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Power

The Power Grid Can't Handle Wind Farms 681

Posted by samzenpus from the gone-with-the-wind dept.
DesScorp writes "The Times reports on the problems of adding wind farms to the power grid. Because of the grid's old design, it can't handle the various spikes that wind farms sometimes have, and there's no efficient way to currently move massive amounts of that power from one section of the country to the other. Further complicating things is the fact that under current laws, power grid regulation is a state matter, and the Federal government has comparatively little authority over it right now. Critics are calling for federal authority over the grid, and massive new construction of 'superhighways' to share the wind power wealth nationally. Quoting the article, 'The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.'"

Comment Re:Sorry for OT (Score 1) 80

by gigantu' (#20753255) Attached to: Watchdog To Represent eBay Seller In Autodesk Suit
Does working for MS tell you that there's more money and better job security in the IT field in the legal department than in development?

It's not MS, it's the world telling you that. Consider a company going down. Let's say SCO. Don't you feel more secure in the legal department? You can litigate till retirement. If they don't pay you, you can sue. And you already have plenty of experience with that.
Microsoft

Submission + - EU thinktank urges full Windows unbundling

Submitted by leffeman
leffeman writes: An influential Brussels think tank is urging the European Commission to ban the bundling of operating systems with desktop and laptop computers. The Globalisation Institute's submission to the Commission says that bundling 'is not in the public interest' and that the dominance of Windows has 'slowed technical improvements and prevented new alternatives entering from the marketplace.' It says the Microsoft tax is a burden on EU businesses: the price of operating systems would be lower in a competitive market. This is the first time a major free-market think tank has published in favour of taking action against Microsoft's monopoly power.
Security

Submission + - Zero-day exploit in PDF with Adobe Reader (youtube.com)

Submitted by hankwang
hankwang writes: Security researcher Petko Petkov, who is known for his recent discovery of a vulnerability with Quicktime in Firefox, claims to have discovered an exploit that allows arbitrary code execution when a maliciously crafted PDF document is opened in any version of Adobe Reader. Petkov did not disclose any technical details other than a video, but claims on his blog that Adobe has acknowledged the vulnerability. If this exploit goes wild, it could cause some serious problems, as PDFs are usually automatically opened from web browsers and widely used and trusted by corporate users. See also Petkov's original blog post [Coral cache].
Space

Submission + - Do You Need a Permit to Land on the Moon? (slate.com) 4

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "With the recent announcement of Google's X-prize for a successful private landing of a robot on the Moon, someone has asked the Explainer at Slate.com if permission is required to land something on the Moon? Turns out that while there is no authority that regulates landing objects on another world, getting there does require the permission of the national government from where the launch takes place. This is in accordance with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, signed by 91 nations, which regulates the uses of outer space by the nations of Earth. Specifically, Article VI enjoins: "The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty." Start your paperwork!"
Microsoft

Journal Journal: Microsoft no longer a 'Laughingstock' of Security? 282

Journal by Toreo asesino
Computerworld have a Q&A with Scott Charney, the vice president of Trustworthy Computing (TwC) at Microsoft. He suggests that, while not perfect, the security in Microsoft products has moved on from being the "laughing stock" on the IT industry to something more respectable, thanks in large to the new Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) implemented in development
Technology (Apple)

Journal Journal: Apple has published the Procedure: How to Request a $100 cre

Journal by a_skripko
Apple has published on apple.com details how every dissapointed iPhone's owner could receive $100 credit, i mean those owners who bought iPhone before August, 22nd. You have to surf to apple.com/iphone section and enter your phone number and your iPhone serial number to determine eligibility. After that you will receive an SMS message on your iPhone, which includes the special access code with which you could redeem the $100 credit, to buy something you must enter this access code at the online
Graphics

