn't work in the dark, but on a nice bright day, perhaps it would be useful. Additionally, this might allow you to "refill" while away from the vehicle.

The other option is the generation of power through energy recovery when braking. Of course, this is of almost no practical use on open roadway, but in city driving could recover quite a bit of energy, and is standard equipment for most hybrids, as I recall.
Books

GUI Design Book Recommendations? 338

Posted by kdawson from the wrapping-the-mind-around-it dept.
jetpack writes "I've always hated writing user interfaces, and graphical user interfaces in particular. However, I suspect that is largely because I have no clue how to write a good one. I don't mean the technical aspects, like using the APIs and so on. I mean what are the issues in designing an interface that is clean, easy to understand, and easy to use? What are things to be considered? What are things to be avoided? What are good over-all philosophies of UI design? To this end, I'd like to pick up a book or two (or three) and get my learn on. I'd appreciate some book suggestions from the UI experts in the Slashdot crowd."
The Courts

Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act 673

Posted by samzenpus from the but-what-about-the-terrorists dept.
Shining Celebi writes "U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero ruled in favor of the ACLU and struck down a portion of the revised USA PATRIOT Act this morning, forcing investigators to go through the courts to obtain approval before ordering ISPs to give up information on customers, instead of just sending them a National Security Letter. In the words of Judge Marrero, this use of National Security Letters 'offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers.'"
United States

Submission + - Forensics Expert says Al-Qaeda Images Altered

Submitted by WerewolfOfVulcan
WerewolfOfVulcan writes: Wired reports that researcher Neal Krawetz revealed some veeeeeery interesting things about the Al-Qaeda images that our government loves to show off.

From the article: "Krawetz was also able to determine that the writing on the banner behind al-Zawahiri's head was added to the image afterward. In the second picture above showing the results of the error level analysis, the light clusters on the image indicate areas of the image that were added or changed. The subtitles and logos in the upper right and lower left corners (IntelCenter is an organization that monitors terrorist activity and As-Sahab is the video production branch of al Qaeda) were all added at the same time, while the banner writing was added at a different time, likely around the same time that al-Zawahiri was added, Krawetz says." Why would Al-Qaeda add an IntelCenter logo to their video? Why would IntelCenter add an Al-Qaeda logo? Methinks we have bigger fish to fry than Gonzo and his fired attorneys... }:-) The article contains links to Krawetz's presentation and the source code he used to analyze the photos.
Space

Submission + - New Theory Explains Periodic Mass Extinctions

Submitted by i_like_spam
i_like_spam writes: The theory that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact, the K-T extinction, is well known and supported by fossil and geological evidence. Asteroid impact theory does not apply to the other fluctuations in biodiversity, however, which follow an approximate 62 million-year cycle. As reported in Science news, a new theory seems to explain periodic mass extinctions. The new theory found that oscillations in the Sun relative to the plane of the Milky Way correlate with changes in biodiversity on Earth. The researchers suggest that an increase in the exposure of Earth to extragalatic cosmic rays causes mass extinctions. Here is the original paper describing the finding.
Privacy

Submission + - Privacy and the "Nothing to Hide" Argument 1

Submitted by privacyprof
privacyprof writes: One of the most common responses of those unconcerned about government surveillance or privacy invasions is "I've got nothing to hide." According to the "nothing to hide" argument, there is no threat to privacy unless the government uncovers unlawful activity, in which case a person has no legitimate justification to claim that it remain private. The "nothing to hide" argument is quite prevalent. Is there a way to respond to the "nothing to hide" argument that would really register with people in the general public? In a short essay, "I've Got Nothing to Hide" and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy, Professor Daniel Solove takes on the "nothing to hide" argument and exposes its faulty underpinnings.
Power

Submission + - Scientists develop 40% efficient solar cells

Submitted by gtada
gtada writes: A story published on Physorg.com states 'Scientists from Spectrolab, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing, have recently published their research on the fabrication of solar cells that surpass the 40% efficiency milestone — the highest efficiency achieved for any photovoltaic device. Their results appear in a recent edition of Applied Physics Letters.' How much longer until we all have paneled roofs?
Privacy

Submission + - Bill bans NSA eavesdropping

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "The US house of representatives today passed a bill outlawing illegal domestic wiretapping by the government. Now Bush can pry into your private communications only under terms of FISA.

The ACLU noted that, despite many recent hearings about "modernization" and "technology neutrality," the administration has not publicly provided Congress with a single example of how current FISA standards have either prevented the intelligence community from using new technologies, or proven unworkable for the agents tasked with following them."
Novell

Submission + - Robert Love resigns from Novell

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Robert Love who was the Chief Architect of Novell's Linux Desktop has resigned today. Robert is a prominent Linux kernel hacker, author and journalist in the Linux community (read more about him in his Wikipedia entry). His blog doesn't specify why he resigned. But after colleague and friend Jeremy Allison's departure from Novell in protest of the Microsoft-Novell deal, this might be the latest fallout from it.
Microsoft

Journal Journal: MS Propaganda - Linux vs Microsoft 2003 Server - too funny

Journal by foobarto
By now, everyone must be quite familiar with the MS propaganda ads all over the net. Furthermore we've all seen them on /.. These are usually hyperlink driven invitations to compare MS product with the Linux equivalent. They provide bias supporting facts, even quotes that "prove" mICROSOFT products are better made, supported, cheaper and safer to operate. Not only these are paid for ads and most of the time are completely untrue, but this time I found one that's border line hil
The Internet

Researchers Scheming to Rebuild Internet From Scratch 254

Posted by Zonk from the can-i-have-the-old-one-when-you're-done-with-it dept.
BobB writes "Stanford University researchers have launched an initiative called the Clean Slate Design for the Internet. The project aims to make the network more secure, have higher throughput, and support better applications, all by essentially rebuilding the Internet from scratch. From the article: 'Among McKeown's cohorts on the effort is electrical engineering Professor Bernd Girod, a pioneer of Internet multimedia delivery. Vendors such as Cisco, Deutsche Telekom and NEC are also involved. The researchers already have projects underway to support their effort: Flow-level models for the future Internet; clean slate approach to wireless spectrum usage; fast dynamic optical light paths for the Internet core; and a clean slate approach to enterprise network security (Ethane).'"
User Journal

Journal Journal: Argonne Hydrogen Catalyst Tools For Desalination

Journal by cakilmer
Argonne Labratories has just announced some advances in catalysts for fuel cells. They have developed some cool tools for catalytic research in doing so -- which I think might be applicable to desalination research as well. The idea would be to have a catalyst settle Na & Cl out of solution and skim off the fresh water. This would be an extremely cheap process. So cheap it would make it
User Journal

Journal Journal: 'Gateway' gene discovered for brain cancer

Journal by stemceller
Researchers have discovered that the same genetic regulator that triggers growth of stem cells during brain development also plays a central role in the development of the lethal brain cancer malignant glioma. In experiments on mice with such gliomas, they showed that knocking out the function of a particular regulatory protein, Olig2, almost completely eliminated tumor formation.
Power

Submission + - Affordable Solar Manufacturing Breakthrough

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: International Automated Systems, Inc. (IAUS) has announced that they have set a new production record for solar panel manufacturing, both in speed and in cost. They claim to have manufactured nearly 1,000 Kilowatts of IAUS's solar panels in a short 24-hour run. The IAUS system consists of panels which serve as lenses to focus the sun's heat on a heat exchanger that then produce steam or other high-temperature fluid that is then passed through a simple, patented turbine which is connected to a generator to produce electricity. The company says that they have achieved the milestone of producing electricity via solar energy at a price below wholesale grid pricing.

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