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Directed Energy Weapon Downs Mosquitos 428

Posted by samzenpus from the two-pound-hammer-and-ten-penny-nail dept.
wisebabo writes "Nathan Myhrvol demonstrated at TED a laser, built from parts scrounged from eBay, capable of shooting down not one but 50 to 100 mosquitos a second. The system is 'so precise that it can specify the species, and even the gender, of the mosquito being targeted.' Currently, for the sake of efficiency, it leaves the males alone because only females are bloodsuckers. Best of all the system could cost as little as $50. Maybe that's too expensive for use in preventing malaria in Africa but I'd buy one in a second!" We ran a story about this last year. It looks like the company has added a bit more polish, and burning mosquito footage to their marketing.

Comment Re:Because... (Score 1) 710

by epiteo (#30626332) Attached to: Thorium, the Next Nuclear Fuel?

the enrichment process is more difficult and costly

What enrichment process? Do you mean the chemical extraction of Thorium? How could that be expensive compared to cost of enriching U-235?
There is only one kind of Thorium (Th-232) when you mine it. Turning it to U-233 requires neutrons but you are supposed to get enough extra of those when you burn the U-233 to make it economical.
Best explanation of the process I have seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZR0UKxNPh8
GNU is Not Unix

Number of GPL v3 projects tops 2,000 116

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i'm-sure-rms-is-very-happy dept.
Da Massive writes "The number of open-source projects that use the GNU General Public License Version 3 has grown to more than 2,000, according to Palamida, which sells software and services for tracking open-source code within a customer's code base. 'Our database now contains over 2,000 projects that are using the GPL v3. "At this rate the GPL v3 is being adopted by 1,000 projects every 4-5 months, and if the trend continues, the license will be used by 5,000 projects by the end of the year," states a recent posting on Palamida's blog.'"
Privacy

Users Know Advertisers Watch Them, and Hate It 243

Posted by kdawson from the someone-to-watch-over-me dept.
Chris Blanc tips an Ars writeup on a survey of consumer attitudes toward targeted advertising. The results of the survey, conducted for TRUSTe, confirm that advertisers are in a tough spot. "[The survey company] randomly selected 1,015 nationally representative adults... Although only 40 percent of the group was familiar with the term 'behavioral targeting,' most users were well aware of the practice. 57 percent reported that they weren't comfortable their activities [were being] tracked for advertising purposes, even if the information couldn't be tied to their names or real-life identities. Simultaneously, 72 percent of those surveyed said that they find online advertising annoying when the ads are not relevant to their needs..."
Social Networks

To Search Smarter, Find a Person? 136

Posted by Zonk from the when-the-man's-right-the-man's-right dept.
Svonkie writes "Brendan Koerner reports in Wired Magazine that a growing number of ventures are using people, rather than algorithms, to filter the Internet's wealth of information. These ventures have a common goal: to enhance the Web with the kind of critical thinking that's alien to software but that comes naturally to humans. 'The vogue for human curation reflects the growing frustration Net users have with the limits of algorithms. Unhelpful detritus often clutters search results, thanks to online publishers who have learned how to game the system.'"

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