Is nVidia Support for Older 3D Games Fading? 133

Posted by Zonk from the everything-old-is-old-again dept.
BrendaEM writes "A thread on Through the Looking Glass depicts the plight of fans of the original Thief Series and System Shock 2, who are asking nVidia fix rendering issues these 3D 16-bit games on their newer video cards and drivers. In the case of the original Thief series, in which the games build tension by their use of light and shadow, the rendering has been badly degraded from that which was originally intended. In another Slashdot article, the author asked the question whether or not video games were art. If one of the greatest video games of all time, with a growing wealth of hundreds of fan produced missions, as well as an entire full-sized expansion, does not play well because legacy support diminishes, then what will happen to lesser 3D video games?"
Robotics

Submission + - A robotic Meridian to fly over the poles

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "The Meridian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a single-engine research aircraft with fixed landing gear designed by engineers at the University of Kansas. According to Technology Review, it will be used to see what happens beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. Two units are currently built for a cost of about 3 U.S. million dollars. The Meridian will fly for up to 13 hours over a distance of 1,750 kilometers. The first flight over Greenland is forecasted next summer. And a second flight will take place over the Antarctic later in 2008. Read more for additional details and references, including a picture showing the Meridian design."
Intel

Submission + - DDR3 is a waste of money

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With Intel's motherboard chipsets supporting both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, the question is whether DDR3 is worth all that extra cash. Now that question has been answered, and it seems like the answer is no. Looks like I'll be sticking with DDR2 for a while yet then. http://www.trustedreviews.com/cpu-memory/review/2007/09/14/DDR2-and-DDR3-Memory-Round-Up/p1

Feed Engadget: USB pedometer logs your steps on the cheap (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Wearables

If you've somehow managed to avoid buying a gizmo with some sort of pedometer built in, the simply-titled USB Pedometer could be the device that finally gets you jazzed about walking. The target-styled unit can be rocked proudly (or not) on one's belt, displays steps taken to 999,999, keeps a log of up to three days of step data, and allows you to upload your information to your Windows-based PC in order to chart your progress. Best of all, this motivator will only set you back $16.99.

[Via EverythingUSB]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Space

Submission + - Japan launches lunar orbiter mission Friday

Submitted by
Sooner Boomer
Sooner Boomer writes: "Japan launched its first lunar probe on Friday, nicknamed Kaguya after a fairy-tale princess, in the latest move in a new race with China, India and the United States to explore the moon. The rocket carrying the three-metric ton orbiter took off into blue skies, leaving a huge trail of vapor over the tiny island of Tanegashima, about 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, at 10:31 a.m. (9:31 p.m. EDT) as it headed out over the Pacific Ocean. The mission consists of a main orbiter and two baby satellites equipped with 14 observation instruments designed to examine surface terrain, gravity and other features for clues on the origin and evolution of the moon. Read the article or see Japanese Space Agency home page (in English) China has plans to launch an orbiter later this year, with unmaanned rover lander mission scheduled for 2010. India and the US also have orbiter missions scheduled for next year."
Censorship

Submission + - Parental Controls 10

Submitted by Orange Crush
Orange Crush writes: .
As the resident computer geek in an office full of accountants, my boss recently asked me how she could reasonably keep her teenage son from using the family computer to "access inappropriate sites." I of course responded "Give up now. There's nothing in this world that can keep a determined teenager from acquiring porn." Sadly, she was dissatisfied with this answer. I mentioned that there was in fact software available for this purpose, but that all of it was trivially easy to bypass for a clever young mind. (Beyond: watch him constantly or just deal with it like the adult you intend to raise him to be.)

I really can't think of another answer. She could password protect the BIOS to prevent booting a different OS, but that's easily defeated with a screwdriver at most. The only solutions I can think of involve upstream firewalls/proxies/etc to which I gleefully redirected her to her ISPs tech support number.

As much as I disagree with her reasoning — and ignoring the obvious "go to a friend's house" loophole — is there really any other way (on a home budget) to netnanny a household computer? (she does sign my paychecks...)

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