om3ga - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Laptop (Score 1) 697

by om3ga on Sunday October 25, 2009 @08:05PM (#29867953) Attached to: Low-Power Home Linux Server?

I'd also reccomend the Asus Eee Box.. It's a brilliant little PC for general server roles. Its small, and uses an atom CPU so idles around 10 watts at most. I've got one set up for home automation, power monitoring, weather station, and many more things. http://www.asus.com.au/Product.aspx?P_ID=QUObl5lSRQQ3lSqJ No CD drive, but can easily plug in an external USB drive, or just install from a usb thumbstick. I wouldn't know why you'd get anything else, this thing is feature packed and cheap! got for $300AU, would be less in USD.

Submission + - Scientists Identify How Body Senses Cold

Submitted by Vicissidude on Wednesday May 30, 2007 @07:42PM

Vicissidude writes: As an ice cream melts in your mouth this summer, take a moment to contemplate the protein that may be bringing you that sense of cool relief — and numbing your tongue. Researchers have pinned down the particular protein in mice used by the body to sense cold temperatures, and think that a similar one in humans does the same job. Mice rely on a single protein, called TRPM8, to sense both cold temperatures and menthol, the compound that gives mints their cool sensation. The sensor also controls the pain-relieving effect of cool temperatures, but does not seem to play an important role in the response to painfully cold temperatures below 10 C. TRPM8 is in the same family as the protein that detects heat and capsaicin, the compound that makes peppers hot. These proteins lie in the cell membranes of select neurons, and form channels that open and close in response to external signals.

Comment Limited installations (Score 4, Insightful) 246

by om3ga on Thursday March 08, 2007 @06:50AM (#18274300) Attached to: Australian Students Can Get Office at 95% Off Retail

I thought I'd point out a few things that were mentioned on the article from a few days ago:

- This ultimate edition thats available through this offer is limited to installation on one PC, vs installation on three PCs available to those who buy the student edition (around $249AU)
- You don't get the CDs with the offer, but can download it, or get a disc from a participating university (I didn't check if it was just a burnt copy or a nicely labeled pressed disc). I'd pay $75 if OpenOffice came in such a fancy box!

I was one button away from purchasing it, until I realized how unnecessary it is for me. I use OpenOffice for my university studies, it opens every word document and PowerPoint presentation thats given to us from the Lecturers. I'm not sure how it is for other things. But for those of you who think this is a good deal, please consider, or atleast try OpenOffice first!

Parasites Makes Us Dumber or Sexier 240

Posted by Zonk on Saturday December 30, 2006 @04:41AM from the that-explains-hollywood-zing dept.

odie_q writes "It has long been known that the Toxoplasma gondii parasite alters its host's behavior, but now it seems the way it alters it depends on the sex of the host. From the article: 'A common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid, an Australian researcher says ... Infected men have lower IQs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women. On the other hand, infected women tend to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls.'"

Robots to Crawl Under the City 94

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday December 28, 2006 @08:54PM from the dreaming-of-electric-sheep dept.

Johan Louwers writes "Robots will crawl tubes in a short while to investigate power cables running in the tubes to make sure they are still undamaged or in need for a repair. The Robotic Cable Inspection System is developed by Alexander Mamishev, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington. Making use of infrared thermal analysis and acoustic partial discharge analysis, the robot will be checking mile after mile of cable while crawling his way in the tubes."

NVIDIA Do-It-Yourself Quad SLI Launched 169

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday August 09, 2006 @01:38PM from the what-to-do-with-a-second-mortgage dept.

Spinnerbait writes "Today, NVIDIA will be releasing their Forceware v91.37 drivers and with them will be officially endorsing Do-It-Yourself Quad-SLI. HotHardware has put together an article detailing the steps necessary to assemble and configure a high-end Quad-SLI rig, and they give some thoughts regarding XHD Gaming and its associated costs. Those of you that are hell-bent on gaming ultra-high resolutions (1920X1200 or 2560X1600 for example), along with the highest available image quality, might want to give one of these setups a look." Before making a purchase I would recommend building that water-cooled credit card first.

Linux/Mac/Windows File Name Friction 638

Posted by Hemos on Monday July 10, 2006 @09:46AM from the like-doing-it-with-sandpaper dept.

lessthan0 writes "In 1995, Microsoft added long file name support to Windows, allowing more descriptive names than the limited 8.3 DOS format. Mac users scoffed, having had long file names for a decade and because Windows still stored a DOS file name in the background. Linux was born with long file name support four years before it showed up in Windows. Today, long file names are well supported by all three operating systems though key differences remain. "

DoJ Following Porn Blocker Advances? 265

Posted by Zonk on Monday March 20, 2006 @07:27AM from the dirty-little-program dept.

GreedyCapitalist writes "A new filter called iShield is able to recognize porn images based on the content of the image (other filters look at URLs and text) and according to PC Magazine, it is very effective. The next generation will probably be even better -- which highlights the retarding effect regulation has on technological progress - if we relied solely on government to ban 'inappropriate' content from the web, we'd never know what solutions the market might come up with. Will the DOJ (which argues that porn filters don't work) take note of filtering innovation or continue its quest for censorship?"

DRM Reduces Battery Life 296

Posted by Zonk on Friday March 17, 2006 @05:14PM from the sucks-in-multiple-ways dept.

gr8_phk writes "An interesting article over at C|Net claims that playing DRMed music can reduce battery life up to 25 percent. Yet another reason to stick with plain old MP3 files." From the article: "Those who belong to subscription services such as Napster or Rhapsody have it worse. Music rented from these services arrive in the WMA DRM 10 format, and it takes extra processing power to ensure that the licenses making the tracks work are still valid and match up to the device itself. Heavy DRM not only slows down an MP3 player but also sucks the very life out of them."

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